Sixteen Brandies a Day For 19 Years.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume I, Issue 10, 18 October 1879, Page 3

Sixteen Brandies a Day For 19 Years.

A Dunedin paper thus writes of a man who preserved himself in spirits :—A certain public body, no matter where, held a very curious discussion a short time ago. Before a sufjfcient number of members had arrival to form a quorum, a very old am 1 * highly respected citizen’s state of \hbaath beeline the subject of conversation,

s!BPtows of his convalescence was received with great satisfaction. It was not the pleasure which was felt at the old gentleman being able to go about again that made the conversation interesting, but the discussion which was entered into as to his mode of living. One gentleman said that the convalescent had admitted that, since 1800, he had every day of his life drunk sixteen glasses of brandy and water, and asked who was the most skilful mathematician in the room, so that he might make out the quantity of liquor which the old gentleman had disposed of. Several persons at once volunteered to enter into the calculation, and after some time brought out results somewhat as follows : —The number of days in nineteen years (including leap years) was found to be 0939, on each day of which he drank sixteen glasses of brandy and water, his favorite beverage. The sixteen glasses were set down as one quart, and thus it was found that he had drunk 0939 quarts, or 1734 J gallons of brandy—no account having been taken of the quantity of water with which it was diluted. The question then arose ns to how much l.e had contributed towards the revenuj The mathematicians went to work agai ■ The duty ou each gallon was set down : •. 12s, and ultimately it was found that the old gentleman had lessened the national debt by £1040175. This is a nut to crack for the Good Templars. Only for that good-drinking old gentleman wo would be paying interest for £IO4O 17s now, hi addition to the amount for which we *re paying already ; but then the old gentle ■ man, only fm- his good dr'liking proclivities, would be £IO4O 17s better < fl’, without taking any account of probabilities of increasing that sum tenfold by judicit is management.