PREFACE 
TO 
THE FIRST EDITION, 1772. 
Tue fubject of the following Effay being now in general 
ufe among the inhabitants of this kingdom, as well as in many 
~ other parts of Europe, and conftituting a large part of our com- | 
‘merce, it cannot but afford pleafure to the curious to poflefs 
the hiftory of a fhrub, with the leaves of which they are fo well 
acquainted. 
Many treatifes have been publifhed on the ufes and effects of _ 
Tea; a few writers have likewife given fome circumftances re- 
lative to its natural hiftory and preparation, the indefatigable 
Kempfer particularly ; but thefe circumftances lie fo difperfed, 
and the accounts which have been given of the virtues and 
efficacy of Tea are in general fo contradiétory, and void of true _ 
medical obfervation, that it ftill feemed no improper fubject for . 
a candid difcuffion. ‘The reader may at leaft have the fatis- 
faction of feeing, in a narrow compafs, the principal opinions 
‘relative to this fubject. | 
Within 
