These opinions had been tested in the
light of truth and proved erroneous. Axel Gustafson, in his Foundation
of Death, considers this subject at length. As early as 1840 French
physicians discovered that alcohol actually reduced the temperature of
the body. Prominent German and English medical men soon confirmed
the statement, and in 1850, Dr. N. S. Davis of Chicago, the founder of the
American Medical Association, in speaking of a number of observations
during the active period of digestion after ordinary food, whether nitrogenous
or carbonaceous, the temperature of the body is always increased,
but after taking alcohol, in either the form of the fermented or the distilled
drinks, it begins to fall within half an hour and continues to
decrease for from two to three hours. The extent and duration of the
reduction was in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol taken." The
most prominent physicians in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Scandinavia
and Russia reached similar conclusions shortly after this. In explorations
in the Arctic regions where the cold is intense, no alcoholic drinks
are permitted. Dr. Nansen, the great Norwegian, attributes the fatalities of
the Greely expedition to the use of liquor, and this is the only
expedition of recent years which permitted the use of alcoholic drinks.
As a matter of fact it was long ago proved that "Alcohol does not warm
nor cool a person, but only destroys the sensation and decreases the
vitality.
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