pint of water.  As Madame Lebour-Fawssett remarks, cafe au lait is never complete without chicory, but care should be taken not to overdo it, since too much chicory renders the coffee quite undrinkable.  Of course, if you do not require as much as a pint of coffee, the quantities may be reduced, still observing the same proportions.  Before pouring out the coffee, the cup should first be half filled with hot milk, and then the coffee added.

Now, having seen what proportions of coffee and chicory are to be employed for cafe noir and cafe au lait respectively, it will be better to describe the actual making of the coffee, since the cafetiere will then be more easily understood.  We will suppose its upper part is fitted into its place on the top of the lower portion, and that the strainer and presser have been removed for the time being.  Enough boiling water should first of all be poured in to fill both the upper and lower compartments, allowed to stand for a couple of minutes, and then poured away.  This brings everything to a proper heat for receiving the coffee.

Next put the amount of coffee necessary upon the perforated floor of the upper part.  The coffee should then be well pressed down with the presser, and the latter instrument next laid aside.  After this the strainer should be replaced on top of the upper compartment, and the required amount of boiling water, a little at a time, poured in through it (the strainer).  The object of pouring in the boiling water slowly is to give it time to percolate through the densely pressed coffee lying on the floor of the upper part.  There is a little tin cover fitting over the spout of the lower compartment, which should be adjusted to keep in the steam.  The whole may then be set aside for a few minutes, and when the coffee has passed into the lower part, it is ready for use.  With a little practice, and by paying attention to these details, the most perfect coffee may be made.

ICED DRINKS

In Australia some reference to the subject of iced drinks is necessarily required, for they are in great request during the hot season.  There is a considerable amount of diversity of opinion as to their good and bad effects, but it will be found that the experience of most medical men is that when used in moderation they greatly relieve thirst and are not injurious.  This, indeed, is my own belief, and were it not for the abuse of iced drinks, the same opinion would be held almost universally.  America is the country of countries in which the inordinate use of ice has gained for it a reputation which it has never deserved.  Ice, says George Augustus Sala, is the alpha and omega of social life in the United States.  At the hotels, first-class or otherwise, the beverage partaken of at dinner is mostly iced water.  Every repast, in fact, begins and ends with a glass of iced water.