CHEMICAL, MEDICAL AND DIETICAL.
In chemical composition the seeds or beans of coffee are complex,
containing as they do variable proportions of proximate principles. The
appended analysis represents the average constitution of raw coffee,
according to M. Payen, and which is accepted as the standard:--
Constituents. Parts.
Fat, 10 to 13
Water, 12
Caffeine, 0.8
Cellulose, 34
Legumen and caseine, 10
Glucose, dextrine and organic acid, 15
Caffeone and aromatic oils, .002
Caffetannate and potassium, 3 to 5
Viscid essential oil (insoluble in water), .001
Ash and other mineral matter, 6
Other nitrogeneous substances, 3
In addition to the foregoing, Payen also describes some 0.8 per cent.
of free Caffeine and very small quantities of essential and aromatic
oils, amounting to about 0.003 per cent. of the coffee, in addition to
other azotized and saline matter.
In the process of roasting, coffee undergoes certain chemical changes,
as before roasting it contains from 5.7 to 7.8 per cent. of sugar,
which is reduced to 1.1, and sometimes even to zero, after being
roasted, and from which, it would appear, that the description of sugar
contained in the raw coffee is destroyed by the roasting process to
which it is subjected previous to using.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RAW AND ROASTED COFFEES.
Constituents. Raw. Roasted.
Ash, 3.97 5.17
Fat, 11.42 8.30
Water, 8.26 0.36
Sugar, 8.18 1.84
Gluten, 10.68 12.03
Caffeine, 1.10 1.06
Cellulose, 42.36 44.96
Extractive matter, 14.03 26.28
----- -----
Total parts, 100 100
In the operation of roasting, the saccharine matter is converted
into caramel, and a portion of the caffeine is liberated from its
combination with the caffeic acid, the latter still retaining its
astringent properties and developing into a bitter, soluble principle.
A change in the fat of coffee is also undergone in the roasting, as
ether will extract only from 4 to 5 per cent. of fat from the raw
bean, while it readily extracts double that quantity from the roasted
bean. So striking is this fact that Von Bibra goes so far as to claim
that the roasting process produces fat, but most probably the process
is only mechanical and not chemical in its action in bursting the
“fat cells,” and thereby rendering the fat accessible to the solvent
action of the ether. Roasted coffee is also tolerably rich in nitrogen,
containing from 2.5 to 3 per cent., but is found to be quite devoid of
starch. The operation of roasting, in addition, tends to make coffee
soluble in boiling water, as, when raw coffee is perfectly exhausted
in boiling water, it will yield only some 25 per cent. of soluble
matter, while roasted coffee, on the other hand, when completely
exhausted by means of boiling water, yields as high as 40 per cent. in
some instances. A chemical analysis of the bean after being roasted
also shows that it contains 20 per cent. of water and about 60 per
cent. of cellulose, a substance resembling starch or grape sugar. But
the agents that especially distinguish coffee from all other substances
are the Caffeine, Caffeone and Caffeic, each of which constituents
possess virtues and effects peculiar to itself, and produce, by acting
in combination, the general effect of coffee.
=Caffeine=--Is the principle to which coffee owes its refreshing and
agreeable properties. It is an inodorous agent, having a slightly
bitter taste, and belonging to that group of chemical agents known as
alkaloids. It is identical with the _theine_ of tea, and also forms
the characteristic principle of cocoa, maté, the guarana and many
other plants used by the inhabitants of widely-separated countries,
on account of their yielding a slightly exciting and refreshing
beverage and apparently forming a necessary diet for mankind in
general. Its quantity varies from 0.8 to 1 per cent. in the different
kinds of coffee, being greatest in Martinique and smallest in San
Domingo. According to Chandler, pure Caffeine appears in white silky
needles, having no odor, and containing about 8 per cent. of water
of crystalization, which it parts with at 150° C., being apparently
soluble in cold water, but much more so in hot, still less so in
alcohol and still less in ether, acting as a weak base and dissolving
in acids from which it may be crystalized by evaporation. When boiled
with fixed caustic alkalies it decomposes and yields methlamine,
while heating with basic-hydrates alters it to a stronger base,
termed Caffeidine, but when boiled with an excess of nitric acid and
evaporated at a gentle heat gives it a reddish color resembling that
obtained from minoxide; the addition of a little ammonia making it
again quite characteristic. Administered in strong doses it causes
trembling and a kind of intoxication not unlike that resulting from
alcoholic stimulants, but diminishes the work of organic tissue at the
same time.
=Caffeone.=--Besides Caffeine coffee contains a volatile or essential
oil chemically termed Caffeone which, according to some authorities, is
not present in the raw bean, but is the result of an essential change
produced in the coffee by the roasting process. It is to this subtle
and fugitive principle, however, that roasted coffee owes its peculiar
and fragrant aroma, an odor possessed by no other known substance.
