Quotes

Quote 233 of 521

It is worth noting, as well, that in the original coffeehouses nearly
everyone smoked, and nicotine also has a distinctive physiological
effect. It moderates mood and extends attention, and, more important,
it doubles the rate of caffeine metabolism: it allows you to drink
twice as much coffee as you could otherwise. In other words, the
original coffeehouse was a place where men of all types could sit all
day; the tobacco they smoked made it possible to drink coffee all day;
and the coffee they drank inspired them to talk all day. Out of this
came the Enlightenment. (The next time we so perfectly married
pharmacology and place, we got Joan Baez.)

"Java Man", by Malcolm Gladwell, <cite>The New
		   Yorker</cite>, 2001-07-30
		   http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?010730crat_atlarge

Tags: joanbaez physiologicaleffect coffeehouses coffeehouse nicotine enlightenment pharmacology metabolism coffee tobacco