The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-16
ALCOHOL AS A FOOD.
IN 4NSWER 10 PROF. d1WATER OF
WESLEYAN.

DIR. c. A. Dorman of This city states
Various Arguments TO Disprove the
Truth of the Professors Theory.
TO the Editor of the Journal and Courier:
In the controversy between the tenn
perance workers of America and Prof.
Atwater of Middletown, Conn, nothing
will be gained by denunciation alone,
by either party, yet both sides ought to
have a hearing, for there are two SIDES
to every question. The professors OPP
ponents surely have a right to meet MS
arguments with counter scientific at
tempts to show their own position ana
they have arguments as we'll as he, ana
many more than can be presented IN a
brief newspaper article. We admit
that in a chemical sense which is very
narrow view of the subject, the profess
sor may have some ground for his posi-
ton, but we are prepared to prove that
when broader view of the subject IS
included, l. e., the physiological slde'
there remains no force whatever to the
assertion that "Alcohol is food,
which point has been proven again anu
again by the experiments OF men quite
as able and profound as he. L nave
given ten years of my life to the direct
study and discussion of this and kindred
subjects, beside thirty years OF obserVa-
ton at the bedside of the sick and am
convinced that the professor has unWlt-
tingly conveyed a wrong impression IN
his report which is both absurd ana
dangerous. and which has already done
incalculable injury. Every brewer, dls-
filler. dealer, moderate drinker, drunk
ard. saloon keeper and rum doctor VINO
has heard his proclamation has taken
fresh courage and every diSinterested,
self sacrificing temperance worker VINO
has the true interests of the rising gene
ration at heart has received stab I'M
der the fifth rib and all hell is aglee at
the sight presented of a professor in
nroninent theological institution prac-
tically leading an assault all along the
line against the true friends of humanl-
ty: and we sincerely hope that as he
looks into the windows of Chicago sa-
looms and sees the little two ounce bot
Ties OIL Drdluy ldDellGu, N'hC 4AeH''N--'
Straight" and realizes that new SEN
( tence has been added to the gin mill vo-
cabulary, and that his name Will go
down to posterity coupled with those
other safe foods Hot Tom ana jerry,
Gin Cocktails, etc, which nave proven
so efficacious in the past, that ne may
rest upon the laurels already won ana
be satisfied; if not, he may gain aoal-
tional pleasure from the fact that Some
of the leading distillers ana brewers
have already placed his report over MS
signature upon the circulars and news
paper articles which advertise thef
goods The professor d1sclalms any
intention of harm; but one so sure that
all other investigations are wrong, ana
he. alone infallible, might surely nave
known what the result of his report
would be; and we think that one who
has proved himself capable of the great
blunder already evident, may just pos
sstbly have been capable OF some error
In coming to the conclusions which he
hasSso openly declared. Some of these
errors we would like to unyell Tor the
benefit of the rising generation; ana as
food for thought for those who are IN
clined to follow him blindly without
knowing why what is the truth con-
corning this matter? One thing Is Ger
tair--that Professor AtWater, who is at
the present time posing as the Great
and Only original investigator OF the
century, discarding and disnissing with
a sheer the theories of many of the
great scientists of Europe and America,
and the conclusions to which they have
been forced by life-times of research
and careful experimentation, Is really
only threshing over the straw Which mas
been threshed more completely and
thoroughly by others at least as pro-
found as he.
The first really earnest endeavor to
decide whether alcohol was a food was
that started by Baron Won Liebig some
forty years ago. His theory, which was
based upon pure assumption was that
as alcohol was obtained from the heat
generating foods, it must be a heat-gen-
orator itself; that just as alcohol in be-
ing burned in a lamp is transferred into
carbonic acid and water while it's ener-
gy is liberated as heat, SO, likewise 1t is
oxidized in the body, and transferred
into the same two compounds; and
hence must be a heat-g generator in the
BODY also. SOME ulteSlI SCdlo CldlNSo
after Liebig's statement was made pup
lie before any effective opposition could
be made to it, but in 1860 there ap-
peared a work by three leading French
physicians, L'Allemand, Perrin and Du-
WOW entitled the "Role of Alcohol
Paris, 1860, which took the ground that
alcohol is not burned, but leaves the
body lust as it enters it; that is as al
cohol by breath, skin and other secre-
tions; that it is not oxidized, i, e.. con-
verified into carbOnic acid and water,
that no traces of it's destruction in the
body could be found; that as it was eX-
PEELED as alcohol it was not food; put
neither of these opposing theories have
been universally accepted, and the great
body of physicians that is those who
ever think about it at ALL stand be-
tween the two they believe that 1T IS
In part oxidized and in part eXcreted
Unchanged; but they differ widely as to
the amount oxidized. Professor AtWa-
ter has been trying to decide this point
and claims to have done so; which is
all right and commendable; but there
are some additional facts which, even
if this is conceded remain unexplained;