The liquids that are employed for the pur pose of quenching thirst, which are more pro perly styled drinks, may he arranged under the two heads of vegetable infusions or decoctions and fermented liquors. Of the former a great variety have been employed in different coun tries and at different periods, but in Europe, almost the only kinds which are in common use are tea and coffee. These cannot be con sidered as in themselves affording any nourish ment, but they are generally employed with the addition of some nutritive substance, and if not taken in excess, would appear to promote digestion, and to exercise a favourable influence on the system at large.
It has been observed that all tribes of people that have made the least advances in the arts of life, either by accidental observation or by tradition, have become acquainted with the process of fermentation, and have indulged in the use of certain species of vinous liquors. The making of wine is among the first transac tions that are recorded of Noah after lie left the ark, and the experiment which he made of its effects has been but too frequently repeated by his progeny. The basis of all vinous liquors being the saccharine principle, the grape has been naturally had recourse to in all those parts of the world which are adapted to the growth of the vine; in the more northern regions, as in our own island, different species of grains are employed, in which the sugar is evolved by an artificial process, while in the torrid zone, other saccharine juices, procured from certain tropical plants, arc employed for the same pur pose. The fermented liquors of our own coun try generally contain a considerable quantity of mucilaginous and saccharine matter, which still remains undecomposed, and which is directly nutritive; but fully fermented wines are only indirectly so, as aiding the digestive powers by their stimulating effect on the stomach.
It is generally admitted, that the operation of alcohol, when properly diluted, and when taken in moderate quantity, is favourable to the health of most individuals who are engaged in laborious pursuits, and have occasion to exert the full powers of the system. But the almost irresistible temptation to excess, and the fatal consequences which thence ensue, both to our physical and our mental constitution, have long been the subject of deep regret and severe re prehension, both to the physician and the mo ralist, and it may be asserted, that of all the gills which providence has bestowed on the human race, there is none which, according to the present state of society, would appear of such dubious advantage as the knowledge of the process by which one of the most nutritive articles of diet is converted into one of the deadliest poisons.
We have now to notice a class of substances very generally employed in diet, which are not in themselves nutritive, but are added to our food, for the purpose of rendering it more agree able to the palate. These are the various arti cles styled condiments; they may be classed under the two heads of salts and spices. There is so very general a disposition among all classes of people in all countries to relish sapid food, that we are led to conceive that there must be some final cause for it, independent of the mere gratification of the senses, or that this gratifica tion is made subservient to some more import ant purpose. With respect to what is termed common salt, the muriate of soda, we observe, in many cases, the same relish for it among the lower animals as in man. We have well au thenticated accounts given us, by various tra vellers and naturalists, of the extraordinary efforts which are made by the beasts of prey which inhabit the great African and American continents, to obtain it.• We can scarcely therefore doubt that it must be, in some way or other, essential to the well-being of the animal; but whether it directly promotes the process of chymification, or whether it be taken into the stomach, for the purpose of being transmitted to the blood, and thus furnishing to the system the portion of saline matter which is always present in the animal fluids, must be considered as entirely conjecturaht The other division of condiments, the spices, are very numerous, and are derived from vari ous sources, but are chiefly of vegetable origin. They are generally of a stimulating nature, and such as may be supposed to act, in the first in stance, on the nervous system. Some of them increase the action of the heart and arteries, and some of them augment the secretions or excretions, but they differ essentially from alcohol, in not producing any thing resembling intoxication and the subsequent exhaustion. Thus they are much less injurious to the con stitution, even when taken to excess, and are seldom liable to any stronger imputation than that of being useless. They afford some of the most remarkable examples of the effect of habit on the system, in changing or modifying our original perceptions, for it is very generally found that those substances to which we be come, in process of time, the most attached, are such as, in the first instance, were not only perfectly indifferent, but even positively dis gusting.