Home › The Doctor's Kitchen › Alcohol

Alcohol

This is chemically a toxin of the yeast plant, as the spirituous product of vinous fermentation (whereby are given intoxicating properties of varying relative strength to ardent spirits, wines, and malt liquors, the same product being powerfully stimulating, and remarkably antiseptic). There are different grades of alcohol, according to the source from which they are respectively derived; as "grain alcohol," prepared from maize, or other grain; "root alcohol," from beets, and potatoes; and " moss alcohol," made in large quantities from reindeer moss, and Iceland moss, in Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Such spirits as whisky, gin, and brandy contain from 40 to 50 per cent of absolute alcohol most wines contain from 7 or 8 to 20 per cent; and malt liquors from 2 to 10 per cent. Each molecule of alcohol consists of two atoms of carbon, six of hydrogen, and one of oxygen; it contains no nitrogen. When taken into the body alcohol burns by the carbon being set free and then combining with the oxygen, precisely as when paraffin is burnt in a motor car, being a source of energy; alcohol can be made to burn thus within the human body to compensate for the wasteful expenditure of animal heat in fevers, when digestion is arrested, and fails to furnish caloric. Nevertheless, during health only a limited quantity of alcohol can be burnt within the body each day, at the rate of not more than an ounce and a half of whisky, or brandy; this quantity being well diluted, and taken in doses of half an ounce, at intervals of at least four hours. Such a quantity is all that the average man of normal temperature can utilise ; any excess beyond it will be harmful as a positive poison. Then again, alcohol is only a false stimulant, its action as such being in reality a protest of the heart's muscular walls against the noxious irritant; and such stimulation is invariably followed by a corresponding subsequent depression. As a drug, alcohol vexes the heart, which then sends blood with a rush to stagnate within the outermost blood-vessels in the skin, causing this briefly to feel warmer, though the internal body suffers a cold enfeeblement of the general circulation. Indeed, this loss of heat inside the system is so devitalizing that it often predisposes to pneumonia. Thus it comes about that the net result of taking alcohol, in whatever form, is to lower the inner temperature of the body. It is true that by dilating the blood-vessels of the general skin-surface a deceptive sense of warmth is induced because of the increased heat given off, for a short time only, by radiation, though alcohol does not really keep out the cold, but suffers the heat of the body to sensibly escape through the skin. During fevers, therefore, alcohol often renders helpful service by unlocking the surface blood-vessels, and thus setting free the mischievous, superabundant heat. If a person has been already exposed to chilling cold, and the blood has been repelled into the internal organs so as to stagnate there, with threatened congestion, then the timely administration of alcohol in a hot drink may save the situation by restoring a proper distribution of blood throughout the whole body. So that by all means let alcohol be thus taken when the person comes indoors wet, and shivering; but it must be carefully avoided when proceeding out of doors to encounter frost, and rain, whilst the internal temperature would become lowered by any such a dram. Alcohol has been proved to possess the power of producing antitoxic effects of an active sort against the tubercular disease of consumptive sufferers. If dock labourers who indulge freely in alcoholic drinks, become affected by pulmonary consumption, it is found that (in spite of their harmful alcoholic excess) the mortality from this disease is less among those who drink heavily than in the more moderate imbibers. The alcohol appears to effect under certain circumstances a neutralization of tuberculous poison in the system; it acts further by serving to block up the blood-vessels around the diseased parts of the lungs, thereby isolating these infective parts; SO that (as certain modern physicians pronounce) in all probability a plentiful (but not immoderate) use of alcohol promises true benefit for cases of actual tubercular consumption.

