The problem you have undertaken to solve is, indeed, one of intense importance and interest, and all who can ought to help its solution in the interests both of science and morality. I feel thankful for the honour you have done me in inviting my opinion on the subject. As a teetotaler I abstain wholly from intoxicating drinks and stimulants, and discourage the use of the same in others. From boyhood up to the present time--I am now 44--I have never been in the habit of drinking or of smoking, nor did it ever occur to me that such habits were essential to health or helpful to brain work. It is my firm conviction that neither the head nor the hand derives any fresh power from the use of stimulants. It is only habits already contracted which give to alcohol and tobacco their so-called stimulating properties, and engender a strong craving for them, which those who are not enslaved by such habits never experience. I must not, however, place alcohol and tobacco on the same level. The latter is comparatively harmless; the former is a prolific source of evil in society, and often acts like deadly poison. KESHUB CHUNDER SEN. July 29, 1882. M. JULES SIMON. Some twenty years ago I had occasion to study the condition of the working classes, when I did not fail to observe the pernicious effects produced upon their health and morals by the use of Strong liquors. I remember that one of the most painful results of my inquiry was that whilst some look for pleasure in the abuse of intoxicating liquor, others, unable to procure sufficient food, seek to blunt the edge of their appetite by drinking a little brandy. As my researches were made so long ago, my testimony will now be of little value. Everything changes in twenty years, and I would fain hope that during this period a change for the better has taken place in the habits of the people. I have not much to say on the use of tobacco. I believe that when taken in excess, it has a stupefying effect. I know that it may act as a poison, for a friend of mine, a member of the Senate, who has just died, assured me repeatedly that he was dying from the effects of constant smoking. I look upon the use of tobacco, as a practice much to be deprecated, as its tendency is to separate men from the society of women. JULES SIMON. March 8, 1882. PROFESOR SKEAT. As to the benefit of alcohol and tobacco, my opinion is that there is no _general_ rule. As for myself, my experience is, that the less stimulant I take, the better--I have given up beer with benefit to myself, and I have almost given up wine. I take, on an average, about five glasses of claret per week, more by way of luxury than of use. Tobacco I never use, as smoking seems to me to be rather a waste of time. WALTER W. SKEAT. March 18, 1882. M. BARTHELEMY ST. HILAIRE.