The London supply. Purest natural waters, plain and aerated.

Pure natural water best.

Pure distilled water, however, re-supplied with atmospheric air by a special process, and then well charged with carbonic acid gas, is now furnished at so reasonable a cost in London as to be within the reach of persons of moderate means. It is almost needless to say that so prepared, water is absolutely pure, and nothing more safe or wholesome can be employed for drinking purposes. Certainly it is wholly unnecessary to import waters for the use of the table from foreign sources, unless medical qualities are particularly desired by the consumer. No foreign waters of any kind whatever, from any source, are so pure or half so cheap, or so easy to obtain as the distilled waters now referred to, which are prepared here at home at our very doors; and none are so safe and so useful for the consumer in relation to health, whatever the advertiser may affirm respecting their value in gout, etc.

Then the great makers of soda and potash waters in this country supply a thoroughly trustworthy article. Each bottle contains a known quantity, from five to fifteen grains of the salt, the water being obtained from their own artesian wells, or other equally pure sources, so that English aerated waters are unrivalled in excellence. On the other hand, the foreign siphon, made, as it often is, at any chemist's shop, and from the water of the nearest source, is a very uncertain production. Probably our travelling fellow- countrymen owe their attacks of fever more to drinking water contaminated by sewage matter than to the malarious influences which pervade certain districts of southern Europe. The only water safe for the continental traveller to drink is a natural mineral table water, and such is now always procurable throughout Europe, except in very remote or unfrequented places.* In the latter circumstances no admixture of wine or spirit counteracts the poison in tainted water, and makes it safe to drink, as people often delight to believe; but the simple process of boiling it renders it perfectly harmless; and this result is readily attained in any locality by making weak tea to be taken hot or cold; in the latter case, it is more palatable, with a little lemon infused, than alone; or in making toast - water, barley - water, lemonade, etc. The table waters now so largely imported into this country from Germany and France, contain a considerable proportion of mineral matter in solution, and while they are wholesome as regards freedom from organic impurities, are, of course, less perfect for daily use than absolutely pure waters, such as those above referred to. Useful as they are for the English when travelling abroad, because the ordinary water supplied in foreign cities is so frequently contaminated, they are all far inferior to our home-prepared aerated, distilled waters for all purposes of consumption. Vaunted frequently as possessing certain medicinal properties, this very fact ought to prohibit their constant use as dietetic agents, inasmuch as we do not require drugs as diet, but only as occasional correctives, which can be added to pure water (for example, fifteen or twenty grains of bicarbonate of soda or potash) when required. Among them the principal are natural Seltzers, Appollinaris, and St. Galmier - of this latter some sources are inferior to others, the best appearing now to be chiefly retained for Paris - being perhaps among the most satisfactory within our reach. A dash of lemon juice, and a thin cutting of the peel, form sometimes an agreeable addition, especially to our well - made soda, seltzer, or potash waters; and nothing keeps the palate cleaner or in better order for appreciating food. I am compelled to say that the sweet compounds and fruity juices which not very long ago were produced, and inordinately puffed, as dinner drinks, and apparently in competition with wine, are rarely or drink natural mineral water.

Aerated distilled water.

Soda and potash waters.

* Throughout France, St. Galmier; in Germany, Seltzers or Appollinaris; in Austria and Bohemia, Gieshubel, are always obtainable, being the table waters of most repute, in each case respectively, of the country itself. In all chief places in Italy, Appollinaris, Seltzers, or St. Galmier, are supplied by the hotels. In Spain these are rarely at present to be had, but the alternatives recommended are easily obtained.

Travellers catch fever by drinking bad water.

Adding wine makes it no safer.

Boil it.

Mineral waters safest abroad.

Waters with lemon juice, but none with sugar fit for dinner drink.

Wholesome adjuncts to a dinner. Such liquids rapidly develop indigestible acid products in the stomachs of many persons; while for all, the sipping of sweet fluids, effervescing or otherwise, during a meal tends to diminish appetite, as well as the faculty of appreciating good cookery. If wine is refused, let the drink which accompanies dinner be of pure water - with a sparkle of gas in it, and a slight dash of vegetable acid in it if you will - but in obedience both to gastronomic and dietetic laws, let it be free from sugar. No doubt there are exceptional circumstances in which fruity juices, if not very sweet, can be taken freely. Thus I have rarely quaffed more delicious liquor at dinner in the warm autumn of southern Europe, notably in Spain, than that afforded by ample slices of a water-melon, which fill the mouth with cool fragrant liquid; so slight is the amount of solid matter, that it only just serves to contain the abundant delicate juices of the fruit grown in those climates. Here some saccharine matter is present, but it exists in very small proportion, and in its most digestible form.

The watermelon at meals in hot countries.