Abyssinian chaat, as the indigenous warm drink there in a brief space produces the Mexican of the Ethiopian people. Everywhere, unin pulque, so pleasing to the native palate. And toxicating and non-narcotic beverages are in where the grape vine bears its luscious bunches general use among tribes of every color, be- the expressed jiuce soon begins ito move and neath every sun, and in every condition of life. sparkle with bubbles of living gas, and the crude The custom, therefore, must meet some univer- heavy liquor changes spontaneously into the sal want in our common human nature." (Vol. i. cheerful and exhilarating wine. Indeed the juices p. 56.) of nearly all fruits, even of our more northern This wide use of simple medicated drinks is ones, the apple, the pear, the plum, the goosesimple enough. But it is still more remarkable berry, and a hundred others-naturally produce that in so many different countries, and from so their own peculiar varieties of intoxicating drink. many different plants, different races of men Fermented liquors, therefore, are natural bevignorant alike of chemistry and physiology—erages, which man could not avoid becoming acshould have been led by a common instinct to quainted with, and of which in many countries select, for the purpose of preparing these it required little ingenuity to obtain a continued drinks, vegetable substance which contains the and abundant supply. It was probably some same peculiar acting ingredient. Thus, the fortunate accident which led to the discovery of theine which characterises the Chinese leaf, is the mode of preparing sweet liquids from sproutpresent not only in the coffee bean brought into ed grain (malt), and of converting them into an use in Abyssinia and Arabia, in the coffee leaf exhilarating drink by mixing them with other employed as yet only in Sumatra, in the Mate liquids already in fermentation. A rare accident or Paraguay tea which has been long collected no doubt, led to the custom of chewing grains among the forests of Paraguay, but also in the and roots, still practised in Peru, for the prepaGuarana or Brazilian cocoa, in use among the ration of fermented chica, and in the South Sea natives of Brazil; while the true cocoa of Cen- Island for the manufacture of the favorite ava. tral America contains the very similar substance And a yet rarer accident, at a more modern petheobromine. This fact, which has been estab- riod, taught some sleepless Arabian alchemist,lished beyond doubt by recent chemical re- torturing substance after substance in his crucisearch, is one of the most curious in the whole bies alembics, — how to extract the fierce spirit history of human instincts. Through how many from these agreeable drinks, and brought up, as successive trials, after how wide and long an it were, from the bottom of Pandora's box, that experience of bodily comfort and discomfort, Alchohol which has since inflicted so many evils must half-civilized men in each of these coun- upon the world. tries have come to settle down into the general In the chemical history of these fermented custom of using the several indigenous plants drinks there are many things which will repay the which modern times have found commonly em- careful student who is desirous of thoroughly unployed among them. How very curious that the derstanding this important chapter of the "chemchemistry of our day should discover that in so istry of common life." In all cases, for example, many cases the plants thus selected should be and whatever may be the source of the liquid capable of yielding to water the same chemical we employ, the same chemical substance underand physiological ingredient! goes the same chemical change during the pro The passion for fermented drinks is akin to cess of fermentation. In every instance we start the love of infused beverages, but it stands up with grape sugar-that is, the kind of sugar on a somewhat different ground. It is not in- which exists ready formed in the grape and othstinctive in the same sense as the desire for er fruits. If we wish to employ grain we make warm infusions. It has not everywhere led the it sprout, and thus produce within it a peculiar different races of men through long trial and substance called diastase, which, when the grain research to the means of gratifying it. These is crushed and steeped in warm water, converts means have rather sprung up of themselves be- the starch of the grain into grape sugar, and fore mankind in certain parts of the world, and dissolves it, forming the sweet wort. To this have thus awakened the passion which, if it solution of grape sugar we add a ferment, usuexisted in human nature at all, would otherwise ally yeast, if it does not naturally contain one, have remained dormant. as grape and palm tree juices do. Through the Thus, in tropical climates, where palm trees action of the ferment the grape sugar is changed, flourish, an accidental wound to the topmost always in the same chemical way, so that sparkshoot