It is not, therefore, the native Heat, but that fatal Dryness which renders the Members cold, and the Skin corrugated, which renders old Persons fond of drinking; and for this Reason, I have, in my _Commentaries_, universally commended a moistening Diet for them. Hence, the Inhabitants of those Nations, who, besides _Tea_, daily drink Wine, ought carefully to guard against all sudden Changes in Diet and Regimen. Thus, when a certain celebrated _French_ Physician, endeavoured to perswade a Person of eminent Rank, who was, generally, twice or thrice a Year seized with a Catarrh, to change his Regimen, and give over the Use of Wine, or, at least, dilute it with Water; because, in all Probability, the Physician told him, that cold Water powerfully corrected acrid Humours. Upon this, the Person of Distinction asked the Physician, whether he was in good Health? To whom the Physician replied he was: Then, says he, continue to drink Water, or Wine and Water, till you can drink no more; but you shall never, on account of slight Catarrhs, which are rarely offensive to me, perswade me to accept of a _French_, or _Italian_ Regimen, instead of a _Danish_, and _German_: Nor will I drink Water instead of Wine, or Ale. I am at present full of Flesh and Blood, and enjoy a good Appetite: My Forefathers, for many Years back, were of the like Constitution, and used the same Regimen I do; but if, in the sixtieth Year of my Age, I should begin to drink Water, I am afraid I should rather resemble you than them; for you, who are a Water-drinker, though you enjoy good Health, yet you are emaciated, have a cadaverous Countenance, and seem to be rather a Skeleton than a living Person. I wish all Persons, especially such as are old, would follow the Example of this Gentleman, and obstinately reject _Tea_, which so dries the Bodies of the _Chinese_, that they can hardly spit. It is also an egregious Mistake, not only among the _Persians_, but also among most other Nations, to think that the Seed _Bon_, or _Ban_, which when toasted is called _Coffee_, and which I have taken Care to have engraved in the Plate after the History of _Scurvy-Grass, No. 11, 12._ of my _Quadripartitium_, is of so cooling a Quality, as to produce Impotence, even in those who use it frequently; for it only dries them. Thus _Casmin_, the Wife of Sultan _Mahmud_, after her Husband had so weakened himself by the Use of _Coffee_, that he had been impotent for many Years, is said, when she saw the Preparations making, for gelding a generous _Persian_ Steed, to have told the Persons employed in that Work, that there was no Occasion for so much Trouble, since, by giving the Horse _Coffee_, he would become like her Husband, the King. This Story is, with the same Circumstances, related by _Olearius_, in his Travels through _Muscovy_ and _Persia_. _Coffee_, then produces Sterility in the _Persians_, not because it is cold, but because it gradually dries their Bodies, by means of a certain Sulphur, as