The liquid part of our aliment likewise claims our attention. Water is not only the basis of most liquors, but also composes a great part of our solid food. Good water must therefore be of the greatest importance in diet. The best water is that which is most pure, and free from any mixture of foreign bodies. Water takes up parts of most bodies with which it comes into contact; by this means it is often impregnated with metals or minerals of a hurtful or poisonous nature. Hence the inhabitants of some hilly countries have peculiar diseases, which in all probability proceed from the water. Thus the people who live near the Alps in Switzerland, and the inhabitants of the Peak of Derby in England, have large tumours or wens on their necks. This disease is generally imputed to the snow water; but there is more reason to believe it is owing to the minerals in the mountains through which the waters pass. When water is impregnated with foreign bodies, it generally appears by its weight, colour, taste, smell, heat, or some other sensible quality. Our business therefore is to chuse such water, for common use, as is lightest, and without any particular colour, taste, or smell. In most places of Britain the inhabitants have it in their power to make choice of their water; and few things would contribute more to health than a due attention to this article. But mere indolence often induces people to make use of the water that is nearest to them, without considering its qualities. Before water is brought into great towns, the strictest attention ought to be paid to its qualities, as many diseases may be occasioned or aggravated by bad water; and when once it has been procured at a great expence, people are unwilling to give it up. The common methods of rendering water clear by filtration, or soft, by exposing it to the sun and air, &c. are so generally known, that it is unnecessary to spend time in explaining them. We shall only, in general, advise all to avoid waters which stagnate long in small lakes, ponds, or the like, as such waters often become putrid, by the corruption of animal and vegetable bodies with which they abound. Even cattle frequently suffer by drinking, in dry seasons, water which has stood long in small reservoirs, without being supplied by springs, or freshened with showers. All wells ought to be kept clean, and to have a free communication with the air. As fermented liquors, notwithstanding they have been exclaimed against by many writers, still continue to be the common drink of almost every person who can afford them; we shall rather endeavour to assist people in the choice of these liquors, than pretend to condemn what custom has so firmly established. It is not the moderate use of sound fermented liquors which hurts mankind: it is excess, and using such as are ill prepared or vitiated.