March  j,  .893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
TEA. 
r Fireside  Facts  from  the  Great  Exhibition,  by  the 
Editor  of  “ Pleasant  Pages”  : being  an  Amusing  Series 
of  Object  Lessons  on  the  Food  and  Clothing  of  all  Nations 
in  the  gear  1851,  p.  52  et  seq.~\ 
If  you  wish  to  find  specimens  of  Tea  in  the  Great 
Exhibition,  you  will  find  several  in  the  Chinese  De- 
partment. I must  repeat,  however,  before  beginning 
our  lesson,  that  tea  is  not  strictly'  a tropical  plant.  It 
will  grow  inside  the  tropics,  but  not  in  the  very  warm 
climates.  It  is  cultivated  by  the  Chinese,  particularly 
in  the  tract  of  land  round  about  the  30th  degree  of 
latitude. 
Here  are  some  specimens  for  you  to  examine.  You 
may  begin  by  discovering  the  qualities,  and  the  uses. 
Then,  if  you  have  paid  attention  to  your  part  of  the 
lesson.  I will  pay  attention  to  my  part,  and  see  if  I 
can  give  you  an  interesting  history. 
IF.  The  first  quality  I observe  in  the  tea  is,  that 
it  is  thoroughly  dry. 
Ion.  It  is  also  brittle — “ crisp  ” would  be  a better 
word  to  use  ; — and  it  may  be  ground  into  a powder : 
it  is  pulverable. 
L.  It  is  shrivelled — that  is  a very  good  word  to  apply 
to  it. 
TT.  I do  not  see  any  more  qualities.  We  have 
examined  its  appearance,  and  its  substance  ; we  can- 
not say  anything  of  its  shape,  but  we  may  add  some- 
thing of  its  colour,  and  something  about  its  weight.  It 
is  black,  and  green,  and  in  weight  it  is  light. 
Ion.  We  may  add  that  it  is  a vegetable  substance. 
It  is  really  necessary  to  say  that  to  describe  it  properly. 
P.  Why? 
Ion.  Because  nobody  would  really  think  that  it  was 
a vegetable  substance  at  first  sight. 
If".  That  is  because  it  does  not  look  natural.  I 
suppose  we  must  not  call  it  a natural  substance.  We 
will  say  that  it  is  artificial. 
Ion.  I don't  think  that  that  is  correct.  It  is  not 
made  by  man. 
IT.  Well,  I have  heard  that  it  is.  Men  dry  and 
shrivel  it  up,  in  some  way  or  other,  to  make  it  like 
this.  Therefore  I think  that  it  is  an  artificial  substance. 
Ion.  But  at  the  same  time,  you  see,  men  do  not 
make  it,  they  only  alter  its  shape. 
I.  And  they  alter  its  state — from  a moist  green 
state  to  a dry  state. 
P.  You  say  that  it  loses  some  of  its  moisture.  By 
thus  losing  its  moisture,  it  loses  one  of  its  equalities. 
IT.  Yes.  One  of  its  natural  qualities,  papa. 
P.  Then  it  is  no  longer  in  quite  a natural  state. 
It  has  been  changed  by  the  art  of  man,  so  it  is  in  an 
artificial  state. 
Ion.  Aud  yet,  papa,  the  tea  leaf  is  a natural  sub- 
stance, because  men  could  not  in  any  way  make  such 
a substance.  When  a substance  is  compound  (that  is, 
formed  of  two  or  three  different  substances — such  as 
bread,  which  is  msde  of  flour,  water,  yeast,  salt,  Arc.), 
th  en  I call  it  an  artificial  substance.  So  this  is  what 
I should  say  of  tea, — “ It  is  a natural  substance  in  an 
artificial  state.”  Will  that  do  ? 
P.  Perhaps  that  is  the  best  way  to  express  it.  It 
certainly  is  not  an  artificial  substance ; and  it  is  not 
in  a natural  state. 
Ion.  Then  I will  write  down  the  qualities  of  the 
tea.  “ Tea  is  a vegetable  substance,  and  is  therefore 
natural;  but  it  has  been  brought  into  an  artificial  state, 
for  it  in  dry,  shrivelled,  crisp,  light,  and pulverable ; some- 
times it  is  black,  and  sometimes  green." 
P.  You  have  not  made  a complete  list  of  the  quali- 
ties. I think  I have  said  before,  there  are  many  hidden 
qualities  in  a substance,  which  you  cannot  discover 
by  observation. 
L.  You  mean,  papa,  the  qualities  which  we  discover 
in  using  a substance.  We  call  them  its  effects. 
IT.  I know  one  effect  of  tea  ; it  causes  people  to 
talk  aud  be  more  lively.  When  people  are  dull,  it 
serves  to  stir  them  up,  just  as  coffee  does.  What  is  the 
Latin  word  for  “ stir-up  ? " I forget. 
Ion.  I remember  it  : stimulate,  to  stir  up  ; and  we 
call  the  coffee  stimulating . 
1,.  And,  if  you  remember,  we  said  that  coffee  is 
refreshing ; and  because  it  makes  people  glad,  we  call 
it  exhilarating. 
5 5? 
IP.  And  because  it  acts  as  a medicine,  aud  keeps 
the  students  from  going  to  sleep,  we  call  it  medicinal. 
