ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003452731 ON FOOD. CONSTITUENTS OP FOOD. n nn n n n n r IIIIIMIIIWIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIII II nil I II II nspama mi ii n iiniiinHiHnn iniHiiiiiiiii ■iiiiiii oniiii ii lu i i i si~iOB I mill imii ii mi iiimii im n ii i iii m ii iii mi mi ii JfiilBln I m n iiiiii miiiuii iiiiiiiu ii ii in luiw i wiiit iiuiii iii mi ih mv a ^aana 1 mn ii m nnun i m i i i in iHinnmnii '^^XQS nnniuiiniH m in uinniin iim •..asSilinni imiiiimuimnmi i n mn ii i n mi El saoil] inniiiinu|inni i in n mnnnn i .E^ Jj^ia dniinnn mm nn i nnnni ■ " niiiilViiin I iiiimmnmmmm ninimnmi n ni i i u I H H nn iim im i. i H imi II I n minHHmMmnn ^nXuiB limiitniinniiiiliiiiiiiiiiiinmnniiTninTinii ^LESH FORMERS ^M HE^J GIVERS {1111111 MINERAL, MMTERSMH QUE FOOD: A SERIES OF LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. E^ANKESTER, M.D., F.R.S. SUPERINTEITDENT OP THE ANIMAL PRODUCTS AND COLLECTIONS. i,\ih)i €bitioir. LONDON HARDWICKE & BOGUE, 192 PICCADILLY. 1876. PEEFACE. A WORD in explanation of the history of these Lectures seems necessary. The substance of them formed a part of my course on Materia Medica and TherapeuticSj at the St. George's School of Medicine, and of a course on the Vegetable Kingdom,- in relation to the Life of Man, at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. The form they now assume depended on my appointment to the scientific superintendence of the Food Collection at the South Kensington Museum. Feeling that pur great public museums ought to be connected with oral teaching, in order that they might become the means of educating and elevating the people, I obtained the permission of the Com- mittee of Council on Education to deliver courses of Lectures, for the purpose of supplying instruction in connection with the Food Collection. These Lectures were well attended, and I had every reason to be satisfied with their success. Under these circum- stances, I agreed to a proposal of the Publisher of this volume to correct reports of them by a short-hand writer. The six first were thus published, when it was considered desirable that my public instructions at the Museum should be discontinued. As only a part of the Lectures had been delivered when their publication commenced, I was obliged to complete the Vm PREFACE. Course by writing out the remainder from my notes. The last six willj on this account perhaps, be found less conversational and familiar ; but, I hope, not less instructive. ' These attempts at popular instruction have been produced at a very low price, in the hope that they may contribute in some measure to advance the study of those laws by which life and health are secured, and without a knowledge of which man can never realize the highest objects of his existence. 8, Savile Row, August, 1861- CONTENTS OF FIEST COURSE, On Water : — Relation of Water to Life — ^Eain Water — Kiver Water Spring Water — Nature of Pure Water — Teats for Puro Water — ^Danger of Impure Water ^ „ . . „ page 3 On Salt : — Tlie Mineral Substances of Food — ^Tlieir Nature and Sources — Different kinds of Minerals in various Poods — Importance of Mineral Substances in Pood, „ ... . . . .-..-,.....„„„ 33 On Heat-giving Poods : — Nature of Animal Heat — ^Heat-giving bodies — Sources of Starch — Its connection with Sugar — Sources of Sugar — Kinds of Sugar , „ ^ „ 61 On Oil, Buttee, and Fat : — A-ction of Starch and Sugar as Heat-givers — Different action of Oils, Pats, and Butters — ^Vegetable Oils — Olive and Almond Oil — Animal Oils — Butter, Pat, Suet, Lard 91 On Flesh-forming Food : — Vegetable Albumen, Pibrine, and Caseine — Wheat, Barley, Oata, Eye, Maize, Beans, Peas, Lentils , — „ 119 On Animal Food : — Milk, the Type of all Pood — Composition of Animal Food — Bee^ Mutton, Pork, Yeuiaon, Fowl, Pish .,„„„„ 149 CONTENTS OF SECOND COURSE. On Alcohol. Process of Fermentation— Production of Alcohol — Action of Alcohol on the Human Body — Effects of Alcohol on the Stomach, the Blood, the Heart, and the Nervous System Fage 170 On Wines, Spieits, and Beee. The Manufacture of Beer — Nature of Malt — Hops — History of the Grape — Composition of Wines — Bou- quet of Wines— Distilled Spirits : Brandy, Rum, Gin, Whisky '. 213 On Condiments aud Spices. Nature of Condiments and Spices — Artificial Manufac- facture of Volatile Oils — Condiments : Pepper, Mus- , tard, HorseraBish, Onions, Spices, Cinnamon, Cloves, Nutmegs and Mace, Ginger — ^Flavours : Oil of Bitter Almonds, Vanilla, Lemon Peel .". 253 On Tea. Action of Theine on the Nervous System — ^Early History of Tea — Culture of Tea — ^Action of Tea on the System — How to make Tea ,- 291 OnCoitee and Chocolate. Use of warm Beverages — Salep— Introduction of Coffee — Establishment of Coffee-shops — Substitutes for Tea and Coffee — Paraguay Tea — Chicory — Cocoa and Chocolate — Action on the System 32] , On Tobacco. Distinctions between Pood, Medicines, and Poisons — Action of Narcotics — History of the Introduction of Tobacco — Composition of Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke — Other Narcotics — Opium — Hemp — Coca — Henbane —Stramonium— Conclusion 853 riEST COUESE. ~.- then, we have a very conclusive proof that iron really exists in the human body. There is a popular notion that iron is good for the system, and some persons, every time their beer is broTight to table, thrust the red-hot poker into it. 56 ON SALT AND MINERAL FOOD. Others go and drink from the water in which the black- smith puts his iron, and that is not a bad thing. Others, again, sprinkle their bread and butter with iron filings at breakfast, and there is no objection to these practices if persons require iron. The other substances are perhaps not so material. There is silica, which exists only in a very small quantity in the human body. It is distributed to the hair and the nails, but it is foimd more especially in the enamel of the teeth. The teeth have all of them a coating of enamel, which is formed of a certain quan- tity of silica, so that it seems to be necessary to the comfort and welfare of man. The silica assumes the crystalline form as seen in Fig. 7. In the list of substances found in the human body mention is made of magnesia. This is an earth like lime. It has for its basis a metal called magnesium. Of its properties as a medicine a good deal is known. Sulphate of magnesia is Epsom salts, but of its relation to the human body as a necessary constituent little is known. In certain diseases of the body it becomes remarkably manifest. It imdonbtedly plays an im- portant part in some of the functions of the body, and is a constituent, like the others I have previously men- tioned, necessary for its welfare. It is found in the ashes of all our common edible plants in the proportion Fig. 7.— Silica. ON SALT AND UINEBAIi FOOD. 57 of 5 to 10 per cent., but in mucli smaller quantities in the human body. I will now draw your attention to two or three constituents of the body which are probably only accidental. Manganese exists in the soil of Scotland. It is taken up by the oat plant, and thus conveyed into the blood of the Scotch, who feed on porridge, and Scotchmen are said to have manganese in their blood. If there is not enough iron in the blood, many of the metals will supply its place. Even mercury will supply its place for a time, and this will explain perhaps how it is that blue pill acts as a tonic. Copper has been found in human blood, but this is evidently accidental. It appears that, as we are in the habit of eating pickles, and these pickles contain copper, which is added to them to make them green and inviting to the eye, we thus introduce copper into our blood. Then there is the beautiful substance iodine, which exists as a solid body at ordinary atmospheric tempera- ture, but rises into the atmosphere as a gas at an increased temperature. It exists in -sea water with chloride of bromine, and thus it appears that it occa- sionally enters into the human system, and it has been found in small quantities in the human breath, and there has been a dispute as to whether it is an essential element of the human body. It has been recently asserted that this iodine exists in the bodies of Frenchmen, but not in the bodies of the Genevese, and it has been supposed that this accounts for the fact that the Genevese have goitre, whilst the French do not have it. This swelling of the glands in 58 ON SALT AND MINERAL POOD. the neck is frequently cu^ed by iodine, and it is supposed that the presence of a certain quantity in the system prevents its occurrence. This disease is common among the Swiss Alps and the Pyrenees. Iodine has also been found in watercresses, especially those water- cresses which grow near the sea. I have, however, recently examined watercresses sold in London, but have not been able to detect iodine. Before concluding, I should wish to enforce a prac- tical point or two to which I have before alluded. I have shown you that in cooking, especially in boiling food, you are very likely to get rid of some of these mineral constituents of your food. In cooking, there- fore, care should be taken not to throw away the water in which animal and vegetable food has been cooked. Of course, I must leave it to each individual cook to carry out this suggestion in his own particular way. But it is even possible for cooking so to change the constituents of our food, that they may not convey to the system the elements in those forms in which they are mos|; fitted for the nutrition of our bodies. Under thest circumstances, it appears to me a practice in accordance with sound theory as weU as experience, for persons to eat certain quantities of uncooked food every day. I do not say uncooked meat, although the universal practice of eating live oysters, and the occasional sucking of uncooked eggs, might be quoted as a precedent; but I do say uncooked fruit and vegetables. The daily consumption of a fiew ounces of uncooked fruit, as pears, apples, oranges, grapes, &o., and where these cannot be got, the various plants eaten as salads is, I believe, essential to the diet of ON" SATJt AND MINERAL FOOD. 59 those who would maintain their health in perfect integrity. As some people are so little used to eating salads, and may be glad to know something of these plants, I will conclude this lecture by referring to a few of the mare common forms. First, there is the Lettuce {Lactuca sativd) . This plant is a cultivated variety of the wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa. It contains in its juice an active principle, which in large quantities exercises a narcotic influence on the human system. TheWater-cresa (Nasturtmm officinale). This plant grows wild .in ditches and damp places in this country, and is also extensively cultivated in the neigh- bourhood of Landon. It contains a large quantity of mineral matter, and in some districts is found to contain iodine. The ^niive {Gicfiorium Endivia) . This plant is probably a variety of the common chicory {Cichorium tmt'ybus). ' It is cultivated extensively on the continent, and its blanched leaves are eaten as a salad. It can be obtained in the winter. It has a slightly bitter taste and acts as a tonic on the system. Celery is the Apium graveolens. When wild, this ])lant contains an acrid principle, which is poisonous, but by culture its stallcs are blanched, and it then becomes an agreeable and valuable article of food. The Garden Cress is the Lepidmm sativum. This plant is not a native of Great Britain, but it is easily cultivated, and extensively used as an early spring salad'. The seeds are sown with those of mustard [Sinapis nigra and Sinapis alba), and the young plants are both eaten together under the name of " mustard and cress." Eed Beet, the Beta vulgaris of botanists. There are two varieties of this 60 ON SALT AND MINERAL ;00D, plant used as salad. First, a variety called la Carde, •whicli has a small root and large leaves ; the latter are eaten in the same way as lettuce. The other variety is called Betterave, in which the roots are largely deve- loped. The roots are boiled and sliced, and eaten with vinegar, oil, pepper, and salt, as other salads. The Radish is the Raphanus Raphanistrum. The roots of this plant are eaten uncooked, and, like the family to which they belong, contain a sub acrid oil, which gives them an agreeable flavour. They are less digestible than many other plants eaten as salad. Lamb's Lettuce or Corn-salad is the ValerianeUa olitoria. This plant is a native of Great Britain, and is often cultivated for use as a salad. The leaves for this purpose should be cut young, or they will have a disagreeaole bitter taste. The common Sorrel is the Rumea; acetosa. The acid taste of this plant depends on the presence of oxalic acid. It is much used as a salad in France. The common Dandelion is the Leontodorl Taraxacum. This plant, though very common in England, is not much used as a salad. It has, however, when young, the flavour and properties of lettuce, and is extensively employed as a salad on the continent. Many other plants have been used as salads in this country, and I might enlarge the list by telling you of foreign plants easily cultivated, or British wild plants, which might be consumed with advantage in the form of salad, but these must iufl^ce for the present. Fig. 1. — Heart and Limga. «. The trachea. f Right auricle of heart. b b The lungs. g. Left auricle of heart. c c. Veins going to heart. A. Right ventricle of heart. d. i. Left ventricle t^ heart. lungs and terminating in k k. Arteries carrying blood from cr. Pulmonary vein going to left heart, and terminating in side of heart. the veins c c. HEAT AND FOECE- GIVING FOODS. I HAVE now to call your attention to the group of foods called Carbonaceous. We bave spoken first of Water, and then of tbe Saline or Mineral substaices in food ; and now we bave left two groups of substances : tbe first called Combustible, from tbe fact of tbeir being burned in tbe system ; and Carbonaceous, from the fact of tbeir containing large quantities of carbon or charcoal. Tbe next group is called Nitrogenous, be- cause it contains nitrogen — or Nutritious, because the substances' it embraces form the tissues of tbe body. "First, then, of the force-giving — combustible or car- 62 HEAT-rORMING FOODS. bonaceous — foods. Before speaking of them in detail, I would call your attention to the fact, that the heat which we have in the body is precisely the same as the heat which exists independently of the body : it has the same nature, and the same properties, and is mea- sured by the same instruments, and produces exactly the same results ; liierefore, although we call the heat of the body animal heat, it is not at all different from the ordinary heat of a fire-place or lamp. Now, the ordinary heat that we find given out by a fire, or candle, or lamp, is the result of the union of carbon and hydrogen with oxygen gas — the oxygen of the atmosphere. The burning of a spirit-lamp will illustrate this fact as well as anything else. ' Spirits of wine is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and a little oxygen ; the oxygen is not enough, however, to interfere with the burning of the carbon and hydrogen. The hydrogen produces heat, and the carbon produces the colour of the flame, and supplies the principal material of the combustion; and we have two things, water and carbonic acid gas, coming off as the result of the union of the hydrogen and carbon with the oxygen of the atmosphere. If you take a cold glass and hold over the burning spirit-lamp, you can collect a vapour, which is the vapour of water. If you cover it over with a bottle, you will find that as the oxygen is with- drawn the lamp will go out. If you now take a little lime water and put into the bottle, the lime water, when it comes in contact with the carbonic acid gas, forms chalk, which, being an insoluble substance, will fall to the bottom as a white precipitate. Thus, then, we find that ordinary combustion, attended by heat, is the result HEAT-IORMING FOODS. 63 of the union of carbon and hydrogen with oxygen gas^ and that the substances formed during this combustion are carbonic acid gas and water. In the great majority of cases^here heat is produced upon the surface of the earth, we find that it is the result of precisely the same process — the union of oxygen with carbon, and with hydrogen. Now, there are some cases in which animal and vege- table matters are exposed to the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere, and the result of the union of the oxygen with the carbon of the animal and vegetable matters is just the same as in the case of the lamp, but in these latter cases there is no light given out. Light does not appear until a burning substance attains a temperature of 700° or 800°. When oxygen unites with carbon and hydrogen at a temperature lower than this, no light is given out, but heat is generated. Thus, if you put a quantity of decaying vegetable matter in a heap in your garden, you get heat developed, which your gardener uses for his cucumber frames ; and it is an extraordinary fact, that the instincts of some animals have guided them to this method of developing heat. There is in the Zoological Gardens a bird called the Brush Turkey, an inhabitant of Australia, which does not make an ordinary cpmfortable nest, but heaps together the leaves of the forest in a great mass ; she then deposits her eggs in the midst, and having covered them up with leaves, she watches around the heap of leaves till they give out a sufficient quantity of heat to hatch the eggs : then when the young ones are hatched, she assists them out of their leafy cradle. This is a very curious instance of an animal availing 6i HEAT-FORMING FOODS. itself ot artificial arrangements for the purpose of the production of heat. Then occasionally we find vege- table matter catching fire. When cotton is heaped together, especially if it is damp, it frequently catches fire. This spontaneous combustion, arising from the oxidation of decomposing vegetable matter, is a frequent cause of fire. Then we find this oxidation goes on in living plants. There has been a variety of experiments performed, which prove ' that, at certain seasons, the plant has a temperature higher than the atmosphere. This is especially the case with the plants which belong to the same family as those commonly known to us as " Lords and Ladies," the Arum maculatum. This plant, if you put the bulb of the thermometer within its flower-leaf at the time of opening its flower, will show you that the temperature is much higher than at any other time. During this process there is a true oxida- tion of the plant going on, and thus you have heat. Mr. Lowe, of Highfield House, near Nottingham, has performed a very large number of experiments with a very delicate thermometer, and-has always found that the opening of flowers was attended with an increase of heat. Then we find this to be the case with animals : the animal body of the higher animals especially is con- stantly warmer than the surrounding atmosphere, and there is no doubt that the whole of the mammalia and birds have fixed temperatures — a temperature which never changes during life and health. Those animals, however, which have imperfect hearts, do not maintain the same temperature — these are called cold-blooded, as crabs, lobsters, fishes, and reptiles. Man has a fixed temperature under all circumstances: whether living HEAT-FORMING FOODS. 65 under the tropical sun of India^ America or Africa, or at the Poles, we find that his temperature is the same, and that temperature is always 98°. There is no de- parture from this, except in the case of disease. Where- ever human beings have been submitted to the test for temperature, it has always been 98°, and it is easily proved by placing the bulb of a thermometer under the tongue, or in some covered part of the body. Of course, the hand is exposed to the atmosphere, and you cannot get it from the hand, and so with the face ; but the covered parts of the body give 98°. If you look at the common Fahrenheit's thermometer, which is con- stantly employed in this country to measure tempera- tures, you will find that water freezes at a temperature of 33°, and that blood heat is marked as 98". I would especially recommend to your attention the study of this useful instrument. It should be a household in- strument, and every one should be acquainted with the nature of the facts it registers. You will recollect this, that the temperature of 98° in the human body must be maintained from sources quite independent of the external atmosphere. If a man is submitted to a low temperature in the Arctic regions, as many of our travellers in those climates have been, and still main- tains a temperature of 98°, it becomes a necessary conclusion that this must be kept up from sources independent of the external atmosphere. Now, this is supplied by the food which we take — by the heat-giving food — of which I have now to speak. I have not time to enter fully into the question of how that temperature is maintained, but it is very curious, that whilst we pass from regions where the temperature is 40° below the 66 HEAT-rOBMING FOODS. freezing point to regions where the temperature rises to above the natural heat of man, to observe that that temperature of 98° is maintained in all cases. NoWj the cause of this is the structure of the sldn. The skin is covered over the body ia such a way that, by causing the evaporation of water, it keeps the body constantly at the same temperature. If you take a tea-kettle, and cover it with a wet cloth, by sprinkling cold water over the cloth you may keep the tempera- ture of the kettle at a fixed point, because the water in passing from its liquid to its vaporous condition takes up and absorbs a large quantity of heat, and carries it off. So that when we are exposed to warm climates and warm temperatures, when the body does not re- quire the large quantity of heat that the heat-giving food that we have taken in gives off, then the skin throws off that fluid which we call perspiration, and thus the temperature is kept down in warm climates. It is the skin, then, that regulates the temperature of the body. We now come to consider the parts of the body by which this effect is produced. Our food is first taken into the mouth, where it undergoes impor- tant changes. It is first masticated with the teeth, and then there is poured into it the secretion calkd saliva. This is called insalivation. This process is attended by the conversion of the starch of our food into sugar, and other important changes. The food is then carried into the stomach, where it meets with the gastric juice, and is converted into chyme. Chyle is formed on the external surface of the chyme, and taken up by the little projecting bodies called villi, and from these transferred to the lacteals, which eventually empty HEAT-FORMING FOODS. 67 the chyle into the blood. The blood then is the great receptacle of all our available food. Let us now trace it to the? blood. It passes along the veins to the right side of the heart ; for the heart is double, and has two sides. It first goes to the right side of the heart, into the cavity which is called the right auricle, and passes out of this into another cavity, called the right ventricle. (See Fig. 1, at the beginning of this lecture.) These cavities contract so that the blood cannot return into the veins, because of the valves which prevent it, — it must go forward ; and now, when these cavities con- tract, let us see where it goes to. It goes on to the left side of the heart, but it first passes through the lungs. They form two masses, which lie on each side of the chest ; the blood passes into them along the pulmonary arteries; and now, when in the lungs, we find that thesfe organs are so constructed that the blood may be exposed to the largest possible surface. The air-tubes of the lungs terminate in cells, the blood-vessels are distributed on the walls of these cells, and whilst there, the blood, is exposed to the action of the atmosphere. Every time we breathe we take in a quantity of air from the atmosphere, the atmosphere containing 21 parts of oxygen gas, and 79 of nitrogen. Every time we inspire, the air passes down the trachea, or windpipe, which we can easily see in our throats, and passes on through smaller tubes to the lungs, and then to the minute air-cells. It is here, then, that the oxygen gas of the atmosphere meets the blood which has come from the right side of the heart, and there is a wonderful arrangement made by which the oxygen of the air actually penetrates through the blood-vessels, F 2 68 HEAT-FORMING FOODS. SO that the little blood globules receive the oxygen from the outside of the vessels. There is no direct exposure of the blood to the air, but there is *&, mem- brane lying between the blood and the atmosphere, and it is through that membrane that the air pene- trates. It is one of the wonderful physical properties of this membrane that when moist, it has the power of absorbing the oxygen of the air. The blood has been brought from the right side of the heart, of a blue or black colour; but no sooner has the oxygen penetrated these blood-vessels, than it becomes bright red. It then passes back to the left side of the heart by means of the pulmonary veins. These vessels empty themselves into the left auricle, and this contracting, sends the blood into the left ventricle, which sends the blood into the great aorta, which, in the end, distributes the blood into aU parts of the system, the arteries beating regularly with every pulse of the heart. The arteries pass from the aorta into all the limbs : they pass down the arm beating until we come to the artery in which the doctor feels the pulse. The arteries all terminate in little tubes which are called capiHary vessels; and it is in these minute vessels that the union of the oxygen of the air with the carbon of the blood takes place, by which the animal heat is produced. These minute vessels are distributed to every part of the body ; and we find that the oxygen passes apparently out of these vessels — these capillary vessels — into the tissues, into the muscles, and into the nerves ; and whilst we are living, whilst we are thinking, whilst we are acting, whilst we are performing the various functions of life. HBAT-FORMING FOODS. 69 we are doing it under the agency of this life-giving oxygen. The oxygen and carbon are united ; and, just as a lamp has no light unless it burns, so we have no life unless we burn. This burning gives force to the musclesj and there is no force in the body without heat. You know how a candle goes out if we put something over it : so it would be with any one of us. If I were to put you under a jar for three minutes you would die, irrecoverably die, as if you were drowned. We hang a man up by a rope for five minutes, and thus cut off the oxygen, and destroy his life ; and that is the way we judicially dispose of our great criminals. Now, the oxygen has united with carbon and heated the whole body, and it results in carbonic acid gas ; and just as the oxygen is lost we find carbonic acid is_ formed, and takes its place. The blood now prepares to return. It passes into the veins, and returns back to the heart : it runs up the legs and arms, and down the jugular vein, and comes to the right side of the heart once more. In this course, however, it does not go from the stomach and bowels direct to the heart ; the veins from these parts join to form a great vessel, called the portal vein, which terminates in the liver. Here it is distributed to a number of little secreting sacs, or cells, which set to work to separate from the blood it contains two products — the bile and a sugar- forjning substance. The bile is carried to the gall- bladder, from whence it is carried to meet the food as it passes along the bowels ; whilst the sugar-forming sub- stance is carried into the blood to be disposed of there. Let us now follow the blood once more to the lungs. It goes to the lungs charged with carbonic acid gas ; 70 HEAT-FORMING FOODS. it delivers up the carbonic acid gas at the moment that it takes in the oxygen. The carbonic acid gas goes out of our lungs every time we expire. The passage of the oxygen into the blood, and the carbonic acid out of the blood, may be represented by the accompanying rude diagram. 0. a. A. _ ^0 O O O O O O I That we throw out carbonic acid gas from our lungs can be easily proved, by taking a bottle of water, then inverting it in a basin of water, and filling it with air from the lungs by blowing into it with a bent tube. CarefuUy cork the bottle while the mouth of it remains immersed, now take the bottle out of the water, and having previously lighted a small piece of candle, un- cork the bottle, and place the candle in it, when the light will be extingtiished for want of oxygen to support combustion. And if you pour in some lime water yx)u will get the characteristic deposit of carbonate of Ume. The properties of this carbonic gas are worthy of our consideration. It is the product of combustion. It is a gas that will not support combustion. When a lighted candle or lamp is plunged into it, it goes out. Just as the lamp goes out in an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, so we go out; and just as a lamp bums slowly in an atmosphere charged with carbonic acid gas, so we burn sluggishly in an atmosphere charged with HEAT-FORMING FOODS. 71 carbonic acid gas : changes do not go on in our system which ought to go on. This shows the necessity of getting rid of the carbonic acid gas of our lungs from our houses, from our sitting-roomSj and from our places of assembly, but, above all things, of getting rid of it from our keepmg-rooms and sleeping-rooms, where we spend the larger portioii of our time. I believe there is evidence to show that the want of pure air, and the retention of carbonic acid gas in the air we breathe, IS one of the greatest sources of that most terrible and afflicting disease, consumption of the lungs. The want of a due supply of fresh air, and the retention of this carbonic acid gas in the house, and the lungs, are the great sources of this disease. I have not time here to dwell on the evidence, but it is a point of great prac- tical importance, in which every one here is interested. Care should be always taken^ and the means secured for letting fresh air into rooms and carrying off the heated and poisonous carbonic acid gas. I come now to speak of the fuel for the maintenance of animal heat and force. That fuel is our food, and it is to the nature of that food, or some portion of it, to which I wish now to call your attention. There are several substances which are capable of acting in this way, and their chemical history has been studied with much attention. I shall speak of them under the names of starch, sugar, and fat. There are various forms of starch, sugars, and fats, , and I shall have incidentally to allude to these, but they are sufficiently obvious in all their forms to be easily understood. The insipidity of starch, the sweet- ness of sugar, and the insolubility of fat, are sufficient 72 HEAT-rORMING FOODS. to characterise them. Every child knows the difference between bread, butter, and sugar. -First, then, with regard to starch. In the first place, I would impress upon you the fact that starch is not merely the thing which is used for domestic purposes for starching linen and so on, but that it is a substance which is universally present in plants, and that there is very little of ovte vegetable food that does not contain a larger or smaller quantity of it. Starch as it exists in plants is found to assume a granular form ; but these granules are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. In order to make out their existence and structure you must use the higher powers of the microscope. These granules present a variety of form, according to the plants from whence they are derived ; but they are so definite, that the source of any particular form of starch may be determined by the aid of the micro- scope. Mostly the granules are single, as in the case of potato and wheat starch, but occasionally they are united together, forming compound granules. Under the microscope they frequently present a little dark spot, which is called the hilum or nucleus. With polarized light they exhibit a coloured cross, which render them amusing and instructive in the application of polarised light to the microscope. When we come to study them more closely, we find that these starch granules appear to be composed of bags containing the true starchy or amylaceous matter of the starch. When they are submitted to sulphuric acid or heat they expand, and it is in this way that we ascertain that there is a delicate bag on the outside. These granules when HEAT-FORMING FOODS. 73 chemically analysed, are also found to contain a little flint or silica, also a little potash, and there is a very small quantity of nitrogenous matter which cannot be got rid of J but these things do not constitute one per cent, of the starch of any of the plants with which we are acquainted, so that for dietetical purposes we may regard starch as a definite chemical compound. Starch is insoluble in water, and it is upon the knowledge of this fact that the process for separating starch from the cells in which it is contained is f^nnded. If I take a potato, for instance, and . scrape it, and put a little of the scraping into water, I shall find that a portion of the potato will fall to the bottom', but the starch will be suspended in the water. If I now pour off the water which contains the starch, and let it stand, the starch will sink to the bottom of the water in the course of time, and I can then dry it and collect it. Thus starch, you see, is diffusible in water, but not soluble in it ; that is the diiference between it and the cellulose which forms the cell in which it is contained. If you look at a section of a potato under the micro- scope (Fig. 3), you will see that it consists of a series of cells of various forms, and in those cells you have the starch granules. Now, these cells are composed of a substance which is analogous to the wood of which tables and chairs are composed. It is in fact the wall of the cell, and the cell-walls of the plants are always composed Fig. 3. — Gramides of Potato Starch in ceUs. 74 HEAT-FORMING FOODS. of this matter. It is called cellnlose or lignine. This substance is always present in onr vegetable food. If you take any plant yon will find that there is a quantity of what is called woody fibre in it; of that woody fibre there is the eighth of an ounce in a pound of potatoes, and this cellulose we find in wheaten flour and all the ordinary preparations of vegetable food. It is not, however, a thing which is digested or which acts as food. It is one of those substances which are, as it were, accessory to the real food. It is not to be rejected in all cases ; it may sometimes disagree by its indigestibilily, but it is not always advisable to reject this cellulose. I can illustrate this by the practice of feeding horses with beans and peas. These articles of food agree better with the horse when they are mixed with chafip or chopped straw. The effect of the indi- gestible substance is to render that which is digestible more easily appropriated. I now come to speak more particularly of the chemical properties of starch. In the first place, starch is coloured blue by iodine. If you make a solu- tion of iodine with iodide of potassium, and add a drop to any form of starch, it becomes blue directly. I do not know anything else which is coloured so deeply blue as stardi by the ^ency of iodine. So that we thus have the means of detecting its presence very easily. Not only can we detect it thus in food, but we can also detect it by the aid of the microscope. In structures of doubtful character we add iodine, and the presence of the starch is immediately indicated. Now starch is composed of carbon, or charcoal, and water. I have before spoken of carbon entering into the composition HEAT-rOBMING FOODS. 75 of alcohol. Carbon is found in all vegetable and animal matters^ and when the carbon is left after burning, we call it charcoal. The composition, then, of starch is this : — Carbon, 12 atoms ; hydrogen and oxygen in the proportions in which those elements form water, 10 atoms. Now, if we calculate then the quantity of carbon and the quantity of water contained in starch, we shall find that every 162 lbs. of starch contain 72 lbs. of charcoal. Here, then, is the source of its heating power. When we eat starch in sago pudding, arrowroot, or whatever form we are taking it, we take just so much fuel; and just as we heap charcoal on a fire, so we add starch to our body to keep up our animal fire, and carbonic acid gas is the result. However, you must not imagine that we could live on charcoal, or that charcoal is good for dinner or for breakfast. The fact is, carbon in its pure form cannot be digested, and before you can consume it, you must digest it. Hence the necessity of finding something which will enable you to transfer the char- coal into the blood and tissues of your body. Even starch itself is not digestible ; that is, it is not soluble in water, therefore it can never as starch get into the blood. There is never any in the blood. The fact is that starch, before it is used in the system, is converted into sugar, and unless the starch of our bread and our puddings is converted into sugar, it is not converted intp blood at all. One of the curious properties of starch is, that when you submit it to the action of any nitrogenous or fermentable substance, it will be con- verted from starch into sugar. Such substances are called ferments. You know, when we want to change 76 HEAT-FORMING FOODS. sugar into alcohol, we add a ferment. If we want to convert starch into sugar, and the sugar into carbonic acid in making bread, we add a ferment. The change which the starch undergoes is, that the 12 atoms of carbon get combined with 13 atoms of water instead of 10 atoms ; and sugar is only a little more water chemi- cally combined with starch. Sugar can be artificially produced from starch, and wherever ~we have starch, in the vegetable kingdom, we have sugar. There is sugar in potatoes. It is also con- tained in rice. In sweet potatoes and carrots there are large quantities of sugar; also in turnips. Now, man is provided within his mouth with substances for con- verting starch into sugar. Underneath the lower jaws, are glands which produce salivine, or ptyaline. This ptyaline has the power of converting starch into sugar. The moment you take the starch into the mouth, and the saliva mixes with it, it is converted into this soluble sugar, and that is the way that the starch finds its way into the system. There is one more property of starch that needs to be noted, and that is, the power it possesses of com- bining with water at a high temperature, and forming a thick gelatinous mass. This appears to depend on the bursting of the little starch bags, and the chemical union of the starch with the water. It is in this way that the soft liquid mixtures of starch become con- verted, by boiling or baking, into consistent puddjngs. There would, in fact, be no pudding making, were it not for this property of starch. Before proceeding to speak of sugar, I will point out some of the sources of starch. One of the purest and HEAT-FORMING FOODS. 77 most costly forms of starch consumed as diet, is arrow- root. This substance is obtained both from the New and Old worlds, and is sold as East Indian and "West Indian arrowroot. It is the produce of a plant known by the name of Maranta arundi- nacea (Fig. 4). The arrowroot is pro- cured from its large root-stocks, which are ♦first bruised, and the starch is floated out as I mentioned just now. Under the mi- croscope, the gra- nules o(f arrowroot have a very definite appearance, so that you can easily distin- guish them (Fig. 5). Fig. i. — Maranta anmdinacea, (Arrom'oot.) There is another arrowroot sold Ftg. 5. — Orarmles of Arrowroot. Fig. 6. — Tous les Moii Qramides. in the shops, by the name of Tons les Mois. It is the produce of a plant called Canna edulis, closely allied 78 HEAT-FORMING FOODS. to the last. The starch granules of this root are much larger than the last (Fig. 6). Another form of starch is sago. There are several kinds of sago sold in the markets. That which is commonly used in England is brought from the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and is the produce of the sago palm, the Sagus Icevis of botanists (Fig. 7). Other species of palm yield sago. It assumes the ap- pearance of little balls, from the way in which it is pre- pared. The only other form of starch used for dietetical pur- pose^ is tapioca. This substance is procured from a plant which grows in British Guiana, and is known to botanists by the name of Jatropha or Janipha Manihot. The tapioca is prepared from the root of the plant, which, curiously enough, contains hydrocyanic acid ; and it is said that the native Indians poison their arrows from the juice of the root, before they commence preparing the tapioca. The native cassava is also prepared from the same plant (Fig. 8). The granules of tapioca starch are smaller than those of arrowroot Fig. 7. — Sagns IcBvis (Sago). HEAT-FORMING POODS. 