IT is a generally received opinion, that the human frame is not less influenced by diet than by climate; that its dispositions and characte­ristics owe their originality as much to food, as those diseases evidently do, which are the legiti­mate and indisputable issue of it.

IF the preceding position be just, there cannot surely be a subject more interesting to man, than the pursuit of that knowledge which may instruct him to avoid what is hurtful to health, to select for his use such things as tend to raise the value of his condition, and to carry the enjoyments of life to their utmost improvement.

WITH this idea, I venture to submit to the Pub­lic some observations which have occurred to me, [...] and medicinal properties and effects [...]

[Page 14]IN England, the use of this berry hitherto has been principally confined to the occasional lux­ury of individuals; as such, it is scarcely an ob­ject of public concern; but Government wisely considering that this produce of our own West-India Islands is raised by our fellow-subjects, and paid for in our manufactures, has lately redu­ced the duty on the importation of Plantation Coffee; which has brought it within the reach of almost every description of people; and as it is not liable to any pernicious process in curing it, and is incapable of adulteration, the use of it will probably become greatly extended;—as in other countries, it may diffuse itself among the mass of the people, and make a considerable ingredient in their daily sus­tenance.

THE Plant, the Berries, and the Beverage, made from them, commonly pass under the same name. The beverage, of which we speak in par­ticular, is called by the Egyptians Elkarie; by the Persians Cahwa; by the Arabians Cachua, and Coava; by the Turks Cha [...]ve, and Cahue, from whence originate Caphè, Caffé, Coffi, Coffee, and Coff [...], names by which it is universally known in Europe.

THE botanical description of the Coffee Plant has been already given by several writers ^*; and [Page 15]as Sir Hans Sloane, in the Ph. Trans. No. 208, p. 63; Dr. Browne [...] in his Natural History of Jamaica, and Mr. Ellis, in 17774, have added to the number, it is unnecessary here to say any thing on this subject, or to treat of its Cultivation, but I though it might not to uninteresting in this Essay, to include something of its [...], which will [...]hew it no less remarkable for the universality with which it has been adopted by many regions of the East, than for the permanently, after vari­ous persecutions, with which it has been retained; notwithstanding the caprice of Taste, the violence of Laws, and the austerity of Religion.

THE following account, from Arabian autho­rity, is descriptive of the commotions and preju­dices, which Coffee formerly had to contend with and conquer, among the Mahometans. Besides the similitude it bears to the ludicrous notions, and contradictory opinions concerning Coffee in later times, it may not be unentertaining to those who are accustomed to reflect, how great commu­nities are often violently agitated by trifles; and that kingdoms as well as individuals, may be se­riously ridiculous, and equally subject to transito­ry delusion. It will appear also that Coffee, which after may struggles triumphed [...]er the scru­tiny of physicians, had nearely [...]der the in­fluence of the Alcoran; but [...] contest be­tween the Alcoran and Coffee ended, as it were, in a coalition.

"KHAIR BEG, Governor of Mecca by appoint­ment of the Sultan of Egypt, was unacquainted with [Page 16]Coffee, or of the manner of taking it. As he was going out of the Mosque one day after evening prayer he observed in a corner of it a company of people drinking Coffee, who were to spend the night there in prayer, and was much offended at it. He thought at first they had been drinking wine; nor was his surprise much diminished af­ter they had explained to him the use and virtues of this honor. On the contrary after they had informed him how much it was in use in Mecca, and what merriment passed at the public places were it was sold, he was of opinion that Coffee was intoxicating, at least that it conduced to things for­bidden by law.

"FOR this reason, after having ordered these people to go out of the Mosque, with an injuncti­on never to meet there for the future upon the like occasion, he next day convened a great assembly Officers of Justice, and Doctors of Law, together with Priests, and the most eminent men of Mecca to whom he communicated what he had observed the night before in the Mosque and what he was informed happened frequently in the public Coffee-houses; adding that he was resolved to remedy this abuse, upon which he was desi­rous first to know their opinions.

"THE Doctors agreed that the public Coffee-houses wanted regulation, as being contrary to the law of pure Mahometanism: and declared that with respect to Coffee, it was necessary to examine whe­ther it was hurtful either to body or mind; and concluded to take the advice of Physicians.

"THE Governor called [...] two Persons who were brothers, the most celebrated physicians in M [...]: one of them even wrote against the use of Coffee, jealous, perhaps (says our Author), l [...]st [Page 17]the use of it should spoil their practice; so they did, not fail to declare, that Coffee was cold and dry, and prejudicial to health.

"A DOCTOR of the assembly replied, that BENGIAZLAH, an ancient Arabian physician of great authority, had said that these berries were hot and dry and consequently could not have the qualities just now ascribed to them.

"THE two Persian physicians replied, that BENGIAZLAH was a perfect stranger to the berries in question; and declared, that if Coffee was rec­koned among things indifferent, and free for every body to make use of, yet it was apt to lead to things not allowed of; and the safest way for true Mussulmen would be, to hold it unlaw­ful.

