Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-16
DEFECTIVE VISION.
A WRITER WHO THINKS THAT
COFFEE Is TO BLAME.

COFFEE Is TO BLAME.
of Patron of the Fragrant
Narcotie-Some of the Results of Inor-
dinate Coffee neutrality-suspicious. Ef-
feots Upon Children.
l am satisfied that defective vision and
blindness will pretty soon be prominent
characteristic among the American people,
the same as rotten teeth have been during
the last 200 years ! make this assertion
without having seen any statistics whatever
on the subject of blindness found out long
ago that a cup of coffee leaves night shade
on the brain which continues longer than an
eclipse of the sun l had long noticed that
the eyes of old coffee drinkers had dry and
shrivei,d appearance.
Having discovered, some years ago, that
my own eyesight was surely weakening, l
then ceased to drink coffee as freely as had
used it, and became moderate and more OBJ
servant patron of the fragrant narcotic.
But l have learned that moderate coffee
drinking is a hard thing to manage, being
pretty sure to develop into the regular habit
Will tfioct Vot'SSANAiy aS SbOSS
times when the physical system feels to be in
need of some elixir. Besides, it is quite dis
tressing for a person to be fighting OF
powerful habit at each meal. l now feel
free OF the coffee drinking vice, and will
have no more trouble with it unless shall
again fall victim to some church supper or
to the magnetic Establishments of some buoy
ant hostess.
Having long worked at trade which re-
quires almost as exact d use of the eye as the
occupation of ieweler, | made the diseov-
cry that Single cup of coffee would have
perceptible effect on my eyes. This fact was
| the more apparent because my eyesight was
originally very good-in fact, about the best.
| After having used coffee with indifferent
frequency and copiousness for many years
| my sight became abnornally weak, and
| began to feel horror of darkness, wishing
| that the sun would never set, and desiring
| instinctively TO 60 TO some place where the
| nights would oe short during the entire year.
| But now have quite little of this feeling
| left. Ny eyes have regained, to curious
extent, their former range and spontanelty.
again enjoy the long panoramic views of
nature which are afforded from the baby
east like an encampment l can take these
long telescope sweeps of vision again with
out blinking or feeling the weakening relax
alton which alarmed me a week ago.
| have no doubt but what this weakness of
the eyes which results from coffee drinking
is due to the sympathy which the optic nerve
has for the nasal cavity tine latter being
continuous with the membrane of the mouth.
The nasal cavity, with its first pair Of brain
nerves, is naturally a principal place to be
affected by any drinking habit, For in
stance, TO partake of a dish of soup will
sometimes cause a persons breathing to be-
come thick and decidedly labored. All OF
the sensory nerves are much affected by cot
fee drinking-those gentle and highly refined
threads of sympathetic force which enter
largely into the sense of smell, taste, sight
and hearing The entire sympathetic sys
TEN is likewise involved Immediately in the
coffee drinking habit The brain, again, i:
intensely affected thereby, because the prin
cipal nerves of the brain branch off from the
nasal cavity.
Coffee drinking is especially injuriou:
when 1t is resorted to as backing for strone
food There are plenty of robust person!
among us who have drank coffee pretty
freely for lifetime, but who are seemingly
uninjured by it To this fact l reply that
appearances are sometimes deceiving TO IN
practiced eyes, and that vioe does not il
all cases show its effects plainly in the frs
generation The free use of coffee date
back only one generation in this country
But this | VIII say, that no person is as stou
for three hours after he has drank coffee a
he was before
As long as person remains endowed witt
latent constitutional strength he can partici
pate in different vices with seeming impunit,
but he is gradually using up his capital ant
will reach his limit ere his life is fully pro
longed Els children and grandchildren vii
show a degeneration of the family sock
though they doubtless exhibit at present
premature brightness of mind Children tina
. are allowed TO paruake freely of coffee vii
become restless, fussy and noisy, half will
with mischief They probably advance i
, their school studies with abnormal rapidity
But they hate work. AT times they are il
, different about education Their strengt
goes to the brain, They grow rapidly, bu
, not Alright They develop into men an
women three years too soon. Yet their eye
dance with angelic splendor, and their cheek
glow with vermilion, providing that the
started in life with robust constitutions.
they began life with puny physiques how
? ever, coffee viii make them slim and ghostly
and their ewes and features fiat Coffee wi
seem to improve those persons only who hav
. a surplus Of constitutional vigor. These il
dividuals will seem possessed with forms an
faces of marvellous grace and finish, yet the
will fade all too soon, and fall into the hsnt
of the doctor. Coffee has magical effect o
t the heart aud circulatory system, and for
=, while produces the intoxication which a.
: proaches that of opium or cocaine. 1t caus.
: swift growth and swift decay. It pr,
r duces beauty and exhilaration, but not Ell
= durance-North American Review