about ten years, when he
died, as he had lived, rejoicing in his emancipation from slavery to
coffee. He believed, most fully, in its evil effects and tendencies, and
did not hesitate, for many years before he died, to acknowledge that
belief. Neither his son nor myself had firmer faith in the connection of
law with penalty, in these matters, that he. And his only regret, in
this particular, seemed to be that he had suffered himself to remain,
almost all his lifetime, in what he now regarded as utter ignorance. And
yet, compared with most men of his day, he was quite enlightened.

The case of Mr. W. was a pretty apt illustration of the truth of what I
regard as the great or cardinal doctrine of temperance, faintly
announced in Chapters XVIII., XXI., XXVIII, and elsewhere, viz., that,
as a general rule, much more mischief is done to society at large by the
frequent or at least habitual use of small quantities of poison, than by
an equal aggregate quantity in much larger doses. I mean just this: The
poisonous effects of Mr. W.'s coffee, though the amount daily taken was
trifling, produced a greater aggregate of mischief, in the end, than if
the same amount of poison had been applied in a very short time. A pint
of rum drank in a single day will do much less mischief to the human
constitution, than if divided into twenty _small_ doses and two of them
are taken every day for ten days. In the first case the effect will be
severe, but temporary; in the second, it will seem to be trifling, but
there will be an accumulation of ill effects, a heaping up, as it were,
of combustible matter in the system, till by and by when an igniting
spark comes to be applied to the pile, lo! we have an explosion.

Some of the hydropathists who knew the facts concerning Mr. W.,--for the
case did not occur in a corner,--tried to make it appear, perhaps in
all honesty, that he was cured by the cold _douche_. Now I have no
disposition to deny, wholly, its good effects. I have given you the
facts just as they were. Yet I have not a doubt that had he returned to
his coffee, the same troubles or others of equal magnitude would have
fallen to his lot again, despite the influences of the _douche_. In
truth, I know of no sensible hydropathist who, in such a case, would
rely upon the _douche_ alone; which is to concede, practically, all that
I desire to claim.

CHAPTER LIV.

THE OPIUM PILL BOX.

The statements of the following chapter will in