A treatise on foreign teas / Abstracted from an ingenious work, lately published, entitled An essay on the nerves

by Hugh Smith

THE MANNER OF USING.

Foreign tea, as before observed, being taken as two principal meals of our daily aliment, is undoubtedly one great reason of the constitution of the people having suffered an entire change in its system. That vigour, spirits, and longevity, which characterised us in the last century, is totally subverted; disease, dismay, and debility, now lead us prematurely to the grave, where we end an existence too deplorable to excite the least desire for a longer continuance. Dr. Priestley states, very justly, in his Medical Essays, that it is curious to observe the revolution which hath taken place, within this century, in the constitutions of the inhabitants of Europe. Inflammatory diseases more rarely occur, and in general are much less rapid and violent in their progress than formerly; nor do they admit of the same antiphlogistic method of cure which was practised with success a hundred years ago. The experienced Sydenham makes forty ounces of blood the mean quantity to be drawn in the acute rheumatism; whereas this disease, as it now appears in the London hospitals, will not bear above half that evacuation. Vernal intermittents are frequently cured by a vomit and the bark, without venæsection, which is a proof that, at present, they are accompanied with fewer symptoms of inflammation than they were wont to be. This advantageous change, however, is more than counterbalanced by the introduction of a numerous class of nervous aliments, in a greater measure, unknown to our ancestors, but which now prevail universally, and are complicated with almost every other distemper. The bodies of men are enfeebled and enervated; and it is not uncommon to observe very high degrees of irritability under the external appearance of great strength and robustness. The hypochondriac, palsies, cachexies, dropsies, and all those diseases which arise from laxity and debility, are, in our days, endemic every where; and the hysterics, which used to be peculiar to the women, as the name itself indicates, now attacks both sexes indiscriminately. It is evident that so great a revolution could not be effected without the concurrence of many causes; but amongst these, I apprehend, the present general use of tea holds the first and principal rank. The second cause may perhaps be allotted to excess in spirituous liquors. This pernicious custom owes its rise to the former, which, by the lowness and depression of spirits it occasions, renders it almost necessary to have recourse to what is cordial and exhilarating; and hence proceeds those odious and disgraceful habits of intemperance with which too many of the softer sex of every degree are now, alas! chargeable. These are the sentiments of a character distinguished for his elaborate researches and judicious discoveries in almost every branch of liberal science. It may therefore be safely concluded, that the general manner of using India tea morning and evening has been, and is, the principal cause of the greater part of the diseases with which the natives of Europe are now afflicted. When it is considered that the first meal which is taken to recruit the body, after the loss it sustains from the insensible perspiration of the preceding night, and to prepare it for the avocations of the succeeding day, is India tea, who can be surprised that nature should rapidly become the victim of disease? Thus, instead of being supported by nutritious aliment, its nerves are enfeebled, its spirits diminished, and all its functions enveloped with the gloom of melancholy. Even in the afternoon, when nature is exhausted by care and fatigue, we fly for refreshment to tea, which, instead of bracing, still further relaxes the unnerved system. Such are the evil effects of the imprudent manner in which this pernicious drug is so constantly and universally used. But how must these evils appear in their extent, when the following view is taken of India teas, with regard to their variety of injurious EFFECTS.

In all the physical experiments that have been made upon India teas, there is, perhaps, none that shews its acid astringency more than one tried by the above writer, Dr. Priestley. Endeavouring to trace the differences and ascertain the astringency and bitterness of vegetables reciprocally bear to each other, he imagined he had found they were distinct and separate properties, by the following experiment: Taking two pieces of calf-skin just stripped from the calf, he immerged them in cold infusions of green and bohea tea; at the expiration of a week he found they were hard and curled up, and that there was no sensible difference between them. He therefore concluded, that this experiment afforded a striking proof of India tea differently affecting a dead and a living fibre; this he considered as the greatest effect of a medicine. But, with deference to so distinguished an author, I cannot but attribute this astringency of the skin to the particular properties of India tea; for all physical as well as medical experience proves that vegetable produce afford some that are astringent, and others that are relaxant, of the dead as well as the living fibre. 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. Were any astringent to be constantly taken, it must ultimately produce more or less such an effect; so that while the above experiment of the learned Philosopher demonstrates that India tea has the power of astringing the dead as well as the living fibres, it does not prove that astringency bitterness are separate qualities. On the contrary, bitterness seems to be the characteristic taste of all that has the tendency to contract whatever is the subject of its application. Thus galls, bark, rhubarb, camomile tea, &c. &c. are all bitter and astringent. It is, therefore, the immoderate use of such an astringent that ultimately relaxes and debilitates: like the too frequent bracing of a drum, or any other stringed musical instrument, destroys its tensity, the body is unnerved by the overstretching of its fibres. Although we sometimes differ with the celebrated Doctor in part of the conclusion he has drawn from his experiment, yet the following sentiments so perfectly coincide with all our observations upon India teas, that we are happy to have the opportunity of corroborating our own with the sentiments of so eminent a Philosopher. He says, from his experiments, "it appears that green and bohea teas are equally bitter, strike precisely the same black tinge with green vitriol, and are alike astringent on the simple fibre. From this exact similarity in so many circumstances, one should be led to suppose that there would be no sensible diversity in their operation on the living body; but the fact is otherwise: green tea is much more sedative and relaxant than bohea; and the finer the species of tea, the more debilitating and pernicious are its effects, as I have frequently observed in others, and experienced in myself. This seems to be a proof that the mischiefs ascribed to this oriental vegetable do not arise from the warm vehicle by which it is conveyed into the stomach, but chiefly from its own peculiar qualities." Dr. Hugh Smith, in his Treatise on the Action of the Muscles, justly says, that an infusion of India tea not only diminishes, but destroys the bodily functions. Thea infusum, nervo musculove ranæ admotum, vires motices minuit perdit. Newman, in his Chemistry, says, when fresh gathered, teas are said to be narcotic, and to disorder the senses; the Chinese, therefore, cautiously abstain from their use until they have been kept twelve months. The reason attributed for bohea tea being less injurious than green is, being more hastily dried, the pernicious qualities more copiously evaporate.

