The Liquor Question. 



139 



The drinking customs in ancient India can be traced back upwards 

 of twelve hundred years B. C. The Rig- Veda, or sacred books of 

 the Brahmas, contained the ancient hymns, as recited or sung by the 

 priests when engaged in their official duties. Their religious ceremonies 

 were chiefly sacrificial, and the principal sacrifice was called " Soma," 

 after an intoxicating drink made from the juice of a creeping plant. 

 This plant, after being cleaned and macerated in water, was pressed be- 

 tween stones, and the juice, strained through ram's wool, was mixed 

 with malt and clarified butter, aud then fermented. The sacrifice waa 

 made by pouring the fermented liquid on the sacred fire, where it was 

 supposed to be drank by the gods. Sometimes it was believed to be 

 miraculously transformed into the god himself, and so is occasionally 

 addressed as a person. Indra was the god to whom the Soma was 

 most frequently offered, and unless he was intoxicated with it nothing 

 was expected from him, while all his great exploits were said to be 

 from his "exhilaration with Soma." James Samuelson, in his " His- 

 tory of Drink," refers to Langlois' translation of the Rig- Veda as 

 authority for asserting that, " Just as in one of the Hebrew psalms 

 every verse ends with the words, ' For His mercy endureth forever/ 

 so in one hymn to Indra, each verse concludes with, 'In the intoxica- 

 tion which Soma has caused him, see what Indra has accomplished.' " 

 It is evident that the people, as well as the gods, were partakers of 

 Soma. 



That intoxicants were in common use by the Persians, hundreds, and 

 perhaps thousands of years B. C. are facts of recorded history. Hero- 

 dotus, who wrote about 450 B. 0., says : " The Persians are much 

 addicted to wine. They used to debate the most important affairs 

 when intoxicated ; but whatever they have determined on in such de- 

 liberations, is, on the following day, when they are sober, proposed 

 to them by the master of the house where they have met to consult ; 

 and if they approve of it when sober also, then they adopt it ; if not, 

 they reject it ; and whatever they have first resolved on when sober, 

 they reconsider when intoxicated." He also relates that when Cyrus, 

 about 538 B. C., made war upon the Massagetae, of Central Asia, he 

 made a feint of deserting his camp, leaving in it flowing goblets of 

 ^ine, which tempting the enemy to excess, Cyrus attacked them and 

 gained a victory. 



Intoxicating drinks were made and used by the Egyptians. Hero- 

 dotus says, "They used wine made of barley." From Genesis we are 

 informed that the vine supplied grapes for the king's table in the time 

 of Joseph, 1876 B. C., and that it was the duty of the butler to press 