We may conclude generally that alcohol is an unnecessary article of diet for persons in complete health (though a moderate use of natural, sound wine seems to augment the agreeables of life). As regards the form in which alcohol may be best used, malted liquor seems most suitable for youth, wine for middle life, and spirits to be reserved for the aged. It cannot be said that alcohol is favourable to the production of perfectly sound brain work. Out of 124 instances (leading men in literature, science, and art) who were consulted on this question, none ventured to seriously recommend alcohol as a useful aid to the performance of mental labour. It is rather under conditions just short of health-in overwork, fatigue, and feeble old agethat the beneficial effects of alcohol become most marked, and chiefly by aiding digestion; therefore it is most profitably taken with meals only, in such quantity, and of such sort, as are best borne by the individual patient. But for aged persons with whom, by reason of their arteries being stiff through senility, and their circulation otherwise impeded about the surface of the body, a laborious action of the heart occurs under alcohol, with a liability of its walls to become dilated, then this is certainly questionable, particularly in the shape of ardent spirit; possibly some generous, well-matured wine of subdued alcoholic strength may be more safely allowed.

With regard to the taking of alcohol with water at night as grog for inducing sleep, when this has become difficult, or disturbed, any such practice is ordinarily a mistake. For natural sleep the brain should be comparatively bloodless; but a spirituous beverage as a night-cap produces quite the opposite effect; if the grog is strong, a measure of narcotism, and stupor may simulate sleep, but the penalty will be exacted afterwards by reactionary depression. Only will a moderate allowance of alcohol at night be beneficial, when the general circulation is so weak, and inefficient at the end of the day, with depressed vitality, coldness, and feeble action of heart, that blood stagnates passively about the brain for lack of sufficient power to propel it onwards from the heart, and nervous centres. Under such a condition of things, then alcohol may be judiciously given, and will promote better sleep on rational grounds.

Boswell, talking to Dr. Johnson about the ethics of drinking, said, respecting himself, "I am a lover of wine, and therefore curious to hear what you say remarkable about drinking." This was apropos of a story as to Dr. Campbell quaffiing thirteen bottles of Port at a sitting. "Sir," said Dr. Johnson, “if a man drinks very slowly, and lets one glass evaporate before he takes another, I know not how long he may drink. Nevertheless, wine gives a man nothing, but only puts into motion what has been locked up in frost. A man should so cultivate his mind as to have without wine that confidence, and readiness which wine gives." Someone then suggested, "It is a key which opens a box, but the box may be full, or empty." "Nay, Sir," said Johnson; "conversation is the key; wine is a picklock which forces open the box, and injures it."

Dr. Thudicum, in his Treatise on Wines, avers: "We have never known an authentic case of delirium tremens produced by drinking, in whatever excess, natural wine. Further, the habitual consumers of natural wine enjoy a remarkable immunity from gout, gravel, and such calculous formations as arise from the uric acid disposition; but no such immunity accompanies the use, or abuse of fortified wines."

Alcohol has surprisingly little effect by itself on the chemical processes of digestion. The immunity of the gastric juice within the stomach from the action of alcohol thereupon is very striking. It is also a decided antiseptic. But with gouty, diabetic patients alcohol is likely to act harmfully by delaying the disintegration which should occur of starchy, and fatty foods into their nutritive elements. Similarly, also, it hinders elementary changes in animal foods with gouty persons. Again, for female difficulties of monthly function copious hot drinks which are non-alcoholic prove most serviceable, by promoting a general opening of the skin pores throughout the entire surface of the body, and thus relieving internal congestions which are attending the periodical epoch. To be sure, a stiff glass of gin and hot water given at the outset will seldom fail to confer ease and comfort, and to tide the patient over the immediate paroxysms of pain; but we cannot make sure that the single tumblerful of hot toddy taken in this way once a month will never be exceeded, or will not seductively lead to frequent future similar indulgences. Otherwise the remedy is an excellent one. Dr. Hutchison thinks that for diabetic persons, who are not also gouty, or of feeble digestive powers, alcohol may be very useful as a food, a source of energy, and an economizer of the proteids; further as helping materially in the digestion of fat.

