COFFEE-CONSUMPTION OF THE "WORLD. 



213 



TTie causes of this movement of the two staples in opposite di- 

 rections would certainly form an interesting subject of inquiry. 

 Are we to see here the operation of that " British pride," which, 

 in a French opinion already quoted, had so much to do with the 

 first adoption of coffee in England, or that general law which 

 prompts the metropolis to become a consumer of the products of 

 its dependencies — a law exemplified in the case of Spain and Por- 

 tugal, which to this day continue to use chocolate long after the 

 colonies from which they drew the article have become indepen- 

 dent states. But, if the trade of China is to all intents and pur- 

 poses British trade, and the East generally is next to British, do 

 not the British colonies of Ceylon and India produce coffee in in- 

 creased quantities ? If the higher price of coffee has not pre- 

 vented the spread of its popularity on the continent — in France, 

 for instance — can we look to that cause with regard to wealthy 

 England, where habits of economy among the people prevail to a 

 much more limited extent ? Or, is it entirely a preference of 

 taste, a special congeniality of tea to the British temperament — a 

 peculiar adaptability to British diet — as some will have it ? 



Professor Lehman considered that the preference of the Eng- 

 lish for tea was due to the larger supply of plastic material 

 afforded by their diet — a fact which rendered desirable the pro- 

 portionately greater nervous stimulus which is caused by tea, 

 while the populations of France and of Germany, being much 

 lighter " feeders," found an important element in the retardation 

 of the assimilative process by the influence of coffee. 



The table below exhibits the imports, consumption, and 

 stocks of coffee in France on December 31st, from 1869 to 

 1880: 



