TEA AND COFFEE. 123 



heated. As alcoholic drinks make more blood flow through 

 the skin, they often make a man feel warmer. But their 

 actual effect upon the temperature of the whole body is to 

 decrease it. The more blood that flows through the skin, 

 the more heat is given off from the body to the air, and 

 the more blood so cooled is sent back to the internal 

 organs. The consequence is that alcohol cools the body as 

 a whole, though it may for a short time heat the skin. 

 That a large dose of alcohol leads to excessive loss of heat 

 from the body has been proved by many observations on 

 drunken men, and by experiments on the lower animals. 



The action of alcohol as a stimulant is so much more 

 marked than its efficacy as a source of energy that it is to 

 be regarded as a medicine rather than a true food, and the 

 best plan is to avoid it altogether in health. 



Tea and Coffee, like alcohol, are stimulant rather than 

 nutritive foods. The amount of nourishment in a cup of 

 either is but little. Both have, however, a wonderful in- 

 fluence in tranquillizing the nervous system and removing 

 the sense of fatigue; and when taken in moderate doses 

 they usually leave none of the injurious after-effects of al- 

 cohol. Some persons, however, experience wakeful ness or 

 a feeling of fulness in the head after taking coffee, and 

 such should of course avoid it. For relieving fatigue, tea 

 and coffee are far superior to alcohol. Sportsmen out for 

 a long day's shooting find cold tea superior to spirits; 

 military commanders find a ration of coffee far better than 

 one of whiskey for fatigued troops, and all arctic explorers 

 have come to a similar conclusion. 



How is it that alcohol sometimes makes a person feel warmer? 

 How does it cool the body? 



To what class of foods do tea and coffee belong? What results do 

 they produce? Why are they better than alcohol for similar pur- 

 poses? Give illustrations of the influence of tea and coffee in remov- 

 ing the sensation of fatigue, 



