CHEMICAL, MEDICAL AND DIETICAL PROPERTIES. 229 



and the elements of water, can yield taurine, the nitro- 

 genous compound peculiar to bile. So that if an infusion 

 of tea contain no more than i-io of a grain of theine, 

 and contributes, as has been shown, to the formation of 

 bile, the action, even of a such a small quantity, cannot 

 be looked upon as a nullity. Neither can it be deemed 

 that in the case of non-atomized food or a deficiency of 

 the exercise required to cause a change of matter in the 

 tissues, and thus to yield the nitrogenized product which 

 enters into the composition of bile, the health may be 

 benefited by the use of compounds essential to the 

 production of this important element of respiration. In 

 a chemical sense, and it is this sense alone that theine is 

 in virtue of its composition better adapted to this pur- 

 pose than all other nitrogenized vegetable principles yet 

 discovered. To better prove how the action of tea may 

 be explained, we must call to mind that the chief con- 

 stituents of the bile contain only 3.8 per cent, of nitrogen, 

 of which only one-half belongs to the taurine. Bile con- 

 tains in its natural state water and solid matter in the pro- 

 portion of 90 parts of the former to 10 parts of the latter, 

 and if, we suppose, these 10 parts of solid matter to be 

 cholenic acid with 5.87 per cent, of nitrogen, then 100 

 parts of bile must contain 0.171 of nitrogen in the form' 

 of taurine, which quantity is contained in .06 parts of 

 theine, or, in other words, 272 grains of theine can give 

 to an ounce of bile the quantity of nitrogen it contains 

 in the form of taurine. The action of the. compound 

 in ordinary circumstances is not obvious, but that it 

 unquestionably exists and exerts itself in both tea and 

 coffee is proven by the fact that both were originally met 

 with among nations whose diet was chiefly vegetable. 

 These facts clearly show in what manner tea proves to 

 the poor a substitute for animal food, and why it is that 



