The Chemistry of Cookery

a large quantity of bread-and-butter, or with toast and boiled eggs, and, above all, _when it is not drunk too hot_, it is certainly less unwholesome; but a simple infusion of this drug, drunk boiling hot, as the poor usually take it, is certainly a poison, which, though it is sometimes slow in its operation, never fails to produce fatal effects, even in the strongest constitutions, where the free use of it is continued for a considerable length of time.’ This may appear to many a very strong condemnation of their favourite beverage; nevertheless, I am satisfied that it is sound; and my opinion is not hastily adopted, nor borrowed from Rumford, but a conclusion based upon many observations, extending over a long period of years, and confirmed by experiments made upon myself. I therefore strongly recommend this substitute, especially as so many of us have to submit to the beneficent domestic despotism of the gentler and more persevering sex, one of the common forms of this despotism being that of not permitting its male victim to drink cold water at breakfast. This burnt soup has the further advantage of rendering imperative the boiling of the water, a most important precaution against the perils of sewage contamination, not removable by mere filtration. The experience of every confirmed tea-drinker, when soundly interpreted, supplies condemnation of his beverage; the plea commonly urged on its behalf being, when understood, an eloquent expression of such condemnation. ‘It is so refreshing;’ ‘I am fit for nothing when tea-time comes round until I have had my tea, and then I am fit for anything.’ The ‘fit for nothing’ state comes on at 5 P.M., when the drug is taken at the orthodox time, or even in the early morning, in the case of those who are accustomed to have a cup of tea brought to their bedside before rising. Some will even plead for tea by telling that by its aid one can sit up all night long at brain-work without feeling sleepy, provided ample supplies of the infusion are taken from time to time. It