MEDICAL HINTS. 
161 
well diluted, were to be preferred to all other alcoholic drinks. Eor 
everyday use, alcohol is unnecessary, but good claret, hock, moselle, 
or light lager will do no harm, and at times the beneficial effects of 
champagne are most marked. 
Avoid native drinks, as they will probably have been diluted with 
dirty water, or prepared in unclean vessels. 
Great moderation in the use of alcohol is quite as necessary in arctic 
as in tropical climates. 
Drinking water. 
The use of water for drinking purposes must be attended with great 
care in all tropical climates. As the water of the lakes, streams and 
pools of these countries usually contains a large proportion of impurities, 
and the seeds of many diseases, it should be strained and subsequently 
boiled before being used. 
As, however, it is not always possible or convenient to incur the delay 
of boiling the drinking water and allowing it to cool, it is advisable 
that a reliable filter should be taken. 
Most filters—charcoal or otherwise—are merely death-traps, as the 
accumulation of germs and injurious matter within the filtering sub¬ 
stance soon renders the water more dangerous than if unfiltered. There 
are, however, a few filters which, with ordinary care in cleansing, are in 
themselves efficient safeguards. The most highly recommended of these 
are the Pasteur Chamberland filter, supplied by Messrs. Defries and Co., 
146 Houndsditch, E.C., and the filters made by the Berkefeld Eilter 
Company, 121 Oxford Street. It is recommended that the filter-makers 
should be consulted immediately the probable requirements of the 
expedition are known. 
The drinking of very cold water, to which there is great temptation 
when one is exhausted by prolonged heat and copious perspiration, 
should be carefully avoided; thirst often induces tropical residents to 
have recourse to iced water, which is always dangerous. The drinking 
of copious draughts of water is also a habit to be deprecated; it 
certainly weakens the muscular energy, and as the water is rapidly 
lost by perspiration, the feeling of exhaustion is increased. Hot or 
cold weak tea, without milk or sugar, is one of the least injurious of 
all beverages. 
VOL. II. 
M 
