Now if this had been an American or Irish congregation, and the beverage the usual vile concoctions called whisky, gin and brandy, would not the closing scenes of the afternoon have been very different? Broken heads, bloody noses, and the wayside strewn with the wrecks of humanity in beastly intoxication. I thought if we could be rid of the grosser liquors—banish them, put them in the pale of dangerous drugs to be only dispensed by the physician like other poisons, and substitute the lager of the Germans and the light wines of France and _our own country_—should we not be doing our best to exterminate the curse of drunkenness? I expect we shall yet come to this conclusion. The difficulty is that with the tastes of our people, lager and wines will be, indeed, now are, a cover for the sale of the grosser liquors, and worse than all, these liquors are without exception, adulterated or poisonous. I have written at your request this somewhat candid statement of my present views as briefly as possible.” A physician who has under his professional charge, a large institution for the maintenance of aged persons, informs us that the demand for stimulus in the form of tea is a matter of constant observation, and he moreover gives it as his opinion that from twenty to twenty-five per cent. of the whole number are _tea sots_, drinking tea regularly from four to six times a day and as much oftener as they can procure it. They show the effect of this over-stimulation by increased mental irritability, muscular tremors and a greater or less degree of sleeplessness. Another fact to the same purport has been communicated to us by a friend. A domestic in the family sometimes appeared intoxicated and as it was certain she could not get at any of the liquors generally considered intoxicating, the circumstance excited no little surprise and curiosity. At last the problem was solved by the discovery that she drank large quantities of the strongest tea. This it will be seen is in exact conformity with the opinion of Mr. Gladstone as previously quoted, and more or less marked cases of the same nature have doubtless been observed by many of our readers. A. Schwarz, Esq., of New York, the editor of “Der Americanische Bierbrauer,” a man known in both hemispheres, as an able writer and chemical student, who by his life-long study in fermented beverages has won for himself the thanks of every brewer, writes thus: “Among all drinks, as well those which nature furnishes in abundance as those which are produced by human skill, lager beer especially commends itself by its properties as an excellent beverage. “Milk contains nutritious substances (protein) and various salts. “Wine contains alcohol and small quantities of salts. “Mineral waters, which render such valuable service to the diseased human organism, contain carbonic acid and salt. “Coffee and tea contain volatile aromatic oils and alkaloids.