The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-01-02
Coffee and Milk.

While almost everybody Will acknowledge = liking
for a cup Of fragrant coffee such as these islands
can produce in its perfection-there are mapy who
cannot drink It without evil effects; with some,
extreme nervousness and sleeplsssness is the result,
and with others, alarming palp;,ation Of the heart,
which are al sure signs Of disarrangement Of the
digestive organs. Several years age a foreign chemist
a German, II We remember right-aGvaueed the
theory that cofee is not often Injurious unless tzken
WITH milk OF course. there ae exceptional Gases in
which it does not agree with 4 person in any form,
as q rule it is It's combination with milk that troubles
the digestive organs There may be some grounds
for this opinion. We have read Of persons who were
obliged to give Up the use Of coffee, which they had
always saken with milk, and who were led to try the
experiment Of drinking it without milk. After using
the cafe -aoiT for a year or more, they found that it
agreed with them perfectly, but a single cup Of cafe
Ga TAFT brought back the old digestive difficulties.
Latterly we see that NJ. Marchsnd, French chemist,
has come to a similar conclusion concerning the
mixture Of coffee and milk. He does not appear to
be aware that the idea is not q new one-but igno-
rance Of the scientific researches OF other countries
is nothing strange. GaltgAaRf's Messenger gives
the following summary of NJ. Marchand's cOmmuni-
cation on the subject in question
Milk taken alone is acknowledged to be one of
the most valuable ailments known, suitable to all
ages and constitutions, and eminentIy d~igestibie
except in certain morbid cases. Coffee. on the
other hand. is in itself an excellent tonic aud slim
ulant, which favors digestion after meals. But
when these two beverages are mixed together, rs
is universally the case ut breakfast on tue eonti-
nent, and pretty frequently SO in England. a Chemi-
cal exchange takes place, producing a new agent
that is utterly indigestible, and therefore absolute
" incapable OF assimilation when the mixture is
effected in proper proportions. THUS, when a Gus
toner enters a coffee house, calls for his cafe Gu lat,
and tells the waiter how much milk be wants in it,
he is simply deciding how much of his money he
little nourisbment he is resolved to take. To I'M
derstand this, let US consider that the skin OF ami
mails may be boiled down so as to become an eata-
BILE substance !; but that the same skins taken to
the lanyard viii be converted into an imputresci-
Bile article, which will defy all the power OF the
gastric juice to extract any nutritiye matter there
from. Now, all protein substances. brought into
contact with tannin. will behave in the same way
as the skin they will combine with the tannin, and
resist digestion as we'll as putrelaction. The infu-
sion of coffee intended for digestion is extremely
rich in tannin consequently, when brought into
contact with the albumen and caseine contained in
milk, 1T will Instantly transform these ingredients
into an insolubie leather the only difference being
that this cOriaceous substance will be in the shape
of an impalpable powder instead. of forming a con-
tinuons sheet. This inert precipitate will remain
in the stomach until carried OF by other food, pro-
duciug no other effect save that oil impeding the
full action of the gastric juice.