The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-05-04
Do ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS AID DIGESTION?
By Mrs. Martha A. Allen of Marcellus. n. Y.

AOA VI OAdfCelluS, M Il.
Figg of Edinburg found the same re-
suit with dogs. He fed roast mutton
10 two dogs in equal quantity. Hell
then passed into one dogs stomach.
through tube, one and one-fourth
ounces of alcohol. After five hours
both dogs were killed. The one
which had been given no alcohol had
.dlgested the meat entirely; in the
other digestion had scarcely begun.
Sir William Roberts investigated
with wines and malt liquors also.
With proportion of one-fifth of
Sherry the mixture in the test-tubes
took three times as long to digest as
when no alcoholic liquor was added.
Port wine in One-fifth solution, de-
layed the digestion considerably, but
not so much as sherry, showing that
sherry contains something additional
to the alcohol unfavorable to diges-
ton. Malt liquors also retarded the
digestive processes.
DR.. Crittenden and DR.. Mendel of
Yale pursued a similar method of in
vestigation, and found that even so
small an amount of sherry as one
per cent. reduced digestive activity
With three per cent. solution of
claret equivalent to three-tenths of
one per cent. of alcohoD there was
marked diminution of activity. AS
port, sherry and claret have been ex-
tensively used for digestive disor-
ders it would be we'll to have these
scientific proofs of their harmfulness
brought fOrcibly to public notice.
The equivalent of three tablespoons
full of lager beer to a meal was
found to retard digestion to a very
marked degree. Pancreatic diges-
ton was found to be even more in
juriously affected by alcohol than
gastric digestion. DR.. Crittenden
draws attention to the fact that
with a weak gastric juice, and di-
gestive action consequently slow, or
where the proteid matter is difficult
of digestion, the retarding influence
of alcohol is far greater than when
the digestive fluid is more active.
This shows that the conditions of en-
| feebled digestion for the relief Of
which some people resort to wines,
or malt liquors, are the very condi-
! tons in which alcohol should espe
cially be avoided Alcoholic malt ex-
tracts, "bitters," Jamaica ginger, es-
sence of wintergreen (Which is pure
alcohol f1avOred), and alcoholic pro-
Iprietary floods" are all of like harm
full nature to the weak stomach.
Alcohol, whether taken as whis-
| key, wine or beer, or patent medi-
40
| digestion of women than of men, for
the reason that men are out of doors
more than women, hence retain ap-
lpetite for food longer Beer is said
to be particularly bad for those lead
ling an indoor life. 1t leads to chron-
| ic gastric catarrh.
Parlow says that the very best
stimulus to the flow of gastric juice
is hunger. This is in keeping with
the declaration of Sir Frederick
! Trevers, surgeon to King Edward,
that no appetite needs to be artifi-
cially stimulated. If the body needs
food, Treves says, it will clamOr for
! it. Horace Fletcher says if we want
to be we'll we should never eat I'M
less really hungry, so that the
thought of food makes the mouth
water. Intemperance in eating calls
for alcohol or drugs to deaden the
uneasy sensations. Those who value
health will learn to practice self
Econtrol; for there is no drug that can
make full amends for dietary indis-
jcretions, and there is no drug that
is not more or less injurious in its
effects upon the stomach.
1t is because of this fact that drug
medication has been so largely aban-
doned in the treatment of cOnsump-
ton The stomach must be kept in
as good condition as possible, as the
digestion and assimilation of food
are an absolute necessity to recov-
cry in tuberculosis. Well~will it be
for the world when similar care is
taken of the stomach in all other
diseases.
Certainly in the light of the inves-
| legations briefly referred to in this
article it is a matter of grave i'm
portance whether or not alcoholic
liquors are given to a sick person
throughout an extended Illness. The
impairment of digestion consequent
upon the alcohol may reduce the pa
TENTS strength so that his chance
| for recovery may be materially less
ened The agent given in hopes of
relieving may be the agent that leads
| to death.
People seem to have a mania for
| ton chin o. a man ON hic cora cDOtC