Oct. 1, 190:i] 
THE TROPICAL AaRICULTCJRIST. 
263 
TPIE TEA CURE FOR JfOUNTAJN SICIiKESS. 
(PROM A CORRESPONDKNT AT CHXMONIX.) 
Every Alpine cliinher is familific with the mys- 
terious malady known as ninantaiii sickness, \yhicli 
has the power of suddenly transforming a robust 
mouQtaineer into a helpless invalid. About a 
dozi'u years ago, when the t wo well-known observa- 
tories were bniloon Mont Blanc by Dr. Jansen and 
Monsieur Vallot, many of the men who were taken 
up to act as porters and builders were complKtely 
incapacitated at first, and si)me of them were 
obliged to return to Chamonix without having 
accomplished a single stroke of work. Mul de 
montagne, as tlie French call ic, resembles the more 
familiar malady inal de mer in its general symp- 
toms, in its prostrating efTect, and' also in the 
fact that only one satisfactory remedy has evei' 
been found for either of them — namely, the studious 
avoidance alike of the choppy sea and the lofty 
mountain top. Another point of reseral)lance is 
that mcd de montagne attacks some people much 
more violently than others ; and while some 
manage to get over it very quickly, there are a 
certain number of people who are never free from 
its weakening inlliieuee when once a certain alti- 
tude is reached. It is generally attributed simply 
to the rarity of the atmosphere, which lowers 
the vitality, and while throwing the action of the 
heart and lunga out of its normal condition, 
completely upsets the digestive organs. This is 
the view of the well-known Alpine authority, Dr, 
Zsigniondi, who in his work upon mountain 
dangers has correctly enough included njountain 
sickness as one of the most serious foes that a 
mountaineer has to encounter. Many remedies 
have been suggested for this trying and incon- 
venietib malady, which saps a man's strength and 
enfeebles his limbs precisely at the moment when 
he stands most in need of all the vigour and 
energy of which he is capable, but unfortunately 
most of these remedies have proved entirely in- 
effectual. 
Recently, however, a cure has been discovered 
by a Russian topographer named Passtoukhof, 
which he claims to be an absolute specific for 
mountain sickness. For some years past M Pass- 
toukhof has been making asceufts in the Caucasus, 
where he has climbed the Grand Ararat, Mount 
Kasbek, and Mount Elbruz, the latter being the 
highest point in the Caucasus range, and over- 
topping the height of Mont Elanc by more than 
2,000ft. At such an altitude as this it is easy to 
understand that the question of mountain sick- 
ness becomes a serious one, and on more than one 
occasion M Passtoukhof has found not only himself, 
but all the other menibars of his expedition com- 
pletely prostrated by it; On one of these occa- 
sions it occurred to him to try the experiment of 
lighting his spirit lamp and making some tea, 
which he administered to himself and his com- 
panions in an almost boiling conilition, with a 
resuk that far exceeded his expectations. Almost 
immediately the more serious symptoms disap- 
peared, and in a short time all the members of the 
expedition found themselves well enough to con- 
tinue the ascent. Later on M Pisstonkhnf repeated 
this pxperimeiit of pxliihiting boiling tea as a 
remedy for m.iuutaiii sickness, with results so 
invariably successful that lie now fi^els jusrified in 
considering that it may really be recjarded as a 
apeeific. It would, however, be interenung to as- 
certain whether it is really the " theine " or the 
boiling water that produces this remarkable cure, 
33 
as the fact of its being served as hoi as possible 
seems to be looked upon as an essential point. 
Perhaps some member of the Alpine Club will 
make some f irther experiments with this supposed 
tea cijre, which is at present quite unknown to the 
ordinary Alpine guide— London Times. 
CROWN LANDS IN BRITISH GUIANA. 
FIVEPENCE AN ACRE. 
A pamphlet issued by the Government of tlie 
Colony of British Guiana states that homestead 
f;rants of land in the Colony for areas not px- 
Ci^eding five acres are made for 5il an acre, but 
the grantee must continually reside on and 
beneficially occupy the land for ten years, at 
the end of which time it becomes his absolute 
propel ty. 
The Crown lands can be purchased outiright 
for 7^1 per acre, but in addition, surveying fees 
amounted to lOd and oflice fees 5d ' per acre — in 
all. Is lOJd per acre.. Land is rented at *Jd per 
acre if cultivated, and .S^^d if uncultivated,— Prti/?/ 
Mail. 
SALICYLIC ACID AND TEA MANUFACTURE. 
{.Communicated.) 
The sentiment of the Ceylon planter with 
regard to the purity of Ceylon tea. is such 
that he would much prefer an army of 
microbes, with all the fermenting putrefac- 
tion entailed, and a forest of the moisture 
fungusoids, which so readily form on tea 
after firing, than the use of an antiseptic, 
which he stigmatises as chemical adultera- 
tion, 
Mr. Harold H Mann— in his last pam- 
phlet on "The Ferment of the Tea Leaf "—says 
"Theabsolute cleanliness of everything during 
tea manufacture becomes more and more 
evident. There seems considerable reason 
to suppose that by the addition of a small 
quantity of salicylic acid to the fermenting 
leaf the effect of outside microbes may be 
entirely eliminated (the salicylic acid being 
entirely driven off during the subsequent 
firing), and the tea correspondingly im- 
proved." Mr. Mann dusted salicylic acid 
on to part of the fermenting leaf of a roll, 
and submitted samples along with samples 
of the remainder of that roll, alternately 
fired, to Messrs, Cresswell & Co.; and they 
reported that the samples treated were pre- 
ferable in every way. It is because the 
correct oxidisation required in the tea leaf is 
due to the enzyme or vegetable ferment — and 
not to an organic fermentation, which brings 
on decomposition and putrefaction — that the 
irse of an antiseptic, to ward off organic 
fermentation, is advisable. The fei-mentation, 
which takes place when leaf becomes heated 
in baskets, or transport bags, and in heaping 
in the factory ;ind in thickly spread leaf is 
organic, and ruinous to the good quality 
of the tea to be produced. 
Mr. Alan Wiley writes: — "Strawberries may 
not only be taken with impunity by the 
rheumatic; but with distinct ad vant.ige. It 
is a somewhat curious coincidence, therefoi-e, 
that in the strawberry, the presence of 
salicylic acid which is a specific in acute 
rheumatism has been definitely established. 
Salicylic acid would appear to be a normal 
