The Natural Cure of Consumption, Constipation, Bright's Disease, Neuralgia Part 11

I feel that my readers will absolve me from the charge of egotism in thus introducing the testimony of this poor lady, the victim of malpractice in the first instance, who, after pa.s.sing through course after course of drug medication at the hands of eminent, and so-called skillful physicians, at last begins, not dimly, as she herself says, but clearly, as I believe, to see the simplicity of the health question; and especially ought I to be pardoned when I here distinctly remark that I claim to be only the contemporary of thousands upon thousands, physicians and laymen, who have become converts to Hygienic Medicine; being convinced that the proposition is as true as it is simple, that, in general, substances which are injurious for healthy persons to swallow, are even more deleterious to the sick.

CHAPTER XVII.

COFFEE, MEDICINALLY AND DIETETICALLY CONSIDERED.--THE TRUE THEORY OF STIMULATION.[84]

"The chief const.i.tuent of the coffee berry, the alkaloid _caffeine_--in chemical a.n.a.lysis recognized as identical with that of the tea plant, _theine_--when separated from the other const.i.tuents, ... so as to be seen in its perfect purity, appears in snow-white, silky, filiform crystals, flexible and fragile, without odor, but having a mildly bitter taste....

But it remains an important consideration that this crystallized const.i.tuent ... is built on the chemical type of the alkaloid, a cla.s.s of bodies which nature forms in plants, but not in food-plants--bodies that include narcotics, stimulants, hypnotics, deliriants, poisons, tonics; some of them affecting the whole nervous system, one to excite and another to depress; and others influencing only parts of the nervous system, for special functions of the body."[85]

[Footnote 84: This paper first appeared in the Boston _Journal of Chemistry_ and _Popular Science Review_, May and June, 1882.]

[Footnote 85: Professor Albert B. Prescott, in _Popular Science Monthly_, Jan., 1882, "Chemistry of Tea and Coffee."]

"Medically speaking, this theine has a totally distinctive action from the infusions of which it forms a part. In the form of an infusion of tea or coffee, we have to deal with a large proportion of astringent matter, in the form of tannic acid, and with the presence of the essential oil, which is an excitant to the nervous system, and is the substance to which must be ascribed disorders of the nervous system which result from tea and coffee drinking, such as palpitation of the heart and sleeplessness. The theine, upon the other hand, of which there is about one-tenth of a grain in an ordinary cup of tea, is the restorative agent to the nervous system, and is opposed, in its therapeutic properties, to the action of the essential oil. The infusion, therefore, of tea or coffee may induce palpitation in a heart liable to excessive or incoordinate action; but theine, on the contrary, may be looked to, therapeutically, to quiet palpitation. The infusion, by being an excitant, may prevent sleep.

Theine, by being a restorative and an indirect sustainer and regulator of the circulation, may induce sleep. Individual medical investigators have, more than this, attempted, from time to time, to show that the action of theine is allied to that of quinine."[86]

[Footnote 86: "Tea and Coffee as Nervines," by Dr. Lewis Shapter, in _British Medical Journal_.]

It can not be questioned that the administration of coffee, in the form of an infusion or otherwise, is entirely in accord with the theory and practice of medicine at the present day. It is, however, a fact well known to pract.i.tioners, and indeed generally to "laymen," that the constant and long-continued use of any medicine transforms its "remedial" influence into one promotive of disease that may perhaps demand the curative aid of some other drug.

