Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1869-01-22
From DR.. Halls Journal of Health.
TEA AND COFFEE.

"Once upon a time, not very long a.
90, party of men left Salt Lake City for
ISt. Louis, with the United States mail, to
be delivered at Independence or "&.
Joe." It was winter. They found the
prairies covered with snow, and finally
their "amimals" perished with hunger
at this stage thesix men found themselves
utterly destitute Of food; the game had
taken to the woods, there were rivers, the
ground was covered with snow. they were
still hundreds of miles from their journey s
end, while the bleak winter winds whist
ling across the wild prairies in unobstruct-
ed fury, froze them sometimes almost to
the hearts core. All, absolutely all they
had to subsist upon under these desperate
circumstances, was snow water and a
quantity of green coffee; this they burned
and boiled in snow water, and upon it
travelled for six days, until they reached
a place Of help. These are the bare facts
of the case, as reported to the Govern
ment, and demonstrates thateofee, alone,
is sustenant, as we'll as stimulant, that
| it contains the elements of nutrition, con-
sequently it is not a mere stimulant, and
all that has been said of "mere stimu-
lants. is not applicable 1T. Coffee then
being of itself nutritious, capable Of sus-
tanning life for days at time. under cir
cumstances of severe cold and the labor OF
travelling on foot, and it being customary
to use it with cream aud sagar, which are
themselves concentrated nutrients. and
withal. being drank hot. the conclusion
appears to US legitimate as one of Euclid's
corollaries, that coffee as generally used in
this country Is a valuable, nutritious.
heathful and COM Portable item.
Chemical analysis, has of late, under
the direction of the most competent and
intelligent minds Of the age. arrived at
the point just started. and declares that
coffee is a nutrient, and that its essential
principle, although one hundred and twen-
Ity-fve per cent. less. is Identical with that
of the tea of commerce; and when facts.
universal custom, and science, all unite in
one point, surely we may feel safe, and
hereafter take our cup Of coffee and tea
''in peace and quietness." "
Having said so much about cup Of
tea and coffee. it is proper to say some.
thing of its preparation. individuals and
nations have their preferences, but some
things must be laid down as of universal
application:
The first cup of coffee is the best.
The last cup of tea is the best.
Never take more than one cup at a
| time.
Never increase the strength.
If it we're a mere stimulant, then, after
while, it might, if not increased in
strength or quantity. produce no sensible
effect, might do no good, as brandy. OPT
um, or any other mere stimulant;a 50 but as
tea and coffee are nutritious, the more SO
as they are used with milk and sugar. a
cup of the "self same" is likely to do you
as much good and as little harm twenty
years hence as to-day.
1t has been justly said. that "in the
life of most persons period arrives when
the stomach no longer digests enough ol
the ordinary elements of food to make uF
for the natural daily waste Of the bodily
substance. The size and weight of the
body. therefore, begin to diminish more
or less perceptibly. At this period tea
comes in as medicine to arrest the waste.
to keep the body from falling away SC