It is said that in Japan and China the stone is a very unusual
distemper, and the natives suppose that Tea has the quality to
prevent it[97]. So far as it softens and meliorates the water, which
is very bad, it may certainly be of use[98]. We may also observe
here, that every solvent is capable of taking up a limited quantity
only of the solvend, and, when fully saturated with it, is incapable
of suspending it long; hence it is plain, that the quantity of the
stony matter carried off must be greater when the urine is increased
in quantity, and has not been too long retained in the bladder:
and therefore, as Tea is a diuretic, it may in this view prove
lithonthriptic.
Tea, we have already observed, contains an astringent antiseptic
quality (SECT. I. EXP. I, II.) It likewise possesses no
inconsiderable degree of bitterness; and, as the uvæ ursi, and other
bitters, have mitigated severe paroxysms of the stone, may not Tea
prove serviceable also by its antacid quality?
It is an observation I have often had occasion to make, that people,
after violent exercise, or coming off a journey much fatigued, and
affected with a sense of general uneasiness, attended with thirst
and great heat, by drinking a few cups of warm Tea, have generally
experienced immediate refreshment. It also proves a grateful diluent,
and agreeable sedative, after a full meal, when the stomach is
oppressed, the head pained, and the pulse beats high[99]; hence the
Poet says,
“The Muse’s friend, Tea, does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade,
And keeps that palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birth-day to salute a queen.”
WALLER.