TEA, MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF. 



TEAM. 



58 



frequent infringement of the natural laws, particularly turning night 

 into day, anil not seldom day into night, as is the practice of the 

 votaries of fashion. That tea should not suit all constitutions or all 

 ages is not remarkable. It is less suited for young children than for 

 adults ; indeed for very young children it is extremely improper, pro- 

 ducing, like all narcotics, a morbid state of the brain and nervous 

 system. It is also unsuited for those of an irritable nature, and like- 

 wise for those of a leucophlegmatic constitution. Such persons can ill 

 be-ir much liquid of any kind, particularly in the evening, and prosper 

 best on a very dry diet, to which growing children of this constitution 

 should be strictly confined. [DILUENTS.] It may not be true that the 

 use of tea, as alleged by Dr. Lettsom, has been the main cause of the 

 increase of scrofulous diseases, still as diseases of this class are the 

 only diseases which are proved by the reports of the registrar-general 

 to be stationary, or perhaps more frequent than others, whatever 

 impairs the nervous power and ultimately the digestive function in 

 tttrumous children should be avoided. His advice is sound where he 

 says, " It ought by no means to be the common diet of boarding- 

 schools ; if it be allowed sometimes as a treat, they should be at the 

 same time informed that the constant use of it would be injurious 

 to their health, strength, and constitution." Those to whom it is 

 most suited are the plethoric and sanguine. Upon the same principle 

 it is a proper article of diet and perhaps the best common drink at the 

 beginning of fevers and inflammatory complaints. In a peculiar state 

 of brain, termed by Mr. Newnham ('Observations on Medical and 

 Dietetical Properties of Green Tea ') sthenic excitement, a state clearly 

 bordering on inflammation, especially if produced by alcoholic stimu- 

 lants, or by intense and long-continued application of mind to any par- 

 ticular object of literary research, green tea acts as a salutary remedy. 

 On the contrary, in states of diminished excitement, morbid vigilance 

 and nervous disturbance follow its use. It is not an uncommon 

 practice with ardent students, when pushing their studies far into the 

 night, to resist the claims of nature for repose, and keep themselves 

 awake by the frequent use of tea. That it answers the purpose at the 

 mm it be denied, but the object is often attained at a fearful 

 price, the destruction of health and vigour both of mind and body 

 being the penalty. But more effect ia produced by small doses, 

 frequently repeated, than by large ones. See the paper on the ' Uses 

 of Tea iu the healthy System,' read before the Society of Arts, 15th 

 February, 1861, p. 18S. Dr. Smith's remarks are based upon a most 

 extensive series of experiments the results of which are most 

 important. Less injury results in these cases from the use of coffee. 

 There is this difference between the morbid states of the nervous 

 system produced by colfee and those resulting from tea : that the 

 former generally subside or disappear entirely on relinquishing its use; 

 those from the latter are more permanent, and often incapable of 

 being eradicated. Nevertheless many persons have immediately found 

 their health improved by entirely relinquishing the use of tea, or even 

 omitting it only at breakfast, for which meal it is certainly less proper 

 than for the evening beverage. 'J hose for whom tea ia unsuited will 

 generally find weak cocoa the most proper substitute. 



Persons of a gouty and rheumatic nature, above all, those prone to 

 calculous diseases of the lithic acid diathesis, find weak tea the least 

 objectionable article of common drink. They should take it without 

 sugar, and with very little milk. (Prout, 'On the Stomach,' p. 217.) 

 Where the water is hard, the addition of a little carbonate of soda not 

 only improves the tea, but renders it a more proper beverage for such 

 persons. This addition of an alkali seems to increase the action of tea 

 upon the skin, and to augment its cooling properties. Cream appears 

 to lessen the action on the skin, as does also lemon-juice. (Smith, itt 

 lupra, p. 1 89.) Tea should not be used till about four hours after 

 any solid meal. 



The medical uses of tea are not many. In fevers it is not only an 

 excellent, diluent at the commencement, but a tincture of tea made by 

 macerating tea in proof-spirit, and adding a teaspoonful of thia to a 

 small cup of water, and given at short intervals during the night, after 

 the acute symptoms have subsided, is often of great service. For 

 this purpose, in hospitals ami workhouses, the leaves which have 

 been used for the ordinary infusion may be macerated in alcohol, 

 and a spirit of sufficient strength for this purpose obtained at a 

 cheap rate. 



In some forms of diseased heart tea proves a useful sedative. It is 

 nearly as valuable an antidote to poisoning by opium as coffee is. Some 

 cases of poisoning by arsenic and tartarised antimony have been pre- 

 1 proving fatal by the immediate administration of tea in the 

 form of a very strong infusion. Here its power as an antidote depends 

 upon its tannin decomposing the poisonous substances. [ASTRINGENTS.] 

 But in poisoning by opium it is useful only in combating the secondary 

 symptoms, and should not be administered till the stomach-pump or 

 other means have removed the opium from the stomach. Some cases 

 of severe nervous headache are relieved by a cup of strong green tea, 

 taken without milk or sugar. But this should be sparingly resorted 

 to ; it is a wiser plan to avoid the causes of such headaches. Tea has 

 been looked upon as the great means by which intoxication was to be 

 banished, but it is certain that to relieve the tremblings and other 

 unpleasant effects of the abuse of tea, a little brandy or other alcoholic 

 stimulant is occasionally added to the cup of tea, and so a habit is 

 cquired which can never afterwards be relinquished. 