When chemically separated by ether from the coffee it presents the
appearance and consistency of cocoa-butter, which in roasting permeates
the entire bean, but if the heat be too intense or the roasting
prolonged beyond the proper time, it is entirely dissipated and lost,
the result being to seriously injure the coffee. And although coffee
forms part of the daily food of more than half the nations of the
world, we are still uncertain of the chemical nature, composition and
effects of these products of roasted coffee, and particularly of this
“oil of coffee,” one of the most important characteristic constituents
of the bean. The existence of this coffee oil makes itself known in a
striking manner by its roasting; being forced out of the bean by the
intense heat, it is partially volatilized, and together with the other
products of the roasting, produces the characteristic effects and aroma
of roasted coffee. In very strong black coffee it is found in oil-like
drops floating on the surface, the amount in the raw bean varying from
8 to 13 per cent., at least one-half of which is dissipated and lost
in the roasting, so that it might prove a paying experiment to attempt
to collect this oil, especially in large establishments where much
coffee is roasted, several pounds of this oil being wasted daily which
might find a ready market at a handsome profit in the manufacture of
liqueurs. It is best obtained by crushing about 50 pounds of roasted
coffee in a mortar and then extracting with the aid of ether and
alcohol. The oil of coffee obtained in this manner is a thick, green,
almost transparent substance, which deposits after a time a few long
needles of caffeine, proving that since caffeine is not extracted
from the exhausted beans by ether, and very little is taken up by the
alcohol employed, the coffee from which the oil has been extracted
may be again used for the manufacture of caffeine. The oil becomes
turbid in about six months from the time of extraction, although
preserved in hermetically-sealed bottles small groups of crystals
forming in the middle of the liquid, but slowly settling in the bottom,
forming a precipitate, which in time forms a cloudy mass of crystals,
consisting of the solid fatty acids, but the upper layer remaining
clear and transparent for years, and of a beautiful green color,
proving that a portion of the coffee oil consists of liquid oleic
acid. Taken alone, this “oil of coffee” is found to produce a gentle
perspiration and exhilaration, as well as to stimulate the mental
faculties, but is claimed to retard, in a marked degree, the process
of food assimilation, and consequently the waste of tissue matter. It
also produces an aperient effect on the bowels, while overdoses cause
sleeplessness and symptoms of sthenic excitement, a condition clearly
bordering on inflammation.
Experiments made with Caffeine and Caffeone prove that they produce
different effects on the animal economy, the former exercising a
sedative and tranquilizing action, being more prolonged in its effect
than the latter, which acts strongly as a transient stimulant and
exhilarant. But in the drinking of an ordinary cup of coffee both these
actions are obtained, the stimulation and exhilaration preceding the
state of sedation and repose. The essential principle of the coffee,
however, is the alkaloid caffeine and not the volatile oil caffeone,
the effects of both constituents being different in time and character.
The former slows the heart’s action and expends its main force on the
spinal cord, to which effect is due the shaking hand of the inveterate
coffee-drinker and the marked tremor which sometimes follows a copious
drink of coffee when taken on an empty stomach, while the latter
reduces the arterial tension, thereby allowing a freer flow of blood
and a more rapid action of the heart, at the same time stimulating the
brain, rendering the mind clear and promoting wakefulness, being also
speedier and more transient in effect.
=Caffeic.=--Caffetannate, or “tannic acid,” as it exists in the raw
bean of coffee possesses an astringent action, which is greatly
modified in the roasting and neutralized by the aperient properties
of the Caffeone. A great deal of doubt still exists as to the exact
agency of this property in coffee, many chemists contending that to it
the flavor and other properties of the coffee as a beverage is due.
It is a powerful astringent principle, puckering up the mouth when
chewed, and is the property to which coffee owes its bitterness when
boiled or over-infused, but whether it contributes in any degree to
the exhilarating, satisfying or narcotic action of the coffee has not
yet been definitely determined. But united, their specific properties
modified by combination and acting and reacting upon each other, these
three constituents give to coffee its peculiar properties and effects
on the human system.
To the chemist, coffee and tea are much the same, their two alkaloids,
_caffeine_ and _theine_, being to them undistinguishable one from the
other, each also containing a volatile or essential oil, the difference
in the taste of which is doubtless due to subtle properties which the
chemist is so far unable to detect. For this reason the following
comparative analysis of coffee and tea may be found interesting, as
showing how closely they are chemically allied:--
Constituents. Coffee. Tea.
Water, 12.0 5.0
Theine, 0.75 0.5
Tannin, 5. 15.0
Gluten, 13.0 25.0
Wood fibre, 34.0 24.0
Volatile oil, 13.0 4.0
Gum and sugar, 15.0 21.0
Ash or residue, 7.0 5.0
From recent experiments it appears that the quantity of tannin in the
coffee bean is not over about one-third of that contained in the tea
leaf and frequently is considerably less, six samples of coffee being
tested in the same manner as tea for the amount of soluble tannin, and
steeped in fifty parts of water. Equal quantities of coffee and tea
were also analyzed and the amount of tannin estimated with the result
that, on an average, tea yielded nearly four times as much tannin
than the coffee, which proves that in case of poisoning by alkaloids
strong tea is better than coffee as an antidote. When used in equal
quantities tea yields about twice the amount of theine that coffee does
to the water in which it is infused, but as we use a greater weight
of coffee than we do of tea in preparing the beverage, a cup of coffee
of ordinary strength will contain as much theine as a cup of ordinary
strong tea. While, however, coffee checks waste and is naturally a
food, the same cannot be said of tea, the specific effect of which is
to quicken respiration and the vital functions generally.
MEDICINAL EFFECTS.
Coffee belongs to the medicinal or auxiliary class of food substances,
being solely valuable for its stimulating and exhilarating effect upon
the nervous and vascular system. It produces a feeling of buoyancy and
exhilaration comparable to a certain stage of alcoholic intoxication,
but which does not end in the depression and collapse produced by
the latter. It increases the frequency of the pulse, lightens the
sensations of fatigue and sustains the strength under prolonged
and severe muscular exertion. It also contains valuable medicinal
properties, among which is that of being an anti-soporific, and hence
most useful in narcotic poisoning. It has also been found to be the
best stimulant for administration to persons rescued from starvation or
perishing from intense cold, as ardent spirits when given under these
conditions often prove fatal. It dispels languor, stupor and lethargy
and as an antidote is a specific in cases of poisoning by opium and
morphine.
