brandy, would never touch it again; and thus, says Mr. Darwin, he was wiser than many men. Then again, as regards the argument, that nature herself has not provided the means of gratifying the instinct. War is a human instinct, but nature did not even chip her flints for pre-historic man! and if none of our instincts could be gratified excepting those for which the materials are ready-made to our hands, we might bid good-bye to civilisation, and once more return to a state of nature. But even in theory the writer of the essay is hardly correct. Wherever the juice of fruits, or any liquid containing sugar, stands at a temperature of about 70° for a few hours, it begins to ferment, and an intoxicating liquor is the result. Hence the negroes in certain parts of Africa have nothing to do but make an incision in a particular part of the palm-tree in the morning, and allow the sap to flow, in order to obtain, the same afternoon, what is to them a pleasant intoxicating drink. From the foregoing facts it is obvious that to say young children or the lower animals have no instinctive love of intoxicating drink is far too broad an assertion, and it is one of little practical utility. Neither is there very much to be gained by the germane inquiry as to whether savage nations have ever been known to possess intoxicating beverages before they came in contact with civilisation; but, as an interesting part of the history of the subject, it may be worth while devoting a brief space to its consideration. The evidence is in favour of the affirmative. The Nubians make a liquor called bouza from dhourra or barley, also a kind of wine from the palm-tree; and from time immemorial intoxicating drinks have been extracted from these two sources, and from other cereals in various parts of Asia and Africa.[5] Neither are those drinks harmless in a moral sense, for we find that excessive indulgence in them leads to the same crimes amongst savages as those which spring from the practice of a similar vice amongst European nations. Whilst Dr. Livingstone was staying at St. Hilarion in Bango, South Africa, he had favourable opportunities of witnessing the effects of savage intoxication, which he thus describes:[6]— “The men of all these classes trust to their wives for food, and spend most of their time in drinking the palm toddy. This toddy is the juice of the palm-oil-tree (_Elais guineensis_), which when tapped yields a clear sweet liquid, not at all intoxicating whilst fresh, but when allowed to stand until the afternoon causes inebriation and many crimes. This toddy, called malova, is the bane of the country. Culprits are continually brought before the commandants for assaults committed through its influence. Men come up with deep gashes on their heads; and one who had burned his father’s house, I saw making a deep bow to Mr. Canto, and volunteering to explain why he did the deed.”