The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-01-02
Are Tea and Coffee Detrimental to
Health?
To the Editor Of the Standard

To the Editor Of the Standard:
In the issue of the 28th ult, 1 notice
a reply of E. D. L. Morgan, NJ d. to
question proposed in previous issue, in
reference to tea and coffee. Having wal
ted thus long for some one else to take
issue, and being dissatisfied with the ex-
PLANTATION given, l have ventured, with
becoming modesty, to offer few thoughts
upon Mr.. Morgan's statements. / am
not Doctor nor q son of a Doctor, there
fore it would be utter folly and impu-
dence in me to hatter myself, that know
more about the subject, than the person
having the much priced letters, NJ. D. af-
fixed to his name; but however l think
l have right to my opinion, in. common
with the rest of fellow mortals Now to
the subject
In the first place Mr.. Morgan states,
THAT tea and coffee as commonly drunk
are not prejudicial to health; but on the
contrary they are conducive to good
health. The way tea and coffee are
generally used, is to moisten food while
eating, or rather to wash it down the
throat. Now am of the opinion that it
is not necessary for US to have any arti-
ticiaI drinks to moisten our food while
eating. If understand the thing ari ght,
there are somewhere under the tongue
and under the lower jaw, glands, called,
L DeheVeI DOCTORS, SatlVa 8lanOS, tlaG
secrete the Juices OF the mouth, the spit
tie or saliva, with which our food should
be moistened. If we chewed our food
long enough and did not exhaust these
glands by continual use of artificial stim-
ulants, they would afford sufficient fluid
to mix our food without any other
drink during eating. None of our do
mestic animals drink while they are eat
ing, and our digestive apparatus is SINH
larly constituted. The animals which
have not been endowed with reason,
have instinct which is often better and
safer guide than reason. 1t is my candid
belief that our food should be well chew
ed and moistened with the saliva of the
mouth, and not washed down with copi-
Gus draughts of hot tea and coffee, as it
generally is. Anything contrary to ma
ture is ''prejudicial to health"
In the next place he states that tea
and coffee are siigfffttly sedative sasbee19-s
taken in large quantities induce wake
fulness. There seems to be a little in
consistency in the above assertion. Med
icine producing sleep, and allaying gen.
eral nervous irritability, are called, if
mistake not, sedatives, such as opium
and chloroform, etc. If tea and coffee
are slightly sedativc, would not taking
it in large quantity make it equivalent
to other medicine that is a strong sela-
coffee, he says when taken in large
quantities induce wakefulness. Will
small quantity of chloroform induce
wakefulness ? Again we read "They
(tea and cotfee) are in fact almost indis-
pensable to the daily existence of civil
lied man, with whom a continual energy
of mind is a necessary of life. That tea
and coffee may become almost indispen-
sable readily admit, for almost every
fhinO bla haanyao ind
sable to health, by long continued prac-
tice. But that it is indispensable (apart
from practice) to those with whom a
continual energy of mind is necessary
of life," l beg leave to differ. My own
experience has taught me that tea and
coffee are prejudicial to my health, when
following an avocation, that calls forth
continual energy of mind, such as
teaching, that the use of the above nam
ed stimulants. tends to PROSTATE my
nervous system by inducing wakeful-
ness" while on the other hand when
mauling rails, or some other similar phys
ical gymnasium, in which the muscles
are brought into exercise, and not much
energy of mind is called forth, tea and
coffee does not have much effect. So
think that those beverages would suit
the savage, that roams the wild woods
better than the Civilized man."
In conclusion, if the Editor will in
dulge us @little space, we will quote few
sentences from Mr.. Arnold's works on
Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene.
Thus: "Our food is not the right kind for
the good of the brain-it is too stimula-
ting, DC. Our drinks are even more del
eterious to the brain than our food. Wa
ter, pure water, unmixed with any thing
else, was undoubtedly the drink our
Creator designed for us, and for every
70 lu,, l. - Il
come now so that we seldom drink wa
ter alone; 1T must be mixed with some
thing that will excite the nervous sys-
tenn to an unnatural action,-with tea or
coffee, or some kind of spirits. Now
,here Is no nourishment, or next thing
10 none, IN tea, coffee or spirits. They
are purely stimulating the nervous sys-
.em. They do not add to the power of
he system, but merely produce an irreg-
llar action in the powers of life, causing
'hem to be more active than natural,
while under its influence, and to be less
Ictive than natural when the stimulus
has gone off, Tea and coffee and as
agents for the nervous system to borrow
strength from succeeding hours, and
when pay day or pay hour comes, the
'ystem finds itself Just as much short of
Is naturatstrength as its agents borrow
I'd for it. &c. We must, then, dismiss
'ur agents, go to work naturally, and re-
,over our powers or undergo. scompleto
or prostration Of the nerv-
'rs system, The best way for us then
$ 20 dismiss these agents and depend on
he natural resources of our system for
'apital. Follow Jois Randolph's rule
bay as we go and not run our brains on
! fictitious debt" Now l close, waiting
patiently for further explanation from
Dr. Morgan, or some one else, consoling
NY self, that, If / have axOosed my isrnor-
'nce, it will not effect my purse.
Yours Respectfuily,
J. r. Evans.