The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-03-26
THEY THINK THEY DO BETTER

Many misguided persons believe they do better work, accomplish more, work faster, when they have had drink or two of alcoholic beverage or liquor. Then under the effects of alcohol they are likely to be arbitrary about this and to express contempt or intolerance for any scientific or factual evidence to the contrary.
 Medical scientists have generally assumed that a limited quantity of alcohol can be oxidized or burned and utilized in the body as fuel it1- stead of food. They have thought that the energy yielded by the com bustion of this limited quantity of alcohol is as available or applicable in the performance of muscular work as it is in providing heat. But more accurate Investigation of the metabolism of alcohol in the body has recently shown that alco- hol cannot be used in the perform ance of muscular work, but only for heating the body. The perform Snce of muscular work demands food, not merely fuel; the food fuel required for muscular work is sugar, the blood sugar, glycoger1, glucose, dextrose, and that is de- rived from carbohydrate food - starches and sugars.
 This being so, there can be no scientific or common sense ground for the notion that alcohol is a food" Even as fuel to provide heat it is without practical value except in conditions where the pa tient is unable to take proper food. It must be remembered that just as soon as a person takes more alcohol than the limited amount the body can oxidize, burn and utilize as fuel (the excess gives a perceptible odor of alcohol or aldehyde oon the breath), the effect of the mild in- toxication is to cause increased loss of body heat, through the with draWal of blood from the internal organs to the surface where it re- mains too long cooling off, in the re- faxed arterioles. This action of al- cohol explains why a person ex- posed to extreme cold is more likely to freeze to death if he has been drinking. ..
 Because the first effect of alcohol is to depress or lull the higher brain such as judgment, the drinker himself is incapable of per- ceiying these effects of a drink or two. He thinks he is stimulated, when in fact his consciousness IS half asleep. When guests at party "wake up under the influence of cocktails, wine or other alcoholic beverage they are really 1allng asleep. so far as the exercise of req son and judgment and discretion ana intelligence are concerned. Repeated drinks still further drug or abolish the consciousness and then even the slightly tipsy observer can see that the more typsy ones are pe- having badly. But always the drinkers think they are doing well.
 Actual measurements of reaction time prove that a person who has had one or two drinks of alcoholic liquor is slower by from one-fifth to two-fifths of a second in respond- ing to signal or a danger sign, and is therefore unfit to drive an auto mobile, for tragic accidents can happen in one-fifth or two-fifths of a secondhand do happen every hour, though in this country the offender is rarely held accountable for his criminal negligence. Such drunken drivers evade responsibility by pleading they were not intoxi- cated, just had drink or two, and there is plenty of ordinary and expert testimony available, at a price, to satisfy any jury on that point. Besides, the law in this country leaves the definition of in toxication to the lawyers. It makes lots of business for the lawyers.
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