1933 Jack's Manual by J A Grohusko

INTRODUCTORY

27

geometrical progression with each succeeding dose. Care must be exercised, therefore, in selecting whisky or other spirits for general use. Medical opinion seems only to recognize the fact that new whisky contains oils, assumed to be amylic alcohol, or fusel oil, which must be got rid of by rectification or age. Little attention is given to the other essential oils, the secondary prod ucts of the more correct materials of distillation. These may be either useful or detrimental in that they assist or retard the elimination of the alcohol. A properly distilled and well-matured whisky made from a fully malted barley should be selected. The essential oil of malt,being a bland and harmless substance, fulfills a very useful therapeutic ofSce, as by its diaphoretic action upon the skin it promotes and increases excretion and consequently mitigates the accumulative effects of the alcohol. Both pure malt whisky and genuine cognac brandy possess beneficent qualities in their sec ondary products, the resulting ethers of which have peculiarly pleasing characteristics. Amylic alcohol, on the contrary (the essential oil of grain whisky), is poisonous even in minute doses,and is most difficult to eliminate from the whisky by any process. Its deleterious effect may be recognized by a paralyzing influence upon the skin, which, closing the doors of escape for the alcohol when consumed, produces feverish symptoms, furred tongue, thirst, and headache. Whisky containing it has earned, therefore, the reputation of being"the Devil in solution." It is also necessary to avoid spirits of any kind to which saccharine or other soften ing ingredients have been added. For some reason not apparent in the present state of our knowledge of the chemistry of diges tion, the tendency of sugar to turn acid in the stomach is in creased when taken in combination with alcohol. Alcohol plays an important part in the arrest of phthisis. Par ticularly among those who have delicate skins and perspire freely, the advantageous effects produced by the entire aban donment of all medication, and the employment of considerable doses of spirit, are well established.