79 (Fig. 9). Starch is separated from ricCj and from maize, for dietetical purposes. The granules of rice starch are irregular, and very minute (Fig. 10). Rice starch is sold for pur- poses in the arts and manufactures, as well as of diet. A beautiful pre- paration of rice starch has been recently intro- duced to the public, by Messrs. Coleman of Nor- wich. Starch is also obtained from the In- dian maize. The gluten and the husk are sepa- rated, and the pure starch thus prepared is sold under the name of Corn Flour, and is dieteti- cally superior to arrowroot, and yet is sold at a much lower price. The form of the granule of maize starch Fig, 8 — Jatrwpha mcunilwt (Ta/pioca). m o all cooitinue my obBervatLoiis on that class of foods which are now known by the name of heat or force-giving. This group may very well be divided into — first, those which contain starch and sugar, of which I have already spoken ; and, seeondlj^i those which contain oil or fat. There is a great difference in the chemical composi- tion of oils and fats, as compared with starch and sugar, which can be easily made apparent. Taking, then, the composition of starch and sugar as carbon 13, hydrogen 10, and oxygen 10„ which would express generally the composition of starch and sugar ; or, taking the real weights, carbon. 72, hydro- gen 10, and oxygen 80, the quantity of carbon in 92 ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. starch and sugar would be nearly half their whole weight. Now, if we take oil, we shall find the difference is very great. Taking all those substances which are indicated by the term oil, which are called fats, butters, lards, suets, greases, and tallows, their composition will be this — carbon 11, hydrogen 10, and oxygen 1. Thus you see, in the starch and the sugar, the hydrogen and the oxygen are just in the proportions in which those two elements form water; but if we take the fat and the oils, you will find a large quantity of the hydro- gen to spare, and very little oxygen in these bodies at all. Oxygen, then, is not in the proportion in which it forms water with hydrogen, so that you see in an oil or fat, instead of having only half the bulk, as in the case of the carbon of starch and sugar, you have actually nearly the whole mass for com- bustion, 66 of carbon and 10 of hydrogen out of the 'Jl parts of oily matter. Now, this is a practical point of importance, for where you are substituting fat for starch or sugar, there you ought to substitute a very much less quantity. The proportion of the combustible elements in fat, as compared with starch and sugar, is as 2^ to 1, so that you ought to take as a substitute for 1 pound of butter, 2^ pounds of starch or sugar. It must, however, be recollected that sugar is more easily taken up into the system, and more available than starch. Now, this oily matter, of which we have to speak, is used not only as an article of diet, but it is exten- sively employed in the arts.* I would remind you that * See Lecture on Soap, in Uses of Animals. ^ ON OIL, BUTTEB, AND FAT. 93 we use it for combustion. Until the introduction of gas it was the only substance that could be generally used for illumination. Then we use it, also, for diminish- ing friction. The power which oil has of diminishing friction is very great, and this physical property is of the greatest consequence to us as a manufacturing nation. We send to all parts of the world for oil to diminish the friction of our machinery, which would' in fact, fly on fire if it were not for oil in some form. This oily matter is also used for the manufacture of soap. Let me, then, first speak generally of the nature of oleaginous matter. I have said that all these matters which we call suets, fats, butters, tallows or grease, have this general formula : — 84 lbs. of any one of them would contain 66 lbs. of charcoal, 10 lbs. of hydrogen, and 8 lbs. of oxygen. Now, these sub- stances, although they contain cairbon and hydrogen, do not present themselves to us as simple compounds of carbon and hydrogen ; and, though we know a good deal of their cheniistry, we have undoubtedly much to learn, for carbon and hydrogen may unite in many proportions. One of carbon will unite with 1 of hydrogen, or with 2 of hydrogen, or with 3 of hydro- gen, or with 4 of hydrogen, and so on, and yet con- stitute something different every combination. And again, you may take 2 of carbon and 1 of hydrogen, or 2 of carbon and 3 of hydrogen, or 3 of carbon and 1 of hydrogen, or 2 of hydrogen, and so on through an innumerable seri'es of substances, and amongst them you will find the base of alcohol or ethyl, which consists of 4 atoms of carbon and 5 of hydrogen. Then, again, formyle, which is the substance which forms the base 94 ON on., BUTTER, AND FAT. of chloroform, is 2 of carbon and 1 of hydrogen. Such compounds are almost innumerable, and show you what powerful chemical properties these two elements possess. Now, if we take olive-oil and put it out into the winter^s cold, you will find that it separates into two parts, and one sinks to the bottom and the other floats on the top. All fats and oils contain one or both of these sub- stances, the one solid and the other liquid ; the one is called stearine, and the other oleine. Some- times we have another substance mixed with fat and oils. Thus, if you take human fat or goose fet, and their composition is the same, you would get, instlsad of the stearine, a substance called margarine. It differs so little from stearine, that we need not speak of it as a separate substance, for there is only a little more oxygen in margarine, which makes the difference; we may, therefore, leave out of our con- sideration the margarine. Whether we take margarine as food or not, or whether it is found in our body or not, is not of much consequence. It is, however, a very curious circumstance, that the wild horses of America contain larger quantities of margarine than the horses of this country, and that seems to indicate that the one may be converted into the other, or, at any rate, sub- stituted for the other. Oleine is liquid at all tempera- tures. Castor-oil never throws down any deposit of stearine, for it is composed entirely of oleine. On the contrary, the butter-tree gives an oil which is always solid, and is nearly all stearine. So with palm-oil from Africa, the produce of the Elais guineensis, and the ON Olli, HOTTER, AND FAT. 95 palm-oil obtained from the cocoa-nut palm in the island of Ceylon. This palm is cultivated in large quantities by Price's Patent Candle Company, of London, for the purpose of obtaining stearine for the making of candles. Thus, you see, stearine and oleine have different rela- tions to heat. If you expose stearine to a high tempera- ture, it becomes liquid like oleine. Now there is another property which oUs possess, and that is, that they are insoluble in water, and this insolubility in water is one of their most remarkable characteristics. Those of which I speak are also called fixed oUs ; and this arises from the property which they possess of not being easily evaporated. If you place a drop of oil on a piece of paper it will not be easily dissipated by heat. There are, however, oils which are easily evaporated, and these are called volatile oils; such as the oil of lavender, the oil of nutmeg, and oil of cinnamon. If you drop a little of any of these upon a piece of paper and hold it over a candle, it wiU evaporate quickly. They are formed of hydrogen and carbon with oxygen, but have a different constitution to the fixed oils. < Now let us pass from the physical to the chemical properties of oils and fats. They are principally composed of carbon and hydrogen, and on that account are highly inflammable. They burn with a flame; where we have a flame we must have hydrogen. The result of their combustion in the air is the production ■ of carbonic acid gas and water. You may easily detect these compounds with a burning candle. If you hold a cold glass over it, taking care not to blacken it by condensing the carbon in the form of smoke, you will 96 ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. find water will condense in the inside. If you now take a wide-mouthed bottle and put it carefully over the candle, you will collect a gas in the inside. This gas you can prove to be carbonic acid, by pouring in some lime-water, which will immediately become turbid from the formation of carbonate of lime. The carbon was in the candle, and so we find in all these burning, oily matters, that we have carbon, which can be proved by the production of carbonic-acid gas when we burn them in the atmosphere. Any kind of oil would do just as the candle does, and yield the proof that it contains carbon as well as the proof that it contains hydrogen. Thus much for the ultimate composition of the fatty matter. We cannot burn sugar or starch in this way, because the quantity of oxygen combined in the sugar and the starch takes away the hydrogen and leaves only the carbon to burn, and we have to add a considerable quantity of heat in order to get rid of the water before the starch and sugar will burn. Now a very curious chemical point is, that these things, oleine and stfcarine, are not chemical compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, in that form, but that they are actually put together in the form of an acid united to the base. Let me illustrate what I mean, by the composition of chalk. Chalk is a coni- pound of an acid with a base ; the acid is carbonic acid, and the base is lime : and if you pour some water on the chalk, and afterwards a little sulphuric acid, you will expel the carbonic acid. Now stearine and oleine are just as much compounds of an acid and a base as chalk or carbonate of lime ; and what we have in stearine is a quantity of stearic ON OILj BTJTTER, AND FAT. 97 acid combined with a base called oxide of lipyle, but which is popularly known by the name of glycerine. Glycerine then is an oxide. Carbonate of lime is carbonic acid gas combined with'oxide of calcium, afid stearine is stearic acid combined with glycerine or oxide of lipyle, and this oxide of lipyle acts upon the stearic acid just as the oxide of calcium acts upon the carbonic acid. When we take these things as food, they are not taken up as globules of oil or fat, for they would not pass through the absorbents. Nothing that will not dissolve in water wjll pass through the lacteals into the blood, and it is very interesting to find the same chemistry, going on in our stomachs that goes on out- side them. The history then of the digestion of these substances appear to be this, that in the stomach the fatty acid combines with a base so as to form a soluble compound, which is carried into the blood, where it is again formed into an insoluble compound when it is deposited as fat. This change is the foundation of the art of soap-making, and, I may say, we are indebted to the art of soap-making for a knowledge of this curious property in the oil. When we make soap we take a quantity of alkali and put it to the oil. The conse- quence is, that the alkali takes the place of the glycerine and combines with the stearic or oleic acid as the case may be, and a soluble stearate or oleate of the alkali is formed. In this process the glycerine is set &ee, and this_ glycerine used to be the refuse of the soap-boiler ; he threw this away ; he now knows better what to do with it, as glycerine is turning out to be a most useful substance in the arts. 98 ON Oltj BUTTER, AND TAT. These soaps> ■which are formed with potash, or with soda, are both, soluble in water j but there are certain compounds of stearic acid and oleic acid, which are not soluble. Thus, we have insoluble soaps and soluble soaps. The soluble soaps are also of two kinds : there is the hard soap, which is formed by soda and the fatty acid ; and there is the soft soap of the shops, which is formed by potash and a fatty acid. They dissolve in water, and form a lather. I am not going to enter here into an account of the processes of soap-making, but I would point out that one of the qualities which these soaps possess, is the property of dissolving oil. They not only are soluble themselves, but when they get on to the dirty hand — ^the hand having held the dirt by the fatty matter on the skin — these soaps dissolve the fatty matter; and thus it is with linen, and all sub- stances which we wash. Now, this property may throw some light on the way in whieh' the oil is disposed of in the stomach. But I have said that there are some insoluble soaps. If this stearic acid were to combine with lead, or with lime, the oxide of calcium, instead of potash, then you would get an insoluble soap, which would not dissolve in water or act as a detergent. You know when you go to a chalk district, where the water contains large quan- tities of carbonate of lime, that, when you wash your hands, a substance rises and sticks to the skin, so that you might think it better to have no soap at all. The fact is, all this time you are forming an insoluble soap — a lime soap' — the lime having taken the place of the soda. The best way, in this case, is to go boldly to work and rub away at the soap till the lime is all ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. 99 exhausted, and then you may wash with the soda soap. It is the same in the stomach; unless the oils meet with potash or soda, they cannot be made soluble: if they meet with lime they are insoluble. It is only by the agency of the former that they can be made soluble and digestible, and can pass into the blood. Now, this is very important ; for, if we insist on cooking out of the food these soda and potash" salts, there is nothing left for the saponification of the fat. There is, however, a provision made for giving alkalies to the stomach by the agency of the liver. The liver, as I have before mentioned, secretes, or separates from the blood sent to it, a substance called bUe. The bile, when mixed with oily matters, has the power of saponi- fying them, and rendering them easy of absorption. With the bile there is also poured into the sto- mach a fluid, secreted by the pancreas, which is called the pancreatic fluid. It contains a principle called pancreatin which has the power of saponifying or emulsifying the fatty matter of the food. . Besides these fluids, the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal contains alkaline substances which may also exert the same action, and thus we see how ample the pre- paration is for the carrying readily into the system these importsint constituents of our diet. We must at the same time recollect that if the alkalies of these fluids are the agents of the saponification, they must be supplied in the food before they can be thrown out in the secretions. Before leaving this subject, I would call your atten- tion to the glycerine which is separated during the decomposition of fatty matters. It was formerly thrown H 2 100 ON oil-, BUTTKR, AND KAT. away by the soap-maker : it is now, however, purified and used for many purposes. It will not burn like the acid from which it is separated, and it is that part of the fat or tallow which, when burning, gives out a disagreeable smell, so that it is now separated from the oil with which the best candles are made. The best candles are now made from stearic acid. Glycerine is called so from its sweetish flavour. It is not, however, used at present as an article of diet, but it has been employed in the same cases where cod- liver-oil has been recommended, and I understand with considerable success. If it should turn out to be as useful as codliver-oil, it would be a great advantage, as it is much less disagreeable to take. Glycerine is also used by medical men as an external application ; and where the object is the protection of the skin, it seems to act very favourably. It appears to answer the same purpose as oil in anointing, and with this advan- tage, that not being readily decomposed, it does not emit the unpleasant smell that oil frequently does. Glycerine has many properties that recommend it for use in the arts.* But let us now pass on to the action of the oily and fatty matters on the system. I have classified them with the starch and sugar, because, as I said before, they are maintainers of animal heat and force. There can be no doubt that they perform these functions, and that it is no mere theory; for it is a well- known fact, that where men are exposed to cold, they consume a large quantity of fatty matters. Sir John * See Lecture on Soap and Candles in co-arse on Uses of Animals. ON OIL, BUTTEtt, AND FAT. 101 Franklin, and all Arctic travellers, have recorded their expressions of surprise at the quantity of coarse fat that the people who live in the Arctic regions will take. In his first voyage, Sir John Franklin tells us that he gave to an Esquimaux boy a quantity of tallow candles to see how many he would eat, and it was not until he had eaten 14 lbs, that Sir John became frightened for his store, and gave the boy a large lump of fat pork to get out of the bargain. Even the sailors who go out in these Arctic expeditions use a large quantity of fat, and the food which they principally used, called pemmican, contains as much as 80 per cent, of fat. Our uncooked meat, including pork, does not contain more than from 16 to 50, and our cooked meat not more than 15 per cent, of fat. Generally, the inhabitants of northern climates cat a larger quantity of fatty food than the inhabitants of southern climes. In the northern parts of Russia they get so into the habit of taking coarse fat, that when they come south they cannot do without it. An instance of the desire for this food is recorded in the case of some Russian troops, lying at one of our seaports at the beginning of the present century. The people of the town were surprised to find the oil lamps of the town went out very soon, and this could not be explained, until it was found that the Russian soldiers were in the habit of stealing out in the evening, of climbing up the lampposts and drinking up the oil. In the streets of St. Petersburg they sell meat pies, and a bottle of train-oil is always kept to supply those who may wish with this additional luxury. Throughout the body there is a tissue, which is called adipose tissue, or fat when it is separated. This adipose 102 ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. tissue is present in all healthy animals. It is this tissue which disappears when people are suffering under disease, and they become thin and lean ; and it is the absence of this which makes people grow thin and ugly when they are old. I use this word ugly here in contrast with the beauty produced by the rounded lines of the flesh well stuffed with adipose tissue. Now this tissue lies in little cells, and by a microscope you can easily see these cells, in which the oily matter is deposited (Fig. 2). The uses of this adipose tissue in the system are very manifest. In the first place, it acts as a kind of supply of fuel in times of scarcity j just as we take care in the summer time to fill our coal-cellars with coal for winter use, so it would seem that nature takes care in -Adipose Tissue. *^^ summer time that animals should have large quantities of this fat as a store of fuel for the cold, and we find it deposited on the backs of animals in temperate climates during the summer time. All the ruminantia become fat in summer, and the starch and sugar of the grasses which they take are converted into fat and put upon their backs. Thus the dormouse and the hedgehog, and various animals which hybernate in the winter, become fat in the summer. In their winter sleep, when they get no food, the fat is consumed during their sleep, and they wake up from their long nap thin and lean. A man is fatter in the summer than in the winter. Some persons think they get no fatter in the summer than in winter. Some persons think that they get thinner in ON OIL, BUTTER, AND PAT. 103 summer. But the real consumer of heat is the cold of winter, and just in proportion to the intensity of cold in the winter will be the quantity of fat which is lost ; and the inhabitants of cold climates seldom get fat, for they cannot take enough fat to deposit it in their tissues and keep them warm. This has been proved in this country very conclusively. In prisons they give the same diet in winter and summer, and from careful weighing of the prisoners it has been found that they always weigh most at the latter end of summer and are thinnest at the beginning of March, and so they go on alternating. These facts show that one of the functions of fat is to supply the blood, when destitute of combus- tible materials, with a quantity of fuel for combustion. Then there are other pxirposes which it subserves, such as lightening the body. The fat man, in proportion to his size, weighs lighter than the thin one ; and so it is with animals. WhaleSj dolphins, porpoises, and crea- tures of that sort, are supplied with enormous quantities of fat to enable them to move in the water ; and if it were not for that, they would not be able to pursue their prey or move so rapidly through the water as they do. Fat is also a bad conductor of heat, and enables these cetaceous creatures, which are warm-blooded, although living in the cold waters of arctic oceans, to maintain their high temperature. Was it not for the large mass of fat in their tissues they would die. This is probably the cause of the large quantities of fat deposited in animals which live in cold climates. Their fat acts as a kind of packing for the body. Our muscles would not be so perfect in their action if there was not a .d^e quantity of adipose matter deposited between themj 104 ON OIL, BtJTTEE, AND FAT. and we find in the system wherever there is any want of matter .to make up the rotundity of form, that fat is put in, just as the potter, in sending out his ware, puts in a quantity of straw or wool to keep it from breaking. Fat is also deposited round the joints in considerable quantities, and seems to act there by diminishing friction, just as man adds oil to the moving joints of his machinery. But there is one important action of fat which difiPers entirely from those which I have spoken of, and that is that we find the fat existing in the young of the higher animals, and in all cases where tissues are about to be formed. The muscular and nervous tissues, when they are beginning to grow, are accompanied by fatty matter; oil globules will con- stantly be seen forming a kind of scafi'olding for those cells which contain albumen and fibrine. So that these oily matters are of more importance in relation to the health and maintenance of the tissues of the body than sugar or starch. This fact seems to explain what has recently been made known as a fact, that in certain forms of disease, one of the most efi"ectual remedies which can be given is the oil of animals, more especially codliver-oil. Now, it has been known a long time that the oil of fish would act beneficially in certain forms of disease ; and recent experience has shown that it is more particularly in the disease that is known as con- sumption that this substance acts beneficially. By giving these oils, we supply to the system a larger quantity of fatty matter than is required for combustion, which is deposited in the tissues, and just as persons increase in weight, is their strength and general health improved. It seems to give a power of development to ON OIL, BUTTERj AND FAT. 105 the nervous and muscular system upon which our lives depend. At one tiine it was thought that fish oils were the only oils of service, hut you may give any oil with advantage, provided they can be digested and taken up into the blood. Persons who are getting thin, and especially where this depends on a tendency to con- sumption, mky take fat meat, butter, cream, and salad oil with advantage. Some persons are disgusted with the smell and flavour of codliver-oil, and then it may become of importance to have recourse to olive-oil, almond-oil, butter, cream, or fats. Lately, there has been brought into this country, from Australia, the oil of the dugong, which it is said acts quite as efficiently as codliver- oil. The more favourable action of the fish and animal oils probably depends on their property of being more readily saponified or emulsified in the stomach, so that they are more easily digested. Sometimes fat has a tendency to accumulate in the system. It is one of the objects of the grazier to make his animals fat. He does this not only for the sake of the fat of the animal, but also because the flesh of fat animals is more tender than that of those which are lean. In order to effect this object, he feeds his cattle with food containing fatty matters, and, cteteris paribus, that food which contains most fat wiU have a tendency to produce most adipose tissue. There are two things which greatly contribute to the fattening of animals, and these are quietude and warmth. The history of the prize pigs and fat oxen annually ex- hibited at the Smithfield Cattle Show proves this. The quantity of fat contained in the human body 106 ON OIL, BUTTEll, AND FAT. varies according to circumstances. I have calculated that a man weighing 11 stones, or 154 lbs., should have in his body 12 lbs. of fat. Men, however, weigh very differently according to their height. A man who weighs 154 lbs. and is only 5 feet high, would probably be very fat ; whilst a man standing 6 feet high at that weight would be regarded as thin. Dr. Hutchinson weighed upwards of two thousand men, and found their weight as follows : — Men at 5 feet 1 inch weighed 8 stones 8 lbs. ; at 5 feet 4 inches, 9 stones 13 lbs. ; at 5 feet 8 inches, 11 stones 1 lb.; and at 6 feet, 13 stones 10 lbs. When a man ex- ceeds this weight, it is probably owing to the increase of fat. This increase of size often produces great incon- venience, and leads to serious results. The heart is over-taxed, and it becomes diseased, and fatal conse- quences result. The causes of this fatness are both natural and acquired. ' Some persons, like some breeds of animals, get fat on a diet which produces no such effect in others. But many circumstances, ov^ which people have entire control, tend to produce obesity. Indulgence in alcoholic liquors, the free use of sac- charine and oily foods, sedentary habits, and living in warm rooms, all assist in producing it. Over such habits and practices all persons have more or less control. When people are not unhealthy, avoiding butter at breakfast and bread at dinner is a good rule, with only one glass of wine in the day, and no sugar in tea, coffee, or chocolate. Hard biscuits may be also substituted for hot rolls at breakfast with advantage. Regidar exercise, not excessive, in the open air, should ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. 107 also be taken daily. But, alas ! the obese are generally infirm of will, and perhaps their bodily state is in some measure oonmected with this mental condition; they will not practice the necessary denial till it is too late, Could we but insist on the discipline implied in the sentence, " six, months at the treadmill," how many of our fat friends would avoid the sad penalties of their self-indulgence . Let me now direct your attention to the source of these oils and fats which we take in our food. Now, one of the sources of oils and fats in the system is undoubtedly the starch and sugar which we take. I told you in the last lecture that starch and sugar con- tained a considerable quantity of water. There are 72 parts 'of carbon, 10 of hydrogen, and 80 of oxygen in 163 parts of starch and sugar. In oils and fats, we have 66 parts of carbon, 10 of hydrogen, and 8 of oxygen in 84 parts of fat ; or we will put them thus — Starch. Fat. Carbon 72 66 Hydrogen 10 10 Oxygen 80 8 162 84 So that you see, if we take away some of the oxygen from the first, we shaAl* have the hydrogen left pure for combustion. Now, this change seems to be easily accomplished. When starch and sugar are taken into the system, they are usually decomposed by the action of the oxygen in the blood. The hydrogen is oxidized, and water is formed, whilst the oxygen remains with" the carbon, and forms carbonic acid, which is given ofi"; so that, as Liebig remarks, "no true combustion of 108 ON oil, BUTTER, AND FAT. carbon occurs in the living body, but the carbonic acid is formed by a process of substitution in this case — one of decay or slow oxidation from a body rich in hydro- gen, the hydrogen of which is oxidized and removed, and replaced by one or more equivalents of oxygen." Now, if the supply of oxygen is equal to that of the starch and sugar, there would be no formation of fat ; but, under a variety of natural circumstances, either the oxygen is deficient, or the supply of sugar and starch is redundant. Under these circumstances, other changes go on. We know, for instance, that sugar, when fermented, gives oflF carbonic acid, and yields a substance called alcohol, which is much richer in carbon and hydrogen than sugar. Now, it would appear that a similar process goes on in the animal body ; not, how- ever, a true alcoholic fermentation, but the sugar in the blood loses carbonic acid in such proportions that it becomes converted into fat. It appears that this pro- cess may even take place in the stomach, and that in some persons a kind of fatty fermentation, as we may call it, takes place in the food in the alimentary canal, and leads to an unnatural kind of obesity. There is some evidence to show that this change may go on in the liver, and that the sugar in that organ is con- verted into fatty matter. At any rate, however far we may be from comprehending the exact seat and nature of these changes, there can be little doubt that our starchy and saccharine food is capable of being converted into fat. On this subject there was formerly a dispute between the French and German chemists, the former main- taining that all the fat of the body was derived from ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. 109 fat contained originally in the vegetable food of animals, and they were very diligent in their analysis of all kinds of vegetable food, to. show that it contained fat. Here is a table which gives you the quantities of fat contained in one hundred parts of various kinds of vegetable food — Potatoes 0'2 Wheat-flour 1-2 Barley-meal 0'3 Oatmeal 5'7 Indian-meal 77 Eye 10 Peas 20 Rice 0-7 Beans 2'0 Cocoa 500 Lentils 2-0 Buckwheat I'O Tea 4-0 Coffee 120 Now, if animals, such as calves or sheep, are placed in circumstances to get fat, that is, kept in warm houses, and not allowed to run about and feed with any of their ordinary food, they will have much more fat in their bodies than could be accounted for by the quantity of fat in their food. In this controversy Liebig brought forward the case of the celebrated Strqsburg goose, which is an animal that' has to submit, for the sake of the luxuries of mankind, to a very peculiar operation. It is tied down to a board and put in front of a fire, which ap- pears very cruel; but it does not hinder the animal from getting fat. It is fed with barley-meal, and it thus takes in much more starch than is necessary to maintain its heat, and the consequence is, the starch is converted into fat, and deposited in greatest abundance in the liver. The goose is then killed, the liver is taken out, and these distended livers are the precious morceaux contained in the pdU de foie gras. But there are other cases which seem to establish this great 110 ON OILj BUTTEBj AND FAT. feet. Wax is a sort of fat ; and Professor Milne Edwards took a number of bees, weighed them, and then put them under a glass jar with sugar. The bees were taken at that season of the year when they were making their cells and foi^ming larg'e quantities of wax. Next day he took the comb, and the sugar, and the bees, and weighed them. The bees had neither lost nor gained; but the sugar had lost exactly as much as the wax produced. This shows that the bees had the power of coiiverting the sugar into wax ; and in this experiment we have almost a crucial instance of the fact. Then we may conclude from this, that where fatty matter is not taken in food, there the sugar will be converted into adipose tissue. But then this process is a laborious process to the system, and there seems to be no doubt that it is more easy to supply it directly from the vegetable or animal kingdom, by taking those substances which contain oil or fat. The sources of oil or fat in the vegetable kingdom are very numerous. Besides the articles of food I have before mentioned, a large number of seeds of plants contain oil in large quantities. Let me shortly describe some of these. A source of oil which is extensively employed in this country is the almond {Amygdalus conammii). The seeds of this plant are known in the shops under the name of sweet and bitter almonds. The sweet almonds are eaten alone at dessert, and enter into the composition of cakes, custards, &c. ; but the bitter almonds are employed only for the sake of the peculiar volatile oil they contain. They both, however, contain the bland oil which is sold as almond-oil. It is obtained by expres- ON OILj BTJTTEBj AND FAT. Ill sion from the bruised seeds, which are first blanched. This process consists in removing the skins from the outside of the almond-seed. Almond-oil contains mar- garine, but in less quantity than olive-oil, so that it stands the cold better. The dry remains of the al- monds, after the oil is expressed, is sold for detergent purposes under the name of almond paste. The almond belongs to the same natural order of plants [Amygdalacece) as the apricot, peach, necta- rine, plum, and cherry. The almonds correspond to the seeds or kernels of these fruits, and the shell of the almond is the same organ as the stone of the other fruits. The almond is covered with a dry green shell, which has none of the pleasant flavour of the same part of the^ fruit in the peach and other similar fruits. The chestnut {Castanea vesca) is another seed con- taining a considerable quantity of oil, which is used by man as food. This seed does not come to perfection in this country, although' we have some glorious examples of the tree, especially in Greenwich Park, of which it is the great ornament. The nuts consumed in this country are principally brought from France and Spain. They are usually eaten in this country at dessert or as a pleasant morsel ; but in the south of Europe the peasantry eat them as a substantial article of diet. Various species of plants belonging to the walnut family yield seeds which are eaten in this country, as well as on the continent of Europe and the United States of America. Besides the common walnuts, which are the produce of the Juglans regia, which is com- monly cultivated in Europe, there is the Peccan or 113 ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. Pekan nut, the produce of the Juglans olivceformis, and the hickory-nuts from the Carya alba. The Souari, Swarrow, or butter-nuts, are highly esteemed on account of their pleasant flavour. They are also obtained from a tree belonging to the walnut family called Caryocar butyrosum. These are all the pro- duce of the New World. The Brazil-nuts, which are also brought from the New World, contain a great deal of oil. They are the produce of a plant called Bertholletia excelsa. The seeds are contained in a hard wooden fruit, which is so large and hard in some species of the same family as to give them the name of cannon-ball trees. The Sapucaya-nuts are the produce of a tree helonging to the same -family. The fruit is hard and large, 'and ■ bursts by the removal of a kind of lid, which leaves the rest of the fruit in the form of a cup. These are called monkey-cups. It is said that several monkeys will thrust their hands into these cups, and when each has filled its hand, they cannot get them out again, and as they are too greedy to let go, they are often caught in this way. The hazel-nut is another instance of a seed con- taining oil. " It is the produce of the Corylus avellana. Nut-oil is expressed and used by watchmakers. The hazel is found wild in England, and is also extensively cultivated ; the nuts are then called cob-nuts or filberts. Filbert is a corruption of full beard, a ' name given to the nut from its bracts extending over the fruit. Large quantities are also imported into this country from Spain. In addition to those grown in this country. OW OIL, BUTTER, AND PAT. 113 140,000 bushels are imported, the value of which is about £90,000. The seeds of many of the palms yield fixed oils, especially the palm tree {Elais gumeensis) of Africa. The seed of the cocoa-nut palm {Cocos nucifera) is used as a substantive article of diet in Ceylon, and many parts of the East Indies (Fig. 3). It is im- ported into this coun- try for the sake of the oil it contains. The milk in the interior of the seed is a bland fluid, and, when the nut is fresh-gathered, is a cool and pleasant drink. In the young state the seeds of most palms are filled with a cool fluid consisting mostly of water. This fluid is drunk by the inhabitants of the countries in which they grow. The double cocoa-nut of the Sey- chelles Islands {Lodoicea Seychellaruni) contains some- times as much as fourteen pints of water, and is drunk by sailors touching on these islands with great relish. Even the hard ivory-nut {Phytelephas macro- carpa) contains, when young, a fluid which is drunk by the natives of the countries in which it grows. -^-u y^^'.: — Fig. 3. — Cocos nucifera. 114 ON OlLj B¥TTER, AND FAT. Another seed containing oil is the earth-nut. This is the fruit of a trailing leguminous plant {Arachis hypofftBa,'Fig. 4). It is cul- tivated in Africa and the tropical pacts of Asia and America. The seeds yield a bland oil, which is expressed and eaten as salad-oil. The Fig.i.-Ara^hiahyposi^a. ^^^^ containing the seeds are roasted, and are thus imported into this country, and frequently eaten at dessert. Other seeds less known, and eaten in this coun- try, are the Pistacio nut, the produce of the Pistacia vera, a tree much cultivated in the Greek Islands. It is extensively consumed by the Turks and the Greeks. Then there is the Cashew-nut {Anacardium occiden- tale), from the "West Indies. The shells contain a remarkably acrid oil, which, from a recent case in the criminal courts, seems to be capable of destroying life. It should be roasted before it is eaten, and then it is regarded as a great luxury. Chicha-nuts, pine-seeds, and beech-nuts are also occasionally eaten, on account of the oil they contain. Amongst vegetable foods yielding oil, the cocoa or chocolate plant {Theobrom'a Cacao) is one of the most remarkable. The seeds of this plant contain 50 per cent, of a hard oil or butter. Of the other dietetical pro- perties of this seed I must speak in a future lecture. A bread is made at Gaboon, in Africa, from the seeds of the Mangifera gabonensis, called Dica or Odika bread, an article of diet originally described in the Journal of the Society of Arts, by Mr. P. L. Simonds. ON OILj BUTTER, AND PAT. 115 By simples boiling in water, from 70 to 80 per cent, of fat can be extracted from this bread. In this respect these seeds resemble chocolate, and it is not impossiJ)le that they might be used in Europe in the same way. They are exceedingly abundant in Gaboon. The last plant yielding an edible oil, to which I shall allude, is the Olive {Olea europcea, Kg. 5). This plant is cultivated extensively in France, Italy, and Spain. When the fruit is young it is pickled in salt, and eaten to give a relish to wine. When ripe, the fruit contains oil in great abundance, and it is the only instance I know of any other part than the seed yield- ing a fixed edible oil. The Madia sativa yields oil in all parts of its structure, but this oil is not eaten. Although the olive will grow in this country in the open air, it will not perfect its fruit. Between 11,000 and 13,000 gallons of this oil are annually im- ported into this country. It is called salad-oil, and is principally consumed as a dressing in salads. It is much more largely consumed on the Continent, where it takes the place of butter. It is a very wholesome food, and it would be well if people in this country would cultivate a taste for its use, especially in making salads. In this country these very valuable adjuncts to our food are rendered exceedingly disagreeable; first, by the want of drying the plant used, and in the next, by its I 2 Fig. 5. — Olea europeea. 