Curiosities of Medical Experience Part 34

COFFEE.

It is doubtful to whom we owe the introduction of this article of luxury into Europe. The plant is a native of that part of Arabia called _Yemen_, but we find no mention made of it until the sixteenth century; and it is believed that Leonhart Rauwolf, a German physician, was the first writer who spoke of it, in a work published in 1573. The plant was also described by Prosper Alpinus, in his treatise on Egyptian plants, published in 1591 and 1592. Pietro della Valle wrote from Constantinople in 1615 that he would teach Europe the manner in which the Turks made their _cahue_. This spelling was no doubt incorrect; for, in a pamphlet printed at Oxford in 1659, in Arabic and English, it is written _kauhi_, or _coffee_. Purchas, who was a contemporary of Della Valle, called it _coffa_; and Burton thus speaks of its use: "The Turks have a drink called _coffa_, so named of a berry as black as soot and as bitter, which they sip still of, and sup as warm as they can suffer. They spend much time in their coffa-houses, which are somewhat like our alehouses and taverns, and there they sit chatting and drinking to drive away the time and to be merry together, because they find by experience that kinde of drink so used helpeth digestion and procureth alacrity."

The first coffee-house opened in London was in 1652. A Turkey merchant, of the name of Edwards, having brought with him from the Levant some coffee and a Greek servant, he allowed him to prepare and sell this beverage; when he established a house in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, on the spot where the Virginia Coffee-house now stands. Garraway's was the first coffee-house opened after the fire in 1666. It appears, however, that coffee was used in France in 1640; and a sale of it was opened at Ma.r.s.eilles in 1671.

The introduction of this berry was furiously opposed; and it appears that in its native land it was treated with no less severity, since, in an Arabian MS. in the King of France's library, coffee-houses were suppressed in the East. In 1663 appeared a pamphlet against it, ent.i.tled "A Cup of Coffee, or Coffee in its Colours." In 1672 the following lines were to be found in another publication, "A Broadside against Coffee, or the Marriage of the Turk:"

Confusion huddles all into one scene, Like Noah's ark, the clean and the unclean.

For now, alas! the drench has credit got, And he's no gentleman who drinks it not.

Then came "The Woman's Pet.i.tion against Coffee," which appeared in 1674, in which we find the following complaint: "It made men as unfruitful as the deserts whence that unhappy berry is said to be brought, so much so, that the offspring of our mighty ancestors would dwindle into a succession of apes and pigmies; and on a domestic message a husband would stop by the way to drink a couple of cups of coffee." It was then sold in convenient pennyworths;--hence coffee-houses where wits, _quidnuncs_, and idlers resorted, were called "penny universities."

While it had adversaries, coffee was not left without eloquent advocates.

Sir Henry Blount, in his _Organon Salutis_, 1659, thus speaks of it: "This coffa-drink has caused a great sobriety among all nations. Formerly apprentices, clerks, &c. used to take their morning-draughts in ale, beer, or wine, which often made them unfit for business. Now they play the good-fellows in this wakeful and civil drink. The worthy gentleman, Sir James Muddiford, who introduced the practice hereof in London, deserves much respect of the whole nation."

It appears, however, that the jealousy with which the use of coffee was viewed, even by the government, arose more from the nature of the conversations that took place in coffee-houses during moments of public excitement, than from the apprehension of any injury that its consumption might have caused to the public health. In the reign of Charles II.

coffee-houses were shut up by a proclamation, issued in 1675, as the retailing of coffee "nourished sedition, spread lies, _scandalized great men_, and might therefore be considered a _common nuisance_." As a _nuisance_, its abolition was considered as not being an infringement of the const.i.tution! Notwithstanding this Machiavellian torturing of the letter to serve the spirit, this arbitrary act occasioned loud and violent discontent; and permission was given to reopen coffee-houses, on condition that the landlords should not allow any scandalous papers containing scandalous reports against the government or _great men_ to be read on their premises!

The use, or rather the abuse, of coffee is said to produce feverish heat, anxiety, palpitations, trembling, weakness of sight, and predisposition to apoplexy. Its effects in checking somnolence have been long known.

However, the action of this berry differs according to its being roasted or raw. An infusion of torrefied coffee a.s.sists digestion, and frequently removes headaches resulting from derangement in the digestive functions.

