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2 There is an erroneous notion to the effect that the use of stimulants produces a depressing' reaction. If there is a so-called reaction, that is to say a de pression of vitality, it proves merely that the liquor has been taken in such quantity as to act, not as a stimulant, but as a narcotic, from the first. A drunken man has not been over stimulated; he has been narcotized. His incoherency is owing to incip ient cerebral paralysis: while his unsteady gait indi cates incipient paralysis of the cerebellum, which presides over, and in health properly co-ordinates movements. If a narcotic dose be taken all at once there is no stimulation followed by depression; there is immediate depression. In other words, the taking of a small quantity of alcoholic liquor results in stimulation; whereas the taking of a large quantity results in depression -narcosis. But the depression is not a reaction from stimulation; it is the after effect of lhe destructive narcosis. The same princi ple applies to moderate and violent exercise; mod erate exercise being stimulating, and violent depres sing. Wine. then, in moderation, stimulates, and is never followed by a corresponding depression. Per sons there are. however, in whom even small amounts of alcohol produce poisonous effects almost in stantly. Such —shall 1 say, unfortunates? — should, « • of course, be total abstainers. Here it may be interesting to note the distinct difference between the common terms, chronic alco holism and dipsomania. A chronic alcoholic is called in ordinary parlance a tippler, lie drinks a little at a lime, but often. A dipsomaniac, on the other hand, drinks seldom, but a great deal when he does drink. One afflicted with dipsomania has periodical cravings for liquor, which often he can not resist. This is distinctly a pathological con dition. and requires medical treatment. Xor is the tippler healthily constituted; but, while the dip- i somaniac's abnormal appetite for strong drink is dm* to a degneration of.the molecular structure off Ids brain usually an inheritance from a bibulous ancestor lhe tippler has himself acquired his appe tite through his habitual intemperance. Clearly, therefore. though the tippler deserves less sympathy, there is more hope for him than for the dipsomaniac. The questions How much wine, beer or whiskey shall we drink. When shall we drink one another? and What alcoholic liquid is the least injurious?— have been often asked, We shall answer the last THE REASON question first; the first next, and the second last. Roughly speaking, whiskey contains about 55 per ('ent, of alcohol; in brandy the percentage of alcohol is somewhat less; and American beer has only about 4 per cent. One beer glass of whiskey, then, contains as much alcohol as fourteen glasses of beer. Xow, every one knows that alcohol is the ingredient that produces the stimulating or nar cotic effect, depending upon the amount taken. If the amount be small, as it is in a glass or two of beer, the effect will be stimulating; if large, as when one drinks several glasses of whiskey, the effect will be narcotic, and the condition of nar cosis is incipient paralysis. The general drinking of ardent spirits is un questionably a curse. It causes many diseases, ami it fills posterity with dipsomaniacs, murderers, idiots and other kinds of degenerates. The evils of exces sive drinking have brought even the moderate in dulgences of temperate men into disrepute. The cry now is, not temperance, but prohibition. Yet moderate drinking of light wines or of “nut-brown ah*" is not harmful, and it is often beneficial. When one is worn out and really needs a stimulant, a mug or two of ale, or a pint of claret, may be drunk without any narcotic effect. But no healthy man needs at any time the powerful stimulation of whisky; and it is accustoming one’s self to the nar cotic effects of large amounts of “hard stuff" that makes drunkaards. A light wine or beer drinker rarely becomes an inebriate. Go into a saloon and observe the physical condition of its patrons. A healthy, full-blooded man with steady nerves will order a glass of ale or beer; a punny, thin man with hollow, flushed cheeks will order and pour out with shaking hand a large dose of whisky. No one should drink any alcoholic liquid what soever during lhe day; but at night, when the energies are fagged, a moderate quantity of light wine, or of malt liquor, may be drunk during or after dinner. When mental labor has to be done in the evening, however, very little stimulant of any kind should be indulged in. It is said that wine, and especially malted drinks, stupefy the brain. Probably they do; at all events they sometimes make one sleepy. But is this a bad effect ? A dulling of the edge of thought occasion ally rests the brain and prolongs its powers.