"Tea," says Dr. Hugh Smith, in his Dissertation upon the Nerves, "is very hurtful both to the stomach and nerves. Phrensies, deliriums, vigilation, idiotism, apoplexies, and other disorders of the brain, are all produced by the nerves being thus disarranged and debilitated. If the digestive faculty of the stomach be weakened, the body, failing of recruiting juices, must tend to emaciation, and the whole frame be rendered one system of distress and infirmity. 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. These, from their intensity of thought, want of exercise, injurious position of body, respiration of unwholesome air, and a variety of other causes, have not only their animal spirits exhausted, but their liquids corrupted from the loss of a necessary circulation. With these evils India tea operates as an absolute poison. Indeed, it frequently renders those incurable, who might, by other means, have been relieved.

"When a view is taken of the dismal effects produced by India teas, the mind seems to be bewildered in searching for the cause of using so generally a drug that is so universally destructive. It chiefly originated in a fundamental mistake of physical principles. About the time that India tea was introduced to Europe, a grievous error crept into the practice of medical professors; they falsely imagined that health could not be more promoted than by increasing the fluidity of the blood. This opinion once established, it is no wonder that mankind, with one accord, adopted the infusion of India tea, which was then a novelty to Europe, as the best means of obtaining the above effect. By the advice of Bentikoe chiefly was the pernicious custom of drinking warm liquors, night and day, established. To this man, and the introduction of India tea, may be ascribed that revolution in the health of Europeans which has happened since the last century. The present age, therefore, have great cause to lament, in what they suffer in nervous complaints, that their forefathers did not attend more to the scientific and judicious advice of the illustrious Duncan, Boerhaave, and the whole school of Leyden, who proscribed this error. Although they could not entirely prevent this physical abuse, yet their zealous endeavours did, in some degree, at first impede its progress; but, however, so powerful did novelty plead in favour of India teas, that, at last, general custom and prejudice bore away every barrier that had been erected by these learned and experienced physicians. This error, instead of diminishing, has increased: most valetudinarians are now of opinion that a thick blood is the sole cause of their complaints; with this impression they adopt what they call the diluent beverage of India teas. It can scarcely be imagined how many disorders this practice produces; it may be justly termed the box of Pandora, without even hope remaining at the bottom." Tissot says, "They are the prolific sources of hypochondriac melancholy, which both adds strength to and is one of the worst of disorders." He adds, "with regard to studious men, who are naturally weak and feeble, such warm beverages are more hurtful to them than to others; for they are not troubled with an over thick, but, on the contrary, too thin a blood. You are all aware," continues he, "respectable auditors, that the density of the blood is as the motion of the solids; the fibres of the learned are relaxed, their motions are slow, and their blood, of consequence, thin. Bleed a ploughman and a doctor at the same time; from the first there will flow a thick blood, resembling inflammatory blood, almost solid, and of a deep red; the blood of the latter will be either of a faint red, or without any colour, soft, gelatinous, and will almost entirely turn them to water. Your blood, therefore, men of learning, should not be dissolved, but brought to a consistence; and you should in general be moderate in the article of drinking, and cautiously avoid warm spirituous liquors.

"Amongst the favorite beverages of the learned," the same Tissot observes, "is the infusion of that famous leaf, so well known by the name of India tea, which, to our great detriment, has every year, for these two centuries past, been constantly imported from China and Japan. 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 happy would it be for Europe, if, by unanimous consent, the importation of this infamous leaf was prohibited, which is endued only with a corrosive force derived from the acrimony of a gum with which it is pregnant."

