[ 4o6 ] 



The water in which tea is infufed is commonly 

 boiled in a copper kettle, and a remnant is often 

 left to fland till the day following, and if the tin 

 lining be worn off,* the water acquires an iin plea- 

 fan t tatle, which is foiretirnes afcribed to the bad- 

 nefs of the tea, when in fadt, it is wholly owing to 

 the veffel. After long ufe indeed, the kettle ac- 

 quires a thick ftony incruftation from the earthy 

 particles depofitcd by the water, which more effec- 

 tually guards the copper from corrofion^ hence an 

 old tea-kettle (ceteris paribus) is much fafer than a 

 new one. Tea, in its recent ftate, is faid to be 

 dried on hot plates of copper ^ hence, perhaps, its 

 emetick quality, which however goes off before it 

 arrives in this country. Whether the various ner- 

 vous fymptoms, generally attributed to that vege- 

 table, may not fometimes proceed from a metallick 

 impregnation, feems at leaft equivocal. 



The abufe of copper veffels is by no means con- 

 fined to cities, towns, and villages, but extends to 



* So extremely thin is the tin in general, that even in the better fort 

 of coating, it has been computed that half an ounce is made to cover 

 a54 fquare inches, being only one grain of tin to a fquare inch, and in 

 inferior forts confiderably lefs. 



Watson's Chemiilry, vol. iv. p. i8i. 



camps. 



