July 2, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
25 
COFFEE— TEA— CHOCOLATif. 
[A causer-ie of Dr. Joseph de Pieti a-Santa, in the 
"Journal d'llygiene," Apropos of what is said in 
Alfred Franklin's book, "La Vie Pmeed' Autrefois," 
on the subject of the use of coffee, tea, and chocolate 
iu the earlier dnys of their introduction into Europe.] 
COFFEE- 
The usa of coffee was not intrcduced into Paris 
without difficulties, lb was not one of those euddeD, 
fashionable fads of which the history of aar customs 
furnishes us so many examples. 
About the year 1660 some Armenian?, cr paries 
calling thtmselvcs such, brought some packages of 
ccffee from the South to Paris, end for awhile tried 
to get people to use it, but they could not overcome 
the indifference of the public. Indeed, very few 
Parisians of that day even tuepected the existence of 
k&ve, cs it nas then epelr, and those who had heard 
mention of it took very little stock in it, as is proven 
by acme very bad verf es on it, written and published 
by the advocate, Subligoy (" La Muse de Oour,' 
December 2, 1C66). One ot tbem runs (has : — 
Its virtues unr quailed, this Arabian balm 
(Everyone knows it or thinks it), 
And specially for women, it works like a charm, 
When the husband it is who drinks it. 
Our fathers did not take h i d cl i y to coffee as a 
beverage, and an extraordinary event, one susceptible 
to striking their imagination, was necessary to make 
it the fashion. This came in 166D, when Mohamed 
IV. eent an envoy-extraordinary to Louis XIV. in 
the person of Soliman Aga Mustapha Raca, who pre- 
vious to this diplomatic mission, had been " Intended 
of the Gardens of the seraglio" (plainly head 
gardener of the harem). He was very hospitable 
and received in grand style, (specially welcoming 
the ladies who called in troops ; and, following 
the custom of his country, coffee was served to all 
visitors. YouDg and handsome slaves, dressed in the 
costumes, presented the ladies with demask tap- 
kins, embroiderei and fringed with gold, and ooffee 
served in cups, of the finest prccelaiu, imported from 
JepaD. The liquid at first appeared detestable, 
am it was rarely ewal'owed without grimaces. All 
at once it became the rage, as by enchantment, 
the enchanter being the Embassador, to whom it 
occurred to sweeten the beverage with a lump of 
sugar. 
Everybody who had the honour of having been 
received by SolimtD, now in turn offered coffee to his 
or her guest, and thus it was that coffee became 
fashionable. From high sooiety it soon spread to 
commoner folk, though only the richest of those 
could afford to rurchate the precious berry, the 
price of which was, in our money, 80frs, (about £3) 
a pound. 
It was on tale only in Marseil'es at first, and even 
there, the merchants not having forseen its sudden 
popularity,^ bad but little iu stock. The Levant, 
Smyrna, and Egypt bad lots ot it and were eager to 
sell, ao that in a very little time coffee was within 
the reach of all. Except, however, in the larger citie°, 
thire was not much demand for it. Its usereaohed 
the provinces about 1670. 
As for ooffee konses — shops for its sale as a bever- 
age, — in spite of Paschal's effort to introcuce ic at 
the St. Germain Fair, they did not make their appear- 
ance uutil 1680. These were not much vie ited, or were 
rather shunned by good ecciety. They were usually 
dirty, dark 1 tile holes, where the trequer te.s smekeu, 
drank beer. Bnd tupped adulter ate J coffee. 
The honour of laving ih'jLt.ed ml th:s btkngsto a 
gentleman of Palermo. F, aneesoo Prccup;o del C tsili 
by name. Who bought u Si it .ble p i.ce ana had it fitted 
up in the greatest luxury. Hero eslouiaoJ Parisians ; 
s^vr for I he first '.iruea shop bt'.ed up v. to costly and 
elegant carpets and ru s 's, great, minors, cn stal chan- 
deliers, and marble tables, on wl kh they could le 
seiVcd i.oi merely with eic.-llent cotlee, but wi h tea, 
chocolate, ice, liquors ol all k nd-, bis uils., lonfiture". 
