The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-04-21

OF Resistance" circulated widely
among German soldiers:
There is no justification for cali
ing beer liquid bread: q glass Of
heavy beer costing twenty-five pfenig.
nigs has no more nourishment than a
piece of cheese costing one pfennis.
Almost all excuses and disturbances
in the army are traced TO drink. 80.
1t is mostly beer that causes the
mischief. Beer is not the harmless
drink 1t is supposed to be-
Almost invariably the drink habit
is inaugurated through the use of
beer. Scientific men and schoolgirls
In general fail to agree with brewers
in their contention that beer drives
out stronger liquors. Professor Stuerm-
pei, of Breslau. Germany. says:
Nothing Ia more erroneous than to
think of diminishing the dcs ructfve
effects Of alcoholism by substituting
beer for other alcoholic drinks" OF
eighteen cases of drunkenness appear
ing before a police court Judge hand
running" recently. fifteen said that
they had been drinking beer. The old
topers had been using whiskey. Half
of these beer cases involved assault
and battery or destruction of prop
erty.
The contention that beer is a hot
weather drink" has also become a
broken reed. For Or. Alfred Plehn
world famous as a tropical hygien-
ist--warns explicitly against Its use.
arguing that, in his experience, * is
especially suited, under the patho-
logical conditions which a hot climate
creates. to excite disturhauc es in the
stomach and other digestive organs.
What we hive said concerning
beer applies with at least equal force
to ale The man who drinks ale or
beer or stout. drinks it because he
likes its narcotic and Supplying CT
fects II he thinks he gets any other
effects from 1t, he is deluding HIM
self.
We know exactly how much nutrf-
ment a glass of beer contains. IT
contains about per cent of malt
extractor one part OF twenty the
food value of which Is variable,
This extract consists Of protein
matter, converted and unconverted
sugar, hop resin, ana other sub
stances Of no dietary value, left AZ
residue after complete evaporation.
In addition. beer sometimes contains
preservatives such as sodium fluo-
ride and salicylic acid. together with
soda bicarbonate to neutralize the
acidity and to help put the foaminE
head" on IL; also sai+, to overcome
the disagreeable taste--and perhaps
inspire a languishing thirst for more
of this liquid food"
DR.. Wiley some time ago very eff
fectually disposed OF the status OF
salicylic acid and preserVauves, and
even the most enthusiastic exponents
Of food In beer will hardly urge
the use of hop resin as an article o.
diet.
AS regards the recent claims that
Iectthin. or nerve fat" has been dis
covered in beer. this Is interesting, II
true II II has-despite all the pains
taking negative analysis or many
generations of chemists-it IS quite
sa fe TO estimate that the total amount
contained In four carloads OF beee
might approximate ths quantity con
ceaied about the person of one Wig
orous fresh egg which would give
II nutrftIonaI ylue almost as high
IA that Of the hole in a doughnut.
This leaves US a few grains OF pro-
teid and a small amount OF sugar as
the food" in beer. If the tissues are
supplied with a liberal amount or
water-aithough no one claims water
as a food per seize can be sustained
for a very considerable time, Or.
Tanner tasted for forty days, Per-
hans some beer-encouraged expert
might do even better. He might IT
he could rid the beer of Its or per
cent alcohol content--a content that
in the absence of other food to attack
would prey upon the tissues like a
MYRIAD Of infinitesimal teeth. But II
he aid. the genial draft would no long
er be beer
Many years ago Baron Justus Won
Iiebig, in his "Chemische Rriefe.
said "It is now possible to demon
strate with mathematical certainty
that, so far as enrichtng the blood is
concerned, the flour that will lie on
the point OF a knife affords more
nourtshment than four measures OF
the best Bavarian beer. Anybody
who drinks a measure OF beer daily
would thus imhibe in one year about
as much nourishment as Is contained
in a pound OF bread"
Thus we haze a convincing accu-
mutation OF scientific opinion to diA-
prove the oft-Quoted assertion OF
Professor Ado!ph Cluss. of the Royal
College of Vienna, that Beer makes
good the waste in human tissues, due
to excessive mental or physical ac-
tivity." 1t does not make 1t good,
/ chiefly because II contains nothing
to make 1t good with.
In the absence of more convincing
proof, II would seem that those who
class beer among the foods are con-
cerned chiefly in exercising their
imaginations. Sure II Is that they