Tea has frequently been denounced as a useless article of diet to the 

 poor, as it is assumed to be devoid of nutriment, and the milk and 

 sugar which are added are supposed to be the only beneficial ingredients. 

 Dr. Lettsom has given a calculation, partly his own, and partly taken 

 from ' Essays on Husbandry,' to show how much is, in his view, 

 unnecessarily expended by them in this way. But the observations of 

 Liebig are thought to offer a satisfactory explanation of the cause of 

 the great partiality of the poor not only for tea, but for tea of an 

 expensive and therefore superior kind : 



" To see how the action of calfeine, asparagine, theobromiue, &c., 

 may be explained, we must call to mind that the chief constituent of 

 the bile contains only 3'S per cent, of nitrogen, of which only the half, 

 or 1'9 per cent., belongs to the taurine. Bile contains in its natural 

 state water and solid matter, in the proportion of 90 parts by weight of 

 the former to 10 of the latter. If we suppose these 10 parts by 

 weight of solid matter to be choleic acid, with 3'87 per cent, of nitrogen. 

 then 100 parts of fresh bile will contain 0'171 parts of nitrogen in the 

 shape of taurine. Now this quantity is contained in 0'6 parts of 

 caffeine ; or 2'jths grains of caffeine can give to an ounce of bile the 

 nitrogen it contains in the form of tauriue. If an infusion of tea 

 contain no more than the j^th of a grain of caffeine, still, if it con- 

 tribute in point of fact to the formation of bile, the action, even of 

 such a quantity, cannot be looked upon as a nullity. Neither can it 

 be denied, that in the case of an excess of non-azotised food and a 

 deficiency of motion, which is required to cause the change of matter 

 of the tissues, and thus to yield the nitrogenised product which enters 

 into the composition of the bile ; that in such a condition the health 

 may bebenetited by the use of compounds which are capable of supply- 

 ing the place of the nitrogenised substance produced in the healthy 

 state of the body, and essential to the production of au important 

 element of respiration. In a chemical sense- and it is this alone 

 which the preceding remarks are intended to show caffeine, or theine, 

 asparagine, and theobromine, are, in virtue of their composition, better 

 adapted to this purpose than all other nitrogenised vegetable principles. 

 The action of these substances, in ordinary circumstances, is not 

 obvious, but it unquestionably exists. Tea and coffee were originally 

 met with among nations whose diet ia chiefly vegetable." (Liebig's 

 ' Animal Chemistry,' p. 178.) These facts show in what way tea proves 

 to the poor a substitute for animal food, and why females and literary 

 persons who take little exercise manifest such partiality for it. They 

 also explain why the attempts, and they have been numerous, to find 

 among other plants a substitute for tea have invariably failed of 

 success. 



TEA, PARAGUAY, or MAT& [TEA, PABAQUAY, in NAT. HIST. 

 Div.] 



TEAK, ECONOMICAL USES OF. The teak tree is found in 

 Burmah, in India, and in various islands in the Indian seas. It grows 

 to an immense size, and is remarkable for its very large leaves, which 

 are from 12 to 24 inches long, and from 8 to 16 inches broad. The 

 wood is light, brownish coloured, and easily' worked, as well as very 

 strong and durable. It is soon seasoned, and from containing a 

 resinous oil, resists the action of water, as well as that of insects. The 

 density of the wood varies from 0'594 to 0'876, according to its 

 quality and the mode iu which it is seasoned ; the average is about 

 0711. One specimen has been described having a specific gravity of 

 1*050 ; but the accuracy of this statement is doubtful. From extensive 

 experience, teak has been found to be the most valuable timber for 

 ship-building. Teak is the principal article of export, both in quantity 

 and value, from Moulmehi ; near which port are vast forests of the 

 best teak in the world. Splendid baulks of timber are shipped there, 

 50 feet in length, and as much as 24 inches square. The price of first 

 class teak at that port, squared into baulks, is usually about 60s. per 

 ton of 50 cubic feet. At the Great Exhibition of 1851, a very interest- 

 ing collection was displayed, consisting of more than seventy species of 

 teak, obtained f i om various localities and arranged according to their 

 density. They were collected by Mr. Seppings of Calcutta, and were 

 contributed by the Naval Department of the Kast India Company. 



TEAM. Nothing is of greater importance in the management of a 

 farm than the cattle which perform the necessary work in ploughing 

 and other operations on the soil, in drawing manure to the land and 

 carrying the produce to market. It is evident that the smaller the 

 expense of the teftn which does the requisite work in proper time, the 

 greater the prc.lit of the farmer, and every saving in this part of the 

 expense of cultivation is so much added to the clear gain. Wherever 

 the land is only partially cultivated, and a portion of it remains in 

 coarse pasture, which costs little or nothing to the occupier, or where 

 extensive open commons afford cheap food for oxen, these last are 

 naturally employed in farm labour. If four oxen do only the work of 

 two horses, they are maintained at a much smaller exjien.se, and, after 

 working for two or three years, their value is improved for the purpose 

 of fatting for the butcb.tr. The necessary gear is much less expen- 

 sive, especially where the old yoke is still in use, whether across the 

 neck or the horns. In fact, for a poor man who has only a few acres 

 of land, and who is situated near a waste or common, oxen arc the 

 most economical team. Many, who in general have more theoretical 

 than practical knowledge of husbandry, have maintained the general 

 superiority of an ox team over that composed of horses, and have 

 given calculations which appear clearly to establish their point. But 



