COFFEA AEABICA 145 



ache, nausea, trembling of the extremities and disorders of 

 vision and hearing. These phenomena however are not danger- 

 ous and rapidly subside as soon as the urine eliminates the sub- 

 stances that cause them. 



Infusion of coffee stimulates especially the cerebral functions 

 and the circulation ; as to its digestive properties, opinion is 

 divided but it is more probable that it lacks them and that 

 coffee taken after meals owes its reputation as a digestive aid to 

 two distinct factors — the temperature and the sugar. Without 

 doubt it exerts an anaphrodisiac action, on account of which 

 the illustrious Linneus called it the " drink of eunuchs." 

 This action seems incompatible with the fact that the Arabs, 

 who are so much given to the abuse of the pleasures forbidden 

 to eunuchs are most addicted to the use and abuse of coffee. 

 The explanation rests in the form in which they consume their 

 coffee, namely the decoction, which is free from the sedative 

 principle of the seed, that undoubtedly resides in the aromatic 

 ingredient "cafeol." 



Coffee is contraindicated in hysterical and nervous persons, 

 in children and in those who suffer with insomnia or palpita- 

 tion. It counteracts sleep and coma, being very useful in 

 poisoning by opium or its alkaloids. Its stimulant action is as 

 rapid as that of alcohol. On several occasions it has yielded 

 me marked results when given by stomach or by enema in cases 

 of nervous and cardiac depression. Indeed it is a remedy that 

 I cannot recommend too highly and each day leaves me more 

 convinced of its therapeutic activity and certainty. 



Attention has only lately been directed to the antiseptic 

 property of coffee though we have long been availing ourselves 

 of that property without knowing it ; this is true of many other 

 medicinal agents, indeed of all that the modern studies of bacteri- 

 ology have presented to us as antifermentives and microbicides. 

 Roasted coffee in powder form gives good results if dusted over 

 ulcers and gangrenous sores, rapidly improving their appear- 



