s quite
superfluous to man, * * * it is constantly followed by the expenditure
of power"--whereas, the real function of food is to give power. He adds:
"These drinks promote the change of matter in the body, and are,
consequently, attended by an inward loss of power, which ceases to be
productive, because it is not employed in overcoming outward
difficulties--i.e., in working." In other words, this great chemist
asserts that alcohol abstracts the power of the system from doing useful
work in the field or workshop, in order to cleanse the house from the
defilement of alcohol itself.

The late Dr. W. Brinton, Physician to St. Thomas', in his great work on
Dietetics, says: "Careful observation leaves little doubt that a
moderate dose of beer or wine would, in most cases, at once diminish the
maximum weight which a healthy person could lift. Mental acuteness,
accuracy of perception and delicacy of the senses are all so far opposed
by alcohol, as that the maximum efforts of each are incompatible with
the ingestion of any moderate quantity of fermented liquid. A single
glass will often suffice to take the edge off both mind and body, and to
reduce their capacity to something below their perfection of work."

Dr. F.R. Lees, F.S.A., writing on the subject of alcohol as a food,
makes the following quotation from an essay on "Stimulating Drinks,"
published by Dr. H.R. Madden, as long ago as 1847: "Alcohol is not the
natural stimulus to any of our organs, and hence, functions performed in
consequence of its application, tend to debilitate the organ acted
upon.

"Alcohol is incapable of being assimilated or converted into any organic
proximate principle, and hence, cannot be considered nutritious.

"The strength experienced after the use of alcohol is not new strength
added to the system, but is manifested by calling into exercise the
nervous energy pre-existing.

"The ultimate exhausting effects of alcohol, owing to its stimulant
properties, produce an unnatural susceptibility to morbid action in all
the organs, and this, with the plethora superinduced, becomes a fertile
source of disease.

"A person who habitually exerts himself to such an extent as to require
the daily use of stimulants to ward off exhaustion, may be compared to a
machine working under high pressure. He will become much more obnoxious
to the causes of disease, and will certainly break down sooner than he
would have done under more favorable circumstances.