35 



Some Scientific Aspects of Tea Drinking. 



Frank B. Wade. 



An ancient beverage, and one now in more universal use than any 

 other, not even excepting beer, tea has many claims as a wholesome and 

 harmless adjunct to our meals. 



Our English cousins, headed by that greatest tea merchant and good 

 sportsman, Sir Thomas Lipton, seem to have come to a 1 tetter apprecia- 

 tion of "the cup that cheers but not inebriates" than we in America have 

 arrived at. You remember that, in Pickwick Papers, Sam Weller tells 

 us that they drank tea until they "swelled wisibly." Our English friends 

 at one time would even have compelled us to take to their favorite 

 beverage had not a party of well-meaning, but rather hasty, Yankees 

 dumped the first consignment of raw material into Boston harbor. Since 

 then we seem to have retained a rather illogical prejudice agaiust an 

 excellent beverage. 



Among its many virtues, not the least is that it supplies, in a harm- 

 less form, an adequate amount of water to the system. Physicians are 

 agreed that most of us habitually take too little liquid. Many functional 

 disturbances arising from this lack of water might be removed by acquir- 

 ing the habit of tea drinking. Another advantage to be derived from the 

 use of tea is in thereby obtaining water which is free from pathogenic 

 bacteria and which is partly softened by boiling. The sterilization of 

 the water and the removal of its "temporary hardness" are unmistakably 

 advantageous in places where there is any suspicion as to the purity of 

 the drinking water or where it is excessively hard. 



To persons of sedentary life, with digestive powers not of the strong- 

 est, the simple physical advantage of the heat-content of the cup of tea is 

 probably of material aid in facilitating natural digestion. It also acts as 

 a mild stimulant, on account of the presence of the alkaloid theine. A in- 

 reasonable use of tea is unlikely to cause serious reaction from this 

 stimulant, and the benefits upon digestion, of the cheerful state of mind 

 produced by it probably more than compensate for any drain produced by 

 it upon the nervous system. In case of personal idiosyncrasy toward tea 

 it should, of course, not be used. 



