“The Georgian, a crusading newspaper whose editor became a Wiley ally, reported that “eight Coca-Colas contain enough caffeine to kill.” An anti-soda evangelical warned that Coca-Cola could drive young women to “inappropriate behavior” and young men to masturbation. Earlier in the century, Virginia had tried to ban Coca-Cola altogether, and for a few months in 1907, after Wiley dug up testimony from a 1901 mistrial putting Coca-Cola’s alcohol content at two percent, the Army forbade soldiers from indulging.”

Sarah Laskow on caffeine, Coca Cola, and government crusaders, today on Lapham’s Quarterly’s Roundtable.