O'SHEA — ASPECTS OP MENTAL ECONOMY. 113 



advisable to stimulate by weakening the controlling and warn- 

 ing functions of the body, yet to make this a systematic, daily 

 practice is to .render the organism in the end less efficient men- 

 tally and physically. It is not an over-statement to say that 

 a student living a normal life with all his powers under con- 

 trol, which requires, speaking neurologically, that his nervous 

 system should be in a state of thorough nutritive repair, — such 

 a student will not be benefited but. rather be injured by the stim- 

 ulations derived from habitual indulgence in tea and coffee. 



Before taking leave of this subject I must quote the testimony 

 of Williams 1 regarding his personal experience with tea : 



"I recommend tea drinkers who desire to practically investigate 

 the subject for themselves to repeat the experiment that I have made. 

 After establishing the habit of taking tea at a particular hour, sud- 

 denly relinquish it altogether. The result will be more or less un- 

 pleasant, in some cases seriously so. My symptoms were a dull head- 

 ache and intellectual sluggishness during the remainder of the day — 

 and if compelled to do any brain-work, such as lecturing or writing, 

 I did it badly. This, as I have already said, is the diseased condi- 

 tion induced by the habit. These symptoms vary with the amount of 

 the customary indulgence and the temperament of the individual. A 

 rough, lumbering, insensible navvy may drink a quart or two of tea, 

 or a few gallons of beer, or several quarterns of gin, with but small 

 results of any kind. I know an omnibus driver who makes seven 

 double journeys daily, and his 'reglars' are half a quartern of gin at 

 each terminus — i. e., 1% pints daily, exclusive of extras. This would 

 render most men helplessly drunk, but he is never drunk, and drives 

 well and safely. 



"Assuming, then, that the experimenter has taken sufficient daily 

 tea to have a sensible effect, he will suffer on leaving it off. Let 

 him persevere in the discontinuance, in spite of brain languor and 

 dull headache. He will find that day by day the languor will dimin- 

 ish, and in the course of time (about a fortnight or three weeks in 

 my case) he will be weaned. He will retain from morning to night 

 the full, free, and steady use of all his faculties; he will get through 

 his day's work without any fluctuation of working ability (provided, 

 of course, no other stimulant is used). Instead of his best faculties 

 being dependent on a drug for their awakening, he will be in the 

 condition of true manhood, — i. e., able to do his best in any direc- 



1 Chemistry of Cooking, p. 257. 

 8 