It also neutralizes the effect of narcotics, especially opium, and this power is increased by the addition of lemon juice. A similar mixture has been known to cure obstinate agues. Musgrave and Percival recommended its use in asthma: indeed, most persons who labour under this distressing malady seem to derive relief from its use.

Taking into consideration all that has been advanced in regard to the inconveniences that may attend the use of coffee and tea, they must be considered as overruled by the moral results that have arisen from the introduction of these beverages; and a late writer has observed, that it has "led to the most wonderful change that ever took place in the diet of civilized nations,--a change highly important both in a moral and physical point of view. These beverages have the admirable advantage of affording stimulus without producing intoxication." Raynal observes, that the use of tea has contributed more to the sobriety of the Chinese than the severest laws, the most eloquent discourses, or the best treatises on morality.

The quality and effects of coffee differ according to the manner in which it is roasted. Bernier states that when he was at Cairo there were only two persons in that great city who knew how to prepare it to perfection.

If it be underdone, its virtues will not be imparted, and its infusion will load and oppress the stomach; if it be overdone, its properties will be destroyed, and it will heat the body, and act as an astringent.

The best coffee is the _Mocha_, or that which is commonly called Turkey coffee. It should be chosen of a greenish, light, olive hue; the berries of a middling size, clean, and plump.

The bad effects of coffee may in all likelihood be attributed both to its powerful and stimulating aroma and to its pungent acidity. According to Cadet, this acid is the _gallic_; while Grindel considers it the _kinic_, and Pfaff terms it the _caffeic_ acid. When strongly heated, it yields a _pyro-caffeic_ acid, from which may be obtained a most pungent vinegar, that has recently been thrown into trade, but, I believe, with little or no success.

The principle of coffee is the _caffein_, discovered by Robiquet, in 1821; and it is to this active principle that its beneficial or baneful effects can be attributed. Recent experiments tend to show that it is possessed of powerful febrifuge virtues. To obtain this result, raw coffee has been used. It gives to water a greenish hue, and, thus saturated, it has been called the _citrine coffee_. Grindel has used this preparation in the treatment of intermittent fevers in the Russian hospital of Dorpat; he also administered the raw coffee in powder. In eighty cases of this fever scarcely any resisted the power of this medicine, given either in decoction, powder, or extract; but he seems to consider the latter form the most effectual. From this physician's observations, coffee may become a valuable addition to our _materia medica_; and the h.o.m.oeopathic pract.i.tioners maintain that they have employed it with great success in various maladies.

AQUA TOPHANIA.

It was for a long time supposed that there actually did exist in Italy a secret poison, the effects of which were slow, and even unheeded, until a lingering malady had consumed the sufferer. No suspicions were excited; or, had they led to any _post mortem_ examination, no trace of the terrific preparation's effects could have been detected.

It was towards the year 1659, during the pontificate of Alexander VII., that the existence of this baneful preparation was suspected. Many young women had been left widows; and many younger husbands, who might have ceased to please their wives, had died away. A certain society of young ladies had been observed to meet under the auspices of an elderly matron of rather a questionable character, who had been known in her horoscopic predictions to announce deaths that had but too truly taken place about the period she prophesied. One of the society, it appears, _peached_ against her companions, who were all apprehended and put to the torture; and the lady patroness, whose name was Spara, was executed with four of her pupils. This Spara was a Sicilian, who had obtained the fatal secret from Tofania at Naples. Hence the composition was named _aqua Tofania_, _aqua della Toffana_, and _acquetta di Napoli_. These deadly drops had been charitably distributed by Tofania to various uncomfortable ladies who wished to get rid of their lords, and were contained in small phials, bearing the inscription of "_Manna de San Nicolas de Bari_." This hag had lived to an old age, but was at length dragged from a monastery, in which she had sought a sanctuary, tortured, and duly strangled, after a confession of her crimes.

Garelli, physician to Charles VI., thus wrote to Hoffmann on the subject: "Your elegant dissertation on the popular errors respecting poisons brought to my recollection a certain slow poison which that infamous poisoner, still alive in prison at Naples, employed to the destruction of upwards of six hundred persons. It was nothing else than crystallized a.r.s.enic dissolved in a large quant.i.ty of water by decoction, with the addition, but for what purpose I know not, of the herb _cymbalaria_ (_antirrhinum_). This was communicated to me by his Imperial Majesty himself, and confirmed by the confession of the criminal in the judicial procedure."

