The weekly examiner., 1901-05-11
FOOD OR FOLSOM ?
More Light on the Action of Alcohol "A Thorough Treatment of
 the Subject.

''The reader of this paper may crit icise the wording of the question con ] tained in the title, for no one can dis
 can destroy animal or vegetable pro- | toplasm; that if taken in large doses l it produces disease and has paralyz- ing action, and like all other poisons, if taken in small doses, it has stim-
 ulating effect. The question, there fore, ought to read: Can alcohol, de- spite it's unquestionab1e toxic proper ties, also act as food?4. This is what we shall endeavor to discuss here on the basis of the facts hitherto estab-
 ished. But we shall also consider the more general questions of the na- ture of the nutritive and paralyzing qualities of substances, and whether it is possible for 8 substance to act at the same time as food and a poi son."
 Dr. Kassowitz, the author of this paper, then goes on to consider the facts in regard to alcohol which have been established by long and thor ough and scientific experiment, quot ing from known and recognized au- thorities on the subject. After hold ing up both sides of the question, he declares: "The paramount question remains, therefore, Is it true that al-
 cohol, which is poison, is at the
 same time a food-or, in other words,
 are the tissue-saving and the nour- ishing properties attributed to alco- hol based upon undeniable facts, or only upon theoretical cons tructions ?''
 4 ,,1 <5
 ation of this paramount question" !" he concludes as follows:
 'sIt is, therefore, wholly inappro- priate to speak of alcohol as fat saving, and there is still less sense in regarding a toxic substance as food, because the protoplasm it has de- stroyed is no longer capable of talk ing part in the vital processes and the oxidations associated with them. Nor is there any reason for speaking of desirable saving, or, indeed, of a nouris hing function of alcohol, if by benumbing the brain centers it low
 CTS the functional activity of the or gans innervated by them, and thus causes a diminution of the oxidation processes accompanying their ,actiy- ity. Probably combination of these two factors causes the diIninution in the consumption of oxygen, which has been noted; but neither in the one case nor the other can the lower ing of oxidation and of the co1.sump- tion of fat be attributed to nourish ing, but only to the toxic action of al- coho1
 s'We are thus freed from the di- "a Sv, S0k pa1a d 1vy admitting on the one hand that alco- hol has no albumen-saving properties, as was proven by many experiments, and, on the other hand, by claiming for 1t the powersto save 4ffat fat For the. two facts from which these contra dictory assumptions have been de- duced, namely, the absence of dimi- mutton in the breaking up of fat, far from being contradictory, are simply the necessary results of the toxic and deleterious action which alcohol ex- erts upon the protoplasm.
 'tTn this statement, our final sen tence against alcohol is pronounced. For the animal and human organism alcohol is not both food and poi son, but only a poison, which, like a11 other poisons, is excitant when taken in small doses, while in larger ones 1t produces paralysis and death.
 "The practical consequences of this view now obtained are matter of course. We can no longer think of administering the toxin of the yeast germ as food, or with the idea of re- tarding tissue waste in febrile states or wasting diseases. For it would be strange procedure to introduce a substance into the body for the pur- pose of retarding waste, which itself attacks and destroys living proto- plasm. Nor is there any sense in rec ommending the toxic alcohol as heat and energy-producing agent on the ground that it is oxidized in the body. Fever patients engender heat in abundance, and they, as we'll as we, their counse1ors, ought to employ every means possible to relieve them of that injurious superabundance. It only remains to ask whether in case of levers we should make use of the stimulating and antipyretic action of alcohol. On the basis of practical ex- perience, as we'll as from my theo- retic standpoint, should answer this question most decidedly in the nega- tive" Further on Dr. Kassowitz says: ."Pneumonia especially subsidies with out alcohol to perfect satisfaction And rejoice to agree in this respect with Aufrecht, one of the best au- thorities on this disease, who, in his monograph in NohtnageTs manual, acknowledges himself hostile to the use of alcohol in trtatment of pneu- monia, and hopes that it's use may be speedily abolished. For the reasons specified above, should like to see that extended to all use of alcohol in therapeutics. However, that can come to pass only when all thinking phy- sicians clearly appreciate the fact