causes a copious flow of sweet sap, which, ling carbonic acid gas and intoxicating alcohol of its own accord, speedily ferments and produces are in every case produced. At the same time an agreeable intoxicating drink. How early in a peculiar ethereal oil in small proportion, is eastern climes must this grateful liquor have formed. This is different in the juice or sap of become familiar to the primeval races? How each different fruit or tree, and hence each vanatural it was in them to make use of it! riety of fermented drink derives its own peculiar boquet. So also in Mexico the American aloe pours its copious juice into its own central cup, and Then how singular and worthy of study are the effects they produce upon the system, cor- which are so likely to be broken, or to instruct poreal and spiritual, when introduced into the and educate them in a better understanding of stomach. They exhilarate, they enliven, they what is for their own present and future good,excite to laughter, they awaken merriment, whether it is better to withhold spirit licences they stimulate and exalt the mental powers. and shut up beer-houses, or to make the poor Some they stupify, some they convert into irri- man's home as comfortable as the fireside of table savages, some into drivelling idiots, and the village inn, and to teach young females of some into mere pugnacious animals. All, if the humbler classes, as their first and most relong and largely used, they finally brutalize, pros- sponsible duty, how to keep them so,-whether trate, and, in the end, carry to an untimely any one of all these methods is the best for sup pressing a wide-spread evil,-or whether, for the But more wonderful than these poisonous and moral regeneration of the most helpless of our destructive effects is the passion for indulging in people, a good man would not cheerfully aid in them, which these fermented liquors awaken in employing and furthering them all, these are a large portion of our fellow men-the irresis- questions in social economies in regard to which, tible love with which these unfortunates are smit- in this free country, we must be content to ten by them-the fascinating influence by which differ. grave. they are charmed. The will becomes absolute- We have spoken of the passion for intoxicatly spell-bound through the action of alcohol on ing liquors which continued use awakens, as the the bodies of some, and reason is dethroned, most remarkable circumstance in the scientific even where it formerly exercised a clear and history of fermented drinks. It is from this undisputed sway. We cannot here discuss the causes of all this. They lie, in fact, as yet, a great way beyond the limits of our actual knowledge. fascinating power that the danger of using them principally arises. And from this we derive our strongest arguments in favor of the more extended use of tea and other infused beverages, But there are certain beneficial, though less which, however, indulged in, lead at least to no marked, effects produced by alcoholic drinks, moral delinquences or violations of public law. which recent chemico-physiological research, to But this fascinating power alcoholic liquids share a certain extent, explains. Taken in moderate with another class of indulgences, also introduquantities they act like tea in lessening the bod-ced into Europe in modern times, and already ily waste, and thus are of real value to persons most extensively consumed by every European whose power of digestion are impaired, either race. These are the narcotic substances we in by disease or by the advances of age. They dulge in. seem also to defend the body, to a certain ex- Of such substances it is remarkable how large tent, against wear and tear which a constant ex- a number are in use in different parts of the ercise and agitation or the mind is apt to occa- world, over how wide an area the habit of consion. Yet the degree and form in which these suming them prevails, among how many differeffects are produced vary with the kind and com- ent tribes of men, and from how remote a period. position of the fermented drinks we make use of. The aborigines of Central America rolled up the The proportion of water with which the alcohol tobacco-leaf and dreamed away their lives in is diluted, the peculiar ethereal oil with which it smoky reveries, ages before Columbus was born, is mixed or contaminated, the kind of acid nat- or the colonists of Sir Walter Raleigh brought urally formed and contained in the liquor it within the precincts of the Elizabethan Court. (such as the acetic acid of beer, the lactic acid The cocoa leaf, which is still the comfort and of cide, and the tartaric acid of grape wine), strength of the Peruvian muleteer, was chewed the kind and quantity of the salts which occur as he does it now, in far remote times, and in it, the hops or other narcotics which, in the among the same mountains, by his Indian forecase of beer, have been infused in it all these fathers. The use of opium, hemp, and