In What We Drink, a booklet published by Messrs. Heine-
mann for Is., we learn that our distinguished predecessor, the Spectator of April 2901, 1712, advised its readers " to be in a particular manner careful how they meddle with romances, chocolates (which contain a caffeine derivative), novels, and the like inflamers." Until comparatively recently, tea and coffee were looked on as drugs, and small beer was a temperance drink. To-day the position is reversed, and perhaps to the detriment of our digestions. In Great Britain and the United States "the cup that cheers but not in- ebriates" has been exalted to an undue extent, for the effects of tea and coffee, since they act on the brain, are much more insidious than those of alcohol. Habitues of caffeine beverages would do well to read what Dr. Dixon has to say on the subject and seriously reflect whether they arc as temperate as they might be. Amongst other contributors to What We Drink are Drs. Stella Churchill, Sir James Crichton Browne and Sir William Willcox: this is a remarkable little book, which should be widely read.
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