The use of alcoholic drinks, like other social customs, has its traditions. The eighteenth century in Britain, for example, was the era of the so-called three-bottle men; indeed, the accounts of not only the drinking but also the eating customs among certain social classes in that period remind one of modern descriptions of a Russian banquet. During that era of gargantuan meals gentlemen, at the close of a dinner, imbibed the contents of three bottles, presumably fifths, of port wine. At the end of this performance, which had been preceded by the usual dinner wines, some of the gentlemen were under the table, which, since port is habitually fortified with more alcohol than is produced by natural fermentation, is not surprising. Furthermore, this amount was consumed in a short period. In the eighteenth century, too, Peter the Great of Russia, a man of almost gigantic proportions, started his stag dinners