the betelingredients of the drink modify its action upon nut, of which only the first has yet been transthe system, and give rise to those diversities in planted into Europe, has prevailed among Eastthe effects which different fermented liquors are ern Asiatics from times of the most fabulous anfound to produce upon the same individual. tiquity. The same is probably true of the pepThe melancholy influences which the passion per plants, indulged in by the South Sea islandfor alcoholic drinks exercises upon the comfort ers and the natives of the Indian Archipelago; and well being of society is a social rather than of the thorn apples, the use of which still lingers a chemico-physiological question. To what ex- among the natives of the Andes and on the tent, on the grounds of moral expediency, it is slopes of the remote Himalayas; of the ledum proper, by fiscal or other regulations, to punish of Northern Europe; of what, from its abunthe moderate and self-restraining for the pur-dant growth and use among ourselves, may be pose of tying up the hands of the immoderate called the English hop; and of the singular and those who will make no effort to restrain fungus of Siberia, which, passionately loved by themselves, whether it is better to bind men the natives of that forbidding region now, has of lax principles and little education by vows been in use among them from time immemorial. The narcotic appetite appears, indeed, to have a rectly familiar. That these effects are usually natural and deep root in the human constitution. pleasing, the experience of millions daily testiIt is of the nature of an instructive craving, fies; that they are sometimes injurious is equally which, like that for the kind of comfort which certain; that they awaken thirst, and lead some tea and coffee bring, has led to the discovery to drink intoxicating liquors, cannot be denied; and use in countries far remote from each other and yet, according to the highest authorities in of different substances, capable of producing the this department of physiology, the use of tobacsame general effects upon the system. co in moderation has not been proved, in this Tobacco among 800 millions of men. In the United Kingdom the narcotic most country at least, to be injurious to the human largely indulged in is the hop. Of this we con- health. That the practice of smoking and sume nearly forty millions of pounds (thirty- chewing, as practised sometimes in this country, eight and a half) every year, chiefly for impart- and oftener in the United States, may lead to ing bitterness and other qualities to beer. Of dirty and disgusting habits, those of our readers this large quantity upwards of thirty-five millions who do not share this amiable vice will readily of pounds are used in England alone, being at admit, and also that tobacco may be used imthe rate of two pounds a head of the population. moderately and to the manifest injury of health. The narcotic quality of the hop flower resides in But it may be permitted to scientific common a volatile oil and in an aromatic resin, of which sense, to doubt whether all this justifies the it contains about eight per cent. of its weight. utter condemnation of the practice, and the The specific action upon the system which is fierce denunciations against the use of tobacco exercised by these ingredients of the hop has in any form or degree, which have lately been put not been as yet satisfactorily investigated. forth both in Great Britain and in America. There can be no doubt, however, that the exten- Did time permit us further to consider the sive use of this narcotic in the southern half of chemico-physiological history of narcotic subthe island, exercises an important influence upon stances, we should have turned to the use of the common life and every-day behavior of the opium and hemp in the East, of the strange English population. cocoa in Peru, of the still stranger fungus in Next to the hop, tobacco is the favorite nar- Siberia, and of the other less extensively used cotic in the United Kingdom. About thirty narcotics of which the names have already been millions of pounds of this leaf are now consumed mentioned. We may observe, however, as among us, of which about five millions are used showing how very large a part these substances in Ireland. This is at the rate of nineteen ounces occupy among the means or enjoyment of coma head for Great Britain, and twelve ounces mon life, that they are consumed at present in a head for the people of Ireland. It is partly, the following enormous proportions :no doubt, because of the smell which accompanies the use of tobacco, that opposition to this use has been more widely and publicly made both in this country and in America, than against the less obtrusive hop, which in England is so much more largely used, and which in its silent And that of tobacco there are consumed about and unseen way, is probably the source of as 4,480 millions of pounds every year; of betel much real evil. 