A strong infusion of _cafe noir_ (administered, it is to be presumed, to one not an habitual user) has been recently claimed by a celebrated French physician as an effectual antidote for the blood-poison that exists in typhus, typhoid, and yellow fevers. While this may be true, I am sure that there are, on the other hand, good grounds for the belief that the habitual use of coffee as an article of diet aids materially in the acc.u.mulation of the poison, and in the production of that abnormal condition or quality of the tissues of the body which the vital forces seek to rectify by means of the expulsive efforts which const.i.tute the symptoms of typhoid and other fevers. Indeed, Dr. Segur, who evidently regards coffee as the nearest approach to the Elixir of Life, claims, as one of the _benefits_ resulting from its use, that "it lessens the waste of tissue, and therefore renders less food necessary." Now, to interfere with or hinder any of the normal processes of the organism, especially those most vital to the economy, as, for example, that of the constant breaking down and excretion of the tissues, is not only to invite, but the impairment of these functions in and of itself const.i.tutes, disease. He further says, "After a heavy meal, it relieves the sense of oppression and helps digestion." What it really accomplishes, however, in such cases, is this: it mitigates the immediate effects of excess by diluting and washing away a portion of the food (of course unprepared for intestinal digestion), and, after the first congestive effects have subsided, by producing anaemia of the stomach, thereby _hindering_ digestion, it relieves temporarily, but at great cost ultimately, the sense of oppression produced by a gluttonous meal. By hindering digestion, in this or in any other manner, as, for example, by resuming muscular or mental labor directly after eating, we may prevent or delay plethora--the surcharge of the blood with nutritive material that results from the rapid absorption of an over-full meal;[87] but later on there will take place in the alimentary tract more or less fermentation of its undigested contents, which, with the foul and noxious gases generated thereby, will, to a greater or less degree, be absorbed into the circulation. Thus we observe the two-fold effect of this most delicious and seductive beverage: by "lessening the waste," it prevents the body from remaining sound in its tissues, (see index: "fossil bodies") and causes blood-poisoning from indigestion. For if, by reason of anaemia of the stomach and intestines, the digestive fluids are not secreted in sufficient amount to preserve it, "the food rapidly undergoes chemical decomposition in the alimentary ca.n.a.l, and often putrefies."[88] This accounts for the gas coming from the stomach and bowels of persons troubled with indigestion and constipation, who frequently complain of a rotten-egg taste in the mouth. "This gas, in its poisonous effect, is similar to hydrocyanic or prussic acid, only not so powerful. It is a very destructive agent in its interference with those vital processes concerned in ultimate nutrition, robbing the blood corpuscles of vitality, and preventing the transformation into tissue of the nutriment conveyed by the circulation, and of worn-out tissue into waste, thus poisoning the blood and nervous centers, and disturbing the whole animal economy." In view of this state of things, need we search with microscopes for the causes of sickness, go outside of our own bodies for "malaria," or look to any extraordinary circ.u.mstance as essential to generate the most deadly diseases? According to the recent experiments (on dogs) of M. Lennen, communicated to the Paris Society of Biology, coffee does produce "anaemia of the stomach, r.e.t.a.r.ds digestion, and, the anaemia repeating itself, ends by bringing on habitual increased congestion of the stomach, which, according to M. Lennen, is synonymous with dyspepsia."

[Footnote 87: As explained elsewhere (p. 201), gentle exercise in the open air, after such a meal, though not the best, is nevertheless a remedy.]

[Footnote 88: Effects of Excess in Diet, "Physiology and Hygiene," p. 402, Huxley.]

It is not difficult, then, to comprehend why the final effect of coffee must be especially injurious, if not disastrous, to asthmatics and "consumptives," the head and front of whose disease is dyspepsia, pure and simple. (See "Consumption.") The _British Medical Journal_, after noting the experiments of M. Lennen, and favoring his conclusions, goes on to say: "It is well known--and English physicians have laid great stress upon this point--that the abuse of coffee and tea often brings on gastralgia, dyspepsia, and, at the same time, more or less disturbance of the _apparatus of innervation_." The question naturally arises, What const.i.tutes an "abuse" of a medicine? I should say its daily use as a beverage.

Coffee is a _purgative_--a very agreeable form of breakfast pill--but, as with all purgative medicines, an increasing dose is necessary, and its final effect is constipation, with no end of possibilities as a result of the retention of waste matters in the blood. Constipation, however produced, is a _predisposing_ cause, and the continuance of the habits that have produced and now maintain it const.i.tutes a sufficient _exciting_ cause, of such diseases as neuralgia, rheumatism, erysipelas, fevers of various sorts (including scarlet fever and "head cold,") and, with the aid of sewer gas _insufficiently diluted with outdoor air_--by means of ventilation--diphtheria, or any of the zymotic "diseases." Worst of all, those more terrible maladies (because more permanent and enduring, and unrecognized as symptoms of disease), as nervousness, peevishness, irritability, and general unreasonableness, are due, in great measure, to impoverishment of the blood; the nerves are insufficiently nourished, and the brain is "set on edge" by the poisoned circulation.

