instruction. In considering this question it was apparent that the question as to whether alcoholic drinks are in any sense a food was one of very considerable importance, and one which did not appear to have received such a definite solution as would meet the general approval of scientific physiologists and physicians, although the prevailing opinion among leaders in physiological science is that alcohol is really a food.

Just at this time the opportunity was offered to make a series of experiments upon this point by means of a recently completed calorimeter devised by Professors Atwater and Rosa of Wesleyan University, and the committee, after examining this apparatus and the general plan of investigation proposed by Professor Atwater, were satisfied that in this way a more definite answer to the question could be obtained, and, the necessary funds having been provided by the General Committee, the work was at once commenced and has been continued for some four years. The results were published in detail as a Memoir of the National Academy of Sciences (volume viii., Sixth Memoir, Washington, 1902), entitled "An Experimental Inquiry regarding the Nutritive Value of Alcohol," by W. O. Atwater and F. G. Benedict.

The work which has been done under the general direction of the committee may be summed up as follows:

I. An investigation on the influence of alcohol and alcoholic drinks upon the chemical processes of digestion, by Professor R. H. Chittenden and Dr. L. B. Mendel.

II. A further study of the influence of alcohol and alcoholic drinks upon digestion with special reference to secretion, by Professor R. H. Chittenden, Dr. L. B. Mendel, and Dr. H. C. Jackson.

III. An investigation on the effects of long-continued doses of alcohol or alcoholic liquors in producing organic changes in certain tissues and organs of the body, made by Professor William Welch and Dr. J. Friedenwald,

In this connection should be mentioned an investigation made by Dr. H. J. Berkley of Baltimore, on the lesions produced by the long-continued use of alcohol on the cortical nerve cells of the brain (“Brain," pt. lxxii., 1895, pp. 473–496, plates), and also one by Colin C. Stewart, on the influence of acute alcoholic poisoning on nerve cells ("Journal of Experimental Medicine," vol. i., 1896, pp. 623-629).

IV. An investigation as to the effects of alcohol and alcoholic drinks on the growth, development, and reproductive powers of animals, by Professor C. F. Hodge of Clark University.

V. An investigation on the influence of alcoholism on infection and immunity, by Professor A. C. Abbott of the University of Pennsylvania.

VI. An investigation of the extent to which alcohol is consumed in the living human body, and its action as a force producer and a food, by Professors W. O. Atwater and F. G. Benedict of Wesleyan University.

VII. An investigation on the relations between the use of alcoholic drinks and insanity, made by the American MedicoPsychological Association.

VIII. A statistical investigation as to the relative prevalence of the use of alcoholic drinks among brain workers in the United States, by Dr. J. S. Billings.

IX. An investigation of the opinions and teachings of leading physiologists and pathologists of the present day, with regard to the effects of alcoholic drinks, and a comparison of these with the teachings of text-books in use in the common schools of this country, by Professors H. P. Bowditch of Harvard and C. F. Hodge of Clark University.

This historical sketch of the development of the plans of research of the Physiological Committee has been given to show that it was clearly recognized that the field for investigation was a very wide one, and that there are many unsettled questions with regard to the physiological and pathological action of alcoholic drinks upon the human body.

With the funds that were available and the number of skilled experimental investigators whose services could be commanded for work of this kind, it was impossible to undertake anything like a complete series of experimental investigations, or reliable and satisfactory statistical inquiries as to the effects produced on man by the moderate use of alcoholic drinks. The committee did not consider it necessary to make special inquiries as to the effects produced on man by what is ordinarily termed an excessive use of liquors, since the evidence that such use tends to produce disease and shorten life has now so accumulated that detailed statistics on this point are unnecessary.

The object which the committee had in view was, as indicated above, to ascertain the effects of the occasional or habitual use of a moderate quantity of wine, beer, or spirits upon the health and working powers of man. As to the term "moderate quantity," the committee accepted the use of this phrase among English physicians as formulated by Anstie, viz., the equivalent of one and one half (11) ounces of absolute alcohol per day, or about three (3) ounces of whiskey, or half a bottle of claret or Rhine wine, or four (4) glasses of beer; it being understood that this is to be taken only at lunch and dinner, and that the whiskey is to be well diluted.

CONCLUSIONS.

As the result of their investigations and deliberations the committee have arrived at the following conclusions: —

I. The effects of a moderate or occasional use of alcoholic drinks upon man differ greatly in different individuals, and depend on constitutional peculiarities, age, occupation, climate, etc. Most of them, especially the ultimate effects upon health, cannot be ascertained with much accuracy by experiments upon animals or upon a few men for short periods of time.

