21 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



This may appear to many a very strong condemnation of their 

 favorite beverage ; nevertheless, I am satisfied that it is perfectly 

 sound. This is not an opinion hastily adopted, but a conclusion based 

 upon many observations, extending over a long period of years, and 

 confirmed by experiments made upon myself. 



The "Pall Mall Gazette" of August 7th says, "There is balm 

 for tea-drinkers in one of Mr. Mattieu Williams's ' Science Notes ' in 

 the ' Gentleman's Magazine.' " This is true to a certain extent. I re- 

 ferred to the Chinese as habitual drinkers of boiled water, and suggest 

 that this may explain their comparative immunity from cholera, where 

 all the other conditions for a raging epidemic are fulfilled. It is the 

 boiling of the water, not the infusion of tea-leaves therein, to which I 

 attribute the destruction of the germs of infection. 



In the note which follows, I proposed an infusion of fried or toasted 

 bread-crumbs, oatmeal, maize, w^heat, barley, malt, etc., as a substitute 

 for the tea, the deep color of the infusion (poured off from the grounds 

 in this case) serving to certify the boiling of the water. Rumford's 

 burned soup, taken habitually at breakfast or other meals, would answer 

 the same purpose, with the further advantage to poor people of being, 

 to a certain extent, a nutritious soup as well as a beverage. All that 

 is nutritious in porter is in this, minus the alcoholic drug and its vile 

 companion, the fusel-oil. 



The experience of every confirmed tea-drinker, when soundly in- 

 terpreted, supplies condemnation of the beverage ; the plea commonly 

 and blindly urged on its behalf being, when understood, an eloquent 

 expression of such condemnation, " It is so refreshing " ; "I am fit 

 for nothing when tea-time comes round until I have had my tea, and 

 then I am fit for anything." The " fit for nothing " state comes on 

 at five p. M., when the drug is taken at the orthodox time, or even in 

 the early morning, in the case of those who are accustomed to have a 

 cup of tea brought to their bedside before rising. With blindness still 

 more profound, some will plead for tea by telling that by its aid one 

 can sit up all night long at brain- work without feeling sleepy, provided 

 ample supplies of the infusion are taken from time to time. 



It is unquestionably true that such may be done ; that the tea- 

 drinker is languid and weary at tea-time, whatever be the hour, and 

 that the refreshment produced by " the cup that cheers " and is said 

 not to inebriate, is almost instantaneous. 



What is the true significance of these facts ? 



The refreshment is certainly not due to nutrition, not to the re- 

 building of any worn-out or exhausted organic tissue. The total 

 quantity of material conveyed from the tea-leaves into the water is 

 ridiculously too small for the performance of any such nutritive func- 

 tion ; and, besides this, the action is far too rapid, there is not sufficient 

 time for the conversion of even that minute quantity into organized 

 working tissue. The action can not be that of a food, but is purely 



