, Dr. Henry Monroe, on "The Physiological Action of
Alcohol." He says:

"Every kind of substance employed by man as food consists of sugar,
starch, oil and glutinous matters, mingled together in various
proportions; these are designed for the support of the animal frame. The
glutinous principles of food--_fibrine, albumen_ and _casein_--are
employed to build up the structure; while the _oil, starch_ and _sugar_
are chiefly used to generate heat in the body.

"The first step of the digestive process is the breaking up of the food
in the mouth by means of the jaws and teeth. On this being done, the
saliva, a viscid liquor, is poured into the mouth from the salivary
glands, and as it mixes with the food, it performs a very important part
in the operation of digestion, rendering the starch of the food soluble,
and gradually changing it into a sort of sugar, after which the other
principles become more miscible with it. Nearly a pint of saliva is
furnished every twenty-four hours for the use of an adult. When the
food has been masticated and mixed with the saliva, it is then passed
into the stomach, where it is acted upon by a juice secreted by the
filaments of that organ, and poured into the stomach in large quantities
whenever food comes in contact with its mucous coats. It consists of a
dilute acid known to the chemists as hydrochloric acid, composed of
hydrogen and chlorine, united together in certain definite proportions.
The gastric juice contains, also, a peculiar organic-ferment or
decomposing substance, containing nitrogen--something of the nature of
yeast--termed _pepsine_, which is easily soluble in the acid just named.
That gastric juice acts as a simple chemical solvent, is proved by the
fact that, after death, it has been known to dissolve the stomach
itself."

ALCOHOL RETARDS DIGESTION.

"It is an error to suppose that, after a good dinner, a glass of spirits
or beer assists digestion; or that any liquor containing alcohol--even
bitter beer--can in any way assist digestion. Mix some bread and meat
with gastric juice; place them in a phial, and keep that phial in a
sand-bath at the slow heat of 98 degrees, occasionally shaking briskly
the contents to imitate the motion of the stomach; you will find, after
six or eight hours, the whole contents blended into one pultaceous mass.
If to another phial of food and gastric juice, treated in the same way,
I add a glass of pale ale or a quantity of alcohol, at the