The uses of tea in the healthy system / by Edward Smith.

  • Smith, Edward, 1818?-1874.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The uses of tea in the healthy system / by Edward Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    & ON THE USES OF TEA IN THE HEALTHY SYSTEM. i By EDWARD SMITH, M.D., LL.B., F.R.S., Assist ast-Physician to the Hospital for Consumption, Biiompton, &c, A PAPER READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, FEBRUARY 13, 1861, From the Journal of the Society of Arts, February 15,1861. I have the honour of asking your attention to-night to the consideration of a substance of most general use in this and many other countiies, which is an adjunct to food, rather than food itself, but which, by the social ar- rangements now existing, and the taste which has been acquired for it, is regarded almost as a prime necessity of life. It ranks amongst foods, in the estimation of the community, as high as cotton is held amongst the raw staples demanded by our manufacturers : and indeed it would be difficult to know which of the two would be retained if the nation were called upon to sacrifice one or the other. The characteristic of the food of an English- man has heretofore been roast-beef and beer; but, without interfering with the pre-eminence of those sub- stances, we may certainly now add the further character- istic of tea, if, as in our laws, the female is held to be included in the male, and the term Englishman compre- hends also that of Englishwoman. Hence, I am relieved from any necessity for a lengthened introduction to our subject, and may at once proceed to consider the mode of action of this valuable substance upon the human system, with a view to determine the conditions to which it is, or is not. fitted; and to this I propose to add some observations to the ladies on the selection and preparation of tea for the table. We have the authority of the most populous nation in the world for the statement that “ tea is an exceedingly useful plant,” and “ that if we drink it the animal spirits will become lively and clear.” They also affirm that it tends to “ clear away impurities, to drive off drowsiness, and to remove or prevent headache.” The Chinese have used the plant for more than 1,200 years; and, there- fore, must have had, even with their notions of time, a good opportunity of forming a correct opinion upon its merits. We, also, a nation situated in a different climate, and living under very different conditions, have some ex- perience on the same subject; for since the days of Charles II., some two centuries ago, when 2 lbs. of tea was a choice present for a Queen, we have reached a period when each man, woman, and child in the kingdom drinks, on the average, more than twice that quantity each year, and when the total BritL-li annual consumption of tea is upwards of eighty-six millions of pounds, and have arrived at the same conclusion—for that tea is “ the cup which cheers and not inebriates” is a statement found amongst our household words. If to this conjoined testi- mony we add that of the extension of its daily use to the vast regions of Asiatic Russia, America, and Australia, and the increase in its consumption by every European State, we must admit that a remarkable unanimity exists as to its kind and degree of value for the welfare of man- kind. Let us now seek to ascertain the mode of its action. The late excellent writer, Professor Johnstone, in an arti- cle in his “ Chemistry of Common Life,” sought to explain its utility by reference to its chemical composition ; and after discussing the effects of its principal ingredients, viz., the volatile oil, the theine, the tannin, and the gluten, arrived at the conclusion that tea lessens the waste of body by the theine, and supplies flesh-forming material by its gluten. He says, (but you will bear in mind that Professor Johnstone was a chemist, and not a physio- logist) “ the waste of the body is lessened by the use of tea, and if the waste be lessened, the necessity for j food to repair it will be lessened in an equal proportion. | Tea, therefore, saves food—stands, to a certain extent, ! in the place of food.” This is a most important state- ment, and has reference to the theine as the peculiar active principle of tea, and to the gluten which is found in the leaves of tea and of other plants. He refers to the practice of the Tartar tribes, who drink the tea leaves powdered and dissolved in water, with salt and fat, and eat them with milk, butter, and roasted meal, and statesthat tea (but mark the other components), “ first directly nourishes by the gluten and milk and meal it contains, and second, it makes this food go further by virtue of its theine.” In further illustration, he cites the very utilitarian, and, if his statement be true, the rational mode of taking tea adopted by some of the inhabitants of South America, who, after drinking the infusion, eat the leaves. This view raises a new question in the use of tea—one which seems to have escaped the attention of the Chinese, and is not found even in those mines of truth, the homely sayings of our own land, for it is said .o cheer,”