onviction to all minds of the correctness of
the foregoing deductions:

"For the last ten years the use of spirits has, 1. Imposed on the nation
a direct expense of 600,000,000 dollars. 2. Has caused an indirect
expense of 600,000,000 dollars. 3. Has destroyed 300,000 lives. 4. Has
sent 100,000 children to the poorhouses. 5. Has committed at least
150,000 people into prisons and workhouses. 6. Has made at least 1,000
insane. 7. Has determined at least 2,000 suicides. 8. Has caused the
loss by fire or violence, of at least 10,000,000 dollars' worth of
property. 9. Has made 200,000 widows and 1,000 orphans."

If these were the statistics twenty-four years ago, with our greatly
increased population, what must they be to-day? We will let the reader
draw his own conclusions.

MALTED LIQUORS. Under this head are included all those liquors into the
composition of which malt enters, such as beer, ale, and porter. The
proportion of alcohol in these liquors varies greatly. In beer, it is
from two to five per cent.; in Edinburgh ale, it amounts to six per
cent.; in porter, it is usually from four to six per cent. In addition
to alcohol and water, the malted liquors contain from five to fourteen
per cent. of the extract of malt, and from 0.16 to 0.60 per cent. of
carbonic acid. They possess, according to Pereira, three properties:
they quench thirst; they stimulate, cheer, and, if taken in sufficient
quantity, intoxicate; and they nourish or strengthen. The first of these
qualities is due to the water entering into their composition; the
second, to the alcohol; the third is attributed the nutritive principles
of the malt.

OBJECTIONS TO THEIR USE AS BEVERAGES. These articles are either pure or
adulterated. In their pure state the objection to their use for this
purpose lies in the fact that they contain alcohol. This, as we have
seen, is a poisonous substance, which the human system in a state of
health does not need. Its use, when the body is in a normal condition,
is uncalled for, and can only be deleterious. Beverages containing this
poison are more or less deleterious to healthy persons, according to the
amount of it which they contain.

These liquors are frequently adulterated, and this increases their
injurious effects. The ingenuity of man has been taxed to increase their
intoxicating properties; to heighten the color and flavor, to create
pungency and thirst; and to revive old beer. To increase the
intoxicating power,