The early history of coffee informs us of its use among the Arabians
for its exhilarating as well as its curative powers, being used in
Mecca and Medina originally for the purpose of overcoming torpor and
drowsiness by the Mohamedan monks, its exciting and sleep-dispelling
power tending much to bring it into popular favor in these cities as
a medicine as well as a beverage. At this early period it was claimed
that “this liquor purified the blood by gentle agitation, dissipated
the ill-condition of the stomach and aroused the spirits.” In the
treatment of spasmodic asthma its utility is well established as
well as in the cure of whooping cough, cholera infantum and similar
complaints, being also an excellent preventative against all infectious
and epidemical diseases. While in hysterical attacks, for which, in
many instances, the physician can find no diagnosis, coffee has proven
to be one of the greatest helps.
Fresh-roasted coffee has proven to be an effective dispeller of foul
gases as well as a valuable disinfectant in the sick-room, or any
enclosed space where the fumes can penetrate. As an instantaneous
deodorizer, particularly in the sick-room, where it has no equal,
possessing wonderful, almost magical power, all foul and noxious
exhalations being immediately neutralized or dispelled by simply
passing a chafing-dish of fresh-roasted coffee through the room. As a
disinfectant fresh-roasted coffee has been invaluable as an absorbing
agent in purifying the atmosphere of all foul-smelling and offensive
odors, especially when roasted in the vicinity of the room or place
to be fumigated. When roasted, and while still hot, if placed on a
tray or other open vessel in the centre of the apartment, by the time
it has cooled the surrounding atmosphere will be rendered thoroughly
pure and sweet. Or, better and more advantageous still, by heating an
iron fire-shovel red hot and placing a handful of ground coffee on it
and carrying it around the room or house to be disinfected in this
condition until it cools. The vapor arising from the coffee so heated
will meantime have destroyed all disagreeable and noxious odors.
Experiments recently made with roasted coffee in France prove it to be
one of the most powerful deodorizers yet discovered for the dissipation
of all noxious odors. As an instance of its great worth in this case, a
quantity of decomposing meat was hung up in a tightly-closed room and
a tin pan containing a few handfuls of fresh-roasted and ground coffee
was placed over a spirit lamp, as the pan became hot and the vapor from
the coffee filled the room, it was found that the foul smell of the
decomposed meat was entirely removed, even when standing close up to
it. While Professor Beer, an eminent Vienna oculist, maintains that the
vapor arising from pure, hot and fresh-made coffee is very invigorating
to the eyes, but at the same time attributing many frequent occurring
cases of affections to the sight to the constant use of chicory,
as well as to the habitual use of the decoctions prepared from the
admixtures of chicory and coffee.
Coffee and pepper are highly recommended as a certain specific for
rheumatism, as well as in many forms of gout. In such cases the proper
proportions consist of a pint of hot, strong, black coffee, which must
be perfectly pure, and seasoned with a teaspoonful of _pure_ black
pepper, thoroughly mixed before drinking, and the preparation taken
just before retiring. Quite a number of chronic cases of rheumatism
are reputed on excellent authority to have been cured by a single
dose of this simple remedy. The greatest care has to be exercised,
however, that cold is not contracted through the free perspiration
that follows its use, yet severe colds may also be broken up and
cured by its administration. Such a simple and convenient remedy is
certainly worth a trial, as it is, at least, perfectly harmless, and
makes no demand on the doctor or druggist. Another use for coffee
medicinally, is in nausea and violent retching, for which purpose a
strong infusion is prepared and “sipped” slowly while very hot. This
oftentimes acts effectively alone, but is much more so if a strong
mustard plaster is applied to the pit of the stomach at the same time.
Its beneficial effects in extreme alcoholism is already too well
known for description, but is as yet not fully appreciated in such
cases, nor as to what extent this otherwise exhilarating and potent
beverage may be substituted in lieu of spirituous and malt liquors. It
is positively asserted by men of high professional ability that when
the system requires a good stimulant, nothing equals a cup of good,
strong, fresh-made coffee for the purpose, so that those who may desire
to rescue a drunkard from his bane will find no better substitute for
alcoholic spirits or malt liquors than strong, fresh-made coffee,
in the proportions of two ounces of good, pure coffee to one part
of boiling water, making an excellent tonic beverage, but must be
administered without the addition of either milk or sugar in these
particular cases.
It is also positively asserted by those who have tried it that malarial
and other miasmatic complaints are prevented by drinking a cup of
hot coffee before venturing out into the morning air, and by many
eminent physicians it is regarded as almost a specific in typhoid and
other endemic fevers, so much so that in malarial and intermittent
fevers it has been used by the best physicians with the happiest
results, coffee being opposed to malarial and all noxious vapors,
particularly in alienating and reducing the earlier attacks, and, when
properly administered in such complaints, it is found superior to the
sulphate of quinine in many extreme cases, while in that low state of
intermittent fever as found on the Mississippi and the banks of all
large rivers, accompanied with torpid liver and enlarged spleen, when
judiciously prepared and administered it has been found one of the
safest and most effective remedies. In districts rife with malarial
and other low fevers the drinking of hot coffee before passing into the
infected districts will enable persons living in such regions to escape
all contagion, the nervous system being aroused and the fever germs
thereby rendered innocuous by the coffee. It is also almost a specific
for the disease after being contracted when used with lemon juice,
and is found to be of sovereign efficacy in tiding over any attacks
of the nervous system in a number of emergencies from whatever cause;
and in answer to the query so often put, “Does coffee facilitate or
retard digestion?” it may be observed that it contains several active
principles, each of which exercises a specific influence on the human
system, the first and most important of these being the caffeine,
which raises the activity of the heart, operating in small doses as a
wholesome stimulus. The second, the caffeone or volatile substance,
which operates chiefly on the nerves and acting in moderate quantities
as an agreeable exhilarant, but to which is also attributable the
fantasies and intoxicant effects so frequently experienced as a result
of excessive coffee drinking. The third being the caffeic or tannin,
to which coffee owes its bitter taste when boiled or over-infused and
which, as is well known, enters into combination with the albumen,
thereby materially prejudicing its digestibility. These three principal
properties vary greatly in the quantities extracted according to the
methods of preparation, so much so that if the coffee be simply infused
in water at the boiling point and allowed to cool rapidly we get but
little of the caffeine in the extract, a good deal of the aromatic
principle and scarcely a trace of the tannin, but by over-boiling and
prolonged infusion the aroma is dissipated by passing off with the
steam or vapor arising from it in the process of preparation, more
caffeine being also extracted, and the longer it is infused or boiled
the more tannin is dissolved in the liquid. These facts serve to
confirm the views generally expressed by physicians, that coffee boiled
or over-infused prejudices its digestibility, while simple infusions
facilitate it, but its beneficial action in the latter case is now
proved to be due not to any direct chemical action on the albumen
present, but indirectly to its action on the nerve-centres of the
stomach by promoting the secretion of the gastric juices, such action
being, in other words, physiological and not chemical, as heretofore
supposed.
