Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-10-24
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF iNTEMPE RANCE.

Or. John Madden Has Contr ibu ted an Es-
pecially Notable Paper to the Discus
sion Whether Alcohol is q Food or
Poison-Inimical to the Body.
To the scientific literature produced in
answer to the question, "ls alcohol food
Or a poison" DR.. John Madden has re-
Gently added an especially notable paper
DR.. Madden is professor of physiology
n Milwaukee Medical College. His arti-
,le on the subject is contributed to the
Scientific American. After thorough
review of the various experiments that
have been made to solve the problem ana
a rehearsal of the opinions OF other hlgh
authorities, DIR. Madden presents the iol-
lowing conclusions:
"If those small quantities of alcohol
oxidized within the body are to be called
foods. should they not exhibit the char
acteristics of food by increasing the nor
NAL functions of brain or muscle? :,
"Is it not fatal inconsistency to call
any substance a food which does not give
increased warmth to the body, but, IN
stead, decreases the bodily temperature;
which does not protect the nitrogenous
tissues from waste, but does increase their
rate of metabolism: which does not give
added power to the nerve cells OF the
brain, but, on the contrary. always de-
creases the quality of their products;
which does not enable the muscle to con
decrease its capabilty for doing work?
"The argument has been made repeat
edly and reiterated persistently in the
past year OF two that the fact of alcohol
not being oxidized within the body was
prima-facie evidence that it contributed
to bodily energy. But this is proved by
incontrovertible evidence to be fallacous.
"Another argument much used in favor
of the food value of alcohol is that physi.
clans find it valuable in certain cases OF
extremely low vitality; that there are Ger.
tain conditions of this kind which alcohol
alone can reach
"Such assertions as these are not easy
to refute, simply because they are vague
and so much of a personal equation enters
into them.
THE writer has seen many cases OF
this kind and has had many in his OVID
practice in which the therapeutic value of
alcohol was thoroughly tested, but he can
not recall a single case in which the alco-
hol was known to have saved a life, or, in
deed, to have been of any value as food.
and the majority of the best and most
carefully educated and most experienced
physicians of to-day are against alcohol In
any quantity as source of bodily nutri-
ton.
considering the foregoing evidence are
we not fully justified in calling alcohol a
poison, meaning thereby that it is a sub
stance inimical to the organism, producing
injury in small and death in larger quanti-
ties? Are we not. moreover, by the same
evidence, fully justified in denying it a
place in any classifcations of foods because
it neither repairs tissue waste nor protects
the organism, neither is it a source of or
ganic force?
Let us continue to teach our boys and
| girls that alcohol is a poison; that the
| fact of its being oxidized in the body, il
taken in small quantities, is not sufficient
to constitute food; and that the normal
man is never benefited by it in any qua"
tity"