beer has lately been tried in several districts in England, and apparently with successful results. The Chinese workmen who constantly sip tea are industrious and sober; but then tea is cheaper in China than beer is in England. Why not reduce the duty on tea to such an extent that the poorer classes would be induced to largely consume its cheering infusion? A tea drinker is rarely a drunkard, and if the use of this beverage became general amongst the poorer classes, I have very little doubt but that there would be a corresponding decrease in the consumption of alcohol. In the Comptes Rendus des Seances de l'Academie des Sciences, No. 21, 1871, M. Robuteau describes the results of his experiments on the influence of coffee and cocoa on nutrition, and from which he arrives at the conclusion that they are not mere stimulants like alcohol, but that they directly contribute to the nourishment of tissue. A dog which was fed daily upon 20 grammes of bread, 10 grammes of fresh butter, and 10 grammes of sugar died in 29 days, obviously from defective nutrition; whilst a dog supplied with 20 grammes of cocoa, 10 grammes of sugar, and an infusion of 20 grammes of roasted coffee was alive and healthy, though thin, after 29 days. M. Robuteau states that the evil results sometimes experienced by the continued use of coffee are not felt if the coffee be properly roasted. When the coffee berries are too highly heated, an injurious substance termed caffeone is developed in them. I believe that a large proportion of the coffee used in Paris is prepared by subjecting the berries to a current of heated air or superheated steam. I wish that this kind of coffee were more frequently to be met with in these countries; for the infusion yielded by the semi-charred berries of the British grocer is often anything but a delectable beverage. M. Gazeau has still more recently communicated to the Academy of Sciences an account of experiments performed on himself, the results of which appeared to show that cocoa decidedly increased the action of the heart and other vital organs. He believed, however, that the benefits derived from its use are more apparent than real, and that it acted by merely stimulating the vital powers, by causing a more rapid destruction, or metamorphosis, of tissue. This is really the old theory as regards the action of both tea and coffee upon the animal economy. We can, however, hardly doubt the superiority of cocoa over coffee and tea as a merely nutritive principle, for its chemical composition shows that it is rich in fat-forming and muscle-making materials. It is well known, too, that in parts of South America cocoa constitutes a staple article of food amongst the Indian population. In Liebig's Annalen for May, 1871, we find a paper on tea contributed by Wöller, in which great stress is laid upon the fact that the greater proportion of the nitrogen in tea is not in the form of theine, but in that of a protein substance resembling casein, and therefore a very nutritious food. Alcohol is a stimulant which possesses less of the characteristics of true food than tea or coffee; for, whilst the latter really contain some matters which are capable of forming animal tissue, there is nothing in alcohol with which any part of the body could be nourished. At one time it was believed that food could be of no use to the animal economy, except for the formation of flesh and other tissues; and according to that view, it would be vain to ascribe any nutritious properties to alcohol. It is now, however, very generally believed that food may be utilized in the body without being converted into any of its structures. If this view be the true one, we can readily understand that alcohol might, by being oxidized, or burned in the blood, produce animal heat, or motive power. It has been alleged that the alcohol introduced into the body is wholly thrown off from it unchanged; but the inaccuracy of this statement has been demonstrated by the result of Thudichum and Dupre's experiments. When taken in very moderate quantities, alcohol, I have no doubt, performs two of the functions of food-namely, the production of animal heat and of force. It is, however, by far the most costly food in common use, and, except in certain forms of disease, it is clearly a very expensive luxury. I believe that, without exception, healthy persons do not require alcohol in any form; and in the case of children, its use is seldom beneficial, and generally injurious. Small quantities of it are certainly utilized in the system; but of the amounts usually taken at and after meals, the larger proportion subserves no useful purpose, and probably passes in great part unchanged from the body. In certain diseases, where there is rapid wasting of the body, and no capability of using suffi cient food to replace the worn-out tissue, alcohol is often invaluable. Under such circumstances, it retards the wasting of tissue, because it supplies the heat and energy which otherwise would have to be supplied at the