CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 259 







inorganic constituents serve as nourishment, have unconsciously rendered 

 their very frugal diet less sensible to them. If the plastic ingredients are 

 not of themselves sufficient, yet here come to their assistance the indirect 

 nourishing property of caffein and the aromatic substance eo^ualizing 

 their necessities, and at the same time exciting their nervous system. 



The Central Asiatic inhabitants of the Steppes, the Buratians, the 

 Mongolians, &c., make use of tea as a common article of food. They 

 prepare it, first, by rubbing the leaves together, then boiling it in water, 

 adding a little salt to it ; after they have poured off the decoction from the 

 dregs, they add to it butter and milk, and meal if they have any, which 

 they roast before adding to the decoction. A person takes per day from, 

 twenty to forty cups. But even without meal, and only with a little milk, 

 this tea often serves, for weeks long, as the only means of nourishment. 

 We see here again a people instinctively directed, as it were, in the peculiar 

 mode of preparing tea ; unconsciously adding those substances which are 

 of -such great importance, viz., the protein, that becomes soluble by boiling 

 in salt water, and also a great portion of the inorganic constituents. It is 

 probably here the large amount of thein that influences the metamorphosis. 

 Of course they lose entirely the valuable property of the united action of 

 ethereal oil and thein, since by boiling the former is dissipated. This coiild 

 better be spared, though, than the other action of tea, which serves as a 

 direct nourishment, which is of greater importance. 



The mode of preparing these drinks among Europeans is very different 

 not placing much value upon the nutritive substances contained in them, 

 but merely upon those which are capable indirectly of nourishing, and 

 those which induce greater activity of the nervous system and the brain. 

 The mode of preparing coffee among the Germans enables them to obtain, 

 besides the empyreumatic oil, as much cafFein as they can possibly obtain 

 from it ; while in the preparation of tea, less attention is paid to the 

 amount of thein than to the ethereal oil the whole amount of which 

 passes over to the decoction. Hence, with them, tea acts only as a stimu- 

 lus to their brain and nervous system, whilst coffee retards the metamor- 

 phosis, and also, though not in so great a degree as tea, stimulates the 

 nerves. The English, who produce so much meat in their own country, 

 and can generally obtain so rmich of it that it is even possible for the 

 poorer classes to partake of it daily, besides the protein substances, have 

 less need to prepare their coffee in such a manner as to obtain from it indi- 

 rect nourishment. Since, however, they feel the want of spirits and 

 excitement, their choice has fallen upon tea, which promotes these better 

 than coffee. 



We find among the poorer classes of Germany, where meat is so rare, 

 and considered so great a luxury, that they are obliged to substitute for it 

 such food as potatoes, &c., which consist of substances which indeed 

 satisfy their hunger, but yet are not fitted to prepare them for very great 

 exertions. The feeling of mental and physical lethargy experienced by 

 them, and produced by this spare diet, becomes much more evident if they 