116 ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. being deluged with vinegar. A salad properly prepared should have the leaves of the plants used dried to such an • extent that they will readily absorb the dressing poured over them, which should consist of two-thirds or three-fourths olive-oil. I need not also add that the oil should not be rancid ; but such is the thorough carelessness with which these articles are put on our tables, that in nine cases out of ten, the oU. is rancid and unfit for use. This, perhaps, accounts for the flood of vinegar to drown its flavour. Then the animal kingdom supplies us with a certain quantity of fatty matter, and the most important source is the milk of the higher animals, which contains 8 per cent, of carbonaceous matter, and 4 per cent, of that is butter. This rises to the top of the milk, and we take it off under the name of cream. The cream is beaten, and a certain quantity of the caseine and water which was in the cream is churned out, under the name of buttermilk. I am not able to distinguish between the action of butter and these oils. It, however, con- tains a substance known by the name of butyric acid, which forms compounds which, in the earlier stages of butter-making, are agreeable to our notions of what is pleasant ; but it is the continued evolution of this butyric acid which makes butter so objectionable when it becomes rancid. In fact, all animal oils have the power of forming butyric acid, and those who have not smelt it may get a vivid idea of it by sniffing train-oil in an advanced state of decomposition. It does not appear to act as a poison, for sometimes persons have been recommended to take codliver-oil when it is rancid. I am not, however, aware that there is any ON OIL, BUTTER, AND FAT. 117 benefit to be got out of rancid oils. In Kamschatka, and many parts of the world wbere they are in the habit of keeping their animal oil a long time before it is consumed, a taste for this rancidity is acquired, and rancid oil is relished more than the fresh oils. The quantity of fat contained in diflFerent kiilds of animal food differs very much. The table to which I now draw your attention will enable you to select your food according to the quantity of fat it contains. The proportion of fat is given for one hundred parts of each kind of food. Milk (cow's) 3-5 „ (human) 3'0 ,, (ass's) 1'5 „ (goat's) 5-0 Pork 50-0 Veal 16-0 Beef 300 Mutton 400 Cheese 250 Salmon 5'0 Herring 6'0 Mackerel 7"0 Soles 0-25 Cod 20 In studying this table we must recollect that the fat in the milk is what we call butter. I would call your attention to the fact that goat's milk is richer in butter than any other milk. Of course, all these substances vary in the quantity of flesh-forming mat- ters they contain. Amongst the meats, pork has the most fat, and veal the least. Amongst the fish, mackerel and herring are those which contain most oil, and soles the least. After saying thus much in favour of oil, I think I ought to say that in some cases it seems to act very injuriously on the sytem. The stomach gets into a state in which the oil of the food is rapidly decomposed, and butyric acid is formed. The stomach rebels at this compound, and tries to get rid of it, and that unplea- 118 ON OIL, BUTTEE, AND FAT. sant taste in the throat is producedj which is called " biliousness." This is the very common fate of those who indulge in hot bread steeped in melting butter, or in food prepared with unctuous sauces. The cure for it is very simple, when the cause is known ; but as long as people think it is bile, they will have recourse to " anti- bilious pills," and the results are an injured stomach, impure blood, serious disease, and not unfrequently an untimely grave. Fio 1 A. Nervous tissue imdcr Tmcroscope. B. Muscular ditto. ON PLE8H-P0RMING EOODS. In this Lecture I shall draw your attention to the flesh-forming groups of food, and you must allow me, to point once more to our tahle of the constituents of food. You will see we first went over the water and the saline substances of food, and then we came to the force-giving foods, and we took up, first, sugar and starch, and then oleaginous matters — the animal and vegetable oils. Now we come to the fourth group, which are those foods that give flesh to the body. We found that the starch and the sugar and the oil were taken into the body for the purpose of maintaining animal heat. We found that some of the oil remained in the system, and formed what we call adipose tissue, but that is not a tissue that performs any "distinguishing vital functions. We do not think by the aid of fat, nor form 120 ON FLESH-FORMING FOODS. the muscles by its assistance. Then to-day I have to speak especially of those substances which, entering into the body, form those tissues by which we think and move. These foods are called nutritious ; and they are not only called nutritious, but also nitrogenous. They are called nitrogenous from the fact of their containing, in addition to carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, — nitrogen in combination. The nitrogen, then, is a distinct element of their composition — hence the term nitro- genous is applied to them. Now, if you will consider for a moment the nature of the processes of nutrition that go on in the body — the nature of the laws of growth and decay — you will see that there must be materials supplied from day to day to enable the body to grow, to be renewed, and, in fact, to live. These processes, then, may be studied quite independent of those which I have mentioned before, which produce animal heat; and they are carried on by the agency of a set of organs which are called the nervous and the muscular systems. When we examine the muscles and the nerves under the microscope, we find them presenting the forms which you see in the accompanying diagrams. (Fig. 1, a and b.) If we take a portion of brain (for brain is nervous matter), or a portion of muscle, and examine them chemically, we shall find that they not only contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but that they contain in addition nitrogen. Thus it is that we find these four elements in those tissues which we believe are essential to what we call vital processes. You see the fatty matter may be introduced into any part of the body quite independently of any necessity for its existence. ON FLESH-FORMING FOODS. 121 Persons may get very fat or very thin, and yet their nerves and muscles act in the same manner. But if the food which supplies nervous matter or muscle is diminished, then they become unable to perform the functions of life. Now these four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, are called organic ele- ments because of their universal presence in the living and growiflg parts of both plants and animals. We have no part of an animal and no part of a plant grow- ing and living, and performing its functions, unless these four elements are present. Hence, when the German poet sang his punch song, he seemed to have had a prescient view of modern chemical research — " Vier Elemente innig gesellt Bilden das Natur bauen die Welt." " Four elements, intimately mixed, form all nature and build up the world." And certainly that is true of the world of organic beings. Now just in the same manner as a fire goes out unless we put on fuel — unless we put on additional material as fuel — so in the case of the action of this muscular and nervous matter we find that the material is exhausted by use. We think by the aid of our brain — of the nervous matter of which it is composed — and in this way every time we think we exhaust or destroy a certain portion of nervous matter; and if we went on thinking, if we went on feeling and perceiving, — exerting this nervous system, — the ner- vous system would at last become entirely exhausted, unless new materials replaced the old ones that were used. During these thinking and perceiving processes 122 ON riESH-FORMING FOODS. the little cells of which it is composed appear to be actually destroyed: so that every time we think we sacrifice a quantity of nervous matter. So it is with the muscles. The muscular matter is composed of little cells, which are united together in the form of fibres, which have the power of contraction, and every time a muscle is used it contracts, and there is a destruction of muscular matter. Just as we have no flaifie from thb candle, nor heat from the fire, without fuel, so we have no nervous action, no thought, no muscular movement, no power, unless there exists the materials of change. Just as in the one case the heating process chemically changes the material on the fire, so the vital processes, incessantly acting in the system, change and consume the materials of our food. But the materials of which we now speak do not pass off directly, as they do in the case of the materials which constitute the food which gives us animal heat. The nervous tissue and the muscular tissue, after they have performed their functions, throw back their tissue into the blood, and it is from the blood that the material is got rid of which has been consumed in the action of the muscular and nervous systems. Now that both muscular and nervous action depend upon the materials of our food, can be easily ascertained by the performance of a very simple experiment. Let a person begin his daily work without his breakfast, and when dinner-time comes go on with his work ; then, whether his work be mental or physical, the missing his food will begin to tell. But let him go on, and what is the con- sequence ? Why, we see at last a time comes when the nerves refuse to do their duty, when sensation is not ON FLESH-FORMING roODS. 123 present, when the brain cannot think, and persons sink into a state of unconsciousness. Not only the nervous system, but the muscular system is affected in this way, until at last the starved man is unable to move hand or foot, and dies. Here, then, lies the necessity for the taking of food ; the materials of which we are composed are constantly passing away. We are in a state of perennial moult, — I use the word moult intentionally. You know that animals throw off certain parts of their body at certain seasons of the year, and we call that moulting. We apply the term to the periodical casting off of their feathers, hairs, and other epidermal appendages. Crabs and lobsters throw off their shell altogether, birds their feathers, and horses their hair ; but in the human being we find this process of moulting is going on con- stantly — our skin rubs off, our mucous membrane wears away, and our internal organs, all of them, disappear by a similar process, so that I calculate a human being loses about the fortieth part of his weight every day, and in this way you will find that the vital organs of the human body are renewed every forty days. Physio- logists formerly supposed that this was a longer process. Taking, for instance, the growth of the hair and nails in certain parts of the body, they supposed that their moulting was the measure of the duration of every part of the body; but if you examine this subject, and calculate the quantity of food we take every day, you will see the period cannot be longer than forty days, in which we take in a bulk of food equivalent to the mass of our bodies, and that this must have passed away in order to make room for the new matters. Thus there is not only a necessity for taking in food 124 ON FLESn-FOEMING FOODS. which m'aintains the heat of the body, but there is a necessity for taking the food which maintains the functions of the nervous and muscular sys|;ems. Then this waste of which I have been speaking is the result of the activity of our nervous and muscular systems, and the material for its production is supplied, not by the starch, nor by the sugar, nor by the water, nor by the fat which we take as food, but by the sub- stances of which I am now more particularly to speak. There are two sources of this kind of food : the first is the vegetable world, and the secoud is the animal world. But I shall have to show you here that the vegetable — the plant — is the original source of these substances; for, although we take them from animals, they have first obtained them from plants. Thus the ox and the sheep, which we consume in the form of beef and mutton, have not fed on flesh; they have fed on the grass of the field, on hay, on oats^ on peas and beans, on vegetable products, and it is from plants they have derived the flesh which we consume as food. Let us now see what these substances are composed of. I say they are identical in plants and animals, — animals deriving them from plants, — and they undergo little or no change when taken into the animal system. We take certain substances from plants and animals, and find that they are identical in composition, and that whether we take them from the plant or the animal is a matter of indifference, provided we digest them and make them into blood. Now the substances which we thus use as food possess considerable chemical interest, and present considerable variations in animals and plants, but I must refer you to ON FLESH-FOBMING FOODS. 125 chemical manuals for a fuller account of them than I can give here. The three most important forms which they assume in our food are called albumen, fibrine, and caseine. These substances are found in both the animal and. vege- table kingdoms. Letus speak first of albumen. Albumen is a substance which is known to exist in the animal king- dom, and we are famiharly acquainted with it as contained in the white of the egg ; that is one source of it which is very commonly known, and therefore I speak of it first. And also on this account : that a property which this albumen possesses is well exemplified in the very common process of boiling an egg. You know after you have broken the shell of a boiled egg you get the outside hard and white j now that outside consists of albumen, the inside yellow part called the yolk, also consists principally of albumen, and exhibits the property of coagulating by heat. There are some other places in which albumen is found in the animal system. It is this form of nitrogenous matter which is taken up into the system to form the nervous substance, and with it are formed all those delicate organisms which are called nerves. Nervous matter consists of about 7 per cent, of albumen, not a very large quantity, but still this matter must be regarded by us as an intensely interesting product, because it is the material by which we are put in relation with the external world. It is this which enables us to see, to hear, to taste, to smell, and to feel. It is this which enables us to think, to feel, and to be conscious of our existence. All this depends upon the condition of the albumen in our system. Although we may sit at our breakfast partaking of the daily egg, thinking of otner things, yet the laws by 126 ON FLESH-FORMING POOD. which the egg becomes the source of our thought is worth a little cousideration. Another source of albumen in the animal kingdom is the blood which circulates through thfe system of animals. It is composed of water, of albumen, and of fibrine — of water principally. If we say fibrine about one quarter per cent., albumen 7 per cent., globules and salts 13 per cent., and water 80 per cent., you have an approximation to its real composition. From this you wiU see the importance of albumen. It is the material out of which all our organs axe formed. Albumen is not, however, confined to the animal kingdom. I have said all animals must obtain this substance from the vegetable kingdom, and we accord- ingly find it in plants. Although it is not so often present among plants as fibrine and caseine, yet we find it sufficiently frequent to be able to identify it. It is not, however, necessary to supply this substance in its pure form in order to have it deposited in the body. In the stomach there is a power of converting caseine and fibrine into albumen. The albumen that is introduced into the stomach is cooked, deprived, as it were, of the vital property, and therefore it has to be revitalised, made again into albumen and a living substance, and it is then that it is taken up into the blood. It is the same with fibrine and caseine. Then, I say, there are some plants which contain albumen. Here I have a series of analyses containing the quantities of the flesh-forming matters, the pro- duce of various kinds of food, and you will find that some of them contain albumen. ON FLESH-FOBMINC FOODS. 137 00 o OO 1-* i-H CO CO CO o o T-H CO t^ * •* CO (M I-H rH l-H i-t cq ° 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 ID So oo o *^ O > (N A Tjl CO o •^ ■^ -^ l> IH T-H ^_, T-t O B4 ° 1 I 1 1 1 rH t 1 1 1 1 n ^* iW OS CO CO t ia Ofl er> 1 i-i CO 5 ■ N ^ O OS t^ OO oa lO iO 00 if not greater than, any other which Providence has placed in the hands of man for the purpose of combat- ing disease. I will not here detail my experience ; but I hope one day to give yqu some further account of the action of this agent in disease. Perhaps of all substances used by man as food, alcohol is most frequently taken as a Luxury. I mean by luxury, that it is consumed, not as an essential of life, but as the minister of sensuous pleasure and gratification. That certain things which are not necessary for our existence or comfort may be thus lawfully employed I think there can be no doubt, when we see how abun- 210 ON ALCOHOL. dantly the kind Father of all has provided for the enjoy- ment of that which is pleasurable, whether it addresses the eye, the ear, the taste, or the touch. What painting is to the eye, and music to the ear, sweet and pleasant flavours are to the taste. In all nations and in all climes man has indulged in the pleasures of the palate. Wine and strong drink was the promise of the prophet of God to His people for obedience to His laws. The Psalmist thanked God for the wine that made his heart glad. Our blessed Saviour wrought His first recorded miracle on earth to contribute to the pleasure of the guests at a wedding feast ; and we cannot but recognise this as one of the most important relations in which alcohol stands to man. In the terrible power which this substance possesses of drawing man from the obedience he owes to the laws of God, we may, perhaps, see one reason why man is permitted to employ it. It may be that he is thus reminded that he is expected to exercise the greatest vigilance and self-control when he is enjoying the highest pleasure. It may be that this is a part of that discipline which we. have to go through whereby we may strengthen those volitions which give the highest character to man. I have said also that alcohol is a Poison. In com- mon with other things which we take as food, as com- mon salt and oxalic acid, it is a poison. In common with many medicine'^ it is a poison. Taken in an over- dose it kills as quickly as strychnia or arsenic. It may act as a slow poison by oft-repeated small doses; but this is no argument against its use. Many substances, when taken in small quantities, act as invigorating medicines on the system, which, when taken in large ON ALCOHOL. 211 quantities, destroy life. This shows us how careful we need be in its employment, and how necessary it is for all who take it, or are responsible for the admi- nistration of it to others, to know the nature of its action upon the system. I have endeavoured to give you in this lecture an explanation of the action of alcohol on the system, and I trust that every one who hears me will remember how potent an agent it is for good or for evil. It would be better for those who cannot resist its seductive influence that they had never tasted it. It would be better for the world that it had never been known, unless it is employed rationally and with a sense of the respon- sibility it involves. It is one of the temptations that daily beSet us in life, and from the evil influence of which we should daily pray to be delivered. It is one of those creatures of a kind Providence by the abuse of which we bring down upon ourselves an everlasting curse, and by the right use of which our highest and best feelings may be kindled towards the Maker and Giver of all good. ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. Having drawn your attention in the last lecture to alcohol, I will now proceed to speak of those beverages of which it is the most distinguishing ingredient. Although the various liquids which we drink under the names of beer, wine, and distilled spirits have very different flavours and properties, yet they all agree more in the possession of alcohol as a constituent than in any other property. I would caution you, however, against supposing that the quantity of alcohol these beverages possess alone determines their price or con- sumption. I calculate that in the form of beer the alcohol costs on an average about twopence an ounce, in the form of ardent spirits it costs from threepence to sixpence an ounce, whilst in the form of wines it costs from sixpence to two shillings an ounce. It is p 2 214 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. very clear, therefore, that these beverages possess other properties than those depending on their containing alcohol. It has been suggested that the alcohol itself may be different in character in these beverages; but, as far as its chemical composition goes, this would appear to be impossible. Alcohol, like water and a hundred other chemical compounds, has a fixed and definite character, and would not be alcohol were its properties so changed as to produce different effects on the system. I have suggested that alcohol, on being temporarily mixed with water, may be in a different physical condition as compared with its state in wines and beers, and may thus produce a different effect on the membranes of the stomach. But we have no evi- dence that the alcohol itself differs in the composition of the various forms of fermented beverages. It will be, therefore, my task, in this lecture, to draw attention to those other constituents which enter into the composition of beer, wines, and spirits, and which seem to modify to a very considerable ex- tent the action of alcohol, and which also address themselves to the palate, and constitute the basis on which the choice of these substances as articles of diet depends. I begin with Beer, as the beverage which is most com- monly drunk by the large mass of the people in this country, and also as a good example of the modifying influence which other agents exert upon alcohol in a beverage. The practice of making a fermented liquor from wheat or barley seems to have been known from an early period among mankind. Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians made a fermented drink from bar- ON WINESj SPIRITS, AND BEER. 215 ley, and Tacitus states that the Germans made an intoxicating liquor from wheat and barley. In our own country beer appears to have been made, at a very early period, from wheat; but the beer manu- factured in Germany, under the name of "mum," was preferred, and it was not till the reign of Queen Anne, when a duty of fifteen shillings a barrel was put on Brunswick mum, that brewing, as a trade, began to flourish in this country. We are now the greatest brewers in the world, and the extent of the production of beer at present in England is something almost fabulous. All beers, ales, and porters are manufactured from malt, which is usually produced from the parched grain of the germinating b9.rley. It can, however, be made from the dried germinating grain of wheat and other seeds. The fact is, any substance containing sugar may be made to yield a wort or solution, which may be fermented and converted into ale or beer. Sugar and water, with the addition of ginger, is largely used in this country, for the purpose of making what is called ginger-beer. The seeds of all plants contain starch, either in their albumen or their cotyledons. (Fig. 1.) "When a seed is cast into the ground or placed in contact with mois- ture the little embryo or young plant begins to grow or germinate. As the young plant grows the starch is converted into sugar. This conversion of starch into sugar takes place under the influence of a nitrogenous principle contained in the seed, which is called diastase, and the process is very similar to that which takes place when starch is converted into sugar by contact 316 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. with the saliva in the mouth. The sugar in the seed is intended for the nourishment of the young plant, and it is at the period when the sugar is most abun- dant in the germinating seed, that the vital changes are put a stop to by heat, and malt is formed. In this country the whole process of malting is carried on under vexatious excise regulations, which prevent to a considerable extent any improvement in the circumstances under which it is produced. Bar- ley is the grain that is usually employed, although the law does not forbid the use of wheat should the maltster wish to employ it, but barley-malt makes a more agreeable beverage than that from wheat. The business of malting is carried on in large buildings called malthouses, in which arrangements are made for the growth of the barley and its conversion into malt. The grain of the barley is first steeped in cold water for a period lof not less than forty hours. After the steeping it is thrown upon the floor of the malt- house to a depth of about sixteen inches, which is called the couch. It is allowed to remain in this situation for twenty-six hours. It is then turned by means of wooden shovels, and the depth of the couch is somewhat diminished. This process is repeated twice a day or oftener, and the depth of the barley is gra- dually diminished. In this state the barley absorbs oxygen from the air, and gives out carbonic acid, the temperature of the barley in the mean time being greatly increased, so that it stands at a temperature of ten degrees above the external atmosphere. This has sometimes been regarded as a genuine respiratory pro- cess going on in the young plant, but it seems rather ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BKER. 217 to arise from a process of decomposition going on in the constituents of the seed, and to resemble the giving out of heat that takes place in any heap of decomposing vegetaible matter. It is probable that the nutrition of the young plant is carried on by the agency of the carbonic acid thus given off, and that this decomposition of the seed is a provision for sup- plying it with this food before it can obtain it from external sources. At the time this part of the process is going on, the barley gives out an agreeable odour, like that of apples, and becomes covered with moisture. The appearance of this moisture is called sweat- ing. If the grains of barley are examined at this stage it will be found that the young embryo has begun to send down its rootlets or radicles — these are three in number — and shortly after the little plumule (Fig. 1) which is to become the stem appears. This is called the acrospire ; but the process of growth is arrested before it pushes itself beyond the surface of the grain. The interior of the grain by this time has undergone consider- able change, its colour has become whiter, ' and from being firm and dense it has become loose, and crumbles to powder between the fingers. The grain is now taken to the kiln. Fig, l. and exposed to a heat of 90°, which is gra- W |^^^^- dually increased to 140° or even higher, (o) Aibmien It is then cleared of the rootlets, and is named malt. If we now examine the grain, we shall find that a great change has taken place in its Bahmt. Matt. 3 1 4 16, 5 li 88 69 100 100 318 ON WINES, SPIRITSj AND BEER. chemical composition. Dr. Thomson gives the follow- ing analysis : — Gluten Sugar Gum... Starch This is not, perhaps, a very accurate analysis, hut it will give you an idea of the changfes which take place during the process of germination. Brewers use three kinds of malt, which are known as pale or amber malt, brown or plain malt, and roasted or black malt. The first only is fermentable, the second is employed to give flavour to beer, and the last is employed as a colouring matter, to give a dark colour to porters and stouts. The two last malts are made by carrying the roasting process so far as to destroy the sugar; whilst in the black malt it is charred by the heat to which it is exposed. You see, then, that malting is an elaborate process, adopted for the preparation of the sugar which is to be converted into alcohol during the process of brewing. But before describing this process, let me call your atten- tion to the plant which is added to the beer, and which at the present day gives to beer and ale their universal distinction. This plant is the hop — one of the most elegant and ornamental of all the plants which man cultivates for his use. The history of its first use as an addition to the fermented wort of barley is lost in obscurity. You will find a most interesting and learned account of all that is known of the history of this ON WINESj SPIRITS, AND BEEB. 219 plant in " Beckman's History of Inventions." It grows wild in Great Britain, and is indigenous in most countries in Europe. It belongs to the same group of plants as the nettle, the hemp, the mulberry, and the fig. It is a climbing plant, with rough leaves, and has its stamens on one plant and its pistils on another. The part that is used in making beer is the head, or cone, which contains the pistils. (Fig. 2.) This is com- Fig. i.—Hop Plant. posed of a number of bracts or scales, which are green, and at the base of each is seated the pistil containing the seed. Surrounding the pistil are a number of little grains, which may be easily removed, and it is found that all the active properties of the hop are contained in these grains. They have been called lupuline, and are separated for medicinal use. Lupuline is composed of resin 55 parts, lignine 32, a bitter extract called lupulite 10 parts, and a volatile oil 2 parts. The lupulite and the oil give to the hops their bitterness and aroma. Great medicinal virtues have been attributed to hops; and we are told they are "tonic, febrifuge, anthelimentic, antelithic, and hypnotic" But with the exception of the tonic action of the bitter extract. 220 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEEE. these virtues are altogether doubtful. In estimating, therefore, the action of the hop and the malt, it appears to me that this is the only action that need be re- garded ; and I may add, that I believe the same effect might be obtained by many other and less costly bitter extracts. But, fhen, the Government gets a revenue out of hops, and you are obliged to drink your beer with hops in it. That our beers and ales will improve, as all other departments of manufacture have done, when the Government can afford to give up the beer licence, the malt tax, and the hop duty, I have not the least doubt. The worst feature of all taxes of this kind is, that they embarrass industry, and prevent improve- ment, and eventually, I beHeve, damage the revenue in other directions. Hops seem to have been cultivated in Germany in the 11th or 12th century; but they appear not to have been known in England till a much later period. They were at first considered a dangerous thing, as most good things have been, and the planting of them was forbidden in the reign of Henry VI. In 1530 Henry VIII. issued an order forbidding the servants of his household to add hops or sulphur to his beer. Later than this the Common Council of London petitioned Parliament against the use of hops, "in regard that they would spoyl the taste of drinks, and endanger the people." So much for malt and hops. Now let us begin to brew. In this process the first operation is to grind the malt, which is done either by millstones or iron roUers. The grist thus produced has now to be masJied. For this purpose the malt is put into a mashtub, and then ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BBBB. 221 hot water is let in upon it and run off by taps from the bottom of the mashtub. Successive quantities of hot water are thus run through the malt, and the worts thus pbtained are mixed together, and introduced into a large copper. The hops are now added and the liquor is boiled. After boiling, the liquor is strained from the hops and let into vessels to cool. When brought down to a proper point, they are passed into the fermenting tun. Here a quantity of yeast is added » and when the fermentation has brought down the quantity of sugar to a certain point, the yeast is cleared away, and this process is called cleaning. The beer is now run into vats or casks, which is called racking. It is still, however, thick and muddy, and a solution of gelatine or isinglass is added, for the purpose of clearing or fining it. The beer is now bunged up, and it is ready for use at various periods. Now beer can be made to vary greatly in its quality according to the way in which this process of brewing has been carried on. Of course, the stronger the wort the more sugar, and the more alcohol as the result ol fermentation, ^nt you may carry the fermentation up to various points. You may make, at first, a sweet beer or ale by stopping the fermentation, but which eventually shall become very strong by age and fer- mentation. Such are our sweet ales, and ales that get strong by keeping. By carrying on the fermenta- tion you may exhaust all the sugar, and by using malt free from gum you get a clear pale ale, and by adding a larger quantity of hops, our pale bitter ales are produced. The fermentation of these ales being over, they can be sent to a distance : hence the practice of 222 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. sending such, ale to India. They are, however, gene- rally strong ales, on account of the completeness of their fermentation, and are objectionable on that account. I find that our ordinary bottled pale ale contains more alcohol than hock, claret, or Moselle wines, and as much as Burgundy. The brewing of the pale and bitter ales for the Indian market has led to a great change in public taste for beer, and milder pale and bitter ales are extensively brewed for domestic consumption. My own conviction is, that an immense benefit has accrued from this, as the strong and sweet ales for- merly drunk were objectionable on many accounts. In the first place, they caused a greater consumption of alcohol than was beneficial ; and in the next place, the sugar became a source of disorder and disagree- ment in the stomach. The increased quantity of hop also secures in the mUd bitter ales a tonic effect which is very beneficial. For habitual consumption in families the mild bitter ale, with not more than half an ounce of alcohol in the pint, is to be commended above all others. London porter, of which prodigious quantities are consumed daily in this metropolis, is coloured with the black malt. It contains about three quarters of an ounce of alcohol in the pint, and more sugar and less hops than the pale ales. It is, however, miserably drugged in 'the public-houses. Its strength is reduced by water, and its qualities are brought up again by treacle, liquorice, and salt, and various narcotic agents are added to make up for the loss of akohol. To such a condition has the porter-drinking population been ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 223 brought, that they do not know genuine porter when they drink it, and having acquired a taste for its wretched substitute, they reject the unadulterated article. Stout is only a stronger form of porter. Good draught stout contains one ounce and a half of alcohol in the pint. All beers, ales, and porters may be bottled; and this is done before the active fermentation is over, so that this process engenders in the bottled liquid a quantity of carbonic acid gas, which converts the stouts and porters which contain a great quantity of gum into one mass of froth. It is not quite so bad in the pale ale, but here it is not uncommon to lose half the ale by its seething over the glass when poured from the bottle. Bottled ales are generally stronger than those on draught ; and with some persons the frothing state of the beer seems to agree better than the less lively con- dition of that from the cask. It is the same with wines and water; and carbonated waters and effervescing wines have the same recommendation. I have not time to dwell on the varieties of beers, ales, and porters sold in this country. But they differ very much ; and the impossibility of brewing the same beer in two different districts is an interesting fact. One of the most remarkable facts of this sort is the generally acknowledged excellence of the Burton beers. Now it appears there is only one condition at Burton that causes its beer to differ from all others, and that is, the presence in the water of a certain quantity of sulphate of lime. My friend. Dr. Letheby, has 224 ON WINES, SPIKITSj AND BEER. pointed out that this is the real cause of the success of the pale ale breweries of Burton. He says, such water will not extract the saccharine and albuminous matters of malt so fully as others, and that this is desirable in the manufacture of pale ales. I would, however, bear my testimony to the great intelligence and care with which the great pale ale breweries are conducted at Burton-on-Trent. Such prevision and intelligence brought to bear on the minutest details of a great manufactory, cannot fail to be productive of the best results. Then you see, from what I have stated, the beers contain water, alcohol, sugar, and the bitter principle of the hop. In addition to these things, beer always contains a certain quantity of acid. This acid is acetic acid, or vinegar. It is naturally produced by the exposure of the alcohol to the action of the oxygen of the air. The change that takes place is the conver- sion of alcohol, which is a hydrated oxide of ethyle into acetic acid, which is a hydrate of the teroxide of acetyle. This is sometimes called the acetous fer- mentation ; but it is not a process like fermentation, but an oxidation or slow combustion of the alcohol. This process goes on in beer after it has been put in the cask, and it is in this way that beer gets sour. In some parts of the country the beer is preferred a little tart ; but in proportion as it gets acid it loses strength. The hops suspend this process ; and bitter beer is much less liable to this change than sweet beers. The same changes occur in wines, especially sweet wines; and an extensive manufacture of vinegar from wine is carried on. ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEEU. 225 I now come to speak more particularly of "Wine. The term wine is generally applied to fermented liquors to which no additional ingredient is added. Thus the fermented wort of malt is called malt-wine when hops are not added. The term wine is, however, specially applied to the fermented juice of the grape. Of all fruits, this one affords the best material for making wine, and there is a curious chemical reason for this which I may at once explain to you. The various fruits which can be fermented and made into wines contain organic acids. Now these acids vary in che- mical composition and flavour. Thus in apples and pears we have malic acid, in oranges citric acid, and gooseberries, currants, and other fruits, also citric acid, mixed with some other acid. Grapes also contain tartaric acid. These acids do not exist in these fruits in a pure form, but in combination with the alkalies or earths forming salts. These salts are super-salts, that is, they contain a superabundance of the acid, and taste acid in the mouth. With one exception these salts are soluble in water, and that exception occurs in the grape. When the tartaric acid of the grape combines with two proportions of the acid to one of potash it forms an insoluble salt known as supertartrate of potash or cream of tartar. It is the, formation of this salt in the wine made from the grape that causes the deposition of a large quantity of the tartaric acid, and the wine is thus prevented from tasting too sour. In the case of other fruits, the acid remains in the wine, and renders neces- sary the addition of sugar to take away the excessive acidity. This gives to other wines an objectionable character. What are called British wines, made from 226 ON WINESj SPIRITS, AND BEER. the fruits of the. currant, gooseberry, or the orange, require the addition of sugar in order to take away the sourness of the acids they contain. The grape vine {Vitis vinifera), from the fruits of which wine is made, seems to have been one of the earliest useful plants known to man. The first recorded history of the employment of wine is found in the account of Noah's drunkenness. From that time re- ference to this beverage is frequently made in the Bible, and we find amongst the early nations of antiquity that it was the most generally known form of fermented beverages. Like most extensively-cultivated plants, it is very difficult to ascertain of what country the vine is origi- nally a native. It is among the j)lants of which we have the earliest records in the Books of Moses, and from which it appears to have been made use of in the same manner as at the present day. Although the vine is found in many places of Judaea wild, it may still be doubted whether it is indigenous there, on account of its frequent cultivation. There seems to be little doubt of its being truly indigenous in the East, in the district between the Black and Caspian Seas. In the forest of Mingrelia and Imiretia it flourishes in all its magni- ficence, climbing to the tops of the highest trees, and bearing bunches of fruit of delicious flavour. In these districts no cultivation of the vine exists, and the inha- bitants seldom harvest the abundance of the fruit that is produced. It is not probable that these vines are the remains of former vineyards, as plants mostly dege- nerate when they become wild after cultivation, which is not at all the case with these grape vines. It is ON WINES, SPIHITS, AND BEER. 227 probable that the wild vines found along the borders of the Caspian Sea, throughout Persia, in the north of China, and in the Deccan and Cashmere, are all indigenous, although the plant is cultivated in these districts. In many spots in France, Germany, Portugal, and Italy, the vine is found wild, but the fruit is very generally of an inferior kind, and it is probably not indigenous in any part of Europe. We have no accounts of the introduction of the vine into Greece. It was evidently cultivated there before the time of Homer, and is supposed to have been later introduced into Italy, and the Romans probably spread it through the north of Europe, and introduced it into Great Britain. Bede, writing in 731, says there are vineyards growing in several places. These vineyards in Great Britain were generally connected with mo- nasteries,' as the inhabitants of those places paid great attention to the cultivation of fruit. When monastic institutions were abolished, vine- yards very generally disappeared in this country, probably both on account of there being no monks to attend to them, and better wine being obtained from the fruit of other countries. Much has been written about the reintroduction of vineyards into Great Britain. There can be no doubt that grapes could be produced in abundance, and acquire a certain degree of ripeness in this country ; but our clouded skies and high latitude must prevent the production of fruit in this country equal to that of the lower latitudes, and under the brighter skies of the continent of Europe. The cultivation of the vine extends from near 5'}" Q 228 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. north latitude to the equator, but in south latitudes it only extends as far south as 40°. It is cultivated at various elevations. In Middle Germany it ceases from about 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the level of the sea. On the south side of the Alps it reaches 2,000 feet ; in the Apennines and Sicily 5,000 feet ; and on the Himalaya as high as 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. The point of the gijeatest impor- tance in the ripening of the fruit of the vine is the length of the summer. Thus, although the maximum of summer heat is as great at Moscow as in Paris, yet the vine will not ripen its fruit in the former place ; and this arises from the fact that although the greatest heat of the months of June and July are as great as that of Paris, the months of August and Sep- tember are several degrees below. Nor will the mean temperature serve as a rule to indicate where the vine may be cultivated. England has a mean temperature as high as many parts of the world where the vine flourishes in the greatest perfection; but it will be found that although England is warmer than these countries in the wintel-, it is not so warm in the months of September and October, at which time the vine is ripening its fruit. The vine will bear any degree of heat, and is cultivated in some districts close to the equator. It will not, however, bear heat combined with moisture, and the fruit in European countries is never so good in wet seasons. This, then, will account for the different points of latitude at which the vine ceases to be cultivated in Europe. In France it extends as far as 49° north latitude on the western borders of the Seine. In England, although much cultivated, the ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 239 fruit seldom ripens properly in tlie open air. At Berlin, in 53° north latitude, the fruit is poor. Konigsberg has a north latitude of 54° 42', and is the extremest point at which the vine can ripen fruit. On the Rhine its cultivation extends down to Cologne, and even Diissel- dorf. Throughout the middle and south of Europe, to the borders of the Mediterranean, between the Black and Caspian Seas, in Astrachan, in the north of China, in Hindostan, throughout Persia, along the borders of the Euphrates, in Syria, Lower Egypt, Abyssinia, and in Barbary, the vine is cultivated. In the New World, both in North and South America the vine flourishes. In South America, it is cultivated and used for making brandy and wine at Guyaquil-Pisco, in the northern provinces of Chili, at Valparaiso, and is found at Val- davia in the fortieth degree south latitude. On the other side of the continent, at Buenos Ayres, and in various parts of Brazil, it is extensively cultivated. In North America its culture is known to extend as far as 37° north latitude on the Ohio, and on the north-west coast as far as St. Francisco, in 38° north latitude. The vine is also growing now in the southern paits of New Holland and has been introduced from America into the Sandwich Islands. The fruit of the vine is used as an article of diet in several ways. Its agreeable sweet acid flavour, when ripe, has always rendered it a very desirable food when fresh. The ancients also, there can be but little doubt, were in the habit of drinking the expressed juice of the gi'ape before fermentation. Grapes are also dried and used under the name of raisins. The drying is generally effected by cutting half through the fruit stalk while Q 2 230 ON WINES, SPIKITS, AND BEER. they are suspended ou the tree. Grapes thus dried are called muscatel raishiSj and are principally brought from the Levant and from Spain. There is another dried grape used much in this country, called currants or Corinths, but which are very different things from the common currants of our gardens, and are the pro- duce of a vine which grows in Zante and Cephalonia. Eaisins and currants contain less water than fresh grapes, and when eaten alone they are liable to produce indigestion. The most extensive use of the grape is for the pur- pose of making wine. In an unripe state the juice of the grape contains malic, citric, and tartaric acids, bitartrate of potash, sulphates of potash, and lime, with other inorganic salts in less proportion, a little colouring and extractive matter. As the fruit ripens, gum makes its appearance, and grape sugar is formed at the expense probably of the citric and tartaric acids. When ripe, the principal ingredients are sugar, gum, malic acid, and bitartrate of potash. With its extensive cultivation, it is not to be won- dered at that a great number of varieties should be described. The lists from the vineyards of the Continent and from the forcing-houses of England give several hundreds. In most of them the principal difference consists in the form and colour of the fruit, and the shape and clothing of the leaves. So great is the difference in some cases, that Professor Link of Berlin is of opinion that all our cultivated grapes are the products of the hybridization of several species. Independent, however, of any externally different characters, there is great variety observed in the wines ON WINESj SPIRITSj AND BEER. 231 they produce, which depend on causes that have hitherto escaped observation. There are instances of the same variety of vine being planted on the side of a hill or mountain, and the wine which is the produce of the grapes from the highest parts of the mountain will differ essentially from the wine which is the produce of the grapes of the lower parts of the mountain. The wines known by the names of Johannisberg and Ru- descheimer, in Germ'any, are the produce of vines growing close together, and resembling each other in external characters. The vineyards also that produce the Leistenwein, Wurzberger, and Steinwein, are very near to each other. It has been supposed that this difference is owing to the composition of the soil, but much is undoubtedly due to the care which is taken in preserving the fruit from the influence of adverse circumstances. Thus, with regard to the vineyard of Johannisberg, which produces the most costly wine in the world, it is well known that it is surrounded by a wall that protects the grapes from the cooling and dis- quieting influence of winds, and all that requires attention during the culture of the grape is ensured in these magnificent vineyards. The fruit of the grape is either purple or white, and the grapes have various sizes and are of very different^ flavours, but these points are but of little importance in the manufacture of wines. The purple grapes do not necessarily make red wines, nor do the white grapes make white wines. Although the flavour of some grapes is so strong as to give a taste to the wine, as in the case of the muscat grape, yet the flavours of wines are independent of the flavours of grapes. 23'Z ON WINESj SPIRITS, AND BEER. When wine is to be made, the grapes are gathered and placed in vessels from which their juice is expressed by pressure. The juice before it is collected is called must. Of course it consists principally of water, which holds in suspension and solution a variety of substances. The chief of these is sugar — sugar in that form which is called glucose, grape, or fruit sugar.* Then we have gum, fat, wax, albumen, and gluten, tartaric acid free, and tartaric acid combined with potash as cream of tartar ; we have also racemic acid, malic acid, and malate of lime, and then there are varying quantities of salts, as the oxides of manganese and iron, sulphate of potash, common salt, phosphate of lime, and even silicic acid. Thus you see this must is a very compound substance, but the three things of most importance in relation to wine-making are the water, the sugar, and the albumen and gluten. The quantities of these ingredients vary in different seasons, and this will account for the difference in the wines made from them. Quantity, however, does not always indicate the difference that will be found in the wine. There may be much sugar, but it may not ferment well, or the grapes may be damaged so as to interfere with the fermentation, but generally the quantity of sugar is an indication of the goodness of the grape, and its fitness for making wine. Grapes are in best condition for making wine when the summer is hot and the season dry in which they are gathered. The heat and light of the sun principally develope the saccharine qualities of the grape. But however much * See Iiecture III. ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEEK. 233 sugar there may be, if the grapes are wet, or get mouldy or decayed before they are gathered, the fermentation is imperfect, and the wines are weak, and sour, and flavourless. This is why there are bad wine, good wine years, and middling wine years. Thus it is known that the good Port wine years have been, for this century, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1806, 1810, 1811, 1815, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1827, 1830, 1834, 1840, 1842, and 1850. In the same way lists can be made out of Prench and German wines, and it is curious to observe that the good years of one wine are frequently the bad years of another. One of the great difficulties of the wine-maker is to get the must at the right time, and if the grapes have not all ripened equally, this is a great difficulty. If the grapes are gathered too soon the Wine becomes sour and hard when old. If they are gathered too late, they ferment in the cask, and also become sour, but from the very opposite reason of the sourness which comes on when the grapes are gathered too soon. The quantity of sugar in grape juice varies from 13 to 30 per cent. When the fermentation is complete, the whole of this sugar is converted into alcohol. The proportion which the alcohol forms to the sugar is about as 1 to 2, so that we may reckon that the wine will contain half as much alcohol as the must contained sugar. This is generally true of the unbrandied wines of France and Germany. In seasons when the must is deficient in sugar, cane-sugar or raisins are added to it in order to increase the quantity of alcohol, but this destroys the flavour of the wine. After the juice of the grape has passed from the wine- 834 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. press, it is placed in vats, where the process of fermentation is allowed to take place. It is not necessary to add a ferment to the juice of the grape, as the nitrogenous matters contained in it speedily enter into a state of change, which is communicated to the sugar, and the result is the production of alcohol by the series of changes which I mentioned in my last lecture. During this process the juice becomes more turbid, hubbies of carbonic acid gas appear in it, and a froth or scum is formed upon its surface. It becomes more liquid by the conversion of the sugar into alcohol, and various matters which were at first held in solution are now thrown down. The fermentation goes on more or less rapidly according to the temperature. It is more rapid in high than in low temperatures, and generally attains its height in three or four days. In this state it continues for some days longer, and when clear it is run off into another vessel, in which a diminished amount of fermentation goes on for some months. The wine is drawn off from these vessels into casks, in which it is kept till it is bottled. Now I might detain you here to speak of the treatment of wine after it is put in bottles. It is put into bottles for the sake of keeping it, and the placing these bottles in some safe and convenient place called a cellar is technically called cellaring. .Some wines are not much improved by bottling at all, and these you may drink directly from the cask. In wine countries it is not an uncommon thing to drink the wine directly from the cask as we do beer. This is more especially done with the weaker and cheaper wines, and wine is occasionally thus consumed in this country. " Wine ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 235 from the wood" is sold in some of our wine shops. Inferior red wines, sherries, and Marsala, are said to improve more whilst on tap in the cask than when bottled. Weak wines cannot be kept long in the cask without a danger of the oxygen of the air converting their hydrated oxide of ethyle (alcohol) into the hy- drated tri-oxide of acetyle (vinegar), which is a result very much to be avoided by those who attach im- portance to the flavour or strength of their wines. Wine in casks gets altered by the evaporation of the water and the alcohol into the air, and also by the absorption of one or the other by the wood. These changes cannot happen when the wine is put into glass bottles. Wine can thus be kept longer in bottles without change than in wood. , There is a notion that wine gets stronger by keeping, but this is erroneous. If fermentation goes on a little more sugar would be converted into alcohol, but this is not large even in the case of efi'ervescing wines. It is, therefore, a false notion that wine gets stronger by keeping. Strong wines un- doubtedly keep best. Wines get altered by keeping, and they get weaker by keeping. They should not be kept in hot cellars, nor cold cellars, nor cellars with a changeable temperature. It appears that a uniform temperature of between 50 and 60 is the best for all kinds of wine. Wines are said to ripen sooner in warm cellars than in cold ones, and it is very certain that new wines may be made to assume the flavour of old ones by exposing them to high temperatures, and letting them cool again. This, however, belongs to the art of " doctoring" wines, a practice that very few private individuals care to enter upon, and which, when 236 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND EliEK. earnestly pursued, is done with a view to deception aud fraud. Let me now direct your attention to the composition of all wines, and point to those constituents which, in larger or smaller quantities, give flavour and charac- ter to them. These constituents are water, alcohol, sugar, adds, bouquet, colouring matter, and salts. Of course, I need say nothing about the water ; that will always be in proportion to the absence of other things. I may as well, however, say that it is never less than 75 per cent., and seldom more than 90 per cent., in wines. Alcohol is the constituent which distinguishes wine as well as other fermented beverages. It is not, how- ever, the quantity of alcohol that determines alone the price of wine. Taking, for instance, the analysis of hock wines, as given in Dr. Bence Jones's translation of Mulder's " Chemistry of Wines," you will find that Marcobrunner, worth, perhaps, fifteen shillings a bottle, does not contain so much alcohol as Geisenheimer, which is sold at two shillings a bottle. Fiery ports, with 25 per cent, of alcohol, are worthless compared with old ports, containing not more than 20 per cent, of alcohol. Here, as in so many other articles of food, it is the flavour which gives the value. The quantity of alcohol per cent, in different' wines may be seen in the following table, given by Dr. Bence Jones, as the result of a long series of In Port ... from 20-7 to 23-2 per cent, Sherry ... „ 15-4 „ 24-7 „ Madeira ... ... „ 190 „ 19-7 ,. ON ^VINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 237 In Marsala . . . . . from 19-9 to 31-1 per cent Claret .. „ 9-1 „ 11-1 „ Burgundy .. „ 10-1 „ 13-2 „ Rhine wine „ 9-5 „ 13-0 „ Moselle ... .. „ 8-7 „ 9-4 „ Champagne „ 14-1 „ 14-8 „ You will seej from this table, that the favourite wines of this country are the strongest. This arises^ probablyj from two causes : first, our natural love of strong drink ; and, second, from the fact that we pay the same duties on strong as on weak wines. I am afraid, as long as the latter cause exists, it will lead to the consumption of the stronger wines. This is to be regretted, as there can be no doubt that the temp- tation is stronger to take more alcohol than is good with strong than with weak wines. The quantity of alcohol in wine, when genuine, is dependent on the quantity of sugar in the grape. But there is considerable doubt as to whether the quantity of alcohol in our ports and sherries is always the result of the ' fermentation of the sugar naturally in the grape. It is a fact well known, that with regard to the greater proportion of Ports and Sherries drunk in this country, they have alcohol added to them, both in the countries in which they are made as well as in this country. There can be no doubt that if the taste could be generally diffused for the genuine wines of the Rhine and France, it would be better for the wine-drinking classes of the community. Sugar is the constituent of wine, which has the nearest relation to aldohol. If the whole of the sugar in the juice of the grape is converted into alcohol, then there is none left in the wine. But it frequently 238 ON WINES, SPIKITS, AND BEER. happens that there is more sugar in the grape-juice than can be converted by the natural ferment of the juice — the albumen — into alcohol. Thus we have two sorts of wines — sweet wines and dry wines. Even strong wines may have sugar left, so that we have strong sweet wines and strong dry wines, and we may have weak sweet wines and weak dry wines. The following are the quantities of sugar found in one imperial pint of several of the commoner sorts of wines : — oz. graius. Port 1* 2 Madeira Brown Sherry Champagne Pale Sheriy Claret Burgundy .. Hook Moselle 400 360 133 80 Kone. Some wines contain a great deal more sugar than any of these, — as Malmsey, Tokay, Samos, and Cyprus, which give from two to five ounces in a pint. Sugar is purposely added to some wines, to take off their acid flavour. This is the case with those wines which are called " British,'' and which contain acids that are not precipitated during the making: such are orange, gooseberry, currant, rhubarb wines. The sugar in wine is in a condition in which it is easily decomposed : hence persons with weak stomachs cannot drink it without producing heartburn. It is also one of the elements of wine which appears to en- One ounce contains 4372 grains. ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 239 gender ■ that condition of the system, in which gout comes on. It is well known that gout comes on in port- wine drinkers ; and looking at the foregoing table, you will see that it contains more sugar than any of the wines ordinarily drunk in England. Sugar alone will not produce this disease ; but sugar in conjunction with alcohol, as in ports and sherries, will produce it. Sugar is found in the same state in beer. Gout is found amongst port, sherry, and beer drinkers, whilst it is almost unknown amongst spirit, claret, and hock drinkers. If wines are bottled before the fermentation is over, the carbonic acid is retained in the wine, and what is called an "^"^ eflfervescing " wine is produced. There are certain kinds of wine which are favourable to this process; and in all countries effervescing wines are produced. In this country we are best acquainted with the effervescing wines of France, which are generally known under the name of Champagne. Hocks, Moselles, and even red wines, are treated thus ; and when the cork is removed from the bottle, the carbonic acid begins to escape, and gives them their sparkling, effervescent character. "When sucli wines contain much sugar, the fermentation in the bottle is arrested before all the sugar is consumed, and they are sweet effervescing wines. In other cases the sugar is all exhausted in producing the carbonic acid, and such wines are then said to be dry. Sparkling or effervescing wines are agreeable to the palate, and, in the same way as bottled ales, they some- times appear to assist the digestion of the food with which they are taken. In some cases, however, there 240 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEEK. can be no doubt that they produce injury. When new, they communicate the state of change in which they are to the contents of the stomach, and inter- fere with the healthy process of digestion. They are less liable to disagree when they are dry and contain but little sugar, than when they contain much of this substance. The quantity of sugar varies in champagne from one hundred grains in the pint to considerably above an ounce. We now pass to the acids in wine. There are two sorts of acids, or, I may say, three. There is tannic acid, which gives the astriugency to red wines, and is the principal agent in the formation of the crust ; then there is the tartaric' acid which gives acidity to wine ; and there are the acids which, uniting with compounds in the wine, form the flavours and bouquet of wines. It is to the tartaric acid I would now draw your atten- tion. The tartaric acid is the acid which distinguishes the fruit of the grape : it occurs in varying quantity in grapes, but it is always found in wine made from grapes. Miilder says there is from 2 to 7 parts of per- fectly pure tartaric acid in ],000 parts of wine. Then the bitartrate of potash is after all slightly soluble in water, and assists, by its solution, in acidifying wine. Then there is always a small quantity of acetic acid, or spirit of vinegar, in wine — Mulder says from ^ to 2 parts in the 1,000 of wine. You know that the old- fashioned way of making vinegar is to expose wine to the air, and the oxygen of the air uniting with the alcohol converts it into vinegar, — thus accounting for the old pronouncing puzzle — " White Wine Vinegar is Very good Victuals I Vow." ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 341 Well, this oxidation of the alcohol will always take place in making wine; it takes place much more in making beer. Hence the acetic acid is always greater in beer than in wine; but then, beer contains no tartaric acid. Sugar hides the flavour of acids ; so that a sweet wine may really contain much more acid than an acid wine. You will see the quantities of tartaric acid in different wines, and acetic acid in beer, in the following table. The quantities are grains in an imperial pint. Grains Port 80 Brown Sherry 90 Claret 170 Burgundy .;. 160 Hock ■ . 130 Moselle 140 Champagne 90 Madeira 100 London Stout 54 Porter 45 Pale Ale 40 Cider ... 120 The cider contains malic acid. The action of these acids on the system has been much misunderstood. It has been supposed that acid wines are bad where there is acidity of the stomach. Now, acidity of the stomach more frequently arises from the decomposition of sugar than anything else; and wines which have sugar enough to cover their acidity have been taken to prevent this state of the stomach, whilst acid wines which contain no sugar have been avoided. Neither tartaric, acetic acid, nor any other acid, has a tendency to favour the development of more acid in 242 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. the system. I think this should be generally known ; for there seems to be a prejudice against the acid wines of France and Germany in this country, as though they were capable of producing the pernicious effects of our own saccharine beers, eiders, and wines. I now come to speak of the flavour of wines, or of the bouquet, as it is sometimes called. But flavour and bouquet are two different things. The vinous flavour is common to all wines ; but the bouquet is peculiar to certain wines. All persons are more or less acquainted with the vinous smell. Persons who have drunk much wine are redolent of this odour, and it is especially detected when such persons first come into a room where this odour had not before existed. .This smell is very different from that given out by beer or distilled spirits. The substance which thus characterizes wine is called oenanthic ether. It is evidently formed during the fermentation of the grape-juice. This ether is formed in the same way as alcohol. Alcohol, you know, is a hydrate of the oxide of ethyle (HO+O+C 4, H 5). Now, if we put oenanthic acid (C 14, HBO 2) in the place of water, instead of the hydrate of the oxide of ethyle, we get the osnanthate of the oxide of ethyle, and this is the substance which gives the smell to wine. When separated from the wine, it is anything but pleasant ; but many tastes and smells, which are unendurable in their concentrated forms, are exceedingly pleasant when diluted. Now the special bouquets or flavours of wines are formed on the same principle as oenanthic ether. Some compound of carbon and hydrogen, like ethyle, the basis of alcohol, unites with some acid, and forms an ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 243 ether which gives the surpassing excellence to favourite wines. These ethers can actually be manufactured and added to wines, so that common wines may be made to taste like those of great price ; but the cultivated taste can detect the cheat. These artificial mixtures never equal the natural product. So it is with all artificially- formed essences, spirits and water. You cannot deceive the cultivated olfactory nerve by the artificial scents which are so abundantly manufactured; nor can you deceive a palate accustomed to Nature's most delicious beverages by the products of the chemical laboratory. The compounds which are formed in wiaes by keeping, and which give such value to them, are combi- nations of the oxides of ethyle and of amyle (C 10, H 11) with acetic, propionic, pelargonic, butyric, caproic, and caprylic acids. Of course I quite despair of giving you anything like a knowledge of the combinations of those compounds which produce the various odours or flavours of wines. You can, however, understand the principle. Just as water combines with the oxide of ethyle to form alcohol, so any one of the acids m,entioned can unite with oxide of ethyle or oxide of amyle to form an odorous compound. Let me give you an example or two. Acetic ether (acetic acid, the acid of vinegar, and oxide of ethyle) is found in most wines that have been kept for a long time. You can buy it of the chemist, and ten or twelve drops will give a bottle of new wine a sort of flavour of old, quite enough to deceive people who never take wine but when they go out to a dinner party. Then there is butyric ether. It is a compound of B 244 ■ ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. butyric acid with oxide of ethyle. Butyric acid is the stuff that giyes the rancid smell to butter, but when united with oxide of ethyle it gives the smell of pine- apples. This ether is found in many of the most famous wines. It can bfe bought of the chemist under the name of oil of pine-apples, and the fraudulent wine- dealer knows how to make use of itlo get a higher price for his common Hocks. These, then," must suffice as examples. If you want to study this subject in all its relations, you must under- stand the nature df compound radicals, and especially that series which form ethers with the organic acids. The history of many of these compounds you will find given in Mulder's " Chemistry "of "Wine." The colouring matters of wines do not much affect their action on the system. Nevertheless one of the most obvious distinctions between the various kinds of wines drunk in this country is their colour. Thus, we have Port wines and Sherry wines, the one of which is red, and the other yellow or brown. The same distinc- tion holds good between Clarets and Burgundies, and Moselle and Rhine wines. These differences depend on • the presence in varying quantities of three substances : a brown colouring matter, a blue colouring matter, and tannic acid. The brown colouring matter is present to a greater or less extent in all the wines we call light or white wines. It scarcely exists at all in some Rhine wines and Moselles, whilst it is present in considerable quantities i,n Madeira, brown Sherries, and Tokay. This brown colouring matter has no very definite chemical composition, and resembles what the chemists call extractive matter. It exists in greatest quantities in ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. 245 those white wines in which the skins of the grapes are fermented with the juice, as the skins contain more of this kind of matter than the grape. The darker the wine is from the presence of this colouring matter the more highly it is valued. This arises from the fact that the more alcohol the wine contains the more of this colouring matter will it take up. This is known to wine makers and wine sellers, and they frequently add burnt sugar to their light hrpwn wines to give them the colour of strong wines. The hlue colouring matter is found in red wines. These wines are made from purple or black grapes in which the skins are allowed to ferment. This blue dye, like all blue colouring matters, becomes red by contact with acid ; hence the tartaric acid of the wine gives it a red colour. Red wines have also the brown colouring matter, as is shown by the fact that they sometimes lose or throw down the whole of their blue colouring matter, and become brown or yellow. This is seen in very old Ports, and the tendency to it is observed in what is called " twenty Port," When wines are kept they have all a tendency to throw down their colouring matters. This tendency is very much increased by the presence of tannic acid. This acid, which is present in oak-bark and many other substances ,used in tanning, is much more abundant in red than in white wines. It is especially present in Port wine and Claret, less in Burgundy. The presence , of tannic acid gives an astringent property to red - wmes not possessed by white. The large quantities of tannic acid in new Port, give it also that tendency to deposit what is called a crust on the lower side of the R 2 246 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. bottle in which it is kept : this crust consists of the oxidized tannic acid, which becomes insoluble, and car- ries down with it the blue colouring matter and a cer- tain quantity of the saline matters contained in the wine. The longer Port wine is kept, the larger the quantity of this crust which is thrown down. As this proceeds at the same time with the development of the flavouring substances I have before mentioned, the Port wine loses its colour and density, acquires a finer flavour, and its price is proportionately enhanced. When the Port wine was originally good, these changes give it so great a claim on public favour in this country that at the present day Port wines which have been kept for twenty, thirty, or forty years obtain almost fabulous prices in the market. Of course, this is a mere matter of taste ; and such wines have no dietetical or medicinal qualities commensurate with their price. Some writers and experimenters have, indeed, endea- voured to show that the new qualities developed in wines by keeping have much to do with their action on the system. Too little, however, is known on this subject for anything precise or positive to be" laid down with regard to the action of these etherial qualities of wines. The last substances contained in wine which I need mention here are the saline matters, — the ashes. If you evaporate a wine and then expose the residue to . heat, you wUl get a quantity of incombustible matter, which, when examined, difiers both in quantity and quality in difi'erent wines. These ashes, when analyzed, present us with the fact that there are held in solution in wines the following salts : — Bitartrate of potash ON WlNESj SPIEITS, AND BEER. %VI ^cream of tartar), tartrate of lime, tartrate of alumina, tartrate of iron, chloride of sodium, chloride of potas- sium, sulphate of potass, phosphate of alumina. These salts occur in the proportion of. from one part to four in the thousand parts of wine. They do not make much difference in the flavour or action of wines ; but Mulder says of them, — " As distinctive marks of the genuineness of wine, they are of the greatest value. Let any one who wishes to convince himself whether a particular wine is adulterated or not, direct his attention to this point, and compare the ash with that of a genuine wine of the same kind as that under examination.'' Before leaving wines there are two beverages exten- sively drunk in some parts of England, and which are truly wines, but which are known by the names of Cider and Perry. The first is made from apples, the second from pears. The juice of the apple and pear is procured by pressure, and it is submitted to a process of fermentation in the same way. as the juice of the grape.- In Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Devonshire large quantities of these beverages are consumed, and they are drunk by the people of these counties in the- same way as beer is consumed in other parts of the country. The same general principles which apply to the manufacture of wine are applicable to them. Those sorts of apples and pears which contain the most sugar will yield in fermentation the largest quantity of alcohol. Cider and perry, when carefully made and kept, undergo those changes which result in the pro- duction of bouquets, which render those beverages more highly prized, and some of the better sorts are valued as much as wines. There is more cider manufactured 248 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEER. than perry, and that which is generally consumed amongst the population contains about the same quantity of alcohol as beer. The quantity of this substance in the pint -varies from half an ounce to two ounces. The acid, however, in cider and perry is not tartaric acid, but malic acid. Consequently this acid is retained in the liquor when it is drunk. Some persons ascribe to cider "very beneficial pro- perties, but I have not been able to make out that it acts on the system differently from ales and beers containing the same amount of alcohol. In conclusion, I will just glance at Distilled Spirits. These alcoholic drinks differ from wines and beers in the fact that they are distilled from some form of fermented liquor. We may obtain the alcohol from beer or wine, or from any substance containing sugar which is fermented. As an illustration of the sources from which alcohol may be obtained, Loudon in his " Ency- clopaedia of Gardening " tells the story of an Irish gardener who was always drunk, yet no one ever knew where he got the means to indulge his propensity. It was not till he was watched with great perseverance -that the source of his inebriety was discovered. It was found that he had ingeniously contrived to make a small still out of two watering-pots, attached by their spouts. Into one of these he introduced a mash of fermenting carrots, from which, by the aid of heat from an oil lamp, he was enabled to obtain a coarse imitation of his beloved potheen. Alcohol, then, under the form of distilled spirits, may be procured from any saccharine substance in a state of fermentation. Arrack is made in the East Indies from ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEEE. 249 fermenting rice or palm sago. Aqua ardiente is made in Mexico from the sweet juice of the American aloe {Agave Americana) . Araka is made in Tartary froip fermented mare's milk, arika from cow's milk. Kirsch- uasser in Germany is distilled from fermenting Machaleb cherries. Maraschino is made in Dalmatia from the macaiska cherry. Show-choo is a Chinese spirit distilled from rice-wine. In fact, there is hardly a race of men under the sun who have not learned the art of distilling alcohol after its formation during the fermentation of sugar. In this country we are more particularly acquainted with brandy, gin, whisky, and rum. The word brandy is of German origin, and is a corruption of brantwein, or burnt wine, meaning wine that has been acted on by heat. The best brandy is obtained from wine, but inferior kinds of brandy are made from malt, potatoes, beet-root, carrots, pears, and other vegetable substances. The brandy of France, which is made from white wine, especially that made at Cognac, in the department of Charente, is regarded as the best. When first distilled brandy is white, but it acquires a colour from the casks in which it is kept. British brandy is distilled from fermented malt, and attempts are made to imitate the flavour of French brandy by the addition of a variety of ingredients. Brandy, like wine, contains cenanthic and acetic ethers, and is said also to owe its peculiar flavour to the addition of peach kernels, to the liquor from which it is distilled. Like wine also, it developes by keeping in bottles some of those flavouring substances which give the peculiar value to wine. The consumption of brandy is very large. It is esti- 250 ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEEK. mated that 15 per cent_ of all the wine of France is made into brandy, and that 20,000,000 of gallons are annually made in France, of which at least one-third is exported. Brandy, like wines and other alcoholic drinks, varies considerably in the quantity of alcohol it contains. At the same time it should be recollected that good brandy should contain from 50 to 55 per cent, of alcohol. Thus a pint of Cognac brandy will contain about ten ounces and a half of pure alcohol, the rest being water. Brandy also contains more or less sugar. Pure French brandy contains about 80 grains of sugar in the pint. It also contains acid, probably acetic acid, in the proportion of from 10 to 20 grains in the pint. The spirit next in importance is Gin. This word is a corruption of Geneva, as that is of the French word ffenQvre or juniper. Gin is also called Hollands. Ge- neva, however, is not gin, but a kind of liqueur made from the berries of the juniper, which contain as much as 34 per cent, of sugar, and may be easily fermented. Gin was first made in Holland, and was brought into this country as Hollands gin. It is distilled from corn malt, and various substances are added to it to give it flavour. The most common substances of this kind are juniper berries, but a variety of substances are added to suit the taste of the consumer, so that no two gins are alike. In this country every gin distiller uses his own ingredients, whilst the retailer of gin has also his particular receipts for rendering his gin profitable or palatable, or both. Sometimes injurious substances are added to gin to make it taste strong, as sulphuric acid and sulphate of zinc ; these, however, are adulterations. ON WINES, SPIRITS, AND BEEll. 