Professor Prescott makes this very interesting remark with regard to the chemistry of coffee and tea: "But the change of guanine into theine is easily accomplished. It is perfectly practicable to bring guano material to the laboratory, and send away the same atomic elements transformed into the snow-white, silky crystals of theine. Given only sufficient demand for the pure stimulant principle of tea and coffee, and a market high enough above the cost of its vegetable sources, and it might then safely be predicted that not many months would elapse before companies with thousands of capital stock would engage successfully in the chemical manufacture of theine from guano. Then, very likely, rival companies would establish the claim to manufacture a still purer article from certain of the waste substances of the world--articles more accessible than guano."

As to the nutritive properties of coffee, although the food const.i.tuents of the _berry_ are considerable in quant.i.ty, yet so deficient are they in digestibility that, in the infusion especially, it is more than doubtful if they are of advantage in supporting life, under any circ.u.mstances; indeed, I have no doubt that the poisonous effects of the alkaloid and tannin far outweigh any gain from the nutrients. At any rate, he would be a bold man, indeed, and I doubt not a defeated one in the end, who should attempt to imitate Mr. John Gris...o...b..s fast of forty-five days (which was attended by no discomfort even), subst.i.tuting coffee infusion for pure water.

Coffee interferes with digestion, and, consequently, with nutrition, aside from its specific or general effects upon the digestive organs, by the manner in which it is usually taken: a mouthful of food and then a draught of the beverage prevents the necessity of chewing[89] and prohibits the secretion of the saliva and its admixture with the starchy elements of the cereals and vegetables, so essential to the preparation of this cla.s.s of food for digestion further on. The first process in the transformation of starch into blood, is its conversion into grape sugar, and we know that saliva fulfills this function; and while it is believed that the intestinal juices also act in the same manner, still, we are not at liberty to suppose that the preliminary change designed to be begun in the mouth is unnecessary. Or, if it be in a measure true that this fluid, being constantly secreted and swallowed, _thus_ performs its legitimate function, it is certain that the salivary glands are injured, their functions impaired, and the quality and quant.i.ty of their secretions modified by the ingestion of hot, astringent fluids; and this must certainly be one of the injurious effects of tobacco-chewing or smoking.

No one would suppose for one moment that the glands of the liver, or kidneys, for example, could continue their offices satisfactorily in face of constant contact with a poultice of tobacco, corresponding in size to an ordinary quid, which would, in the mouth of a novice, produce purgative effects, often within one minute from its application. In fact, it may be relied upon that the ingestion into the mouth or stomach of any substance that causes the bowels to "act," in the common understanding of this term, whether the dose be in solid or liquid form--tends to, and the constant or frequent use of such devices will, impair and permanently injure the entire alimentary tract, from mouth to a.n.u.s, and all its secreting and excreting glands.

[Footnote 89: The prevalence of "bad teeth" is in my opinion referable chiefly to three causes: (1) innutrition resulting from the use of impoverished or indigestible food substance, (2) the use of hot drinks, (3) _non-use_ of the teeth; dental exercise is the best dentifrice.

Observe the quality, whiteness and clean condition of the dogs' teeth: from early youth their "tooth-brushes" are bones, which they are constantly gnawing. Bread-crusts, or wheat-kernels, would do the business for our young growing children, replacing "candy," for instance.]

Coffee is a _diuretic_, and hence its habitual use promotes disease of the kidneys. "Very warm drinks are in themselves debilitating to the stomach, but the addition of the properties of tea, coffee, or other herbs, burdens the kidneys and urinary apparatus with an unnatural amount of labor continually. (See Bright's Disease.) These organs, kept constantly over-excited, must become debilitated, and preternaturally irritable, and this condition of debility and irritability extends sympathetically to all the surrounding viscera; finally, the abdominal muscles themselves become relaxed, and, with the general nervous exhaustion produced by the active nervine and narcotic properties of the herb throughout the system, a foundation is laid for the whole train of maladies, displacements of organs, disordered functions, and 'weaknesses,' which are so general at the present day."

