_BEER AND ALES._--These are made from grains and hops, which contain no sugar, it is true, but are composed of starch, which may be changed into sugar. When a seed of grain is put into the ground and begins to grow, the starch in it becomes sugar, which feeds the young plant. When a brewer wishes to make beer, he takes some grain, puts it in a dark place, wets it, and leaves it to sprout, or begin to grow. Then he puts it into an oven to dry it, and make it stop growing. This makes what is called _malt_. The malt is mashed and soaked in warm water to get the sugar out of it; this forms a liquid called _sweet wort_. The wort is separated from the mashed grain and boiled; yeast is mixed with it to help it to ferment more quickly; it soon becomes changed; a dirty yellow scum filled with bubbles comes to the top, which we know is the poisonous carbonic acid gas; the other poison, alcohol, stays in the liquid and makes the beer taste good to those who like it. Liquors made from grain are called _malt liquors_. Lager beer, and all kinds of ales and porters, are malt liquors. They make people dull, sluggish, and stupid who drink much of them. They do much mischief in the body, though it takes a larger quantity of any one of them to make a person drunk than it does of whiskey or brandy. AN ATOM OF GRAPE SUGAR. CARBONIC ACID GAS. ALCOHOL. Carbon, 6 atoms. Carbon, 1 atom. Carbon, 2 atoms. Oxygen, 6 atoms. Oxygen, 2 atoms. Oxygen, 1 atom. Hydrogen, 12 atoms. Hydrogen, 6 atoms. SUB-FERMENTED GRAPE SUGAR MAKES 2 atoms of carbonic acid gas and 2 atoms of alcohol. ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS MADE FROM FRUITS. GRAINS. _Cider._ _Wines._ _Beer, Ales, etc._ Apples. Grapes, Gooseberries, Barley, Oats, _Perry._ Currants, Elderberries, Wheat, Peas, etc. Pears. Blackberries, Cherries, etc. Corn, (with hops). * * * * * DISTILLATION. How does the sugar in grapes and other fruits become alcohol?--"By fermenting." Yes, and liquors made by fermenting are called _fermented liquors_. What other alcoholic drinks have you heard about beside cider, wines, beer, and ales?--"Gin, whiskey, brandy, rum." These are stronger than the fermented liquors, that is, they contain more alcohol; they are made by what is called _distillation_. If you boil water, and let the steam from it fall upon a cold plate, the steam will change back into liquid and become _distilled_ water. Making a liquid boil, catching the vapor or steam and cooling it, is what we mean by distillation.