With regard to the anti-bilious properties of coffee Dr. Elliott
states that “We speedily found that patients in hospitals and all
persons leading sedentary lives must avoid too concentrated food and
drink abundantly of diluent fluids, that coffee acted on the liver and
was altogether the best remedy for constipation and what is commonly
termed a bilious condition, that tea acted in a precisely opposite
direction, and that not poppies, mandragora nor all the drowsy syrups
of the East could bring the peace to a sufferer from malarial chill
that would come of strong coffee, with a little lemon juice added, and
that strong tea was almost a specific for neuralgia in its simplest and
most uncomplicated form.” Liebig also calls attention to the fact that
coffee contains many of the elements which stimulate the flow of bile,
being a decided laxative, as well as a pronounced diuretic, which is
confirmed by the fact that the “coffee belt” of the world is also the
“bilious belt” and the “malarial belt,” as well as the regions where
noxious germs and suppurative processes most abound. Ample evidence of
“the fitness of things” in nature, no people understanding better than
the inhabitants of these tropical countries the value of coffee to
open the secretions which have been checked by the heat or miasmatic
influences of such climates. Knowing this, they take full advantage of
the well-known antiseptic properties of coffee.
It is now more than thirty years since Landarabilco called attention
to the great value of raw or unroasted coffee in hepatic and nephritic
diseases; who, after having continued to use the remedy for over a
third of a century in many hundreds of almost hopeless cases, still
continues to use it with marked success in the treatment of liver and
kidney troubles which have persistently resisted all other treatment.
For such cases, 3 drams (¹⁄₄ oz.) of raw coffee beans are placed
in a tumbler of cold water--the best results being obtained from a
combination of Mocha, Bourbon and Martinique coffees in equal parts of
1 dram each. The infusion is allowed to stand over night, and after
being properly strained or filtered must be taken on an empty stomach
the first thing on rising in the morning. This simple remedy has been
found a sovereign remedy in numerous cases of renal and hepatic colics,
as well as in diabetes and migraine or nervous headache, which, while
rebellious to all other treatment for years, readily yielded to the raw
coffee infusion. It may be here remarked that Bourbon and Martinique
coffees cannot be had in this country, going exclusively to France, but
may be substituted by what is known in trade as Bourbon or Mocha-seed,
Santos, Jamaica and Mocha or almost any other fine mild coffee.
Coffee, like tea, acts powerfully on the respiratory organs, but
increases the rate of respiration more than tea and also the pulsation;
while tea, on the other hand, increases the action of the skin, and,
by lessening the force of the circulation, cools the body, and does
not cause congestion of any of the mucous membranes, particularly
that of the bowels. But coffee, by diminishing the action of the skin,
lessens also the heat of the body, but increases the _vis-a-tergo_, and
therefore the heart’s action and fulness of pulse, thus exciting the
mucous membranes. The conditions, therefore, under which coffee may be
used are different from those suited to the use of tea, and under these
circumstances better adapted for use among the poor and feeble as a
dietecal beverage. But, besides accelerating the action of the bowels,
and, according to Liebig, aiding in the secretion of the bile, it also
invigorates to a very high degree the ganglionic system of the brain,
soothing the painful feeling of fatigue and exhaustion, stimulating to
renewed mental exertion, for which reasons it always has been highly
appreciated by students and literary people generally. The exhilarating
and stimulating effect which coffee has on the human organization is
due chiefly to the characteristic principles which it contains. It
excites the heart’s action, and, as that organ is feeble in the morning
and the skin is active, it is best adapted for use at the morning
meal, its action upon the nervous system being less exciting than
that of tea. Very strong coffee, however, produces sleeplessness in
many persons when taken at night, owing to its effects on the heart’s
action, by retarding that full action of this organ, which is natural
at night, and so requisite to permit sound sleep, while if only a light
infusion be prepared and taken at night, these effects are not likely
to be experienced.
In typhoid and other fevers its action is frequently very prompt
and efficacious, particularly in the early stages before local
complications set in. Dr. Guillasse, of the French navy, in a recent
paper on typhoid fever, states that “Coffee has given us unhoped-for
satisfaction, for, after having dispensed it, we found, to our great
surprise, that its action was as prompt as it was decisive. No sooner
had our patients taken a few tablespoonfuls of it than their features
became relaxed, and came immediately to their senses, while the next
day the improvement was such that we are tempted to look upon it as
a specific against typhoid fever. Under its influence the stupor is
dispelled and the patient arises from the state of somnolency in which
he has lain since the invasion of the disease; soon all the functions
take their natural course, and he enters on convalescence.” His formula
is to give to an adult two to three tablespoonfuls of strong, black
coffee every two hours, alternately with one to two tablespoonfuls of
claret or burgundy wine, a little lemonade or citrate of magnesia, to
be taken daily, and after a few days quinine in small doses. From the
fact that malaise or cerebral symptoms appear first, the doctor regards
typhoid as a nervous disease, and the coffee, acting on the nerves, is
peculiarly indicated in the early stages, before local complications
arise. While in extreme cases of yellow fever it has been used
effectively by many doctors as the main reliance after all the other
well-known remedies had been administered and failed. In such cases it
acts by retarding the tissue change, that becoming a conservator of
force, especially in that state in which the nervous system tends to
collapse, owing to the blood becoming impure. In such a condition it
sustains the nervous power until the depuration and reorganization of
the blood are accomplished, possessing the advantage over all other
stimulants of inducing to no secondary ill-effects.
