The Fremont County record., 1883-04-14
TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
EDITED BY REV. L. J. TEMpLIx.
ALCOHOL AS FOOD.

A few years ago Professor William A.
Hammond delivered a lecture before the
neurological society of which he was presi-
dent on the Effects of Alcohol" In this
he held that alcohol is food or, at least,
may be used MS substitute for food. This
opinion he based on certain experiments in
which he had found that when just food
enough was taken to maintain the normal
weight of the body an addition of small
quantity of alcohol to the diet produced q
pcrceptible increase. Whether this increase
of weight was the result of the digestion
and assimilation of a portion of the alcohol,
| or only from the prevention of the waste
of tissue the professor was unable to say.
1t is evident, however, that the elimination
of effete matter is retarded in the system
from the fact that the excretions of waste
matter from the system are reduced under
an alcoholic diet. After detailing his ex-
periments the doctor proceeds: After such
results, are we not justified in regarding
alcohol as food? If it is not food, what is
it? We have seen that it takes the place
of food, and that the weight of the body
| increases under its use. Any substance
which produces the effect which we have
seen to attend on the use OF alcohol is es-
sentially food, even though it is not demon
strable at present that it undergoes conver-
sion into tissue" Several physicians were
I
treated in the address. DIR. Willard Parker
said: 81 don't see how we can make food
out of it - Again, g About the nitrogen
Gus substances am in doubt; but fancy
ii does not do great deal with the starchy
substances. In persons who eat great
deal of meat, and drink alcohol, it arrests
the process of digestion, and after time
the stomach will evacnate itself, and the
pieces of meat will come up hardened.
/ he al ahnI tc fuE int at tnTp-
ach before the food is taken in, it acts on
the pepsin, and hardens that" DIR. J. C.
Peters also spoke: :" regard the effect of
alcohol in larger quantities upon the stom-
acb ms very little short of a corrosive poison y
DIR. Meridith Clymer remarked: DIR. Ham
mond stated that he could not explain it,
and il seems to me that the experiments
are decidedly in opposition to the conclu-
sion that alcohol is food. If it were food
II would be assimilated; and yc. Ese find
by these novel and admirable experiments
which DIR. Hammond has shown us that af-
| ter n certain time il is retained in the nerv-
ons t'ssue.p Such are the views of some
| who We're present and at once expressed
their opinions on the subject.
Now, let us inquire what Others have to
say on this subject. DIR. Henry Monroe,
while treating of tho various food sub
stances, remarks: Every kind of sub
u
sugar, starch. oil and glutinous matter.
mingled together in various proportions.
These are designed for the support of the
animal frame. The glutinous-fbrin, albu-
men and cascin-is employed to build up
the structure while the oil, starch and SUI
gar are chiefly used to generate heat in the
body" In speaking to this point, Dr. Hunt
says: .The distinctness Of these groups
of food and of their relations to the tissue
.f
/ man-are 30 definite and SO confirmed by
experiments ON animals, and by manifold
tests Of scientific, physiological and clinical
experience, that no attempt TO discard the
classification has prevailed According 10
this weIl-established truth, if alcohol can
servo rs food il must be composed, in part,
at least, of the aboye-named substances.
But all our knowledge Of the nature and
constituents OF this substance goes TO die
prove any such proposition. So universal
Is the opinion that alcohol does not belong
among the 'tissue-forming articles Of food
! .ha, a. s.a --1I---A--.---s--r,. a. ,Ir-
have never seen but a single suggestion that
il could so act, and this bu, promiscuous
guess. One writer lHammond] thinks it
possible that il may, somehow, enter into
combination with the products of decay in
tissue, and, under certain circumstances,
might yield their nitrogen to the construc-
ton Of new tissue No parallel in organic
chemistry, nor any evidence in animal
chemistry, can he found TO surround this
guess with the areola Of possible hypothe-
sis.' This vigorous writer further says
Not detecting in this substance any tissue
making Ingredients, nor in its breaking up
any combinations, such rs we are able to
trace in the cell foods, nor any evidence,
either in the experience Of Psychologists or
the trials Of alimcntarians, it is not wonder
ful that in IL we should find neither the
expectancy nor the realization Of construc-
tive power DIR. r. X. Chambers, physi-
clan 10 the Prince of Wales, says: 1t is
clear VIC must cease to regard alcohol as in
any sense a food Dr. Licbig says: Beer
wine, spirits, etc, furnish no elements capa.
bic of entering into the composition of the
blood, muscular fibre, or any part which il
the scat of the principle of life DIR. Car
penter, who has devoted many years to the
Investigation Of this subject, says: "Alco-
hol cannot supply anything which is essen
tisl to the true nutrition of the tissues '
DIR. T. Smith, +. X. s., says: alcohol is
not true iood. 1t interferes with alimen-
tation.- In his Manual of Hygiene Came
ron says: There is nothing in alcohol
with which any part of the body can be
noarished.n DIR. Richardson says alcohol
contains no nitrogen it has none of the
| qualities of e-building foods; IL is
incapable Of being transformed into any OF
them; il il, therefore, not q food in any
sense of its being constructive agent in
building up the body
Such are the views of some OF the most
prominent of the medical writers of this
country and of England. may close this
testimony by citing the official deliverance
of the International Medical Congress on
this subject. This congress met ut Phila-
dclphia, In 1876, and was composed of GOO
of the leading physicians of both Europe
and America. AT the request of the Ma
tional Temperance Society the section on
medicine formulated the views of the con-
gress on the food nature of alcohol rs fol-
lows: alcohol is not shown to have n
definite food value by any of the usual
methods of chemical analysis or physiolog-
ical Investigation
These statements, coming, Ms they do,
from those who are the best qualified to
speak on this subject, ought to carry con-
viction to the minds of the laity. This
testimony of the profession TO the non ALI
mentaceous nature of alcohol is practically
unanimous, for DIR. Hammond, the only adj
vocate Of the opposite view, seems to be in
doubt ON the subject himself In the lee
turc above referred TO he says: 1T is not
dcmonstrablc that alcohol undcrgoes con-
version into tissuer But while alcohol does
| mot contributc To the formation of tiasue.