Again, coffee is often referred to as a respiratory food. It does, in small doses, and at first, have the effect to excite abnormally the nerves governing the respiratory movements, as well as those of the heart, stomach, etc.--stimulates them; hence the tendency, finally, to sluggish action of these organs, and even paralysis: a peculiar type of "nightmare"

often met with among coffee and tobacco users, ill.u.s.trates this well, although the connection is not usually comprehended,--a feeling of suffocation, following one of pressure, or "rushing feeling," at the base of the brain, as it is often described; usually observed at night just as the individual is dropping off to sleep, seemingly at the very moment of "losing" himself, and very naturally, too, at this particular moment: prior thereto there had been somewhat of a constrained feeling, perhaps, un.o.bserved by the victim, who, while awake, would continue the process of breathing by means of an unconscious, but still real, degree of voluntary effort. In sleep, the suffocation which ensues causes the victim to wake with a start and with a violent palpitation of the heart; or he may not succeed in rousing himself: this means death. In fact, all stimulants and poisons, as tobacco, coffee, distilled liquors, etc., _tend_ to local and general paralysis.

Coffee is styled the drink, _par excellence_, of the brain-worker. Cases like the following are by no means rare: Under the influence of two or three cups of strong coffee the brain of an essayist works satisfactorily, perhaps for hours; the hands and feet meanwhile growing cold and clammy, and the entire surface "chilly," while the brain throbs with congestion, until, finally, the mind becomes confused, strange mistakes are made, words are repeated or misspelled, and although the over-stimulated but now clogged and exhausted brain can see, dimly outlined within itself, pages, whole chapters perhaps, that must be written now or be forever lost--or at least his diseased imagination thus pictures it--still he finds it impossible to proceed, and with a martyr spirit, or perhaps despairingly, he ceases from his labors. A night of disturbed sleep (see article on Insomnia) almost surely follows, and during its waking intervals the brain often does its best work, which is worse than lost, unless the sufferer rises in (what should be) "the dead hours of the night" to record his brilliant thoughts. This effort he is often loath to make: he can think, or rather can not stop thinking, but he feels too weak to rise. Imperfect, however, as may be his repose, still, he may, with the aid of fresh stimulation, be enabled to take up his work again for the day. This may go on indefinitely, but with less and less satisfactory results from month to month,--neuralgic pains, "nervous headaches," or other evidence of visceral irritation, meantime adding to the sufferings to be endured,--until, after a time, becoming alarmed, he feels the need of a long vacation. If, however, in spite of all premonitions of danger, he keeps on denying himself the "rest" (from stimulation as well as from labor) he so much needs, it is like pulling a heavy load up-hill, and a little later he finds himself utterly prostrated. Whether, now, he dies speedily of paralysis, "heart disease," or "nervous prostration"; fails gradually and dies of "consumption"; or recovers some degree of health, after a long illness, the cause of his disease is believed by himself, friends--and physician, perhaps--to have been "overwork."[90] In fact, it is the effect of _stimulation_ inciting to excessive brain, to the neglect of physical, exercise; the brain is clogged by its own unexcreted waste, and the entire system unbalanced and unstrung. It is in such cases that a resort to "tonic treatment," beef-tea, or a "generous diet" of flesh-food--for which, perhaps, a fict.i.tious appet.i.te is created by the use of "regular" or irregular bitters--often destroys the patient's last chance for recovery. "It is," says Professor Brunton, "piling on fuel, instead of removing ash."[91]

[Footnote 90: The same amount of the stimulant alone (coffee, tobacco, wine, or what not), _without_ the hard work that tended to aid in its elimination, would have made quicker work of it. What such a person requires under these circ.u.mstances is to give his brain rest from severe mental application. Nor is it, in my opinion, sound doctrine to say that a weary-brained man may rest by rushing at muscular exercise, or _vice versa_. To a certain extent the rule holds good; but the exhausted or very tired man requires a period of absolute rest, before taking up any form of work. At the proper time, however, he will be improved by taking up active exercise in the open air, and performing daily such regular muscular and literary work as he can comfortably, however little this may be, without any sort of stimulation other than that derived from simple, nutritious food and pure air. (See article on Consumption for hint as to exercise.)]

[Footnote 91: "Indigestion as a Cause of Nervous Prostration," _Popular Science Monthly_, January, 1881.]

The ill.u.s.tration here given is one of the worst cases, but such instances are frequently observed among the cla.s.s usually designated as brain workers, not only, but among business men, whose work, scheming, mishaps, and unnatural habits altogether, bring them to sick-beds and premature graves; while mild forms are met with constantly everywhere.