"THIS determination obtained all their suffra­ges; and several, either out of prejudice, or false zeal, did not fail to affirm that Coffee had actually disturbed their brains. One of the assistants main­tained, that it intoxicated like wine, which set all the assembly a laughing; because, in order to make a judgment of it, it was necessary to have drank wine, which is forbidden by the Mahome­tan religion. He was asked whether he had ever drank any wine and he had the imprudence to answer in the affirmative; which confession condemned him to the bastinado, the punish­ment that is inflicted for this crime.

"COFFEE was however solemnly condemned at Mecca, as a thing forbidden by law, notwith­standing the Mufti opposed the determination. But this rigour was not of long duration; for the Sultan of Egypt, far from approving of the indis­creet zeal of the Governor of Mecca, was surprised that he should dare to condemn a thing so much in favour at Cairo, the capital of his dominions, [Page 18]where there were Doctors of much greater autho­rity than those of Mecca, and who had not found any thing in the use of Coffee contrary to the law.

"THE Sultan ordered him therefore to revoke his prohibition, and to employ his authority against the diorders only, if there were any, com­mitted in the Coffee houses; adding that because it was possible to abuse the very best things, even the water of the fountain ZERVIZEM, in the Tem­ple of MECCA, so much esteemed by all Mussel­men, it was not for that reason necessary absolute­ly to forbid them.

"THE two physicians who bore so great a part in the prohibition of Coffee, came to an unfortunate end.

"AFTER the re-establishment of Coffee at Mecca, it was prohibited again, and again re­established.

"THE Sultan of Egypt consulted his Doctors of the Law upon this point; who gave their opini­ons in writing, and proved by substantial reasons, the fallacy of that condemnation, and the igno­rance of those who passed it; which established the use of Coffee at Cairo, upon a much stronger footing than ever. But in the end, this great city also met with much trouble upon this sub­ject.

"IN the year 1523 a scrupulous Doctor stated, that Coffee intoxicates the head, and is prejudicial to health; and asked whether it was lawful or unlawful? But none of his brethren were of his opinion, because it was obvious that Coffee had not those bad qualities he ascribed to it; and therefore this gave no shock at all to a custom so u­niversally received.

[Page 19]"BUT about ten years after, a preacher held forth so vehemently against the use of Coffee as a thing prohibited by law, that the mob fell upon the Coffee-houses, broke the pots and dishes, and abused the company they found there.

"UPON this there were two parties formed in the city; one of which maintained that Coffee was prohibited by the law; the other, that it was not. But the Judge in chief, having convened an as­sembly of all the Doctors, to have their opinions, they all unanimously declared that the question had been already determined by their predeces­sors, in favour of Coffee; that they were all of the same sentiment; and that there was nothing fur­ther necessary than only to restrain the extrava­gant heat of the zealots, and the indiscretion of ignorant preachers. The Judge who presided was of the same opinion; and immediately order­ed all the assembly to be served with Coffee, and took some himself: an example which presently composed all controversies, and made Coffee more fashionable than before.

"AT the time when this custom was most pre­valent in Constantinople, the Imans and officers of the Mosques made a great clamour, that they were deserted, whilst all the Coffee-houses were conti­nually crowded. The Dervizes and priests fell foul upon Coffee; not only affirming that it was unlawful, but that it was a much greater sin to go to a Coffee-house than to a Tavern.

"AFTER a great deal of noise and declamation, all the Priests united to obtain a solemn condem­nation of this liquor; and maintained that Coffee roasted was a sort of coal; and that every thing which had the least relation to a coal, was forbid­den by law. Upon this they drew up a question in form, and presented it to the Mufti, with a re­quest that he would determine it according to the [Page 20]duty of his office. The Mufti, without giving himself the trouble of examining any difficulties, gave a determination according to the mind of the Priests and pronounced that Coffee was prohibited by the law of MAHOMET.

"ALL the Coffee-houses in Constantinople were immediately shut up, and the officers of the police ordered to prevent the drinking of Coffee in what manner soever.

"YET notwithstanding the rigour that was used in the execution of this order, they could, never prevent the use of it in private. AMURATH III. in whose time this prohibition had taken place, again indulged a liberty with regard to a thing so agreeable, and which was believed other­wise not contrary to religion; so that it was al­lowed to be drank in men's own houses, and grew more and more into esteem. At last, the officers of the police, seeing there was no remedy, were content for a certain sum, to permit it to be sold, provided it was not in public; so that it was al­lowed to be drank in private houses, shutting up the doors, or in the back shops.

"THERE wanted but little, to establish by de­grees the public Coffee-houses. It happened that a new Mufti, less scrupulous, or more wise than his predecessor, declared solemnly that Coffee ought not to be looked upon as a coal; and that the liquor made from it was not prohibited by the law. After this declaration, the Zealots, Preach­ers, Doctors, Lawyers, and Mufti himself, far from exclaiming against Coffee, took it them­selves; and their example was universally fol­lowed by the whole Court and City ^*."

