The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1900-08-24
is ALCOHOL FooD7
Novel Experiment. to Be Made to
Find Out

Is alcohol food? 1t is more nourish-
ing than Def tea? Prof. w. o. Atwater,
chief food expert in the employ Of the
United States. proposes to solve these
questions by boxing up human subjects
and feeding them exclusively on alco-
hol. In this project he is backed by
President Seth Low Of Columbia uni
versity and a committee of fifty citi-
zens.
This is proposition all the more sur.
prising in connection with the recent
discovery that meat extracts are stimu-
lants, rather than foods, and that in
passing through the system they leave
nothing which permanently aids in
building or repairing blood, bone, brain
or Drawn.
The men on whom Prof Atwater will
experiment as soon as the necessary
appropriation Is made by the govern
ment will be taken to an especially
equipped laboratory at Middletown.
Conn. Through their aid he will de-
termine exactly what happens to. al
cohol and to body when the latter
contains the former One at time.
they will be subjected to solitary con-
finement in an apparatus consisting
primarily OF three Theoretically sealed
concentric boxes, in other words, cell
within a cell. They will be given alco-
hol in various doses and under various
conditions.
Every particle of the occupants ex-
pired breath will be collected by sys-
tenn Of tubes and air pumps and anal
yzed for traces of alcohol. Every mole
Guile Of perspiration secreted upon his
skin and evaporated into the rapidly
changing atmosphere will be as scrupu-
lousy searched. The air passing into
the chamber must be compared with
that passing out. Hence, both must be
analysed. Just before admitted and
just after expelled the air current will
pass. through U-shaped tubes contain
ing pumice saturated with concentrated
sulphuric acid. There will determine
the amount of water contained in the
air when it Is admitted and when it is
expelled. Similar tubes filled with soda
lime will show how much carbon diox-
ide has been breathed out by the SUBJ
ject. Others containing glass beads
drenched with other solutions will serve
similar purposes, and thus by separat-
ing the contents of the atmosphere It
will be an easy matter to detect the
amount Of alcohol leaving the patient in
the form of vapor. Cold water tubes
arranged inside the cell will measure
the heat given of by the body.
By analysing, weighing and measur-
ing every drop of the alcohol supplied
to the subject through a tube, and by
subtracting from this the sum of all
that is given of by him in vapor or
otherwise during the experiment, 1t will
be possible to estimate the exact
amount retained by his body, assim-
Hated and utilized in the formation Of
tissue or energy. If old-fashioned no.
tions be true. long series of expert
ments will prove that all of the alco-
hol. or very nearly all, which has been
supplied to the cell will come out
again. If the suspicious of several mod
ern dietarians be true, the amount re-
jected by the subject will be found
much smaller than that fed to him.
OF course, men will not be required
to subsist in this air-tight box for
days at a time without nourishment
other than alcohol. BY so doing the
dietarian would acquire responsibilities
&Hov 11o,
subject would find himself in box fig
uratively as well at literally, while his
attendants would have a good sized
Theoretically sealed case Of delirium
tremens on their hands. The "oil Of
Joy" must be administered with other
divide the period Of each subjects con-
finement into equal parts with menus
exactly uniform, except for an allow
ance Of alcohol for one period and an
enforced abstinence therefrom during
another. Comparison will indicate how
the alcohol is disposed Of and its infiu-
ence in the digestion Of the foods taken
with it. BY comparing results obtained
with subjects who have been habitual
drinkers, the exact effect Of the drink
ing habit upon the digestive system
may be learned.
By pursuing the inquiry with large
numbers of subjects of various ages.
sexes. constitutions and habits, it may
be estimated whether alcohol in the
diet is more injurious to child than
to an adult, to woman than to
man. or to the weak, perhaps. than the
to the robust. 1t may be possible also
to discover at what time of day alco-
hol is most Injurious; whether it Is more
dangerous to drink it at night than in
the day time; just before or just after
meals, sleep or exercise. BY altering
the temperature, moisture or pressure
Of the air In the chamber, the exact
foundation data may be obtained: also
whether alcohol in some foods is more
harmful than in others might be in
vestigated. 1t is well known. for in
stance, that the Frenchman can drink
more wine and the German more beer
than the American. Is this due to q