At present a recapitulation of some characteristic national habits in the matter of drinking, things well known to every one who has given the subject attention, will serve both as a further illustration of the superiority of beer over other beverages and as a comment on what has been previously said of the modern history of beer-drinking in the more important civilized countries of the world. The Scotchman drinks his “mountain dew,” a strong whisky containing over 54 per cent. of alcohol,—and Scotland has long been noted for intemperance. The Russian grows sullen and sluggish over his vadka or kwass, containing 52.68 _per cent._ of alcohol, and drunkenness and crime follow as natural results. The volatile Italians and Spaniards drink their mild wines as freely as their mothers’ milk and do not disgrace themselves or become a nuisance to others by beastly intoxication. Frenchmen were formerly to be placed in the same category but recent debates in the French Academy of medicine have developed the fact that in parts of France and in some Swiss cantons the powerful and seductive influence of brandy, absinthe and schnapps has diminished the consumption of wine and gone far to undermine the health and morals of the people. The excitable Irishman drinks eagerly and rapidly his strong whisky which contains more than 57 per cent. of pure alcohol and rouses all his combative qualities so that merry-making is almost sure to end in a fight, and trials of strength or skill which begin in good feeling end with broken heads and general tumult. The more sedate German drinks slowly, with much smoke and animated conversation, a beer which has only about four _per cent._ of alcohol. He imbibes great quantities and may become merry or dull according to the length of his potations, but he rarely if ever fights. The Englishman drinks much in a solid matter-of-fact way, but is learning to substitute beer for a great part of the stronger liquor he formerly consumed and becoming temperate in the same ratio. The American Republic, though chiefly British in its origin and therefore inheriting a taste for strong liquors, has become by immigration truly cosmopolitan, and is on the high road to temperance secured by a general use of fermented drinks. One great obstacle in the way is the wonderful variety of “fancy drinks,” whose names catch the ear as surely as their ingredients tickle the palate. They entice young and old, seduce by their novelty or piquancy and carry many thousands on the straight road to drunkenness and its accompanying moral and physical wreck. The practice of “treating” is also very common and very injurious. It leads to a hasty and immoderate consumption that has little or no regard to the requirements of the individual and has by some been considered the real foundation stone of a habit of intemperance. The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, in a recent address before the Business Men’s Society of