Whisky as Food

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 10, 1900

The following item from the Chicago Tribune is self-explanatory: “Ole Jorgensen answered a charge of drunk and disorderly conduct, in the East Chicago avenue police court yesterday, with the plea that he had not been drinking, but eating, and, as evidence, placed a small, half-filled bottle of ‘food’ before Justice Kersten. He was asked what he meant by bringing whisky into the court. ‘That is not whisky,’ said the prisoner, ‘that is food. I submit that you can not send me to the bridewell for eating too much. Professor Atwater, of Wesleyan University, told the educational Conference that whisky is food. He says you can not deny food value to whisky, and that it is oxidized just like bread and meat. When I read that, I got hungry, and went out for a couple of slices of whisky and a piece of brandy.’ ‘He had eaten a quart or two before I picked him up,’ said Policeman Klinger. The justice adopted the food theory, and discharged the prisoner.”