The sparkling wines including champagne, are bottled while the formation of carbon dioxid is still in progress and, on this ac-account, they are more sedative to the stomach and especially adapted to the treatment of irritable gastric conditions when little nourishment can be taken.

Cider contains 3.5 - 7.5% of alcohol or more and may be in the form of a champagne. It contains considerable acetic acid and hence, may disagree.

The distilled liquors are of about "50% alcoholic strength. Brandy is prepared from wine, whisky from wheat, rye, barley or corn, apple jack from cider, rum from molasses. Gin is practically a whisky extract of juniper berries. Liqueurs are more dilute and are flavored with various substances: anisette with anise seed, absinthe with wormwood, curacoa with orange peel, kirschwasser with cherries, being distilled from the fermented mass including the crushed pits; kummel with cummin and caraway seeds, maraschino with cherries, noyeau with peach and apricot pits. (R. A. Witthaus.)

The spirits contain acetic, butyric, valerianic and oenanthic ethers, and, if not properly purified, amylic alcohol (fusel oil) which is highly toxic, justifying the vulgar term of rot-gut whisky.

It is obvious that, aside from the caloric value of the alcohol, none of the alcoholic beverages possess any considerable nutritive value. Neither are they tonics, except as alcohol in small amounts (under 3%) stimulates gastric secretion or appetite. The malt liquors tend to cause gastro-enteric fermentation and, probably by inhibiting oxidation, the deposit of fat. The stronger alcoholic beverages cause less direct gastro-enteric distress excepting as they produce subacute gastritis, sometimes amounting almost to the acute grade by corrosives. On the other hand, they are more likely to cause hepatic, renal and pancreatic sclerosis and hence, indirectly, gastro-enteric catarrh. On the whole, unless considerable quantities are taken at once, without sufficient dilution with other drink and food, and excepting the obviously greater danger of producing intoxication and its consequences, the strong liquors and wines seem to produce less harm than the malt liquors, or at least, the conditions present are less troublesome and, so to speak, less vulgar.

So large a mass of literature has been accumulated about alcohol and there are so many differences of opinion and so many ethical considerations concerned, that it is impossible to do justice to them briefly. The following personal opinions may be expressed for what they are worth:

1. Persons in health do not need alcohol at all.

2. Alcohol should not be used before exposure to cold but may be employed in small dose to counteract chill and prevent "taking cold" after returning to a place of warmth.

3. Alcohol is never directly a stimulant in the sense of increasing organic function. In small proportion it increases digestive secretion reflexly through the sense of taste and smell, as well as sometimes psychically, and by local increase of blood supply. The relaxation of arterioles, though strictly speaking depressant, may indirectly increase functional power generally. While alcohol depresses both mental and physical power, the removal of inhibition, fear and prudence, may practically produce stimulation for mental and physical acts requiring no great degree of intelligence or fine muscular coordination.

4. Like tobacco and other depressants, alcohol produces a habit so that the withdrawal of the source of dependence may produce depression. Hence in delirium tremens, in acute fevers, traumatisms, etc., in which there is danger of delirium tremens, the system which is habituated to alcohol should usually not be suddenly and absolutely deprived of it.

5. About 30 grams of alcohol, administered in divided doses, may be oxidized in the body in a day, yielding about 200 calories. There are times when this fact may be of dietetic importance, though rarely.

6. Beer, wines, "beef, iron, and wine," cider and other alcoholics should not be used as tonics or galactagogues, hypnotics, etc., for persons not already habituated. Aside from the danger of producing a habit, much better means are available in each instance.

7. Except as mentioned, alcoholic beverages should not be considered as dietetic agents. Ingredients aside from alcohol may better be given in other forms, if they have any value at all and often they are decidedly harmful. In all instances in which alcoholic beverages are administered, they should be regarded as Galenical preparations of alcohol itself and the dose should be calculated as for any other drug.

Chewing gum, though a vulgar habit, when indulged in public, is of value to stimulate salivary secretion and, indirectly, even gastric secretion. The incorporation of various aromatic oils is not objectionable but pepsin and other ferments should not be used unless there is a true indication for them. This habit may sometimes be employed as a substitute for those which are dangerous to health, such as alcoholic indulgence, tobacco chewing and smoking.