188 ALIMENTATION. 



exhausting efforts of any kind, there is no article which relieves the overpowering sense 

 of fatigue so completely as coffee. Army-surgeons say that at night, after a severe 

 inarch, the first desire of the soldier is for coffee, hot or cold, with or without sugar, the 

 only essential being a sufficient quantity of the pure article. This has been the universal 

 experience in the late civil war ; the rations of coffee issued by the United States Govern- 

 ment being abundant and pure, though not, of course, of the quality possessing the most 

 delicate flavor. Almost every one can bear testimony from personal experience to 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 clear- 

 ness of intellect. From these facts, the importance of coffee, either as an alimentary 

 article or as taking the place, to a certain extent, of aliment, is apparent. 



Except in persons who, from idiosyncrasy, are unpleasantly affected by it, coffee, 

 taken in moderate quantity and at proper times, produces an agreeable sense of tran- 

 quillity 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 renders 

 coffee almost a necessity, even in those who are otherwise well nourished and subjected to 

 no extraordinary mental or bodily strain. Taken in excessive quantity, or in those unac- 

 customed to its use, particularly when taken at night, it produces persistent wakeful- 

 ness. These effects are so well known that it is often taken for the purpose of prevent- 

 ing 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 proper condition. In the observa- 

 tions 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. Numerous experiments have shown that coffee 

 diminishes the absolute quantity of urea discharged by the kidneys. In this respect, as 

 far as has been ascertained, the action of coffee is like that of alcohol and may reason- 

 ably be supposed to retard disassimilation, with the important difference that it is 

 followed by no unfavorable after-effects and can be used in moderation for an indefinite 

 time with advantage. 



A study of the composition of coffee shows a considerable proportion of what must 

 be considered as alimentary matter. The following is the result of the analyses of Payen : 



Composition of Coffee. 



Cellulose 34-000 



Water (hygroscopic) 12-000 



Fatty substances 10 to 13-000 



Glucose, dextrine, indeterminate vegetable acid 15-500 



Legumine, caseine, etc 10-000 



Chlorolignate of potash, and caffeine 3'5 to 5-000 



Nitrogenized organic matter 3'000 



Free caffeine 0-800 



Concrete, insoluble essential oil O'OOl 



Aromatic essence, of agreeable odor, soluble in water 0-002 



Mineral substances; potash, magnesia, lime, phosphoric, silicic, and sulphuric acid and 



chlorine . . 6'697 



100-000 



The above is the composition of raw coffee, but the berry is seldom used in that 

 form, being usually subjected to torrification before an infusion is made. The roasting 



