Though tea and coffee are undoubtedly baneful in their effects, the ice-water habit, now almost universal in America, is the cause of much physical weakness and disease. True, many persons seem to imbibe large quantities daily without apparent serious injury, but the possession of a modicum of brains should enable any one to clearly see that the introduction into the stomach of an ice-cold liquid that is from sixty to sixty-eight degrees colder than this organ could not have otherwise than a weakening influence.

Here again, with these iced drinks, is the evidence of instinct to prove beyond question that they were never intended for the human stomach. Give a child, for the first time a drink of ice-cold water and see its effects. I will never forget the first time, to my knowledge, that I tasted ice water. I had been accustomed to drinking water about the temperature of well and spring water and. as I was quite thirsty at the time, I began to swallow this iced water with the same celerity usual with other water. Two or three swallows, however, were sufficient. It seemed to me at that time as though I was actually pouring ice down my throat - it seemed to actually paralyze throat and stomach. Of course, in travelling you have to drink ice water or else take a great deal of trouble to secure something else, and time and time again when intense thirst induced me to drink iced water soon after a meal I have actually felt the organs of digestion immediately cease their work, and a decidedly uncomfortable feeling would remain for some time as a result.

There is no question as to the desirability of cool water. It should be of the temperature usually found in wells and springs, but never colder. If only the two extremes are furnished - that is, iced water and the warm water that often flows from the water pipes of a city, mix them until of a desired temperature.

You will be amply repaid in increased health for the trouble this may occasion.

If conditions are such that your water supply is too warm to furnish a pleasant drink, it can usually be cooled to a satisfactory temperature by the following method: Fill a vessel of some kind with water; wrap a wet cloth around it, covering every part of the surface. Now put it in some place sheltered from the sun where there is air stirring. Be sure that the cloth is kept wet. The process of evaporation cools the cloth and the water in the vessel gradually assumes a similar temperature.

Much nonsense is often heard about the necessity for ice in very warm weather; but very few country homes are supplied with it and the savage inhabitants of torrid countries seem to thrive without it. In fact about the only occasion for the use of ice in summer is to preserve foods like meats, butter, etc., that should become no part of the diet of an intelligent hu-man being at this heated season of the year.