251 The substances used for flavouring gin are numerous enough. Thus, I find enumerated bitter almonds, tur- pentine, creosote, lemon, cardamoms, caraways, cassia, garlic, Canada balsam, horseradish, Cayenne pepper, and grains of Paradise. None of these things are poisonous, and probably all of them assist in determining the action of the alcohol of the gin as a diuretic. Gin does not usually contain so much alcohol as brandy, not more than eight ounces to the pint being found in the best gins. Sugar is added by many distillers, but others do not add this ingredient. Gin, as it is retailed, always contains "sugar, and not frequently more than four ounces of alcohol to the pint. It is consequently a weaker spirit generally than brandy, and so far is perhaps less inji^rious when taken raw. I have, how- ever, vbefore stated that the taking raw spirits is a very hazardous proceeding, and cannot be habitually indulged without danger. Whisky is the form in which, distilled spirits are most popular in Scotland and Ireland. It is distilled piincipally from corn, although occasionally sugar and molasses are used. It is usually sold stronger than gin or brandy. It has frequently a slight smoky flavour, supposed to be derived from the manner in which it is prepared. This is more particularly the case with what is called small-still whisky. This spirit, as it is gene- rally sold in England at the present day, is more free from flavouring ingredients than any other form of distilled spirits. Hum is less generally consumed in England than the other spirits, but from the fact of its being supplied by the Government to our soldiers and sailors, largv^ 253 ON WINES, SPIKITS, AND BEEK. quantities are entered for consumption in Great Britain. It is principally made in the West Indies, and our supplies are almost wholly drawn from Jamaica, where it is manufactured from the fermented scum of the sugar-boUers, and molasses. A flavour is often given to it by the addition of slices of pine-apple. It is usually sold considerably above proof, so that a pint of rum will contain 15 ounces of alcohol. It has a peculiar odour, which is due to butyric ether. Like brandy, it improves by keeping, and probably developes the same class of bouquets as wine. The action of the alcohol of rum is of course the same as that of other fermented liquors, but Dr. Edward Smith has pointed out a curious fact in its action on the system, and that is, that it increases the quantity of carbonic acid thrown out from the lungs. This may be due to the butyric etber. Whether this suggestion be correct or not, it is a curious fact, resulting from Dr. Smith's experiments, that whilst other alcoholic drinks decrease the expiration of car- bonic acid, rum should increase it. I must now, however, draw this long lecture to a -close, and the next time we meet I propose to discuss the nature and action of those substances which we add to our food under the name of condiments, spices, and flavours. ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, & ELAVOUES. A PASSAGE occurs in tlie life of a practical philosopher which is well known to a large number of readers in England, and which so well illustrates the subject of this lecture that I may perhaps be excused for intro- ducing it. " Weal pie," said Mr. Weller, soliloquising, as he arranged the eatables on the gi-ass ; " "Wery good thing is a weal pie, when you know the ladj as made it, and is quite sure it an't kittens ; and arter all though where's the odds, when they are so like weal that the wery piemen, themselves don't know the difference ?" "Don't they, Sam ?" said Mr. Pickwick. "Not they, sir,'' replied Mr. Weller, touching his hat. "I lodged in the same house with a pieman once, sir, and a wery nice man he was — reg'Iar clever chap too'— make pies out o' anything, he could. ' What a number o' cats you'keep, Mr, Brooks,' says I, 2o4 ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. when I'd got intimate with him. 'Ah/ says he, 'I do— a good many,' says he. ' You must be wery fond o' cats,' says I. ' Other people is,' says he, a winkin' at me ; 'they ain't in season till the winter though,' says he. ' Not in season !' says I. ' No,' says he ; 'fruits is in, cats is out.' 'Why what do you mean?' says I. 'Mean!' says he; 'that I'll never be a party to the combination of the butchers to keep up the prices o' meat,' says he. ' Mr. Weller, says he, squeezing my hand wery hard, and vispering in my ear, ' don't mention this here agin, but ifs the seasonin' as does it. They're all made o' them noble animals,' says he, a pointin' to a wery nice little tabby kitten ; ' and I seasons 'em for beefsteak, weal, or kidney, 'cordin' to the demand ; and more than that,' says he, ' I can make a weal a beefsteak, or a beefsteak a kidney, or any on 'em a mutton at a minute's notice, just as the market changes, and appetites wary !' " ■ Well that is the text of this lecture, " ifs the season- in' as does it" and you know that condiments and spices are the seasoning with which we make our food pleasant ; and, after all, if you consider what makes the diflference between the various kinds of food, you will find that Mr. Brooks's philosophy is the correct one. It is the taste which food possesses that gives it most value in our estimation. Now the nervous systeta .is as much formed for the appreciation of these tastes and flavours, as the ear is for sound, and there is the same relation between the different flavours addressed to the palate, as there is between sounds addressed to the ear. The analogy is also correct in its minuter details just as some combina- tions of colour produce a pleasing impression on our minds, and others produce an unpleasant effect, or as one set of sounds produce discord and another set harmony, so there are some flavours that will not har- monise on the palate, and others that will produce the most pleasing and satisfactory results. Some persons ON CONDniENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOBHS. 255 may be offended by this analogy. They have so exalted a notion of the lofty tendencies of the cultiva- tion of the arts of music and painting that to mention the art of tasting in the same category is offensive to them. Yet we should recollect that the same Creator who made the eye for vision, and the ear for hearing, made the tongue for tasting, and that no less elaborate provision is made for the one function than the other, and, in fact, we might claim for the palate, as guiding in the selection of proper food and the rejection of that which is injurious, a higher and more necessary func- tion than could be claimed for either appreciation of colour or sound. The tongue is the organ of taste, and it is so con- structed as to allow the substances we put into our mouths to be readily applied to the nerves by which it is supplied. If we examine the structure of the tongue we shall find that its surface is covered with little pro- jections which are called papillee. Into these papiUse the nerves are carried which contribute to the sense of taste. The same nerves are also capable of common sensation, and are used as organs of touch. The tongue is moistened by the constant flow of saliva over it, and it is only when moistened that any sense of flavour is communicated to the consciousness. The tongue, alone, however, is not concerned in this appreciation of tastes and flavour, for we find that the sense of smell is jointly occupied with it ; for there are certain flavours that we should hardly taste at all had we no nose, and there are certain of our foods which altogether address themselves to the sense of smell. Take cinnamon, nutmegs, or cloves. 'dob ON CONDIMENTS, SPICBSj AND I'LAVOUllB. fpr instance ; if we put any of these into the mouth and close the nose, we can hardly appreciate the flavour; so it is evident that we frequently use the sense of smell in conjunction with the organ of taste. It is a curious fact that the same nerves which give the sense of taste or flavour are the nerves of common sensibility, that is to say, those by which we feel the touch of any object upon the external surface of our bodies by friction or otherwise. When considering the fact which I have just mentioned, that some things are not really tasted at all unless they are smelled, some persons have supposed that there is no real function of taste, but that what we say we taste, we either smell or feel, or that the sensation of taste is compounded of both. The better way to test that is to apply some- thing to a difi'erent part of the body, such as quinine or sugar to the leg, and you will find that they produce no impression of taste or flavour in the leg ; although if you put quinine upon the tongue, you will have an excessively bitter taste, and with the sugar as well as sugar of lead and other substances, a sweet taste, and a salt taste with salt, sulphate of soda, and a number of other things ; so that we can thus prove that there are certain things which we really taste and which have no smell. Now we will call these substances which are tasted sapours, in opposition to those which are called odours. Passing on from the nerve of taste I would observe with regard to the nose that it is the organ of smell, and that it has a distinct nerve of smell. This nerve is the flrst nerve which passes from the brain, and is called the olfactory nerve. It passes by a number of ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOUKS. 257 twigs through a little sieve-like bone, which covers over the upper part of the cavity of the nose. Now there are certain things which address the organ of smell which are not taken into the mouth. Thus we have a variety of gases and things which we call scents, odours, perfumes, smells, and stinks, which address themselves to the olfactoiy nerves alone. We find that this function is developed greatly in the lower animals, and even among the wild races of men this power of detecting the odoriferous particles of matter is very much greater than among cultivated and civilised races. The fact of man having senses to guide him in taste and smell is of importance where our intelligence faUs to teU what is good for us, as sometimes happens in the case of persons in illness judging as to what is good for them better than the doctor. Doctors have some- times yielded to a patient's wish for some particular food in consequence of this instinctive desire, and the patient has been very much the better for it. Unless the desire evinced by a sick person for some particular article of food is evidently traceable to a depraved appetite, it is frequently a part of judicious treatment to yield to the desire of the patient. As instances of the use by the lower animals espe- cially of the sense of smell, I may refer to the fact that they will instinctively reject food which is poisonous, however carefully you may wrap it up, even when pressed by much hunger. Monkeys, cats, dogs, and animals of the higher class will pertinaciously reject such food, this action being determined on their part by the sense of smell. It is not, however, only by the olfactory nerve that provision is made to guard 258 OM (ONDlMEN'is, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. against the destruction of the animal; a man may be sometimes placed under circumstances in whicli he will be exposed to carbonic acid, chlorine, or a variety of gases which, if taken into the system, would destroy him ; he has then, besides the sense of smell, by which some of these gases may be detected, a set of nerves which produce the sensation, which we call sneezing. These are titillated by various powders and gases which would act injuriously if they went into the lungs. The act of sneezing is the act of throwing away or getting rid of that which if a man got into his lungs would injure him. When a man sneezes he draws back, in cases where if he went forwards he would endanger his life. The taste has reference to food, the smell has reference to that which probably may be good or bad for food. The olfactory nerves are excited to action by substances capable of being applied through the atmosphere to the mucous membrane of the nose. Now let us pass on to consider a little more atten- tively the nature of the various kinds of sapours and odours which we find in our food. To a thoughtful mind there are many ways of classifying these, but I may speak of them as agreeable and disagreeable odours and flavours, addressing both the organs of taste and smell. In the first place, we have a number of agreeable odours, and these odours may or may not accompany our various kinds of food. Such odours as those exhaled by nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, lemon-peel, pine-apples, lavender, oil of bitter almonds, and vanilla, are employed both to flavour our food and give scent to our perfumes. Then, again, we have another set of odours which are disagreeable, arising from the mineral. ON CONDIMENTS, SLICES, AND PLAV0T7RS. 259 the vegetable, or the animal world. Vegetable and animal substances decomposing produce sulphuretted hydrogen, which has a disagreeably offensive odour, and is injurious to health. The carburetted hydrogen of the gas which we burn gives out a disagreeable odour. Sometimes these disgusting odours, by custom and habit, become agreeable, and sometimes, in the same way, disgusting food, by custom and habit, becomes agreeable food. We have an instance of this in the preference which some persons give to food which has been kept till it is tainted by decomposition, as in the case of game and venison. There is a story told of a prince who was confined in a prison a long way from the sea- shore, where they never could get oysters until they were what is called a little gone ; being fond of oysters, he became accustomed to the semi-putrid flavour of his dead oysters, and afterwards preferred to eat them in this condition. You will find it very difficult to make children take things which, when they grow up, they acquire a taste for — take olives or tobacco as instances. The tendency to partake of food in a state of decom- position is natural in some classes of animals. Thus, we find some of the infusorial animalcules are brought into existence under the influence of decomposing animal and vegetable matter in infusions. Some tribes of beetles and shell-fishes prefer decomposing food. The sturgeons amongst fishes, the crocodiles amongst rep- tiles, and the vultures amongst birds, are instances of creatures which, for beneficent purposes, are endowed with an instinctive tendency to prefer garbage, carrion, and ofial, to better kinds of food. However well these animals are adapted to endure 360 ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVODflS. and flourist on, such a diet, it is very certain that man sometimes sufifers severely from such food. I have told you that water charged wi^h decomposing animal and vegetable matter produces disease. During the preva- lence of cholera, the cases were very numerous where persons were attacked shortly after eating decomposing food. During the epidemic of cholera in London, in 1849, it was found that poulterers, fishmongers, and greengrocers, suffered more than any other classes from cholera, and I think it is highly probable that this occurred from such persons eating rather of their damaged stock of goods than that which was sound. I have before referred to the mortality of infants during the hot summer of 1859, and which I attributed to the use of decomposing or acescent milk. The way in which those substances injure the system is by imparting to the fluids of the body the same state of change in which they are themselves. It is not aU persons that are susceptible of such an action. Most people in health have the power of producing a gastric juice in their stomachs which will restrain the injurious tendency of decomposing food, and thus no evil results. It is more particularly in warm climates and in warm seasons that these effects take place, and the more common forms of disease produced by this food are diarrhoea and cholera. Let us now examine a little more closely the nature of those substances which are more commonly used for giving a relish to our food, I have before spoken of the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, and although they assume very different forms, they are still the elements whose compounds form the basis OW CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FIiAVOURS. 261 of all sapours and odours. Of these there is a series which are called essential oils, and another which we may refer to a class of bodies called ethers ; but before speaking of essential oils or ethers particularly, I will call attention to the production of common ether. Ether is a very volatile body, and its odour, when exposed, is speedily diffused through the atmosphere. Now, ether is made from alcohol. Alcohol is the result of the de- composition of sugar. If we take grape sugar we find it composed of 12 parts of oxygen, 12 of hydrogen, and 12 of carbon ; and alcohol, which is the substance at the foundation of all our odours, is composed of 4 of carbon, 6 hydrogen, and 2 oxygen, arranged as 4of carbon, 5 hydrogen, 1 of oxygen, and 1 atom of water. Now, if we take away from it the water, we have ether left, which is an oxide of a substance called ethyl, composed of 4 atoms of carbon and 5 of hydrogen, the same ele- ments that are found in coal gas. This substance ether, the oxide of ethyl, will combine with acids, so that we have sulphates of the oxide of ethyl, tartrates and citrates of the oxide of ethyl, &c. A distinguished French chemist has discovered that one compound of oxygen and hydrogen and carbon, combining with chlorine, with iodine, and with nitrogen, is capable of producing 1020 different compounds. There are pro- bably thousands of compounds which may be similarly produced, and which give flavours, and odours, and scents, and peculiarities, in directions which we know of, and in thousands of directions which we know nothing of, and the discovery of the nature of these compounds is the direction that organic chemistry is taking at the present day. »3 262 ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. It is one of the most curious features in the history of modern chemistry, that not only has the chemist been able to show the nature of these compounds by pulling them apart, but he has begun to find out the way to put them together again ; and the chemist can now produce in his laboratory what is ordinarily pro- duced by nature in the laboratory of the plant or fruit. One of the first things that was formed in this way was the oil of bitter almonds. You know that bitter almonds contain an oil which may be extracted from them, and has a very pleasant flavour or scent. It is used in custards, puddings, cakes, and in a variety of other ways. There are two or three substances ordi- narily sold in the present day for oil of bitter almonds, which are obtained from very different sources from those from which it is manufactured in nature; there is, for instance, a substance called benzol, which is a compound of carbon 10 and hydrogen 6. Now, this benzol can be formed artificially, just in the same way as the chemist can form ether, by decomposing certain compounds, and leaving the carbon and hydro- ■ gen in the above proportion. This substance is sold in the shops under the name of benzol, benzine, and benzoline, and is probably known by some persons present on account of its being used for cleaning gloves, silk, and other things, as it possesses a greater solvent power in relation to dirt than ether or alcohol. This benzol is obtained from coal tar, which is a most valuable substance j and although it is rejected at the gas factories, it is likely to become of most essential service to man in the manufacture of very many things. ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. 263 By adding nitric acid to benzol we obtain nitro-benzol, or artificial oil of bitter almonds. There is another substance, hippuric acid, extracted from the drainage of our cowhouses and pigstyes, which, when submitted to the action of heat, can be made into nitro-benzol; so that, as I have said in a former lecture, there is no such thing as real dirt, for dirt is merely matter not in its proper place ; the elements are pure, and only have to be again reunited. Al- though this acid is obtained from such objectionable sources, yet its product is introduced into the most delicate soaps and applied to our faces. And this is only one of a series of similar compounds which are found naturally in plants, but which can be imitated by the art of the chemist. There is a substance for which we in England have long been celebrated, called pear oil — in the manu- facture of which no pears are used at all. There is a compound called amyl, which is produced 6y the decomposition of starch, and which can be got from potatoes ; it is composed of Carbon 10 and Hydrogen 11, and when united with common vinegar or acetic acid, we get a substance which cannot be distinguished from the smell of the jargonelle pear. It is with this manufactured pear oil that cheap lozenges, which are sold in the shops . at a penny an ounce, are flavoured. There is another of these manufactured essences, called pine-apple oil; it is introduced into a variety of forms of confectionary, and in this case we have our old friend ether coming in again. You have all smelt rancid butter, which has been long kept ; distil that rancid butter and you will obtain butyric acid, mix that with ethyle and it be- 264 ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND IXAVOURS. comes pine-apple flavour. Now, nature has done the same thing ; there has heen. a manufacture of butyric acid and ethyle going on within that beautiful fruit which we call the pine- apple, and the flavour is the^ same in the one case as the other. It is this butyric ether which gives the flavour to rum. Then there is the oil of apples. There is an acid in the substance known by the name of valerian, which has an exceedingly unpleasant smell. There are things which for a moment are exceedingly pleasant, but by taking too much they become exceedingly unpleasant. Valerian is a substance of this kind. It contains valerianic acid, and that combined with the oxide of amyl constitutes what we know by the name of apple oil, which is used for flavouring confectionary. The pleasant taste of the apple is produced in that way. Now, this oxide of amyl can be got from potatoes, coal tar, and other substances, so that there is no difficulty in making these oils, and so many of them have been made, that we shall soon have no difficulty in procuring them, without having recourse to the vegetable king- dom. That these things are composed of carbon and hydrogen may be discovered in a variety of ways. By their inflammability, for instance. You may take them and burn them as you would spirits of wine in a spirit lamp, and the result will be carbonic acid and water, from the union of the carbon and hydrogen with the oxygen of the air. You see what an interesting field of inquiry this branch of chemistry opens up ; but I must leave this subject, and say a word with regard to the action of these substances on the system. When taken into the ON CONDISIENTS, SPICESj AND FLAVOURS. 265 stomach they act wpon the nervous system as well as on the organs of taste and smell, and produce an efifect upon the stomach, increasing the secretion of gastric acid, and promoting digestion. We instinctivply add to meat stews Cayenne pepper, and things of that kind, which act as stimulants to the stomach — they act as alcohol and stimulate the nervous system. Persons can get tipsy upon oil of cinnamon and oil of cloves, just as they can upon hydrated oxide of ethyle. For instance, there is a ligueier which has lately become celebrated on account of its killing so many French- men — it is called absinthe, and is prepared from worm- wood. The wormwood contains a volatile oil, which not only acts as a stimulant to the stomach, but also has a narcotic effect upon the nervous system ; and a distinguished French chemist, the newspapers inform us, has just discovered that this wormwood contains seventeen deadly principles, any one of which would kill an individual who would venture to take it. Absinthe contains, however, as much as 20 per cent, of alcohol; and perhaps the pernicious effect of this liqueur may be traced as satisfactorily to the alcohol as to the volatile oils it contains. Let me now speak of the classification of these Sapours and Odours. I have found considerable difficulty in this, arising from the various terms that are given to them ; but I have arranged them under the heads of Condiments, Spices, Flavourers, and Bouquets, and to these I would now draw attention. Now what is a condiment ? Well, I have not been able to get a satisfactory answer; but I have thought that those substances which contain volatile oils, or 266 ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. ethers, or whatever you may call them, which can be taken with salt are condiments, and that those, on the other hand, that can be eaten with sugar are spices. I have classed among the condiments as being flavours agreeable with salt — garlic, leek, onions, mus- tard, pepper, Cayenne pepper^ capers, pickles, parsley, celery, coriander, thyme, sage, mint, fennel, mushrooms^ morels, truffles. Now, looking at these condiments, you will find that they all of them contain diflferent kinds of essences, oils, or ethers, and some of them so distinct as to admit of definite classification. Thus garlick, leek, onions, and assafoetida are condiments. Persons fond of onions will get from onions to leek, from leek to ' garlick, and from garlic to assafoetida ; and thus it is that, in the City, if you go to a chop- house, and ask for your steak with a little higher flavour, they take a warm dish, rub a little assafoedida on it, and put the steak on it. You do not perhaps know that you are eating assafoetida ; but you find it agreeable. Now how is this ? If we take some of these chemical bases from the sources of our pleasant scents and odours, and add to these bases, instead of oxygen, a little sulphur, then you wiU get things with sulphur smells, such as onions, leeks, watercresses, cabbage. When cabbage is boiled there is the sulphur smell which ^ascends to the drawing-room, and the exclama- tion occurs, " Pray shut the kitchen-door : you are boiling cabbages." Now, in the case of onions, garlic, leek, chalots,. and assafoetida, we are dealing with a substance composed of hydrogen and carbon, called allyle (C 6, H 5) . Just as ethyle unites with oxygen, and forms our strong- ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND PLAVOTJKS. 267 smelling ether, so allyle unites with sulphur, and pro- duces the strong-smelling sulphide of allyle. This group of strong smelling and tasting plants belongs to the fair lily tribe (Liliaceae), and all belong to the same genus. Allium : hence we call them allia- ceous plants. I give you their formidable Latin names in a diagram : — Onions Allium Cepa. Garlic Allium sativum. Shalots Allium a^calonicum. Chives Allium Schcenoprasum. Leeks Allium Porrum. Rocambole Allium Scorodoprasum. They have all the same substance to recommend them. In the large Spanish onions there is more starch. and less oil, so that they may be eaten as a substantive article of diet. In the case of the bitter taste which gives so pleasant a flavour to mustard, horse-radish, water- cresses, radishes, and cabbages, we have the same element of sulphur as in the onions j but another powerful chemical compound is combined with sul- phur. This substance is cyanogen, the same com- pound which, uniting with hydrogen, forms hydro- cyanic acid. Now cyanogen contains nitrogen, and thus the flavouring essence of the Cruciferse difier from that of the onion by containing this element. We have here, in fact, a sulphocyanide of aUyle (C 2 N S 2-l-C 6 H 5). The most curious thing with regard to this compound is, that it does not appear to exist in the mustard-seed. 268 ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. for if we express mustard-seeds we get only a bland fixed oil, but if we moisten the powdered seed then this oil is" developed. This arises from the action of the caseine of the mustard-seed, which acts as a ferment upon its other constituents and develops this powerful oil. I have said all these oils act as stimulants ; but they have other properties. The oil of mustard, for in- stance, is acrid, and when taken in sufficient quantities will produce vomiting. This is a fact worth Igiowing, that in the mustard-pot we have one of the safest and swiftest of emetics. Every one should bear this in mind, as in cases where persons swallow poison the speedy recourse to the mustard-pot may save life. A table-spoonful of ordinary mustard mixed in a wine- glassful of water, will seldom fail to produce sickness. The acridity of this mustard oil is so great, that when applied alone to the skin it speedily produces vesication, and when the powder mixed with water is put to the skin in the form of a poultice, a wholesome irritation is produced. Mustard poultices are amongst the safest, most efficirait, and most manageable of counter-irri- tants. Every mother of a family should be acquainted with the uses of a mustard poultice. Of course, mustard is much too common and valuable a thing not to be abused. I remember some time ago some foolish person wrote a book recommending mus- tard-seed to be swallowed whole as a remedy for indi- gestion. Of course, if he had recommended people to swallow live frogs, he would have found some stupid people to believe in him, and so people swallowed whole mustard-seeds. I vray well recollect having been called, when commencing the study of medicine. ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. 369 to watch the sufferings of a man who had swallowed quantities of these mustard-seeds. He died ; and when we came to open him, we found pints of these mustard- seeds impacted in his bowels. In some spots they were beginning to germinate, for the vital powers of the stomach had not overcome those of the grain, and the distention of the seed by this process seemed to be the cause of the death of the patient. The acrid flavour of the horse-radish is dependent on the same oil as that of the mustard. We add it to our food under the same circumstances as we use mustard, and it acts in the same way. The oil in the horse- radish is contained in the root, and as this root is not unlike some others, it has led to mistakes occasionally fatal. The most disastrous accidents have occurred from taking by mistake the root of the common monkshood or aconite [Aconitum Napellus) instead of that of horse- radish. The root of the monkshood is darker and more fibrous than that of the horseradish, and the mistake can only occur through great carelessness or ignorance. The next group of condiments to which I would refer is what we call peppers. Thus, we have black and white pepper, long pepper, and Cayenne pepper. The black and white peppers are made from the fruits of a plant known by the name of Piper nigrum. These fruits are sometimes used whole, but they are mostly ground in a mill, and sold powdered. The " black pepper " consists of the dried berries ground down whole. The " white " pepper is formed from the same berries, but their dark husk is first removed. The long pepper is produced by another species of plant, the Piper longum. This latter form is not much used in Europe ; it is, however, exten- 270 ON COXDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOUaS. sively employed in the East as a masticatory. In this way it is employed in conjunction with the betel-nut, which is the fruit of a species of palm {Areca Catechu), and contains tannic acid. The stimulant oil of the pepper in conjunction with this powerful astringent forms an agreeable combination, which is not only .consumed by the natives of Eastern countries, but by Europeans, who have contracted the habit of masticating it in the East. The active principle of these peppers is a substance called piperine. It contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and resembles in its nature such substances as quinine, being capable of uniting with acids like an alkali. Of its action on the system we have no precise account. It has been supposed, from its use in the form of the long pepper, to be a narcotic, but of this effect we have no very definite information. Cayenne pepper is produced by a very different family of plants, belonging to the natural order Solanacea, a family of plants that yields the potato, the deadly night- shade, henbane, and tobacco. Cayenne pepper con- sists of the dried fruits of two species of capsicum, the Capsicum annuum and the Capsicum frutescens. These plants are natives of America, and are cultivated in the East and West Indies. They contain an active principle like piperine, which is called capsicin. It is very stimulant, and is taken on account of its flavour, as well as its stimulant action on the stomach. It enters into the composition of curry powder, a compound of condi- ments and spices used extensively as an addition to food in Europe, more especially in this country, and originally imported from the East. ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. 271 Ailother group of condiments are those which are familiarly known by the name of " mints." They belong to a family of plants called Lamiacece or Labiatce. This family is remarkable for containing in their leaves and all parts of the plant minute receptacles filled with volatile oil. These oils have many of them an agreeable scent, and yield the perfumes of lavender, patcholi, and many others. Many of them are cultivated in gardens under the name of pot-herbs. The peppermint {Mentha piperita) is a British wild plant, and its leaves are distilled with spirits of wine, forming essence of pepper- mint. The oil is also distilled alone, and is called oil of peppermint. The oil is used for flavouring peppermint lozenges. The whole plant is also distilled with water, and sold in the shops under the name of peppermint water. It is a useful stimulant for the stomach, and often employed as a medicine. To the same family also belong sage and thyme. The leaves of these plants are used fresh or dry, and form the flavouring of those ingredients which are put into the inside of ducks, geese, roast pigs, sausages, and other animal food brought to the table. " They are warm and discussive, and good against crudities of the stomach," according to an old writer on this subject. The rosemary belongs to this order, and although not much used at the present day, sprigs of it were formerly stuck into beef whilst roasting, and are said to give it an " excellent relish." Basil, summer and winter savory, and sweet marjoram, are all used in this way, whilst ground ivy, horehound, and pennyroyal are used as medicines on account of the volatile oils they contain. Fi^. 1. — Frvai of Caraway. 27a ON CONDIMENTS, SPICES, AND FLAVOURS. These oils are all of them compounds of carbon, hy- drogen, and oxygen. Amongst plants which yield volatile oils added to food, must be placed the umbel-bearing plants, or Um- bellifera. The fruits of those plants, which are called seeds, as caraway seeds (Fig. 1), dill seeds, and the like, are re- markable for possessing elon- gated tubes, or receptacles called vitt Sugar 211 Pat .. 280 Tannic Acid 4 87 Woody Eibre 3 87 Mineral Matter .. 350 Now I will just go over these ingredients, and point out to you their action on the system. It will be con- venient for us to follow our usual classification, and speak of the water, the salts, the heat-giving and the flesh-forming substances, and, last of all, the medicinal or auxiliary food-materials of tea. I need say little or nothing about the water here, as in the dried leaves of tea it forms a very inconspicuous ingredient compared with the large quantities of water in which we find them infused before they are employed as food. In fact, the early use of tea .-'ud other substances which we inf"- ON TEA AND COFFEE. 309 in water may be traced to two causes — first, to improve the quality of water ; and, secondly, to render it more palatable when warm. Sugar is added to tea in this country to render it more palatable. Another reason why man adds various flavouring substances to water, is his instinctive ten- dency to take his food warm. In all parts of the world man not only cooks his food, but prefers it warm. This is not only the case with solid food, but also with liquid food ; and whatever may be the quality of the liquid food, whether it be the liquor in which meat is boiled, the milk from the cow, or coffee, tea, or chocolate, he is in the habit of taking it warm. He has undoubtedly made selections of such substances as tea, coffee, or chocolate ; but the more general condition which has led to their use is the innate tendency to partake of warm drinks in preference to cold. This subject is a highly interesting one, and I may allude to it again before I finish these lectures. I now come to speak of the • salts of the tea. You see they are in very considerable quantities, as compared with the saline matter of other kinds of food, and, as some of them are' soluble, it becomes a matter of in- terest to know what they are. I am enabled to give you a list of these ingredients, as an analysis of the ashes of tea, by Lehmann, has been published by Baron Liebig, in the last edition of his " Familiar Letters on Chemistry." Potash 47-45 Lime ... ... ... ... 1'24 Magnesia ... ... ... 6'S4 Peroxide of Iron... ... ... 3'29 X 3 310 ON TEA AND COFFEE Phosphoric Acid ... Sulphuric Acid ... Silicic Acid Carbonic Acid ... Oxide of Manganese Cliloride of Sodium Sodar ... Charcoal and Sand 9-88 8 72 2-31 10:09 0'71 3-62 5 03 1-09 l^ow the point of interest about this analysis is not only that most of the ingredients form soluble com- pounds, but that they belong to a group of salts which are most important to the human system. Thus we find here potash, phosphoric acid, and iron, all of them substances required by the system for the performance of its functions and the construction of its tissues. Xiebig very properly remarks on the composition of these ashes, that " We have, therefore, in tea a bever- age which contains the active constituents of the most powerful mineral springs ; and, however small the amount of iron may be which we daily take in this form, it cannot be destitute of influence on the vital processes.'