Fifty, or more years ago our forefathers would drink liberally of Port wine (then of excellent quality, and therefore comparatively harmless), even whilst sojourning at one of the former famous hostelries. Thus, Mr. Pickwick, when taking up his abode for a time "in very good, old-fashioned, and comfortable quarters, to wit, the George and Vulture Tavern (City of London), had dined, finished his second pint of particular port, pulled his silk handkerchief over his head, put his feet on the fender, and thrown himself back in an easy chair, when the entrance of his man-servant, Sam Weller, aroused him from his tranquil meditations." Far less satisfactory, however, was the fare provided at the "Great White Horse," Ipswich (1828), where, "after the lapse of an hour, a bit of fish, and a steak were served up to the travellers (Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Peter Magnus), who, when the dinner was cleared away, drew their chairs up to the fire, and having ordered a bottle of port (of the worst possible kind, at the highest possible price) for the good of the house, drank brandy and water for their own." Again, "at Mrs. Bardell's house with the red door, in Goswell Street, the hidden treasures of her closet comprised sundry plates of oranges and biscuits, also a bottle of old crusted port, that at one-and-nine, with another of the celebrated East India sherry at fourteenpence, which were produced in honour of the lodger, and afforded unlimited satisfaction to everybody."

We are reminded, as the reverse of this picture, by Dr. King Chambers, when talking about the mighty hunters, and stalwart, robust herdsmen of wild, uncultivated nations, "that as soon as coming within the tide of civilization (and alcohol) the day goes against them: they fade away childless under our very eyes, like that vast American tribe of which it is said the only extant remnants are a chief, a tomahawk, and six gallons of whisky." It is remarkable that the common Acorn, as produced by our English Oak tree, has a property which will serve to antidote the effects of alcohol. A distilled spirit should be made from acorns, as the "spiritus glandium quercus," which will materially help to control an abnormal craving for intoxicating liquors ; also, if taken in doses of from five to ten drops two or three times a day, this spirit will prove of immense aid in subduing morbid symptoms resulting from abuse of alcoholic drinks.

With our forefathers an old-fashioned, capacious wine-bottle was in vogue, known as a Jeroboam, being so called after the King who made Israel to sin. There was so much wine in such a big bottle that the topers were made drunk thereby, seeing that when once the cork was drawn the bottle could not be closed again. A Jeroboam is the largest bottle known. Rubaiyat, of Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet, so eloquently and faithfully translated by Edward Fitzgerald, glows with fervour about good liquor:- "Here, with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse, and thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness, And Wilderness is Paradise enow."

Beer, as mentioned by Herodotus, was brewed in Egypt 2,000 years ago. Sir Cuthbert Quilter has found at Luxor, on a monolith, the bas-relief of a tankard. Before the time of Elizabeth beer was drunk new in England, but in her day the farmers had become particular as to maturing their beer, and very choice in their ale; they named their best October-brewing "Mad dog," or "Angels' food," or "Dragons' milk," "Merry-goround," and other endearing, or facetious appellations. Ladies during the eighteenth century, who were accustomed to drink ale, or small beer, or broth at breakfast, did not take kindly to tea when it was first introduced as a beverage. We read that the family of John Wesley drank small beer at every meal. They "bless'd their stars, and called it luxury." The addition of hops first (1524) converted our English ale into beer. Sound beer should be only acid enough to slightly redden test-paper of litmus when dipped therein. As Dr. Chambers admonishes, " the first thing to be guarded against in malt liquor is sourness, or, as it is technically termed, hardness. All beer will turn into vinegar after a time, but some brews undergo this degenerative change much inore quickly than others, from having been run into dirty vats. In most of the popular London breweries the brewers calculate that the beer which is made will be consumed so quickly that the presence of a little more or less vinegar does not signify, and they brew daily in their vast vats still reeking so strongly of acetic acid that you cannot open your eyes when holding the face over these vats. And yet some of these reckless brewers occupy a most respectable position in society, go to church, and never ask forgiveness for the sickness, poverty, and misery they may have caused by their wilful negligence in this regard. There is no more fertile cause of gout, rheumatism, diseased heart, dropsy, and the premature death of the robust working man, than this beer, just on the turn, and ready to become thick vinegar in the stomach."

