Condiments are simply seasoning or flavoring agents, and, though hardly
coming under the head of food, yet have an important part to play. As food
by their use is rendered more tempting, a larger amount is consumed, and
thus a delicate or uncertain appetite is often aided. In some cases they
have the power of correcting the injurious character of some foods.

Salt stands foremost. Vinegar, lemon-juice, and pickles owe their value to
acidity; while mustard, pepper black and red, ginger, curry-powder, and
horse-radish all depend chiefly upon pungency. Under the head of aromatic
condiments are ranged cinnamon, nutmegs, cloves, allspice, mint, thyme,
fennel, sage, parsley, vanilla, leeks, onions, shallots, garlic, and
others, all of them entering into the composition of various sauces in
general use.

Salt is the one thing indispensable. The old Dutch law condemned criminals
to a diet of unsalted food, the effects being said to be those of the
severest physical torture. Years ago an experiment tried near Paris
demonstrated the necessity of its use. A number of cattle were fed without
the ration of salt; an equal number received it regularly. At the end of a
specified time, the unsalted animals were found rough of coat, the hair
falling off in spots, the eyes wild, and the flesh hardly half the amount
of those naturally fed.

A class of extreme Grahamites in this country decry the use of salt, as
well as of any form of animal food; and I may add that the expression of
their thought in both written and spoken speech is as savorless as their
diet.

Salt exists, as we have already found, in the blood: the craving for it is
a universal instinct, even buffaloes making long journeys across the
plains to the salt-licks; and its use not only gives character to insipid
food, but increases the flow of the gastric juice.

Black pepper, if used profusely as is often done in American cooking,
becomes an irritant, and produces indigestion. Red pepper, or cayenne, on
the contrary, is a useful stimulant at times; but, as with mustard, any
over-use irritates the lining of the stomach.

So with spices and sweet herbs. There should be only such use of them as
will flavor well, delicately, and almost imperceptibly. No one flavor
should predominate, and only a sense of general savoriness rule. Extracts,
as of vanilla, lemon, bitter almond, &c., should be used with the greatest
care, and if possible always be added to an article after it cools, as the
heat wastes the strength.

BEVERAGES.

Tea and coffee are the most universal drinks, after water. The flavor of
both is due to a principle, _theine_ in tea, _caffeine_ in coffee, in
which both the good and the ill effects of these drinks are bound up. It
is hardly necessary the principles should have different names, as they
have been found by chemists to be identical; the essential spirit of cocoa
and chocolate,–_theobromine_,–though not identical, having many of the
same properties.

_Tea_ is valuable chiefly for its warming and comforting qualities. Taken
in moderation, it acts partly as a sedative, partly as a stimulant,
arresting the destruction of tissue, and seeming to invigorate the whole
nervous system. The water in it, even if impure, is made wholesome by
boiling, and the milk and sugar give a certain amount of real nourishment.
Nervous headaches are often cured by it, and it has, like coffee, been
used as an antidote in opium-poisoning.

Pass beyond the point of moderation, and it becomes an irritant, precisely
in the same way that an overdose of morphine will, instead of putting to
sleep, for just so much longer time prevent any sleep at all. The woman
who can not eat, and who braces her nerves with a cup of green tea,–the
most powerful form of the herb,–is doing a deeper wrong than she may be
able to believe. The immediate effect is delightful. Lightness,
exhilaration, and sense of energy are all there; but the re-action comes
surely, and only a stronger dose next time accomplishes the end desired.
Nervous headaches, hysteria in its thousand forms, palpitations, and the
long train of nervous symptoms, own inordinate tea and coffee drinking as
their parent. Taken in reasonable amounts, tea can not be said to be
hurtful; and the medium qualities, carefully prepared, often make a more
wholesome tea than that of the highest price, the harmful properties being
strongest in the best. If the water is soft, it should be used as soon as
boiled, boiling causing all the gases which give flavor to water to
escape. In hard water, boiling softens it. In all cases the water must be
fresh, and poured boiling upon the proper portion of tea,–the teapot
having first been well scalded with boiling water. Never boil any tea but
English-breakfast tea; for all others, simple steeping gives the drink in
perfection.

