We die of thirst more rapidly than of hunger. Men with an abundance of water, have lived for eight days without bread. Without water, the system succumbs on the fifth. The reason is that in starving, man dies more of weakness; in thirst of a burning fever. People are not always able to resist thirst so long: in 1787, one of the hundred Swiss of Louis XVI., died from having been twenty- four hours without drink. He was at a cabaret with some of his comrades, and as he was about to carry his glass to his lips, he was reproached with drinking oftener than the rest, and with not being able to do a moment without it. He then made a bet of ten bottles of wine, that he would not drink for twenty-four hours. He ceased at once, and sat by, for two hours, seeing the others drink. The night passed well enough, but at dawn he found it difficult to do without his habitual glass of brandy. All the morning he was uneasy and troubled; he went hither and thither without reason, and seemed not to know what he was about. At one o'clock he laid down, fancying he would be calmer: he was really sick, but those about him could not induce him to drink. He said he could get on till evening: he wished to gain his bet, and it is probable also, that some military pride was mingled in the matter, which prevented him from yielding to pain. He kept up until seven o'clock, but at half-after seven was very sick and soon died, without being able to swallow a glass of wine which was presented to him. I was informed of all these details that very night, by the Sieur Schneider, the fifer of the hundred Swiss, in the house of whom I lived at Versailles. CAUSES OF THIRST. Many circumstances, either united or separate, contribute to thirst. We shall mention some which are not without influence on our habits. Heat augments thirst. Whence comes the disposition men have always had to build their habitations near the sea. Corporeal labor augments thirst. Persons who employ labourers, always gratify them by drink--hence the proverb that wine given them is always well sold. Dancing increases thirst, and for this reason the ball-room is always supplied with invigorating drinks. Declamation also increases thirst, which accounts for the glass of water readers always seek to drink with grace, and which is always beside the white handkerchief on the desk. Genesiac pleasure excites thirst, and accounts for the poetical descriptions of Cyprus, Amathonte, Gnidus, and other homes of Venus, in which there are always shady groves and murmuring streamlets. Song augments thirst, and therefore all vocalists are said to be such huge drinkers. A musician myself, I protest against this assertion, which has neither rhyme nor reason.