Year: 1866




SWEET C1DER.-The temperance
organizations of our country have long
been troubled with the vexed ques-
ton, whether sweet cider-the recent
ly expressed juice of the apple-is
proper as a beverage, or its use
violation of the pledge. 1t must seem
very strange to one who is not the
slave of morbid appetite, that such a
questio could ever be enter
tanned for moment. To be a tenn
perance man, with the exception of
sweet cider, is like being vegetarian
excepting chickens and oysters, or a
Hydropathic physician excepting wine
and lager-beer. But why does any
one, having the cause of suffering hu-
manity in view, come to hold on to
sweet cider, even if its use is not
technically violation of the total
abstinence pledge? 1t is the mere
qualification of appetite that induces
the temperance advocate to renounce
the demon, alcohol, yet hold on to
one of its imps. 1t is this which in
duces the vegetarian to abjure the
flesh-pots in general, while he retains
some fesh-pots in particular. And
this causes the Hygienic physician to
declare for a physiological dietary,
while he puts salt, vinegar, and pepper
into his victuals.


We suspect, however, that the diff
ficuIty is in the want of a correct nm
derstanding of the subject. The tem-
perance cause is to-day crushed and
paralyzed all over the world, because
its friends do not understand lido
not place it before the people on the
right basis. If they would recognize
the obvious truth that there is no bev-
erage in nature for anything that has
life, except pure water; that God has
made no other, and that no other drink
for living beings can be found in the
illimitable universe, they would soon
settle the sweet cider question. All
of the juices of fruits are liable to
fermentation the moment they are
separated from the solid matter of the
fruit, and fermentation begets alcohol,
and the quantity of the alcoholic ele-
ments increases while the fermenta-
ton proceeds. And it is the alcohol,
and nothing else, which gives the
liquor that peculier flavor and pungen-
cy of which the lovers of sweet cider
are so fond This fact alone ought to
settle the question-as, we are happy
to know, it has been decided by
majority of the temperance societies
against the use of the article. But
suppose the juice of the apple can be
kept at so low temperature that fer
mentation will not take place-will
not commence. Or suppose the cider
is swallowed so soon after it is ex-
pressed that no appreciable alcoholic
taint exists. What then? What is
the advantage? The apple is intend
ed for food and not drink. 1t was
made to be eaten; and if one can sue
ceed In expressing the juice and get
ting it into his stomach before it fer
ments, he has gained nothing and lost
something. He has gained no bever-
age, for there is no beverage under
the sun except water, and he has lost
the food of the apple. He may, in
deed, eat the pomace of the fruit; but
he will find it very different article
of food from the unground apple
Nature has provided the best machih-
cry in the world, both for grinding
the fruit and expressing the juice
The teeth, jaws, tongue, and surround
ing muscles, constitute the proper
"cider-mill." In this machine the fruit
is insalvated as it is nasticated and
this saliva prevents fermentation from
taking place, and enables the whole
material of the fruit, solid and fluid,
to be used in the organic economy.