“Cold water is the most proper beverage for man as well as animals—it cools, thins, and clears the blood-it keeps the stomach, head, and nerves in order-makes man tranquil, serene, and cheerful.”-Faust.

"The sole primitive and mainly natural drink is water; which, when pure, whether from a spring or river, has nothing noxious in it; and is suitable and adapted to all sick persons, and all stomachs, however delicate and infirm, unless, through depraved habit, fermented liquor should have become necessary. Pure spring water, when fresh and cold, is the best and most wholesome drink, ana the most grateful to those who are thirsty, whether they be sick or well; it quenches thirst, cools the body, dilutes, and thereby obtunds acrimony-often promotes sweat, expels noxious matters, resists putrefaction, aids digestion, and in fine, strengthens the stomach.”

.”—Gregory.

“Without all peradventure, water was the primitive original beverage, and it is the only simple fluid fitted for diluting, moistening and cooling; the ends of drink appointed by nature. Happy had it been for the race of mankind, if other mixed and artificial liquors had never been invented. It has been an agreeable appearance to me to observe, with what freshness and vigour those who, though eating freely of flesh meat, yet drank nothing but this element, have lived in health and cheerfulness, to a great age. Water alone is sufficient and effectual for all the purposes of human wants and drink."-Dr. Cheyne.

“Water is of inestimable benefit to health; and as it neither stimulates the appetite to excess, nor can produce any perceptible effect on the nerves, it is admirably adapted for diet, and we ought, perhaps, by right, to make it our sole beverage, as it was with the first of mankind, and still is with all the animals. Pure water dissolves the food more, and more readily, than that which is saturated; and likewise absorbs better the acrimony from the juices, that is to say, it is more nutritious, and preserves the juices in their natural purity; it penetrates more easily through the smallest vessels, and removes obstructions in them; nay, when taken in a large quantity, it is a very potent antidote to poison.

“From these main properties of water may be deduced all the surprising cures which have been effected by it in so many diseases.”—Dr. Reid.

“Simple aqueous drinks promote digestion by facilitating the solution of the solids, by serving as a vehicle to their divided parts. The least compound drinks are possessed in different degrees, of the double property of dissolving solid aliments, and stimulating the digestive organs. The purest water is rendered stimulating by the air which it contains in different proportions."-Dr. Richerand.

“Water is, beyond question, the most natural drink—that of which man made use of in times of primeval manners. Abste- * mious persons are not pale and weak, as supposed this effect only occurs when water is drunk to excess. Those who take it in moderation, enjoy, to a very high degree, all the faculties, as well moral as intellectual, and often attain advanced age.”—Rostan.

"

“Water is as well adapted to man's natural appetite as to the physical wants of his organs. A natural thirst, and the pleasure derived from its gratification, were given us to secure to the vital machinery the supply of liquid necessary to its healthy movements. When this natural thirst occurs, no drink tastes so good, and, in truth, none is so good as water; none possesses adaptation so exact to the vital necessities of the organs. So long as a fresh supply of liquid is not needed, so long there is not the least relish for water; it offers no temptation, while its addition to the circulating fluids would be useless or hurtful.”—Dr. Mussey.

“When people have habituated themselves to the use of spirituous liquors, the injurious effects upon the teeth are more apparent. The teeth acquire a very stained and foul appearance, the gums being more or less inflamed, are covered with a slimy mucus, and are often liable to bleed; the breath also becomes very offensive, and as the regular passing of the spirituous liquors over the tender skin of the mouth creates a constant degree of inflammation, the heat of the mouth is greatly increased. This state of the mouth is also kept up by the increased heat of the stomach, and when, by the debilitating effects of spirits upon that organ, indigestion is produced, the teeth very rapidly fall into a state of decay; they are acted upon constantly in the same manner as in the course of a fever, when the heat of the constitution is greatly increased. Thus by the baneful influence of intemperance, similar mischief to the teeth is induced, as might only be expected from a malady which threatens life. General Norton, the Mohawk Chief, who was in this country a few years ago, was asked by a professional gentleman concerning the state of the teeth among the Indians; his reply was decisive upon this subject:—When the Indians are in their own settlements, living upon the produce of the chase and drinking water, their teeth always look clean and white; but when they go into the United States, and get spirituous liquors, their teeth look dirty and yellow, and I have often heard that they were frequently afflicted with the toothache, and obliged to have their teeth drawn.

