April 2, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



313 



per cent, sherry trebled the time in which diges- 

 tion was completed. It should further be borne 

 in mind that this wine also retards greatly 

 salivary digestion. Sherry, then, is injurious for 

 persons of feeble digestive powers. With hock, 

 claret, and champagne, it was also ascertained 

 that their retarding effect on digestion was out 

 of proportion to the alcohol contained in them ; 

 but champagne was found to have a markedly 

 less retarding effect than hock and claret, due 

 apparently to the mechanical effects of its effer- 

 vescent qualities. The quantity of claret and 

 hock often consumed by many persons at meals 

 must exercise a considerable retarding effect on 

 peptic digestion ; but small quantities of these 

 wines (and even of sherry) may not produce any 

 appreciable retarding effect, but act as pure stim- 

 ulants. 



With regard to malt liquors it was observed, as 

 with wines, that they retarded peptic digestion in 

 a degree altogether out of proportion to the 

 amount of alcohol contained in them ; and, when 

 taken in large quantities, they must greatly 

 retard the digestion, especially of farinaceous 

 food. 



Tea, coffee, and cocoa were found to exert vary- 

 ing degrees of influence on the salivary digestion. 

 The medium strength of the tea usually drunk is 

 estimated at four to five per cent : strong tea may 

 contain as much as seven per cent ; weak tea, as 

 little as two per cent. Medium coffee has a 

 strength of about seven per cent, and strong coffee 

 twelve to fifteen per cent; cocoa, on the other 

 hand, is generally weaker, not more than about 

 two per cent, and this may be one reason why it 

 is more suitable to persons with feeble digestions 

 than tea or coffee. Tea exercises a powerful 

 inhibitory effect on salivary digestion, and this 

 appears to bt entirely due to the large quantity of 

 tannin it contains ; and, in order to diminish as 

 far as possible its retarding influence on salivary 

 digestion, it should be made weak and used 

 sparingly, and it should not be taken with, but 

 after, the meal. Coffee, unless taken in very large 

 quantity, has very little retarding effect on sali- 

 vary digestion : this is explained by the fact that 

 the tannin of tea is replaced in coffee by a sub- 

 stance called caffeo-tannic acid. Cocoa resembles 

 coffee, and has little or no effect on salivary di- 

 gestion : the use of coffee or cocoa is therefore 

 preferable to that of tea, for persons of feeble 

 digestion. 



With respect to the influence of tea and coffee 

 on stomach digestion, it was found that they 

 both exercised a remarkable retarding effect. 

 There was no appreciable difference in the two 

 beverages if they were of equal strength ; but, as 



coffee is usually made of greater percentage 

 strength than tea, its effect must ordinarily be 

 greater. Cocoa also had much the same effect if 

 used of the same strength as tea or coffee ; but 

 when of the strength ordinarily employed, its 

 effect was inconsiderable. Strong coffee — cafe 

 noir — had a very powerful retarding effect, and 

 persons of weak digestion should avoid the cus- 

 tomary cup of ' black coffee ' after dinner. 



Perhaps one of the most unexpected results of 

 these experiments was the discovery that beef-tea 

 had a powerful retarding effect on peptic diges- 

 tion, as much so as that of a five-per-cent infusion 

 of tea. Further researches appear to show that 

 this retarding effect of beef -tea was due to the 

 salts of the organic acids contained in it. Beef- 

 tea contains but very little nutritive properties, 

 and must therefore be looked upon rather as a 

 stimulant and restorative than as a nutrient bever- 

 age, but it is nevertheless very valuable on ac- 

 count of those properties. 



The author holds the view, that, in healthy and 

 strong persons, the retarding effect on digestion, 

 observed to be produced by many of the most 

 commonly consumed food-accessories, answers a 

 distinctly useful end. They serve, he maintains, 

 the purpose of wholesomely slowing the other- 

 wise too rapid digestion and absorption of copious 

 meals. A too rapid digestion and absorption of 

 food may be compared to feeding a fire with straw 

 instead of slower-burning coal. In the former 

 case it would be necessary to feed often and little, 

 and the process would be wasteful of the fuel ; for 

 the short-lived blaze would carry most of the heat 

 up the chimney. To burn fuel economically, and 

 to utilize the heat to the utmost, the fire must be 

 damped down, so as to insure slow as well as com- 

 plete combustion. So with human digestion : our 

 highly prepared and highly cooked food requires, 

 in the healthy and vigorous, that the digestive 

 fires should be damped down, in order to insure 

 the economical use of food. We render food by 

 preparation as capable as possible of being com- 

 pletely exhausted of its nutrient properties ; and, 

 on the other hand, to prevent this nutrient matter 

 from being wastefully hurried through the body, 

 we make use of agents which abate the speed of 

 digestion. 



These remarks will apply, however, only to those 

 who possess a healthy and active digestion. To 

 the feeble and dyspetic any food-accessory which 

 adds to the labor and prolongs the time of diges- 

 tion must be prejudicial ; and it is a matter of 

 common experience that beverages which in 

 quantity retard digestion have to be avoided alto- 

 gether by such persons, or partaken of very 

 sparingly. 