6to. Tin) innovation instantly Locarno iLo ltali.on, i 
and from it wo may date the reign of (he cufe in Paris. 1 
4 
The rue of ccffee toon became unherfa', aid 
even a tyrannical hal itu:'e, a ps.-s : on sufficientiy 
streng to resitt all criticism, and even prosecution 
for the berry bad its strong opponents, even very 
fable enemies. Among these were tie pb}sicians 
whs e'enennced it roundly, prophesying all manner 
of diseases, which, they declared would follow tho 
i se of so dengerous a beverage. Such doctors are not 
all de ad yet, though Dot very numerous. [Lie-big, the 
great chemist-, was a great lover of coffee, drinking it 
at every menl in prrference to the finest wines, (which 
were always on his table— presents from c o«ned 
heads and thegreat viutners of the world). One day a 
physician said to Liebig, in the hearing of the writer, 
that he (L : ebig)coLsumed toomuch coffee "Ccffee," 
siid he, "is a slow poisoo." "Yes," retorted 
Lieb'g, " an exceedingly plow one. I have been drink- 
ing qoant ; ties of it for fifty years, and it has not 
poisoned me yet."— ¥. L. J.] According to some 
of these gentry, c ffee taken fasting acted most 
injuriously in the stomach (causait des ravages 
dans Vestomac — litcrnlly, "caused ravages in the 
stomach"), and as proof of the fact they cited a 
proveib, which they ascribed to the great oofi'ee drin- 
kers of the world, the Turks, ami which says.— "If 
you have nttbirg to eat with your coffee, swallow a 
bnttoo from 3 our ves h , cr do not drink at all." Others 
being too politic (o deprive their patients pf what 
they lived, de'ca; ted upon the powerful nature of 
ground ceflec, and advised their clientele to boil the 
whole berry, being careful to lake off tne husk, which 
was dmperously strong. Some followed this advice, 
drinking a sort of tis ue of coffee, which was digni- 
fied by the niime cf cafe a la Snltane It must, how- 
ever, be confessed tbat there were many physicians 
who regrctt' d this ostracism of ci ffee by the profession 
and it was one of these who counselled the use of 
cre3m with coffee and sugar. Under this form the 
doctors endorsed its u e. 
Cafe au Jail, thu3 introduced es a medicite, has 
had a brilliant career. It was recommended in 
1856, by Sieur MoniD, a celebrated physician of 
Grenoble, who ordered it to be pierartd as 
follows Take a cup of good n i k and heat it. 
When ii commences to boil throw into it a Inbk- 
spoorful of grouud roffee end a spoonful of 
cassonade (unrefined soger), and let ihe whole boil 
a liitlo time. After drinkir g this liquid it is 
necessary to faBt fir four houis. Used in tl is 
way the effect* of ccffee are iceppre c able." We 
should hi pe so ! Dr. Monin decaretl tbat cafe au 
lait did not curdle in the stomach nor obstruct the 
bowels. It stopped coughing and fattened the patient." 
Good Dr. Mtuin ! Ihe Faculty c f Medicine of Paris 
coi curred in the advice, and have remained of this 
mind up to today. 
A thesis, dated 1697, sounded tbevhvues and recom- 
mended the uso of cafe au lait ; but another elated 17L"> 
dernc nstra'ed that the coi s'ant ute of coffee did not 
have much effect, for in t 1 e following }ea r , the 
Faculty, in open school, adn itteJ that coffi e favoured 
les travcux de V esprit, or as we wou d say today, is of 
benefit to bra'u workers. In March 1718, a candidate, 
iu a thesis, demonstrated that "the long and habitual 
use of coffee in lo way predispostd the user to 
apoplexy," Irom which we may ic fer that it did so 
predispoie was one of the many charges apainst the 
pr'celess berry. At the same time we find Dauiel 
Duncan, ir sumably a Scotchman, accusing coffee ol 
being the cause of impotence in men.and sterility 
in women. 
The Parisian coffee guzzlere, however, di 1 rot 
bother tleir heads about these controversies, if we 
rtay believe the " Merctre Galanc " concerning tbe : r 
favourite tipple : — 
As they 1.1I nguieSt wenran. 
So 'hey rail s.t this brue. 
Tbey curae it and damn it, 
Bnt they drink of it too, 
Ihey rail at the ladies, 
But kve 'em the same : 
With oc ffee and worn- n, they 
Embrace what they blame, etc, 
