tempted by stimulating substances. This
is beautifully illustrated in thousands of instances all over our
country by persons who were once accustomed to use strong drink, but who
have substituted for it sparkling water, a beverage prepared by God
himself to nourish and invigorate his creatures, and beautify his
footstool.

THE SENSE OF SMELL.--The sense of taste has received a faithful
companion in that of smell. The beneficent Creator, with that wisdom
which characterizes all his works, has very wisely placed the organ of
this sense just above the mouth, in order that the scent of many things
that are hurtful may warn us from partaking of them before they reach
the mouth. The air-passages of the nose, in which this sense is located,
are lined with a thin skin, called the mucous membrane, which is
continuous with the lining membrane of the parts of the throat and of
the external skin. Upon this membrane the olfactory nerve ramifies. The
odoriferous particles of matter that float in the air come in contact
with these fine and sensitive nerves as the air rushes through the
nostrils, and the impression is conveyed to the brain by the olfactory
nerve. The mucous membrane, upon which this ramifies, is of
considerable extent in man. In the lower animals it is less or more
extensive, according to the degree of acuteness of this sense. This
membrane is full of little glands that are continually giving off thick
mucus, and especially when the membrane is inflamed. There is a small
canal leading from the eyes to the nose, through which a fluid, that
also forms tears, is constantly passing when the passage is clear. It is
the office of this fluid to moisten and thin the mucus of the nose. When
this mucous is too abundant, as in some stages of a cold, and especially
if it becomes dry from the closing of the canal leading from the eyes,
or from any other cause, as fever, the sense of smell will be greatly
impaired, if not entirely suspended. It is, indeed, not unfrequently
permanently injured in this way, and sometimes is irrecoverably lost.

The sensation of smell, it should be borne in mind, is produced by a
kind of odoriferous vapor, very fine and invisible, that flies off from
nearly all bodies. The air which contains this vapor is drawn into the
nose, and is in this way brought into contact with the very delicate
nerves of smell that ramify the membrane which lines the air-passages of
this organ. It is only when the exceeding