*How the Use of Alcohol became a Social Custom.*—The general use of alcohol as a beverage may be accounted for by three facts. Alcohol is a habit-forming drug; it has a stimulating effect which many have found agreeable; and being a product of the fermentation of fruit juices and other liquids containing sugar, it is easily obtained. Through the operation of these causes the human family became habituated very early to the use of alcohol. The "wine" of primitive man, however, did little harm as compared with the alcoholic liquors of modern times. It was a weak solution and on account of the crude methods of manufacture and storage could only be produced in limited quantities. Perhaps the worst effect of its early use was the establishment of a general belief in its power to benefit, since this laid the foundation for excess in its use when the developments of a later period made it possible. During the eleventh century the method of making alcoholic drinks from starch-producing substances, such as wheat, barley, and potatoes, became quite generally known, and also the method of concentrating them by distillation. This knowledge made possible the manufacture of alcoholic drinks in large quantities and in considerable variety. Alcoholic indulgence was now no longer the pastime of the few, but the privilege of all. Its evil effects followed as a matter of course; and as these became more and more apparent, there began the struggle to restrict the consumption of alcohol which has continued with varying success to the present time. *Counts against Alcohol.*—The statements found in different parts of this book relative to the effects of alcohol upon the body may here be summarized as follows:— 1. Alcohol has an injurious effect upon the white corpuscles of the blood and lessens the power of the body to resist attacks of disease (pages 35, 98). 2. Alcohol injures the heart and the blood vessels (page 56). 3. Alcohol causes diseases of the liver and kidneys and interferes with the discharge of waste through these organs (pages 210, 212). 4. Alcohol interferes seriously with the regulation of the body temperature (page 271). 5. Alcohol is one of the worst enemies to the nervous system (pages 326, 332-334. 336, 337). 6. Through its effect upon the nervous system and through its interference with the production of bodily energy (page 195), alcohol greatly diminishes the efficiency of the individual. 7. The taking of alcohol in amounts that apparently do not harm the tissues is, nevertheless, liable to produce a habit which leads to its use in amounts that are decidedly harmful.