The famous Philip Dormer Stanhope (Lord Chesterfield), in one of his noted "letters" to his son Philip Stanhope (1874), says: "I hear from Duval, the jeweller, who has arrived, and was with me three or four days ago, that you are pretty fat for one of your age; this you should attend to in a proper way, for if while very young you should grow fat it would be troublesome, unwholesome, and ungraceful. You should therefore, when you have time, take very strong exercise, and in your diet avoid fattening things. All malt liquors fatten, or at least bloat, and I hope you do not deal much in them. I look upon wine and water to be in every respect much wholesomer." "But what is Coffee but a noxious berry Born to keep used-up Londoners awake?

What is Falernian, what are Port and Sherry.

But vile concoctions to make dull heads ache?

Nay, Stout itself (though good with oysters -very!) Is not a thing your reading man should take:

He that would shine, and petrify his tutor Should drink draught Allsop in its native pewter."

Though, as a quaint saying puts the matter pithily, "He who drinks beer thinks beer."

As concerning wines of various vintages, the leading character of a wine must be referred to the alcohol which it contains, and upon which its stimulating, or intoxicating powers chiefly depend. In the stronger ports, and sherries there is present from 16 to 25 per cent of alcohol; in hocks and clarets from 7 per cent upwards. The principal modern wines are Port, Sherry, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Madeira, Rhine, Moselle, Tokay, and Marsala. Sherry and Port are fortified wines; Claret and Hock are natural wines. "On the chemistry of fooddigestion in the stomach wines exercise a retarding effect out of all proportion to the amount of alcohol which they contain ; that produced on the second digestion by the stomachbread (pancreas) is to be accounted for by their acid qualities." Dietetically most wines are of equal value, provided they are the products of a favourable season, being pure, and free from fungous defects. It nevertheless by no means follows that because of hindering digestion in some respects, wines are altogether to be prohibited with meals; seeing that by increasing the appetite, and thus inducing a larger secretion of gastric juice, they may, if taken in moderate quantity, not only neutralize any arrest of the digestive chemistry in the stomach, but are likely to actually accelerate that function on the whole, and to make it more comfortable than it would otherwise be. 66 This, indeed," says Dr. Hutchison, "is one of the most useful actions of wine, both in health, and in disease." The stimulating action of a wine fortified with alcohol is to be considered twice as great as that of a natural wine. The acids of wine are chiefly present in the form of bitartrate of potash (cream of tartar), which eventually goes to increase the alkalinity of the wine; since the organic acids and their salts, which are combinations with earthy bases, as contained in wine, become converted within the body into alkaline compounds, and are excreted as such by the kidneys, and other outlets. It has been truly said "the human brain, and the human stomach are the only analysts which never make mistakes." Hock, for instance, which is a rather acid wine, if freely imbibed, tends to prevent the precipitation of gouty uric acid in the urine. And the same result follows cider-drinking as a rule; persons who use this beverage freely are not troubled with gravel; indeed, they are found to possess a special immunity from that grievance, for the cider not only makes the urine less acid, but also considerably increases its volume. It has been proved that as a matter of fact the most acid wines are not those which are most generally credited with producing gout. Possibly it is the combined presence of both sugar and acid in the wine for the time being which makes the sweet drink harmful to the sufferer from gouty indigestion; and there is a likelihood, as we cannot deny, of secondary fermentation being then set up in the wine after it reaches the stomach. Be the explanation what it may, the gouty subject does wisely to avoid the fortified wines, unless when they have become very dry; otherwise the indigestion which ensues may set gout going viciously in the system. Mattieu Williams explains, concerning the "cookery of wines," that he "feels quite safe in stating that the average market value of rich wine in its raw state-speaking of it as produced in countries where the grapes grow luxuriantly, and where the average quality of the wine is consequently superlative-does not exceed sixpence per gallon, or one penny per bottle; in saying which he is speaking of the best, and richest quality of wines, (of course, without including fancy vintages, or those specially produced in certain select vineyards of noted Chateaux), and he refers to 90 per cent of the rich wines that come into the market. So that, to tell the truth, the five shillings paid for a bottle of good Port wine is made up of one penny for the original wine, another penny for the cost of storage, about sixpence for duty, and cost of carriage to this country, and twopence for bottling, making a sum of tenpence in all; therefore it follows that the remaining four shillings and twopence are charged for "cookery," and wine merchants' profits."

