than with them; and this fact is endorsed by every commander of the present day. The excess and abuse of spirits, as before remarked, lost the French their military prestige in the Franco-German war. In very hot and very cold climates the Indian observers and the Arctic explorers all unite in condemning its (that is, the use of alcohol) use in the slightest excess, or even in moderate doses. It does not warm the body in cold climates, and the reaction that follows the exciting of the circulation is followed by a dangerous depression; whilst in hot it combines with the climate, and quickly produces disease.” =ALCOHOLIC DRINKS, EFFECTS OF.= In addition to the serious injury to health caused by an excessive or imprudent indulgence in spirituous stimulants (see previous article), even a moderate and not injudicious use of them may often be attended with very disagreeable consequences——a more or less mild or modified form of poisoning, in fact——if the beverages themselves are, as very frequently happens, contaminated, either accidentally or intentionally, with certain objectionable ingredients. These ingredients are described under the articles BEER, WINES, and the various SPIRITS, such as GIN, BRANDY, ABSINTHE, &c. Of spirit drinking it may be observed, that this dangerous practice is intensified by what is to be feared is the too prevalent custom of taking them undiluted, or “neat,” as it is termed. There is no doubt that they constitute the very worst form of alcoholic drinks, and shorten the lives of those who indulge in them to excess more summarily than any other intoxicating potion. The greatest and most ineradicable drunkards are almost always found to be spirit drinkers. Liebig remarked that less bread was consumed in families where beer was drunk, and there seems to be little doubt that the different species of beer, including porter and ale, when pure and free from adulteration, act, although in a small degree, as food. Probably there are some who will agree with, whilst others will dissent from, Benjamin Franklin, who said “there was more sustenance in a penny loaf than in a gallon of beer.” The starchy extractive matters of the beer no doubt perform the same function in the animal economy that sugar does. It is well known that those who drink freely of beer mostly become corpulent, as witness the portly forms of draymen. The hop contained in the beer has doubtless tonic and stomachic qualities. We can speak with less certainty about the free acids contained in malt fluids. It is very certain that some people cannot drink a glass of beer without experiencing rheumatic pains in the joints, which effect is generally ascribed to the acidity of the beer; but which is really supposed to be due to the decreased elimination of urea and pulmonary carbonic acid from the system caused by the alcohol of the beer.