[Page 21]COFFEE, though a native of Arabia Felix, had been converted into use in Africa and Persia, long before a beverage was made of it by the Arabians ^*.

ABOUT the middle of the fifteenth century, the Mufti of Aden, a city in Arabia Felix, travelling into Persia, learnt the use of it there, and on his return introduced it to his countrymen.

IT is from this period, that any authentic ac­count of the dietetic use of Coffee is derived. En­thusiasm indeed his carried some admirers of this berry so far into conjecture, as to trace its virtues back to the remotest ages: and to suppose it the Nepenthe which HELEN received from an Egypti­an Lady, and is celebrated by HOMER as a soo­ther of the mind, in the extremest state of anger, grief, and misfortune.

FROM Aden it spread its influence through all Arabia, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, and arrived at Constantinople in the reign of So­lyman the Great, in the year 1554; and about a century afterwards, it was adopted at London and Paris.

THE virtues of this chearful liquor, like mo­ral virtues under despotism, operated in Con­stantinople to its detriment:—by dispelling the torpitude brought on by their vicious excesses, and recruiting their spirits, sunk by the depravity of their habits, it introduced a disposition to exercise the understanding,—a crime in every Govern­ment that tolerates nothing but silent obedi­ence.

RI [...] during the war in Candia, in the [...]HOMET the IVth, when the Turkish affairs were [...] critical situation, "the [Page 22] V [...]ir KUPRULI suppressed the Coffee-houses, though he permitted the Taverns:" The former conducing to intellectual recreation, and some speculations on the affairs of state, which the Viser thought it was prudent to prevent. These were objections from which the latter was free. This famous edict appears to have had no other relative effect than to diminish the revenue; for Coffee throve under this political, as well as it did under the former religious, persecution.

HOWEVER strange it may appear at this time, Coffee had similar difficulties to encounter soon after its introduction into England; for it experi­enced the same treatment under CHARLES the IId. that it met with in Turkey under an AMURATH and a MAHOMET: it having been found an encou­rager of social meetings, Coffee-houses were shut up by proclamation, as seminaries of sedi­tion ^*.

RAY observed, that the part of Arabia which produced Coffee in such abundance, might truly be stiled happy ^†; from whence many millions of bushels of this valuable treasure were then annual­ly exported to Turkey, Barbary, and Europe ^‡.— In Constantinople alone, the consumption is said to amount to more than what is expended for wine in Paris.

[Page 23]IT was long after coffee had been an article of Commerce, that Europeans, were able to obtain, or cultivate the plant, as the berry was exported dry, and unfit for propagation.

IT has been said, that a Frenchman near Dijon in France, was the first person who made the ex­periment with success, about the year 1670: the Trees raised from the seeds he had sown produced berries, but they were tasteless and insipid; and served for no other purpose, than for his amuse­ment.

ACCORDING to BOERHAAVE's account, a Dutch Governor was the first person who produced fresh berries from Mocha, and planted them in Batavia; and in the year 1690 sent a plant from thence to Amsterdam; which came to maturity, and produ­ced those berries, which have since furnished all that is now cultivated in the West-Indies.

IN 1714 a plant from the garden of Amsterdam was sent by the Magistrates, as a present to LEW­IS the XIVth, which was placed in the garden at Marli.

In 1718 the Dutch began to cultivate Coffee in Surinam; in 1727 the French began to cultivate it in Martinico; and in 1728 the English be­gan to cultivate it in Jamaica.

THE first plant in Jamaica, was introduced by Sir NICHOLAS LAWS, and planted at Townwell Estate, now called Temple Hall, belonging to Mr. LUTTRELL.—How its propagation has been extended since those periods, in the West Indies, is [...]o well known to require recital here.

[Page 24]SOME writers imagine that there are several sorts of Coffee ^*; but the difference [...] only from the soil, cultivation, and curing, and not from any difference in the species.

IF the Coffee in our West India Islands be planted in a dry soil, and in a warm situation; if after the trees have acquired a certain age, the ripe berries be collected with care and cleanliness, which will be small when dry, like those which come from Arabia; and if they are kept a proper time be­fore they are used, this Coffee will have flavour and excellence equal to the best that is imported from Mocha.

BUT the time and labour necessary to produce Coffee of the best quality have discouraged our Planters from raising it at much expence; because, until lately, it has been subject to a precarious, or losing market. Therefore quantity, and large berries, the produce of young trees, lux [...]i [...]nt soil, and little attention, has turned to better account than quality.

