( 120 ) 
as given by Dr. Cullen, whofe opinion in this place cannot fail to be 
well.received.... cae hes wi heer ani | 
“ With refpect to its qualities as a medicine, that is, its power of 
changing the ftate of the human body, we might fuppofe it afcer- 
tained by the experience of its daily ufe; but from the univerfality 
of this ufe in very different conditions of the plant, and in every 
poflible condition of the perfons employing it, the conclufions 
drawn. from its effets muft be very precatious and ambiguous, 
**.and we mut attempt by other means to afcertain its qualities with 
more certainty, : 
¢¢ 
‘ce 
(a3 
ce 
‘6 
‘“« To this purpofe it appears, from the accurate Dr. Smith’s expe- 
riments De Aétione Mufculari, No. 36, that an infufion of green 
Tea has the ‘effe& of deftroying the fenfibility of the nerves, and 
the irritability of the mufcles; and from the experiments of Dr. 
Lettfom, it appears that green Tea gives out in diftillation an 
odorous water, which is powerfully narcotic. — 
*« That the recent plant contains fuch an odorous narcotic power, 
we might prefume from the neceflity which the Chinefe find of 
drying it with much heat before it can be brought into-ufe; and 
that, even after fuch preparation, they muft abftain from the ufe 
“¢ of it for a year or more, that is, till its volatile parts are ftill far- 
** ‘ther ee oe and it is faid, that unlefs they ufe this precaution, — 
** the Tea in a more recent ftate manifeftly fhows ftrong narcotic 
powers. Even in this country, the more odorous Teas often fhow 
*« their fedative powers in weakening the nerves of the ftomach, and 
«* indeed of the whole fyftem. __ on 
** From thefe confiderations we conclude very firmly, that Tea 
is to be confidered as a narcotic and fedative fubftance; and that 
it is efpecially fuch in its moft odorous ftate, and therefore lefs in 
the bohea than in the green Tea, and the mof fo in the more 
odorous, or what are called the finer kinds of the latter, 
‘« Its effe€ts, however, feem to be very different in different per- 
fons; and hence the different, and even contradiGtory accounts, 
«< that are reported of thefe effedts. But if we confider thé difference 
«* of conftitution, which occafions fome difference of the operation 
«* of the fame medicine in different perfons, and of which we have 
** a remark- 
ae 
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