The morning call., 1895-02-17

cheapest, best and most convenient form
for renewing the daily waste of the body
when hard labor is to be performed This
does not necessarily mean manual labor,
for it has been clearly demonstrated that
brain labor produces muscular waste
equally with bodily exertion.
The mistake meat-eaterS make is in, APP
parently, supposing that if little meat is
good thing a great deal must be
still better. 1t is not going too far
to say that meat, roasted, broiled, fried,
twice or three times a day, is more
largely responsible for the nervous,
irritable, prematurely broken-down Ameri-
can men and women than is the tea or
coffee at whose door the nervous condition
is SO often laid. Yet most men and
women consider that they have accom-
plished something peculiarly commend
able when they give up drinking tea or
coffee.
ably the most mischievous if used in ex-
cess. Americans, as a rule, prefer the
green leaf of Japan to the more beneticent
herb of China. This, possibly, because as
w. d. Howells wittily puts it, 1.-The tea of
Japan possesses all the vices and none of
the virtues of the milder black leaf" The
i'll effects of green tea may be overcome by
habitual use, tolerance, for it is grad
ually established in the system, but to one
unused to it it frequently acts as an active
poison, producing sleeplessness, palpita-
ton and other nervous symptoms. This
peculiar effect of green tea is due to vol
atlle oil which 1t contains In great abund-
ance. The immediate effects of tea upon
the individual are not so marked as those
produced by coffee, but they are more
lasting.
The teas of India and Ceylon are more
wholesome than those made from the Chi
nese leaf. The Ceylon tea, for which a
demand has lately been created in this
country, is peculiarly mild and pleasant;
non-excitant to healthy nerves is mix
ture, in about equal parts, OF Ceylon and
Indian leaves. Tea is favorite beverage
among the men and women who work
many hours in unwholesome quarters and
at wages that preclude all idea of
a generous diet. The oyerworked sewing
woman will tell you that tea is very
strengthening and saves food" What she
means is that tea enables her to do with
less food by retarding waste. 1t is also
mildly stimulative, but, taken as these
people use it, it is a slow poison.
Coffee really contains large amount or
alimentary matter. An analysis of the
berry releases cellulose, fatty substances,
glucose, nitrogenized organic matter, vari-
Gus of the mineral elements of the body,
besides its own peculiar organic principle,
caffeine, by which is produced its charac-
teristic effect. Taken, as it usually is,
with cream and sugar, it is nourishing as
well as stimulating. In fact experiment
has shown that the use of coffee Will enable
man to perform heavy work upon food
allowance that would otherwise be entirely
sufficient to maintain the organism in
health. Taken in excessive quantities
coffee, like every other good thing in life,
is injurious, but used in moderation it is
unquestionably a benefaction even to
otherwise well nourished persons.
Chocolate as beverage has been exploit
ed far beyond its deserts. tits beyond per-
adventure nourishing, gently stimulating,
and agreeable at times to most palates, but
used regularly it pals upon the appetite.
1t is heavy and particularly rich in fatty
principles, which render it difficult Of Gi-
gestion for the invalid, for whom it has
been customary to recommend it. 1t has,
moreover an active principle, theobormine,
which is analogous to caffeine and theme
and which possesses similar physiological
properties.
1t would be an exceedingly difficult
undertaking to esta blish a dietary
that should serve infexibly to main
tain a large number OF people in health.
Individual needs, idiosyncrasy, the
modifying influence OF occupation, climate
and bodily condition, must all be taken
into consideration. There must be re-
placing of bodily waste in the organism,
and the material used must be such as the
Individual organism can digest and
assimilate 1t is literally true that
what is one mans meat is another mans