270 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



the peristaltic movements of this organ ; with nitrate of bismuth, lactate of 

 iron, carbonate of iron, and other similar preparations. It is very efficacious 

 in dyspepsia, and in all cases of difficult digestion which generally follow the 

 convalescence from serious or chronic diseases ; and it has been found a pow- 

 erful digestive agent in cases of consumption, caused by insufficient food. 

 Pepsin is administered in the first spoonful of soup, or even before meals, 

 wrapped up in a wafer ; and precaution must be taken not to eat immediately 

 afterwards food which is at a higher temperature than 45, for then the diges- 

 tive properties of pepsin woiild be destroyed. It is employed in the acid or 

 in the neutral state. In the acid state it takes the place of the gastric juice, 

 when the latter is not formed in sufficient quantity in certain morbid affec- 

 tions ; in the neutral state that is to say, feebly acidulated in cases where 

 the stomach contains too great a quantity of acid. It may be shown that 

 chemical or artificial pepsin may very well take the place of the gastric juice, 

 and may be considered among one of our most efficient remedies. 



COFFEE AND MILK AS AN ARTICLE OF DIET. 



^ 



From an extended report of Dr. Caron, Physician to the prisons of the 

 department of the Seine, France, on the influence of various articles of food 

 with animal economy, we derive the following observations respecting the 

 use of coffee and milk. Speaking of the popular habit of breakfasting on 

 coffee with milk, he says : I think I am justified in attributing to this kind 

 of aliment, the production of the nervous diseases which principally affect 

 females of every class, particularly those inhabitating large towns. The 

 very general coincidence of the same symptoms with the use of coffee and 

 milk, induced me to examine what might be the cause of those phenomena, 

 and then I was led to investigate what th action of coffee and milk is, and 

 then the action of that mixture on the human economy. I was first obliged 

 to make the analysis of the infusion of coffee, next to determine its physical 

 and chemical properties ; I was obliged, besides, to submit my first essays to 

 new experiments, which conducted me to a series of most interesting 

 researches, which I now propose to describe. 



The infusion of coffee is a liquor of a dark brown, possessing a particular 

 aromatic taste, slightly bitter the chemical analysis containing the follow- 

 ing principles, viz. : a coloring matter soluble in water, a volatile empyreu- 

 matic oil soluble in alcohol, which is developed by torrefaction, some tannic 

 and gallic acid, some resin, and an extract of cafeine. This liquor, when 

 warm and sweetened, constitutes a stimulating and pleasing beverage, known 

 by every one ; but what no one has thought of is, that, when in contract with 

 milk, its nutritious properties are neutralized, because of its fermentation 

 being retarded. Having put together some coffee and milk in a bottle, it 

 was twenty-seven days before the mixture began to decompose, whilst milk 

 and sugar were decomposed in three days; chocolate with milk was five 

 days ; pure cafeine and milk eleven days. It is evident that the astringent 

 properties of coffee hinder the digestion of milk; but it happens also, that, 

 during the action of coffee on the principle of milk, the cafeine is set free, 

 and acts on the membrane of the stomach in the same manner as vegetable 

 alkalies, producing the most evident hyposthenization, a fact which till now 

 has been overlooked. Then Dr. Caron continues to relate the experiments 

 he made on himself, and some other persons willing to submit to the trial, 

 the results of which were general prostration, vital concentration, ccphalagia, 



