Tea chest

“ This most pernicious gift first destroys the strength of the stomach, and if it be not soon laid aside, equally destroys that of the viscera, the blood, the nerves, and of the whole body; so that malignant and all chronical disorders will appear to increase, especially nervous disorders, in proportion as the use of India tea becomes common; and you may easily form a judgment, from the diseases that prevail in every country, whether the inhabitants are lovers of tea or the contrary. ”

“ How India tea can be serviceable in fevers is not easy to be understood; for, if it has that effect upon the nerves to excite watchfulness, it must greatly tend to increase, instead of diminish feverish symptoms. Dr. Buchan attributes even one cause of the palsy to drinking much tea or coffee, &c. and, in a note, he subjoins: "Many people imagine that tea has no tendency to hurt the nerves, and that drinking the same quantity of warm water would be equally pernicious. ”

“ Oak bark is equally astringent, and hardens the fibres of the hide, as well as it braces the living nerve of our bodies; therefore the effect produced by the India tea upon the dead skin only proves, what we have before related, that an infusion of it has a peculiar effect, which, being too frequently applied to the nerves, destroys their tensity by their fine fibres being either broken or relaxed by overbracing. ”

“ All the endearments of life are vanished to the poor wretch who sees himself surrounded by the spectres of dismay, terror, despondency, and melancholy. And such is but the thousandth part of the afflictions that are to be avoided or produced by the choice of the prevailing beverage of tea. Not only the innumerable train of nervous afflictions, but all those disorders that arise from an improper temperature of the fluids, may be produced from the action, corrosion, and stimulation of pernicious teas. ”

“ The nerves, being thus deprived of a sufficiency of their animal spirits, must become languid, and leave every sense void of the first means of conveying to the mind the only enjoyments of our temporal existence.
"But if there be any class of persons to whom India tea is more particularly hurtful than to any other, it is that which includes the studious and sedentary, and especially those who are enfeebled with gout, stone, and rheumatism; age, accident, or avocation, cause many persons to be unfortunately ranked amongst those of the latter description. ”

“ There are many people who cannot bear to drink a single dish of Tea, without being immediately sick and disordered at the stomach: To some it gives excruciating pain about that part, attended with general tremours. But in general the most tender and delicate constitutions are most affected by the free use of Tea; being frequently attacked with pains in the stomach and bowels; spasmodic affections; attended with a copious discharge of limpid urine, and great agitation of spirits on the least noise, hurry, or disturbance. ”

“ In youth, when the vital powers are strong, and the functions of nature prompt in rallying from fatigue, it is not needed, and may be injurious in stimulating a sensitive organization.
Tea possesses an active principle called theine. When used moderately, its effects are similar to those of coffee, except that it exerts an astringent action. It contains tannin, which, if the tea is strong, coagulates the albumen of the food—tans it—and thus delays digestion. In excess, tea causes nervous tremor, disturbed sleep, palpitation of the heart, and indigestion. ”

“ The tendency therefore of this substance is greatly to impair digestion and it gives rise to palpitation of the heart, headache, flatulence, loss of appetite, constipation and other symptoms so well-known at the out-patient departments of our general hospitals; on inquiry it is often found that the patient is accustomed to drink large quantities of tea, which has stood for long periods and consequently extracted excessive amounts of tannin. ”

“ The theine, upon the other hand, of which there is about one-tenth of a grain in an ordinary cup of tea, is the restorative agent to the nervous system, and is opposed, in its therapeutic properties, to the action of the essential oil. The infusion, therefore, of tea or coffee may induce palpitation in a heart liable to excessive or incoordinate action; but theine, on the contrary, may be looked to, therapeutically, to quiet palpitation. The infusion, by being an excitant, may prevent sleep. ”

“ They are, therefore, found particularly free from those injurious properties which render green tea so destructive to emaciated constitutions. Instead of being, like the above foreign tea, hurtful to those worn down by a long fever, or such as have weak and delicate stomachs, their qualities are in such complaints essentially nutritious and restorative. That stimulating roughness, which foreign teas imbibe from their iron preparation, is not to be found in the sanative tea discovered by Dr. ”

“ For some years past, I have been afflicted with a nervous disorder, attended with a bad head-ache, and violent spasms in the stomach. I was for a long time attended by an apothecary, and took much medicine, till taking to drink the Sanative Tea, which I had heard was sold in Cornhill, it did me much good, and so pleased me in taste, that I continued the use of it, and am now quite well. ”

“ He remarks: “In the life of most persons a period arrives when the stomach no longer digests enough of the ordinary elements of food to make up for the natural daily waste of the bodily substance. The size and weight of the body, therefore, begin to diminish more or less perceptibly. At this period tea comes in as a medicine to arrest the waste, to keep the body from falling away so fast, and thus to enable the less energetic powers of digestion still to supply as much82 as is needed to repair the wear and tear of the solid tissues.” ”

“ As a nervous stimulant, tea in excess will, as we all know, produce an exaltation of the action of the heart, amounting in some persons to a painful and irregular palpitation. No such result seems to follow its moderate use.
"The loss by perspiration is limited by tea." This seems, at first, contrary to common experience, as the sensible perspiration produced by several cups of warm tea is a familiar fact to all tea-drinkers. That this effect is wholly owing to the warmth of the mixture, it being drunk usually in hot infusion or decoction, was pointed out long since by Cullen. ”

“ There being aromatic astringents in this tea, its infusion strengthens the fibres and membranes of the stomach, and all the nervous system, in such a manner as not to destroy their tensity by that too great contraction caused by the foreign teas; and, having no acid in their astringency, the blood is preserved from too great a rarefaction, which would otherwise happen from the pungency of their oily qualities. These also excite the appetite, by stimulating the natural progress of the chyle, and thus prevent its too rapid fermentation of its spirituous parts into windy flatulencies. ”

