MEANS OF PREPARING WHOLESOME DRINKS. 273 



in summer, when, from the contact of the atmosphere, it be- 

 comes too warm to be an agreeable drink. 



It is difficult for country people to go out of their accus- 

 tomed circle ; they employ themselves but little in improv- 

 ing their food, or drink, but take such as nature yields ; 

 their drink, however, may, with but little expense, and 

 without much care, be rendered more wholesome and 

 agreeable. 



The water made use of is often muddy, or has a bad 

 smell, either of which faults may be corrected, by filtering it 

 through charcoal : the process may be performed in the fol- 

 lowing manner. Place a large cask upright in the coolest 

 situation you can command, knock out the head, and form, 

 in the bottom of it, a bed of clean sand, u{X)n which place 

 one of charcoal, and above these, fasten securely a double 

 head pierced with holes ; when this is done, the cask may be 

 immediately filled with the water which is to be purified : the 

 filtrated fluid may be drawn off by means of a stop-cock, 

 placed at the bottom of the bed of sand : it will be found 

 to have become clear and inodorous in its passage through 

 the sand and charcoal. The preservation of this apparatus 

 requires but little care : when the charcoal ceases to produce 

 the desired effect, it must be either well washed or replaced 

 by a new portion. 



When a person is laboring in the fields in summer, 

 the use of warm water as drink, causes him to perspire 

 profusely, by which his strength is reduced. Cold water 

 might always be procured by the use of porous earthen 

 vessels, the surfaces of which would be constantly mois- 

 tened by the transudation of the fluid through their sides : 

 the continual evaporation produced by the action of the sun's 

 rays upon these vessels, serves to keep the water within 

 them cool. It is by putting water into their alcarasas, 

 which they expose to the sun and to currents of air, that the 

 Spaniards contrive to have cool water even in their hottest 

 weather. 



Good water is undoubtedly the most wholesome drink; 

 but man has almost everywhere contracted the habit of 

 using fermented liquors, and this habit has created in him 

 a want of them ; so that if he be deprived of their use, he 

 loses his strength and energy, and becomes less able to 

 work. 



The best fermented drink is wine, but excepting in the 

 wine countries, where the low price of ordinary wine ren- 



