COFFEE. 115 



ing abundant and pure, though not, of course, of the quality 

 possessing the most delicate flavor. Almost every one can 

 bear testimony from personal experience of the effects of 

 coffee in relieving the sense of fatigue after mental or bodily 

 exertion, and in increasing the capacity for labor, especially 

 mental, by producing wakefulness and clearness of intellect. 

 From these facts the importance of coffee, either as an ali- 

 mentary article, or as taking the place, to a certain extent, 

 of aliment, is apparent. 



Except in persons who, from idiosyncracy, are unpleas- 

 antly affected by it, coffee, taken in moderate quantity and 

 at proper times, produces an agreeable sense of tranquillity 

 and comfort, with, however, no disinclination to exertion, 

 either mental or physical. Its immediate influence upon the 

 system, which is undoubtedly stimulant, is peculiar, and is 

 not followed by reaction or unpleasant after-effects. Habitual 

 use makes coffee almost a necessity, even in those who are 

 otherwise well nourished and subject to no extraordinary men- 

 tal or bodily strain. Taken in excessive quantity, or in those 

 unaccustomed to it, particularly when taken at night, it pro- 

 duces persistent wakefulness. These effects are so well known 

 that it is often taken for the purpose of preventing sleep. 



Experimental researches have shown that the use of coffee 

 permits a reduction in the quantity of food, in workingmen 

 especially, much below the standard which would otherwise 

 be necessary to maintain the organism in a proper condition. 

 In the observations of De Gasparin upon the regimen of the 

 Belgian miners, it was found that the addition of a quantity 

 of coffee to the daily ration enabled them to perform their 

 arduous labors on a diet which was even below that found 

 necessary in prisons and elsewhere where this article was not 

 employed. 1 Numerous experiments have shown that coffee 



1 The diet of the miners of Cbarleroi, where these observations were made, 

 was evidently deficient in nitrogenized matter, the quantity of nitrogen which it 

 represented, aside from the coffee, being but 14*82 grammes (228 '7 grains). But 

 on this diet, with the addition of coffee, De Gasparin found that the vital energies 



