become refined or chastened by some severe catastrophe, by some acute suffering. But I do deny most positively that anybody's soul has ever been ennobled or chastened by continual drudgery, by life-long poverty, by never-ceasing suffering. And this is the lot of millions and millions of people on this earth. Yes, there are millions of people in this vale of tears and suffering in whose life from cradle to grave there never enters a ray of joy, whose hopeless and cheerless monotony is never brightened even by a vision of happiness. And such life, instead of ennobling, brings out everything that is bad in human character.

I repeat, I rebel with every fibre against the notion that suffering is something useful and necessary, and my brightest and most comforting belief is-and I hope it will also be yours-that there will be a time in this world, when poverty, crime, and cruelty; fear, ignorance and brutality, will be no more. The very meaning of these words will become vague and hazy.

This may not be the most appropriate letter to write on the balcony of the best hotel in Lugano-Paradiso, in full view of the smiling lake, the friendly vine-clad mountains and the magnificent blood-red sunset. But one cannot command one's thoughts and I promised to write to you just the thoughts that came into my head. If the thoughts are not always cheerful, it is not mine, but the stupid world's fault.

YOUR LOVING FATHER.

Total Abstinence and Moderation in Drinking.

DEAR CHILDREN:

JULY 30TH, 1908.

You know my strong temperance tendencies. While not a fanatic, while, of course, not sharing the superstitious fear that some have even of a very moderate quantity of good wine or beer, and while despising, as I despise every untruth, even if told in a good cause, the silly exaggerations and deliberate falsehoods told about the "poisonous" effects of alcoholic beverages by our total abstinence zealots and in our temperance school books, still I believe that the temperance movement is a good one and deserves the encouragement and support of all good men. While I drink perhaps six glasses of beer and perhaps half as many glasses of wine during the year, still you know that personally I would not care a rap if every drop of alcoholic beverage suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth, and I am glad to know that you feel the same way. But what I started out to say was this: my temperance notions and tendencies receive a very rude shock, whenever I make one of my European trips.

I would perhaps hesitate to write this letter, if I were not perfectly secure in the satisfying knowledge that there is not the slightest danger of your ever developing a liking for alcoholic. beverages. Without telling you any falsehoods, without in any

way exaggerating the pernicious effects of alcohol when improperly used, I have brought you up so that you have a real dislike for beer, wine and particularly strong liquors, as you have for tobacco. And when a person dislikes a thing on physical grounds, he is much safer to trust than when his dislike or aversion is based upon purely theoretical grounds. It is those who swear off, who have to swear off, that eventually break out into the wildest sprees.

But to continue. As I said, whenever I am in Europe, my temperance tendencies get badly twisted. Let me explain. I came in to-day to the dining room of the Kurhaus Hotel. Two big tables are occupied exclusively by Englishmen and a few Americans, two big tables are "mixed," but the guests are chiefly Germans and Frenchmen. On the tables occupied by our AngloSaxons the gentler sex predominating-there is not a bottle of wine nor a glass of beer. Just plain water, and here and there a bottle of mineral water. On the German-French tables there is either beer or wine before everybody. The men, the women and the children-even the priests-all drink. The composition of the "tables" is of course purely accidental, but it so happens that at the Anglo-Saxon tables, there is not one person of any prominence. Mostly non-entities, some reverends, a few shopkeepers, a bank president, etc. At the German-French tables there are two famous professors of the Berlin University-one of medicine, one of philosophy-one chemist whose name is known to every chemist in the world, one great dramatist, one editor of a Paris daily paper, one well-known dramatic critic, one railway and tunnel engineer, one sculptor-and then a sprinkling of actors, singers, etc. In short, a crowd of men that count. Now please, please do not get facetious and do not make me say the absurd thing, that drinking contributes towards making men great, while non-drinking has a tendency to make men non-entities. Don't be foolish. If you want to draw a conclusion, you may do But the only legitimate conclusion from what I have said so far is this: It is apparently a fact that moderate drinking does not prevent a man from doing great work, work in every possible sphere of human activity, work that makes history, work that leaves its indelible impress on mankind.

So.

Go thru Germany. They all drink. I have seen children three and four years of age drink large glasses of beer. The amount the students imbibe is certainly enormous-incredible to the uninitiated. The professors drink, as far as I know, without exception (those who abstain on account of some cardiac, renal or other trouble are of course only apparent exceptions). I have personally seen some of the very greatest German men of science and when I say greatest I mean greatest: to mention only one name as an example, that of Ernst Haeckel-consume amounts of beer and wine which would send a shiver down the backs of our temperance advocates. Yes, they all drink. And

still who will dare to assert that the German nation is in any respect, physically or mentally, inferior to ours? In what country have the sciences, not only the purely abstract and theoretical, but also the practical sciences, such as industrial chemistry, attained their very highest development? To what country do we send our physicians for post-graduate courses? In what country does literature, the drama, the theater, music, painting, etc., etc., stand any higher than they do in Germany? And physically the Teutons do not seem to be inferior to any other nation either.

And what I said of Germany is also true of France-only here the national drink is wine instead of beer. And don't you believe anything about the degeneration of the French. The French are still one of the world's three great nations. They do not multiply rapidly? In this they only show their wisdom; they show that they are fully alive to the great responsibility of child raising under present conditions Let the economic conditions improve and the French birthrate will rapidly increase. But this is in parentheses.

And I might also mention the decided difference in the appearance of our women and the German women, which you cannot help noticing when you travel in a country like Switzerland, where so many nations come together. While our girls and women look pale, anemic, "washed-out," the German females have color in their cheeks to give away. And they not only look healthier-they are healthier. They eat with better appetites and have much more endurance. It is possible that the beer does contribute somewhat to this result.

