4 
RESEARCHES ON THE MANUFACTURE 
animals is characterized by tonic and clonic convulsions with 
disturbance of respiration and circulation, finally followed by 
paralysis. When given in large doses, even death takes place, 
But doses toxicae and letales are not only different in different 
species of animals, but also in different individuals of the same 
species, and do not bear an exact proportion to their body- 
weights. In the case of men, large doses cause uneasiness of 
the brain, palpitation of the heart, inability to sleep, and even 
cramp, but the dosis toxica is also different in different persons 
while the dosis letalis is not known in the case of men. Ac¬ 
cording to interesting researches made by Robert, theine, like 
creatine does not only excite muscular activity, but also accele¬ 
rates the restoration of exhausted muscles to their orginal acti¬ 
vity. Hence the action of theine upon the animal system seems 
to consist essentially in the excitation and subsequent paralysis 
of the various branches of the nervous and muscular systems, 
particularly of the muscular or nervous systems of the heart. 
Indeed, theine tends to increase the blood pressure and acts as 
a diuretic, hence its use as a medicine in the place of digitalis 
in certain diseases of the heart and kidneys. Of the aromatic 
oil of tea little is known at present, though it is one of the 
most essential constituents of tea, since it is chiefly upon this 
ingredient that our craving for tea depends. It is, however, 
probable that it acts upon the nervous system, in addition to its 
well known exciting action upon the organs of taste and smell. 
The last active component of tea, tannin, is remarkable for its 
great affinity for albuminoids. Hence it may cause a certain 
degree of indigestion by precipitating the ferments of the diges¬ 
tive fluids and also the dissolved albumen of food, and may even 
attack the mucus membranes of the digestive canals when 
taken in large excess, though the precipitate produced by 
tannin is easily soluble in hydrochloric acid which is always 
present in a small quantity in the gastric juice of a healthy 
person. But it is a matter of common experience that a large 
dose of tannin produces pertinaceous obstination, frequently a 
little nausea and want of appetite, and even obstinate vomiting. 
