Also Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson[192] makes the following weighty pronouncement:
In reference to my suggestion to give children tea and coffee. I may explain that it is done advisedly. There is probably no objection to their use even at early ages. They arouse the dull, calm the excitable, prevent headaches, and fit the brain for work. They preserve the teeth, keep them tight in their place, strengthen the vocal chords, and prevent sore throat. To stigmatize these invaluable articles of diet as "nerve stimulants" is an erroneous expression, for they undoubtedly have a right to rank as nerve nutrients.
But Dr. Harvey Wiley[193] comes forth with evidence on the other side, saying:
The effects of the excessive use of coffee, tea, and other natural caffein beverages is well known. Although the caffein is combined in these beverages naturally, and they are as a rule taken at meal times, which mitigates the effects of the caffein, they are recognized by every one as tending to produce sleeplessness, and often indigestion, stomach disorders, and a condition which, for lack of a better term, is described as nervousness.... The excessive drinking of tea and coffee is acknowledged to be injurious by practically all specialists.
Dr. V.C. Vaughn,[194] of the University of Michigan, speaking of tea and coffee, expresses this opinion:
I believe that caffein used as a beverage and in moderation not only is harmless to the majority of adults, but is beneficial.
This verdict is upheld by the results of a symposium[195] conducted by the Medical Times, in which a large majority of the medical experts participating, among whom may be enumerated Drs. Lockwood, Wood, Hollingworth, Robinson, and Barnes, agreed that the drinking of coffee is not harmful per se, but that over-indulgence is the real cause of any ill effects. This is also true of any ingested material.
Insomnia is a condition frequently attributed to coffee, but that the authorities disagree on this ground is shown by Wiley's[196] contention, "We know beyond doubt that the caffein (in coffee) makes a direct attack on the nerves and causes insomnia." While Woods Hutchinson[197] observes:
Oddly enough, a cup of hot, weak tea or coffee, with plenty of cream and sugar, will often help you to sleep, for the grateful warmth and stimulus to the lining of the stomach, drawing the blood into it and away from the head, will produce more soothing effects than the small amount of caffein will produce stimulating and wakeful ones.
The writer has often had people remark to him that while black coffee sometimes kept them awake, coffee with cream or sugar or both made them drowsy.