* The next groups of constituents are the" heat-giving, but these. I need hardly tell you are very unimportant compounds of the tea. They consist of small quantities of fat and sugar, and, in order that you may judge how much of these things is likely to gfct into the tea, I may tell you that a tea-spoonful of tea weighs about fifty grains, and as this is supposed to be enough to make a single individual all the tea he requires at a meal, you will see that in two cups of tea you would get about a grain and a half of sugar and two grains of fat. It is questionable whether you get the latter out of the ON TEA AND COFFEE. 311 ■tea at all. Then as we add sugar and milk to our tea, these things from the tea itself are of little or no consequence. The same may be said of the flesh-forming constitu- ents of tea. All vegetable matter contains, to a greater or less extent, nitrogenous constituents, and the quan- tity of caseine in tea, therefore, is not a matter of sur- prise. As the leaves are dried you get a larger quantity than you would from the fresh leaves of plants. In fifty grains of tea we should have about seven grains of cheese or casein, and as probably only a very small quantity of this is dissolved, the nutritive value of tea, as dependent on its casein, need not be discussed. The gum and the woody fibre belong to the acces- sary groups of food. The gum is taken up probably by the water used in making tea, and would appear from its easy solubility in larger quantities in the first cup ; but not being convertible into either i heat-giving or flesh-forming matter, it can exert little or no influence in the action of tea in the system. The woody fibre, being insoluble and indigestible, of course can exert no influence. I now come to the most important constituents of the tea. They belong to the group of medicinal foods. They are the very essence of the tea, and without which it would never have been consumed by man- kind-. These are the theine, the volatile oil, and the tannic acid. Now I have told you all about theine, so that I need not dwell on its properties here. You should recollect, however, that it is readily soluble in hot water, and that the great proportion of the theine will be taken 312 ON TEA AND COPFEE. up by the water first poured on the tea. Perhaps I may press this matter on those who preside at the tea- table. In a large party it is very unfair to pour out the whole of the superior tea before adding a second quantity of water, as in this case the tea from the second watering contains little or no theine, and, what is worse, little or none of the flavouring volatile oil. The fact is, the beverage from the second mash is a mere apology for tea, and contains neither the active principle nor the flavour of tea. If this were a little thought over, arrangements might be made by which at our tea-drinkings and more fashionable soirees and evening parties, we might more frequently get hot tea instead of spoiled warm water, to which sugar and milk are added to render it tolerable. The quantity of theine in a cup of tea will of course vary in proportion to the relative quantity of tea and water used, but the proportion varies, I calculate, in a cup of tea from the first brewing, from half a grain to one grain. The aromatic oil of the tea, although small in quan- tity, is, in one sense, the most important constituent of tea. The pleasant scent of the tea, the flavour that addresses itself to the palate depends on this oil. I am not aware of any special chemical researches having been made on the composition of this oil. It does not appear to be present in the fresh or unprepared tea- leaf, but to be formed during the process of preparation. It is also much less developed in black than in green tea, and, indeed, it may be questioned whether the two processes by which these teas are prepared do not develop difi'erent oils. It is very certain, that whilst ON TEA AND COFFEE. 313 green and black tea contain the same quantities of other constitaents, they act very differently on the nervous system. I have known many persons who could drink with impunity black tea, who are made ill and sleepless by very small quantities of green tea. At the same time, this oil does not generally disagree, and many persons can take green tea with impunity. But in estimating the action of tea, there can be no doubt we must always take into effect the oil which is so abundant in the green tea. The effects of the oil of tea on the system closely approach those of Digitalis, or foxglove. When fox- glove is given, there is great anxiety, with palpitation of the heart, and unless given in poisonous doses, ina- bility to sleep. These are the same symptoms as per- sons complain of who take too much green tea, or who are remarkably susceptible of its action. The effect of the theine is to act as a sedative generally on the nervous system, and the oil of tea probably directs this action more particularly to the heart, and this accounts for the anxiety and nervousness felt by persons taking green tea. It may occasionally happen that persons become alarmingly ill from taking green tea, and it is well to know that stimulants are the great antagonists of the action of this agent. A wine-glassful of brandy, with or without hot or cold water, is a potent remedy. The spirits of sal-volatile or any form of ammonia may be given with advantage. The last of the substances found in tea which I shall mention is tannic acid. Tannic acid, or tannin, has been regarded as a very powerful medicine, and you 314 ON TEA AND COFFEE. will be surprised, perhaps, to see that above a quarter of the tea-leaves consist of tannic acid. We have no tannic acid in coffee or chocolate, so that tannic acid, may be regarded as one of the distinguishing features of tea. Tannic acid has a remarkable aifinity for certain organic substances. It is on this account that it is the great agent in the process of tanning. It forms with gelatrne an insoluble compound, and this constitutes leather.* There is considerable variety in the composition and properties of the substances known as tannic acid, but they all form an insoluble com- pound with gelatine. They also render albumen in- soluble, and otherwise act upon the compounds which are most common in our food. It is, therefore, a fair subject of inquiry, as to how the tannic acid of the tea acts as an article of diet. The action of tannic acid on the tissues is seen iu the effect produced on the numerous membranes of the mouth when it is introduced. A white flocu- lent precipitate is formed with the mucus and saliva, and this hangs about the mouth, looking as if the person was afiBicted with thrush, — an impression is produced on the nerves of taste similar to that which is produced by an acid. There is, however, no sour flavour, but the mouth is, as it were, " drawn up." This is what is called an astringent effect. Such an action in a slight degree is not unpleasant, and occurs with all acid articles of diet, and also when we take tea into the mouth. This effect is * See "EeatheT," in Dr. Lankester's Course of Lectures on the Uses of Animals. ON TEA AND COFFEE. 315 more obvious when the tea has neither sugar nor milk. It is apparently this action upon the mucous membrane of his mouth which is relished by the Hindoo in the chewing of the betel-nut, which contains tannic acid. This astringent or " drawing- up" effect is not imagi- nary, for we find tannic acid is one of the most powerful styptics we possess. A little applied to a bleeding part will arrest the haeraorrhage. Internally it is adrainis- • tered with the same object in view, and in losses of blood from the various surfaces of the body tannic acid is one of the most effectual remedies that can be em- ployed. Now, as tannic acid is soluble in hot water, tea must contain a very considerable quantity, at least two or three grains of this substance in every cup of the first brewing. It cannot be supposed but that the effect of this agent is very considerable. The two most remark- able points of its action are its effects upon the food in the stomach, and its effects as an astringent. I have so often seen dyspepsia removed by persons giving up the practice of taking tea at breakfast, that I have no doubt that the tannic acid of the tea renders the food taken with it more diflficult of digestion. Of course, this would only occur in the case of persons in whom the digestive function was already impaired. Such persons may frequently take tea with advantage on an empty stomach. ' I have often found myself, and observed it in others, that what we called tea dinners, produced a considerable amount of indigestion. As the action of the tannic acid • in precipitating the compounds of the food is greater ■\yhen taken with than without animal food, the objec- 316 ON TEA AND COFFEE. tion is greater to taking tea witt meals of animal food than merely with bread and butter. The practice of taking tea, provided the theine and oil do not disagree, two or three hours after dinner, seems unobjectionable. At this time the food has pro- ceeded too far in the process of digestion to be seriously interfered with by the tannic acid of the tea. The water of the tea supplies a quantity of liquid which, if taken earlier, would have interfered with digestion, whilst the theine counteracts the stimulating effect of the wine or beer taken at dinner. I know, however, that tea is extensively taken in this country at the evening meal after a middle-day dinner, and that, as it is the last meal taken in the day, solid food is consumed. I would here repeat my conviction that such a meal is always likely to be more healthily digested the less animal food that is consumed at it. Nor is the astringent effect of the tannic acid to be lost sight of. The natural secretion of the mucous mem- brane of the stomach and bowels is diminished, and where there is a tendency to inaction of the bowels, it may be increased by tea. I need not, however, go further medically into this subject. I have only wished to say so much as would enable you to judge of the proper use of tea as an ordinary article of diet. And now I come to the weighty and important matter of how to make tea. I have shown you of what tea is composed, and I have dwelt on the chemi- cal, physica.1, and vital properties of its constituents. Prom my remarks you will have gathered that the two most important constituents of tea are the theine and the volatile oil : the one acting on the nervous ON TEA AND COFFEE. 317 system, the other giving flavour to the tea, and also having a share in the effect of the tea. The only other thing that can he said to exert any influence on the system at all is the tannic acid, and whether we get more or less of that is a matter of not much import- ance. Therefore, the question to consider in making tea is, how to get the largest quantity of theine and retain the greatest amount of the volatile oil. Now this ohject is not to he attained hy boiling the tea, as we do coffee, and making a decoction, nor by allowing the theine and oil to exude into cold water, as in the case of beef-tea; but the two objects are to be attained by exposing the tea-leaves to the action of boiling water. Boiling water takes up a larger quantity of theine than water at a lower point ; at the same time it gives inten- sity to the volatility of the oil of the tea without dissipating it. Now this process seems a very simple thing, but you will find it is not so easy of accomplishment. When the kettle comes up from the kitchen before it is poured on the tea in the parlour, you may be sure the water does not boil. When the urn ceases to throw out steam the water does not boil. In nine cases out of ten, when the kettle is taken off the fire it ceases to boil. If you pour boiling water into a cold tea-pot it ceases to boil. If you pour it on cold tea it ceases 'to boil. The fact is, unless you heat your tea-pot to the boiling point, tea and aU, before you put in the water, the tea will not be exposed to boiling water at all. A good plan to secure the heating of the tea and pot, before the water is poured in, is to put it for a few minutes on the side of the fire-place, or expose it to 318 ON TEA and' coffee. « the flame of a spirit-lamp. Putting boiling water into the tea-pot before putting in the tea, previously putting the tea in a cup on the hob, is another good plan. I have invented a tea-pot, with a double cover, into the interstices of which boiling water may be poured, so that the whole is heated up to nearly the boiling point before tea or water is put into the pot. This answers very well, but it makes the tea-pot heavy, and I have never been able to induce a tea-pqt manufac- turer to invest his capital in the manufacture of my " double envelope tea-pot." The late M. Soyer, to whom we English are so much indebted for popularising the art of cookery amongst us, recommended that the tea should be ground before being submitted to infusion. This is, undoubtedly, an economical mode of making tea : by it you .extract every particle of theine, but then you get more of the tannic acid and the other constituents than you care to have. It makes the tea coarse. It is like new rough Port as compared with Steinberger or Johannisberger wines. When, however, the object is to supply large parties, and to make tea go the furthest way, this is a good plan. M. Loysell has invented an apparatus in which he makes both tea and coflFee, and the tea is treated like coffee. It is powdered and sub- mitted to the boiling water at a pressure, and in this way all the soluble compounds of the tea are effectually removed. In making tea for large assemblies I under- stand this process gives a better cup of tea all round than that secured by any other plan. It is, however, in the preparation of this "cup, which cheers but not inebriates," for the household ON TEA AND COFFEE. 319 that we are all most interested. There is hardly any point in this process that is indifferent. Without being chemists, the Chinese are very particular as to the water they employ in the making of tea. We know from chemical investigation that some water will take up a great deal more soluble matter than others, and as a rule, soft waters are better for making soups, decoc- tions, and infusions than hard waters. In order to facilitate the action of hard water on tea some persons use soda, and it is true that a certain quantity of the compounds of the tea, especially the colouring matter, are thus rendered soluble which would not be so without; the soda. But I question very much whether the tea, as far as its theine and volatile oil are concerned, is any the better for this process. There is no doubt that soft water, such as they get at Man- chester, Liverpool, and Glasgow, is the water which ' makes the best and most economical tea. Even the material and colour of your tea-pot is not a matter of indifference. Tea-pots that retain the heat are better than those that let it go. A rough black tea-pot is one of the best radiators of heat that could be invented. Hence, black earthenware tea-pots should not be used. While glazed earthenware or porcelain are much better; but better still are brightly polished silver tea-pots, for they radiate heat much less than any other material. The tea thus made is an infusion of theine and tannic acid combined with the salts of the tea and the •volatile oils which give it flavour. In England, before drinking it, we add sugar and milk, or cream. They modify to some extent the flavour of the tea, and 320 ON TEA AND COFFEE. probably its action. Sugar is a heat-giver as well as creatQ, whilst its caseine is a flesh-former; so that it should be remembered, in taking a cup of tea we are actually consuming one of the most compound of our foodsj an article of diet which represents every group of our daily food. The Chinese do not thus adulterate their tea, and prefer, as also do our washer- women, to take their tea pur ei simple. The Russians add sugar, but either squeeze in a little lemon-juice or add a slice of lemon. This, I can assure you, is no despicable addition. When the stomach is already clogged with food, as is the case after dinner, or when thirst is best allayed by acids, then the addition of lemon or its juice is most palatable and pleasant. I have before spoken of the excellent action of lemon-juice on the system, at those seasons of the year when fruit is scarce, and fresh vegetables not easy to be obtained. I have no doubt that the addition of lemon-juice to tea would have a most beoeficial effect on the health. At the same time, I do not flatter myself that any of you will try it; we are all too much the slaves of iuveterate habit to allow reason to exercise any influence over our accustomed practice, and had our grandmothers chosen to add vinegar or pepper to their tea, instead of sugar and milk, we should have adhered to the practice, I)i tying all those whose tastes or judgment had led them to adopt any other way of drinking their tea. I have not exhausted , my subject, and in the next lecture, when I come to speak of the other beverages of which we partake after infusing in boiling or hot water, shall perhaps have an opportunity of adding v few more words oa the subject of tea. ON TEA AND COFFEE. (CONTINUED.) The practice of taking warm beverages is almost universal amongst mankind. The inhabitants of the tropical forests of Africa, as well as the natives of Lapland and Kamschatka^ are equally addicted to the practice of drinking warm infusions. The Egyptians and Jews, the Greeks and the Romans, all partook of heated beverages of some kind or other. Not only are fluids taken heated, but solid food cooked by heat is preferred warm. Long before the intro- duction of tea and cofi'ee into this country, warmed beverages were popular, and an infusion or decoction called salep was sold hot in the streets of London. It is perhaps worth while, before speaking of coiFee and chocolate, to remind you of the nature of this salep. The substance sold in the shops under this name is 822 ON TEA AND COFFEE. procured from the roots of several species of Orchida- ceous plants. Some of these are natives of this country, as Orchis Morio, Orchis mascula, and Orchis maculata. They have all large tuberous roots, which yield, on boiling in water, a mucilaginous substance. This is one of the modifications of starch, and is called by chemists bassorin. There is also accompanying this undoubtedly some nutritious matter, which will account for the general use of salep amongst the natives of the East at the present day. When the roots are ready for use they are dug up and dipped in warm water^ by which process a fine brown skin which covers them, something like the skin of a potato, is easily removed by means of a coarse cloth or brush ; they are next arranged on a tin plate, and heated in an oven for ten minutes, which gives them a semi-transparent or horn- like appearance. They are then withdrawn from the oven, and, after exposure to the air for a few days, they are ready for use. When put into cold water they swell up and form a kind of mucilage. One part of powdered salep in forty-eight "parts of boiling water forms. a thick mucilaginous liquid. It is this liquid, flavoured with sugar and pssafras chips, that was sold in the streets of London before coifee was introduced. I do not know that it can be procured anywhere now ; but I have met with persons who recollect having seen this beverage sold at stalls in the streets of London, as cofiFee is now. Dr. Percival, a physician in London, wrote a book, as late as 1773, on the preparation, cultureji and uses of the orchis-root, in which he refers to the abundance of orchis plants in some parts of this country, and- recommends them as an economical ON 'JEA AND COFI'EE. 323 article of diet. I cannot, however, from any experi- ence of ray own, speak of the value of the orchis-root in diet. There is one remark I would make, and that is, that the beverages drunk before the introduction of tea and coffee seemed free from any agent capable of acting on the nervous system in the same way as theine. In fact, although the modern warm beverages contain so generally this principle, it would appear that the heat which they contain is, after all, their universal recommendation. The cause of this preference for heated food is, per- haps, worth a moment's inquiry. It has been observed, where persons have taken cold food for a length of time, that they have become depressed, and their stomach disordered. The fact is, when we take food considerably lower than 98°, the temperature 6f the human body, it abstracts heat from the stomach and surrounding tissues ; and unless the system has the power of manufacturing an additional quantity of heat to supply that which has been lost by raising the tem- perature of the food, a general depression of the vital powers will take place. We know that persons are some- times made very ill, and even killed, by taking, in an exhausted state, a draught of cold water or an ice. This is, perhaps, sufficient to indicate the fact, that in taking warm foods and drinks, we are sparing the system the effort of producing a quantity of heat, which can only be done by the destruction of a certain quantity of tissue by the process of oxidation. There is no doubt, that where vigorous oxidation goes on in the body, and a rapid metamorphosis of tissue takes place, there the body will exhibit the greatest amount of power, provided this takes place within the limits of health. But the Y 324 ON TEA, AND COFPEE, human body may be exposed to too much oxidation — there may be a more rapid combustion of tissue than there are processes of renewal, and under these circum- stances the body will suffer. It is on this ground, I believe, that warm food and drinks are found so accept- able to mankind. When the body needs food or drink, it is usually in an exhausted state ; and as cold food makes an immediate demand on the system for heat before it Can itself supply the materials for combustion, the body is taxed to supply heat at a moment when it is least fitted for it — hence the instinctive preference for warm food. This is much more the case with liquid than with solid food, and as the former contains generally little nutritive or heat-giving matter, it acts all the more injuriously on the system when taken cold. These facts will explain a great many of the pecu- liarities of our diet. It shows us why it is that we take our tea and coffee warm at breakfast, after the long abstinence from food during the night. It explains how it is that many persons cannot drink cold water when they first rise in the morning. It throw's light on the practice of eating hot soup at the beginning of the principal meal. It accounts for so large a number of teetotallers substituting warm weak tea or coffee at their meals for cold water. It seems to me to be, in fact, the explanation of the universal preference for warm food amongst mankind where it can be procured. I know there is a contrary taste for taking ices and iced drinks. But this I suspect is more an acquired than a natural taste, and is rather the luxury of the over-fed and the indolent than the instinctive tendency of the race. In fact, ice in this country is only thought ON TEA AND COFFEE. 325 of at any time, after the stomach has been well fortified by previous eating and drinking to resist its depressing action. In the summer season, when the temperature of the atmosphere approaches that of the human body, the taking of iced drinks is more largely indulged in, and it can be done with the greater impunity, as under such circumstances the heat- giving faculty of the system is little taxed by the with- drawal of heat for the surface of the body. Not to prolong my remarks on this subject, I would say what clothing is to the external surface of the body, warm food is to its internal surface, and that just as the skin is in- vigorated by the occasional application of cold, so the mucous membrane of the mouth and stomach may be momentarily pleasantly stimulated by the application of cold ; but the continuous application of cold to either surfaces is a circumstance to be guarded against, as likely to be productive of injurious consequences. " But I must now invite your attention to the subject of Cofifee. It is a very curious fact, that tea and coflFee should have been introduced into Europe about the same time. - Coffee, however, came to us from quite a different district of the world from that which pre- sented us with tea. The coffee-plant is a native of Abyssinia, from whence it appears to have been origi- nally introduced into Persia and Arabia. It is known to have been used as an article of diet in Persia as early as 875 ; whilst the credit of its introduction into Arabia Felix is given to Megalleddin, Mufti of Aden. It seems to have been especially acceptable to a Mohammedan population, who by their religion were interdicted the consumption of fermented beverages. It was not tiU Y 2 326 ON TEA AND COFFEE. 1554 that it was publicly sold in Constantinople. Although, attempts were made to stop its sale by the Syrian government, on the ground of its intoxicating properties, it made its way in spite of all opposi- tion. It was not till the seventeenth century that it found its way into Europe. Several notices of it, however, were found amongst European writers before that time. Prosper Alpinus, a Venetian traveller, who visited Egypt in 1580, mentions it in his writings. Burton, an English writer, in his " Anatomy of Melan- choly," published in 1631, says, " The Turks have a drink called cofiFee (for they use no wine), so named, of a berry as black as soot and as bitter, which they sip up as warm as they can suffer, because they find by experience that that kind of drink so used helpeth digestion and procureth alacrity." Coffee was first sold in London in 1652. It soon be- came a favourite beverage in London, and coffee-shops were directed to be licensed by the magistrates at Quarter Sessions. They, however, became the resort of the soberer classes of people, who spent their time in talking politics, and were at one time regarded with suspicion by the Government. As the establishment of coffee- shops seems to have exercised a remarkable influence on the habits of the people of England, perhaps I may be excused for quoting the following passage from Lord Macaulay's " History of England." Speaking of the use of coffee-shops, he says, — " The first of these establishments had been set up in the time of the Commonwealth, by a Turkey merchant -who had acquired among the Mahometans a taste for the'r favourite bsverage. The noavenieiLce of being able to make appointments in any part of the ON TEA AND COFFEE. 327 towD, and of being able to pass, evenings socially at a very small charge, was so great that the fashion spread fast. Every man of the upper or middle class went daily to his coffee-house, to learn the news and to discuss it. Every coffee-house had one or more orators, to whose eloquence the crowd listened with admiration, and who soon became, what the journalists of our own time have been called, a Fourth Estate of the realm. The Court had long seen with un- easiness the growth of this new power in the State. An attempt had been made during Danby's administration to close the coifee- houses. But men of all parties missed their usual place of resort so muoli that there was a universal outcry. The Government did not venture, in opposition to a feeling so strong and general, to enforce a regulation of which the legality might well be questioned. Since that time ten years had elapsed, and during those years the number and influence of the coffee-houses had been constantly increasing. Foreigners remarked that the coffee-house was that which especially distinguished London from all other cities; that the coffee-house was the Londoners' home, and those who wished to find a gentleman, commonly asked, not whether he lived in Elect Street or Chancery Lane, but whether he frequented the Grecian or the Kainbow. Nobody was excluded from these places who laid down his penny at the bar. There were houses near St. James's Park, where fops congregated, their heads and shoulders covered with black or flaxen wigs not less ample than those which are now worn by the Chan- cellor and by the Speaker of the House of Commons. The wig came from Paris, and so did the rest of the fine gentleman's orna- ments. His embroidered coat, Ijis fringed gloves, and the lapel which held up his pantaloons. The conversation was in that dialect which, long after it had ceased to be spoken in the fashionable cir- cles, continued in the mouth of Lord Eoppington to excite the mirth of theatres. The atniosphere was like that of a perfumer's shop. Tobacco in any other form than that of riohly-soented snuff was held in abomination. If ,any clown, ignorant of the usages of the house, called for a pipe, the supers of the- whole assembly and the short answers of the waiters soon convinced him that he had better go somewhere else. Nor indeed would he have had far to go. Eor, in general, the coffee-rooms reeked with tobacco like a guard-room ; and strangers sometimes expressed their surprise that so many people should leave their own firesides to sit in the midst of eternal fog and stench. Nowhere was the smoking more constant than at Will's. That celebrated house, situated between Covent Garden and Bov 328 ON TEA AND COFFEE. Street, was sacred to Polite Letters. There the talk was about poetical justice and the unities of place and time. There was a faction for Perrault and the modems, and a faction for Boileau and the ancients. One group debated whether 'Paradise Lost' ought not to have been in rhyme. To another an envious poetaster demon- strated that 'Venice Preserved' ought to have been hooted from the stage. Under no roof was a greater variety to be seen — earls in stars and garters, clergymen in cassocks and bands, pert tem- plars, sheepish lads from the universities, translators, and index- makers in ragged coats of frieze. The great press was to get near the chair where John Dryden sat. In winter that chair was always in the warmest nook by the fire, in summer it stood in the balcony. To bow to him and to hear his opinion of Eacine's last tragedy, or Bossu's treatise on epic poetry, was thought a privilege. A pincli from his snuff-box was an honour sufficient to turn the head of a young enthusiast. There were coffee-houses where the first medical men might be consulted. Doctor John Katoliffe, who in the year 1685 rose to the largest practice in London, came daily, at the hour when the Exchange was full, from his house in Bow Street, then a fashionable part of the capital, to Garraway's, and was to be found surrounded by surgeons and apothecaries at a particular table. There were Puritan coffee-houses where no oath was heard, and where lank-haired men discussed election and reprobation through their noses ; Jew coffee-houses, where dark-eyed money-changers from Venice and from Amsterdam greeted each other; and Popish coffee-houses, where, as good Protestants believed, Jesuits planned over their cujft another great fire, and cast silver bullets to shoot the king." The opposition met with by coffee and tea was not at all confined to the Governments of the world. Dr. Lettsom, who gave one of the best accounts of tea in the last century, was not wholly free from prejudices against it, and attributed the increase of intoxication to the use of tea. He says the practice of drinking stimulants is often owing "to the weakness and debility of the system brought on by the daily habit of drinking tea; the trembling hand seeks a temporary relief in some cordial in order to refresh ON TEA AND COFFKE. 329 and excite again, the enfeebled system, whereby such persons almost necessarily fall into a habit of in- temperance." The same charges were brought against coffee ; but the older people grew th& better able they were to judge for themselves of the effect of tea upon their system. Dr. Johnson confessed himself " a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle had scarcely time to cool ; who with tea amused the evening, with tea solaced the midnight, and with tea welcomed the morning." The plant which produces Coffee belongs to the same natural order of plants as the Cinchonas do, which yield quinine. It is called Cinchonacea, or the coffee tribe. The coffee plant which yields the greatest amount of the coffee of commerce is the Coffea Arabica. The genus Coffea is more particularly knoWn in the order by the nature of its fruit, which is a red succulent berry, surmounted by the calyx and corolla, and which contains two cells lined with a cartilaginous membrane of the- texture of parch- ment, and in each of these cells there is a single seed, curved at the back, and deeply furrowed in front. If you examine a coffee-seed, you can easily observe this structure, and the drawing (Fig. 1) will give you a good idea of the fruit. Fig. I.— Coffee. Coffea Arabica is an evergreen shrub, or small tree. 330 ON TEA AND COFFEE. with oval, shining, wavy, sharp-pointed leaves, two or three inches in length. The flowers are white and fragrant, with fine cleft petals, which are united together into a tube, forming what is called a mono- petalous corolla. The anthers of the stamens project heyond the flowers. As the inferior pistil becomes connected with the fruit, the calyx, corolla, and stamens .fall qS, and the berry first becomes red and then purple. This plant still giowa wild in the moun- tainous districts of Abyssinia, but the demand for its seeds has caused it to be cultivated wherever it will ripen its leaves. The Dutch were the first to carry the plant from Arabia to Batavia, and from Batavia it was carried to Amsterdam. Here the plant flourished in the Botanic Gardens, and a plant was presented by the magistrates of that city to Louis XIV. This was planted in the Jardjn du Roi, where it grew, and is said to have furnished the stock of all the French cofifee plantations in. Martinique. The cofiee plant will not grow in any part of the world where the minimum temperature is below 55° Fahrenheit. At the same time it requires shade, and when planted in the plains of Arabia it is always surrounded with large- trees, which shelter it from the direct rays of the sun, and prevent its fruit ripening too rapidly. It is cultivated now in all quarters of the globe, and we derive our supplies in this country from very various sources. It comes to us from the Brazils, Yenezuela, South Africa, the French and British West Indies, Cuba, St. Domingo, Java, Manilla, Arabia, the East Indies, and Ceylon. Other species of Cofiee yield seeds containing the same qualities as the Coffea Arabica. Thus, in Silhet ON TEA AND COFFEE. 33] and Nepaul a species is cultivated which is called Coffea Benghaleniis. On the coast of Mozambique there is a species found called by botanists Qoffea, Mosambica, and in the Mauritius a species grows called Coffea Mauritiana. The seeds of the last species are said to be so acrid as to produce poisonous effects. Whether these are really independent species or merely varieties of Coffea Arabica, it is very difficult to say. Any one, of course, can give an opinion on the subject, and those who know least about the difficulty of determining the real nature of a species will hold the most decided opinions on the subject. The coffee-plant is either propagated by cuttings or by seeds. The plants bear fruit at the end of three years, and are frequently in a condition to bear picking three times in a year. The trees continue to produce for twenty years. They seldom attain a height of more than fifteen or twenty feet. The seeds vary much in size ; those which come from Yeman in Arabia, and which yield what is called Mocha coffee, are the smallest which are brought into the market. The next best coffee to the Mocha is the Java ; then follows the Ceylon, the Martinique, and Batavia. Coffees of inferior quality are brought from the British West Indies. The berries when ripe are collected and prepared in different ways. In Arabia they shake the trees and collect the fruit in cloths, which they expose to the sun and air to dry. When dried, they crush them with a heavy roller, and break the parchment envelopes, and separate the seeds by winnowing. In our own West India plantations a different mode of preparing the seeds is adopted. A mill is used con- 33a ON TEA AND COFPEB sisting of two wooden cylinders, furnished with iron plates. The berries are put into a hopper, and the beans eventually fall on a sieve, which allows the pulp to pass through and retains the seeds. The seeds' are now soaked in water, then dried, and the parchment removed by the action of a vertical wheel. The parch- ment is then separated by a winnowing-machine. The seeds are immediately transferred to bags, by which the greenish colour they possess is preserved. Before considering the method of preparing coffee for use, let us examine its composition. I present you here with the composition of the unroasted coffee berry, as given in my " Guide to the Food Collection at the South Kensington Museum." The calculation for the pound has been made after an analysis by Payen in the 100 parts. One pound of unroasted coffee contains : — oz. GKAINS Water ... 1 407 Sugar 1 17 Pat 1 402 Caseine ... 2 35 Caffeine or Theine ... 122 Aromatic Oil li Caffeic Acid with Potash 280 Gam 1 192 Woody Fibre 5 262 Saline Matter 1 - 31 In reading over these analyses let me remind you that there are 437 grains in an ounce. Now there are only three things here that need remark, and they are the caffeine, the oil, and the salts. The heat-giving substances — the sugar' and the fat — are in too small ON TEA AND COFFEE. 333 quantities to need comment. I may say of the caseine as of the same constituent in tea. It is probably not taken up at all ; so with the accessaries gum and woody fibre. If we were in the habit of eating the coffee grounds, as the Turks are, then the consideration of these things might be of some importance. The caffeic acid has been dwelt upon by some writers. It appears to be a modification of tannic acid, but it has neither the power of forming black salts with iron nor of pre- cipitating a solution of gelatine. Then it is in much smaller quantities than tannic acid in tea, so that should it turn out to have the composition of tannic acid, it cannot be regarded as possessing anything like the importance of that agent in tea. I think, for good or for evil, we may leave it out of our consideration alto- gether. We must also remember that it undergoes decomposition during the process of roasting. The caffeine of the coffee is identical with the theine of tea.. I need not, therefore, dwell on its pro- perties. It is, however, an interesting fact worthy of a moment's consideration that the coffee plant should produce a compound which closely resembles the qui- nine and cinchonine of other members of the Cinchona family. If we were in doubt as to the effects of caffeine on the system, we might appeal to the known action of quinine, as illustrative of its action. If there is one fact better proved than another in the history of medicine, it is that quinine has the power of arresting intermittent fever or ague. This is so well known that ,no tyro in medicine would think of treating a case of ague without quinine. Now it so happens that there are certain cases. of ague which will not yield to qui- 834' ON TEA AND COFFEE. time, and these cases have been known to yield to theine. The composition of these substances is as follows : — Theine Carbon. ...16 Hydrogen. 10 Nitrogen. 4 Oxygen. 4 Wat 2 Quinine. ..20 12 1 2 3 We can hardly doubt that each of them is capable of acting on the nervous system, and that what is true of the action of quinine is also of theine or caffeine. The aromatic oil mentioned in the analysis is the substance which gives the peculiar flavour to coffee. Although given in the analysis of unroasted coffeCj it does not appear to be developed till after it has been submitted to this process. The nature of this oU is but imperfectly understood. It appears to be much more fully developed in coffee-seeds which have been kept, for some time before they are roasted; at the same time, such is the importance attached to this oil in giving aroma to coffee, that the late Professor Johnston estimated, that if it could be manufactured it would be worth one hundred pounds an ounce. From some experiments by Professor Lehmann it appears that this oil produces on the system much the same effect as the caffeine itself. He distilled roasted coffee with water, and found that this oil could thus be pro- cured separate from the other constituents of coffee. As the result of his experiments, he found that the oil produced the same results as caffeine in retarding the waste of the tissues of the body ; that it produced an agreeable excitement and gentle perspiration, and- that in its exhilarating action upon the brain it affected the imagination less than the reasoning powers. OK TEA AND COFFEE. 