34 CAMELLIA THE A 



ordinary mode of making tea this substance is scarcely extracted 

 in any amount. The action of tea is thus stated by Dr. Edward 

 Smith : " It increases the assimilation of food both of the flesh 

 and heat-forming kinds ; and with abundance of food must 

 promote nutrition, whilst in the absence of sufficient food it 

 increases the waste of the body." It is frequently resorted to by 

 those who desire to produce wakefulness during the night for the 

 purpose of study, &c. Tea is also a powerful astringent, and 

 should not, therefore, be taken for some time after animal food, 

 otherwise it commonly produces dyspepsia, in consequence of the 

 formation of tannate of gelatine, from the combination of its tannic 

 acid with the gelatine of the food. In consequence of its astrin- 

 gent properties the use of tea also frequently causes constipation. 

 Tea should not be taken as a beverage by those who sleep lightly, 

 or by those who are liable to hysteria, or palpitation of the heart 

 from valvular disease. 



As a nervine stimulant tea may be taken with great advantage 

 in headache and neuralgia, and in other affections caused by 

 exhaustion of the system from depression of nerve power. Its 

 effects in such cases are said to be analogous to quinia, and hence 

 tea has also been given in intermittent fevers, &c. It has also 

 been employed medicinally in the treatment of opium and other 

 narcotic poisonings ; and in asthma, whooping-cough, and other 

 spasmodic disorders. For use medicinally green tea is to be 

 preferred. Experiments show that the effects of tea as a nervine 

 stimulant are due to thein, as its administration produces 

 analogous effects on the system, and may be, therefore, used 

 medicinally in similar cases. 



Boyle's Illust. of Himalayan Botany, p. 109; Johnston's Che- 

 mistry of Common Life, by Lewes, vol. i, p. 168 ; Fortune's 

 Tea Countries of China, vol. ii, pp. 69 and 233; Bent., Man. 

 Bot., p. 445; U. S. Disp., by W. & B., p, 1708; Boyle's Mat. 

 Med., by J. Harley, p. 704; Per. Mat. Med., vol. ii, pt. 2, p. 

 551; Garr., Mat. Med., p. 220; Warington, in Chem. Gaz., 

 1852, p. 238; Watts, Diet. Chem., vol. v, p. 703; Pharm. Jl., 