“ Where, therefore, large quantities of the infusion must be taken, to produce or support a considerable diaphoresis, a decoction of Tea, or a strong infusion, may be administered with great propriety, particularly in inflammatory complaints; the sedative power of Tea, assisted by the diluting effects of warm water, generally producing a diaphoresis, without stimulating the system. The Chinese most commonly give it as a medicine in decoction, in a variety of diseases ”

“ At first the alkaloid seems to excite the nervous system, to produce a pleasant sensation and to keep the mind agreeably enlivened and active. The effect is followed by depression, sinking sensation at the stomach, flatulency, unsteadiness with feebleness of muscular power, and not infrequently a lowness of spirits, amounting almost to hypochondriacal despondency. Poor people meet the craving for natural food by taking large quantities of tea. A strong craving for it is engendered which leads to the taking of tea at almost every meal, greatly to the injury of health. ”

“ But to drink half a dozen or even three or four cups of strong tea is hurtful. It injures and impairs the system, benumbs the faculties of the stomach, and affects the blood, and is deleterious in its nature. If a person is weary, worn out, cast down, fainting, or dying, a brandy sling, a little wine, or a cup of tea is good to revive them. Do not throw these things away, and say they must never be used; they are good to be used with judgment, prudence, and discretion. Ask our Bishops if they drink tea every day, and in most cases they will tell you they do if they can get it. ”

“ It is a mixture and not brewed of the cassine alone. All our beverages, such as tea, coffee, maté, and even chocolate, when drank very strong are capable of causing diuresis, purging, and vomiting.
One peculiarity of the drinking of the black drink is that, so far as I can ascertain, it was not used at their meals as we use tea and coffee, but wholly as a social beverage or at festivals and other public occasions. I do not think the women were allowed to drink it, at least not publicly. ”

“ In seasons when experience informs us that the blood requires cleansing and attenuating, this tea will be of considerable service to the healthy as well as the diseased. By these means the constitution will be preserved and restored from all those chronic and acute afflictions, which are the consequences of acrimonious humours and foulness of blood.
As this tea produces the effects of cleansing the stomach, promoting digestion, diluting the chyle, and invigorating the whole viscera, it should be constantly drank by those who live freely. ”

“ Cap. 8. "Our Countrymen ought not to be believed, who, when indisposed, covet Wine, or Water, and instead of charging their own Luxury, lay the Fault on the Stomach, which has no Share in it." This Passage is equally applicable to Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate, and seems to insinuate, that such Persons, in order to satiate their Thirst, falsly accuse their Stomachs. If this were more carefully adverted to by the Patrons of the Chinese Delicacies, and especially those who look upon Tea as a Panacea, they would use it more sparingly, especially in a bad State of Health ”

“ It is an oily starchy nut, having no restoritive at all, but simply increasing fat. It is pure mockery of the sick, therefore, to call it a substitute for tea. For any renovating stimulus it has, you might just as well offer them chestnuts instead of tea.
An almost universal error among nurses is in the bulk of the food, and especially the drinks they offer to their patients. Suppose a patient ordered 4 oz. brandy during the day, how is he to take this if you make it into four pints with diluting it? The same with tea and [35] beef tea, with arrowroot, milk, &c. ”

“ A similar effect, in a somewhat less degree, is produced by the volatile oil, and, therefore, the infusion of Tea, in which both these ingredients of the leaf are contained, affects the rapidity of the natural waste in the Tea drinker, in a very marked manner.
“As age creeps on, the powers of digestion diminish with the failing of the general vigour, till the stomach is no longer able to digest and appropriate new food as fast as the body wears away. When such is the case, to lessen the waste is to aid the digestive powers in maintaining the strength and bulk of the weakening frame. ”

“ There are many serious objections to the general use of India teas, one of which is the great excess of tannin (tannic acid) which they contain, ranging from 13 to 18 per cent. in this variety, and to which property tea owes its astringency, constipating effect on the bowels and the ink-black color which it imparts to water containing salts of iron. In England a crusade is being preached against their use by medical authorities on this account, the marked increase in dyspeptic and nervous diseases in that country being attributed to their general consumption there. ”

“ What wonder, then, that they grow pale and bloodless; that their muscles turn soft and flabby; that their nervous system becomes shattered; and that they suffer the agonies of indigestion? Their favourite time for a chat and the consumption of tea is at any period between ten o’clock in the morning and three in the afternoon. Now, if there is anything of which I am certain, it is that tea in the middle of the day, say from ten o’clock to three, is a deadly destructive fluid. ”

“ Green tea can in no case be useful, except medicinally, in cases where there has been excessive fatigue of the mind or body; and even then the dose should be small. Tea, as a promoter of digestion, or rather, as a comforter of the stomach when the digestive process has been completed, should not be taken earlier than from three to four hours after the principal meal. Taken too early, it disturbs digestion by arresting chymification, and by causing distension. The astringency of tea is diminished by adding milk, and its true taste more than its virtue is spoiled by the addition of sugar. ”

“ Agreeable to Counsellor De Blegny’s experience, I know a lady, frequently troubled with a nervous head ache, who used to hold her head over a hot infusion of Tea, and thus receive the fragrant exhalation, which always affords her the most instantaneous and effectual relief. ”

“ In some forms of heart disease, tea proves a useful sedative, while in others it is positively injurious. Many cases of severe nervous headache are instantly relieved by a cup of strong Green tea taken without the addition of either milk or sugar, but should be only occasionally resorted to in such cases, it being much better to avoid the cause. ”