*""-Mr. Fox.

“If people would but accustom themselves to drink water, they would be more free from many diseases, such as tremblings, palsies, apoplexies, giddiness, pains in the head, gout, stone, dropsy, rheumatism, piles, and such like; which diseases are most common among them that drink strong drinks, and which water, generally would prevent."-Dr. Pratt.

“Water is a most wholesome drink, or rather the most wholesome. It answers all the intentions of common drinks, for it cools, moistens, and quencheth thirst.”—Dr. Mainwaring.

When men contented themselves with water, they had more health and strength; and, at this day, those who drink nothing but water are more healthy, and live longer than those who drink strong liquors, which raise the heat of the stomach to excess, whereas water keeps it in due temper. Such, whose blood is inflamed, live not so long as those who are of a cooler temper; a hot blood being commonly the cause of flushes, rheums, ill digestion, pains in the limbs, headache, dimness of the sight, and especially of hysteric vapours.”—Dr. Duncan.

a

2. TESTIMONIES OF INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE ABANDONED THE USE OF

INTOXICATING LIQUORS.

am now in the ninth year, (and within about four months of its completion,) of strict total abstinence from the use, either for beverage or medicine, of all intoxicating liquor. I have noticed my experience, and contrasted it with that of the twenty-four preceding years, while I temperately used these liquors. The result of my observations, is

1. My health is much improved. I never suffered much from sickness; I was never dangerously ill; but I can clearly perceive, that the use of intoxicating liquor, although temperate, did impart a feverish tendency to my constitution, so that what used to end in fever of three or four days' sickness, requiring active medicine, now passes off as a slight indisposition, like a common cold, scarcely requiring medicine, rarely confining me to the house, and then not entirely disqualifying me from my usual employment. There is an elasticity in my constitution, and I have a command over it, different from what was the case in the former period ; so that I easily throw off symptoms of approaching disease, that used to terminate in fever; and I am convinced, that if in 1803, I had adopted the course of entire abstinence from intoxicating liquors, with the same care I otherwise used in respect to my health, I should have escaped nearly all the sickness with which I have been afflicted.

2. “I can endure without inconvenience, cold, heat, and fatigue. My power for continued bodily labour, and mental exercise, is increased. I feel in a constant state of fitness for mental exertion. In this respect, comparing my present and former experience, I believe, that through the use of intoxicating liquors, though temperate, I sustained a loss of at least the twelfth part of the working hours of every day; a rate, according to which I lost, in the twentyfour years of temperate use of intoxicating liquors, two years.Yet mine was, in general estimation, a life of unusual application and industry ; and my loss was not one-third that which commonly

happens from the like cause. I have never seen a person, or heard of one, who has made a reasonable trial of a course of entire abstinence from intoxicating liquor, who denies that it is attended with great advantages, or suggests any evil incident to it.”~Judge Hall.

“ At about forty-three years of age, 1 suffered an almost entire prostration of health, in consequence of excessive labours and af. fiction, from the sickness and death of several of

