XXXVII.-WATER, MILK, AND ALCOHOL. 1. In a lesson in the Fourth Reader it was shown how largely water enters into all the beverages which men use, so that the tippler, who laughs at the total abstainer as a water drinker, quaffs to a large extent this gift of nature. 2. Water is composed of two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen. These are two of the eleven primary elements of which an animal body consists; and that is the reason why a man can live on water for some time, even although no food may be within his reach. 3. Alcohol, again, which may resemble water in appearance, is really pernicious in its effects; because, while it is made up one part of hydrogen and one of oxygen, it contains also one part of ethyl, into which carbon largely enters. Chemists tell us that such a combination is decidedly hurtful. What a pity then that, in accordance with the customs of our country, this injurious agent is found to so great an extent in the ordinary drinks which are used. It is produced by fermentation and distillation from sugar, or substances which have sugar in them. How sad that man is not contented with the food and drink which Nature has provided, but must needs add to his meals, or take separately, beverages which destroy considerably their nutritive effects. 4. Look at the infant as it receives its mother's milk, or the milk of the cow, That wonderful beverage con tains all the eleven chemical elements that make up the body of man, so that not only infants, but even grown-up people, can live on milk alone. In one hundred ounces of milk there are 863 ounces of water, with 131 ounces of flesh-forming, bone-forming, and heat-producing food. 5. If any one should mix with this natural beverage a thing which the child would dislike very much at first, but afterwards come to like, that would cause it to lose command of its muscles, grow very feverish, get bent legs and a weak back, would you not call such conduct cruel? Yet this is exactly what drunken mothers do whose children, while being nursed, die of convulsions, or if they live, turn out scrofulous and consumptive. 6. Nay, more, this is what grown-up people do when they consume great quantities of alcoholic beverages. They thus interfere with the nourishing influence of the food they take, by pouring into their bodies a most injurious compound which, although it gives a pleasant exhilaration at the time, ultimately creates disease and hastens on death. 7. A delusion prevails in the public mind, which some physicians encourage, to the effect that intoxicating drinks give strength to the weak. They only act on the frame of man as a whip or spur acts on the horse. They cause increased energy at the time, but this is followed by corresponding weakness afterwards. Samson, the strongest man of whom we read either in sacred or profane literature, took no strong drink from his birth. Several of the crack shots at Wimbledon have been total abstainers,-victorious at that competition because alcohol had not injured the steadiness of their aim. 8. Whenever a man commences training for a boat race, a foot race, a swimming match, or as a jockey at "The Derby," strong drink is at once cut off-a clear proof that the highest state of physical perfection not only can be reached without it, but cannot be reached with it. The men who escaped death and scurvy in the most hazardous Arctic explorations were total abstainers. Thus it appears that strength and health of body, as well as of soul, are secured more readily by total abstinence from intoxicating drinks than by even what is called their use in moderation.--Dr. F. Ferguson. SUMMARY.-Water enters largely into all the drinks which are used by man. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, two of the elements of which the animal body consists. Men can live, therefore, on water for some time, although nothing in the way of food can be obtained. Alcohol, which is like water in appearance, is hurtful in its effects, on account of the ethyl which it contains. Alcohol interferes with the nourishing influence of food. It is a mistake to suppose that it strengthens the weak. It causes activity for a time, but the body is afterwards left weaker. The greatest amount of bodily exercise can be performed by those who are drinkers of water only; and the general health of the system is greatly helped by total abstinence from intoxicating drinks. Arc-tic, near the North Pole. Mus-cle, that with which we QUESTIONS. What is water composed of? In what way is it a kind of food? What is alcohol made of? What part is hurtful? What are the advantages of milk as a drink? How does alcohol act on the food? What mistake is sometimes made as to the effect of alcohol? Who can do the largest amount of bodily work? EXERCISES.-1. Parse and analyse-Several of the crack shots at Wimbledon have been total abstainers. 2. Nouns are formed from other nouns, adjectives, or verbs, by adding art, ary, ate, ee, which means "one who is or one who does;" as brag, braggart: mission, missionary; potent, potentate; refuge, refugee. Make other nouns in the same way from the followingvoluptuous, cure, patent, refer. Make interrogative sentences to show the use of these words. He [ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN, two French men of letters. EMILE ERCKMANN, the son of a bookseller, was born at Phalsbourg in 1822. went to Paris in 1842 to study law, which he broke off several times, and finally abandoned in 1858. In 1847 he was introduced to ALEXANDRE CHATRIAN, who was born in 1826, and belonged to an old family of glass makers who had been ruined by reverses in trade. From the time of their introduction the two friends employed their pens in the same works, which they signed with the two names united in one. Their early works attracted comparatively little notice. It was not till 1859 that "L'Illustre Docteur Mathéus" gave a certain prominence to the collective name of Erckmann-Chatrian. They are the authors of a great many books, all more or less of an historic character.] 1. All our cavalry of the right wing were advancing at the trot. They were about to attack the English squares, and our fate was at stake. It was a fearful moment when our cuirassiers passed into the valley. It reminded me of a torrent when the snows are melting and the sun casts a thousand sparkles on the icicles. The horses, with their great blue rugs on their croups, all stretched their flanks together like deer, tearing up the earth as they went. The trumpets blew wild notes in the midst of the hoarse roll, and as they passed, the first discharge. of grape made our old shed quake. 2. Almost immediately our cuirassiers were on the squares whose fires were drawn in zigzags along the ridge. After the cuirassiers, arrived lancers; after the lancers, cuirassiers; after them, the mounted grenadiers of the guard; after the grenadiers, the dragoons. All these mounted the ridge, and rushed upon the squares with sabres in air, uttering shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" which went up to the sky. At each new charge, one would have thought that everything would give way; but when the trumpets gave the rallying signal, and the squadrons returned pell-mell to re-form at the end of the plateau, there stood the long red lines as before, immovable amidst the smoke-like walls. 3. The English are good soldiers, and they knew that Blücher was coming to their aid with 60,000 men, which greatly encouraged them to resist every attack with all their might. Nevertheless, about six o'clock, we had destroyed the half of their squares; but the horses of our cuirassiers, exhausted by twenty charges over such heavy ground soaked with rain, could no longer advance amidst the heaps of the dead. Night was approaching, and the great battle-field behind us was emptying. The wide. plain where we had encamped the day before, was deserted, and below, the Old Guard alone remained, posted across the road, with arms supported. 4. Confusion was now approaching, and anxiety began to possess us. When men have eaten nothing since the day before, when they have fought all day, and at night, when their strength is wholly exhausted, begin to tremble with hunger, fear comes too, and the most courageous lose hope-this has been the cause of all our most disastrous retreats. And yet, in spite of all, we were not beaten. The cuirassiers still held their ground on the plateau. On all sides, amidst the roar of the cannonade and the tumult, but one cry was heard,"The Guards are coming!" 5. Yes, the Guards were coming-were come at last. We saw at a distance on the high road their lofty fur caps advancing in good order. Those who have not seen. the Guards arrive on a battle-field will never know the |