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sustaining powers of coffee; and that here, in Jamaica, an 

 illustration of a most cogent kind could be found in the habits 

 of planters, overseers, and others, who do a surprising amount 

 of physical exertion during the early hours of the morning 

 and up to the middle of the forenoon, sustained solely by the 

 invigorating effects of a cup of " morning coffee." "This 

 Jamaican practice of drinking a cup of strong coffee early in the 

 morning is a commendable one, though undoubtedly it would 

 be better on physiological grounds to partake of a modicum 

 of light nutritious food at the same time. It has been fully 

 established that coffee exerts an influence antagonistic to 

 malaria, and it is not to be doubted that morning coffee is 

 useful in this respect, as warding off the attacks of paludal 

 fevers. Trousseau, the great French authority on Thera- 

 peutics, cites the evidence of one of his countrymen travelling 

 in Greece, that the inhabitants of the Morea infallibly cut 

 short their intermittent fevers with a mixture of coffee and 

 lemon-juice thus suggesting in effect that citrate of caffeine 

 might be used for the same purpose. It is desirable, I think, 

 that planters, overseers, and others who are exposed to mala- 

 rial influences, should give an equal trial to " morning kola" 

 as a prophylactic against malaria, and to sustain them in their 

 physical exertions. Caffeine is an an antiseptic like quinine. 

 Another property of coffee, not generally known, is that 

 it acts as a local anaesthetic. It is an obtunder of pain mani- 

 fested in the sensory nerves, and it blunts the special sense 

 of taste. From a few limited experiments with kola, I am 

 inclined to the belief that it agrees with coffee in this respect. 

 It is well enough known that if quinine be suspended in 

 strong coffee it may be taken with only a slight perception 

 of the taste; but it may not be so well known that such a 

 nauseous substance as epsom salts, after being boiled in strong 

 coffee, may be taken without inconvenience. There is some 

 evidence to show that this property of obtundmg nervous 

 perception at the periphery resides in the alkaloid caffeine. 

 For example, Mr. Leeds, a dentist, of Xew York, has pub- 

 lished a statement that he has used as a pain obtunder a solu- 

 tion of twenty grains of caffeine in two ounces of a mixture 

 of alcohol and watei, with better results when operating upon 

 sensitive teeth than even with cocaine. This anaesthetic 

 property of caffeine is likely to have extended uses. Besides 

 cocaine there are very few drugs possessing such a power. 

 Bromide of potassium is anaesthetic to the throat, cocaine 

 suspends the action of sensory nerves, and caffeine dulls the 

 sense of tastb. Another taste-destroyer has lately been an- 

 nounced from India in the leaves of the Gymnema sylvestre, 

 which, on being masticated, are alleged to destroy the sweet- 

 ness of sugar, making it feel like sand in the mouth, and to 