Whatever degree of eminence our brain-workers may hope to attain under any form of stimulation, before their lives shall be prematurely ended, all may rest a.s.sured that by obeying the laws of life and building up a healthy body they will, in the long run--the "run" made longer thereby--do more and better work without than with artificial aid. The stimulus of good health is far better than that derived from any stimulating drink.

The most brilliant productions of the brain, under stimulation, may, strictly speaking, be called _premature births_.

Professor Proctor, in the paper before alluded to, further says: "Notwithstanding the adoption of theine-containing beverages by mankind at large, we can not hesitate to commend that robust habit which discards all dependence on advent.i.tious food, even on so mild a stimulus as that of the tea-cup, and preserves through life the fresh integrity of full nervous susceptibility. And probably there was never a time when there were so many persons as now who are disposed, by conviction and by a desire for a stalwart physical independence, to refuse to fix any habit that holds the nervous system."

Dr. Segur a.s.serts that "habitual coffee-drinkers generally enjoy good health and live to a good old age." We find, however, that a very large proportion of those coffee-drinkers who are observing and conscientious freely confess to the ill effects of the beverage: It makes them "nervous, irritable, or gives them headache frequently," they say; and it is quite common to hear them declare that they would leave it off if they could, but they "depend on it--it is the princ.i.p.al part of breakfast." Often enough it is all the breakfast taken. It prevents hunger or appeases it by rendering the stomach anaemic, and its stimulating effects are mistaken for added strength. And it is even worse where the coffee-drinker is at the same time a full-feeder; for, are we not told that this beverage "lessens the waste of tissue and renders less food necessary?" Quite a percentage of even robust people, beginning to feel, or to recognize after having long felt, the twinges of dyspepsia do, either on their own judgment or by the advice of the family physician, give up the habit, and find great benefit from the change; and but for clinging to other unnatural practices, they might often bid adieu to all their physical ills.

A few, comparatively, of the most vigorous men and women, it can not be denied, do "enjoy good health and live to a good old age," in spite of many injurious practices, including the habitual use of the stimulant coffee. But even these have their intervals of suffering, more or less severe--"attacks" that better habits would prevent. Of the latter cla.s.s, out of scores whom I might mention, the experience of O. B. Frothingham is noteworthy. He says: "Although no positive ill effect has been traceable to either of them [tea and coffee] or wine, all of which have been used sparingly, yet, were my life to live over again, I should accustom myself to abstinence from all three. It seems to me now, on looking back, that something of dullness and languor, something of exhaustion and dreaminess, something of lethargy, something too of heat and irritability, may be chargeable to a practice not in any grave degree harmful or blameworthy.

The faculties have been less keen and patient than they would have been under a strictly natural regimen."

It might, perhaps, in this connection, be profitable to ask,

WHAT IS A "STIMULANT"?

In reply I would say that any poisonous or unnatural substance ingested into the living body, in amount within the ability of the vital organism to _readily_ expel it; or even of the most wholesome food substance in excess of the _needs_ of the organism, and yet, again, not so excessive as to depress the vital forces instead of spurring them to increased efforts to thrust it out, is a stimulant. In short, anything of an injurious nature, by reason of quality, amount, or the conditions under which it is administered, may produce stimulating effects. But the inevitable "reaction" of stimulation is depression; although, from natural causes, convalescents often make sufficient progress to overwhelm, or at least obscure, the evidence of the secondary effects.

Speaking with direct reference to the effect of alkaloids in general, Professor Prescott says, "While a certain portion stimulates the nervous system, a large portion acts as a sedative, so that a difference in quant.i.ty of the potion causes a difference in kind of its effects." It should ever be borne in mind that the increased action under stimulation is simply the extra effort forced upon the vital organism to expel an intruder--the intruder being the stimulant itself. If this be the case, it necessarily follows that stimulants deplete, and can never replenish the vital exchequer. Instances have been noted of children who were observed to be unusually active and jubilant immediately prior to an "attack" of diphtheria. In such case--and a true history of every case might establish this as the rule--the diphtheritic poison acts as a stimulant; nature is trying to thrust it out, and all the life forces are abnormally active. We can not know in how many instances she succeeds in these efforts, nor yet how often her defeats are due to the administration of poisons, and food that for want of digestion becomes a poison, altogether so adding to the toxic condition that nature finally ends an evil she can not cure. After a vigorous expulsive efforts, for example, the system, temporarily quiescent, gathering fresh strength for a renewal of the conflict to dislodge the enemy, or, possibly, having already accomplished the main work, now rests in the stage preceding convalescence--is supposed to require the aid of a stimulant, and food also must be given at frequent intervals "to prevent the patient from sinking;" but alas, this proves the weight about his neck that carries him to the bottom--"supported" to death. In comparing the stimulation of the vital organism, in sickness, to the spurring up of a tired or lazy animal to greater exertion, there is always this grand difference: the former will every time, and always, exert its entire force, that is, will exert it better, more savingly to life, without, than with, stimulation. "Self-preservation is the first law of nature;" and no other circ.u.mstance possible to imagine, better ill.u.s.trates this law, than the living organism in sickness.