As early as 1835, during the cholera epidemic, the physicians of New
York issued a public manifesto urging the people to abstain from
beer and other liquors and confine themselves to the exclusive use
of pure, strong coffee as a beverage, in order to keep the system
healthy and render it less liable to an attack of the disease, with
the most beneficial and gratifying results. That they “builded better
than they knew” has since been conclusively proven by Sudentz, who
in detailing a series of experiments in which he has determined the
powerful influence of coffee infusions of varying strength upon
the growth of the different forms of pathogenic and non-pathogenic
micro-organisms. The variety of coffee used in these experiments was
the finest Java--although good and bad coffee was afterwards found to
effect precisely similar results--the infusions being made by adding
from 10 to 30 parts of coffee to from 70 to 90 parts of boiling water.
The coffee was first _freshly_ roasted, ground fine and then covered
with the boiling water, the infusion thus prepared being placed in
a closed flask, put in a hot water bath for about ten minutes and
next filtered through a sterilized filter. The infusion thus produced
is used in the making of a gelatinous compound, both directly and
in part, until a nutrient gelatine was prepared from it. With this
as a “menstruum” the various forms of _fungi_ and other forms of
micro-organisms were inoculated with the object of determining the
possibility of their growth or propagation in such a medium, but in
other cases the organisms were added directly to the coffee alone in
infusions of varying strength and after different periods of time
inoculations were made from these infusions into other nutrient
_media_. By this method he found that the forms of _fungi_ experimented
with showed more or less growth in the coffee gelatine and that the
abundance of the growth was in many cases distinctly less than in the
former _media_. The other organisms which he used for his experiments
were the _phyogenes aureus_, _prodigiosus_, _erisipelous_, the germ of
_anthrax_ or splenic fever, the _bacilli_ of typhoid fever and the
_spirulum_ of Asiatic cholera, all of which and many other forms of
micro-organisms were greatly influenced in their life and growth by
exposure to the coffee infusions, some being far more susceptible than
others, however, the _bacillus prodigiosus_ and _proteus vulgaris_
being entirely destroyed only after an exposure of four days in a 10
per cent. infusion, while in a 30 per cent. infusion they were all
destroyed in one day. The spore of erysipelas was totally destroyed
after an exposure of one day in a 10 per cent. infusion, the germ of
splenic fever dying in from one to three hours in a 20 to 30 per cent.
infusion; while the typhoid _bacilli_ were completely destroyed in a
5 per cent. infusion after an exposure of three days and in a 30 per
cent. infusion in from one to two days. While _the microbe of Asiatic
cholera was easily destroyed in a 1 per cent. infusion after only
seven hours’ exposure, in a 5 per cent. infusion after four hours and
in a 30 per cent. infusion after two hours_; the cholera _spirulum_
being by far the most susceptible of the numerous organisms used in
the experiments, next to which was the _anthrax bacilli_, except the
young forms or spores of the latter germs, which perish only in from
three to four weeks’ exposure. These latter results speak volumes for
“coffee as a germicide” for anthrax or splenic fever, as the spores
of this disease are by no means easy to scotch or kill, and after
these revelations _coffee administered internally or hypodermically
in some new form or combination of forms, may be eventually used as
a remedy for all germ-produced diseases_. It must be borne in mind
by the student or chemist, however, that the antiseptic effects of
coffee do not depend on its _Caffeine_ so much as on its _Caffeone_ or
essential oil developed in the roasting of the beans. But aside from
these experiments, others were also made with decomposing meat soups,
which were actually swarming with various forms of micro-organisms, the
results obtained showing that the vitality of the spores contained in
the fluid was greatly diminished after a short exposure, but was not
completely destroyed until after an exposure of many days.
It may at first sight seem irrational that a substance which restricts
tissue-waste should be used for the purpose of quickening certain
other functions, more especially those of the brain, yet the physical
activity, mental exhilaration and wakefulness it causes explains the
liking for it shown by so many men of science, poets, scholars and
others devoted to thinking. But all of these occupations involve
increased waste of tissue in the brain as well as of the spinal marrow,
the very action which coffee is said to restrain, so much so that
to reconcile these apparent incongruities, it has been maintained
that coffee does not act primarily as a cerebral stimulant, but only
secondarily by removing the vascular plenitude occasioned by prolonged
study, by a full meal, and especially by opium, alcohol, or other
agents which directly tend to load the brain with blood, so that
when taken on an empty stomach it does not quicken the functions of
the brain, but on the contrary renders it dull and inapt for steady
thought, creating nervousness and general debility and frequently
causing hemicrania.
During digestion, however, the case is different, particularly if a
full and stimulating meal has been taken, the mind grows dull and
sluggish, a tendency to sleep arises, and everything indicates an
increased amount of blood on the brain, it being in like manner that
prolonged mental labor produces cerebral plenitude and drowsiness. It
is this condition apparently which coffee corrects by contracting
the blood-vessels and thereby relieving the brain of its oppressive
load of blood. The habit of using coffee at breakfast and after dinner
is thus explained by the stimulant action which it exerts, not only
upon the nervous system generally, but more especially on the stomach
and bowels, there being no doubt that it quickens gastric digestion
and relieves the sense of plenitude in the stomach, stimulating
the secretion of bile and augmenting the peristaltic action of the
intestine, and thereby promoting defecation. While it is quite as
certain that, used to excess, it paralyzes the digestive function in
all its stages and leads to further disorders, of which the chief are
constipation, hemorrhoids and congestion of the liver, but whether
these effects are to be ascribed to a power in coffee to produce
contraction of the capillary blood-vessels or not is uncertain, but
their reality is beyond dispute.
