The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-08-23

-"
The my medical journal, American
Medicine" Of Philadelphia, contains IN
two recent numbers an elaborate ar
ticle upon the food value Of alcohol
from the pen OF Prof John Madden.
A. p. formerly OF the Wisconsin Col
iege Of Physicians and Surgeons. The
article Is prepared with direct refer
ence to the alleged discoveries Of Pro
fessor Atwater. OF Middleton. Conn,
and Is exhaustive IN It's treatment Of
that gentleman's discussion OF the
subject: Such substances as gunpow-
der, nslro-glycerine. guncotton. and
the like. containing an enormous
amount Of latent energy would be val
uable as foods provided. (1l that the
introduction Of any one Of them had
no irritating effects upon the tissues
with which they come In contact; (2)
that the energy contained therein
might be liberated IN c ordinary man
ner as needed by the tissues, all ex-
cess being stored for future use, Just
IN that degree with which any sub
stance conforms with these conditions
Is Il valuable as a food Testing aleo-
hol BY these requirements what DO we
findg In the nrst place, on all hands,
It r. recognized as an active proto-
plasm poison. so active. indeed, that
less than a fourth as much as is neees-
sary to furnish the Tissues with fuel
may be taken daily without tissue de-
rangement being universally apparent,
and but a very little more than enough
70 supply the tissues with their daily
needs OF fuel has been found sufncient
to destroy life when taken In single
dose Does Il need a technical educa-
tion 70 determine whether any poison
so violent a. this shall be called a
food or notg II seems that very fey
facts in science admit a clearer oem-
onstration than that alcohol is not
food Its destructive properties alone
are sufficient 20 at once and forever
bar II from the lists Of foods u any
class. Suppose you we're a traveller in
a savage country among savage peo-
pie, and you became hungry. as It is
quite likely you would become. and
your savage hosts should set before
you a food. some species Of banana Il
you please, telling ycn that IL was a
valuable and universally used food.
but that you might not eat more than
one-quarter enough 70 satisfy your
wants, and that II you ate enough TO
supply the needs Of your body quite
likely It would kin you? Would you
not marvel that these people should
all anything so dangerous food9
Would you, indeed. take any part OF
itg
Many poiaons besides alcohol con-
tain a large amount Of latent energy
which Is easily set free IN the body.
Phosphorus. many ptomains, and nu-
merous other substances have both Of
these properties. Shall we say that
these substances. too. are foods when
given IN small quantities; that IS, In
quantities too small to produce lethal
effects or effects which are not greatly
destructive 70 the tissues with which
they come In contact? Shall We make
or alcohol onc-fourth Of our non-nltro-
genoue food OF phosphorus a still
smaller fraction. and Of other oxidiza-
be poisons other stili smaller factions.
anply because IN these quantities they
do not kin nor DO any great apparent
damage? Surely there is only one an
swor TO a question Of this kind