===================================================================== Rooms Occupied by Letter-press Printers. | Number | Subject to | per cent | Catarrh | Spitting | | Blood. | ------------------------------------------+------------+------------- 104 men having less than 500 cubic feet | | of air to breathe | 12.50 | 12.50 | | 115 men having from 500 to 600 cubic feet | | of air to breathe | 4.35 | 3.58 | | 101 men having more than 600 cubic feet | | of air to breathe | 3.96 | 1.98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------] (See p. 315.) ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND NARCOTICS. 1. ALCOHOL. That we may understand fully the effect of alcohol upon the human system, let us first consider its nature and the process by which harmless fruits and grains are made to produce a substance so unlike themselves in its deleterious effects. HOW ALCOHOL IS MADE.--When any substance containing sugar, as fruit juice, is caused to ferment, the elements of which the sugar is composed, viz., hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, so rearrange themselves as to form carbon dioxide (carbonic acid), alcohol, and certain volatile oils and ethers. [Footnote: The precise relation between chemical phenomena and the physiological functions of the organic ferment is still to be discovered; and all that has been said, written, and brought forward to decide the question, need experimental proof.--SCHÜTZENBERGER.] The carbonic acid partly evaporates and partly remains in the liquor; the alcohol is the poisonous or intoxicating principle, while the oils and ethers impart the peculiar flavor and odor. Thus wine is fermented grape juice, and cider is fermented apple juice, each having its distinctive taste and smell, and each containing, as one product of fermentation, more or less of the inebriating alcohol. Wines are also made from other fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, currants, tomatoes, and rhubarb, but the alcohol which they contain is of the same nature in all cases, whether the fermented liquor has been manufactured in great quantities, by large presses, or by a simple domestic process for home consumption. It is important to remember this fact, as many people do not associate alcohol with such beverages as domestic wines and home-brewed ales, whereas it is always present with the same treacherous qualities which attach to it everywhere. An apple is a wholesome and useful fruit, and its simple juice, fragrant and refreshing, is a delight to the palate; but apple juice converted into cider and allowed to enter upon alcoholic fermentation, loses its innocence, and becomes a dangerous drink, because it is the nature of the alcohol it now contains to create an appetite for more alcohol. (See p. 185.)