With regard to alcohol I would most heartily recommend total abstinence. I need scarcely remind American readers that there is not a single front rank baseball manager that allows his men to indulge in alcohol. From my own experience I could tell of many men who were permanently rendered unfit as soldiers through foolish indulgence. Of the men who were brought before the Colonel for more or less serious crimes, 90 per cent of them owed their humiliation directly to alcohol, and 5 per cent of them to alcohol indirectly. I know that it is possible for some men to take alcohol in moderation. Not many continue to do so, and sooner or later there is almost certain to be an overindulgence. In the British army men were sentenced to the extreme penalty--death--for being intoxicated while on active service in France. I say without hesitation that the best men I had were the abstainers and the worst men I had were the drinkers. Alcohol weakens the tissues of the body, it lowers its vitality and makes it an easy victim to disease, and worse still, it rapidly obscures the mind. For a war of the kind that is being waged in Europe a man needs to have his head very clear, and this he cannot do if he is the victim of the alcohol habit. Many total abstainers from alcohol are tempted to take "gassy" drinks, fizzes and so forth. These tend to shorten the wind and should therefore be avoided. If plain water has to be drunk, care should be taken to see that it is reasonably pure, and all vessels such as water bottles should be thoroughly rinsed each time before using. [Illustration: FIGURE 4: Trench system showing fire, support and reserve trenches; redoubts; communicating trenches; saps; listening posts, etc.] When these simple rules of eating and drinking are followed many of the dangers incidental to army life will be avoided, and physical fitness established. A kindred subject is that of SMOKING. This habit has become so universal in the British army that it is almost true to say that every one smokes. From my own experience I have seen very few ill effects from it except in cases of obvious overindulgence. But undoubtedly it is easy to overdo the cigarette business, and on this point I would utter a word of warning. Pipes are to be preferred, though I admit it is difficult to get men to smoke anything else than cigarettes in the trenches. In the monotony and strain of trench life, and from the need to do something to keep the stench of decaying bodies from the nostrils, men do smoke to excess. There is some excuse there, but during training at home every man must endeavour to be reasonable in his indulgence.