TEA. 



i8,R3R,i4olb6. The annual confiimption oftea byforeigners 

 in Europe is eftimatcd at 5,500,ocx)lbs.; ancl the confump- 

 tion of Great Britain and her dependencies is at leaft 

 13,338,140 lbs., which, at 700,cx30 lbs. ^.-r fhip, would em- 

 ploy thirty-eight lar^c (hips conftantiy in the China trade, 

 inftead of eighteen (hips, as above, moft of which were fmall, 

 one fleet going out when another is coming home. 



The above is exclufivc of private trade teas, brought legally 

 and illegally into Europe. It is faid, upon the authority of 

 confidential information, that the Englilli fiiips have often 

 fmuggled from 1000 to 300O chefts of tea each ; and alfo 

 that the foreign captains bring a large quantity of tea, which 

 they cither fmuggle at fea, or throw into the fea, the punifh- 

 meiit being fevere. The lofs to the public cm 1 000 chefts 

 of hy fun tea fmuggled, is above 20,000/. 



The average quantities for one year of each fort of tea 

 fold by die Eaft India Company in ten years, from March 

 fale 1773 to September fale 1782 inclufive, exclulive of 

 private trade, which was trifling, are as follow : 



Bohea ... 3)075)30? lbs. 

 Congou - - 523,272 



Souchong and Pekoe 92,572 



Singlo - - - 1,832,474 

 Hyfon - - 218,839 



5,742,464 



See Commutation- Aa. 



As to the properties of tea, they are ftrangely contro- 

 verted : the Eaftern nations are at leaft as much pofTefled 

 with an idea of their extraordinary virtues as the Europeans ; 

 but it is, perhaps, becaufe imagination bears as great a fway 

 there as here. The reafon why the gout and ftone are un- 

 known in China, is afcribed to the ufe of this plant. 



Tea is extolled as the greateft of all medicines : moderately 

 and properly taken, it afts as a gentle aftringent and corro- 

 borative : it ftrengthens the ftomach and bowels, and is 

 good againft nauleas, indigeftions, and diarrhoeas. It afts 

 alfo as a diuretic and diaphoretic. The immoderate ufe of it, 

 however, has been very prejudicial to many, who have been 

 thereby thrown into the diabetes. 



And alfo in Europe, infufions of tea-leaves have been ex- 

 travagantly condemned by fome, and commended by others. 

 From the contradiftory opbions, even of medical writers, 

 on this fubjeft, the natural inference feems to be, that they 

 poflefs neither noxious nor beneficial powers, in any very 

 confiderable degree. They feem, when moderately ufed, 

 to be for the moft part innocent ; in fome cafes they feem to 

 be falutary ; in fome they are apparently prejudicial. They 

 dilute thick juices, and quench thirft more apparently, and 

 pafs off by the natural emunftorics more freely, than more 

 watery fluids : they refrefh the fpirits in heavinefs and 

 fleepinefs, and feem to counteraft the operation of inebriating 

 liquors. 



From their manifeft aftringency, they have been fuppofed 

 to ftrengthen and brace up the folids, but this effed expe- 

 rience does not countenance ; as it is in diforders, and in 

 conftitutions in which corroborants are more ferviceable, 

 that the immoderate ufe of tea is peculiarly hurtful ; in cold 

 indolent habits, cachexies, chlorofis, dropfies, and debihties 

 of the nervous fyftem. Lewis's Mat. Med. 



Dr. Lettfom has particularly inquired into the medical 

 qualities and effefts of tea ; and having obferved that infu- 

 fions of bohea and green tea contribute to preferve fweet 

 fome fmall pieces of beef immcrfed in them, he infers that 

 they poITefs an antifeptic power, when applied to the dead 



animal fibre, and from their ftriking a purple colour with 

 fait of iron, he deduces their aftringent quality. 



From other experiments he concludes, that the aftivity of 

 tea chiefly refides in its fragrant and volatile parts ; and that 

 if the ufe of it be beneficial or injurious to any particular 

 conftitution, it becomes fo principally by means of this 

 odorous fracrrant principle. He apprehends that it is the 

 fafeft courfe to ufe the infufion of the more ordinary kind* 

 of this plant, which abcnmd lefs with this fragrant principle. 

 Or the tea may be boiled a few minutes, in order to diilf- 

 pate this volatile part, which ftands charged as the caufe of 

 thofe nervous affeftions that are faid to be produced, or ag- 

 gravated, by the ufe of this Hquor. By this procefs may 

 likewife be extrafted more copioufly the more fixed, bitter, 

 and ftomachic parts of this vegetable. 



Dr. Lettfom, who feems to be thoroughly perfuaded of 

 the occafionally noxious effefts of this volatile principle, in 

 the finer teas efpecially, recommends this laft ment'oned 

 mode of making tea, or the fubftitution of the extratt in- 

 ftead of the leaves ; by the ufe of which the nervous relax- 

 ing effefts, which foUow the drinking of tea in the ufual 

 manner, would be in great meafure avoided. This exlraft 

 has been imported hither from China, in the form of fmall 

 cakes, not exceeding a quarter of an ounce each in weifrht, 

 ten grains of which might fuffice one perfon for breakfaft ; 

 but it might eafily be made here by fimple decoftion and 

 evaporation, by thofe who experience the noxious qualities 

 of the volatile principles of this plant. 



It may be farther obferved, that the efFeft of drinking 

 large quantities of any warm aqueous liquor would be to 

 enter fpeedily into the courfe of circulation, and pafs off as 

 fpeedily by urine or perfpiration, or the increafe of fome of 

 the fecretions. 



Its effefts on the folid parts of the conftitution would be 

 relaxing, and thereby enfeebling. 



If this warm aqueous fluid were taken in confiderable 

 quantities, its effefts would be proportionable, and ftill 

 greater if it were fubftituted inftead of nutriment. The in- 

 fufion of tea, however, has thcfe two peculiarities. It is 

 not only pofleiTed of a fedative quality, but alfo of a confi- 

 derable aftringency ; by which the relaxing power, afcribed 

 to a mere aqueous fluid, is in fome meafure correfted on this 

 account. It is, perhaps, lefs injurious than many other infu- 

 fions of herbs, which, befides a very flight aromatic flavour, 

 have very little, if any, ftypticity, to prevent their relaxing 

 debihtating effefts. 



So far, therefore, tea, if not too fine, if not drank too 

 hot, nor in too great quantities, is perhaps preferable to any 

 other known vegetable infufion. And if we take into con- 

 fideration, likewife, its known enlivening energy, our at- 

 tachment to it will appear to be owing to its fuperiority 

 in tafte and effefts to moft other vegetables. See Dr. Lett- 

 fom's Natural Hiftory of the Tea-tree, with Obfervations 

 on the Medical Qualities of Tea, and Effefts of Tea- 

 drinking, 4to. 1772. 



Tea may be confidered as a very powerful aphrodifiac ; 

 and accordingly, a phyfician of confiderable eminence in his 

 profeflion, imputes the amazing population of China, amongft 

 other caufes, to the general ufe of it. Percival's EfF. 



We fhall clofe this part of the article with a tranfcript of 

 its medicinal powers, as they are ftated by Dr. Cullen ( Mat. 

 Med. vol. ii.) " With refpeft to its qualities as a medicine, 

 that is, its power of changing the ftate of the human body, 

 we might fuppofe it afcertained by the experience of its 

 daily ufe ; but from the univerfality of this ufe in very different 

 conditions of the plant, and in every poffible condition of 



the 



