July 28, 1882.1 



• KNOWLEDGE 



143 



I would venture to add an expression of my own firm 

 conviction that a life of study is aided by the almost 

 entire avoidance of stimulants, alcoholic as well as 

 nicotian. 



I do not say that the moderate use of sucli stimulants 

 does harm, only that so far as I can judge from my own 

 experience it aftbrds no help. I recognise a slight risk 

 in what Abbe Moigno correctly states — the apparent 

 power of indefinite work which comes with the almost 

 entire avoidance of stimulants ; but the risk is very slight, 

 for the man must have very little sense who abuses that 

 power to a dangerous degree. Certainly, if the loss of the 

 power be evidence of mischief, I woidd say (still speaking 

 of my own experience, which may be peculiar to my own 

 temperament) that the use of stimulants, even in a very- 

 moderate degree, is mischievous. For instance I repeatedly 

 have put this point to the test : — I work say from 

 breakfast till one o'clock, when, if I feel at all hungry, 

 I join my family at lunch ; if now at lunch I eat 

 very lightly and take a glass of ale or whisky-and-water 

 I feel disposed, about a quarter of an hour later, to leave 

 my work, which has, for the time, become irksome to me ; 

 and perhaps a couple of hours will pass before I care for 

 steady work again : on the other hand, if I eat as lightly, 

 or perhaps take a heartier lunch, but drink water only, I 

 sit down as disposed for work after as before the meal. In 

 point of fact, a very weak glass of whisky-and-water has 

 as bad an influence on the disposition for work as a meal 

 unwisely heavy would have. It is the same in the evening. 

 If I take a light supper, with water only, I can work (and 

 this, perhaps, is bad) comfortably till twelve or one ; but 

 a glass of weak whisky-and-water disposes me to rest or 

 sleep, or to no heavier mental eflbrt than is involved in 

 reading a book of fiction or travel 



These remarks apply only to quiet home life, with my 

 relatives or intimate friends at the table. At larger 

 gatherings it seems (as Herbert Spencer has noted) that 

 not only a lieartier meal, but stimulants in a larger 

 quantity, can be taken without impairment of mental 

 \ivacity, and even with advantage, up to a point falling 

 far short, however, of what in former times would have 

 been regarded as the safe limit of moderation. Under 

 those circumstances, " wine maketh glad the heart of 

 man," and many find the stimulus it gives pleasant, — 

 perhaps dangerously so, unless the lesson is soon learned 

 that the point is very soon reached beyond which mental 

 vivacity is not increased but impaired. 



I must confess it seems to me that if we are to admit 

 the necessity or prudence of adopting total abstinence 

 principles, because of the miseries whicli have been caused 

 by undue indulgence — if A, B, and C, who have no de.<;ire 

 to make beasts of themselves, are to refrain from the social 

 glass because X, Y, and Z cannot content themselves till 

 they have taken lialf a-dozen social glasses too many — 

 society has an additional reason to bo angry with the 

 drunkards, and with those scarcely less pernicious members 

 of the social body who either cannot keep sober without 

 blue ribbons or pledges, or, having no wish to drink, want 

 everyone to know it. I admit, of course, if it really is the 

 case that the healthy-minded must refrain from the inno- 

 cent use of such stimulants as suit them, in tlio interests of 

 the diseased, it may be very proper and desirable to 

 do so : but only in the same way that it might lie very 

 desirable to avoid in a lunatic asylum the rational discus- 

 sion of subjects about wliich the lunatics were astray. For 

 steady literary or scientific work, however, and throughout 

 the hours of work (or near them) it is certain that for most 

 men something very close to total abstinence from stimu- 

 ants is the best policy. 



FUTURE SOURCES OF OUR FOOD 

 SUPPLY. 



By Percy Russell. 

 II. — AUSTRALASIA. 



VICTORIA — the island of Tasmania alone excepted — 

 is the most contracted in area of all the principal 

 members of the Australasian group, yet, as I shall pre- 

 sently show, it can of itself furnish a very important quota 

 to our national food supply. The estimated area — some- 

 thing less than that of Great Britain — is .')G, 440,720 acres, 

 and of these there were available for selection on January 1, 

 1881, nearly 10,000,000 of acres, while other lands were 

 constantly becoming available as settlement developed 

 pari j>assu with the advance of the railway system of the 

 colony. The area under wheat was computed at 707,188 

 acres, and the average yield was 13-29 bushels to the acre. 

 Maize, oats, and barley were, and are, successfully grown, 

 while all the ordinary English farm produce was raised in 

 great quantity and perfection, together with vines, which 

 are capable of almost indefini'c expansion, assuming that 

 Australian wines should once become fairly popularised in 

 these realms of ours at home. The live stock return com- 

 prised 216,710 horses, 278,360 milch cows, horned cattle 

 generally 8.50,998, and 8,651,775 sheep, to say nothing of 

 pigs and poultry. Although the population was in 1881 

 no less than 845,997, it is clear that the agricultural wealth 

 of the community was rich indeed beyond all normal old 

 world standards, and then it must be remembered that 

 Victoria is the most thickly populated member of the 

 whole group, consequent on the large extent of Melbourne, 

 which contained in 1881 no fewer than 280,836 souls — 

 being, curiously enough, considerably in excess of the total 

 population of South Australia, and more than half the 

 entire population of New Zealand. 



The agricultural and stock-raising capabilities of Victoria 

 arc very great. Indeed, almost all fruits and vegetables 

 grown in the British isles, are produced with facility, while 

 such is the marvellous fertility of some of the rich lands, 

 that as many as 60 bushels of wheat have been obtained 

 from the acre ! The vineyards are advancing apace, in spite 

 of the prejudice wherewith the Victorian vintages are still 

 regarded in this country. The average yield is some 250 

 gallons per acre, and if fiscal matters could be only equit- 

 ably adjusted, and these wines properly introduced amongst 

 us, we might have a practically inexhaustible supplyof sound, 

 wholesome, genuine wine, giving us as a nation something 

 infinitely better than the vin ordinaire of the continent at 

 an approximately nominal price. This, indeed, is a matter 

 which merits much moi-c careful consideration than our 

 government has get given to the subject, and the friends of 

 Temperance know -tt-ell that intoxication results chietly, if 

 not wholly, from beer and spirits. To make a nation 

 generally a wine drinking conmiunity is to take a long 

 stride towards virtual national temperance. 



Passing now to South Australia, we have to consider a 

 region which in extent and productive potentiality, alto- 

 gether transcends our insular ideas of what constitutes 

 a considerable cereal producing region, Norfolk and 

 Sud'olk, for example, being big factors in the domestic 

 cuKulations of our English farmers. The total area of the 

 colony is estimated at about 903,690 square miles, or 

 578,361,000 acres. Of this vast area there had been 

 aliemit(-d up to 1880 some 8,940,327 acres, while some 

 29,000,000 acres remained ready for settlement Tliere 

 were in 1S81, about 1,730,000 acres under wheat, yielding 

 8,600,000 bushels, while 4,337 acres of vines produced half- 

 a-miliion gallons of wine. The live stock included 148,219 



