ALCOHOL AND THE HUMAN BODY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 110, 19 November 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

ALCOHOL AND THE HUMAN BODY.

THE VERDICT OF SCIENCK

By DR. C. VV. SALEBY in the "London Daily Chronicle."

In a war ot endurance we nius:. jot tire even of tiresome subjects, if their issues be vital and mortal. Another winter is before the nation and the Army, and we have not stopped drinking. The King's example and Lord Kitchener's have not been followed. In last March we drank 5 per cent. mo»o spirits than in the March before. Waterloo Station is a perpetual scandal. Lord Kitchener has found such disasters to follow from allowing out convalescents home from hospital that he has had to contrive convalescent hospitals where the men may continue to recover instead of relapsing; out even so the temptation is everywhere, and though the public-houses are out at bounds, the men's friends meet them with bottles or wh»sk>. .Let anyone wuu pleases inquire in Jipsom as to this. As tor the wives ot our men, and the mothers of tne finest of our next generation, those who are most devotee. to them, and who work hardest tor them, know best how deplorable is the misuse of much of the nation s money, rightly allotted for the best of purposes. Politicians may be sick of the subject, but alochol is alcohol still, doin its ancient work not least among the most valuable elements of out nation, present and to come. The Fleet, thank heaven, may be excepted. Never has it had such a record of health as since the war broke out. But it has been at sea, and perhaps the words "Lead us not into temptation" still have some sense in them after all. We may be grateful it Sir John Jellicoe is right when he says, "By careful and prolonged tests the shooting efficiency of the men was proved to be 30 per cent, worse after the rum ration than before it."

A PRICELESb BHILLINGSWORTH. Invaluable, therefore, is the timeiy appearance of a fifth edition, enlarged, of ''Alcohol and the Human Body," by Colonel Sir Viotor Horsley and Dr. Mary D. Sturge. Messrs. Macnullau and the authors ive performed a national service in publishing these 3<W pages, amply illustrated, in admirabb print, making the volume far and awv the best shillrogsworth I know. It haw been a labour of love for the authore, but they should not go unrewarded. Much has been learnt in the seven years since the compendious verdict ot science was first published at half a guinea or so. Above all, we are in the supreme crisis of our history, and to learn the truth about alcohol in relation to fatigue, efficiency, accuracy ot mind and body, resistance to cold and infection, is to enhance our national power at home and in the field. Colonel Sir Leonard Rogers, of th« University of Calcutta, has helped with a chapter on alcohol in hot climates, Dr. Arthur Newsholme's unanswerable chapter on alcohol and the statistics of national health has been brought up to date, and especially t& be valued is a new chapter on "Alcohol and the Services," dealing with matters of vital importance in the coming months. No student of national health and efficiency, no one concerned in any way with bur soldiers' health and hap. piness, no one with a vote or a voice, who professes to want the truth on this new edition. The nation has failed hitherto in its duty to itself, its Allies and Freedom, despite the highest example and urgent need. Here are fresh munitions for those who believe that Truth is great and will prevail.

Next winter, as last, our men's chief and continuous enemies will be cold •and damp, alike at home and in the trenches. Last winter's record ol "frost-bite" alone was truly cleploratle. Add to that the almost countless cases of rheumatism and bronchitis, and we see that a main military problem for next winter is that of ''keeping out the co'd." Last winter we failed gravely in [this respect, with cruel consequences. Next winter the consequences might be dangerous as well. The defenders of tho rum-ration hav« no record to boast of, and students of this book will soon learn why. Notwithstanding official fiction* as to medical orders, and so forth, our men have been gett'ng the rum ration practically whenever they chose to ask for it. (I know a Yeomanry regiment, which has never been out of England, but decided to ask for it during the summer, and got it.) Yet the verdict of science, obtained on all the evidence, military, Polar, experimental, is unanimous that alcohol reduces the temperature by interfering with combustion and by throwing tho warm blood into the skin, where it is rapidly cooled. Spirits thus provide all tn« conditions necessary for the development of frost-bite. I have no doubt that they were responsible for thousands of cases of frost-bite, rheumatism, and bronchitis last winter. (Says Sir James Barr: "Alcohol is a very common cause of bronchitis, and is always injurious in the treatment of that affection." ) WHAT THE SOLDIER NEEDS.

"What the soldier, or anyone s needs in order to resist cold went lei is food, warmth, and stimulation. Tht food should be ncn in fuel .•pmt'tuents, such as sugar and tat, and 1* should be served hot, tor all cold food has to be raised to body-In at betore it can be digested. Instead of the " cola deception rum," the soldier ehould have abundant supplies of hot liquid food of a stimulating and palatable kind.

Such supplies should never fail in the trenches next winter, at night 01 early morning. Hot milk, flavoured with coffee or chocolate, and hot thlcU soups, are admirable. Hot Bovril, recently commended in these columns by Sir Harry Johnston, as a substitute for alcohol, is very good. It goes very well with milk, aiding its digestion and absorption, and acting as a real food stimulant. The experiments made upon this substance by Professor Thompson, of Trinity College, Dublin, show that it makes much more effective the value of other foods taken with it.

The provision of hot liquid foods as an alternative to the rum sham with which we cheated our men last winter is perfectly simple, even if it does involve the provision of one more " cooker," or field-kitchen, per unit for troops on the march. Our brave men deserve the best, the real best, that we can 6upply them. The ravages of last winter's cold must not be repeated, and our wounded and invalided must get abek to the line as quickly as the teetotal Turk and Russian. I beseech the reader to study the volume above named, knowing well tnat he will always be grateful to me for the advice.