Having thus considered the dismal and too frequently fatal consequences of the nerves being affected, it is presumed this part of the Essay cannot be more interestingly concluded than by a summary of the distinct symptomatic effects attending, more or less, complaints of the nerves; and although the following symptoms are alarming with regard to their number and variety, yet the reader may be assured there is not one specified but what is either the immediate or ultimate effect of a nervous affection, and which is too frequently the consequence of the violent astringency of foreign tea taken injudiciously as a constant aliment:—A faintness, succeeded with a delusive vision of motes, mists, and clouds, falling backwards and forwards before the distempered sight—A yawning, gaping, stretching out of the arms, twitching of the nerves, sneezing, drowsiness, and contraction of the breast—Dulness, debility, distress, and dismay, with a great sense of weariness—A wan complexion, a languid eye, a loathing stomach, and an uncertain appetite, which, if not immediately satisfied, is irremediably lost—Heartburning, bilious vomitings, belchings, pains in the pit of the stomach, and shortness of breath—Dizziness, inveterate pains in the temples and other parts of the head, a tingling noise in the ear, a throbbing of the brain, especially of the temporal arteries—Symptoms of asthma, tickling coughs, visible inflations, and unusual scents affecting the olfactory nerves—Sometimes costive and sometimes relaxed—Sudden flushings of heat, and suffusions of countenance—In the night, alternate sweats and shiverings, especially down the back, which seems to feel as if water was poured down that part of the body—A ptyalism, or discharge of phlegm from the glands of the throat, which generally attends all the symptoms—Troublesome pains between the shoulders, pains attended with hot sensations, cramps and convulsive motions of the muscles, or a few of their fibres—Sudden startings of the tendons of the legs and arms—Copious and frequent discharges of pale and limpid urine—Vertigoes, long faintings, and cold, moist, clammy sweat about the temples and forehead—Wandering pains in the sides, back, knees, ancles, arms, wrists, and somewhat resembling rheumatic pains—The head generally warm, while the rest of the body is cold or chilly—Obstinate watchinqs, disturbed sleep, frightful dreams, the night mare, startings when awake, and the mind filled with the most terrific apprehensions—Tremors of the limbs, and palpitations of the heart—A very variable and irregular pulse—Periodical pains in the head—A sense of suffocation, frequent sighings, and shedding of tears—Convulsive spasms of the muscles, tendons, nerves of the back, loins, arms, hands, and a general convulsion of the stomach, bowels, throat, legs, and indeed almost every other part of the body—A quick apprehension, forgetful, unsettled, and constant to nothing but inconstancy—A wandering and delirious imagination, groundless fears, and an exquisite sense of his sufferings—A gradually sinking into a nervous atrophy or consumption—A perpetual alarm of approaching death—Sometimes cheerful, and sometimes melancholy—Without present enjoyment or future expectation of any thing but increasing misery and debility.—If these symptoms are inconsiderately suffered to continue, they soon terminate in palsy, hip, madness, epilepsy, apoplexy, or in some mortal disease, as the black jaundice, dropsy, consumption, &c.

Having ascertained, from this enquiry, the injurious properties of India tea, it may naturally be expected that I should propose some article that might prove more beneficial. With this requisition I shall most readily comply, although I may expose myself to the invidious censure of having directed all my efforts to establish the celebrity of whatever article I may recommend. But being convinced, that, by publishing the virtue of a tea that I have investigated from physical analysis and particular observation, I may essentially serve the public, I am content to suffer the obloquy, provided it is productive of a general benefit. Having, as before observed, examined, with the greatest attention, the nature of most articles that have been offered as morning and afternoon beverage, there are two which claim most particularly the preference of all others that are sold under the denomination of Tea: these are, 1st, that which was discovered by that eminent botanist Sir Hans Sloane; and the other, by a botanist and physician equally celebrated, Dr. Solander. I therefore, without considering in what manner the interest of the proprietors of these teas may be individually affected, propose two articles, in order to shew that my partiality or opinion of the virtues of the one could not prejudice me so far as to prevent my allowing due praise to any other possessing qualities deserving approbation. I am happy to state that, from my analysis of that invented by Sir Hans Sloane, called British Tea, I found it possesses most singular virtues for relieving many nervous complaints; but, from the same trials and experiments made on that invented by Dr. Solander, I have been convinced that, although the qualities of the former are exceedingly salutary, they are not so general in their restoration and nutritious effects as the latter. Being thus convinced of the extraordinary properties of Dr. Solander's Tea, I have been induced to state, in a Treatise upon their Nature, Preparation, and Effects, reasons founded on chemical analysis, physical efficiency, and experimental observation, in support of their most eminent virtues. After every trial I have made of coffee, chocolate[¹], and most other preparations that have been, and are at present, offered to the public as a substitute for tea, none seem to claim the preference so eminently as that invented by Dr. Solander. From their analysis, I find their virtues are of the most corrective and balsamic kind; they strengthen the tone of the stomach, not by astringing the solids, but by lubricating the vessels, sheathing the acrids, and attenuating the liquids.

In this manner they restore the equilibrium of the oscillatory motions, which establish the tone of the nervous system. This being strengthened, the animal spirits are enabled to dispense their reviving influence to the sensitive, digestive, and intellectual powers. And these being thus restored to their vigour of operation, a simple and moderate portion of food is rendered the most nutritious, and the body is consequently established in the enjoyment of health and happiness.