MAKING DULLARDS AND NEURASTHENICS
PROF. M. V. O’SHEA, in the Mother’s Magazine for October, makes some striking assertions in regard to the effect of tea and coffee upon school children. The facts presented are worthy of the widest circulation. The following paragraphs give the professor’s words: “Mr. Taylor, of Philadelphia, has reached the conclusion that children who drink tea or coffee are not as fit physically or mentally as those who do not drink it. He makes the statement that children who drink much coffee do poorer work in school, and rank lower in conduct, than those who do not drink it.” “It seems strange that parents should encourage this habit in their children. An investigation recently made in a large high school showed that eighty-three per cent of the pupils used tea or coffee, or both, habitually. Some said they could not eat a meal ‘without something to drink.’ Many of them confessed that they were restless in their sleep, and a few said they could hardly get any sleep at all at night. They thought the trouble was due to their ‘having too much to do in school.’ They are constantly overstimulated by the alkaloids in tea, coffee, and cocoa, and consequently are in no condition to do thoroughly good work in school. Moreover, they are high-strung and irritable.” “If your children are drinking tea and coffee regularly, they are simply building up physical, nervous, and mental barriers in their paths.” OVERSTIMULATED BY CHOCOLATE
“Do you know that many children are kept in a state of chronic overstimulation by excessive eating of chocolate, at soda fountains and in candy? Many children will be wakeful at night if they eat chocolate candy in any form after supper. The next day, they will be nervously out of repair, and will crave more chocolate to make them feel better. When the reaction comes, they will need a still larger dose of chocolate to whip up the system; and so it goes on in a vicious circle.” “Why do you encourage your children to form habits which will be as millstones about their necks?”