Pure and sparkling to the eye, bland and refreshing to the taste, whether it bubbles up from mother earth, gurgles in rills, flows along in streams and

rivers, or spreads out in lakes and oceans, it every where proves a blessing,- -- and ought to be universally regarded as one of the most inestimable gifts of Providence to man. As it is the only fluid capable of quenching thirst, so it is the only one compatible with the prolonged duration of animal life --we need not add, that as

alcohol, under all its combinations, fermented and distilled," is a deadly poison, fatal to organized beings, whether they belong to the vegetable or animal kingdom, water can in no case be improved by combining it with this deleterious fluid. It

was formerly common in this city, and still is so in many places where the wellwater is brackish, to modify its taste by the addition of a quantity of brandy, or

some other form of ardent spirit, with a view, not only of rendering it more agreeable to the palate, but also of correcting the deleterious properties, occasioned by

the salts held by it in solution. But in all such instances, the spirit which is added proves far more injurious than the small quantity of vegetable and mineral matters

which it is designed to correct. To the latter, the system becomes in a manner habituajed, so that even when pure soft water can be had, the former is often preferred, as is now the case with many individuals, who prefer our brackish well water