II. The results of the many experiments of this kind which have been made up to the present time appear to us to be fairly stated in the papers by Professors Abel, Atwater, Chittenden, and Welch, printed with this report. The committee agree upon the general and more important conclusions of these papers after careful examination and personal conference.

III. We have no trustworthy data as to the proportions of total abstainers, occasional drinkers, regular moderate drinkers, and positively intemperate persons in the United States. From such information as we have, it seems to us probable that of the adult males in this country, not more than twenty per cent. are total abstainers, and not more than five per cent. are positively intemperate in the sense that they drink in such excess as to cause evident injury to health. Of the remaining seventy-five per cent., the majority, probably at least fifty per cent. of the whole, are occasional drinkers, while the remaining twenty-five per cent. might perhaps be classed as regular moderate drinkers. With the majority of these occasional drinkers, and with many of the regular moderate drinkers, such as those whose

drinking is limited to a glass of wine or two at dinner, no especial effect upon health seems to be observed either by themselves or their physicians, but in some cases the drinking is certainly harmful, while in a few it is thought to be beneficial.

IV. Among the leading brain workers of the United States, as indicated by the statistics in the table on page 313, vol. i., of this report, it would appear that about eighty per cent. use alcoholic drinks occasionally or regularly in moderation. The opinions of these men as to the effects of alcoholic drinks in general have little or no scientific value, but are of interest as showing that the use of such drinks to stimulate mental effort gives, on the whole, bad results.

We believe that such occasional or moderate use is most likely to be harmful to young persons, and mainly because of the danger of its leading to excess; and that the cases where it is useful, otherwise than in disease, are mostly those of persons over fifty years of age and when the alcoholic beverages are taken with the last meal of the day. /

V. The special effects of alcoholic drinks are mainly due to the alcohol they contain, and, so far as these effects are harmful, the other substances are of comparatively small importance. Fine old whiskeys and brandies are nearly as likely to produce injurious effects as are the cheaper grades of the same liquors, if taken in the same quantities. Some wines appear to delay or check the digestive process by reason of other constituents than alcohol, as is shown by the experiments of Professor Chittenden with regard to the effects of claret. In general the injurious effect of an alcoholic drink is in proportion to the amount of alcohol contained in it, which seems to be the chief reason why wine and beer are less injurious than distilled liquors.

VI. The question as to whether a given alcoholic drink is a food or a poison is one which cannot be answered by any short comprehensive formula. In moderate quantities, beer, wine, and diluted whiskey are, in a certain sense, foods; but they are seldom used for food purposes, but mainly for their peculiar effects on the brain. In large quantities, and, for a few persons of peculiar temperament, even in moderate quantities, they are, poisons.

VII. Alcoholic drinks in moderate quantities may be useful as restoratives in fatigue after the work is done, but they often

produce a depressing and even harmful effect when used just before or during physical or mental labor. They are useless as preventives of infectious or contagious disease; on the contrary, they appear to lessen the power of the organism to resist the effects of the cause of such disease.

VIII. The report prepared by Dr. H. P. Bowditch of Boston, and Professor C. F. Hodge of Worcester, Mass., on the present instruction on the physiological action of alcohol, is believed to be a correct representation of the facts, and to justify the conclusion that much of the methods and substance of the so-called scientific temperance instruction in the public schools is unscientific and undesirable. It is not in accord with the opinions of a large majority of the leading physiologists of Europe as shown by the statement printed on page 18 of volume i. of this Report. This appears to us to be a matter of grave importance. IX. It does not seem to this sub-committee desirable to attempt to give systematic instruction to all children in the primary schools on the subject of the action of alcohol or of alcoholic drinks. To older children, and especially those in the high schools, it does seem proper that instruction should be given as to the principal facts known about the use and effects of alcoholic drinks, the sociological and especially the ethical relations of the subject, the means which have been tried to prevent the evils resulting from alcoholism—and the results, the object being to enable them to form an intelligent opinion upon the whole subject, especially to distinguish between mere assertions and scientific evidence.

X. This teaching should not be made a special, isolated matter, but should be a part of some elementary instruction in physiology and hygiene, and all that is really useful and desirable can be given in a brief time, equivalent to a few lessons of an hour each, following the lessons on food. In these lessons might be taught what the ordinary alcoholic drinks are, and of what and how they are made, the difference between simple fermented drinks, like beer and wine, and distilled liquor, such as whiskey, the nature of the so-called "temperance drinks," and the general effects of alcohol as a stimulant and as a narcotic. It might be taught that while in moderate quantities beer and wine may be, in a certain sense, a food, they are a very imperfect and expensive kind of food, and are seldom used for food