15.  Alcohol kills Animals and Plants.—­Strong alcohol has a deadly effect upon all living things.  Once a man gave a dog a few tablespoonfuls of alcohol, and in a little while the dog was dead.  If you should pour alcohol upon a plant it would die very soon.

16. A man once made a cruel experiment.  He put some minnows into a jar of water and then poured in a few teaspoonfuls of alcohol.  The minnows tried very hard to get out, but they could not, and in a little while they were all dead, poisoned by the alcohol.  A Frenchman once gave alcohol to some pigs with their food.  They soon became sick and died.

17.  Alcohol not a Food.—­There are some people who imagine that alcohol is good for food because it is made from fruits and grains which are good for food.  This is a serious mistake.  A person can live on the fruits or grains from which alcohol is made, but no one would attempt to live upon alcohol.  If he did, he would soon starve to death.  In fact, men have often died in consequence of trying to use whiskey in place of food.

18. We should remember, also, that people do not take alcohol as a food, but for certain effects which it produces, which are not those of a food, but of a poison.

19. Many people who would not drink strong or distilled liquors, think that they will suffer no harm if they use only wine, beer, or cider.  This is a great mistake.  These liquids contain alcohol, as do all fermented drinks.  A person will become drunk or intoxicated by drinking wine, beer, or cider—­only a larger quantity is required to produce the same effect as rum or whiskey.

20. Another very serious thing to be thought of is that if a person forms the habit of drinking wine, cider, or other fermented drinks, he becomes so fond of the effect they produce that he soon wants some stronger drink, and thus he is led to use whiskey or other strong liquors.  On this account it is not safe to use any kind of alcoholic drinks, either fermented or distilled.  The only safe plan is to avoid the use of every sort of stimulating or intoxicating drinks.

21. It has been found by observation that those persons who use intoxicating drinks are not so healthy as those who do not use them, and, as a rule, they do not live so long.

22. This is found to be true not only of those who use whiskey and other strong liquors, but also of those who use fermented drinks, as wine and beer.  Beer drinkers are much more likely to suffer from disease than those who are strictly temperate.  It is often noticed by physicians that when a beer-drinker becomes sick or meets with an accident, he does not recover so readily as one who uses no kind of alcoholic drinks.

23. Alcoholic drinks not only make people unhealthy and shorten their lives, but they are also the cause of much poverty and crime and an untold amount of misery.