Tea produces Scurvy, weak Nerves , and bad Teeth . 
LETTER IV. 
217 
To the fame . 
Madam, 
I F it had been my fortune to enjoy a greater Ihare of wit, 
and a lefs portion of courage, I fhould hardly have encoun- 
tered fo formidable an enemy, with fuch great alliances, being 
fo little fupported as I am. To fay the ftrength of my an- 
tagonilf is founded in fancy and opinion, is acknowledging it 
is very ftrong : and if I was infpired with the fpirit of a cur- 
tius, would my leaping into the gulph save my country from 
the dangers of tea ? 
I have heard it remarked, with a ferious air, by perfons who 
have made china voyages, that tea cures and prevents the scurvy; 
and I have alfo heard this obfervation ridiculed by others of 
at leaft as much experience. If this were really the cafe, in 
preference to all herbs of our own growth, it might be a very 
wife meafure to fend a quantity of tea on board all his maje- 
sty’s fhips, efpecially in time of war. We have thousands, 
I might fay millions, of tea-drinkers, who are of lefs confe- 
quence to the Hate, and lefs expofed to this complaint than our 
feamen : but who ever thought of this expedient for the fer- 
vice of the navy ? On the contrary, vinegar is bed: calculated to 
temper the quality of fait beef, and to prevent the ordinary 
effects of the falt-water air. 
The nations which never tailed the infuhon of tea, are they 
more troubled with this malady, either by land or fea, than we 
F f are ? 