With regard to the injurious effects charged to the abuse of coffee by
some authorities, it may be said that the consequences of an abuse of
tea were declared to be similar to that of coffee long before chemistry
had demonstrated the identity of _theine_ with _caffeine_, when among
their evil effects were enumerated acidity, heartburn, indigestion,
tremors, wakefulness, irritability of disposition and depression of
spirits. Most of these ill-effects are more likely to follow the abuse
of tea than coffee, if at all, and the spinal symptoms, such as painful
muscular tension, cramp and persistent wakefulness, are also more apt
to be produced by tea. In experiments made with a number of selected
healthy persons, the operation of caffeine has been found to vary
exceedingly, some being scarcely affected at all, while others by the
same dose suffered from a full, frequent or irregular pulse, headache,
trembling limbs, palpitation of the heart, flashes before the eyes,
roaring in the ears, sleeplessness, phantasms, a sort of intoxication,
and a subsequent unfitness for all physical and mental labor when
very large doses were taken. These effects illustrate the danger of
exceeding due moderation in the use of coffee, showing that it may,
if abused, tend to develop a morbid condition of the nervous system,
rendering it peculiarly liable to disease, although in a much less
degree than either opium or alcohol, its excessive use being much more
injurious to the spinal than to the cerebral functions.
From these facts it may be advanced by some authorities that an article
possessing such great powers and capacity for such energetic action
must be injurious by habitual employment as an article of diet, or at
least not without some injurious or deleterious properties. But no
corresponding ill-results or nervous derangements are ever observed
after its effects have disappeared as are noticed in other narcotics
and stimulants, the action imparted to the nervous system by coffee
being natural and healthy in the extreme, in proof of which it has
been shown that habitual coffee-drinkers generally enjoy good health
and spirits, some of the longest-lived people having used coffee
continually from their earliest infancy without experiencing any
inconvenience, depressing reaction, or other ill-effects such as is
invariably produced by the use of alcoholic stimulants. There are,
on the other hand, systems with which it does not agree, as, being a
stimulant, it may be taken too freely; in such cases it undoubtedly
produces irregularities in the action of the heart and nervous system.
But generally it is an unmixed blessing, its beneficial influence
becoming more apparent as its use penetrates into the lower strata of
society, taking the place of the various debasing alcoholic beverages.
In addition to its many other virtues, coffee has been found to be an
excellent barometer, from the fact of its being such a great absorbent.
On the eve of a rain-storm grinding coffee will be found difficult,
the bean becoming damp and tough, while when dry weather is indicated
the process is quite easy. Another method of predicting the weather by
it is to drop a lump of sugar into a cup of coffee without stirring.
In a very short time the air contained in the sugar will rise to the
surface in the shape of bubbles. If the bubbles collect in the middle
of the cup a fair day will be sure to follow, but if they should
adhere to the side of the cup, forming a ring of bubbles with a clear
space in the centre, rain is certain to be near at hand, while if the
bubbles be neither of these, but scatter irregularly over the surface
of the liquid, variable weather is indicated by the movement. What
the scientific explanation of the action of the atmosphere on the
bubbles so found is not known, but that their indications curiously and
correctly agree with those of a barometer has been tested and proved.
DIETETICAL PROPERTIES.
The human family have, from time immemorial, been addicted to the use
of warm food and liquids in some form, infusions or decoctions of sage
and the leaves of other plants being used extensively in Europe for
the purpose prior to the introduction of tea and coffee. The human
body demands food or liquid when in an exhausted state, and if they be
not warm they make an immediate drain on the system for heat before
it can supply material for combustion, so that the body is taxed for
heat at a time when it is least fitted for the purpose. It is but
natural therefore that there should be a craving for warm food and
drink, and as liquid food, particularly in a cold state, is deficient
in heat-giving matter, the use of cold liquids is more injurious than
that of cold solids. The temperature of the human body being 98°, when
food is taken into the stomach at a lower temperature than that of the
body, it obstructs the heat from the stomach and surrounding tissues,
so that when the practice of taking cold food into the body becomes
habitual, depression occurs and the stomach is disordered. The system
must therefore make good the heat lost in raising the temperature of
the cold food--liquid or solid--or else suffer the consequences.
The action of coffee as a diet is directed chiefly to the nervous
system, producing a warming cordial impression on the stomach, which
is quickly followed by a diffused and agreeable nervous excitement
which extends itself to the cerebral function, giving rise to
increased vigor of the imagination and intellect, this too without any
subsequent reaction or stupor such as are characteristic of liquor and
other narcotics. It contains essential principles of nutrition far
exceeding in importance its exhilarating properties, and is one of the
most valuable articles of food for sustaining the system in certain
protracted and wasting diseases, and as compared even with the best
soups, coffee has a decided advantage and is to be preferred to them in
many cases. But to rightly understand its function as a food it should
be used chiefly as an accessory to food, as it aids in the digestion
and assimilation of the other foods when it is properly prepared--that
is, by protracted infusion--as when boiled too long the caffeic acid
or tannin is extracted. The action of this acid in combination with
the milk and cream being to harden the albumen into an indigestible
compound, which has been found exceedingly irritating to the delicate
membranes of the digestive organs and nervous system. Milk and coffee
act similarly upon the skin and other organs, its use with coffee
making it a more perfect food than when milk is used with tea. But
while, like tea, it increases the respiration, yet again, unlike it,
its effects are not lasting, as by the use of coffee the rate of the
pulse is increased, and the action of the skin’s pores diminished,
thereby lessening the quantity of the blood circulating in the organs
of the body, it distends the veins, but contracts the capillaries,
thus preventing a waste. According to Professor Johnstone, “Coffee
arouses, exhilarates and keeps awake, counteracts the stupor occasioned
by fatigue, disease or opium, allays hunger to a certain extent, gives
to the wearied increased strength and vigor, and imparts a feeling of
comfort and repose. Its physiological effects upon the human system
appear to be, that while it makes the brain more active, it soothes
the body generally, retards the change and waste of tissue, making the
demand for food consequently less.
