.

Dr. Noble, writing recently to the _London Times_, said:--

"The internal use of alcohol in disease is as injurious as in
health."

Since foods induce healthy, normal action of all the bodily functions,
and alcohol injures every organ of the body in direct proportion to the
amount consumed, by this test it is proved to not be a food.

_Foods give strength._ Alcohol weakens the body. This has been
determined again and again by experiments upon gangs of workmen and
regiments of soldiers. These experiments always resulted in showing that
upon the days when the men were supplied with liquor they could neither
use their muscles so powerfully, nor for so long a time, as on the days
when they received no alcoholic drink. Of the results of such tests Sir
Andrew Clark, late Physician to Queen Victoria, said:--

"It is capable of proof beyond all possibility of question that
alcohol not only does not help work but is a serious hinderer of
work."

So satisfied are generals in the British army of the weakening effect of
alcohol that its use is now forbidden to soldiers when any considerable
call is to be made upon their strength. The latest example of this was
in the recent Soudan campaign under Sir Herbert Kitchener. An order was
issued by the War Department that not a drop of intoxicating liquor was
to be allowed in camp save for hospital use. The army made phenomenal
forced marches through the desert, under a burning sun and in a climate
famous for its power to kill the unacclimated. It is said that never
before was there a British campaign occasioning so little sickness and
showing so much endurance. Some Greek merchants ran a large consignment
of liquors through by the Berber-Suakim route, but Sir Herbert had them
emptied upon the sand of the desert. A reporter telegraphed to
England:--

"The men are in magnificent condition and in great spirits. They
are as hard as nails, and in a recent desert march of fifteen
miles, with manoeuvring instead of halts, the whole lasting
for five continuous hours, not a single man fell out!"

This was in decided contrast to the march in the African war some years
before when, as they passed through a malarial district, and a dram was
served, men fell out by dozens. Dr. Parkes, one of the medical officers,
prevailed upon the commander-in-chief to not allow any more alcoholic
drams while the troops were marching to Kumassi.

Experiments in liftin