ALCOHOL. 2i; 



Alcohol and Mountain-climbing. Statistics have been 

 collected from mountain-climbers, and a large majority 

 testify that alcoholic drinks are injurious or at least not 

 helpful. This testimony is all the stronger from the fact 

 that it comes largely from Englishmen and Germans, who 

 are more likely to have the habit of moderate drinking 

 when at home. Mountain-climbing calls for a greater 

 expenditure of energy than is probably realized by any 

 who have not tried it. Aside from the natural exhaustion 

 of such severe exertion, there is likely to be giddiness or 

 nausea as a result of the rarefied air. The keeper of the 

 house on the summit of Pike's Peak says that such symp- 

 toms are almost invariably aggravated instead of being 

 relieved by taking alcoholic drink. 



Testimony of a Naturalist. W. T. Hornaday, author 

 of Two Years in the Jungle, who has had years of experi- 

 ence as collector in many lands, has the following to say 

 as to the use of alcoholic drink : " Above all things, how- 

 ever, which go farthest toward preserving the life of the 

 traveler against diseases and death by accident, and which 

 every naturalist especially should take with him wherever 

 he goes, are habits of strict temperance. In the tropics 

 nothing is so deadly as the drinking habit, for it speedily 

 paves the way to various kinds of disease which are always 

 charged to the account of 'the accursed climate.' If a 

 temperate man falls ill or meets with an accident, his sys- 

 tem responds so readily to remedies and moderate stimu- 

 lants that his chances of recovery are a hundred per cent 

 better than those of the man whose constitution has been 

 undermined by strong drink. There are plenty of men 

 who will say that in the tropics a little liquor is necessary, 

 *a good thing,' etc.; but let me tell you it is no such 