The Gallæ, a wandering nation of Africa, during their incursions, are
obliged to travel over immense deserts, and being also desirous of
falling upon the towns and villages of their victims without warning,
carry nothing to eat with them but the roasted and pulverized beans
of coffee, which they mix with grease to a certain consistency,
that will permit of its being rolled into masses about the size of
billiard-balls, which they keep in leather-bags until required for use.
One of these balls so prepared supports them for an entire day when on
a marauding excursion or in active war better than a loaf of bread or a
meal of meat, claiming that they prefer it to grain or meat because it
cheered their spirits as well as fed them. Eaten in this manner, coffee
undoubtedly affords much nourishment, as, according to Payen, it
contains more than twice the nutriment of soup and three times as much
as tea. In the liquid state, however, the nitrogeneous or flesh-forming
properties, being mostly insoluble, they remain in the grounds. For
this reason coffees lightly roasted possesses the maximum of nutrition,
strength and aroma.
The Belgian coal miners live and work effectively on a ration of solid
food less than the French miners, yet perform more labor than the
latter, the only difference in their food consisting in the Belgians
receiving a ration of coffee instead of wine, to which is attributed
their greater endurance. While Jomand states that eight pints of an
infusion made with six ounces of different kinds of coffee enabled
him to live for five consecutive days without lessening his ordinary
occupations, as well as to use more and prolonged muscular exercise
than he was accustomed to without any other physical injury than a
slight degree of fatigue and a little loss of flesh. The value of
hot infusions of coffee under the rigors of an Arctic cold has been
demonstrated by the experience of all polar explorers, and it has been
found scarcely less useful in tropical regions, where it beneficially
stimulates the action of the skin. Captain Parry states that when
on his Arctic expedition he placed his starboard watch on a diet of
coffee and the port watch on that of rum, as an experiment, with the
result that the coffee watch was found to possess a vigor of health and
activity entirely wanting in that of the other. And many of our own
troops during the late war declared that they could march longer and
endure more hardship and exposure under the stimulus of a cup of warm
coffee--and they got far from the best or purest--than they could under
an equal quantity of liquor.
But there is still another effect of coffee--that of checking the
too rapid consumption of nitrogeneous matter in the system--which,
while not nutritious in itself, yet possesses an indirect nutritive
value; this result, added to its stimulating character, have made
it the chosen beverage for breakfast, and therefore the best staple
supply for both our army and navy. By taking a cup of strong, black
coffee, without milk or sugar, between two glasses of hot water before
rising in the morning and at least an hour before breakfast, the
various secretions are stimulated and the nervous force aroused, so
that an hour later a hearty meal is enjoyed and the day’s labor begun
favorably, no matter how the duties of the day and night preceding
may have drawn upon the system. While another cup at four in the
afternoon is sufficient to sustain the flagging energies for many
hours thereafter. In this manner its full effect is best secured,
but if along with this the proper diet is taken at the proper time,
the capacity for work will be almost unlimited. Its physiological
effects upon the human system, so far as they have been investigated,
appear to be that while it makes the brain more active it soothes
the body generally, making the waste and loss of tissue slower and
the demand for food less. It is a mental stimulus of a high order,
and therefore is as a beverage liable to be abused for that reason.
Through its influence the student burns the midnight oil to excess, and
consequently reduces his store of physical force.
The German naturalist Martin relates a case he met with of a horse
which owed its life to the use of coffee after being in a condition
considered as incurable. The animal was reduced to a mere skeleton and
so weak that it could scarcely walk, when infusions of coffee were
first given it as an experiment, and then some ground coffee mixed
with honey. In a short time the animal began to improve rapidly,
eventually becoming better than ever. The same treatment was afterwards
tried with like success in many similar cases where the horses had been
over-worked or lost their strength and appetite.
It has been affirmed that coffee and other substances containing the
alkaloid Caffeine have a direct influence in retarding the waste
of tissue matter in the human frame, a single cup of the liquid
prepared from a quarter ounce of coffee, containing from 1.5 to 1.9
grains of Caffeine in the infused state. The moderation of tissue
waste attributed to coffee in common with other articles having the
same general action and in use among different nations, is proven by
various well-established facts. In its primary operation it agrees with
those stimulants in exciting mental and muscular activity as well as
cheerfulness, while in its after effects it does not tend to produce
narcotism or stupor, only that unsteadiness of mind and of the spinal
functions which denotes exhaustion.
MORAL INFLUENCE.