expense of portions of the body. Dr. E. Smith states that alcohol lessens the activity of the muscles which are under our control; but that it increases the action of the involuntary muscles, such as the heart and lungs. When patients utterly refuse the ordinary kinds of nutriment they not unfrequently are able to drink one or more of the many alcoholic beverages. In fever the action of alcohol appears to be most strikingly exhibited. Professor W. Moore informs me that twenty-seven fever patients under his care during October and November, 1870, at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, Dublin, were liberally supplied with alcohol in the form of whiskey, brandy, or wine (or two or all of these liquids), and that not a single death occurred amongst them; though in many cases the disease (enteric, typhus, and simple continued fevers) was of the most severe type. In the case of chronic maladies, the use of alcohol, though sometimes beneficial, certainly produces less satisfactory results than attend its employment in inflammatory complaints. Here, in candour, it must be admitted that many eminent physicians deny the efficacy of alcohol in the treatment of any kind of disease, and some assert that it is worse than useless. The preponderance of medical opinion is, however, in favour of the use of alcohol as a semi-medicinal, semi-nutritive substance. Defi Dyspepsia is a term vaguely employed to designate a somewhat ill-defined class of diseases of the digestive organs. In a limited sense it means the abnormal condition of the stomach and duodenum, in which these organs, without being structurally diseased, are incapable of perfectly and easily digesting ordinary food. The causes of simple dyspepsia, or indigestion, are numerous. ciency of nutriment, inferior and badly cooked food, and bad condition of the blood, are prime causes of indigestion amongst the lower classes. Undue pressure of the clothes upon the body, irregularity in the hours of meals, excessive quantities of food, imperfect mastication, severe mental and bodily exercise, great anxiety of mind, and sedentary habits, are amongst the common causes of imperfect digestion. A dyspeptic who is an idler should try active exercise as a remedy; whilst relaxation often affords immediate relief to the brain or body worker, whose labours are excessive. "One man's meat is another man's poison" is a trite but true adage. Many persons constantly eat and drink things which, though generally digestible, they well know are certain to disagree with themselves. Simply for the momentary gratification of their palate they willingly undergo hours of discomfort, if not of actual pain. Any food which disagrees with the stomach will, if constantly used, be likely to convert the occasional into the confirmed dyspeptic. Flatulence is a common form of dyspepsia. Those subjected to it are benefited by abstaining as much as possible from esculent vegetables. They should, however, use a little fruit, in order to supply the necessary saline ingredients of food, and which are most abundant in vegetables. Grapes and roasted apples are not likely to produce flatus. Pyrosis, or acid dyspepsia, is a very common form of indigestion. It is produced by an excess of acid (lactic, or acetic) in the stomach. It is frequently caused by a diet in which the starchy elements of nutrition preponderate; and it is, therefore, common amongst the poor. Heartburn often results from the decomposition of butter in the stomach, whereby an intensely acrid and strongflavoured substance, termed butyric acid, is produced. Those who suffer from acid dyspepsia should especially avoid pastry, and all dishes containing highly heated butter. They should prefer a diet in which the albuminates preponderate rather than the carbohydrates. A bulky diet seldom agrees with the sufferer from acid dyspepsia. Biliousness is an abnormal condition of the system which some persons believe is induced by an excessive development of the bile, whilst others suppose that it is caused by the inactivity of the liver. In general the liver has very little to do with the state popularly termed bilious, the malady being frequently caused by fermentation of food in the stomach, either from deficiency of gastric juice or from the overloading of the organ. Sometimes 284 Remedies for Simple Dyspepsia. the duodenum becomes obstructed, and the food, after partial digestion in the stomach, cannot descend into the former viscus; under such circumstances the food in the stomach becomes semiputrid, and produces nausea, headache, and even worse symptoms. Occasionally the duodenum, when obstructed at its lower end, discharges bile into the stomach. Certain kinds of food, which cannot, owing to individual idiosyncrasies, be readily digested, undergo partial putrefaction in the stomach, and produce bilious symptoms. Active exertion, regular habits, and moderate diet are the best remedies for simple biliousness. In dyspepsia, pure and simple, where there is no organic disease, change