se
invaluable articles of diet as "nerve stimulants" is an erroneous
expression, for they undoubtedly have a right to rank as nerve
nutrients.

But Dr. Harvey Wiley[193] comes forth with evidence on the other side,
saying:

The effects of the excessive use of coffee, tea, and other natural
caffein beverages is well known. Although the caffein is combined
in these beverages naturally, and they are as a rule taken at meal
times, which mitigates the effects of the caffein, they are
recognized by every one as tending to produce sleeplessness, and
often indigestion, stomach disorders, and a condition which, for
lack of a better term, is described as nervousness.... The
excessive drinking of tea and coffee is acknowledged to be
injurious by practically all specialists.

Dr. V.C. Vaughn,[194] of the University of Michigan, speaking of tea and
coffee, expresses this opinion:

I believe that caffein used as a beverage and in moderation not
only is harmless to the majority of adults, but is beneficial.

This verdict is upheld by the results of a symposium[195] conducted by
the _Medical Times_, in which a large majority of the medical experts
participating, among whom may be enumerated Drs. Lockwood, Wood,
Hollingworth, Robinson, and Barnes, agreed that the drinking of coffee
is not harmful _per se_, but that over-indulgence is the real cause of
any ill effects. This is also true of any ingested material.

Insomnia is a condition frequently attributed to coffee, but that the
authorities disagree on this ground is shown by Wiley's[196] contention,
"We know beyond doubt that the caffein (in coffee) makes a direct attack
on the nerves and causes insomnia." While Woods Hutchinson[197]
observes:

Oddly enough, a cup of hot, weak tea or coffee, with plenty of
cream and sugar, will often help you to sleep, for the grateful
warmth and stimulus to the lining of the stomach, drawing the blood
into it and away from the head, will produce more soothing effects
than the small amount of caffein will produce stimulating and
wakeful ones.

The writer has often had people remark to him that while black coffee
sometimes kept them awake, coffee with cream or sugar or both made them
drowsy.

In the course of experiments conducted by Montuori and Pollitzer[198] it
was found that coffee prepared by hot infusion when given by mouth or
hypoder