denied himself ale and wine, but found a fountain of consolation
in the tea-pot. His usual allowance was sixteen cups, all of heroic
strength, and the effect upon his brain seems to have been altogether
favorable, for his sermons were both long and eloquent, and to this day
he is preaching still, without any diminution of his powers. French
people find in coffee the most efficacious remedy for the temporary
torpor of the mind which results from the processes of digestion. Balzac
drank great quantities of coffee whilst he wrote; and this, it is
believed, brought on the terrible nervous disease that accelerated his
end. The best proof that tea and coffee are favorable to intellectual
expression is that all nations use one or the other as aids to
conversation. In Mr. Palgrave's Travels in Arabia there is never any
talk without the inevitable coffee, that fragrant Arabian berry prepared
with such delicate cunning that it yields the perfect aroma.

The wisdom of occasionally using these various stimulants for
intellectual purposes is proved by a single consideration. Each of us
has a little cleverness and a great deal of sluggish stupidity. There
are certain occasions when we absolutely need the little cleverness
that we possess. The orator needs it when he speaks, the poet when he
versifies, but neither cares how stupid he may become when the oration
is delivered and the lyric set down on paper. The stimulant serves to
bring out the talent when it is wanted, like the wind in the pipes of an
organ. "What will it matter if I am even a little duller afterwards?"
says the genius; "I can afford to be dull when I have done." But the
truth still remains that there are stimulants and stimulants. Not the
nectar of the gods themselves were worth the dash of a wave upon the
beach, and the pure cool air of the morning.

NOTE.--What is said in the above letter about the employment of
stimulants is intended to apply only to cases in which there is no
organic disease. The harm which diseased persons do to themselves by
conforming to customs which are innocent for others is as lamentable
as it is easily avoidable. Two bottles of any natural wine grown above
the latitude of Lyons are a permissible daily allowance to a man whose
organs are all sound; but the doctors in the wine districts
unanimously forbid pure wine when there is a chronic inflammatory
tendency. In these cases even the most honest Bordeaux ought to be
di