Abbe Gagliani, however, gives a different account of the secret Neapolitan drug. "At Naples," he says, "the mixture of opium and cantharides is known to be a slow poison; the surest of all, and the most infallible, as one cannot mistrust it. At first, it is given in small doses, that its effects may be insensible. In Italy it is called _aqua di Tufinia_: no one can avoid its attacks, since the liquid is as limpid as water, and cannot be suspected. Most of the ladies of Naples have some of it lying carelessly on their toilet-tables with smelling-bottles; but they always can know the fatal phial when they need its contents." A curious observer has remarked on these two preparations, that the mixture of Garelli was, perhaps, intended for husbands, while that of Gagliani was for the use of lovers.

This remark appears judicious, since the potion described by the Abbe was evidently intended as an amorous philter. Under that head I have related many curious circ.u.mstances. There is no doubt but that these preparations often contained deadly drugs, the perilous qualities of which were most probably unknown to those who made them up without any sinister motives.

Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos inform us that Lucullus, the Roman General, lost his reason, and subsequently his life, from having taken one of these mixtures; and Caius Caligula was driven into a fit of insanity by a philter given to him by his wife Caesonia, as described by Lucretius:

Tamen hoc tolerabile, si non Et furere incipias, ut avunculus ille Neronis Cui totam tremuli frontem Caesonia pulli Infudit.

Virgil also alludes to the powerful and baneful nature of the plants employed in magical incantations:

Has herbas, atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena Ipse dedit Moeris; nasc.u.n.tur plurima Ponto.

His ego saepe lupum fieri, et se condere silvis Moerin, saepe animas imis excire sepulchris, Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes.

Female poisoners of a somewhat similar description were known amongst the ancients. Nero, when he resolved to destroy Britannicus, sent for one of those murderers, named Locusta, who, convicted of several a.s.sa.s.sinations, was pardoned, but kept by the emperor to execute his secret purposes. He wished that on this occasion the poison should produce immediate death.

Locusta prepared a drug that destroyed a goat in a few minutes. This was not sufficiently active. The next preparation killed a hog in a few seconds. It was approved of. The ill-fated youth was seated at the imperial festive board--the potion poured into his goblet--and he died in epileptic convulsions. Nero, undisturbed, requested his guests to remain quiet--the youth he said was subject to similar attacks, which in general were but of short duration; but soon the black, the livid hue of the face betrayed the poison, which the imperial a.s.sa.s.sin sought to conceal, by ordering this tell-tale sign to be concealed with paint. Sir Henry Halford seems to think that Juvenal alludes to this circ.u.mstance in his first Satire.

Inst.i.tuit rudes melior Locusta propinquas Per famam et populum _nigros_ effere maritos.

The poisons used by the ancients appear to have been of various kinds; some more slow in their action than others, to suit, most probably, the views of their employers. Socrates, it is supposed, drank the _cicuta_, the action of which must have been very slow and weak, since his gaoler informed him that if he could exert himself in a warm debate, the effects might be arrested. The philosopher, however, remained tranquil. He shortly after experienced a numbness in the legs, gradually became insensible, and expired in convulsions.

These secret poisons were conveyed in the most stealthy manner. Hence it is related, that the poison prepared by Antipater, to destroy Alexander, had been conveyed in a mule's hoof, being of so corroding a nature, that no metallic vessel could contain it. This absurd story was credited by Plutarch and Quintus Curtius, whereas it appears more probable that poison was carried in an _onyx_, of which trinkets to contain precious ointments were frequently made, or under a human nail, also called _Unguis_, or [Greek: onux]. The latter case was the opinion of Dr. Heberden.

Sir Henry Halford, in his learned and interesting essay on the deaths of ill.u.s.trious persons of antiquity, has clearly proved that Alexander was not poisoned, but died of a lingering fever of a remittent type; a disease that was most probably endemic in the marshes surrounding the city of Babylon.

Many absurd ideas regarding venenose substances prevailed in ancient days as well as in modern times. Hannibal and Themistocles were said to have been poisoned with bullocks' blood.

Eastern nations fancy that a fascinating power is the gift of virtue. In the _Hitapadesa_ of _Vishnusannan_ we find the following aphorism: "As a charmer draweth a serpent from his hole, so a good wife, taking her husband from a place of torture, enjoyeth happiness with him." Possibly some receipt of this description may be found in the archives of Doctors'

Commons.

