The character of the clubs and taverns in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries demonstrates pretty plainly what was the condition of society at the time; and it could hardly have been worse than it was. Drunkenness and debauchery, accompanied by lawlessness and violence, marked the age. People got drunk at private tables, and quarrelled and fought duels afterwards. Suppers were followed by sallies into the streets and attacks upon the citizens, which often resulted in murder and mutilations, and the newspapers of the last century contain stories of license and depravity which it is difficult to believe even after reading our own police reports or the columns filled with casualties and crimes. For whilst to-day such matters are related of the lower orders, then they characterised the so-called respectable classes of society.[274] As to the poorer classes, they had fallen a prey to a new demon of intoxication—gin—which, along with other spirituous liquors, was fast taking the place of less inebriating beverages, such as ale, porter, and cider. Although the period of the discovery of distillation is unknown, it is believed to have been not later than about the seventh century of our era. At that time it was described by Geber, supposed to have been an Arab; but his nationality and the precise time at which he wrote, are also enveloped in doubt.[275] The same uncertainty applies to the introduction or discovery of distillation in England. Friar Bacon, who lived in the thirteenth century, is believed to have been acquainted with the process, and “spirits of wine” were certainly known to Raymond Tully, who wrote a book called “Testamentum Novissimum” on the preparation of alcohol in the same century.[276] The perfect chemical separation of alcohol was, however, not effected until the following century (about 1300), by Arnauld de Villeneuve, a famous physician residing in Montpellier, and its analysis was first performed by Th. de la Saussure.[277] In 1430 arrack was first introduced into England from Genoa,[278] and from that time forward the importation and home manufacture of spirituous liquors continued to increase. In order that the reader may form some idea of the effect which the substitution of spirituous liquors for other intoxicating beverages would have upon the drinking habits of the nation, we append the following tabular statement of the relative proportions of alcohol contained in some of the chief European drinks of present and past times:[279]— Beverage. Percentage of alcohol.