es as his nutritive system can appropriate and change into
healthy muscle, nerve and bone? You do the latter, of course, and so
would I treat the case of a man who bad hurt himself by excess of wine.
I would see that he had only the purest and in diminished quantity, so
that his deranged system might not only have time but help in regaining
its normal condition."

"And you think this could be safely done?" said Mr. Ridley.

"That is my view of the case."

"Then you do not hold to the entire abstinence theory?"

"No, sir; on that subject our temperance people have run into what we
might call fanaticism, and greatly weakened their influence. Men should
be taught self-control and moderation in the use of things. If the
appetite becomes vitiated through over-indulgence, you do not change
its condition by complete denial. What you want for radical cure is the
restoration of the old ability to use without abusing. In other words,
you want a man made right again as to his rational power of
self-control, by which he becomes master of himself in all the degrees
of his life, from the highest to the lowest."

"All very well," remarked Dr. Hillhouse, who had joined them while Mr.
Elliott was speaking. "But, in my experience, the rational self-control
of which you speak is one of the rarest things to be met with in common
life, and it may be fair to conclude that the man who cannot exercise
it before a dangerous habit has been formed will not be very likely to
exercise it afterward when anything is done to favor that habit.
Habits, Mr. Elliott, are dreadful hard things to manage, and I do not
know a harder one to deal with than the habit of over-indulgence in
wine or spirits. I should be seriously afraid of your prescription. The
temperate use of wine I hold to be good; but for those who have once
lost the power of controlling their appetites I am clear in my opinion
there is only one way of safety, and that is the way of entire
abstinence from any drink in which there is alcohol, call it by what
name you will; and this is the view now held by the most experienced
and intelligent men, in our profession."

A movement in the company being observed, Mr. Elliott, instead of
replying, stepped toward a lady, and asked the pleasure of escorting
her to the supper-room. Dr. Hillhouse was equally courteous, and Mr.
Ridley, seeing the wife of General Logan, whom he had often met in
Washington, standing a little way off, passed to her sid