of air and scene often works wonders. Those who suffer from indigestion usually say that their stomachs are out of ordera perfectly true statement; but in a large proportion of cases the nervous system is out of order and the blood is impure. It is as much by its effects upon the blood and nervous system as by its influence upon the stomach that a sojourn in some of the health resorts of Great Britain and the Continent does good. Wonderful a machine as the stomach is, it cannot do its work without the aid of the nervous system; and if the brain and spinal chord are exhausted by overwork of any kind, they are unable to devote to the service of the digestive organs the necessary amount of force wherewith adequately to sustain the functions of the latter. The country gentleman well knows how soon his horse would get knocked up if permitted to take a full feed after a hard day's work with the hounds; and many a dyspeptic owes much of his misery to his sitting down to dinner thoroughly worn out by the brain worry and physical fatigue of the day. All who breathe impure air and have languid respiration are prone to have their blood loaded with impurities; and those unhealthy conditions of existence lead in many ways to indigestion. Taking all these matters into account, the dyspeptic, about to take his holiday trip, should select some place which will at once afford rest for the mind and objects to gratify his eye-something to constantly engage his attention, and, above all, something which will induce him to take plenty of exercise in good air. Most of the places in Ireland which fulfil these conditions are on or near the coast-Lisdoonvarna, Bundoran, Portrush, Newcastle (Co. Down), Kilkee, and Glengarriff, for example. In England there is Scarborough for those who like gay society; and Whitby for those who prefer a quieter place. Some find the high and dry inland air of Harrowgate to suit them best; and those who can afford a continental trip have the very thing they require at Homburg—that is, a variety of pleasant excursions to make and the purest air to breathe. For young men, a pedestrian excursion through Connemara, the Highlands of Scotland, or the English lake districts often proves a pleasant antidote for simple dyspepsia. The exercise should, especially at the beginning of the trip, be moderate. A walk of twenty miles is equal to a day's hard work at the plough or in other laborious occupations. Epizootics. 285 CHAPTER XXV. DISEASED AND UNSOUND FOOD. The contagious diseases of the domesticated animals (epizootics) resemble in their mode of propagation the zymotic diseases which afflict the human race. Some of them are capable of becoming zymoties, of which we have a proof in the conversion of bovine variola into human vaccinia; and even when the virus of an epizootic is incapable of producing its characteristic symptoms in man, it still in some cases develops some form of disease which occasionally terminates fatally. The following epizootics are those from which the farm animals of these countries have most suffered :-The rinderpest, or contagious typhoid fever principally affects oxen; but occasionally the sheep suffers from it. It is endemic in the southern parts of Russia, and would now be endemic in Great Britain but for the vigorous measures adopted for its extirpation when it broke out in these countries eight years ago. Contagious lung distemper seldom affects any animal save the ox. The ox and sheep suffer from small-pox, but the pig appears to enjoy exemption from this complaint. A disease popularly termed "the soldier." which resembles scarlet fever in man, is often endemic in Ireland, and is generally a fatal affection. The poison of anthrax affects cattle, sheep, and swine, and is occasionally a great scourge. The so-called splenic apoplexy (the maladie du sang of the French veterinarians) of oxen; the "black-leg" or quarter-evil" of calves and young cattle; the gloss anthrax of oxen and pigs; the "braxy" of sheep; the carbuncular cynanche, or anthracoid angina, the hæmorrhoidal anthrax, and the gangrenous erysipelas of the pig, and the malignant boil which attacks the latter animal's throat-all are forms of carbuncular fever. 66 In Panzöotic aphtha affects all the domesticated animals. Dublin there have been several outbreaks of this malady amongst the dairy cows. Eczema epizootica, or foot-and-mouth disease, chiefly ravages our herds, but it often attacks our flocks. It is one of the least fatal of the epizootics, but perhaps the most contagious. The disease is an eruptive fever, and its characteristic symptom is a vesicular eruption on the mucous surface of the mouth and adjacent parts, and on parts of the skin uncovered with hair -the udder and between the digits, for example. Parasitic diseases of the domesticated animals are common. "Sturdy" is occasioned in the sheep by the presence of a bladder worm (Canuris cerebralis) in the brain. The "rot" in cattle and sheep is caused by the presence of very large entozoa, termed T |