The grape juice, which by fermentation makes wine, contains chiefly grape sugar, together with one part of fruit sugar, also albuminous matters, and the acids (principally tartaric, and tannic). This juice is obtained by crushing the grapes, usually by treading, so as to avoid squeezing the stalks, and stones too thoroughly. Hock is a Rhine wine, originally produced at Hockheimer, on the right bank of the Maine, but now the name is applied to any white German wine: it means literally 66 high home." Hocks are pale wines, and contain scarcely any sugar; they are really not more acid than claret. In Butler's Hudibras we read of this wine as having restored the high and mighty when faint:- "And made 'em stoutly overcome With backrach, hockamore, and hum."

The rosined wine which is served in the South of Europe has an admirable antiseptic virtue; though a British pedestrian, when he first quenches his thirst at a Tuscan farm, or rustic inn, is apt to exclaim that the landlord has drawn the wine in a varnish pot, and to sneer accordingly at this balsamic "Vino Vermuth." But the taste is well worth acquiring by thirsty souls in warm climates, and merits the patronage of philanthropists, for it cannot be doubted that the wholesomeness of many Greek, and Italian native drinks is due to their being preserved from decay and secondary fermentation, by their rosin, in place of fiery and fuselly spirit. The large quantity of this wine habitually consumed without prejudice by its admirers is very remarkable. Six years ago there was living, and perhaps still lives, at Menidi, near Athens, a priest, over ninety years of age, who from early manhood had drunk a dozen bottles of wine every day, partly at meals, and partly at odd times. The American Consul ascribes this venerable toper's toughness to the special quality of his liquor.

The ethers of wines are volatile, and fixed; they confer much of the bouquet, particularly the enanthine, or enanthic ether. Port wine contains a large proportion of such ethers, especially the "fixed."

The colour of red wine is due to a pigment in the skins turned red by the acids of the grape juice, whilst the colour of white wines is caused by the oxidation of tannic acid in the cask. Different yeast plants adhering to the skin of the grapes distinguish different wines, which are first put into cask for some years and then bottled, the formation of ethers still going on. But it is a mistake to think that wine will continue to improve for an indefinite length of time; it is liable eventually to decay by the slow process of complete oxidation. Nevertheless "what magic there is in an old bottle of red wine! How beautiful it looks as the light shines through it! An old bottle of red wine! For years it has lain in the darkness, and rest of the cellar. For years there has been ripening within it a slow, soft life-warmth; a magical, fine spirit that will evoke for you dreams, and half-dreams of an entrancing sort. This old bottle of wine holds imprisoned within it a kindly genie which will transport you back to the balmy past-a past from which the bitterness has vanished. This kindly genie will soften for you the present; and he will show you the glimmer, and the wonder of the future! An old bottle of red wine! It is a precious gift that comes from out the divine essence of the earth! A fine elixir! It cheers and befriends, and soothes. It awakens in man his larger and more potent self. It unravels, and unweaves before him fine thoughts-strange, curious thoughts. It unlocks the mind's marvellous, and mysterious recesses. It enriches, and enripens the personality. Under its genial spell a man becomes gay; a man becomes wise with the profound wisdom of tolerance; he laughs; his wit sparkles; a power new, and exalted is given unto him; he feels the glow of fraternity; he is brought within the circle of a benignant kindly magic; the cares of yesterday are gone; the cares of to-morrow have not yet come; the present is full of rare, and beautiful colour! Wine! Give me, I beseech you, an old bottle of choice red wine."

But, as some persons persist in supposing, far more durable and sentimentally refined is the bouquet of the purer liquor at a temperance banquet:- "We bid you to a wineless feast, And string our noble lyre.

Our blood is warm enough at least, Without the vintage fire:

Affection's subtle alchemy Repeats with touch divine The miracle of Galilee, — Turns water into wine!"

