The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-01-04
w. CT. u

is the formula of carbonic acid Gas; and
the rest of the glucose he e~xcretes as alec
hol, Of which the chemical formula is
CO, I6, OF.
All alcohol m at first in just this
way, and no other. In reference to bread.
we noticed that the alcohol in it is very
volatile, and flies off in the air when heated.
In the middle ages it was found that if a
closed still was used with a cooled pipe, Or
worn" the volatilized alcohol could be
recondensed in the cold worm. and be thus
obtained very strong. Thence we haye
distiileries to make strong or distilled
liquors: such as brandy from wine, and
rum, gin, whisky, etc, from the other ter
mentations of malt, molasses, grains, etc.
In wines and all lamentations the alco-
hol is about fifteen per cent. In distilled
liquors it is about fifty per cent, and the
rest is water. Such is the wonderful affin-
ity of alcohol for water that it cannot, at
ter repeated and various Installations, be
absolutely freed from it. The so-called
pure alcohol has from one to ten per cent.
of water. It is well known as a heavy,
colorless fluid, volatile in the open air, and
readily vanishing when heated 1t thus
goes to the upper atmosphere ofour planet,
where it doubtless slowly oxidizes and
plays an important part, perhaps, in form
ing the clouds, or in the aurora Boreaas,
until finally it's chemical elements may re-
turn to the earth to play again their part
in the eternal round Of nature. BY thus
going aloft this poison is removed from en-
dangering animal life, and returns, finally,
changed into innocent forms.
CANNOT BE D%IGEsTED.
But, while thus volatile, alcohol is one
of the hardest chemical substances to
break up. 1t is a firm or stable combina-
ton of its three elements, CO, ZIG, OF, and
cannot be changed or broken up by any
ordinary process, such, for instance, as it
meets with in the human body. 1t burns
with u very hot, blue. hydrogen flame;
but fire is necessary to set it afire; that is,
to break up the firm chemical union of its
elements by combustion. Hence it is used
to preserve fruits, anatomical specimens,
etc, because it is practically indestructi-
BILE, and because microbes cannot live in
very useful in the arts and sciences, and
it's discovery by the worm" and its sub
sequent uses, were important steps in civ
ilization, for which all should be grateful,
l,,,E f,r tf,o ;nl,,, N n N - 70 which If has
been put by deluded men.
Thus science has told us what alcohol
really is; and if you wish to know it fur
ther, get some, as pure as you can, from
your druggist; burn it in a lamp, volatilize
it by heating, use it to preserve dead ami
mails, and to kill living ones, and if you
wish to know how it does that take a little
of it in Your mouth, nose and eyes, and
your contortions of pain will bring you to
consider seriously
THE EFFECT or ALCOHOL IN III HUMAN
SYSTEM.
(2) The fact was stated above that in
fermented liquors, like wine, cider, ETC.,
the amount Of alcohol was not above ff-
teen per cent, while in brandy and dis
titled liquors it was about fifty per cent?
But why only fifteen per cent?
The answer is the key to the solution of
the question in hand: The reason is that
alcohol is so deadly a poison to all living
animal cells and tissues that when it
reaches fifteen per cent. in q fermenting
liquid it kills the yeast animal which ex-
cretes it, and the fermentation stops; and,
because it stops, the wine is said to be
made, and it will keep until the alcohol is
removed, when fermentation may occur
again if glucose still remains in the liquor.
Now, just what alcohol does to the cell
which produced it, it does to all animal
cells and tissues: it is death to them to the
extent used. No living thing can live in
it an instant. The human system is large
and tough, and will endure a great deal;
but a small dose of pure alcohol-only half
an ounce-is immediate death. 1t fells
the strongest man as though struck with a
stone, and for much the same reason, as
we shall see: it causes a shock which is an
explosion of the nervous system. But,
You say, people do take alcohol constantly.
Yes, but only in drains, largely diluted
with water, so that fifteen to twenty per
cent. is the highest rate Of alcohol. Whis-
ky and brandy are diluted generally more
than half. If taken pure, the quantity is
small and seldom taken, or it soon means
deIirium tremens and death.
FROM STOMACH TO TIE BLOOD.
When alcohol is taken it never gets fur
ther down the alimentary canal than the
stomach. The lower gate of the stomach,
the p%ylorus, utterly refuses to let it pass
into the lower and finer intestines. We
cannot sufficiently wonder at the strict
prohibition sense of this organ. For if al
cohol couldpass into the finer tissues and
SO reach the l~acteals, they would wither at
once, and death would certainly ensue. The
stomach has, therefore, to extrude the al
eohol through its coats into the blood, so
that it may be carried ont of the system
by the skin, the lungs, and the kidneys.
Until this extrusion takes place. this devil,
alcohol, simply plays destruction in the
human system, in every organ through
nlini, II noecou ~, ,ranort;o, 70 +Jo