sovereign, you may eat and drink freely and to satiety.” This forms part of what is called “The Announcement about Drunkenness,” an imperial edict believed to have been promulgated about 1116 B.C., to which we shall refer again presently; but in order to show beyond a doubt that the use of intoxicating drinks in moderation was sanctioned at that period, we will quote one or two short notes of the commentators in the “Shoo-King” relating to the subject. One of them, Soo-ting-po, says, “Spirits are what men will not do without. To prohibit them and secure a total abstinence from them is beyond the power even of sages. Here, therefore, we have warnings on the abuse of them.” Another, Nan-heen, says, “Strong drink is intended to be used in offering sacrifices and entertaining guests; such employment of it is what Heaven has prescribed.” A third, speaking of Prince Fung, to whom the “Announcement about Drunkenness” is addressed, says, “The people of Yin had followed the example of their sovereign, and the vice of drunkenness with its attendant immoralities extensively characterised the highest and lowest classes of society. One of Fung’s most difficult tasks in his administration would be to correct this evil habit, and he is, in this book, summoned to the undertaking. He is instructed in the proper and the allowable uses of spirits; the disastrous consequences of drunkenness are strikingly set forth: he is called to roll back the flood of its desolation from his officers and people.”