500 millions; of opium, 20 millions; of hops, The results of recent chemical researches 80 millions, and of cocoa, 30 millions of pounds. made upon the tobacco-leaf are full of interest, The influence of so vast a consumption of subinstruction, and warning. They have shown stances of this class upon the domestic economy, that in the dry leaf there naturally resides from even of our own working classes, is apparent two to eight per cent. of a narcotic, volatile, when we consider how large a proportion of highly poisonous, alkaline liquid, to which the their weekly earnings is sometimes expended in name of nicotine has been given, and along gratifying this one appetite. But in Indiawith it a three-or-four-thousandth part of a where, on an average, not more than sixpence a volatile fatty oil, which also possesses narcotic head is yearly spent by the whole population in properties. Upon the chewer the influence of the purchase of clothing,-narcotic indulgences tobacco depends chiefly upon the action of these rise at once to the importance of being the sectwo ingredients of the natural leaf. But the ond great necessary of common life. The late smoker produces during the burning of his tobac- Mr. Porter read before the British Association, co a new oily "distilment," which comes to August, 1850, a paper which placed in a suchim with the smoke, and naturally exalts the cinct, but very striking, form, what he termed action of the tobacco upon his system. This the self-imposed taxation of the working classes empyreumatic oil, as it is called, mingles in of this country. He showed that the cost of vapour with the natural volatile oil and nicotine distilled spirits to the people of the three kingof the tobacco, and aids in producing those vary-doms amounted in 1849 to about twenty four ing and complicated effects upon the body and millions sterling, that about twenty-five millions brain, with which most of us are directly or indi- are expended in beer, and seven millions and Opium 66 400 66 66 200 or 300" 66 100 Cocoa 66 66 10 a half in tobacco,-making in all an annual ex- problem, therefore, which interests not merely penditure of fifty-seven millions in these stimu- the physiologist and psychologist, but the lants, not including the cost of tea, coffee, and Statesman, also, to ascertain how far and in what chocolate: a sum, therefore, fully equalling the direction such changes may go,-how far the acwhole public revenue of the United Kingdom. tual tastes,habits, and character of modern nations Among the working classes it is probable that have been modified or even created by the proone-third of the earnings of the family is spent longed consumption of the substances we have in these indulgences. We may naturally in- been considering, and what influence their conveigh against such an excess of unproductive tinued use is likely still to exercise on the final and often injurious sensual gratification; but it fortunes of a people. The fate of nations has is obvious that tastes so deeply seated in human frequently been decided by the slow operation of nature, so universally indulged, and so dearly long acting causes, unthought of and unestimatgratified, must take their origin in the physiolog-ed by the historian, till these causes had graduical composition of man, and have some intimate ally changed their constitution, their characters, connexion with the natural condition of his being. and their capabilities, while their names and loWe cannot dismiss the subject of warm infu- cal homes remained still the same. sions and narcotic indulgences-so widely natu-| We must here close our illustrations. The ralized among European nations within the last chemical study of the means and appliances of three centuries- without remarking upon the life makes known to us many more adjustments influence they must necessarily exercise upon and adaptations, such as those we have pointed the bodily constitution and mental character of out. In the composition, structure, and chemithe people who so largely use them. The sooth- cal functions of the several parts of the body,ers and exciters we individually indulge in, if in the process of breathing and the purposes taken in excess, are seen gradually to affect and served by it,-in that of digestion and the many sensibly to modify both our tempers and our pre-arranged contrivances by means of which it usual state of bodily health. Let the use of is completed,-in the odors and miasmata which these become general, even in a moderate de-fill the air, and either increase our comforts or gree, and similar changes will in time effect a endanger our lives, — in every part either of our whole people. We know from medical history internal economy or of external material nature that the general character of disease, and the with which we come into contact in daily life, — nature of systems, have very much altered since examples of chemical adjustment are met with, modern beverages and narcotics have become not less interesting or worthy of attention than common. This indicates the presence of consti- any of those we have quoted in the present artitutional change, and we cannot tell how far or cle. For these the reader will consult with adhow deep such changes may proceed. It is a vantage the very pleasing work before us. PEACE AT ANY PRICE! Peace! that John Russell may freshen again It would be considered by her Majesty's Government to do their duty to give the most fa- And quit of Vienna-of failure and stain, vorable consideration to any proposals which At Bedford or Bristol may vent his strain may come to them from or through Austria.Of constitutional twaddle. LORD PALMERSTON.