e attempt to make it, without detriment to health in every
respect.

Coffee, cocoa, and chocolate rank in the same category with tea, as
beverages which are more or less harmful. Coffee contains caffein, a
principle identical with theine and a modified form of tannin, though in
less quantity than tea. Cocoa and chocolate contain substances similar
to theine and equally harmful, though usually present in much less
proportion than in tea.

Custom has made the use of these beverages so common that most people
seldom stop to inquire into their nature. Doubtless the question arises
in many minds; If these beverages contain such poisons, why do they not
more commonly produce fatal results?--Because a tolerance of the poison
is established in the system by use, as in the case of tobacco and other
narcotics and stimulants; but that the poisons surely though insidiously
are doing their work is attested by the prevalence of numerous disorders
of the digestive and nervous systems, directly attributable to the use
of these beverages.

Both tea and coffee are largely adulterated with other harmful
substances, thus adding another reason why their use should be
discarded. It is stated on good authority that it is almost impossible
to obtain unadulterated ground coffee.

In view of all these facts, it certainly seems wisest if a beverage is
considered essential, to make use of one less harmful. Hot milk, hot
water, hot lemonade, caramel coffee, or some of the various grain
coffees, recipes for which are give in the following pages, are all
excellent substitutes for tea and coffee, if a hot drink is desired.

_RECIPES_

BEET COFFEE.--Wash best beets thoroughly, but do not scrape; slice,
and brown in a moderate oven, taking care not to burn. When brown, break
in small pieces and steep the same as ordinary coffee.

CARAMEL COFFEE.--Take three quarts best bran, one quart corn meal,
three tablespoonfuls of molasses; mix and brown in the oven like
ordinary coffee. For every cup of coffee required, use one heaping
tablespoonful of the caramel. Pour boiling water over it, and steep, not
boil, for fifteen or twenty minutes.

CARAMEL COFFEE NO. 2.--Take one cup each of white flour, corn meal,
unsifted Graham flour, and molasses. Mix well, and form into cakes half
an inch thick and a little larger around than a silver dollar. If the
molasses is not thin enough to take up all the dry material, one fourth
or one half a cup of cold water