Why do I write you this? First, because I have no other subject to write about to-day. And second-and this is of course the real reason—this subject has been on my mind for some time and I wanted to make a clear breast of it. If it is possibly true that a pure beer or a pure wine used in moderation in conjunction with food-and this is the only way they should be usedare useful, health-giving articles, then it is a pity that we should allow ourselves to be carried away by the false arguments and baseless exaggerations of well-meaning zealots.

A word as to moderate drinkers. You perhaps know that our temperance leaders deny that there can be such a thing as a permanently moderate drinker. They assert-the assertion is not based upon proofs-that every moderate drinker in time becomes a drunkard. He demands each time more and more stimulation, until he consumes large quantities of alcoholic beverages and thus imperceptibly becomes a drunkard. Instead of arguing about this matter, I will state most emphatically that the assertion is a falsehood. I know a great many Germans and Frenchmen who have always been moderate drinkers, drinking as a rule with their meals only, and they do not need or use more beer or wine now than they did twenty-five years ago. And their health is such as could well be envied by most of our teetotal crusaders.

Yes, my temperance notions get a rude shock when I am in Europe. I almost regret that I had not learned to drink a little. bit. Perhaps I would be writing better stuff if I had.

It is a thankless subject to write about. But I repeat, I do not like exaggerations and falsehoods even in a good cause. YOUR LOVING FATHER.

P. S.-I would put down such a rule: as soon as beer (or wine) has become such a necessity to a man that he cannot get along without it, he should give it up-for a time at least. Man should not be a slave to any article of food or drink. It is good moral discipline to do without things that we want particularly badly.

Literature and Mining Schemes.

We were painfully surprised to receive a letter from Mr. Julian Hawthorne, asking us to buy stock in some mining proposition in which he was interested. The mine may be all right, it may turn out a dividend payer-or it may be, as most of them are, a worthless bubble. This is not the point. The point is that it hurts to see a capable literary man, the son of one of our greatest writers, throwing traditions to the winds and entering the questionable business of mining speculations. And to use an honored name as a bait, as an asset, to induce people to buy stock-that is worse yet. It may be all right, but it hurts all the

same.

New Remedies Introduced in 1908.
Compiled by the Editor.

Anaesthesin sulphophenate (sulphocarbolate). This is the chemical name for subcutin, a local anesthetic and analgesic.

Aperitol. Valeryl-acetyl-phenolphthalein. Laxative in the form of bonbons, containing 3 grains of the drug.

Arsacetin. This is stated to be sodium paraacetyl aminophenyl-arsenate or acetyl-atoxyl. It is recommended for use in trypanosomiasis, syphillis, severe anemia, etc. The dose is subcutaneously, I 1/2 to 9 grains (!). Internally grain three to four times a day.

Arsenogen. This is stated to be (Salkowski) a somewhat loose chemical combination of iron (16%), phosphorus (2%) and arsenic (14%), with paranucleinic acid.

Arterenol. Synthetic suprarenin. Chemically it is dioxyphenylethanolmethylamin hydrochlorid. It is marked in dry powder and in 1:1000 solution and may be used instead of adrenalin, suprarenalin, etc.

Arthrisin. Trade name for acetylsalicylamide.

Biocitin. This is claimed to be pure lecithin prepared from eggs. It is odorless and soluble in water.

Brovalol. Brom-isovaleric acid-borneol ester. A chemical combination of bromine (25%) isovaleric acid and borneol. It is a colorless oily liquid of slight odor and is claimed to be well borne by the stomach. It is a nervous sedative and antispasmodic. The dose is from 4 to 12 drops several times a day and is administered preferably in the form of capsules.

Camphosal. This is stated to be the neutral camphoric acid ester of oil of sandalwood. It is of a brownish yellow color, has a slightly aromatic odor and somewhat bitter taste.

Carboneol. This is a black liquid recommended in various skin diseases, especially eczema. It is obtained by dissolving coal-tar in carbon tetrachloride and evaporating.

Cardiotonin. This is stated to be a combination of the active principle of convallaria with caffeine sodiobenzoate.

Ceridin is stated to be the active principle of yeast. Recommend for acne and furunculosis.

Detergal. A liquid antiseptic soap containing thymol and creslyic acid.

Diaspirin. Succinic acid ester of salicylic acid. Recommend as a substitute for aspirin.

Diplosal. This is the salicylic acid ester of salicylic acid or in other words salicylo-salicylic acid. Recommend as an antirheumatic. Said to be free from by or after effects.

Dipropaesin. A chemical compound consisting of two molecules of propaesin united by CO. It is a white powder, odorless, tasteless and insoluble in water. In the alkaline fluids of the body it is transformed into propaesin and then exerts its anesthetic properties. It is recommended to be used internally in cancer, gastric ulcer and other painful gastrointestinal disorders. (See Propaesin).

Eubornyl. This is stated to be the borneol ester of alphabrom-isovalerianic acid. Like all the valerian preparations, it is recommended as a nervous sedative.

Eulatin. Antipyrine amidobrombenzoate. A white powder of a slight acid taste, recommended chiefly in pertussis.

Eulaxans. A chemical combination of phenolphthalein and sodium hydroxide. Recommended as a laxative.

Euphyllin. A combination of theophyllin and ethylenediamine. It has strong diuretic properties, is soluble in water, and may be given by mouth, by rectum or in intramuscular injections.

Eustenin. This is the double salt of theobromine-sodium and sodium iodide and is said to be useful in angina pectoris and arteriosclerosis.

Helkomen. This peculiar name is applied to bismuth dibrom-beta-oxynaphtholate which is recommended as a substitute for iodoform.