-Times, May 22, 1855. Peace upon any terms! cheap or dearAt any sacrifice distant or nearPeace upon any condition!That Whigs in peace may make family cheer With the family State provision. Peace! that their luck may be less untoward, Peace! that "Reformers," the Blue and Red, Neath the turf that shrouds their glory. Peace! that a Premier wheezy and stark The triumph of civilization. Peace! lest the Tories compel the same By pressing the Czar in reality; Peace, then, Peace!-whether cheap or dear- That Whigs in peace may make family cheer The Press, May 26. Berries and Blossoms: a Verse-book for Young "Under From the New Monthly Magazine. Giant Despair and the little prince Goodchild, and another, very notable, of Child Barbara and the Dragon; there is the tragic history of Puffskin, the Frog, and Peter Piper, the Grasshopper; and again, in the way of simple pathos, there is the "Lark's Grave," and the "MoorOLD in heart must he be, older than the hills land Child," and the "Land of Long Ago," -for they, on occasion, can skip like young and a " Fireside Story;" while in that characsheep-who shall find himself none the younger, teristic style of piquant grace and graphic none the kinder, none the gladder and wiser vivacity by which Mr. Westwood is best distintoo, for a reading in this Verse-Book for Young guished, there are such morceaux as People. There are things in it, which children, my Window," and "The Proudest Lady," and now made happy with the possession of it, will "Little Bell," and "Lily on the Hill-top"-the enjoy at once, but which they will probably-if last a capital outburst of youthful spirits and they live-enjoy still more, when their children's buoyant health, pictured in the tiny maiden's children are beside them and around them. The romp with the North Wind himself. Some one book has about it the pervading grace of sym-" copy of verses" from this Verse-book we must pathy with childhood, with its fancies and reve-select, to give a taste of its quality, and after ries, its sports and frolics, its lovings and likings. due hesitation when only one is admissible There is much quaint humor; there is many a quoad our space, and so many quoad their own gleesome sally, many a bit of good-natured merit, we fix on the piece entitled satire and bantering fun: there is a finelytouched love of nature, touched to fine issuesa healthy delight in vernal breezes, and summer meadows, and the ways and means of the fish in the sea and the fowl of the air, together with a poetical faculty of giving to these "dumb mouths" an articulate speech, and interpreting for child-listeners and lookers-on the sounds and symbols of the blue heavens above and the green earth beneath. Mr. Westwood has already submitted his book to one critic, by whose judgment he will not be reluctant to abide.-"No solemn elder," he tells us," with a world of dusty wisdom in the wrinkles of his brow, but a little frolicsome child, wise only in the freshness of her heart and mind, and whose praises and penalties were alike spontaneous and sincere." He confesses that, having written books before, never has he written one in which he took greater pleasure or more entire interest. He calls it a play-book rather than a lesson book, and, to those who shake their heads (there are such people, but we suppose they can't help it) at such an avowal, he addresses his opinion, that children should sometimes be sent into poetry, "just as they are sent into the June sunshine with hoop and skipping-rope, for pastime and relaxation." Let the mandarin heads wag on, if they must; but let not that deter Mr. Westwood from wending his "ain gate" To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new, and bringing us other clusters of big bright berries, and bonny springtime blossoms that hang on the bough. Various enow in subject and in treatment are the contents of this Verse-Book. There is the Confession of a Blue Bell, with its ring-a-ting obligato; there is a smart new version of the old fable of the Owl and the Hawk, which cleverly differentiates between the tu-whit and tu-whoo of the former bird; there is a Ballad of KITTEN GOSSIP. Kitten, kitten, two months old, Of the warm hearth-rug. It's patting the little dog's ears, and leaping The sly, swift shadows sweep over the sun- (The Kitten stared with her great green |