AFTER Coffee has received all the excellence it can from the Planter, it is a matter of great con­sequence, that proper care be taken in shipping it for Europe: it should not be put into parts of the vessel where it may be injured by dampness, or by the effluvia of other freight. Coffee berries are remark­ably disposed to imbibe exhalations from other bodies, and thereby acquire an advantageous, and disagreeable flavour. Rum placed near to Coffee, will in a short time so impregnate the berries as to injure their flavour. It is said, that a few bags of pepper on board a ship from India, some years since spoiled a whole cargo of Coffee ^†. The French are more attentive in this respect than the [Page 25]English; and indeed, they omit nothing that can give their Coffee any advantage. But if their Coffee be superior to ours, it is the effect of more encouragement. The industry and genius of the French Coffee Planters, have been cherished; ours have been restricted by a duty, which prevented the consumption of the article. Thus the spirit of cultivation has been checked, improvement retarded, and consequently the pro­duce not brought to perfection.

THE chemical analysis of Coffee, evinces that it possesses a great portion of mildly bitter, and lightly astringent gummous and resinous ex­tract ^*; a considerable quantity of oil ^†; a fixed salt ^‡; and a volatile salt ^§.—These are its medi­cinal constituent principles.

THE intention of torrefaction, is not only to make it deliver those principles and make them soluble in water, but to give it a property it does not possess in the natural state of the berry.

BY the action of fire, its leguminous taste, and the aqueous part of its mucilage are destroyed; its saline properties are created, and disengaged, and its oil is rendered empyreumatic.—From thence arises the pungent smell, and exhilirating fla­vour, not found in its natural state.

ANIMAL oils are changed by fire in the same manner in broiled meats and acquire that grate­ful odour, so exciting to weak appetites.

[Page 26]IMITATIONS of Coffee have been procured from roasted beans, peas, wheat, and rye with al­monds; but the delicacy of the oil in Coffee, which the fire, in roasting, converts into its peculiar empyreuma, is not to be equalled.

THE roasting of the berry to a proper degree, requires great nicety: DU FOUR remarks, that its virtue and agreeableness depend on it, and that both are often injured in the ordinary method. BERNIER says, when he was at Cairo, where it is so much drank, he was assured by the best judges, that there were only two people in that great City, in the public way, who understood the preparing it in perfection.

IF it is under-done, its virtues will not be im­parted; and in use, it will load and oppress the stomach:—If it is over-done, it will yield a flat, burnt, and bitter taste; its virtues will be destroy­ed; and in use it will heat the body and act as an astringent ^*.

THE closer it is confined at the time of roasting and till used, the better will its volatile pungency, flavour and virtues, be perserved.

FOURTEEN pounds weight of raw Coffee, is generally reduced at the public roasting houses, to eleven pounds by the roasting; for which the Dea­ler pays seven pence halfpenny; at the rate of five shillings for every hundred weight ^†. But the roasting ought to be regulated by the age, and quality of the Coffee, and by nicer rules than the appearance of the fumes, and such as are usually practised; therefore the reduction must conse­quently vary, and no exact standard can be ascer­tained. [Page 27]Besides, by mixing different sorts of Coffee together, that require different degrees of heat and roasting, Coffee has seldom all the advanta­ges it is capable of receiving, to make it delicate, grateful, and pleasant. This indeed can be ef­fected no way so well, as by people who have it roasted in their own houses, to their own taste, and fresh as they want it for use.

THE extraordinary influence that Coffee, judi­ciously prepared, imparts to the stomach, from its tonic and invigorating qualities, is strongly ex­emplified by the immediate effect produced on ta­king it when the stomach is overloaded with food, or nauseated with surfeit, or debilitated by in­temperance.

To constitutionally weak stomachs, it affords a pleasing sensation; it accelerates the process of digestion ^*, corrects crudities and removes cholic, and flatulencies.

BESIDES its effect in keeping up the harmony of the gastric powers, it diffuses a genial warm [...], that cherishes the animal spirits, and takes away the listlessness and languor ^†, which so greatly embitter the hours of nervous people, after any deviation to excess, fatigue, or irregulari­ty.

THE foundation of all the mischiefs of intempe­rance is laid in the stomach; when that is injured, instead of preparing the food, that the lacteals may carry into the constitution, sweet and whole­some [Page 28]juices to the support of health, it becomes the source of disease, and disperses through the whole frame the cause of decay.

FROM the warmth and efficacy of Coffee in at­tenuating the viscid fluids, and increasing the vi­gour of the circulation, it has been used with great success in the fluor albus, in the dropsy, and in worm complaints;—and in those cama [...]ote, anasarcous, and such other diseases as arise f [...]om unwholesome food, want of exercise, weak s [...] ­ [...]es, and obstructed perspiration.

IN vertigo, lethargy, catarrh and all disorders of the head, from construction in the capillaries, long experience has proved it to be a powerful me­dicine ^*; and in certain cases of apoplexy, it has been found serviceable even when given in gly­sters, where it has not been convenient to convey its effects by the stomach. Mons. MALEBRANCHE restored a person from an apoplexy, by repeated glysters of Coffee ^†.

