The National tribune., 1903-01-29
COFFEE AS A BEVERAGE.
Medical Authorities Pronounce the Beverage
Healthsul and Strengthening.


Medical Authorities Pronounce the Beverage
Healthsul and Strengthening.
Apropos to the profusion of ostensible
contributions to the religious newspapers
now running, purporting to be on the in
furious effects of coffee, but in reality the
device of an advertiser who is permitted
the use of such means to impose upon
readers, the American Journal of Phar-
macy" for August contains particularly
excellent Outline of the history, CON-
merce and properties CT coffee. by Will
lam G.. Marshall, in part as follows:
IT is an interesting fact that the great
table bevera ges-coffec, tea, cocoa and
yerba mate (also kola and guarana)-
agree in having in their composition the
alkalod theme (c,ffcinel. or the analogous
one, theobromine III cocoa. All have also
fannie compounds. and in each the taste
is principally due to extremely small
quantities of essential oil. Richter gives
TIE percentages of theme as follows:
In beans and leaves of coffee, IL per
cent; in tea, 2 to per cent: in yerba
mate, > per cent; in guarana, per cent
According to Payen, cocoa contains per
cent. theobromine. Reports of analyses
vary much, but there seems to be no
doubt that coffee contains less of the aka
lOidal principle than any of the other
beverages.
In the United States coffee is an ex-
treincly popular beverage. 1t is estimated
that about 20 per cent of our people are
habitual coffee drinkers. As rule we use
a dec0ction of only one-haf the strength
of that used in Brazil. France, Turkey
and some other countries. As used in
those countries it is believed to be in
furious to the nerves and stomach, but
the weak decoctiOn used here is nOE-in-
furious. but rather beneficial. 1t cheers
and refresbes and gives zest to other
foods. The caffeine is mildly stimulating
and has rcstful effect upon body and
mind and tends to restore them to normal
condition after they have undergone ex-
ertion. The most important effect of cof-
fee is its tendency to diminish the waste
of tissue which is going on at every mo-
ment, and as DR.. Hutchinson says, sit
consequently permits the performance of
excessive labor upon an economical and
inadequate diet" Laborers are great cOf-
fee drinkers, ard the military depo itments
of many Governments give coffee Il place
in the regular rations of army and navy.
DIR. Kane says of the use of coffee dur
ing his Arctic explorations: '"After re-
peated trials the men took kindly to cof-
fee i'll the morning and tea in the even
ing. The coffee seemed to continue its in
flueHce throughout the day and they SEEM
ed to grow hungry less rapidly than af-
ter drinking tea, while tea soothed them
after days hard labor and the better
enabled them to sleep. They both operat-
ed upon fatigued men like n Charm, and
thei" superiority over alcoholic liquors was
very decided" Temperance advocates
would gladly see coffee displace beer, rum,
whisky, etc.
Coffee contains less astringent principle
than tea and consequently tends less to
retard the action of the bowels, ten
dency which is still further diminished by
the aperient effects of the volatile OIL
Won Liebig's investigations show that
coffee is valuable in increasing, when nee
essary, the secretion of bile. On the other
hand, when bile is superintendent the use
of the beverage should be suspended. Oc-
casionally coffee gives heartburn or other
forms of indigestion. or causes sleepless-
ness; but this is generally due to an un-
wise or untimeiy use of it.
With tobacco. opium, alcoholic liquors
and some other materials our desire will
not admit that plenty is enough. Take a
little, the system hints for more; take
more, it asks for more, then demands
more, insists on more and pleads for more
until, figuratively speaking, one becomes
mere skinful of nicotine, or n see-saw
from Greenland to despair, or, like Duke
Clarence, is drowned in butt of Malm-
sey. But with coffee, tea and cocoa, as
with water, enough is enough in nearly all
cases, and victims of these beverages are
rare. / have heard of tea-topers and cof-
fee-topers, but have never known one.
Notwithstanding the scare advertise
ments of health-substitutes for coffee.
there is no cause for apprehending danger
to the race at large from coffee-drinking.
After generations of almost universal cof-
fee-drinkers, our own times see men of
gigantic intellect in all realms of activity;
our athletes are able to make sudden
bursts OF effort equal to any in history,
and our soldiers acquit themselves man
FULLY in fatigring campaigns in torrid
chimes. 1t is not noticeable that ply
siclans taboo the use of coffee at their
own tables. The life insurance companies
constantly warning against all that les
sens longevity or cOnduces to abnormal
organs. nerves and actions, seem content
to accept the use of coffee as one of the
ordinary clements of everyday life.
Among the authorizations are chicory
root, dande!ion root, acorns, etc. Some
years ago imitation COFFEE beans were
nodded from flour, etc, and used to adul-
terate the unground coffee. Chcory root
mogdad or negro coffee (the seeds of cas-,
sla occisentalis), the seeds of several
other species of eassia. the seeds of the
wax palm, the seeds of several species of
astragalus, roasted dates and figs are
common substitutes for coffee, and there
are many others. 1t is an interesting fact
lnat some substitutes are in use i'm even
the great coffee region; as, for instance
the seeds OF the wax palm in Brazil. None
OIL the substitutes contains caffeine.