, 1874-04-05
MEDICAL OPINIONS CONCERNING ALCOHOL

MEDICAL OPINIONS CONCERNING ALCOHOL.
DR.. Edward Curtis, prominent physician
and chemist, and teacher Of nateria medica and
therapeutics in one OF the colleges Of New York,
has written q letter to the New York Tribune
upon the question Is alcohol poison? His
position upon this subject will undoubtedly sur
prise those who have examined the question
and have accepted the very generally believed
theory that alcohol is poison and not III article
OF food, capable Of being absorbed By the syB-
tenn and imparting nourishment to it. Tho oc-
casion Of Or. Curtis letter is extract from
DR.. Hollands reply to Archbishop Purcell's re-
cent statement that he could not object to aday-
laborer's restoring his exhausted strength With
glass OF two Of beer. TO this DR.. Holland an
swered:
may here inform the Archbishop that the alcohol
that the hodmen too fond Of will not give them
strength for God in Els wisdom has arranged the
system that man in his ignorance drinkB
wine, beer, Any kind Of liquor containing the pol
son acoho Il is elected Just it went into the syB
TEN, without any change. This being the Gaze, do
not thtnt there ia any strength to b. had from loo
ho1.
latest researches in physiological chemistry have
placed the action of alcohol in q new Light, which
completely ove1throws such sweeping assertions
&s those made by DR.. Holland The substance
OF the facts which DR.. Curtis presents Ia as
follows: Alcohol when drunk is not eject
ed from the system unchanged, except IN
trifing amount when taken in an intoxicating
quantity. On the other hand, it is wholly trans
formed in ths system, and, by the na:ure Of its
chemical composition, "it is capabls OF yielding
force which can be used by the economy TO do
life work. In other words, within certain
limit of dose, alcohol IL transformed like ordi-
nary food in the system, without pro-
ducing any injurious effects, and, IS
it yields useful force, it may be con-
eidered an article OF food which tends to
restore health. II taken in greater quantity
than can be utilized a. food, DR.. Curtis agrees
that alcohol acts as poison. Alcohol thus has
double action. First it can be used as IN
article Of food, producing force without disturb
ing the normal functions Of the body aud, sec-
ond, it may act as poison and be followed by
depression and disturbance Of the normal func-
tions, instead Of forco. To the question which
will inevitably occur to every reader, as to the
limit Of the action Of alcohol as food and =
force-producer, Dr.. Curtis says:
This question cannot be answered esteRor1caly for
It happens that the "poison-line" it has been
aptly called, Is n shifting Even In health it
varies according to age sex, individual peculiarly
aud habit and in the Fesson according to
his physical condition for the tirne being When
fadg.ed by bodily CT mental work; when suffering
from emotional agitation, II anxiety or fear; when
by loss OF seep, Of blood, by pain, amounts
Of alcohol which ordinarily would flush the
face and somewhat confuse tho mind, VIII
be borne BY thu s4me person without p-o-
ducing the Highest symptom Of intodcshon; the
whole effect Of the drink bzing expended In relieving
the rrce1isting aa.se, and restoring the syste to
its normal condition. And n more formal morbid
states, as in naany diseases, the potson-ne often
ahnts to N astounding cegree that what would in
health produce eTen dangerous drunkenness viii b
boras without eauEug tho 144st intoxication: tho
whoe Of tia alcohol b.ing spparenuy utilized BY tho
k5Ets1o fox obtaining 4hs MssAvt1s xuszU which &haa