180 COFFEE. 



In experiments undertaken with a mimber of selected health 

 persons, the operation of caffeine has been found to vary excee( 

 ingly ; by the same dose some were scarcely at all affected, whi 

 others suffered from palpitation of the heart, a full, frequen 

 or irregular pulse, irritable bladder, trembling limbs, headach 

 roaring in the ears, flashes before the eyes, sleeplessness, phai 

 tasms, a sort of intoxication, and even delirium, when a very lar§ 

 dose was taken, and a subsequent unfitness for bodily or menti 

 labor." 



These effects, which may be called poisonous, illustrate th 

 danger of exceeding due moderation in the use of coffee, for the 

 show that it may, if immoderately consumed, tend to develop 

 morbid condition of the nervous system, which must render 

 peculiarly liable to disease, although in a much less degree tha 

 opium or alcohol. Indeed, the excessive use of coffee is muc 

 more injurious to the spinal than to the cerebral functions. I 

 its primary operation it agrees with those stimulants in excitin 

 muscular and mental activity as well as cheerfulness, and in i1 

 after-effects it does not tend to produce narcotism or stupor, bi 

 only that unsteadiness of the mind, and still more of the spins 

 functions, which denotes exhaustion. It agrees with them, wit 

 tobacco, with Chinese and Paraguay teas, and with various othe 

 stimulants used by different nations, in the main features of i1 



action The moderation of tissue-waste, which, : 



has been said, belongs to coffee in common with other article 

 having the same general action, and in use among different m 

 tions, is illustrated by various well-established facts. The inhal 

 itaiits of Central Africa, the native country of coffee, in their prec 

 atory excursions are said to subsist entirely upon a mixture c 

 coffee and butter, which is prepared in masses of the size of a bi 

 liard-ball, one of which will keep a man in strength and spiril 

 during a day's fatigue. Jomand says : " 120 grammes (4 ounces 

 of powdered coffee and 3 litres (8 pints) of an infusion made wit 

 200 grammes (6^ ounces) of different kinds of coffee enabled m 

 to live for five consecutive days without lessening my ordinar 

 occupations, and to use more and more prolonged muscular ei 

 ercise than I was accustomed to without any other physical injur 

 than a slight degree of fatigue and a little loss of 'flesh." Th 



