Can it be right to lead children where all allow that there is some
danger, and where in many cases disease and death are met, when, another
path is known to be perfectly safe?
The impression common in this country, that _warm drinks_, especially in
winter, are more healthful than cold, is not warranted by any
experience, nor by the laws of the physical system. At dinner, cold
drinks are universal, and no one deems them injurious. It is only
at the other two meals that they are supposed to be hurtful.
There is no doubt that _warm_ drinks are healthful, and more agreeable
than cold, at certain times and seasons; but it is equally true that
drinks above blood-heat are not healthful. If a person should bathe in
warm water every day, debility would inevitably follow; for the frequent
application of the stimulus of heat, like all other stimulants,
eventually causes relaxation and weakness. If, therefore, a person is in
the habit of drinking hot drinks twice a day, the teeth, throat, and
stomach are gradually debilitated. This, most probably, is one of the
causes of an early decay of the teeth, which is observed to be much more
common among American ladies, than among those in European countries.
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