New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-01
rs ALCOHOL A POISONs
HIGH MEDICAL AUTHORITY ON THIS SUB,

ORDINARY FOOD IN THE sfSrEM-iT YIELDS
FORCE AS OTHER FOOD. EXCEPT WHEN TAKEN
IN OvERDOsEs.
70 the Bdttor Of The Tribune.
SIR take the liberty Of asking for space in your
columns for the accompanying remarks on the gen
eral nature of the action of alcohol on the animal
system, which seem to me to be called for by the
many ideas that subject current IN the
newspapers. And much of what have to say Is
opposed TO common opinion, may. perhaps be par
dOned for remarking rs a sort of voucher for such
statements, that being the teacher OF " materla
medica and therapeutics" in one of the medical
colleges of this city, have necessarily given good
deal of attention to the study of the physiological
action Of all articles used in medicine, and am
Obliged to keep myself carefully informed of every
advance in knowledge on such subjects.
In the columns of your daily of March 81. the
letters to the editor discussing Archbishop Purccs
late letter on WINE and beer-drinkins contain the
following passages;
rIass or two Of beer restores the wasted strength
Of no man A stimulus "rcstOres" nothing. Alc0h0
excites the nervous system and all artificial excitement
is followed by reaction and exhaustion AicOhO IN 10
form adds TO the vital forces subtracts from them
In sickness it may stimulate for the time the processes
Of sg or s b the bes ode
recognize nutritious element IN that muchaDuseu
sSohs II tnero a 70 eaerye no eonsderaop what
ever , The Bishop would not preach that 1t was
Strength bv glass or two OF beer" Just that bev
erage did restore xhausted strength Inc prouct
of the brewery no that OF the STILL in its very
nature can never impart strength, but only physical
weakness as is apparent on every manu- npDns ey
imbned with the idea that there is some element OF
strength virtue In the various stimnishts WITH
oeopIe Until this error has passed away shall
make permanent advance j may , nere
inform the Archbishop that the alcohol that he nou
arc 90
his wisdom has arranged the system that as soon
man in his ignOr nce drinks wine. beer any kind oil
Inuor containing the poison alcohol II elected just "a
IL into the system without any chahSr ihS
the case do think there is any strength 10 DO hau
from alcohol
As no good to the temperance or any other cause
can come out of misoOncepton to matters OF fact
am impelled TO say that late researches in physo-
logical chemistry have put the action Of alcohol on
the animal system in a new light, and that such
sweeping statements as the foregoing can no longer
he received Without going into technical details
the following arc the main facts OF the matter
Contrary to what was lately believed and to the
last statement quoted above it has been proved be-
yond the possibility of doubt that alcoho. when
drunk is not "oJoctod from the system unchanged"
except in triling amount when taken in grossly IN
toxicating quantity. On the contrary in ordinary
amounts it is wholly consumed transformed. IN the
system. and by the nature of its chemical compost
ton is capable, like certain elements Oh ordinary
food of thus yielding force which be used by the
economy to do lfe-work the heat of the burning
coal drives the engine
I'm this fact we have key to the effects of alcO
bolic drinks on man. Thus within certain limits OF
Dose alcohol il transformed like ordinary food in
the system without producing any injurious effects,
and yielding useful force for the purposes OF the
economy must be considered as food IN any phllo-
sophical sense of the word. And an important
point to know and one little understood Is that this
food action is attended with no exciting or intox-
eating influence, but the whole effect, like that of
ordinary food is in the maintenance or restora-
ton according to circumstances, of that balance of
function called health.
But if taken in greater quantity than eau be util-
lied az force-yiedIng food. the of alcohol
acts as poison. producing well known train OF
perturbatons of function And-again q point gem
orally misunderstood-GH signs of departure from
the natural condition in the drinker from the first
flushing of the check, Frightening of the eye, and
unnatural mental excitement, to the general par
lysis of complete drunkenness, belong equally to
the poisonous effect of alcohol That is, for wish
strongly to insist upon this point, even the early
phases of alcohol disturbance which are often i'm
properly called stimulating" are part and parcel Of
the injuriously disturbing influence of overdosage.
and must be put in the same category with the more
obviously poisonous effects of pronounced inton-
cation.
Alcohol has thus a two-fold action. First. it is
capable in proper dose of being consumed and util-
.zed ~ a force producer; in which there is
visible disturbance of normal function Such action
cannot be distinguished either by the drnker the
physiologist from that of quickly digestible fluid
food and is no more an excitement or "stimula-
ton followed by a "reCoil" or depression than
ia the action of bowl of hot soup of glass of
milk The second action is the poisonous influence
of an excess of alcohol circulating in the blood
which makes itself sensible to the drinker by pecu
liar sensations and disturbances, and is not only fol-
lowed by depression" but is itself form of de-
pression-that is, disturbance of balance an I'M
natural perturbation of the normal working of the
functions.
Every reader of these lines will at once ask, What
then is the limit to quantity within which alcohol
exerts only food action, and beyond which it be-
gins to poison by its excessi This question cannot
be answered caeQoricay, for it so happens that the
poison line" as it has been aptly called is shift
ing one Even in health it varies according to age
sex. individual pecuiarity aud habit and even in
the same person according to his physical condition
for the time being When fatigued by bodily or
mental work when suffering from emotional agita-
ton az anxiety or fear when worn by loss Of sleep
of blood or by pain, amounts of alcohol which ordi
nariy would flush the face and somewhat confuse the
mind will be borne by the same person without pro-
ducing the slightest symptom of intoxication the
whole effect of the drink being expended
in relieving the preexisting malaise, and restoring
the system to it's normal condition. And in more
formal morbid states, as in many diseases the poison
line often shifts to astounding degree, so that
what would in health produce even dangerous
drur kenness will be borne without causing the least
intoxicaton the whole of the alcohol being appar-
emily utilized by the system for obtaining the life
saving energy which this fluid from its swift absorp