Respecting which miracle, as runs an Eton tradition, the single line was found written on the paper of a schoolboy (Tierney) who had failed to accomplish further verse-composition :- 66 "Conscia lympha Deum vidit, et erubuit." "The modest water saw its Lord, and blushed." 66 Sherry," according to Sir Wm. Roberts, " as used dietetically, frequently exercises an important retarding effect on the digestion of food in the stomach. Half-a-pint of such wine is no unusual allowance at dinner with many persons, this being in proportion to the whole meal (at an estimated total of two pounds in its quantity by weight) about 25 per cent-a very obstructive proportion! In the more common practice of taking two, or three wineglassfuls of sherry with dinner we may notice probably a double action, both a stimulating effect on the secretion of gastric juice as well as on the muscular contractions of the stomach, and a slight retarding effect on the speed of the digestive chemical processes, especially at their early stages. In still smaller quantity (a wineglassful, or so) sherry acts as a pure stimulant to digestion; though in connection with any such dietetic use of sherry remembrance must be held that it exercises a strong arresting effect (by its free sugar, and its acidity) on the conversion of bread, and other farinaceous foods by the saliva into dextrose. But sherry is superior to the other fortified wines as to the rapidity with which it develops the volatile ethers. Therefore it is an appropriate stimulant for benefiting certain sorts of infantile, and youthful debility, as well as nervous failure in the digestive functions of enfeebled old invalids. Sherry (Vinum xericum), the wine of Jerez, in Southern Spain, is commonly much manipulated. Negus (an Indian drink) is made with white wine (Sherry or Marsala), sugar, and lemon-juice, with ginger and a little nutmeg being added, whilst steaming hot water serves to complete this fragrant cordial restorative, of moderate alcoholic strength. At Jerez, Sherry is the common everyday drink of working persons, as well as of the upper classes: and their general good health, with an immunity from rheumatism, or gout, is proverbial. It is then a dry natural wine, the most refreshing and wholesome of drinks: whereas the Sherry exported to this country is sweetened, and loaded with spirit.

Elderly persons sometimes cannot fall asleep for a long time after getting into bed, and become worn out with restlessness, and with tossing about. This misfortune may generally be obviated by their taking an egg, lightly boiled, or a plain chicken sandwich, or some equally simple, yet nutritive little repast the last thing at night (supposing no previous solid meal has preceded this by at least a couple of hours), accompanied by half a tumblerful of hot wine and water, or negus, or a glass of sound, light, bitter beer. Sweet, fortified wines are specially to be chosen for this purpose, as Malaga, or Port, or Sherry. Likewise good Burgundy, warmed, spiced, diluted, and sweetened, makes an excellent night-cap. Madeira, again, another fortified wine, will exercise soporific effects either as a separate, but treacherous, potation, or when mulled (Latin mollire, to soften) with spices; the devotees of which wine aver that it should smack of the cockroach. At the Hop Pole Inn, Tewkesbury, where Mr. Pickwick, with Mr. Benjamin Allen, and Mr. Bob Sawyer, stopped to dine, "there was more bottled ale, more Madeira, and some Port besides, and here the case-bottle was replenished for the fourth time; under the influence of which combined stimulants Mr. Pickwick, and Mr. Ben Allen fell fast asleep for the next thirty miles, while Bob, and Sam Weller sang duets in the dickey."

Of Champagne, the best varieties are obtained from Rheims. and Epernay in France. It should be a natural wine, containing from nine to twelve per cent of alcohol; but what is now drunk in England as Champagne is mostly a brandied wine. The amount of sugar in this wine varies from nil up to 14 per cent. Most of the Champagnes now in vogue, even those which are high-priced, are fortified up to 12 per cent of absolute alcohol, and are unworthy of choice, or salutary drinking.

