by thb president. 
137 
for it is a case of unalterable law. “ But,” say a few, il we never 
drink water, we always drink beer; ” some others remark, “ We 
rarely drink water, we generally drink tea or coffee; ” while a 
child might say, “ I drink quite as much milk as water.” Forgive 
me, my friends, for seeming to contradict you, but you one and all 
probably drink quite as much water as those who drink little but 
water. Of 100 quarts of milk about 87 quarts are water; of 100 
pints of beer nearly 90 are water; of 100 cupfuls of that favourite 
beverage you pour out of the teapot at least 99 cupfuls are water. 
Of 100 bottlefuls of claret, hock, or champagne, between 80 and 90 
are water; of 100 bottlefuls of port or sherry wine quite 75 are 
water. Of those tumblerfuls of “ grog” in which some people 
occasionally indulge—even if the gin, rum, brandy, or whisky be 
strong, and the proportion of “ spirit ” and water be half and 
half—three quarters of the tumblerful will be water; for the 
strongest spirits are usually half alcohol half water. When a 
man swallows a glass of “neat” spirit, therefore, he is really 
taking alcohol diluted with water. It is a question whether any 
man could have much undiluted alcohol in his stomach and live. 
Even the glass of ardent spirit is diluted as soon as swallowed by 
the fluids then within, or immediately afterwards within, the 
stomach. It is a question, indeed, whether a man could live long 
if he took water in no other form than that of port, sherry, or 
strong grog; that is to say, no tea, no coffee, no milk. Nay, the 
demand of the system for water probably could not be supplied if 
the only drink were the weaker wines. (It is to be remembered, 
also, that all solid food contains water-ordinary meat, poultry, 
and potatoes, 75 per cent.; many vegetables, 80 or 90 per cent.; 
bread, 40 per cent.) To maintain healthy bodies in their normal 
condition, and to enable them to do their life-work, they must have 
water. And they must have a full proportion of water, no matter 
what the idiosyncrasy of the individual. If they do not get it 
they become unhealthy, or die outright. 
Doubtless the fluids we drink are important from other points 
of view than that of their water. The 13 per cent, of solids in 
milk consist of valuable bone-making, flesh-forming, and warmth- 
giving materials. Beer, wine, tea, coffee, etc., also contain small 
quantities of useful dissolved solids. But these solids are to be 
regarded as a part of the food we eat. So that the interest of the 
fluids we drink, considered as fluids, derives that interest almost 
solely from the water they contain. 
From the standpoint of nature, some little interest—and from the 
standpoint of man, a great deal of interest—attaches to the use of 