335 When over-doses of the oil were takerij he found it produced violent perspiration, with sleeplessness and symptoms of congestion. These symptoms are some- what dififerent from those produced by the oil from green tea ; at the same time, there can be no doubt that they assist the action of theine generally in the same way, and the fact that green tea and coffee pro- duce the same effect on the system is thus explained. But besides this aromatic oil, there are produced during the roasting Certain compounds which give a peculiar bitter taste to coffee. These compounds have not been carefully investigated, and will probably be found to arise from the destruction of the woody fibre and Caffeic acid of the seed. These compounds are given up to the water in greater or lesser quantities, according to the degree of roasting to which the coffee has been submitted, and the kind of water used for making it. Thus, cofiFee roasted to a reddish-brown colour is said to yield 35 per cent, of its bulk to boiling water, whilst chestnut-brown coffee yields only 19 per cent. Waters containing alkali are found to take up more of the soluble matter than those without. Thus it has been recommended to add carbonate of soda to coffee m . the proportion of forty grains to the pound of coffee. We know nothing, however, of the action of these soluble bitter matters on the system, and the taking them must be regarded as a matter of taste. The saline matters, or ashes of coffee, deserve a moment's notice. They are nearly one-third greater than those of tea, and they contain a larger quantity of potash and phosphoric acid. These, as we have seen in one of the previous lectures, are important constitu- 336 O.N' TEA AND COPFEIS. ents of our food, and the habitual use of them must exercise an important influence on the system. It has been observed, that those who drink coflFee are not liable to gout, and if this be true, it is not altogether improbable that the saline constituents of the coflFee may be the agents which act thus favourably on the system. From what we know of the action of these saline substances, especially potash and phosphoric acid, there can be little doubt that they are capable of exercising a beneficial influence in certain states of the system. I must now say a few words with regard to the pre- paration of cofiFee. You know that the seeds, or beans, as they are called, are brought raw into this country, and the first process they are submitted to is that of roasting. This is mostly done by those who sell the coffee. At the same time, it is a process on which the flavour and pleasantness of the coflFee very much ' depend. If the seeds are roasted too little, the oil and empyreumatic products are not developed ; whilst, if done too much, they are destroyed. The coffee- beans, when roasted, may have three degrees of shade; they may be reddish-brown, chesnut-brown, and dark brown, and where a fuU-flayoured coflFee is preferred, perhaps the darkest is the best. When the coffee is roasted, it should not be kept long before it is ground and used. It is usually ground in a proper mill, or it may be powdered in a mortar ; ' but whatever machine is employed for this purpose, it should not be used for anything else, as coffee has a peculiar tendency to absorb other odours, and thus to acquire a flavour not its own. When ground, it should be used as soon as possible ' ON TEA AND COFFEE. , 337 For in this state it rapidly gives off its volatile oil. Many devices have been employed to keep coffee after it has been ground, and where this must be done, there is nothing more efficient than a clean stoppered bottle. It is, however, frequently sold in tin or lead packages ; but these do not keep it so well as a bottle. The greatest art, however, of all is, the making the coffee. Time would fail me were I to attempt to tell you of all the methods that have been employed and the instruments that have been invented for the making of coffee. The most common practice, how- ever, of making this beverage, establishes a difference' between it and tea. Everywhere tea is used as an infusion, whilst coffee is employed as a decoction. It seems to be very generally admitted, that coffee should be boiled before it is drunk. A common plan is to put the powdered coffee into hot water, in a coffee-pot, and to let it boil for two or three minutes, and then to let it stand by the side of the fire for some little time. The particles of ground coffee are often suspended in this liquid, and a process of clearing is required. This is effected sometimes by isinglass or white of egg ; but this is not necessary, and the pouring a cupful out and returning it will produce the desired effect. Coffee-pots are sold with muslin bags, metallic sieves, and other con- trivances, to produce the clearing. Coffee is, however, exposed to the danger of losing its aroma by boiling, and sometimes boiling water alone is added to it as in making tea. A coffee-pot has been recently invented by M. Loysell, in which the coffee is exposed to boiling water at a considerable pressure, and a very agreeable coffee is produced in this way. One great secret of 338 ON TEA AND COFFEE. making good coflFee is, to put enough of the prepared powder. One ounce and a quarter to the pint of water is the least that should he allowed. The cafe noir, or hlack coffee of the French, contains a larger proportion than this. Cafe au lait consists of strong coffee, to ■which an equal quantity of hot milk is added. In the making of coffee, as in the making of tea, it should be remembered that the qualities of the coffee are not rendered to water at a lower temperature than the boiling point. It -would also appear that coffee will bear boiling, which tea will not. I must now add a few words on substitutes for coffee. At first sight it would not appear to be unna- tural to expect to find in the vegetable world many things which might be used instead of either tea or coffee. And if we regard the general constituents of tea or coffee, this is certainly the case. But when we find that all substances which have been tried are deficient in the active principle — caffeine or theine — we then have a reason for their failure. As well might we expect to find a substitute for wine without alcohol as a substitute for tea or coffee without theine, or some analogous principle. The proposed substitutes for coffee have been very numerous, and the result of roasting these things has been the production of substances which, when prepared in the same way as coffee, have led to the hope that a substitute had been found. The failure of all of them has, however, clearly shown that they were destitute of the agent that ad- dressed itself to the nervous system, and gave to coffee and tea their hold on the appetites of humanity. I have here a list of substances which have been thus used : — ON TEA AND COFFEE. 339 Tris Seeds, Broom Seeds, Fenugrec Seeds, Spanish Acorns, Chick Peas, Bice, Carrot Boot, Parsnip Boot, Acorns, Beans, Lnpia Seeds, Chicory Boot, Dandelion, Beetroot, Wheat, Fmits of the Goosegrass. To these might, undoubtedly, be added many more. In some parts of the world, where coffee is difficult to be had or expensive, they are extensively employed. But you recollect whati said of the necessity of warm beverages. Many of these things are known only in this country as a means of adulterating coffee. There is one of these things, however, which has been so fre- quently associated with coffee in this country, although I do not think it is drunk to any extent alone, that I ought to mention it. I refer to chicory, or succory- root. The plant which yields this root is a native of our own chalk soils, and is known by its pretty blue flowers, .which appear in the autumn of the year: it is the Cichorium Intybus of botanists, and is the type of a great division of Compositous plants, known by their milky juice, and to which the dandelion and lettuce belong. It does not, however, contain caffeine; the part of the plant used is the root, and when this is roasted and ground, and boiled, it yields a drink not unlike coffee. From being recommended as a substitute for coffee it came to be used for adulterating it, and then a curious fact was elicited : many persons preferred coffee with chicory in it; and there seems to be no doubt that chicory does take from coffee a part of that roughness which renders it disagreeable to the taste of z 340 ON TEA AND COFFEE. some individuals. Be this as it may, the sale of chicory is now legalised; and although the addition pf it to cofiFee is regarded as an adulteration, many persons purchase it for that purpose. Chicory contains an empyreumatic oil, and a bitter principle similar to that found in coffee ; it has also a sweetish taste, which probably contributes more than anything else to its modification of the flavour of coffee. On the continent of Europe it is used very extensively alone, and perhaps the influence of its empyreumatic oil on the system may be its recommendation. There is, however, one great objection to its use altogether, and that is the fact of its being adulterated with a variety of utterly worthless and tasteless vegetable matters. I may refer here to substitutes for tea. It is not uncommon to hear reference made to Paraguay tea as a substitute for Chinese tea ; but this is really a mis- nomer, as Paraguay tea is used extensively on its own merits, and is found to contain the same active principle as tea and coffee. The Paraguay tea-plant is a native of the New World, and in some parts of South America it is used as extensively, for the purpose of making a hot infusion, as tea and coffee' are in Asia and Europe. This plant belongs to the genus Ilex, plants belonging to the order Aquifoliacem, and which is remarkable for containing our indigenous holly, the Ilex 'Aqui- folium. The Paraguay tea-plant, or Mate, as it is sometimes called, &om the name of the little cup out of which it is drunk, is the Ilex Paraguaensis. It is a shrub attaining the size of an orange-tree. It thrives ON TEA AND COFFEE. 341 well in hothouses in this country, and may be seen grow- ing in great vigour at the Royal Gardens at Kew. It has leaves three or four inches in length, quite smooth, of a bluntish w^dge-shape, with large serratures at their edges. This plant grows wild in the forests of Paraguay and Brazils, but is not cultivated at ill. The labour of collecting and preparing the leaves of this plant for use is entirely dependent upon ihe native Indians. The merchants of Chili and Buenos Ayres send various articles of merchandise up into the interior, which they exchange with the natives for this plant. A con- siderable trade, is thus carried on, as it is calculated that upwards of 5,000,000 lbs. of the leaves of this plant are annually collected in Paraguay. Much less care is taken in the prepa,ration of this tea than in preparing Chinese tea. The natives at certain seasons of the year penetrate the forest, and having selected a tree, they cut off its principal branches with a hatchet. When a sufficient number are cut down they are placed on hurdles. A wood fire is then made, over which, when the flames have ceased to ascend, the hurdles are placed. The branches are kept on the hurdles till they are dried. They are then removed from the ire, and a clean hard floor being made on some spot of ground, they are strewn upon it and beateii with sticks. The dried leaves and smaller branches are thus reduced to a coarse kind of powder, which is usually placed in bullocks' hides, which, when sewed up and dried, are ready for exportation. ' Some little selection, however, is made during the packing, and three sorts are known in the market ; thus far re- sembling the same stages of proceeding in the collecting z 2 342 ON TEA AND COFFEE. of Chinese tea. The kinds known in the South Ameri- can markets are Caa-Cuys, which consists of the young leaf-buds; the Caa-Miri, which is the leaf separated from its midrib and secondary ribs ; and the Caa-Guaza, or Yerva de Palos of the Spaniards, which consists of the leaf, leaf-stalks, and young branches, all mixed together. . The method of preparing this tea is very simple ; it is, nevertheless, peculiar. A cup, which is called a mate, is employed, which frequently consists of a gourd, but is sometimes made of silver or other materials. Into this cup is introduced a long, tube, called a bombilla, at the end of which is a bowl pierced with holes, or a round piece of basket-work, the object of which is to allow the fluid to be sucked up without the solid particles passing into the mouth. A small quantity of the yerva is then placed in the cup covering the bowl of the tube, and boiling water is poured upon it. A little sugar is frequently added, and when cold enough, the liquid is sucked up through the tube. The beverage thus formed has a slightly aromatic |mell, but very much less than either tea or coflfee, and is slightly bitter to the taste. The most curious point about the history of this plant h, that the active- principle, which was first called para- guaine, is found to be identical with theine and caffeine. The effects attributed to the action of the Paraguay tea on the system are precisely the same as those of tea and coffee. Probably from knowing less of its action in Europe, we hear less of its evil effects than of even 'those of tea and coffee ; but we are not to conclude from this that it is at all probable that Paraguay tea is preferable as an article of diet to tea or coffee. The great reason of its not coming into the British market is, tjiat it has ON TEA AND- COFFEE. 343 to pay the same duty as tea. At the same time, I have known English persons who have contracted so great a love for this beverage at Buenos Ayxes, that they regu- larly consume it, now that they live again in England, and willingly pay the duty for their favourite beverage. It certainly is worth while considering whether the theine could not be obtained and made use of indepen- dently of the constituents of this plant. I have recently had some theine lozenges made by Messrs. Savory and .Moore, of Bond-street, and I find them to possess all the refreshing qualities of tea. I think if such lozenges were made pleasant and sold cheap, that they might have an extensive sale, and be made the means of consuming some of the theine which annually perishes in the forests .of Paraguay. The other constituents of the mate are the volatile oil and an astringent principle. The volatile oU, which is evidently in much less quantity than in tea and coffee, appears to be developed by roasting. The astringent and slightly bitter principle is probably some form of tannic acid. It is on this account perhaps that it is used in the Brazils by dyers. I cannot tell you the exact quantity of this astringent matter there is in Paraguay tea, but from its flavour I should judge that tliere is quite as much as in Chinese tea. I can find no analysis of the salts of Paraguay tea. They probably contain iron, as the infused tea, when exposed to the air becomes of an almost inky colour. From what I have said about this Paraguay tea, you wiU come to the conclusion, I am sure, that it is a very valuable plant, and that it would probably repay atten- tion to its culture and propagation. If it were not 344 ua XJjJA AJMU tUfU'^Ji:. that the Government is perpetually putting its finger into our food, now into our sugar-basin, then into the pepper-box, and again into the tea-pot, it is probable we should have known long ago more about this plant, and have found it an article of diet much cheaper and more eflScient than Chinese tea. I find that other species of Ilex, as Ilex Gonghona:, have been used in the same way as the Paraguay tea ; buj; whether this possesses theine, I am. not able to say. Our common holly, the Ilex Aquifolium, yields a crystal- lisable principle called Ilicine, which is very bitter, and is said to be an excellent remedy, like quinine, in ague. There can be no doubt of the beneficial action of these principles on the system, and it is well worth further study and experiment as to how far they may be pos- sessed by native and readily-accessible plants. Unfor- tunately, the system of taxing food is so deeply rooted in all European systems of government, that the people are frequently prevented from consuming, the less ex- pensive products of their own soil, because a revenue is raised on the productions of foreign countries. It is quite possible that some of our native plants may con- tain theine, or some active principle so nearly allied as to act in the same way, and this can only be discovered by use. A compound made of native plants was for- merly sold in this country under the name of " British Herb tea," but its manufacture and sale were prohibited by the Government. Whilst speaking of substitutes for tea, I ought to mention that one of the most promising of them is ' coffee-leaves. It appears that in the islands of the Eastern Archipelago the leaves of the eoffee-plant are Jried and prepared in the same way as those of tea, and ON TEA AND COFFEE. 345 used in infasion for drinking. .At the Great Exhi-* bitioD, in 1851, Dr. Gardner exhibited some prepared coffee-leaves, and stated that he had succeeded in obtaining from them a considerable amount of theine. The quantity of theine in cofiee-leaves appears to be greater than either in Chinese tea or coffee. Mr. Ward, a gentleman who lived for some time in Sumatra, gave some years ago an account, in the Pharmaceutical Journal, of the action of the infusion of coffee-leaves on the natives and himself. His account of its effects agrees very closely with what we know of the action of tea. The Sumatrans prefer the tea from coffee-leaves to the beverage made from coffee-seeds. Mr. Ward him- self employed it habitually, and found from it all the comfort and advantage of tea. One great recommend- ation of the coffee-leaf is, that it will grow in soils and under circumstances that will not develop the coffee- seed. The coffee-leaves are sold in Sumatra, at the price of about three halfpence a pound, and might be packed, of good quality for the European market, at the rate of twopence a pound. Specimens of the dried coffee-leaves with the theine obtained from them are to be seen in the food collection of the South Kensington Museum. I am sure it would be worth while to try the coffee-leaf on an extensive scale, if it be thought desirable to render available for the great bulk of the community a very important article of diet. There is yet one other plant containing theine, which is employed by man as an article of diet, and which we may yet again hear of as supplying food. The plant to which I allude is the Paullinia sorbilis, or Guarana plant. It. belongs to the same family of plants as the horse- chestnut. It grows on the river Tapagos, on some of 346 ON TEA AND COFFEE. the head waters of the Orinoco, and elsewhere in the great valley of the Amazon. The fruit of this tree is gathered when ripe and roasted ; after this process the seeds are removed and powdered between stones or mallets, and then made into a thick paste with water. The paste is moulded into cakes, which are baked by the heat of the sun. These cakes will keep good for any length of time. When used they are scraped, and a table-spoonful is added to a pint of boiling water. It is sold all through the Brazils, and is used as a medicine in ague, dysentery, and other diseases. It appears to diflFer but little in composition from tea and coffee, except that it contains a larger quantity of fat or oil, and in this respect it resembles cocoa or chocolate. According to the analysis of Dr. Stenhouse, gnarana is richer in theine than any other of the sub- stances of which I have spoken to you. The following are the per-centages as given by Dr. Stenhouse: — Guarana 507 per cent, of Theine Good Black Tea ... 213 » » Coffee 10 >t » Coffee Leaves 1-26 „ >j Paraguay Tea 1-20 » „ The plants which are infused and used as warm drinks where Chinese tea has not been introduced, and which do not contain theine, are hardly worth dwelling on. They possess no properties which would lead us for one moment to ' suppose that they could ever take the place of tea or coffee, or exercise so beneficial an influence on the nervous system. The various agents which have been thus employed have been reduced by Professor Johnstone to a tabular form, and I present you these in the accompanying diagram. ON TEA AND COFFEE. 347 >-1 bo 1-a a EH ■3 .9 g .3 E-i a EhMh •2 PI 9 cS § a •i EH o bo 41 DQ o fc-2 n oa e c6 in D t< 0) c O So CO e« o O OS ^ S a.S.« ° ° 3 Spi5!2SSaHa3!iQt>00 l§ -i Qfci kI 5 ea IS t^ S J .2 "i e8 <0 5 .a Wmoo la •a ■■2 nnum a scop! sJl •C-3 ^ Q U S « =8 Is ■<^g'a£^ ID b '^ «^ «•„ o ^ a e3 ■" S § " j= p.;g S 3 te o 3 8 1 2 fci « re ^ r^ P C3 ia O O s a s a a «> S 5 .a s a c3 a-grS a al s 8 i & SP2 « p ;; S! >: §■§5 s a^ ■a " a. 5 S 5 tJ '^ S S cue 348- ON TEA AND COFFEE. There is one other substance that has a claim to be considered amongst these neurotic beverages, and that is Cocoa. Nevertheless, cocoa diflFers so much in its mode of preparation, that we might almost regard it as a kind of soup. As cocoa is generally prepared, we take it thick, and consume all it has to offer us. I place it amongst the medicinal foods, because it contains an alkaloid. Nevertheless, it contains more fat, and as much flesh-forming matter as beef; and on looking at it from this point of view, one feels the diflBculty of classifying food; and the necessity of weighing well all the constituents of food, if it is to be administered wisely and well. The things you buy in the shops under tlie name of Cocoa and choc&lafe are the produce of the seeds of a plant known to botanists under the nkme of Theobroma Cacao. This plant is a native of the New World. The Spaniards, wbo so cruelly con- quered and took possession of Mexico, were the first Europeans who became acquainted with cocoa. Pres- cott, the American historian, in that splendid picture which he draws of the magnificence and state of Montezuma, the emperor of Mexico, says — " The emperor took no other beverage than chocolate, a potation of chocolate flavoured with Vanilla and other spices, and so pre- pared as to be reduced to a froth of the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in, the.moutk ■ This beverage (if so it could be called) was served in golden goblets, with spoons of the same metal, or of tortoise-shell finely wrought." The golden vessels excited the cupidity of the Spaniard, but the new drink was despised. A Spanish traveller, after the conquest of Mexico, de- scribes the cocoa-nut tree, but speaks of its seeds as ON TEA AND COFFEE. ^19 an article of diet with infiaite contempt, and says that chocolate was a drink " fitter for a pig than for a man." It was left for Linnaeus to name the plant ; and with a much finer judgment of the good things of this wgrld, declared that so far from its being food fit for pigs, re- garded it as worthy the regard of gods, and named it Theobroma, the food of gods. Several species of this genus yield seeds from which cocoa may be obtained ;. but the Theobroma Cacao is the species from which the cocoa is obtained in Mexico, and the plant which is cultivated in many parts of the world on account of the commercial value of the seeds. The cocoa plant is a tree with large single leaves and small flowers, which grow on flower stalks direct from the stem. (Fig. 2.) The flower is succeeded by a large capsular fruit, about the size of a common vegetable mar- row, and in it are contained from twenty-five to thirty seeds. They are about tlie size of an almond, and are covered with a thin skin or husk of a light j-eddish brown colour. These seeds, with the husks on, are brought into this country. In Mexico they are used as money, six of these seeds being worth about a halfpenny. When brought into this country the seeds are prepared in various ways. They are heated and ground down in a mill, and a coarse kind of paste is formedj which is called cocoa paste; or it is rubbed Fig. 2. — Cocoa Plant. 350 ON TEA AND COFFEE. into a coarse powder, and called granulated cocoa ; or it is cut into slips, and cMled flaked cocoa. The husks are more or less removed in these preparations. Again the seeds are submitted to heat, the husks removed and the kernel somewhat broken : they are sold under' the name of cocoa-nibs. Lastly, the husks are removed, the nuts are reduced to a paste, and various flavouring agents are added, as vanilla, and the cakes tjius pre- pared are called chocolate. The composition of one pound of these seeds in the form of cocoa-paste, is as follows : — Water Albumen and Gluten Theobromine Butter Gum Starch Woody Pibre Colouring Matter Mineral Matter If we compare this composition for one moment with tea and coffee, we shall see that the flesh-forming and heat-giving elements of food are greatly in the ascendant. The albumen and gluten are in larger proportions than in bread, or oats, or barley. There is no doubt, then, that when these' seeds are eaten entire, or in the form of paste, that they constitute a highly nutritive article of diet. Again, let us look at the fat. Here we have half the paste consisting of pure fat, and acting on th6 system as any other kind of fatty matter : so that, in estimating the value of cocoa as an article of diet, wc oz. GRMXS 350 3 85 140 8 426 1 53 280 140 280 ON TEA AND COFFEE. 351 must not estimate, its medicinal action alone^ but the influence of its heat-giving and flesh-forming matters. The alkaloid it contains, and which is called theobromine, is, nevertheless, an interesting substance. It difiers from theine in containing a larger quantity of nitrogen. It is, however, a curious fact, that re- cently theobromine has been converted artificially into theine ; it is, therefore, not at all improbable that theobromine may be converted in the human body into theine, and act in the same way upon the nervous system. Cocoa is prepared in various ways. The paste or powder is boiled with water, and sugar and milk are added according to taste. In this way, however, it can hardly be regarded as a substitute for tea and coffee ; it is, in fact, a substitute for all other kinds of food, and when taken with some form of bread, little or nothing else need be added at a meal. The same may be said of chocolate, which only differs from cocoa in the more careful manner in which it is prepared, and the flavouring substances which are added to it. Chocolate may be mixed with water and milk, and taken in the same manner as cocoa. When a suflicient quantity of sugar is added, it is made into a variety of articles of confectionary, in the preparation of which our French neighbours so greatly excel us. One of the delusions practised on the public is to call certain preparations of cocoa " homoeopathic ; " but analysis shows that these preparations, neither in their quality nor the proportions in which they may be taken, differ at all from ordinary cocoa. The cocoa seeds roasted, and sold under the name of 353 ON TEA AND COFFEE. " nibs," may be infused in boiling water in the same way as tea-leaves; and under these circumstances a beverage is obtained which in many respects resembles tea and coflFee, as the albumen and fat are not taken up in this way. The husks of the cocoa seeds which are separated in some of these preparations are not lost. They are said to contain a noticeable quantity of theobromine, and also the flavouring aromatic oil of the Cocoa. They are sold for making a beverage which is not unlike tea or coffee in its action on the system. I must now conclude my notice of this group of substances, which have gradually come to be used in such enormous quantities by mankind in the form of warm beverages. Whatever may have been the influ- ence of a heated liquid in leading to their first use, I think you cannot but see that the principle they contain which addresses itself to the nervous system is the agent which has determined their special selection. It would, therefore, be unwise in the highest degree to neglect the study of these important agents. From what we already know, they are evidently potent for good and for evil, and it is only by a careful study of their action on the human body that we can expect to secure the one or prevent the other. ON TOBACCO. In this lecture I propose to make some remarks on those substances indulged in by man, known by the name of narcotics, and more particularly on tobacco. In approaching this subject, I am reminded of the connection that exists between food and medicine, and medicine and poisons. The more one investi- gates the relation . of food to the human system, the greater must be the conviction that food is not only capable of maintaining healthy life, but, by proper modification, can be made the means of curing disease. Our life is so essentially dependent on food, that we may increase its activity by increase of food, and decrease it by decrease of food, and change its character by change of food. Diseases manifest themselves in an increase, or decrease, or a change of vital action. It 354 ON TOBACCO. must be evident, therefore, that in the management of food we have the great means for the cure and removal of disease. In the classification'of food which I gave you at the commencement of these lectures, I showed you that certain substances which we habitually take as food act in the same way as medicines; hence I called them medicinal foods. Such substances are alcohol, the volatile oils, and the theinal principles. These are themselves, powerful medicinal agents, or belong to groups of substances which yield them. From a medi- cine to a poison there is but a step, and that is not one of kind, but of degree. The alcohol that invigo- rates the stomach and cheers the social meal, recalls to life the frame exhausted with febrile poison, but kills when taken to excess. The oxalic acid of our spring tart is a pleasant febrifuge in fever, but poison- ous when swallowed by the ounce. Common salt is one of the great necessaries of life, but in drachm doses acts as an emetic, and may be accumulated in the system till it destroys life. Such, then, is the connec- tion between food, medicine, and poison, that all our food may be made medicinal and all our medicines may become poisons. I need not remind you how such a view as this lays the axe at the root of all pretensions to cure disease by remedies that can exert no influence on the system. If you are eating and drinking, and men tell you they are curing your diseases with infinitesimal doses, don't believe, them. Your food is exercising a far more powerful eflect on your system than their remedies. The only remedies that can be rationally employed as medicines ON TOBACCO. 355 are those which act as food on the system. If they are capable of increasing or decreasing the vital actions of your bodieSj then they may or may not do you good, according to the skill with which they are administered; but away with the folly and imposture that would lead you to believe that the natural actions of your bodies are influenced by agents whose existence cannot be detected by the senses. I know nothing more degrad- ing in the intellectual history of the past, with its witch- craft, charms, amulets, royal touches, and holy waters, than the belief of certain portions of the medical pro- fession and the public in the abracadabra of " similia similibus curantur," and the efficacy of infinitesimal doses. You must excuse these expressions, I speak strongly because I feel warmly. I am ever ready to make allowance for the opinions and practice of my medical brethren. The rational treatment of disease involves problems of the highest complexity, in endea- vouring to understand which, two minds, equally anxious toreach the truth, may yet arrive at different conclu- sions. But such conclusions, arrived at by the painful road in which truth ever leads her votaries, are very different from the ready-made hypothesis which is adopted to get rid of the difficulties of inquiry, and which is acted on regardless of the sacrifice of human life, so long as the selfish ohject for which it was adopted is attained. The substances, then, to which I wish now to draw your attention, are more particularly known as poisons. In proportion as our food becomes dangerous to human life so does it appear to exercise a fascinating influence. Our life is distinguished by its nervous activity. We 2 A 356 ON TOBACCO. feel, we think, we are conscious, we enjoy only as the nervous system acts. It is on this system that the pleasant poisons of which I have now to speak act. Poisons, or at any rate our food-poisons, act on the nervous system in various ways. They may stimulate the nervous system, and we call them stimulants : such foods are alcohol and the volatile oils. On the other hand, they may depress the nervous system, and we call them sedatives : such an action we found tea and coffee to exert. I would not, however, lead you to suppose that all stimulants of the nervous system are pleasant in their action. Such is not the case with strychnia, which, far short of acting as poison, stimu- lates the motor nerves to very unpleasant and some- times painful activity. So with sedatives. However pleasant may be the sedative action of tea and coffee, few persons could be found to enjoy hydrocyanic acid or ■ Digitalis. You must not, therefore, misunder- stand me, it is not because all foods may act as medicines, and medicines poisons, that, therefore, all poisons may be used as foods. Nevertheless, the addiction of some people to taking medicine is so re- markable that I should not wonder at some clever writer starting the theory that all physic may be food. The Turks indulge in corrosive sublimate; the Styrians in arsenic. Quack pills, containing gamboge, jalap, calomel, and other drugs, are consumed, to the utter destruction of health, in this country by ton loads every year. I know of nothing so virulent and nasty that has not its defenders or victims. Now I am not going to speak of the stimulant or sedative group of our poisonous foods to-night, but of a ON TOBACCO. 357 group to which the term narcotic has been more particu- larly applied. When a medicine attacks more particu- larly the brain we call it a narcotic. Our stimulants and sedatives are narcotics at last, as you know by the action of alcohol on the brain. But some of these things seem to attack the brain at once, and such are tobacco and opium and henbane. They act also as stimulants and sedatives. So that you see that these things all act generally on the nervous system; but that some prefer exerting their greatest action on the sympathetic nerves, others on the spinal nerves ; this on one part of the brain, and that on another (see dia- gram) . We cannot explain all this,, but it is interest- ing for us to know the fact. Of the two agents of this class most largely used by mankind, the one — tobacco — is called an intoxicating narcotic, whilst the other — opium — is a soporific nar- cotic. I shall have little time to speak at all of the latter, and my remarks must be chiefly devoted to tobacco. The plant which yields this substance be- longs to the genus Nicotiana, a name given to it in honour of Jean Nicot, a French ambassador at the court of Portugal, who first introduced this plant into France. Belonging to this genus are several species which yield, at the present day, the tobacco of commerce. These plants belong to the natural or4er SolanacetB, a family which yields us not onlj tobacco, but stramonium, deadly nightshade, henbane Cayenne pepper, tomatoes, winter cherries, vegetable eggs, smoking cane, potatoes, Quito oranges, and mandrakes. At first sight this looks like an incon- gruous family, but still yoa will see certain common 2 A 2 35S ON TOBACCO. properties running through the whole order. All con- tain, more or less, substances that act on the nervous system, and thus increase from the mild poison of the solanums till we arrive at the deadly principles of the atropas, the henbanes, and the tobaccos. Although there seems little doubt that smoking was introduced from the New world into the Old, yet the material for the practice was not found wanting, for at least two species of Nicotiana, the N. rustiea and N. Persica, are indigenous to Asia. It is, however, to the American plant, the Ni- cotiana Tabacum (Fig. 1), to which I would more particu- larly confine your attention. This plant is an annual, and great care is taken in its cul- ture in the countries where it grows. Its stem rises five or six feet in height, branching at the top. The leaves are sesile, very large, and ovate or lanceolate in form. They are of a pale-green colour, and are sticky when taken hold of. The flowers appear in bunches at the end of The corolla is funnel-shaped, yellowish, of a dull-red colour at their edges. The seeds are numerous and contained in an ovate two- celled capsule, which is surrounded by the calyx. The tobacco-plant grows readily in this country in almost any good garden-soil. The seeds should be Pig. 1. — Yi/rgima TobOibeo, the stem or branches. ON TOBACCO. 359 sown in March or April, and in July or August the flowers will appear, and at this time it may be cut down and dried for use. It is, however, a native of tropical and subtropical regions, and, like other plants under the same circumstances, it fails to yield its peculiar products in perfection. When first introduced into Europe, it was grown with the potato in the Britjsh islands. Sir Walter Raleigh cultivated it in his gar- den at Youghal ; it was also grown in France, Ger- many, Spain, Portugal, and other parts of Europe. It is now only grown in gardens in Great Britain. Although its first cultivation for sale in England was prohibited, the reason now is very diflTerent from what it was at first. Our rulers then thought it would injure the people to allow them to grow it, now they think it would injure the revenue to allow them to do so. Those who Smoke need not regret this, as Euro- pean tobacco is very inferior in all the properties for which tobacco is consumed, compared with that which comes from the warmer countries of the world. The best tobacco in the world comes at the present day from Cuba, where it was originally discovered. It is, however, cultivated extensively in the United States, in Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and Kentucky. Even Canada produces a decent tobacco. South America sends also its tobacco into the markets of Europe, known by the name of Kanaster. It is grown exten- sively in the northern and western provinces of India, and 'in the islands of the Eastern archipelago. A famous tobacco is brought from Manilla. From Persia is brought the delicate " Shiraz tobacco," pro- cured from Nicotiana Persica, whilst the aristocratic 360 ON TOBACCO. Fig. 2. — Syriam Tobacco. Latakia is produced in Turkey by the Nicotiana rusiica. (Fig. 2). In Africa and Egypt, the American spe- cies flourish, and France is supplied with the principal part of her tobacco from. Algeria. Even the Cape of Good Hope sends its cigars to England, and for weak smokers the inferior tobac- cos of Germany, Holland, and other parts of Europe, find their way here. In the Food collection at South Kensington will also be fsnnd tobaccos from Japan, Siam, and China. For smoking, tobacco undergoes little or no prepara- tion. At the proper season of the year, the plant is cut down, and the leaves are packed together and dried under cover. At first they undergo a process of change, which is known technically by the term "sweating," and perhaps the constituents of the plant are modified at this stage. Chemically, however, nothing is known on this point. After a month's drying, the tobacco is said to be " in case," that is, it is now ready for being sorted and packed. The leaves, which resemble each other, are tied up in bundles, and they are put into boxes or casks. The latter are used in Virginia, and each contains from 1,000 to 1,300 lbs. of tobacco. The qualities of the tobacco differ even from the same district, and in the markets they go by various names. Thus in America ship's tobacco is manufactured from ON TOBACCO. 