THERE are but few people who are not infor­med of its utility for the head-ach; the steam [...] times is very useful to mitigate pains of the head;—in the West-Indies, where the violent species of head-ach, such as cephal [...]a, hemicra­ [...]a, and cla [...]s, are more frequent, and more severe than in Europe. Coffee is the only medicine that gives relief. Opiates are sometimes used, but Coffee has an advantage that Opium does not possess; it may be taken to in all conditions of the sto­mach; [Page 29]and at all times by women, who are most subject to these complaints; as it dissipates those congestions and obstructions, that are frequently the cause of the disease, and which Opium is known to increase, when its temporary relief is past ^*.

FROM the stimulant and detergent properties of Coffee, it is used in all obstructions of the vis­scera; it assists the secretions; powerfully promotes the menses, and mitigates the pains at­tendant on the sparing discharge of that evacuation. In the West-Indies, the chlo­rosis and obstructed menses, are common a­mong laborious females, exposed to the ef­fects of their own carelessness, and the rigorous transitions of the climate; there strong Coffee drank warm in a morning fasting, and good exer­cise after it, has been productive of innumerable cures ^†.

THE industrious Overseers of Plantations, and other Europeans employed in cultivation in the West-Indies, who are exposed to the morning and [Page 30]evening dews, find great support from a cup of Coffee, before they go into the field: it fortifies the stomach, and guards them against the diseases incident to their way of life; especially in clea­ring of lands; or when their residence is in humid situations, or in the vicinity of stagnant water. Those who are imprudently addicted to intempe­rance, find Coffee a benign restorer, and bracer of the stomach, for that nausea, weakness, and disorderly condition, which is brought on by drinking bad fermented liquors, and new rum to excess.

IN continued and remitting fevers in hot cli­mates, it frequently happens, at the period when bark is indicated, that the stomach cannot retain it.—This is an embarrassment of great impor­tance, in which the Practitioner has an interval, only of a few hours, to decide on his patient's fate.—Bark in substance is required to answer the intention; and here, as well as in many cases of in­termittents, when every other mode of administer­ing bark has proved abortive, Coffee has been found an agreeable, and a successful vehicle.

COFFEE having the admirable property of pro­moting perspiration ^*, it allays thirst and checks preternatural heat.

THE great use of Coffee in France is supposed to have abated the prevalency of the gravel:—in the French Colonies, where Coffee is more used than with the English, as well as in Turkey, where it is the principal beverage, not only the gravel, but the gout, those tormentors of so many of the human race, are scarcely known ^†.

[Page 31]IT has been found useful in quieting the tick­ling vexatious cough, that often accompanies the small pox ^*, and other eruptive fevers.—A dish of strong Coffee without milk or sugar, taken fre­quently in the paroxysm of an asthma, abates the fit; and I have often known it to remove the fit entirely. Sir JOHN FLOYER, who had been afflicted with the asthma from the seventeenth year of his age until he was upwards of fourscore, found no remedy in all his elaborate researches, until the latter part of his life, when he obtained it by Coffee.

PREPARED strong and clear, and diluted with a great portion of boiled milk, it becomes a high­ly nutritious and balsamic diet; proper in hectic, pulmonic, and all complaints, were a milk diet is useful ^†; and is a great restorative to constituti­ons emaciated by the gout and other chronic disorders.

LONG watching and intense study are wonder­fully supported by it, and without the ill conse­quences that succeed the suspension of rest and sleep, when the nervous influence has nothing to sustain it.

WE are told that travellers in Eastern Coun­tries, and Messengers who are sent with dispatch­es, [Page 32]perform their tedious journeys by the alter­nate effects of Opium and Coffee;—and that the dervices and religious zealots, in their abstemious devotions, support their vigils through their nocturnal ceremonies by this exhilirating li­quor.

MONS. BERNIER says, that the Turks, who frequently subsist a considerable time upon Coffee only, look on it as an aliment that affords great nourishment to the body:—for which reason, du­ring the rigid fast of the Ramadam, or Turkish Lent, it is not only forbid, but any person is deemed to have violated the injunctions of his Prophet, that has had even the smell of Coffee.

BACON says, Coffee "comforts the head and heart, and helps digestion ^*;" Dr. WILLIS says, "being daily drank, it wonderfully clears and enlightens each part of the soul, and disperses all the clouds of every function ^†." The celebrated Doctor HARVEY used it often; VOLTAIRE lived almost on it; and the learned and sedentary of every country have recourse to it, to refresh the brain, oppressed by study and contem­plation ^§.

AMONG the many valuable qualities of Coffee, that of its being an antidote to the abuse of OPIUM, must not be considered as the least; for as man­kind is not content with the wonderful efficacy derived from the prudent use of opium, the [Page 33]abuse of it is productive of many evils, that are only remediable by Coffee.