my

children.During several years in which I was sinking, I tried in vain, under medical direction, the most approved forms of stimulus, joined with the most nutritious and varied diet. When at length my powers were almost broken down, I was persuaded by a friend, to abandon the use of wine and every other alcoholic stimulus, and to depend upon a small quantity of bread, crackers, rice, and little animal muscle, or other simple kinds of food with water, milk, or other mild diluent drinks, omitting everything that contains alcohol.. Within a few weeks, my health began to mend, and, at the end of one year, I was able to return to arduous duties, demanding constant exertion of both body and mind. My frame, naturally vigorous and elastic, gradually recovered its tone, and now, thirteen years after the period of my greatest depression, I am able, upon a simple, but common diet, consisting of the most usual articles of food, taken without any use of alcoholic stimulus, to perform constant labour in my profession, with much public speaking, and I sustain no inconvenience, except the fatigue which sleep removes, as in the case of other healthy persons. I was, from childhood, consti. tutionally prone to bleeding at the nose, and sometimes to an alarming degree. After the recovery of my health, I allowed myself to use, with much moderation, the best bottled cider, at dinner only. After abstaining from it for a few weeks, on a long journey, (because cider of a good quality could not be obtained at ihe taverns,) my nose bleeding ceased, and with it the vertigos, and confused and uncomfortable feelings of the head and nerves, by which I had frequently been troubled. Thinking that cider might have been concerned in causing these effects I have never returned to its use, and for nearly three years since I omitted cider, I have had no serious recurrence of these affections.

“P. S. In two other cases, within my knowledge, nose bleeding has ceased by the omission of cider. In one of these, the bleeding was excessive and dangerous. The individual last referred to, is a very athletic man, of full habit and sanguine temperament.”Prof. Benjamin Silliman.

“More than six years ago, (1836,) when I was approaching my sixtieth year, hearing so much said about the mischiefs of stimulating drinks, and entering, as I did, with cordial zeal, into the temperance reformation, I determined to go beyond those around me, and to abstain not merely from ardent spirits, but make the experiment, for at least three months, what would be the effect of an immediate and entire abstinence from wine, and all intoxi

cating beverage. Accordingly, I broke off at once; and from that day to this, have not tasted wine, excepting at the sacramental table. I have also abstained during the same time, from cider, beer, and every species of drink stronger than water, and never set any of them on my table, unless they are called for by peculiar circumstances. The experiment had not proceeded more than a single month, before I became satisfied that my abstinence was not only distinctly, but very strikingly beneficial. I was so far from suffering any injury from the abstraction of my accustomed stimulus, that the effect was all the other way. My appetite was more uniform and healthful; my digestion decidedly improved ; my strength increased; my sleep more comfortable; and all my mental exercises more clear, pleasant, and successful. Instead of awakening in the morning with parched lips, and with a sense of feverish heat, such feelings were almost entirely banished; and instead of that nervous irritability, which, during my indulgence in wine, was seldom wholly absent, I am now favoured with a 'state of feeling in this respect, very greatly improved. In short, my experience precluded all doubt, that the entire disuse of all intoxicating drinks has been connected in my case, with benefits of the most signal kind; with much firmer health than I enjoyed twenty years ago; with more cheerful feelings; with greater alacrity of mind; and with a very sensible increase of my capacity for labour of every kind. I can never cease to be grateful that I was led to make this experiment; and think it is highly probable that if I had not adopted this course, I should not now have been in the land of the living. I have had occasion frequently to observe, that some who, like myself, drink nothing but water, are very liberal in the use of that element. They drink it often and largely, and especially make a very free use of it at dinner. This was once my own habit; but, I became fully convinced that it was not salutary, at least to me. The truth is, since I have left off the use of all intoxicating drinks, I seldom experience the sensation of thirst. Often I do not touch a particle of any kind of drink at dinner, and even when I am overtaken with thirst, I find that, in my case, it is better slaked with a few teaspoons full of water, taken slowly, and at several swallows, than by a whole tumbler full, or double a that quantity, as many are accustomed to take. I am very confi dent that we may take too much, even of water; and that deluging the stomach even with the most innocent fluid, tends to interfere with perfect digestion."-Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D.

"In order that you may rightly understand my case, I ought to state, that in consequence of an ignorant disregard of the laws of hygiene, more than twenty-five years ago, my health began to be seriously affected with dyspeptic complaints, which became more and more aggravated for fifteen years; chiefly in consequence of the absurd prescriptions that I followed. Among others, so far from being directed to abstain from all alcoholic drinks, brandy was recommended with dinner, and wine after preaching on the Sabbath. From the brandy I perceived no good effect, and there