A disregard of these rules gives one the rank, black, unpleasant infusion
too often offered as tea; while, if boiled in tin, it becomes a species of
slow poison,–the tannic acid in the tea acting upon the metal, and
producing a chemical compound whose character it is hard to determine.
Various other plants possess the essential principle of tea, and are used
as such; as in Paraguay, where the Brazilian holly is dried, and makes a
tea very exhilarating in quality, but much more astringent.

The use of _Coffee_ dates back even farther than that of tea. Of the many
varieties, Mocha and Java are finest in flavor, and a mixture of one-third
Mocha with two-thirds Java gives the drink at its best. As in tea, there
are three chief constituents: (1) A volatile oil, giving the aroma it
possesses, but less in amount than that in tea. (2) Astringent matter,–a
modification of tannin, but also less than in tea. (3) Caffeine, now found
identical with theine, but varying in amount in different varieties of
coffee,–being in some three or four per cent, in others less.

The most valuable property of coffee is its power of relieving the
sensation of hunger and fatigue. To the soldier on active service, nothing
can take its place; and in our own army it became the custom often, not
only to drink the infusion, but, if on a hard march, to eat the grounds
also. In all cases it diminishes the waste of tissue. In hot weather it is
too heating and stimulating, acting powerfully upon the liver, and, by
producing over-activity of that organ, bringing about a general
disturbance.

So many adulterations are found in ground coffee, that it is safest for
the real coffee-lover to buy the bean whole. Roasting is usually more
perfectly done at the grocers’, in their rotary roasters, which give every
grain its turn; but, by care and constant stirring, it can be accomplished
at home. Too much boiling dissipates the delicious aroma we all know; and
the best methods are considered to be those which allow no boiling, after
boiling water has been poured upon it, but merely a standing, to infuse
and settle. The old fashion, however, of mixing with an egg, and boiling a
few minutes, makes a coffee hardly inferior in flavor. In fact, the
methods are many, but results, under given conditions, much the same; and
we may choose urn, or old-fashioned tin pot, or a French biggin, with the
certainty that good coffee, well roasted, boiling water, and good judgment
as to time, will give always a delicious drink. Make a note of the fact
that long boiling sets free tannic acid, powerful enough to literally tan
the coats of the stomach, and bring on incurable dyspepsia. Often coffee
without milk can be taken, where, with milk, it proves harmful; but, in
all cases, moderation must rule. Taken too strong, palpitation of the
heart, vertigo, and fainting are the usual consequences.

_Cocoa_, or, literally, cacao, from the cacao-tree, comes in the form of a
thick seed, twenty or thirty of which make up the contents of a gourd-like
fruit, the spaces between being filled with a somewhat acid pulp. The
seeds, when freed from this pulp by various processes, are first dried in
the sun, and then roasted; and from these roasted seeds come various forms
of cocoa.

_Cocoa-shells_ are the outer husk, and by long boiling yield a pleasant
and rather nutritious drink. Cocoa itself is the nut ground to powder, and
sometimes mixed with sugar, the husk being sometimes ground with it.

In _Chocolate_–a preparation of cocoa–the cocoa is carefully dried and
roasted, and then ground to a smooth paste, the nuts being placed on a hot
iron plate, and so keeping the oily matter to aid in forming a paste.
Sugar and flavorings, as vanilla, are often added, and the whole pressed
into cakes. The whole substance of the nut being used, it is exceedingly
nutritious, and made more so by the milk and sugar added. Eaten with bread
it forms not only a nourishing but a hearty meal; and so condensed is its
form, that a small cake carried in traveling, and eaten with a cracker or
two, will give temporarily the effect of a full meal.

In a hundred parts of chocolate are found forty-eight of fatty matter or
cocoa-butter, twenty-one of nitrogenous matter, four of theobromine,
eleven of starch, three of cellulose, three of mineral matter, and ten of
water; there being also traces of coloring matter, aromatic essence, and
sugar. Twice as much nitrogenous, and twenty-five times as much fatty
matter as wheaten flour, make it a valuable food, though the excess of fat
will make it disagree with a very delicate stomach.

