Liquor As An Army Ration

Surgeon-General W. C. Maclean of the Britiah army ha seen service in tropical regions for many years, and speaks trom his own experience against tue use of alcohol for boldiers in the field. The medical oöicers of the French army, says he, those who have had great experienee in the arduous campaigns in Algeria denounce the spirit ration as hurtful. The evidence shows that wherever soldiers, by accident or design, have been cut off trom he use of spirits on marches, or during laborious sieges, they have maintained their health, spirits, and discipline far better than when grog was used. Careful experiments made at the army medical school at Netley shows that .alcohol, far trom increasing the power of bearing fatigue, even when given in a quantity which many spirit-drinkers would deern moderate, lessens muscular forcé, and a quantity in excess of this, it was shown, entirely destroys the power of work. For fatigue, rest aud food are the proper remedies. Dr. Maclean favors the uso of coffee instead of alcohol. That a cup of hot coffee is the best preparation foi the fatigues of a march, is indisputable ; it invigorates the men at starting, and the vigor it imparts helps the systeni to resist the miasma which in the dark and chilly hour before the dawn is most freely evolved from the soil. It is worthy of remark that coffee was first issued to European troops for this very purpose, on the advice of the great Larrey, during, Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Looking back to his experieuce among sportsmen in India, Dr. Maclean cannot recall a single example of a spiritdrinker who was able for any length of time to exposé himself with impunity to the sun, while it is notorious that abstainers from alcohol arü capable of doing so to to a great extent. Nor is the caso different in températe climates. "lam in the habit," says theauthor, "ofspending my autuinn vacations on the mountains of the north ; and although not quite so young as I have been, I havo again and again walked my whiskydrinking coinpanions, friends, keeper, and gillie, to a standstill. In one word alcohol in moderation may help a man to put on a ' spurt,' but it is no aid to a hard day"s work."