But whilst this hiatus in the world’s literature would justify the publication of an elaborate treatise on the subject, the author desires to have it clearly understood that this essay makes no such pretensions. To deal with the question fully would necessitate a lifetime of careful study and industrious labour, and all the author has attempted to do is to sketch in the form of a popular essay the plan or outline of such a treatise, and to indicate a few of the sources from which information may be obtained for its effective composition. He has endeavoured, in a general but very superficial way, to follow the course of human history, commencing with a reference to some traces in the pre-historic period, and then selecting tribes or nations whose habits present features of interest in the history of drink. The earlier chapters are devoted to the drinking customs of those countries which constituted what has been called “the cradle of the human race;” and, at the risk of being a little wearisome (for the whole topic is necessarily monotonous), the author has dwelt at some length on this phase of the subject, inasmuch as it presents a completely untrodden field of investigation and philosophical study. Following the migrations of the human race westward, the drinking habits of the Greek and Roman peoples, and their moral condition in various stages of their national life, have been briefly reviewed. The ancient and modern Germans have received a fair share of attention, for their love of ethical studies has led to the publication of numerous treatises on German drinking customs in all ages, and their relation to the fortunes of the “Fatherland.” The habits of our own people throughout their whole history, followed by an account of Swedish and American drinking habits and legislation, serve as a tolerably full outline of drinking in the modern world; and the remainder of the essay is taken up with the consideration of some of the debated questions connected therewith in the present day, and in the immediate future. That the attempt to follow the history of drink will, however, be pronounced extremely superficial, the author cannot doubt for a moment; and also that his imperfect judgment will often have led him astray in the selection of facts and authorities. Still he is not without hope that, the effort having been made in an impartial spirit and with a desire to cast some light on a question of momentous import, it may not have been in vain, and that it will lead to the publication of some work on the subject, of a more accurate and comprehensive description.