W. BOYD DAWKINS, M. A., F. R. S., F. G. S. PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER.

I have received your note asking about the effect of alcohol on my health and work. I cannot say that they influence either; I find, however, that I cannot drink beer when I am using my brain, and, therefore, do not take it when I have anything of importance to think about. I look upon tobacco and alcohol as merely luxuries, and there are no luxuries more dangerous if you take too much of them. I find quinine the best stimulant to thought.

W. BOYD DAWKINS.
February 16, 1882.

The Rev. ALEX. J. D. D'ORSEY, B. D.,
LECTURER ON PUBLIC READING AND SPEAKING AT KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON.

For my own part, I am decidedly averse to the use of tobacco and stimulants. I am myself a total abstainer (not pledged), and I have never smoked in my life. I always do my utmost to dissuade young and old alike to abstain from even the moderate use of tobacco and stimulants, as in the course of a long and laborious life, speaking much and preaching without notes, I have always felt able to grapple with my subject, with pleasure to myself and with profit, I trust, to my hearers.

A. J. D. D'ORSEY.
March 17, 1882.