Many, from a supposition that Tea was dried in India on copper, have attributed its pernicious properties to this metal; but we have already observed (Part I. §VIII.), that, if Tea were tinctured with the least quantity of copper, it might easily be detected by chemical experiments.
Some have attributed the injurious qualities of this fashionable exotic upon the stomach to the sugar usually drank with the Tea; but I have had sufficient opportunities of observing in the West Indies the good effects of drinking freely the juice of the sugar-cane, to obviate this objection. I have known feeble emaciated children, afflicted with worms, tumefied abdomen, and a variety of diseases, soon emerge from their complicated ailments, by drinking large draughts of this sweet liquor, and become healthy and strong[84].
“While flows the juice mellifluent from the cane,Grudge not, my friend, to let thy slaves, each morn,But chief the sick and young, at setting day,Themselves regale with oft-repeated draughtsOf tepid nectar, and make labour light[85].”
“While flows the juice mellifluent from the cane,Grudge not, my friend, to let thy slaves, each morn,But chief the sick and young, at setting day,Themselves regale with oft-repeated draughtsOf tepid nectar, and make labour light[85].”
“While flows the juice mellifluent from the cane,
Grudge not, my friend, to let thy slaves, each morn,
But chief the sick and young, at setting day,
Themselves regale with oft-repeated draughts
Of tepid nectar, and make labour light[85].”
That there is something in the finer green Teas, that produces effects peculiar to itself, and not to be equalled by any other substance we know, is, I believe, admitted by all who have observed, either what passes in themselves, or the accounts that others give of their feelings, after a plentiful use of this liquor. Nor are the finer kinds of bohea Teas incapable of the like influence. They affect the nerves, produce tremblings, and such a state of body for the time, as subjects it to be agitated by the most trifling causes, such as shutting a door too hastily, the sudden entrance even of a servant, and other the like causes.
I know people of both sexes, who are constantly seized with great uneasiness, anxiety, and oppression, as often as they take a single cup of Tea, who nevertheless, for the sake of company, drink several cups of warm water, mixed with sugar and milk, without the same inconvenience.
A physician, whose acquaintance I have long been favoured with, and who, with some others, was present when the preceding experiments were made at the college of Edinburgh, has a remarkable delicacy in feeling the effects of a small quantity of fine Tea. If drank in the forenoon, it affects his stomach with an uneasy sensation, which continues for several hours, and entirely takes away his appetite for food at dinner; though at other times, when he takes chocolate for breakfast, he generally makes a very hearty meal at noon, and enjoys the most perfect health. If he drink a single dish of tea in the afternoon, it affects him in the same manner, and deprives him of sleep for three or four hours through the succeeding night; yet he can take a cup of warm water with sugar and milk, without the least inconvenience.
It may be remarked that opium has nearly the same effect upon him as Tea, but in a greater degree; for he informs me, that when he once accidentally took a quantity of the solution of opium, it had not the least tendency to induce sleep, but produced a very disagreeable uneasiness at his stomach, approaching to nausea. The late celebrated Professor Whytt[86], of Edinburgh, affords a striking example how injurious the effects of Tea may be upon constitutions, which I shall relate in hisown words. “I once imagined Tea to be in a great measure unjustly accused; and that it did not hurt the stomach more than an equal quantity of warm water; but experience has since taught me the contrary. Strong Tea drunk in any considerable quantity, in a morning, especially if I eat little bread with it, generally makes me fainter before dinner than if I had taken no breakfast at all; at the same time it quickens my pulse, and often affects me with a kind of giddiness. These bad effects of Tea are most remarkable when my stomach is out of order.”