Coffee makes the timid or diffident man brave--gives him confidence in himself; but, by "reaction," this fict.i.tious bravery gives place to nervousness. Many persons experience a certain undefinable dread of approaching danger, a veritable "can't-sleep-for-fear-of-burglars" sort of wakefulness, which leaves them after a few weeks' abstinence from coffee-stimulation. Hot coffee or tea makes one warm--the very finger-tips tingle with warm blood; but later, in default of another dram--perhaps in spite of it--he feels chilly, even in a warm room; there is a "can't-get-warm-any-way" sort of feeling, to be accounted for, he fancies, only upon the theory that he has "caught cold!" He is suffering from coffee poisoning.

Although personally a dear lover of coffee, and, by reason of an exceptionally robust habit of body, at present, able to indulge in its use with less apparent harm than I find, upon long and careful inquiry and observation, is the case with most people, yet, nevertheless, I stand condemned by the eulogy of Abd-el-Kadir Anasari Dgezeri Hambali, son of Mahomet: "O coffee! thou dispellest the cares of the great; thou bringest back those who wander from the paths of knowledge. Coffee is the beverage of the people of G.o.d, and the cordial of his servants who thirst for wisdom. When coffee is infused into the bowl, it exhales the _odor of musk_, and is of the _color of ink_. The truth is not known except to the wise, who drink it from the foaming coffee-cup. G.o.d has deprived fools of coffee, who, with invincible obstinacy, condemn it as injurious."

According to Professor Prescott, "the administration of theine in small portions, to animals or to man, quickens the circulation and effects some degree of mental exhilaration and wakefulness. In final result, the excretion of carbonic-acid gas is diminished, and the flow of blood through the capillaries is r.e.t.a.r.ded." "Larger portions," he continues, "prove poisonous, causing painful restlessness, rigidity of the muscles, and general exhaustion. Not more than three or four grains at once can be properly taken for medicinal or experimental purposes." As often prepared for old coffee-tipplers, two cupfuls (about 16 oz.) of the infusion will contain this quant.i.ty of the alkaloid. As usually taken, of course, the proportion of the alkaloid is much less. In conclusion, I would repeat that it may with propriety be claimed for coffee that its administration as a medicine is as legitimate as that of any other, and no more so; certainly its daily use as an article of diet is as inconsistent and contrary to reason, as the similar use of any drug in the materia medica.

NOTE.--In the foregoing I have not considered the question of the influence of tea and coffee upon the "temperance movement."

