Hellsten,[14] and
others.

[Sidenote: Influence on Bodily Resistance to Disease]

Muller, Wirgin and others[15] have shown that alcohol restricts the
formation of antibodies (the function of which is to resist infection in
the blood) in rabbits, and Laitinen[16] has shown that the prolonged
administration of small doses in men (15 cc.) is sufficient to lower
vital resistance, especially to typhoid fever.

Rubin[17] has demonstrated that alcohol, ether and chloroform, injected
under the skin, render rabbits more vulnerable to streptococcus (blood
poison) and pneumnococcus infection (pneumonia); Stewart,[18] that small
amounts lower the resistance to tuberculosis and streptococcus
infection; Craig and Nichols,[19] that moderate doses of whisky were
sufficient to cause a negative Wassermann reaction in syphilitic
subjects; Fillinger[20] found the resistance of red blood cells much
reduced after the administration of champagne to healthy human subjects.
Similar results were found in dogs and rabbits.

Weinburg[21] confirmed these results by the same methods, showing that
20 per cent. of the red cells lose their resistance after the
administration of 450 cc. of champagne.

Parkinson,[22] in a series of careful tests, failed to establish any
influence on phagocytosis (capacity of the white blood cells to destroy
bacteria), except when large doses or continuous moderate doses were
taken.

[Sidenote: Effect on Circulation]

On the heart and circulation, alcohol acts as a depressant, increasing
the rate, but not the force, of the pulse. It causes depression of the
nerve center controlling the blood vessels and thus lowers blood
pressure. Large doses cause paralysis of these nerves and of the heart.

Miller and Brooks[23] found from small doses (6 to 12 cc. absolute
alcohol) an increase in blood pressure in conscious (unanesthetized)
animals, contrary to the findings of Crile,[24] Cabot,[25] Dennig,[26]
Hindelang and Gruenbaum, Alexandroff[27] and others, _in man_; but the
amounts were small and variable, according to individual susceptibility,
_thus showing the drug to be, even on such evidence, uncertain and
unserviceable as a heart stimulant_.

[Sidenote: Food Value]

Atwater and Benedict,[28] and Beebe[29] and Mendel,[30] have shown that
alcohol is a "protein sparer," and can, to some extent, take the place
of fats and carbohydrates. This is what is meant by calling alcohol a
"food." Always, however, it fails to