=Drink needed for Health.=--Water in the form of sweat and in other
ways is constantly passing off from the body. This water carries with
it the waste matter which, if it remained, would poison the body.
There is some water in the food we eat, but not enough to supply the
wants of the body.

Some persons think that the body needs beer or wine to keep it in good
order. These liquids, as well as whisky, brandy, and rum, are called
_alcoholic drinks_. The latest experiments and studies show that the
body never needs alcoholic drinks to keep it in the best of health.
These drinks sometimes make the body sick, and if much alcohol is
taken at one time, the person becomes dizzy, staggers, and may fall
down and go to sleep.

=The Desire for Drink.=--When parts of the body have too little water,
there is a longing for drink. This is called _thirst_. As soon as a
cup of water is drunk the desire is satisfied. There is no danger of
drinking too much pure water.

Persons who have been accustomed to use alcoholic drink have a thirst
which water does not satisfy. It is an _unnatural thirst_. Even beer
or wine will not satisfy such a thirst except for a few minutes. Very
often a person's thirst is not satisfied until he has used so much
wine or whisky that he becomes dull and unsteady in his walk. He is
then said to be drunk.

[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Yeast plants growing as in the making of beer
and wine. Much enlarged.]

=How the Yeast Plant makes Alcohol.=--In the cake of yeast bought at
the grocery there are millions of tiny plants, each shaped somewhat
like a potato. This strange little plant will grow very rapidly when
put into any sweet watery substance. It sends out a bud which grows
larger and larger until in a half hour the bud is as large as the old
plant. It may then break loose and grow other buds, just like the
mother plant.

When yeast grows, it changes the sugar or sweet part of the water into
alcohol and a gas called carbon dioxide. It is this gas which makes
beer foam and bubble when opened. All alcohol used in beer, porter,
ale, wine, brandy, rum, gin, and whisky is made by yeast plants.

[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Photograph of sprouted barley grains called
malt.]

=How Beer is Made.=--There is more beer used than any other alcoholic
drink. It is cheap and is much weaker in alcohol than wine or whisky.
Only about one twentieth part of beer is alcohol.

[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Photograph of a spray o