s state,
and the alcoholic property is lost in vinegar. As in our opinion,
success to the temperance cause depends much upon a right understanding
of _what alcohol is_, and the manner of its production, a more simple
illustration may not be inappropriate here.

A farmer takes a quantity of apples to the mill in order to convert them
into cider. He grinds, then lays them up into a cheese, when pressure is
applied, and the juice runs into a vat placed to receive it. Here, at
this stage of the business, there is no alcohol in the juice. It is now
put into casks, and the sweet or sugar stage of fermentation, which is
already begun, soon passes into the vinous or _alcoholic_ stage, as it
is called, and _alcohol_ is formed. The prudent farmer, at this point,
when the juice is done _working_, or fermenting, immediately bungs his
casks, and does such other things as his skill and experience may
suggest, to prevent his cider becoming sour, which it will do if the
third stage of fermentation is permitted to succeed. Here, then, he has
_perfect alcohol_, though in small proportions; as perfect as it is in
brandy, gin, rum, and whiskey. The same results ensue from subjecting
corn, rye, barley, etc., to such processes as is customary to prepare
them for distillation, namely, to such a degree of fermentation as that
alcohol is formed. And when the alcohol is formed by fermentation, then
it is drawn off, by distilling, from its union with the other materials
in the fermented mass. Alcohol, then, is strictly _the product of
fermentation_. It is not, and cannot be produced in any other way. To
distil, therefore, is only to lead it off from its union with the
vegetable mass, and show it naked with all its virulence.

Having considered the manner in which alcohol is formed, let us examine
some of its _properties_. It contains nothing that can afford any
nourishment to the body, and consequently it can impart no strength.
When taken in certain quantities, diluted with water, as it must be for
common use, its effect is, to arouse the energies of the system, and for
a while the individual _feels_ stronger; but this excitement is always
followed by depression and loss of animal and mental vigor. Thus it is
a mere provocative to momentary personal effort, without affording any
resources to direct or execute. Hence the fallacy of that doctrine held
by some, that to accomplish deeds of daring, feats of muscular strength,
etc., with success, dem