THE diseases generally brought on by a conti­nued course of excessive doses of Opium, are ei­ther loss of appetite, stupor, debility, loss of memory, melancholy, palsy, or dropsy:— and frequently the consequences of the necessary and temporary use of common doses of lau­danum, are nausea, languor, giddiness of the head, cold sweats, head-ach, hysterics, and tre­mor.

VARIOUS have been the attempts of physicians and chemists to correct their favourite Opium, and to improve and separate its useful from its hurtful properties ^*; but their preparations have neither meliorated the simple juice of the vegetable, as the great SYDENHAM asserts; nor have they taken away those properties to which its prejudicial ef­fects are attributed.

THERE never was, as far as we know, any preparation, or combination with Opium, from the time of King MITHRIDATES down to the days of Doctor JONES, that could be relied on to conteract the ill effects of its first operations, in many constitutions; and that would prevent those disagreeable after operations so much complained of in almost every subject and disease.

SUCH a preparation, would indeed be a large contribution to the Materia Medica, and would make a considerable figure in the practice of phy­sic. But this may never be accomplished; it may [Page 34]not be in nature;—the defect may be the inherent imperfection of the vegetable, and inseparable from it; for as we find in the moral world, the brightest virtues may be shaded with alloy;—if so, it will yet be some consolation, that we are able to remove those ills which we cannot pre­vent.

EVERY Author who mentions Coffee, allows that it possesses singular power in counteracting the hypnotic, or sleepy effects of Opium; this is the only virtue assigned to it, in regard to Opium: as if the influence which Coffee exerts on the system, to produce that effect, could be directed to no pur­pose, when these contradictions were not em­ployed in opposition, to rob each other of their at­tributes.

CONFIRMED by many years observation, I be­lieve that Coffee besides being the best corrector of Opium, is the best medicine to remove those ills which it produces, that has yet been discover­ed; and that the operations of common doses of Opium, may be checked or extended, and may be graduated by it at pleasure.

THE heaviness, head ach, giddiness, sickness, and nervous affections, which attack the patient in the morning who has taken an opiate at night, are agreeably removed by a cup or two of strong Coffee.

In Military hospitals in hot climates, recourse is often had to large and repeated doses of Opium; from which I have frequently observed, that the retention of the stomach of the patient, has been greatly injured; the secretion of urine impeded, or the bladder affected by a paralysis:—even these effects have been speedily removed, by a few cups of strong Coffee

[Page 35]THE general opinion is erroneous, though of long standing, that the Turks use Coffee, exclusive of culinary purposes, only against the sleepy ef­fects of Opium. The Turks as well as the Persians and Indians, take Opium as a cordial ^*, to invi­gorate them for the temporary enjoyment of amo­rous pleasures; and to enable them to support fatigue, and to stimulate their nerves to the exer­tions of courage and enterprize ^†. But when the desired effects of this cordial are over, languor, lassitude, and dejection of spirits succeed.—It is for these indispositions that Coffee is so medicinal­ly necessary to the Turks and they use it as their only remedy.

BUT while this unpleasing review of Opium is presented to our contemplation, let us not for­get the benefit which mankind derives from that inestimable medicine.

IF the Silphium was held in veneration, stam­ped on coins, and hung up in temples ^‡; if the Mallow was dignified with the name of Sacred ^§; if a statue was erected to the Lettuce ^‖;—what honours are not due to the POPPY, whose pure and unadulterated juice, possesses power to relax the whole force of animal spasm; to arrest the de­termination of the fluids and vital energy on par­ticular parts, which often tends to the sudden dis­solution [Page 36]of the frame; to relieve corporal pain by tranquillity and mental affliction by sleep ^*; These are the unrivalled virtues of the POPPY, so high­ly distinguished by the CREATOR, and whose ex­cellence no human praise can reach.

IT is not to be expected that Coffee should escape objections, when the virtues of Opium could not secure that from severe censure and con­demnation. Among the furious enemies of Opi­um was Professor STAHL, of Hall in Germa­ny ^†; and among those of Coffee was SIMON PAULLI of Rostock, afterwards physician to the King of Denmark. As the former could see no­thing but the mischiefs of Opium, so the latter was blind to the virtues of Coffee. But PAULLI founded his prejudice against Coffee, as he had his prejudices against Tea, Chocolate, and Sugar—not on experience, but on anecdotes, that had been picked up by hasty travellers, which had no other foundation than absurd report, and conjecture ^‡. Unacquainted with the real pro­perties of Coffee, his imagination supplied him with fictitious ones; and classed with articles, with which it has no more affinity, than they have analogy to each other ^§, he assign­ed to it those qualities, which should affect the bo­dy by the doctrine of GALEN ^‖, to correspond with [Page 37]the account he had read of its supposed effects, on Sultan MAHOMET CASNIN, a King of Persia; who, it is said, from an excessive fondness of Coffee, had sotted away the vigour of his constitution ^*. But chemistry and experience have brought the subject into light, and PAULLI'S baseless fabric has vanished ^†.

