ADVERTISEMENT. A FEW years ago, the Directors of the Scottish Temperance League, anxious to have a Work of high authority on the Medical view of the Temperance question, made application to Professor Miller to prepare a treatise on the subject, who most cordially complied with their request. Such has been the popularity of the work, that during the comparatively brief period of three years and a half that have elapsed since its publication, no fewer than 33,000 copies have been put in circulation. Still further to extend its utility, and secure its permanence, the Directors re-issue the work in its present new and more handsome form. The value of this edition is greatly enhanced by the circumstance that the Professor has subjected the entire treatise to thorough revision, and has brought it down to the recent and highly important results brought to light by the experiments of M. Lallemand, and other Parisian authorities on the properties of Alcohol. The Directors have only further to acknowledge their continued obligations to Professor Miller for having gratuitously placed so valuable a work at their disposal, and to express the hope that, large as its circulation has already been, it may as yet be only on the threshold of its mission. LEAGUE OFFICE, 108 HOPE STREET, GLASGOW, 25th June, 1861. INTRODUCTION. DRUNKENNESS owns many a cause, and calls for many a cure. Many things are to be done, and many men. are needed to do them. The principle of "division of labour" is fully recognized in this matter. One of the most obvious causes of drunkenness consists in the strange drinking customs of the people. Strong drink not only forms a customary part of their ordinary diet, but whenever any peculiar occasion emerges-be it of grief or sorrow, business or pleasure -an additional amount of strong drink must forthwith be consumed, by all and sundry, if the entertainer would escape censure or contempt. Sensible men have come to see that if drunkenness is to be stayed in its fearful sweep, carrying death and devastation in its track, these drinking customs must be greatly reformed; and means have accordingly been adopted to enlighten the public mind on the sad mixture of folly and evil which characterizes them. Good work has been done in this direction. Able authors have expounded the case plainly and power R |