361 the strong Virginian, leaf, whilst the fine Virginia leaf is prepared for chewing. One sort is prepared for making Cavendish, whilst another is used for cut and shag tobaccos. Tobacco is brought into this country either in the form of the leaf, or as manufactured. Manufactured tobaccos pay a much higher duty than the leaf tobftcco ; hence, those who prefer the foreign manufacture, as cigars, cheroots, or cigarettes. Cavendish, Latakia, Turkey, or Shiraz tobaccos, have to pay a much higher price for them than if they patronized the British manufacturer. Unless persons are well acquainted with foreign tobaccos, they had better at once make up their minds to the consumption of that which is British made. In manufacturing the tobacco, the first thing done is to open the hogsheads or bales in which the leaves have been packed. The leaves are pulled apart, and if the mid-rib or centre rib of the leaf has not been removed it is now cut out ; not, however, thrown away. The largest and strongest leaves are used as covers for pigtail tobacco; the other leaves are spread on the floor and moistened with water. This is all the English manufacturer is allovred to do ; on the Continent, how- ever, the manufacturer adds salt and sugar and other things to the water, which is necessary to the manu- facture at this stage. These additions give various qualities to the tobacco, and some may even improve it; but under present circumstances the principle is bad, as it gives the fraudulent manufacturer an oppor- tunity of adding substances which give no flavour to the tobacco, but- increase considerably its weight. In 363 ON TOBACCO. I this country the penalty is very heavy for using any substance in the adulteration of tobacco ; nevertheless, the high duty presents a great temptation, and if during the moistening process nothing is added to the water, there are frequently other leaves substituted for those of the tobacco. These, however, can be easily detected, not go much from their chemical composition as from their microscopic structure. If you examine the leaves of tobacco under the microscope you will find them covered with very peculiarly shaped hairs. They are club-shaped. None of the leaves which are used for adulteration have these hairs, and the presence of other shaped hairs or the absence of the club-shaped ones in a leaf are sure signs of adulteration. The presence of sugar or salt or nitre can of course only be detected by chemical operations. Sugar is found naturally in the tobacpo leaf; but when it ia found in excess, it must be looked upon as a fraud. After the leaves have been properly moistened, they are arr^.nged according to the ultimate form they are to assume. If they are to be cut ipto tobacco, they are laid one on the top of another, and pressed, and placed under a cutting-machine, which, acting in the same manner as a chaff-cutting engine, cuts the tobacco leaf into strips. The cut tobacco is shaken out by the hands, and afterwards dried, and, according to the leaf used, is called " Virginia shag," " Maryland returns," "Kanaster," "Turkey," or any other recognizable name. " Bird's eye " is produced from the same leaf as " shag ; " but the mid-rib is allowed to remain in the leaf, and, on being cut, leaves those little white bits which have acquired for it its fanciful name. ON TOBACCO. 363 Every country where tobacco is grown manufactures its own cigars, and these are frequently sold in shops in England. The British manufacturer, however, generally prefers West Indian, Havannah, or European tobacco for making cigars. These cigars are sold at varying prices, according to the value of the tobacco. The price paid for British-made cigars in the shops is from 10«. to 16«. a pound. The price for foreign cigars is from 25*. to 40s. a pound; and at; I am speaking of the price of tobacco, I may say that shag and other coarse tobaccos manufactured in this country are sold from 4s. to 5s. a pound, while foreign manufactured tobacco costs from 14«. to 18*. a pound. In making cigars the mid-rib of the leaf is removed altogether, whilst the perfect leaves are used for making the outside wrappers and the imperfect ones for the inside of the cigar. Cheroots are elongated cones which are cut in two. The cheroot is often preferred to the cigar on account of its allowing a freer access of air to the tobacco, and burning more quickly and with less accumulation of oil at the smoked end. Cigars can of course be made of any size ; at the same time, a common size is usually adhered to in particular manu- factories, so that the size at once indicates the maker of the cigar. The prepared leaf of the tobacco-plant, when not made into cigars, is called tobacco, whether its desti- nation be mastication or smoking. Thus there are uncut tobaccos known by the names of "Pigtail," " Negro-head," and " Cavendish." Pigtail, which is a long string of tobacco, is made by sorting the leaves one within the other, in such a way, that when a wheel 364 ON TOBACCO. to which the tobacco is first fastened, is turned, the tobacco is drawn into a long cord. This cord is made up into balls, which are called rolls, casks, hanks, cakes, or negro-heads, according to the form or shape they assume. This tobacco is used both for chewing and smoking. It is cut up when used for smoking. Such tobacco is generally stronger than any other form, as from its method of manufacture the volatile narcotic principles are prevented from escaping. Of course, with an article consumed to such an enormous extent as tobacco, the varieties of forms which its manufactured produce presents are very great. I have only mentioned those which are perhaps familiar to those who never ventured on smoking even a ciga- rette. This reminds me that this term is applied to a small cigar extemporaneously manufactured. A little tobacco is taken and rolled up in a piece of paper, and the cigarette is produced. Tobacco is- usually smoked from a pipe. Whatever doubt may attach to the statement, that smoking came from the New World, there seems to be no doubt that the pipe was invented in America. Many of the native tribes of North America celebrated their great national soleiqnities with the pipe. This pipe, called the calu- met, was adorned on such occasions with the. coloured feathers of birds, with beads and gems, and other orna- ments. The bowl was made of a red stone resembling porphyry, and the stem was six feet in length. A pipe- bearer first held it to the sun, then to the dijBferent points of the compass, after which it was handed to the principal chief, who, after smoking himself, presented it to the assembled conclave. The forms which this ON TOBACCO. 365 instrument assumes at the present day are almost infinite. Almost every solid material which can he chiselled or moulded have heen employed to make the bowlj whilst the stem has been made of a still greater number of substances. Whatever presents itself naturally in the form of a tube, or that can be con- verted into one, has been thus employed. The end of the tube which is placed in the mouth frequently differs in material from the stem itself, and amber, costly gems, ivory, and other materials, have been used for this purpose. Sometimes between the bowl and the stem a vessel of water is inserted, so that the smoke is purified by this kind of washing, and this is a favouiite form of the nargheli of the Turks. But I need not discourse to yoti on pipes, as a peep into the window of any one of the 1,800 tobacconists' shops in London will give you an idea of their variety. Suffice it to say, they have been made of the most costly materials, have had bestowed on them the most elaborate workman- ship, and their form, size, and character, are frequently characteristic of the races of men who use them. The honour of introducing the pipe into England is disputed. You have all heard the story of Sir Walter Ealeigh, whose servant, having observed him smoking, thought he was on fire, and threw a pail of water over his head. It appears, however, that Sir Francis Drake' and his companions had become smokers, and brought the practice to England before Sir Walter ever laid his eyes on the New World. This was as early as 1560. Whole fields of tobacco were cultivated in Portugal before 1584, the assumed date of the exploit of Raleigh's servant; at any rate, at the latter end of 866 ON TOBACCO. the sixteenth century, the practice of smoking was becoming so general in Europe, that fears were enter- tained lest the populations that smoked would degene- rate into a barbarous state. It was at the beginning of the seventeenth century that tobacco-smoking spread over the East. So thoroughly oriental has this practice become, and so essentially a part of the habits of the great Asiatic nations, that many writers have professed themselves sceptics as to its recent introduction amongst them. It was not on account of its favourable reception by the rulers and governments of the world that tobacco found its way to the remotest corners of the earth. Everywhere persecution awaited it. It was excommunicated by the Pope. The sultans and priests of Turkey and Persia denounced smoking as a sin against their religion. In Russia the practice was punished by the bastinado for the first offence, by cutting off the nose for the second, and by decapita- tion for the third. In Transylvania the punishment for growing tobacco was a confiscation of all property. In the canton of Berne an eleventh commandment was added to the decalogue — "Thou shalt not smoke." Good Queen Bess, perhaps out of regard to her favoured Raleigh, rather winked at than approved the practice, only interdicting its use in churches. She even condescended to banter Sir Walter about it ; and he induced her to lay him a wager that he could not tell the weight of the smoke he sent out from his pipe. He performed before her majesty a chemical experi- ment, which, if it had not won the wager, is worthy of being recorded as a proof that he, possessed the ON TOBACCO. 367 genius that might have laid the foundation of modern chemical science. , He took the tobacco he was about to smoke, and having weighed it, he put it in his pipe ; having smoked the tobacco, he weighed the ashes, and proved to hier majesty's satisfaction that the dif- ference between the two must be the weight of the smoke. What a subject for an historical painter. The queen paid her lost wager, saying she had often heard of those " who had turned their gold into smoke ; but Ealeigh was the first who had turned his smoke into gold." But a philosopher was soon to sit upon the throne of England; one who judged men and nature not according to the tendencies of the vulgar rabble, but by the high standard of a royal intellect. His majesty not only passed laws to forbid smoking, but fulminated " a counterblaste to tobacco," which, as it is the type of most of the counterblasts since issued, I may be excused for quoting a specimen. " Surely," saith our monarch, " smoke becomes a kitchen farre better than a dining chamber; and yet it makes a kitchen often- times in the inward parts of men ; soyling and infecting them with an unctuons and oyley kind of soote as hath been found in some great tobacco takers, that after their death were opened. Now.my good ooHntrymen let ns (I pray you) consider what honour or polieie can more us to imitate the barbarous and beastlie manners of the wild, godless, and slavish Indians, especially in so Tile and filthy a custom. Shall we that disdain to imitate the manner of our neighbour France (having the style of the greate Christian king- dome), and that cannot endure the spirit of the Spaniards (their king being now comparable in largenesse of dominions to the greatest emperor of Turkey) ; shall we, I say, that have been so long eivill and wealthy in peace, famous and invincible in war — fortunate in. both — we that have been able to aid any of our neighbours (but nevM deafened their ears with any of our supplications for assis- tance) i shall we, I say, without blushing, abase ourselva" so far as 368 ON TOBACCO. to imitate these beastlie Indians, slaves to the Spaniards, the refuse of.the worlde, and as yet aliens from the holy covenant of God ? Why do we not as well imitate them in walking naked as they do, in preferring glasses, feathers, and toys, to gold and precious stones as they do ? Yea, why do we not deny Grod, and adore the devils as they do? Have you not, then, reasons to forbear this fllthie noveltie, so hasely grounded^ so foolishly received, and so grosslie mistaken in the right use thereof ? In your abuse thereof sinning against Giod, harming yourselVes both in person and goods and raking also, thereby the marks and notes of vanitie upon you, by the custom thereof, making yourselves to be wondered at by all 'forreine civill nations, and by all strangers that come among you to be scorned and contemned. A custom loathsome tq the eye, hateful to the nose, harmfull to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, andjn the blacke stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoake of the pit that is bottomless." But tobacco is not only smoked^ it is also chewed, and distinguished above aU other substances in being stuffed up the nose. The practice of chewing is not confined to tobacco, nor was it introduced from the New World. Throughout the nations of Asia the prac- tice of chewing the betel-nut is prevalent. This nut is the fruit of a palm, the Areca Catechu, and contains in its albumen a quantity of tannic acid. The seed is cut with a knife, and the shavings mixed with long pepper and lime, and introduced into the mouth as a mastica- tory. Narcotic effects are ascribed to these agents. The practice of chewing the one thing would probably pave the way for the other. But chewing does not appear to have been practised in Europe till the intro- duction of tobacco. The effect of this very disagree- able use of tobacco is the same on the system as smoking, the only difference arising from the absence of an empyreuma.tic oil, which is produced by burning the tobacco. All forms of tobacco may be chewed, bu;! ON TOBACCO, 369 those who have acquired this habit generally prefer the woven and pressed tobacco, as pigtail and negro- head. A third method of employing tobacco is snuffing. The practice of introducing irritating substances up the nose for the purpose of producing sneezing is as old as Hippocrates, but I am not aware that it was ever regarded as an indulgence till the introduction of tobacQO. The preparation of the tobacco for snuffing is much more elaborate than for smoking. According to the quality of the snuff, the entire leaf or the ribs and mid-ribs of the leaves alone are employed. These are sprinkled with water and laid in heaps ; they thus be- ' come heated, and a kind of fermentation takes place, which produces a considerable change' in the composi- tion and qualities of the tobacco. The leaves, after having been subjected to this process, are dried and powdered. They are then put into close boxes and undergo a second time a process of heating and fermen- tation. This gives to the snuff its agreeable pungent odour. In this process some of those ethers are pro- bably developed which give flavour and odour to so many other things. Snuffs are either moist or dry. The moist snuffs are called rappees, and are frequently scented by the addition of various kinds of perfumes. The " high- dried '•" snuffs, such as those which are called Scotch, Irish, and Welsh, are exposed to heat in shallow metal trays or 'pans before a brisk fire, and strongly heated. During this process a large quantity of ammonia is evolved. Although the general effects of tobacco are to a certain extent produced by snuffing, there is no doubt 370 ON TOBACCO. that the pleasure of the snuff-taker is more local than that of the chewer or smoker. At the same time snuff can be consumed to an injurious extent, and like all other forms of narcotic it may be easily abused. There is one use of snuff that is so local and peculiar that I ought to allude to it here. I mean the practice of " dipping," patronized by the ladies of some parts of America. This form of taking snuff is practised in North and South Carolina, in Georgia, Alabama, Plorida, and Eastern Tenessee. It consists in rubbing a stick, wetted at the end and dipped in snuff, about the interior of the mouth and within the interstices of the teeth. Sometimes the mouth is filled with the delicious powdeK, which the dipper moistens and sucks with the same pleasure as the male chewer sucks bis quid. Other substances are both occasionally chewed and snuffed as substitutes for tobacco, but only in excep- tional instances. The practice of snufiBng, I ought to add, is liable to a dangerous action in the system, which is not the case with smoking and chewing. This arises from the introduction, by accident or design, of sub- stances more injurious to- health than an excess ot tobacco. Thus, snuff is frequently packed in lead packages, and the snuff, acting on the lead, gets into it a sufQcient quantity to act poisonously in the system. I have been consulted by persons with all the symptoms of lead poisoning, who have got rid of them when they have left off their snuff. I may add that this is only the case with the moist snuffs, and that the lovers of high- dried Welsh and Lundy Foot need not be alarmed. . But then there is the retailer, the fraudulent fellow who wants ON TOBACCO. 371 to get more out of everybody than fair profits and short weight will enable him. He adds all sorts of things to snuff; and not being instructed in toxicology, he sometimes adds poisons. The oxides of lead, mer- cury, antimony, and other poisonous metals, have been found in snuff. But I must now say something to you on the action of tobacco. In order to do this, we must first ascertain what are the chemical constituents of the tobacco leaf, and of tobacco smoke ; for we shall- find the smoke differs somewhat from the tobacco itself. I present you here with the analysis of a pound of tobacco — shag tobacco : — Oz. Grs. Nicotina 419 Concrete volatile oil ... CMorophyle ... ... Gum Starch ^ Albumeu and gluten ... Sugar Salts Water It is very evident that, with the exception of the two first, none of these constituents can exercise much influence on the system, even when the tobacco is taken in the form of a quid. I might, perhaps, be allowed to draw your attsntion to the ashes, which exist in un- usually large quantities. The soluble salts amongst them would be swallowed if the tobacco was chewed,, and might act on the system in the same way as the other saline constituents of plants. They are also interesting as explaining how it is that the cultivator of the soil finds tobacco an exceedingly exhausting crop. 3 B 7 1 46 1 223 279 349 139 2 245 1 402 372 ON TOBACCO. It is also worthy of note that the nitrates are abundant in the salts, and perhaps, account for the ready way in which tobacco burns. In smoking, of course the volatile products of the above analysis are alone taken into the mouth, and the following are the ingredients which various observers have detected in tobacco smoke : — Nicotine. Empyreumatic Oil. Butyric Acid. Caibonic Acid. Ammonia. FarafSne. Empyre.umatic B^sin. Acetic Acid. Carbonic Oxide. Carburetted Hydrogen. Water. Sir Walter Raleigh would have been astounded could he have known the villanous products liberated from his experimental pipe. King James must have had an inkling of its compo^tion when he denounced it as a * black, stinking fumcj" resembling "the horrible Sty- gian smoake of the pit that is bottomlesse." Butyric acid is the stinking product of rancid butter. Carbonic oxide is the poison of charcoal stoves. Carburetted hydrogen and parafBne are products of coal gas. We can hardly discover the tobacco in the smoke, but there is the nicotine ; and although we do not find the con- crete oil, we find the empyreumatic oil, and these are the three things alone of which we need take any notice in our inquiry. ■ In fact, those who smoke need not to regard the concrete oil of the tobacco at all, as it appears to be dissipated or changed into the empy- reumatic oil. So that we must seek for the iufiuence of tobacco in its nicotine and empyreumatic oil. Nicotine is an alkaloid, like quinine or morphine, and ON TOBACCO. 373 is found in. th.e tobacco combined with acids. It can be separated from these acids and obtained in its pure . form, when it presents itself not as a solid, like other alkaloids, but as a colourless liquid. It has a most oifensive, suflFocating odour, and an acrid, burning taste. By exposure. to the air it becomes brown, and this is the colour it, generally presents when kept. It boils and is decomposed at a temperature of 482° j but as it passes into a vapour before it reaches this point, it is not decomposed in the process of combustion, to which it is exposed in smoking. It is an active poison, and a very small quantity destroys Jife. I have known two distiqguished chemists who have within the last few years destroyed themselves by its agency. It was the jioison employed by Count Bocarme for the murder of his brother-in-laW, and whose trial at Mons, a few years ago, will be remembered. The quantity of nicotine contained in different kinds of tobacco varies from 2 to 8 per cent. Virginia and Kentucky leaves, from which shag and bird's-eye tobaccos are manufactured, contain 6 per cent, j Mary- land leaves, from which returns are made, contain 2 per cent. ; and Havannah cigars contain less than 2 per cent. It is clear that if the effect of the nicptine is alone sought to be attained, that it is much more economical to purchase shag or bird's-eye than returns or real Havan- nah cigars. But amongst those who indulge in tobacco, as with those who affect wine and tea, there are other qualities sought for besides the mere action on the nervous system. The palate must be gratified, and there are bouquets in tobaccos and cigars as there are in wines and teas flavours, for which those who have cul- '2 B 2 374 ON TOBACCO. tivated a taste for them will pay a higher price than for the quantity of the active principle whieh renders these articles of consumption desirable. Of the empyreumatic oil there is less chemically known than of nicotine. It is, however, easily obtained by passing tobacco smoke through water. It is this oil which collects in the tubes of pipes, and which renders them so oflfensive to all but the most inveterate smokers. It has an oleaginous appearance, and is of a yellow colour when pure. It is acrid to the taste, producing a sensation of heat in the mouth. One drop placed on the tongue of a cat has been known to pro- duce death. The Hottentots use it to kill snakes. It has been supposed to be the "juice of cursed hebenon " referred to by Shakspeare, in the play of " Hamlet,^' as a " leperous distilment." But , in this instance Shakspeare follows the old story on which his play was founded, and the "juice of cursed hebenon" was rather "The miztnre rank of midnight weeds collected With Hecate's ban, thrice blasted, thrice infected," than any natural production. No poison that we know of at the present day would answer to the Ghost's description of a poison, " Whose effect Holds snch an enmity with blood of man. That, swift as qnicksilTer, it conrses through The natural gates and alleys of the body; And with a sudden vigour it doth posset And curd, like eager droppings into milk. The thin and wholesome blood : so did it mine ; And a most instant tetter bark'd about. Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust. All my smooth body." ON TOBACCO. 375 Both nicotihe and tlie distilled oil act on the nervous system, yet -with a difference: nicotine paralyses the heart, which the oil does not. It paralyses the heart by its action on the brain. This was shown by Sir Benjamin Brodie, who found that, although the heart of a dog was paralyzed by tobacco when its head was on, the heart went on beating if its head was cut off. On the other hand, the oil seems to address itself more to the spinal cord and the motor nerves. The respiratory mu-scles cease to act, the lungs become congested, and convulsions and coma terminate life, whilst the heart still beats. The two together seem to leave no part of the nervous system unattacked ; whilst nicotine seizes on the citadel, the distilled oil attacks the outposts, and the whole man — body and mind — is brought under their influence. What man is there who has reached the age of twenty who has not experienced the effects of these agents ? Pirst, the sneezing and coughing, indicative of the objection of the respiratory nerves; then the sensation of heat and dryness in the throat, and pre- sently the sense of nausea ; then a tendency to sigh followed by a general uneasiness, — a wish to get home if out, or to go to bed if at homt. Perhaps the heart has palpitated ; but, at any rate, the eyes have become dim, the nicotine has forced its way to the base of the brain ; at last there is giddiness, and now the pipe or cigar is laid down and dropped from the hand. If the determination to' smoke has not been very energetic, water is asked for, and perhaps brandy-and-water is supplied, and a speedy recovery has taken place j but where the will has been at work in spite of all premoni- 376 ON TOBACCO. tory symptoms, the novice may become insensible, and a fainting fit be the result. Such are the results of a first smoke : a sure proof, one would have thought, that tobacco ought not to be indulged in. But even this state has its fascinations. In those first moments, before any painful effects were experienced, the poison had spread its snares. In that languor there was a sense of relief, and in that giddiaess thercwas a dreamy pleasure, which even as you smoked became more real, whilst the agonies of the first trial became ever less, and thus many of you have become confirmed smokers. I can defend you on no other ground than that it gives you pleasure. I cannot say that it does you any posi- tive good ; and I have looked in vain for proofs of its destructive influence on health. The late Dr. Pereira states, in his book on " Materia Medica," that he is not acquainted with any well-ascertained ill-effects resulting from the habitual practice of smoking. Dr. Christison says the same. Duchatelet examined statistically into the health of the workmen in the French snuff and tobacco manufactories, amounting to 4,000 in number, and could not discover that they were less healthy than other artisans. Dr. Prout gave it as his opinion that excessive tobacco smoking interfered with the healthy qualities of the blood. Many medical writers have recorded cases in which excessive smoking has produced symptoms of illness, which have disap- peared when the smoking has been given up. But with regard to the effects of the moderate use of tobacco, I am sorry to say that I have nothing decidedly against it to tell you. The opinions of medical men are really not worth quoting, unless ON TOBACCO. 377 backed by something like evidence. It is not because a man dies of apoplexy, or paralysis, or fever, or any other disease, after smoking tobacco, that we are to conclude he died in consequence of it. My allopathic brethren, as they are called, are very ready to laugh at the absurd conclusion of the homceopathist, who, be- cause his patient gets well after a homoeopathic dose, concludes that he gets well on account of it ; but they should be careful not to fall into the same error with regard to tobacco. If you will not, therefore, give up this habit of smoking, from motives of economy, from a sense of its unseemliness, from its making your breath smell, and your clothes filthy, from its polluting your hands and your house, and driving women and men from you who do not smoke, I dare not, as a physiologist or a statist, tell you, that there exists any proof of its injurious influence when used in -moderation. I know how diflScult it is to define that word moderation j and yet, in my heart I believe that every one of yoa has an internal monitor that will guide you to the true expla- nation of it in your own case. The first symptoms of giddiness, of sickness, of palpitation, of weariness, of indolence, of uneasiness, whilst smoking, should induce you to lay it aside. These are the physiological indica- tions of its disagreement, which, if you neglect, you may find increase upon you, and seriously embarrass your health. The action of tobacco is much stronger on children and young persons than on adults. The fatal cases of poisoning by smoking or the application of tobacco on abraded surfaces have been chiefly in children and lada 378 ON TOBACCO. from fourteen to seventeen years of age. I think this should serve as a warning to parents and those engaged m the education of youth, to prevent the practice of smoking amongst boys. In more than one case where I have been consultedj Ihave been led to suspect that smok- ing has produced a state of the nervous system, which resulted in attacks of palpitation from slight causes. In certain diseased conditions of the system 1 have found tobacco most injurious. There is a state of the nervous system which frequently comes on as the result of dyspepsia amongst the overworked men of London, which is accompanied with a slow pulse, and tobacco seems to act as a poison. In such cases, it needs to be carefully avoided. In some diseases of the heartj it acts injuriously when taken to excess ; whilst in others I have found it to have an exceedingly beneficial action. Generally where there is depression of lethargy, or a tendency to inactivity of the muscular system, or the mental powers, there tobacco would appear to act injuriously. Its effects in such states may be judged of by the fact, that many persons who can smoke with impunity after a meal, or whilst drinking alcohol, are utterly unable to do so before a meal, or without some form of alcoholic beverage. The modifying effect produced on the system by tobacco after large potations of alcohol is a subject of some interest. A distinguished medical writer has stated his conviction, that the man who both drinks and smokes is less liable to injure himself than the man who smokes or drinks alone. We hsfve no means of testing this theory upon a scale suflBciently large to answer for its truth ; but from what I have said of the ON OPIUM, 379 action of alcohol and nicotine, you will see that the one agent is the antagonist of the other in its action on the nervous system. The one is a stimulant, the other is a sedative.- Nevertheless, they both stimulate, and they both act as sedatives ; but the tobacco acts as a sedative in small doses, and the alcohol in large. The quiet intoxication, which is the last result of alcohol, is one of the immediate effects of tobacco ; and this may in some measure account for its supplanting alcohol; for we find, that just in proportion as tobacco has increased in consumption, alcohol has diminished. However much this may be regretted by those who dislike the practice of tobacco-smoking, it must be a source of gratification to all those who wish well to their race. Whatever may be the evils, real or imaginary, of the abuse of tobacco, they are as nothing compared with the terrible effects of alcohol. If tobacco and alcohol were tried before any competent tribunal for all the evils they have inflicted on society, I believe, that if alcohol were condemned to be hanged, tobacco ought to get off with a month's im- prisonment. I have hardly left myself time to dwell upon another narcotic agent which is consumed largely by man- kind. I mean Opium. This sub- stance is the produce of the poppy- plant, Papaver somniferum (Fig. 3), Fig. Z.— Peppy. which, although it grows in this country, is a native 380 OPIUM. of Syria, from whence it has found its way to other parts of the world. The Poppy tribe of plants yield a milky juice. This juice is collected from the opium poppy, and the dried juice is the substance known by the name of opium. This substance has from the earliest times been known as a powerful narcotic agent acting on the brain, and producing a tendency to sleep. It has been on this account used in medicine, and perhaps to no other agent does man owe so deep a debt for the alleviation of his pain and sorrow in disease as this. It would be altogether impossible for me here to speak of the medicinal properties of opium. It must suffice you for me to say that, whilst its primary action seems to be to subdue the activity of the brain and to produce sleep, it acts generally on the nervous system. The sympathetic nerves, the nerves of motion and sensation, the spinal cord, are all alive to its action, and where the object in the treatment of disease is to subdue the activity of any of these portions of the nervous system, there opium is employed. It was hardly to be expected that an agent possessing so much power over the human system should escape the strong tendency of mankind to employ as luxuries all agents affecting pleasurably the nervous systeia. Gradually has the use of opium spread. Turkey first set the example, and the prac- tice has wound its way throughout the East, till it has become the besetting sin of the Chinese. The practice of opium-eating is exceptional in Europe, but much larger quantities of it are consumed than could be accounted for by its medicinal use, and there is no doubt it is taken to a certain extent upon the same OPIUM, 381 principle 9.3 alcohol, tea, and tobacco. The effects of opium-eating, though not so disastrous as those of tippling, are nevertheless much more destructive than those of smoking. The action of the opium is less exciting than that of alcohol,' but more pleasant than that of tobacco, while its subsequent effects are less dangerous than those of alcohol and greater than thostj of tobacco. It is on this account that it becomes a matter of serious consideration for those who would put down both drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco, as to whether it might not lead to the equally objec- tionable practice — eating opium. Opium when analyzed chemically is found to be a very compound body. Its narcotic properties, or its soporific properties, are now known to depend on an active principle called morphine. This principle is often separated and used in medicine instead of opium. Other narcotic agents are employed by the in- habitants of various parts. Thus, throughout Asia and Africa, the Hemp plant, the Cannabis sa- tiva (Fig. 4), is cultivated, and in these regions yield aTCsinous principle which produces a kind of in- ebriating effect. The nar- cotic properties of this ^'3- i—Hemp. plant were known to the ancient Egyptians and 382 THE COCA PLANT. Greeks. It is known in the countries where it is used by various names. In Syria it is called haschisch, and it may be news to some of you to know-that our word assassins is supposed to have come from this word. The story is that during the wars of the Crusaders, the soldiers of the Saracen army, when delirious with their favourite drug, were in the habit of rushing down upon the camp of the Christians at night, plundering and murdering, in spite of the danger to themselves. They were known by the name of hashasheens : hence our word. Other narcotics of interest, on account of their employment as intoxicants, are the Coca of South America and the Amanita of Lapland. I -have before alluded to the latter. The coca grows wild in the ■woods of Bolivia and Peru. It was cultivated by the natives of Peru when they were discovered by Pizarro and his b^nd of Spaniards, and to this day it is the solace and the support of the Indian in his native mountains. He is never seen without his leather pouch to hold the leaves of the coca plant. The leaf is generally chewed, but it is sometimes infused and made into tea. Wondrous effects are attributed to this poison by those who take -it^ and certainly the statement of travellers of the power of endurance of hunger and labour under the influence of this strange drug are sufficiently noteworthy to render a further investigation of its properties desirable. Another narcotic remarkable for its application as a poison and an inebriant, is the Thorn-apple — Datura stramonium (Fig. 5.) It grows wild in this country, and its leaves are gathered and dried, and smoked by THORN APPLE. 3S3 those who suffer from asthma. In Eussia the seeds were formerly employed to increase the intoxicating effects of beer. They are used in India for the purpose of being added surreptitiously to the food of travellers. Fig. 5. — Thorn Apple. and producing a state of intoxication, in which the victim is robbed. Under the name of "Jamestown weed," Dr. Beverly, in his "History of Virginia," gives a curious account of the action of this plant on some soldiers who ate it as a salad : — "The effect," he says, "was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for several days. One would blow up a feather into the air ; another would dart straws at it with much fury ; another, stark naked, was seen sitting in a comer, like a monkey, grinning and making mouths ; a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll. In this frantic condition they' were confined lest in their folly they should destroy themselves. A thousand simple tricks they played, but after eleven days they returned to themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed." Another of our native weeds deserves notice on 384 DEADLY NIGHTSHADE', ETQ.. account of its narcotic pjFoperties, and that is the Deadly ■ Nightshade — ^^rqpa Belladonna. (Fig. 6.) Its rich P^. 6. — SeadJy NigJUshade. black berries often tempt children to take them, when they are seized with a delirium, which often ends in death. The Henbane [Hyoscyanus niger) is also one of • our own narcotic poisons, producing, as the result of its being smoked, a peculiar kind of delirium, with other eflFects, on the nervous system. The beautiful Fox- glove {BigitaUs purpurea) also contains a principle acting on the nervous system in a similar way to nicotine. But I must, leave these native " sisters of sleep."* The whole subject of poisons is worthy of popular study, as I hope I have convinced you, from the short notice I have given of those which we use as a part of our daily food. * For muoli interesting information on these subjects, the readei may consult "The Seven Sisters of Sleep," by M. W. Cooke. CONCLUSIOX. 385 In the remarks I have made in this lecture, I know that there are some persons in this audience, and some for whom I entertain the highest respect, who could have wished me to adopt a very different line of treat- ment to that which I have thought it right to pursue. To them I would say, that the way I should treat this subject has not been a less serious matter of considera- tion with me than their own views on it. I have not dared to regard the pleasure of partaking of these nar- cotics as altogether vicious, when I consider how largely they contribute to the solace and enjoyment of my fellow creatures. I hope I have said nothing that could by any straining be interpreted into countenancing a use of these things, which would interfere with the healthy development either of the mind or the body. One of the objects I have bad in view in the delivery of these lectures has been, to bring before you the wonderful laws by which God upholds your daily life. To be sure I have chiefly spoken of the materials which God uses from day to day in the maintenance of that glorious " temple" which He has given you to dwell in, a temple in which He himself has condescended to dwell, but, I trust, that in the fulfilment of this humble purpose, however imperfectly it may have been performed, that I have never forgotten the apostolic rule for the guide of Christian men, that " whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." robbut hardwicke, printer, 192, ficcadillt. ^ ^ A CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF NATURAL HISTORY, SCIENCE, ART, AND GENERAL LITERATURE, PUBLISHED BY Hardwicke & Bogue. zp2, PICCADILLY, W. HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE GOSSIP: An Illustrated Medium- of Interchange and Gossip for Students andXavers of Nature. Edited by J. E. TAYLOR, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. 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