Alcohol versus Teetotalism. (Longman and Co.)—The second and third chapters
of this book contain a very plain reaunut of the argument in favour of alcohol as a substitute for food, for it seems it is not food properly so called. The writer contends that it has the property of arresting the waste of tissue, and thereby diminishes the necessity for food ; whereas water stimulates the waste, and increases the need of food. Without committing ourselves to this opinion as an explanation of the use of alcohol, we may be allowed to say that every-day ex- perience proves that it is of value both as a digestive and restorative, and that the teetotal outcry that it is poison is rubbish. The first chapter is less satisfactory. Is the following which purports to have been found amongst a collection of teetotal orations to be considered as a serious derivation ? Prior to the formation of total abstinence societies, at a meeting of a temperance society, " a poor, half-organized being, afflicted with stammering, addressed the audience. Ho denounced the temperance movement, which allowed the moderate use of wino, and suggested the formation of a society for wholly abstaining from all fermented or spirituous liquids, in fact, as he pronounced it, a te-te-te-te, total society ; and hence the general adoption of this title for an under- taking which commenced, as it has continued, in imbecility."
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