I HAVE singled out SIMON PAULLI from among the adversaries of Coffee, for no other motive, than to shew from what tales so learned a man confesses he supports a notion, that Coffee (like Tea to the Chinese) acted as a great drier to the Persians, and abated aphrodisiacal warmth. This opinion has been since received, and propagated from him, as he received and propagated it from its fabulous origin. The facts have been refuted by DU FOUR, and many travellers.—Sir THOMAS HERBERT, who was several years in the East, tells us that the Persians have a different opinion of Coffee:—"They say that Coffee comforts the brain, expels melancholy and sleep, purges choler, lightens the spirits, and begets an excellent concoction, and by custom, becomes de­licious. But all these virtues do not conciliate their liking of it so [...], as the romantic no­tion, that it was first invented and brewed by the Angel GABRIEL, to restore MAHOMET'S decayed moisture, which it did effectuality ^‡."

[Page 38]MANY have been the dogmas concerning Cof­fee: some Authors allege that it is dry, and therefore good for the gross and phlegmatic, but hurtful to lean people; some contend that it is cold, and therefore good for sanguine, bilious, and hot constitutions; others that it is hot, and there­fore bad for the sanguine and bilious, but good for cold constitutions. Some assure us, that it acts only as a sedative; others, that it acts only as a stimulant. With such disputants there is no entering the lists: Medical science disclaims their pretensions, as creations of the imagination; and transfers their contest for decision, to a Synod of Turkish Priests.

I AM aware that there are others, who are de­cisively of opinion, that Coffee is injurious "in thin habits and bilious temperaments; in melan­cholic and hypochondriacal disorders, and to per­sons subject to haemorrhages."—WILLIS and CHEYNE, as well as LEWIS, were in some degree of this opinion.

In haemorrhages, particularly in those of the pulmonic and uterine kind, the interdiction of Coffee is every where justly admitted ^*; but the other exceptions however they may have been taken up, and asserted in England, where the confined use of Coffee has scarcely afforded a [Page 39]fair opportunity to settle such a point, will be dis­puted in countries where it is in general use. Let me add also that the result of my own obser­vations in those countries, is evidence against those exceptions; and it is confirmed by every information I have obtained, from medical people resident in Constantinople, and other parts of the Turkish Empire.

LET us examine this arbitary restriction to the use of Coffee, and see what justice there is in the grounds on which it has been imposed, and what reason there is in having submitted to it.

IN regard to "thin habits," where there is no disease, I can say but little; being acquainted with no theory that militates against the pru­dent use of Coffee in the alimentary way; nor why it should not be as harmless, to such habits, as to those who are blessed with the greatest obesity and rotundity of figure.

In "bilious temperaments," facts and experi­ence must determine. Bilious temperaments are surely no where so common as in hot cli­mates; and in those very countries, Coffee is cer­tainly most used. There Coffee is found to tem­per and soften the acrimony of the bile, and is remarkably serviceable in the cholorea mor­bus. It is observed in bilious habits that the stomach receives nothing more agreeably than Coffee; and that the nausea and inclination to vomit, which often accompany bilious complaints, are taken away by Coffee. In the jaundice, it is used with great success, and in obstructions of the liver.

To the opinion that Coffee is hurtful in "me­lancholic and hypochondriacal disorders," a mul­titude of opinions may be opposed; and [...] well known power in removing visceral obstru [...]ns, [Page 40]and exhilirating the spirits; which qualities have been attibuted to Coffee ever since the use of it was known ^*.

IF it be demanded, what general description of people should abstain from the use of Coffee? as it seems with some people to be necessary for the rightly understanding of its virtues, to have something said against it, I must answer that I know of none. Individuals possessing pe­culiar nervous sensibility, and such as are sub­ject to feverish irritability, should abstain from all stimulating liquors; therefore, from Coffee.— Those who from their own proper experience, find it does not agree with them, can hardly stand in need of this injunction ^†.

IT is well known, that there are some habits which cannot endure any thing that increases the sensibility of the nerves; and others that are af­fected by particular stimulants. A cup of strong Coffee will cause some people to have a tremor of the band:—BOYLE says, it acted as an eme­tic with one person; others will be heated or be kept from sleeping by it. Tea, Cham­pagne wine, and many other things, will produce similar effects. It was on this account that SLARE, and some others have confounded this excess of nervous sensibility, with the palsy, [Page 41]which depends on a privation of sensibility;— against which, nothing appears to be more suita­ble than Coffee.

A SUBJECT like Coffee, possessed of active prin­ciples and evident operations, must necessarily be capable of misapplication and abuse; and there must be particular habits which these operations disturb—SLARE says, he used it in too great ex­cess, and it affected his nerves ^*; but Dr. FOTHER­GILL, who was a sensible man, and did not use it in great excess, though he was of a very delicate habit and could not use Tea, drank Coffee "al­most constantly many years, without receiving any inconveniency from it ^†."

