societies not insisting on total abstinence, in South Australia, more than fifteen years ago. It is, I believe, the consensus of opinion among actuaries and physicians who have considered the matter, that so-called abstainers are, in the main, radically different types of men, and that by no means all if any difference in their mortality rates can properly be charged to alcohol. It would seem that this interpretation of the mortality rates of the two groups would apply with increased force to the morbidity, or sickness rates of the two groups. And, in my judgment, the figures presented in "Diagram No. 1" of the American Museum of Safety's leaflet contribute practically nothing of any value to the discussion of the subject.

If you do, the best time to drink is with your dinner, at night; not during working hours.

Drink plenty of water during your working hours. Drink coffee, tea or milk with your lunch.

An intoxicated man or a heavy drinker is useless to the company. A man who drinks even a little during working hours is a slower and poorer workman than the man who doesn't, and is more liable to meet with accidents during his work.

Heavy drinkers contract and succumb to diseases which the light drinker and the abstainer easily throw off. Their wounds from injuries by accidents heal less quickly. Unnecessary loss of time from sickness is a hardship on your family as well as yourself. Drink plenty of water all the time.

ADDRESS BY CHARLES F. CHANDLER, OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, ON THE SUBJECT, "WHAT IS BEER AND WHY HAS IT BECOME THE NATIONAL BEVERAGE?"

Terrace Garden, New York, Oct. 5, 1914.

Mr. President and Brother Chemists of the Master Brewers' Association of the United States:

It is with great diffidence that I venture to address the brewers on the subject of beer, about which they probably know more than any other men in the country. But the invitation was so flattering, and I thought it would be such a pleasure to meet the Master Brewers that I ventured to accept.

What is beer? It may be said in a few words, beer is a beverage prepared from malted barley, rarely from malted wheat. Rice or corn or their products are often used in addition to barley.

The art of brewing is one of the oldest arts of which we have any knowledge, and you consequently represent one of the oldest guilds. Brewing was known and practised by the Egyptians, perhaps 1,000 years before the beginning of the Christian era. practised by the Greeks, Romans and ancient Gauls. Herodotus, 450 B. C., tells us how Egyptians made wine from grain. Pliny repeats the same statement and many other of those early writers refer to it. Tacitus states in the first century A. D., that it was the usual beverage among the Germans. and further, the art of malting and brewing was probably introduced into Great Britain by the Romans. Even the Kaffirs, a race in Africa, made beer from millet seed. As early as the twelfth century beer was used in England and was especially prepared from malt made by the monks. The convent at Burton-upon-Trent became celebrated at a very early date for the quality of its ale, which was attributed to the special quality of the water. As early as 1585 there were 26 breweries in London with an output of 650,000 barrels per annum. It is interesting to note that New York City produces 10 times that quantity, and the entire United States produces 100 times that quantity. The term "ale" was used in England before the introduction of hops and probably came from the Scandinavians. The use of hops was derived from Germany and the name beer was first applied in Germany

to malt liquor containing hops. When the use of hops was first introduced in England in 1649, the English petitioned the King against their use, saying this wicked weed would spoil the drink and endanger the lives of the people, and they also petitioned the King against the use of coal for fuel in the City of London, because of the smoke which it produced, polluting the air.

The manufacture of beer involves two separate and distinct operations. First malting and then brewing. The object of malting is to so change the chemical composition of the contents of the barley grains as to render them soluble in water, so as to produce a liquid which can afterwards be subjected to fermentation. The process consists of steeping the barley in water in order to soften the husks; the barley swells in consequence and is then placed on the floor of the malt house. It begins to heat and to germinate, and from the proteids in the malt there is developed a curious substance called diastase, which has the property later of attacking the starch and making it soluble. When the process of germination has reached a certain point the barley grains are spread over a large field and turned over from time to time to prevent over-heating, and germination proceeds. When it has reached the proper point, as determined by inspection, the malt is subjected to kiln-drying, the purpose of which is to terminate germination, because if it is allowed to go over, the result would be a garden of barley plants of no further value for beer making.

The changes that take place during malting have been the subject of much careful study and investigation, and it would seem as though we had now reached at last a correct explanation of the results. It is found that during the process of malting, that is, germination, the diastase is produced to meet the wants of the plant, which in a state of nature would develop from the grain. The starch in the barley grain is a store of material, lumber we might even call it, for the building of the barley plant. In its natural insoluble condition it is extremely durable, and the result is that the barley grains may be kept and they retain their vitality for years. These starch granules are locked up in cells of the barley grains, and when the proper conditions of moisture and warmth are supplied, the diastase is developed, which converts the starch into a soluble form so that it dissolves in the water, circulates in the seed and is appropriated by the seed for the creation of the sprout and the rootlets. Careful investigation of diastase shows that it consists of two separate substances,

each of which serves its purpose. The first of these is amylase; the other substance is dextrinase. These two bodies belong to the group of enzymes. They belong to that numerous class of vegetable and animal principle found in all plants and animals, which, endowed with most wonderful properties, are absolutely essential to life. They differ from all other chemical agents for the season that there seems to be no limit to the amount of chemical effect that the small quantity of an enzyme can produce. A name has been invented which does little more than hide our ignorance to explain the character of the action; it is called catalysis, or contact action. One part of invertase can convert 200,000 times its weight of sugar into glucose. Rennet can clot 400,000 times its weight of caseinogen into casein in milk. The activity of all our digestive fluids is due to enzymes.

Next comes the brewing by which the malt is converted into beer. The crushed malt is extracted in hot water, when the diastase completes its action in changing the starch to dextrine and maltose. One part of diastase is sufficient for 200,000 parts of starch. After the malt has been sufficiently treated the solution is drawn off and this constitutes the wort. The remaining grains are subjected to a careful treatment of water to obtain as large a portion of soluble matter as possible, the worts are united, hops are added and the wort is complete. It is then rapidly cobled to the proper temperature, the yeast is added and fermentation proceeds. During the fermentation the yeast develops, attacks the sugar and liberates carbonic acid gas and alcohol. The rise of the carbonic acid gas through the liquid causes motion and the liquid is set to work. In fact the name fermentation was originally given to any chemical reaction in which gases were liberated in the liquid, as, for example, when a piece of marble was dissolved in hydrochloric acid solution. When the fermentation is complete the beer is drawn off and stored in suitable vessels, in which subsequent slow fermentation takes place and the liquid becomes clarified. The sediment of the yeast is found in the bottom of the vessels in the case of lager beer, while in the case of ale the yeast is found in the form of scum on the top. This leads to the terms top fermentation and bottom fermentation, or “Obergaerung und Untergaerung." I might add that the difference is partly due, to the temperature at which the fermentation takes place. It is found in practice that in order to produce either one of these different kinds of beer it is necessary to employ yeast yielded by the same variety. This kind of fermenta