" The common feature of the disease
is muscular tumour; and out of fifty excessive consumers of tea and
coffee whose cases were noted by Dr. Anstie, there were only five
patients who did not exhibit the symptom named. They were suffering,
in fact, from "theine" poisoning. The paralysing effects of narcotic
doses of tea was further displayed by a particularly obstinate kind
of dyspepsia; while the abuse of coffee disordered the action of the
heart to a distressing degree. The friends and biographers of M.
Jules Noriac are unanimous as to the fact that he was inveterate in
the use of tobacco. He was wont to smoke to the butt-end, one after
the other, the huge cigars sold by the French "Regie," and known as
"Imperiales," and a cynic might opine that if the deceased gentleman
had smoked fragrant Havanas in lieu of the abominable stuff vended by
the "Regie" he would not have been afflicted with the "cancer des
fumeurs," nor with any kindred ailment He kept fearfully late hours,
he worked only at night and he smoked "all the time." If towards
morning he felt somewhat faint he would refresh himself with crusts
of bread soaked in cold water, thus imitating to a certain extent our
William Ptynne, who would from time to time momentarily suspend his
interminable scribble to recruit exhausted nature with a moistened
crust; only the verbose author of "Histriomastix" used to dip his
crusts in Strong ale.
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