ey might be employed for a useful purpose?

~15. The Alcohol Family.~--Scientists tell us that there are several
different kinds of alcohol. Naphtha is a strong-smelling liquid
sometimes used by painters to thin their paint and make it dry quickly.
It does not have the same odor as alcohol, but it looks and acts very
much like it. It will burn as alcohol does. It kills animals and plants.
It will make a person drunk if he takes a sufficient quantity of it.
Indeed, it is so like alcohol that it really is a kind of alcohol.

~16.~ There are also other kinds of alcohol. Fusel-oil, a deadly poison,
is an alcohol. A very small amount of this alcohol will make a person
very drunk. Fusel-oil is found in bad whiskey. (All whiskey is bad, but
some kinds are worse than others.) This is why such whiskey makes men so
furiously drunk. It also causes speedy death in those who use it
frequently. There are still other kinds of alcohol, some of which are
even worse than fusel-oil. So you see this is a very bad family.

~17.~ Like most other bad families, this alcohol family has many bad
relations. You have heard of carbolic acid, a powerful poison. This is
one of the relatives of the alcohol family. Creosote is another
poisonous substance closely related to alcohol. Ether and chloroform, by
which people are made insensible during surgical operations, are also
relatives of alcohol. They are, in fact, made from alcohol. These
substances, although really useful, are very poisonous and dangerous. Do
you not think it will be very wise and prudent for you to have nothing
to do with alcohol in any form, even wine, beer, or cider, since it
belongs to such a bad family and has so many bad relations?

~18.~ Some persons think that they will suffer no harm if they take only
wine or beer, or perhaps hard cider. This is a great mistake. A person
may get drunk on any of these drinks if a sufficient amount be taken.
Besides, boys who use wine, beer, or cider, rarely fail to become fond
of stronger liquors. A great many men who have died drunkards began with
cider. Cider begins to ferment within a day or two after it is made, and
becomes stronger in alcohol all the time for many months.

~19. "Bitters."~--There are other liquids not called "drinks" which
contain alcohol. "Bitters" usually contain more alcohol than is found in
ale or wine, and sometimes more than in the strongest whiskey. "Jamaica
ginger" is almost pure alcohol. Hence, it is often as