Even in the remote days of Plato it was recognised--at all events by philosophers--that there was such a thing as thirst. "No one desires _drink_ simply, but good drink, nor food simply, but good food; because, since all desire good things, if thirst is a desire, it must be a desire of something good." Further on in the discussion, Socrates addresses Ademantus thus: "Then for any particular kind of drink there is a particular kind of thirst; but thirst in the abstract is neither for much drink, nor for little, neither for good drink nor for bad, nor, in one word for any kind of drink, but simply and absolutely thirst for drink is it not?" "Most decidedly so," replies Ademantus--who never on any occasion stood up to Socrates and contradicted him. "Most decidedly so." "Then the soul of a thirsty man," continues Socrates, "in so far as he is thirsty has no other wish than to drink; but this it desires and towards this it is impelled." "Clearly so." If the licensing bench, and especially the teetotal portion of it, could once arrive as far in their studies of the subject as Socrates had done, and could comprehend the zoological fact that man was a mammal with a thirst, they would be on the road to enlightenment, temperance, and reform. Of course Socrates knew all that the puritans know and a lot more about the rational satisfaction of love and hunger and thirst and the irrational and concupiscent desires that are attached to all natural appetites, but in dealing with the law of licensing in reference to the poor these considerations are not really important. What is wanted is equality. Grant to the poor the same reasonable facilities of enjoyment that you grant to the rich, and leave it to public opinion to see that they are not abused. It is a grave disaster that the granting and regulation of licenses should have fallen into the hands it has. Mr. Balfour's observation "that among all the social evils which meet us in every walk of life, every sphere of activity, the greatest of all evils is the evil of intemperance" is useful as a peroration to any platform speech on the subject, but only makes the judicious grieve that with the opportunity to do exactly as he liked and the ability to draft useful legislation, Mr. Balfour did nothing whatever to improve matters and diminish the evil of which he was so sensible.