Kerosene as a Beverage.—There seems to be no limit to the diabolical invention of intoxicants. One would suppose that the people of France had enough variety in this line without resorting to kerosene, yet the vice has grown to such an extent that the government is prompted to take steps to check it. In Peru, Bolivia, and other South American countries, and some South Pacific islands, it has been known that the Indians used kerosene as an intoxicant; but it hardly seemed possible, where so many other kinds and qualities had gained popularity and were cheap. As one writer says, “It proves how abnormal the human appetite may become in taste for drinks which act with exciting or intoxicating effect.” Yet, after all, if the kerosene were not too much adulterated in the process of making it palatable, it might not be as bad as some of the more popular and “refined” beverages.