Marsala is a Sicilian wine, and sweeter than Sherry, whilst containing less of the volatile ethers which characterize the latter. Claret, probably named from clairet, a thin vin ordinaire, is produced in Medoc, of which district the seaport is Bordeaux. It is a pure, natural wine containing from 8 to 13 per cent of alcohol, with a high proportion of volatile ethers. Burgundy resembles claret, but is richer in extractive matters, and is of higher alcoholic strength. Beaune and Chambertin are the wines of this kind most to be commended. Claret contains no appreciable amount of sugar. For the invalid it should be a good wine as to its choice, otherwise it cannot be genuine. The cheap Clarets are concocted of grape-spirit, colouring matters, sugared water, and some brandy, making up all together a clever imitation of the natural wine. A true Claret will not cost less than from four to five shillings a bottle; it should have a raspberry flavour, and is more astringent than Burgundy, but not with tannin, like tea. Though Claret seems to the palate more acid than Port wine, it is really not so. Any fortified wine taken after Claret would stultify its salutary effects. Louis the Fifteenth, of France, asked Richelieu about the wines of Bordeaux, and was told respecting its various vintages, the wine of Upper Burgundy being finally said to be superlative: "One can drink of this as much as one will," said Richelieu; "it puts people to sleep, and that is all." "Puts people to sleep, does it?" answered the King; "then send for a pipe of it." It is supposed that there is now too much Vin Ordinaire in France, owing to growers having abandoned "vin de luxe." One proprietor is known to be giving common wine to his horses as part of their diet. This was done likewise in 1874, and 1875, when the vine harvests were specially abundant. The horses require to become ALE. habituated to the wine by having part of their corn steeped in it, and putting this at the bottom of the manger below other corn untreated; then the proportion of corn with wine is gradually increased until the horses come to like it. Some horses are thus led on to drink wine almost pure, and even to enjoy it. They trot very well on the strength imparted by the wine, although their ration of corn is diminished in proportion. M. Monclar has given wine to draught horses, and finds that barley, or other grain, with such wine is about as stimulating as corn. Dr. Tobias Venner, in his Via Recta ad longam Vitam, said at that time (1620): "There are also other French wines (would to God they were so common as Claret) which for pleasantnesse of taste, mediocrity of colour, substance, and strength, doe for most bodies (for ordinary use with meates) far excell other wines, such as are chiefly Vin de Congry and d'Hai, which to the Kings, and Peeres of France are in very familiar use. They notably comfort the stomacke, help the concoction, and distribution of the meates, and offend not the head with vaporous fumes. They are regall wines indeede, and very convenient for every season, age, and constitution, so they might be had." About a temperate use of wine Androcides was wont to say unto Alexander when being about to drink the same : “O rex, memor sis te terræ sanguinem bibere."

Hungarian wines are very fine, natural wines, red and white, almost free from sugar, and of moderate alcoholic strength. Italian wines are natural, with a rather high acidity, and a moderate percentage of alcohol. Australian wines are fullbodied, containing rather more alcohol than most clarets. The juices, fermented or unfermented, of certain fruits, or plants, prepared in imitation of wine produced from grapes, are of home manufacture as sweet wines, being sparingly alcoholic, if at all, whilst they embody, sometimes curatively, the herbal virtues of the distinguishing fruit, or other vegetable product which is the basis of the brew, such as cowslip, currant, elder, gooseberry, raspberry, rhubarb, etc.

ALE (See ALCOHOL and BEER.) ALE is beer of a certain strength, light in colour, being brewed from malt dried at a low degree of heat. Andrew Boorde, in 1542, distinguished ale (as made of malt, water, and nothing else) from beer as brewed with malt, hops, and water. The hop converted our English ale into beer. But the terms ale, and beer are really synonymous now as applied to the paler malt liquors, whilst the darker drinks are porter, and stout. These latter are made in the same way as ale, or beer, but the malt is first roasted in cylinders, much as coffee berries are treated, which process has the effect of producing some caramel (or partiallyburnt sugar); also by killing the fermenting principle this prevents further production of sugar in the mashing. It is probable that a tumblerful of good, brisk ale may actually help digestion by increasing the appetite, and calling out a more abundant secretion of gastric juice, with more active movements of the stomach. But malt liquors must be regarded as frequent predisposers to gout by provoking acetous fermentation in persons liable thereto.