PLICA POLONICA AND HUMAN HAIR.

Hair may be considered a vegetation from the surface of the body. In a state of health, hairs are insensible, and it is more than probable that they possess no nerves, and that the circulation is carried on in the same manner as in plants. In the bulb or root of the hair, however, the vessels that promote this circulation are numerous, and there we may trace the diseases that affect this beauteous ornament of mankind, more especially in the Caucasian race. Long hair, of course, requires more nutriment than scanty locks, and some physicians have been of opinion that their great length debilitates. Dr. Parr affirms that he has observed symptoms of plethoric congestion to arise after long hair had been suddenly cut off.

Vauquelin has made curious experiments on this substance. A solution of black hair has deposited a black matter containing bitumen, sulphur, and iron; and alcohol extracted from the same coloured hair a whitish and a grayish-green oil. Red hair yielded whitish matter and a blood-red oil.

White hair contained phosphate of magnesia, affording a proof of the disposition towards the formation of calcareous matter in old age. When hair becomes suddenly white under the shock of a severe moral impression, Vauquelin is of opinion that this phenomenon is to be attributed to the sudden extrication of some acid, as the oxymuriatic acid is found to whiten black hair. Parr thinks that this accident may be owing to an absorption of the oil of the hair by its sulphur, as in the operation of whitening woollen cloths.

The _plica_ is a curious and disgusting malady, that has been considered a disease of the hair, which, according to vulgar report, secreted and shed blood. This affection is common and endemic in Poland; hence the term _Polonica_ that has been given to it. The invasion of this pestilence has been traced to the irruption of the Moguls, from 1241 to 1287, chiefly under the command of Cayuk, grandson of Yenghiz. The most absurd tales were then related of the manner in which this dreaded infection was propagated. Sponda.n.u.s affirms that it arose from the waters having been poisoned by venomous plants. Pistorius and Pauli relate that these waters were corrupted by the great number of human hearts that the Moguls cast in rivers and in wells. This supposition arose from the unheard-of acts of barbarity perpetrated by the ferocious invaders on the wretched population of Prussia, Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania. Their refined cruelty has been depicted by Gebhardi, in his history of Hungary, in the most glowing language.

Other historians a.s.sert that the plica originated in the East; such is the opinion of Stabel, Spreugel, and other writers. Rodrigo de Fonseca relates that the Indians, after drinking certain waters, were attacked with a disease in which the hair became agglomerated and matted in the most disgusting manner. Erndtel attributes the malady in Poland to the gluttonous consumption of horseflesh. However this may be, Poland has been ever considered the country most exposed to this visitation.

This disease affords a convincing proof of the vascularity of the hair, since it tumefies, augments in capacity so as to allow an evident circulation of blood, as the hairs will often bleed when divided with the scissors. Dr. Kerckhoffs regards the malady as the mere result of the custom among the filthy Poles of letting the hair grow to an immense length, of never combing or cleaning it, and always keeping the head covered with a woollen or leathern cap. Hence he observes that the rich are generally exempt from the affection which particularly prevails amongst the Jews. With this view of the disorder, he thinks that cleanliness and the excision of the matted hair are sufficient to effect a cure.

It is, however, more than probable that other causes occasion this horrible disease; and there is but little doubt that the system is affected by a particular virus. In many instances affections of the head complicate it; although it is likely that they may result from the constant irritation of the scalp, that sympathizes so powerfully with the membranes of the brain.

The different names given to the _plica_ indicate more or less the ideas that prevail regarding its nature. The Poles call it _gwozdiec_ or _gwodziec_, which signifies a _nail_ that splits the wood into which it is driven. In the district of the Roxolans it is termed _koltun_, _a stake_.

In Germany superst.i.tious fancies have also given it various curious denominations. It is called _alpzopf_ and _schraitelzopf_, as being the result of the _malefices_ of vampires and incubi. By some it is a.s.serted that the Moravians, natural enemies of the Poles, not having been able to conquer them by their arms, had recourse to magical art to inflict this scourge: hence they term it _mahrenflechten_, _mahrenwichtung_. To this day it is called _hexenzopf_ and _b.i.+.c.hteln_, or unbaptized, alluding, no doubt, to the Jews, who were accused of having introduced the disorder in the deadly hate they bore the Christians; hence was it also known by the name of _Judenzopf_ (_Coma Judaeorum_).