84: ANALYSIS AND ADULTERATIONS OF COFFEE. 



contain, the aroma and the consequent estimation in the market 

 of the different varieties of coffee in a great measure depend. 



The action of coffee on the human system is due chiefly to 

 the empyreumatic oil, and consequently is greatest when roast- 

 ed ; but its extractive and also nitrogenous principle, caffeine, 

 must exert considerable influence upon the organs of digestion. 

 " Coffee acts powerfully and peculiarly on the ganglionic system 

 of nerves- and their ramifications, and all the organs which are 

 supplied by them. It elevates the vitality of these nerves, and 

 quickens all their actions. The brain is also, in a similar man- 

 ner, acted upon by it ; and hence the increased sensibility and 

 energy of that organ during the use of coffee, and the removal 

 of all sense of fatigue and disposition to sleep. Upon this de- 

 pends, in addition to its local influence upon the organs of diges- 

 tion, the utility of coffee in counteracting the effects of narcotic 

 poisons, such as opium or belladonna ; and the favor it has 

 found among literary persons, from enabling them to carry on 

 their studies through the midnight hours without feeling op- 

 pressed by sleepiness. It also excites the vascular system, and 

 renders more powerful the contractions of all the muscles, both 

 voluntary and involuntary." Its physiological effects upon 

 the system, as far as they have been investigated, appear to be, 

 that while it makes the brain more active, it soothes the body 

 generally, makes the change and waste of matter slower and 

 the demand for food consequently less. According to a recent 

 authority, over seventeen hundred separate works have been 

 published on that prevalent malady indigestion with specifics 

 for its cure : notwithstanding this formidable array of specifics 

 and prescriptions, we are backed by professional authority 

 when we venture to suggest yet one more, to wit a cup of 

 good coffee, without the admixture of either milk or sugar. It 

 is occasionally useful in relieving headache, especially the form 

 called nervous. It has also been employed as a febrifuge in 