_Alcohol_ is last upon our list, and scientific men are still uncertain
whether or not it can in any degree be considered as a food; but we have
no room for the various arguments for and against. You all know, in part
at least, the effects of intemperance; and even the moderate daily drinker
suffers from clouded mind, irritable nerves, and ruined digestion.

This is not meant as an argument for total abstinence; but there are cases
where such abstinence is the only rule. In an inherited tendency to drink,
there is no other safe road; but to the man or woman who lives by law, and
whose body is in the best condition, wine in its many forms is a
permissible _occasional_ luxury, and so with beer and cider and the wide
range of domestic drinks. In old age its use is almost essential, but
always in moderation, individual temperament modifying every rule, and
making the best knowledge an imperative need. A little alcoholic drink
increases a delicate appetite: a great deal diminishes or takes it away
entirely, and also hinders and in many cases stops digestion altogether.
In its constant over-use the membranes of the stomach are gradually
destroyed, and every organ in the body suffers. In ales and beers there is
not only alcohol, but much nitrogenous and sugary matter, very fattening
in its nature. A light beer, well flavored with hops, is an aid to
digestion, but taken in excess produces biliousness. The long list of
alcoholic products it is not necessary to give, nor is it possible to
enter into much detail regarding alcohol itself; but there are one or two
points so important that they can not be passed by.

You will recall in a preceding chapter the description of the circulation
of the blood, and of its first passage through veins and arteries for
cleansing, before a second round could make it food for the whole complex
nervous system. Alcohol taken in excess, it has been proved in countless
experiments by scientific men, possesses the power of coagulating the
blood. The little corpuscles adhere in masses, and cannot force themselves
through the smaller vessels, and circulation is at once hindered. This,
however, is the secondary stage. At first, as many of you have had
occasion to notice, the face flushes, the eyes grow brighter, and thought
and word both come more freely. The heart beats far more rapidly, and the
speed increases in proportion to the amount of alcohol absorbed. The
average number of beats of the heart, allowing for its slower action
during sleep, is 100,000 beats per day. Under a small supply of alcohol
this rose to 127,000, and in actual intoxication to 131,000.

The flush upon the cheek is only a token of the same fact within; every
organ is congested. The brain has been examined under such circumstances,
and “looked as if injected with vermilion … the membrane covering both
brains resembling a delicate web of coagulated red blood, so tensely were
its fine vessels engorged.”

At a later stage the muscular power is paralyzed, the rule of mind over
body suspended, and a heavy, brutal sleep comes, long or short according
to the amount taken. This is the extreme of alcoholism, and death the only
ending to it, as a habitual condition. Alcohol seems a necessary evil; for
that its occasional beneficence can modify or neutralize the long list of
woe and crime and brutality following in its train, is more than doubtful.

“Whatever good can come from alcohol, or whatever evil, is all included in
that primary physiological and luxurious action of the agent upon the
nervous supply of the circulation…. If it be really a luxury for the
heart to be lifted up by alcohol, for the blood to course more swiftly
through the brain, for the thoughts to flow more vehemently, for words to
come more fluently, for emotions to rise ecstatically, and for life to
rush on beyond the pace set by nature; then those who enjoy the luxury
must enjoy it–with the consequences.”

And now, at the end of our talks together, friends, there is yet another
word. Much must remain unsaid in these narrow limits; but they are wide
enough, I hope, to have given the key by which you may find easy entrance
to the mysteries we all may know, indeed must, if our lives are truly
lived. If through intemperance, in meat or drink, in feeling or thought,
you lessen bodily or mental power, you alone are accountable, whether
ignorant or not. Only in a never-failing self-control can safety ever be.
Temperance is the foundation of high living; and here is its definition,
by one whose own life holds it day by day:–

“Temperance is personal cleanliness; is modesty; is quietness; is
reverence for one’s elders and betters; is deference to one’s mother and
sisters; is gentleness; is courage; is the withholding from all which
leads to excess in daily living; is the eating and drinking only of that
which will insure the best body which the best soul is to inhabit: nay,
temperance is all these, and more.”