Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1868-08-28
5fliscellamp.
Summer Drinks.

lneTe Is nOluiHS Dut Watci Sal'''S "
satisfying the thirst. All other drinks,
therefore, taken for this purpose, answer
it only in proportion to the quantity OF
this fluid they may contain.
Water, if pure, may be drank at all
times and in almost any quantity with
impunity. The manner of drinking it,
however, is a matter Of no little impor-
lance. If gulped down in large quanti-
ties it may, by suddenly filling the stom-
ach, so distend it as to produce pres
sure not only painful, but subversive of
the functions of that and other internal
organs. If, moreover, the water thus
swallowed be excessively cold, and the
body unduly heated, a fatal shock may
result from the instantaneous change of
temperature. Thus, cases are recorded
of death from this cause. These, how
ever, do not occur as often as was once
supposed, and most of those fatal results
before attributed to drinking cold water,
are now supposed to be owing to the
joint effect of heat and fatigue, or to
what is ordinarily termed sunstroke.
Water may be drank in its coolest de-
gree of temperature, and in the largest
quantity the thirst may demand, by any
person, whatever may be his state as to
health or illness, heat Or cold, provided
it is swallowed gradually. BY slipping,
not only is the desire for drink more,
thoroughly gratifed, but all danger
avoided.
Iced water when properly drank is I'M
questionably the best of all summer
drinks; but there are others which, if
INDUCED in moderately, may be allowed.
The ordinary soda water-or water i'm
pregnated with carbonic acid gas-is a
not unwholesome beverage, although it
is often made so by the syrups, spirits
and other concoctions mixed with it
The various fruit syrups, if genuine,
may, when diluted with water, be safely
taken. The sugar, however, they con-
tain SO abundantly, and which, accord
ing to the chemists, is a great heat pro-
Queer, makes them unfit for constant
summer drinking.
Science condemns the use, particularly
in hot weather, of all the spirituous
drinks, such as brandy, gin and whiskey.
These, according to some chemical phil
osophers, may be of advantage to those
exposed to the severe cold of winter
Others deny that they can ever be useful,
and assert that they always act upon the
brain and nerves as direct poisons. Both,
then, are agreed in condemning them as
summer drinks. Liebig and his follow
ers gave this as the reason Alcohol, the
chief constituent of all spirituous drinks,
is mainly composed of carbon, which is
the fuel required by the body to keep up
its animal heat.
In summer, of course, but little of this
fuel is required much less than in win
ter. If, however, q large quantity is
supplied there will be an excess, which
is left unconsumed, and remaining in the
body without use, does harm in various
ways. Drinking alcohol, therefore, which
contains great deal of carbon, in sum
mer, is supplying the body with more of
this fuel than it requires, and is, in con-
sequence, a harmful practice
The French wines, if stimulants are at
all required, are the best, because they
are the purest and the weakest The
American practice of putting humps Of
ice into them, which so surprises all Eu.
ropean connoisseurs, is not bad one, fol-
most of the foreign wines imported into
this country are branded to suit the sup
posed strength of head of our country
men, and will largely bear dilution.-
Harper's Basar.