He says there is less drunkenness among our soldiers in the tropics than at home, and gives statistics. He also insists that Americans need animal food in the tropics if they are to avoid the exhaustions due to the climate and the consequent infections. Here is a problem that the authorities must work out, and doubtless the matter will be taken up in good time.

To the normal average healthy man in a healthy climate, it is a question with me whether any amount of alcohol ever did him the least good. If taken by the professional man, the statesman, the soldier, the business man, it surely warps his judgment and imperils his health, for the slight indulgence gradually leads to more. Probably many in literature, in business ventures, in diplomacy, in professional matters, in war, have accomplished great deeds by the stimulus of alcohol, yet these must be the exception to the general rule that "Sana mens in sano corpore" is the all-to-be-desired condition of the active man. To this condition alcohol is antagonistic. While it may have been Byron's substitute for riches, for man, it is the invention of the devil.

As to the alcoholic beverages sold in the general market, Dr. Wiley, the government expert, puts forth a soul-consuming statement, yet in the face of all this, Congress and many of our State Legislatures refuse to pass a pure-food bill, which is the only remedy for this horrible state of affairs. The scoundrels who are poisoning the race with such stuffs appear to be far more influential than the few good people of the land who are pressing such laws. I say few good people, for the masses, even of our intelligent citizens, appear to be absolutely heedless and careless of the great wrongs being inflicted on the human race. Politics and money are here the great enemies to mankind, and, sad to say, as yet politics, politicians, and money appear to be supreme. May God speed the day when they will be dethroned and laws for the benefit of all will hold sway and drive the rascals of all degrees from their stronghold.

Dr. Wiley says 85 per cent. of all whiskey sold is spurious. Bad whiskey is not confined, he says, to the cheaper bars. You will find it in the clubs and in the hotel restaurants. Dr. Wiley says the only remedy is in a pure-food bill to be passed by Congress, and this is what all good people should work for. It should cover not only what we drink as beverages, but what we take as medicines, and what we eat as foods.

Again, as to the effect of alcohol on the system, Professor Chittenden says that while it lowers the rate of proteid catabolism, it increases notably the output of uric acid and purin bases. The increase of uric acid is due to change in the rate of oxidation in the liver of uric acid of exogenous origin, or else there is a change in the rate of production of uric acid from the precursors of uric acid contained in the food. There is also the possibility of other oxidative processes in the liver being affected. Alcohol therefore presents a dangerous side wholly wanting in carbohydrates and fats. The deleterious influence is exerted only in connection with exogenous uric acid, - that is, uric acid coming from without the system; hence in many diseases in which a non-purin diet is used the urates would not be increased.

G. L. Peabody says alcohol applied to the skin penetrates to its deeper layers, thus disinfecting it. By bringing about local changes in the blood-supply it affects inflammations not entirely superficial. Compresses soaked in alcohol and covered by gutta-percha and cotton would give great relief in peritonitis, neuritis, phlebitis, and herpes zoster. By its persistent use suppuration can often be averted in many inflammatory local conditions. In parts where the skin is thin and in children care must be used that sloughing does not occur. It is an agent of great value in poisoning by carbolic acid internally and in external burns from the same. In acute febrile diseases it is sometimes worth more than all other cardiac stimulants, since fever does not interfere with its usefulness. To decide on the patient who needs it is not always easy. There is little danger of engendering the alcohol habit by giving it in fevers. This danger increases progressively during convalescence.

It is well to know that brandy should be at least six years old before it is fit for use and whiskey should be at least five years old. Port, sherry, Madeira, and champagnes are the stronger wines, while the Burgundies, clarets, and hocks are the weaker. The important ingredients of wine are the alcohol, the sugar, the flavor, and aroma. It is important to know the relative quantity of these in each kind.

Port has its own color, the port-wine color, approaching purple, though there are some nearly white ports. Sherries vary in color from dark red to very pale, and so do the Madeiras. Clarets and red Burgundies vary in red or claret colors, and many Burgundies are white. True clarets are never white. Hocks are usually straw color or white. Champagnes vary in color from almost white to pink, the color, as a rule, being the fancy of the maker. Whiskey, brandy, ales, and beers vary as to the demands of the trade for this or that color, whiskey and brandy being colorless when first distilled. They are colored by the addition of caramel or burnt sugar. Gin, as a rule, is white, and the Irish and Scotch whiskies vary in color from almost white to a dark straw color. The cordials are usually colored to suit the fancy of the manufacturer. Whiskies, brandies, cordials, and all artificially-colored liquors should be left as nature intended them, - entirely free from artificial coloring or artificial flavoring. Such will never be; coloring for the eye, flavoring for the palate, and blending for both will always be carried on so long as "water shall run and grass shall grow."

It is said the Eskimo has no alcoholic drink, for the climate is too cold for fermentation, and he cannot make it there, but I have no doubt that his more Southern brothers have long ere this supplied him, even though alcohol may lessen his power to resist cold. Going South we find all nations have their favorite tipple, and far South we find only those drinks which are fermented in a hurry and drunk in a hurry, for they will not keep ever thirty-six hours, as the Mexican pulque.