It has been the custom at frequently-recurring periods for moralists
and scientists to claim that coffee is injurious to the health of its
votaries, and many coffee drinkers believing such statements give up
its use regretfully. That its use or rather its abuse may be injurious
in some instances cannot be denied, but of all beverages now in use
the facts and effects prove it to be the least injurious of any and
all when not indulged in immoderately. Taken in moderation it is both
a mental and physical stimulant of the most agreeable and pleasant
nature, being followed by no harmful reaction. It produces contentment
of mind, allays hunger and bodily weakness, increases the incentive
and capacity for work, enabling those who use it in bounds to remain
long without food or sleep, endure unusual fatigue, and preserve
their cheerfulness and composure, coffee-drinkers as a rule being
generally cheerful, active and persevering. The truth is that coffee,
if of a pure kind and properly prepared, is about the pleasantest
and most innocuous stimulant that can be resorted to, particularly
after a long worry or severe drain on the emotional or intellectual
forces. So that if it could be but made to take the place of absinthe,
champagne and other such beverages the coming race would be all the
better intellectually and physically for it. Habitual coffee-drinkers
generally enjoy good health, some of the longest-lived people have used
it from their earliest infancy without apparent injury or depressing
reaction, such as is invariably produced by alcoholic stimulants. The
physiological action of coffee is directed chiefly to the nervous
system, producing a warm, cordial feeling in the stomach, which is
quickly followed by a well-diffused and agreeable nervous excitement
extending itself to the cerebral functions, giving rise to increased
vigor to the imagination and intellect without causing any subsequent
stupor or confusion of ideas, such as are so characteristic of all
other narcotics. It produces contentment of mind, allays hunger, mental
and bodily weariness, increases the capacity for work, makes man forget
his troubles and anxieties, enabling those who use it judiciously to
endure unusual fatigue and remain a long time without food or sleep, as
well as to preserve their temper and cheerfulness.
The influence which the introduction of coffee has exercised on
modern morals is on account of its peculiar character, much easier to
understand than to prove. We know that the discovery of gunpowder
changed the entire art of war from the equipment of the individual
soldier to the alignment of an entire army, and thus its influence
became a palpable fact. But the changes in modern life effected
by the introduction of coffee belong to the general and concealed
springs of life; to its motives, rather than to any circumscribed set
of utterances regarding its facts, and an influence of this nature
requires the application of a peculiar instrument in order to in a
measure calculate or even demonstrate it. A doctor may be perfectly
correct in ascribing a fever to certain atmospheric conditions, but
without thermometer, barometer or microscope, he can prove absolutely
nothing. We may be perfectly certain then that the introduction of
coffee has altered the whole moral atmosphere in which we move,
but without statistics we are unable to demonstrate the legitimacy
or correctness of the assumption, and statistics is a scientific
instrument of much later date than the introduction of coffee.
Observations, however, which in some degree may be of some service
in arriving at exact figures, are not altogether wanting. It cannot
be contended that life has become more just and honest, which would
be the legitimate result of a better education, but it is certain
that it has become gentler, more uniform and pacific, two results
which essentially depend on food and occupation. Nor can it be denied
that it is the increasing demands of reason which awe, superstition,
bigotry and narrow fanaticism out of our educational system, and not
this system which spontaneously has endeavored to make everything else
subservient to reason, and what thus is dimly or vaguely indicated by
a general view of life, often becomes more striking in many individual
instances. It is a hazardous, but nevertheless felicitous expression,
that “if Queen Elizabeth had breakfasted upon coffee and hot rolls,
instead of beer and bacon, Queen Mary would never had been beheaded.”
We find in bygone ages a perversity of temper, an impetuosity of will,
a violence of the passions which has led some moralists to consider the
later generations of the human race as decreasing in vital force, while
indeed the phenomenon might be explained as the single result of an
over-stimulating and too exciting a diet and a lack of temperance. Let
the people begin to indulge once again in drinking wine, ale or other
intoxicating beverages at the morning meal instead of tea or coffee,
and we will soon have the same amount of vital force back again. It
is not the power of passion which has decreased, but the power of
restriction which has increased, and a comprehensive consideration of
historical facts seem to justify the conclusion that this increased
power of the reason is due as much to a more proper feeding of the body
as to a better system of education.
The mental exhilaration and physical activity and buoyancy which coffee
causes explains the fondness which has been shown for it by so many men
of science, poets, scholars and others devoted to writing or thinking
at all times, and for which reason it has been styled the “intellectual
beverage.” Preachers, orators, editors and lawyers finding a cup of
good coffee the gentlest, most harmless and effective of brain-bracers,
but it does not appear to be generally known that nearly all men of
literary habits who exhaust much nerve force use it constantly. It
supported Voltaire in his old age and enabled Fontenelle to pass his
hundred years. It was Voltaire who replied, on being informed by his
physician “that coffee was a _slow poison_,” “Yes, I know it is a _very
slow poison_; it has been poisoning me for over seventy years;” and
Sydney Smith who said, “If you want to improve your understanding
drink coffee; it is the intellectual beverage.” Brady terming it “The
sovereign drink of pleasure and of health,” and Pope eulogizing it in
the following lines:--
“From silver spouts the grateful liquors slide
While China’s earth receives the smoking tide,
At once they gratify their sense and taste,
And frequent cups prolong the rich repast;
Coffee!----which makes the politician wise
And see through all things with half-shut eyes.”
Howells paying his tribute to it when he says, “This coffee intoxicates
without exciting, soothes you softly out of dull sobriety, making you
think and talk of all the pleasant things that ever happened to you.”
But times have changed since Voltaire, Diderot, Pope and others wrote
and sang of coffee, jested, reasoned and made themselves immortal
under its influence; alimentary and not literary is the modern _café_,
though some can still boast of a _clientèle_ artistic, journalistic,
or scientific, the commercial element preponderating, but the old
historic _café_, the _café_ of tradition, where one was sure to find
some celebrity on exhibition--a poet or a philosopher--may be said to
be defunct.
From its cordial and gently stimulating effects we may well join in the
enthusiastic panegyric pronounced on it by an Arabian of old, of which
the following is a free, but condensed, translation: “O, coffee, thou
dispellest the cares of the great and bringest back those who wander
from the paths of knowledge! Coffee is our gold, and in the place of
its illusions we are in the enjoyment of the best and noblest society.
Every care vanishes when the cup-bearer presents the delicious chalice
to our lips. It circulates freely through our veins and will not rankle
there. Grief cannot exist where it grows and sorrow humbles itself
before its powers.”
_Vive la café!_