it because they ape English fashions, others because the comparatively secluded and unsocial character imported from England to our ale-houses suits them better than the more social and gregarious customs of the lager beer garden, some even because it is usually the more costly of the two beverages. Some doubtless prefer it because it usually contains a little more alcohol than lager beer, and very many use either beer indifferently according to circumstances and convenience. As to porter there is little that need be said. Its origin has been already mentioned, and when we add that the color is due to browned malt and its flavor to seeds or the like we have stated all that would interest the general reader. It is essentially a heavy-bodied ale, however great the superficial unlikeness. The difference in the manner of fermentation of ale and lager beer has been previously indicated, but the following passage from Professor Liebig will be found of interest: “In that country (Bavaria) the malt wort is set to ferment in open backs with an extensive surface, and placed in cool cellars having an atmospheric temperature not exceeding 8° or 10° C (46½ or 50 F.). The operation lasts from three to four weeks; the carbonic acid is disengaged, not in large bubbles that burst on the surface of the liquid, but in very small vesicles like those of a mineral water or of a liquor saturated with carbonic acid when the pressure is removed. The surface of the fermenting wort is always in contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere as it is hardly covered with froth and as all the yeast is deposited at the bottom of the back under the form of a very viscid sediment, called in German _unterhefe_.” The process thus described results in the production of a beer which will not sour even if kept exposed to the air for a long time. Barrels only half full have remained uninjured for months. It is to be noticed, however, that both ale and lager beer can be prepared under many modifications of the main plan, and both are often made for immediate use without regard to keeping qualities and pass by the names of present use ale and Schenck beer. As lager beer usually contains a little less alcohol than ale, it has been most commonly spoken of by those who are striving to eradicate intemperance by introducing beer in the place of ardent spirits. The difference in alcoholic strength is not, however, so great as many persons suppose, the percentage in ales ranging from 8.88 to 5.36, while that of lager beer varies from 6.50 to 3.06. The kind of beer to be preferred for the work in any country is that best suited to the tastes and traditions of the people. On the continent of Europe and in America lager beer has thus far played the more prominent part, while in England the responsibility of all that has been accomplished belongs to ale.