308 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



entirely take away the narcotic quality, but 

 that it is lost by time. The Japanese never 

 use it under ten or twelve months, and then 

 they mix it with old tea. It is only by per- 

 fect exudation that the leaves of the tea lose 

 all their bad qualities. 



In order to correct the noxious quality of 

 tea, and to cause it to be more easily rolled 

 up or curled, it is (in some parts of China) 

 either steeped in water, or steamed, by be- 

 ing put into a hot kettle just emptied of 

 boiling water ; in which the leaves are kept 

 closely covered up until they become cold. 

 They are then rolled up and dried on plates 

 of iron, but never on copper, as some have 

 supposed and have thence deduced the in- 

 jurious qualities of tea. After all the pre- 

 parations, and when time has softened the 

 acrimony of the tea-leaf, a strong extract of 

 the juice has been attended with the most 

 fatal consequences, and even the effluvia of 

 the dried herb, when long and frequently 

 inhaled (as the tea-brokers have repeatedly 

 experienced,) will occasion palsy, apoplexy, 

 and other nervous disorders. 



Adair, in his " Essay on Diet and Regi- 

 men," observes, that in proportion as it has 

 become general, many diseases, especially 



