made even flatter by eliminating some bridges (and their inclines) that impacted tired runners late in the race.

Scenic highlight: This year's course was changed to give runners more of a "wow" finish in front of the grounds of the Imperial Palace.

Quotable: "It was only the second time foreign wheelchair racers were invited this year," said South African Ernst van Dyk, who finished ninth in 2017 and second last year (and has won Boston 10 times). "Very fast course with super nice surface. Potentially our marathon wheelchair world record could fall at this one."A glass of Usquebaugh Royal, a saffron coloured cordial containing tiny flecks of gold. Note how the glass is being gripped by the foot, the correct way of holding a glass in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Thomas Pelham-Holles, the Duke of Newcastle demonstrates how this was done. Producers of TV period dramas and history documentaries please take note, as actors never get this right. Many cordial waters like rosolio had there origin in Renaissance Italy where the art if distilling was refined during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The complex still above, used for distilling many strong waters at the same time, is an illustration from Petrandrea Mattioli's, Bref Discours de la distillation des eaux (Lyon: 1619). Mattioli (above) and his fellow alchemists and apothecaries spearheaded