Alcohol as an Ætiological Factor in Cirrhosis of the Liver

To the Editor of The: Indian Medical Gazette. Sir,?It is accepted by the majority, in the present state of our knowledge, that alcohol is a very common cause of the cirrhosis of the liver, though it is not the only cause. The publication of an ingenious theory by Dr. M. Umar in the Indian Medical Gazette of November 1921, about the manufacture of alcohol in the stomach from the food by the action of yeast cells ingested into the stomach and the causation of cirrhosis of the liver by the alcohol thus produced, tempts me to go into the question at some length. It appears from his statement that those who never touch a drop of alcohol cannot only get cirrhosis of the liver but can get alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. Or, in other words?all cases of cirrhosis of the liver can be explained away as alcoholic cirrhosis, even if there be no alcoholic history. That is the reason perhaps why he objects to Colonel Megaw's view that cases of chronic dysenteric peritonitis are not infrequently looked upon