Water is consumed alone or together with certain other substances added for flavoring purposes, tea, coffee, etc.

Tea in moderation is a stimulant and contains an aromatic oil to which it owes its peculiar aroma, an astringent of the nature of tannin, and an alkaloid, theine. The composition of coffee is very similar to that of tea. Cacao, in addition to similar substances contained in tea and coffee, contains fats, albuminous matter, and starch, and must be looked upon more as a food.

Beer in various forms is an infusion of malt (barley which has been sprouted and the starch of which is converted in great part into sugar) boiled with hops and allowed to ferment. It contains from one to eight per cent of alcohol.

Cider is the fermented juice of apples; wine the fermented juice of grapes and contains from six or seven (Rhine wine and white and red Bordeaux) to twenty-four per cent (Ports and Sherries) of alcohol. Spirits obtained from the distillation of fermented liquors contain upward of forty to seventy per cent of absolute alcohol.