The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-25
FRENCH DOCTORS ON ALCOHOL.
Medical Discussion of the Experiments
 of Atwater and Benedict.

of Atwater and Benedict.
 To-morrow's issue of the Revue" will contain series of important in- terviews with some of the most erni- nent medical specialists and chemists in Paris respecting the alimentary value of alcohol. am indebted to the courtesy of the editor for the cornmuni- cation in advance of this interesting paper.
 The old question whether alcohol is a food or poison has latterly given rise 10 much heated discussion in Paris. Indeed. there is every likelihood of a court of justice being called upon to come to a decision which may conceiv- ably involve the adoption of one or other of these two stand-points. The probability is. however, that it will be disposed to take the middle course, which seems to be favored by the lead- CTS of the medical profession namely that it is either an aliment or a poison according to its quantity and the man ner in which it is consumed. The. steady increase of drunkenness in France and of the diseases that inva- riably accompany 1t have aroused great anxiety in medical and other circles concerned for dfhe public health. This growing consciousness of a great na- tional danger has resulted in a move ment for the promotion of temperance which has received certain amount of official support. A couple of weeks ago the Prefecture of the Seine caused a large placard to be posted on the hoardings throughout Paris warning the public against the evil effects of all coholic liquors. Thereupon the Cham bre Syndicate des Marchands de Win immediately brought an action against the Prefect for the damage done to their trade. A short time previously the general interest in the subject was enhanced by the proceedings of the Academy of Medicine, which had been intrusted by the Ministry of the Interi- or with the preparation of list of the. poisonous essences used in the manu- facture of liqueurs, and by a striking article published almost simultaneously by the director of the Pasteur Insti- ute. in which M. Duclaux threw the prestige of his scientific authority into the scale on the side. of the alimentary value of alcohol. may add that his opinion was to some extent based on the experiments of two American phys iologists, Messrs. Atwater and Bene- dict.
 The authorities cited in the Revue" include M. Duelaux and two of his col leagues at the Pasteur Institute, the celebrated chemist and ex- Minister, M. Berthelot,, and such we'll known names as NM. Bernheim (of Nancy), Bourne vile; @Brouardel, Hericourt, Joffroy, Le Grain, Lancereaux, Landouzy, Girard and Richet The Revue sums up the results of their opinions as follows: M. Duclaux, it says, appears to be sjusti- fled, at least theoretically, in maintain ing the alimentary value of alcohol and wine. Some of his eminent confreres only contest the accuracy of his con- eIusiens, because they differ from him as to the correct definition of alimen- tary substances. If they only ascribe a nutritive character to substances that are capable of being absorbed by the organism and of reconstituting it's tis- sues then alcohol is not an aliment., M. Berthelot's opinion on that point is conclusive. If, on the other hand, they include among alimentary substances all those of which certain quantity can be assimilated without prejudice to it's functions by the organism in which it's combustion produces heat trans formable into energy, then the savans are unanimous in considering that M. Duclaux's opinion is correct. The practical question is the quantity of wine and spirits useful, or at least in nocuous,. for the average constitution. M. Duclaux mentions a litre of wine a day, and several of his confreres have supported that view. Professor Joffroy would allow about three-quarters of a litre of wine containing ten per cent. of alcohol. As to splits, M, Duclauxi con- siders that twelve to fifteen liqueur glasses a day could do no harm, but, then, what he has in view is pure alco-. hol largely diluted with water. 1t is necessary to reckon with the corrosive character of spirits in concentrated form. Most of the authorities inter- viewed favor 8 much smaller dose than does M. Duclaux. Dr. 3 Lancereaux would permit liqueur glass of spirits after each meal. It should be taken on a full stomach, as in those conditions it loses its corrosive character. It's use before meals, on the other hand, is generally reprehended by the faculty. All these recommendations assume the use of good wine and pure spirits, such liquors as absinthe, ver1nouth and the like being unanimously condemned,- Paris Correspondence of the London Times. a -=. :,