But the history of particular cases, sometimes serves but to prove, that mankind are not all or­ganized alike; and that the sympathy of one, and the antipathy of another, ought by no means to render useless, that infinite variety which per­vades [Page 42]all nature; and with which the earth is blessed in the vegetable creation.—Were it so, physic would acquire but little aid from the toils of philosophy, when philosophy had no other in­citement to labour, than ba [...]en speculation.

IT has long been a custom with many people a­mong us, to add mustard to their Coffee: mustard, or aromatics may with great propriety be added in flatulent, lauguid, and scorbutic constitutions ^*; and particularly by invalids, and in such ca­ses, where warmth or stimulus is required.

THE Eastern nations add either cloves, cin­ [...]on, cardam [...]ms, cummin [...]ed, or essence of [...]mber, &c. but neither milk or sugar. Milk and sugar without the aromatics, are generally used with it in Europe, America, and the West India Islands, ex­cept when taken after dinner; then the method of the French is commonly followed, and the milk is omitted.

A CUP or two thus taken after dinner without cream or milk, promotes digestion, and has been found very serviceable to those who are habitually costive. If a draught of water is taken before Coffee, according to the Eastern custom, it gives it a tendency to act as an aperient.

THUS for the properties and medicinal effects of Coffee have been considered; and as the be­verage made from it, contains all the essential vir­tues of the berry, which united, are most proper for dietetic purposes, I have not entered into any discussion of its component parts separately, nor of the distilled water, syrup, oil, and other simple preparations which have been made from the ber­ry; for I do not believe, that, those preparations [Page 43]possess any properties deserving particular notice; but that we are indebted to the virtues we derive from Coffee, to the total derangement of its na­tural state, by the process it undergoes in roast­ing, from the fire.

THE mode of preparing this beverage for com­mon use, differs in different countries, principal­ly as to the additions made to it.—But though that is generally understood, and that taste, constitu­tion, the quality of the Coffee, and the quantity intended to be drank, must be consulted, in re­gard to the proportion of Coffee, to the water in making it—yet there is one material point, the importance of which is not so well understood, and which admits of no deviation.

THE preservation of the virtues of the Coffee, as has been said, depends on carefully confining it after it has been roasted; and not powdering it until the time of using it; that the volatile and aethereal principles, generated by the fire, may not escape. But all this will signify nothing, and the best materials will be useless, unless this im­portant admonition is strictly attended to: that af­ter the liquor is made, it should be bright and clear, and entirely exempt from the least cloudiness or foul appearance, from a suspension of any of the particles of the substance of the Coffee.

THERE is scarcely any vegetable infusion, or decoction, whose effects differ from its gross origin, more than that of which we are speaking. Coffee taken in substance, causes oppression at the sto­mach, heat, nausea, and indigestion: conse­quently a continued use of a decoction of it, in which any quantity of its substance is contained, besides being disgusting to the palate, must tend to produce the same indispositions. The residuum [Page 44]of the roasted berry, after its virtues are extracted from it, is little more than an earthly calx, and must therefore be pernicious.

THE want of attention to this circumstance, I make no doubt, has been the cause of many of the complaints against [...] Coffee, and of the aversion which some people have from it; and it is from this consideration that I have discontinued to re­commend the preparing of Coffee with milk in­stead of water, or of adding the milk to it on the fire, as directed by Dr. FOTHERGILL; for the tenacity of milk impedes that precipitation which is necessary for the purity of the liquor, and should therefore not be added until after the cla­rification of it is completed ^*.

THE Persians roast the membrane which enve­lopes the seed, and use it together with the seed it­self in their manner of preparing the infusion, and it is said to be a considerable improvement ^†. The Turks made a delicate drink from the capsu­las only, which is cooling and refreshing, and is usued in summer-time by people of fashion: this is called by the French, Coffée à la Sultane.

THE Turks, Arabians, Persians, and Egypti­ans, drink Coffee all day long ^‡, in small cups, supping it up by little and little, as hot a [...] they can bear it ^§; and what is prepared from three or [Page 45]four ounces among them, is considered as a mo­derate quantity for one person in a day. In the Dutch, French, and English Colonies, it is the daily breakfast, and evening repast.

IF a knowledge of the principles of Coffee, founded on examination and various experiments, added to abservations made on the extensive and indiscriminate use of it, cannot authorise us to attribute to it any particular circumstance un­friendly to the human frame;—if the unerring test of experience has confirmed its utility, in many countries, not exclusively productive of those in­conveniences, habits, and diseases, for which its peculiar properties seem most applicable;—let those properties be duly considered; and let us reflect on the state of our atmosphere; the food, and modes of life of the inhabitants, so injurious to youth and beauty, filling the large towns and cities which chronical infirmities; and I think it will be evident what advantages will result from the general use of Coffee in England, as an arti­cle of diet, from the comforts of which the poor are not excluded, and to what purposes it may of­ten be employed, as a safe and powerful medi­cine.