One of the keenest observers of human nature, as well as one of our soundest _thinkers_, Dr. Oswald, from whose Physical Education I have freely drawn in the chapters on Consumption-- and his view in this matter is endorsed by many very able physiologists and sociologists--says (p. 64): "The road to the rum-cellar leads through the coffee-house. Abstinence from _all_ stimulants, only, is easier than temperance." Everywhere do I find temperance reformers essaying to lead rum-drinkers back _by the road they came_, viz: back through the coffee-house--taking a drink _en route_. I think that, in the long run, they will do better to try to conduct them from the "gin-mill" squarely into the street, and thence home. While not desiring to furnish arguments for the opponents of temperance (I would that _all_ stimulants were done away with), I cannot forbear pointing out what seems to me a glaring inconsistency among my co-laborers in reform. Of course all must admit that, in many respects, there can be no comparison drawn between liquor-drinking and tea and coffee-drinking: Other things equal, the man who drinks "rum" to excess, works vastly more misery in the world than the coffee toper; though, individually, if the latter were to indulge as copiously as does his spirit-drinking contemporary, he would suffer as much, probably more, in his health--would die more speedily. Of course we know that few coffee and tea-drinkers indulge to this extreme; but when we consider the almost universal use of these beverages--by women and growing children, as well as by men, it is more than doubtful whether they do not, _per se_, from a health point of view (considering, moreover, the influence of disease upon morals) aggregate more harm than their _more_ "ardent" rivals. Added to this, the fact that the use of one stimulant often leads to the use of others and stronger (as we have always argued that beer and wine lead on to whisky and brandy), the friends of true reform may well ask themselves whether, in their own indulgence in tea and coffee, and in the effort to increase their use among the people, they are not hitting wide of the mark? I am well aware that wine-drinkers, and those who indulge moderately in stronger drink, often pertinently reply to temperance workers, "When all the temperance reformers leave off _their_ favorite stimulants we will leave off ours." Says Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, Professor of Physical Culture at Harvard College, "I am convinced that coffee works more injury to mankind than beer."

CHAPTER XVIII.

APPEt.i.tE--CONTINENCE.

Appet.i.te, in a general sense, means a natural degree of hunger (not craving), sufficient to give relish for any kind of wholesome food. "We often hear people say they have no taste for this or that article of plain food, although many such have an insatiable appet.i.te for all the dainties of the table. Morbid appet.i.tes are thus engendered by continuous habits of indulgence. Natural appet.i.tes are first enfeebled and then vitiated; health of body is slowly and insidiously impaired, until, by and by, innate n.o.bility and hopeful youth and strength become effeminate, fastidious, weak, irascible, and selfish; and though outwardly, perhaps, refined and delicate, the person inwardly becomes inactive, apathetic, and unhelpful to himself and to the world. The natural sun of heat and life within the body and the soul, being overcast by the clouds and exhalations of unhealthy organs, often leads the victim of self-indulgence to seek externally for artificial stimulants to keep up an appearance of genial warmth within--but this can only be apparently successful for a time; and soon the penalty of the transgression of the laws of nature must be paid in full, and with, a large additional amount of costs. It is of great importance, therefore, to watch the appet.i.tes of body and of mind; to study the laws of healthy equilibrium; and, above all, to learn to know and understand the dangers of prolonged self-indulgence of the appet.i.tes of pleasure in mere animal sensation and wild imagination. Appet.i.te, properly so called, apprises man of the natural wants of the organism, and compliance with these internal promptings is rewarded by the double pleasure of the sense of taste in eating, and the feeling of comfort within, arising from the food supplied to the digestive system. But where the mind is weak and the delights of bodily sensation strong, the pleasures of taste or the charm of varied sensations in the palate dwell on the imagination and excite it to renewed indulgence of physical sensations, irrespective of the wants of the internal organism, and this even notwithstanding its declining health and manifest debility." The morbid cravings of the sense of perverted taste, or any other sense, must not be confounded, therefore, with the natural appet.i.te excited by the wants of the internal organism. "In the bear tribes there is a marked preference for honey manifested, which reveals a sense of taste that works on the imagination, and leads him to incur the risk of being stung to death by an infuriated swarm of bees rather than forego the sensual delights of plundering the hive and licking out the honeycomb when he is master of the spoils. The swollen head and face and ears are nothing to the charm of sensual indulgence." When I observe the sufferers from sick-headache or neuralgia (see Rheumatism), with swollen face and bandaged head, I am forcibly reminded of the honey-loving bear.

No expert can observe the habits of the people and fail to account for all the diseases that afflict the human family. Victims of disobedience to the natural laws--they have done the things they ought not to have done, and have left undone the things they ought to have done, and (consequently) there is no health in them. Diseases--how slowly we accept their teaching--how blind we are to their warning voice! The word itself is not understood. The term disease is popularly applied only to the most serious forms, such as have been named, when it is properly applicable to any condition other than the normal condition of the body--perfect ease.

Acidity, heartburn, flatulence, slight pains in the head, uneasy sensations of whatever sort--so little regarded until too late--are they not dis-ease? They speak plainly of indigestion,--the causes of which are recited elsewhere;--they are to the body what the degree-points are to the thermometer, and require only to be conscientiously considered to ensure freedom from disturbance.