Evening journal., 1905-10-19
SMALL BOY HAS
COFFEE HEART
Child of Eight Is in City Hos
pital Slowly Regaining
Health
HEART BEATS TOO FAST
Muscle Was Wearing Itself
Out-Drank a Dozen
Cups a Day

Excessive coffee drinking, City Hos
pital physicians say is the cause Of lit
tie Johnnie Murphy's heart disease.
Although only years old, he has one
Of the worst cases Of heart lesion that
has ever come to the institution.
When he entered the hospital the
childs heart was beating 100 to the
minute, just twice the normal rate for
a child Of his age. For one monht he
has had no coffee and his heart action
has been reduced to 100 beats minute.
For two years the child has been
drinking from nine TO twelve cups Of
strong coffee every day. He began to
complain Of pains as If needles were
sticking in his heart. and for year
has slept scarcely three hours a night.
and then only when sitting propped up
in a chair beside an open window.
Johnnie did not care for things to
eat; coffee was all the food he craved,
and except when cake or candy was
given him. he took no other nourish-
ment. AS he was sick and not expect
ed to recover, he was given all the cof-
fee he desired until a physician saw
him and advised that he pe sent to
City Hospital.
HEART WAS OvERWORKED.
Every beat Of the child's heart could
be plainly seen. To one inexperienced
in medicine, it would seem that the
heart extended over two-thirds of the
chest region. ana the pulsation is Of a
heavy, prolonged character quite diff
ferent from the sharp, quick beat of the
normal heart.
The boy is small for his age and ef-
forts of physicians have been to build
up his strength. His treatment has
been largely tonics and heart regulat-
ing medicines, such as strophantus or
digitalis.
AS the heart, like other muscles. can
stand only a given amount Of work,
hospital internes estimate that the so
beats a minute he is now being saved
by his abstinence from coffee will pro-
long his life 10 or ~ years.
The heart of man who dies at 20
years has beaten 26O million times, and
If the normal beat IS 70. little Johnny
Murphy was living twice as fast as
any normal person. When he first en-
tered the hospital, physicians freely
prophesied that he could live only a
few weeks. Under the treatment and
total abstinence from coffee he has so
improved that his chances for a long
life are considered good if the heart
Lesion and degeneration already set up
can be healed.
He is "A son of John Murphy, OF 116
South Fourteenth street Mrs. Muir
ply told the physicians that none Of
her other children had showed signs
OF heart disease nor had they a marked
.fondness for coffee.-St Louis POST
Dispatch.
Literally thousands OF people suffer
more or less from heart weakness caus-
ed by coffee. and with some. even one
cup a day will bring on heart trouble.
The heart that has been only slight
ly attacked by coffee viii protest and
make its weak condition known under
slight exertion. and it is plainly dam
gerous condition to get into. It is a
curious fact that coffee does not always
attack the heart but goes after the
stomach. liver and bowels Of some and
leaves the heart alone.
It is plainly classed as an active tOx-
ic and its work shows somewhere on
most users. IL Is easy 10 flu one Sell
of the habit by using well-brewed Pos
tum Coffee. The change in symptoms
is shown in day or two as a rule, and
that change shows the user to a cer-
'tainty that coffee was the destroyer.
1t is useless to warn some people
even when IL is easy TO quit and be
well again. So they peg along. sick
and miserable. charging their ails 90
food east wind" "heredity," and
whatnot. until some day the stroke
comes when abused nature reaches the
limit It's easy TO be well if'one cares
for the joy Of health. one Of the plain.
Well-built, and well-kept highways,
with sign boards on each side. is the
Postum route.
There's a reason. ~