P.  Yes,  you  said  that  the  coffee  in  its  “ effects  ” 
is  refreshing,  stimulating,  exhilarating,  and  medicinal : 
and  these  effects  also  belong  to  the  tea. 
IF.  It  is  very  easy  to  know  that  tea  has  such 
effects,  because  we  can  feel  them,  and  can  notice 
them  in  other  people,  but  I should  like  very  much 
to  know  how  the  tea  does  so.  Do  you  know,  papa  ? 
P.  What  do  you  want  to  know  ? 
IF.  How  the  tea  exhilarates  people,  and  refreshes 
them.  What  it  does  inside  them,  to  change  them  so* 
P.  Well,  I cannot  say  that  I know,  exactly,  but 
I will  tell  you  all  I have  learned  about  it.  There 
is,  both  in  the  leaves  of  tea,  and  the  berries  of 
coffee,  a peculiar  substance,  which  produces  these 
effects.  Although  this  substance  is  found  in  both 
articles,  we  give  it  different  names.  When  found 
in  tea,  we  call  it  “theine”;  and  when  found  in 
coffee,  we  call  it  “ caffeine.” 
I have  a little  book  on  chemistry,  written  by  a 
German  gentleman  named  Liebig,  and  I will  read 
you  what  he  says  of  Theine.  “ When  common  tea- 
leaves  are  placed  in  a watch-glass,  loosely  covered 
with  paper,  and  gradually  heated  on  a hot  iron 
plate,  until  they  are  brown,  long,  white,  shining  crys- 
tals appear  on  the  paper,  and  on  the  surface  of  the 
leaves.  This  is  theine.”  You  can  now  easily  under- 
stand that,  if  instead  of  heating  the  1 aves  on  a 
watch  glass,  they  are  heated  in  boiling  water,  the 
theine  would  not  form  dry  crystals. 
L.  No,  it  would  be  dissolved  in  the  water. 
1\  That  is  the  case.  So  the  next  time  you  are 
going  to  drink  a cup  of  tea,  you  may  look  at  it, 
and  remember  that  it  is  the  theine  dissolved  in 
the  water,  wich  will  refresh  you. 
IF.  Now  I know  something  more,  papa.  But  still 
you  have  not  told  us  how  the  theine  in  the  tea 
refreshes  us. 
P.  I will  tell  you  as  much  as  I know  of  the 
subject.  You  have  often  heard  how,  when  your  food 
in  being  digested,  it  is  dissolved  by  a fluid  called  the 
gastric  juice.  The  food  is  afterwards  acted  upon  by 
another  fluid  from  the  liver,  which  are  call  bile ; but 
if  we  have  not  sufficient  bile  within  us,  what  then  ? 
L.  Then  our  food  will  not  be  digested,  I suppose. 
P.  And  we  shall  feel  unwell.  Persons  who  do 
not  take  sufficient  exercise,  do  not  form  sufficient 
bile ; but  the  theine  in  tea  will  supply  the  substance 
required  for  the  purpose.  This  fact  explains  why 
men  who  sit  much,  and  study,  and  females  who 
do  not  often  go  out  of  doors,  are  so  fond  of  tea. 
W.  Then,  we  may  say, — as  the  tea  helps  to  form 
bile,  the  food  is  digested  more  quickly. 
P.  Yes,  or  the  food  is  assimilated,  as  we  say. 
By  assimilation  we  mean  that  the  food  becomes  part 
of  our  body,  by  being  changed  into  blood.  The  bile 
helps  in  this  process ; and  thus,  when  the  theine 
of  the  tea  helps  toform|bile ? 
II'.  The  bile  helps  to  form  the  food  into  blood. 
Ion.  And  the  blood  begins  to  circulate  more  quickly, 
and  we  feel  more  lively,  — we  are  stimulated  and  re- 
freshed. Most  people  feel  lively  after  tea. 
1\  Thus,  where  food  is  difficult  to  digest,  tea  is 
often  useful.  Which  kind  of  food  have  L told  you 
is  harder  to  digest — Animal  or  Fcgetable  food  ? 
L.  You  said  that  vegetables  were  more  hard  to 
digest,  and  that  grass-eating  animals  required  salt 
to  help  their  digestive  organs. 
W.  Just  as  you  said  that  we  require  pepper  to 
help  to  digest  encumber  and  other  raw  vegetables. 
P.  Thus,  we  find  that  tea,  also,  is  much  used 
amongst  nations  which  subsist  principally  on  vege- 
tables. The  great  chemist,  named  Liebig,  whom  I 
mentioned  just  now,  says  in  one  of  Iris  books,  “ Tea 
and  Coffee  were  orginally  met  with  among  nations 
whose  diet  is  chiefly  vegetable." 
Ion.  But  suppose,  papa,  that  a nation  could  not 
procure  any  tea ! The  English  people  had  no  tea 
at  one  time,  I suppose.  What  did  they  do  then  ? 
P.  Then,  they  used  something  else  which  an- 
swered the  same  purpose  by  helping  digestion:  or 
by  stimulating  and  refreshing  their  bodies.  Let  me 
tell  you  something  which  is  worth  remembering.  If 
people  would  only  live  ou  proper  food,  and  eat  it 
