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COFFEE AND THE SAVANS.—­In a letter from Paris it is said:  “Some of our eminent scientific men are again squabbling on the vexed question as to whether coffee does or does not afford nourishment.  One of them has laid down what seems a paradox, viz., that coffee contains fewer nutritive properties than the ordinary food of man, and yet that the man who makes it his principal food is stronger than one who feeds on meat and wine.  In support of this paradox, our savant calls the example of the miners of the coal-pits of Charleroi, who never eat meat except a very small quantity on Sundays, and whose daily meals consist exclusively of bread and butter and coffee.  These men, he says, are strong, muscular, and able to do, and actually perform, more hard work than the miners of the coal-pits of Onzin, in France, who feed largely on the more nutritive articles, meat and vegetables, and drink wine or beer.  Another savant, taking nearly the same views, insists that the Arabs are able to live moderately, and to make long abstinences, as they do, entirely on account of their extensive use of coffee.  But this last assertion is demolished, by the declaration of M. d’Abbadie, who has just returned from Abyssinia, that certain tribes of Arabs and Abyssinians who do not use coffee can support greater fatigue than those who do.  In presence of such very contradictory facts, who shall say which of the learned doctors is in the right?”

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A CURIOUS TRIO.—­Mr. Dallas, when Secretary of the Treasury, says Mr. Paulding, told me the following story, which he had from Mr. Breck:—­When the Duc de Liancourt was in Philadelphia, sometime after the execution of Louis the Sixteenth, Mr. Breck called to see him at his lodgings, in Strawberry-alley.  Knocking at the door of a mean looking house, a little ragged girl came out, who, on being asked for the Duke, pointed to a door, which Mr. B. entered.  At a little deal table he found Cobbett, teaching the Duke and Monsieur Talleyrand English!

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BAD COOKERY A CAUSE OF DRUNKENKESS.—­To what are we to ascribe the prevalence of this detestable vice amongst us!  Many causes might be plausibly assigned for it, and one of them is our execrable cookery.  The demon of drunkenness inhabits the stomach.  From that “vasty deep” it calls for its appropriate offerings.  But the demon may be appeased by other agents than alcohol.  A well-cooked, warmed, nutritious meal allays the craving quite as effectually as a dram; but cold, crude, indigestible viands, not only do not afford the required solatium to the rebellious organ, but they aggravate the evil, and add intensity to the morbid avidity for stimulants.  It is remarked that certain classes are particularly obnoxious to drunkenness, such as sailors, carriers, coachmen, and other wandering tribes whose ventral