I shall finish these remarks with some reflections on this herb,
considered in another light.
As luxury of every kind has augmented in proportion to the increase
of foreign superfluities, it has contributed more or less its share
towards the production of those low nervous diseases, which are now
so frequent. Amongst these causes, excess in spirituous liquors is
one of the most considerable; but the first rise of this pernicious
custom is often owing to the weakness and debility of the system,
brought on by the daily habit of drinking Tea[100]; the trembling
hand seeks a temporary relief in some cordial, in order to refresh
and excite again the enfeebled system; whereby such almost by
necessity fall into a habit of intemperance, and frequently intail
upon their offspring a variety of distempers, which otherwise
probably would not have occurred.
Another bad consequence resulting from the universal custom of
Tea-drinking, particularly affects the poor labouring people, whose
daily earnings are scanty enough to procure them the necessary
conveniences of life, and wholesome diet. Many of these, too
desirous of vying with their superiors, and imitating their luxuries,
throw away their little earnings upon this foreign herb, and are
thereby inconsiderately deprived of the means to purchase proper
wholesome food for themselves and their families. In the words of
Persius we may here justly exclaim,
O curas hominum quantum est in rebus inane!
I have known several miserable families thus infatuated, their
emaciated children labouring under various ailments depending upon
indigestion, debility, and relaxation. Some at length have been so
enfeebled, that their limbs have become distorted, their countenance
pale, and a marasmus has closed the tragedy[101].
These effects are not to be attributed so much to the peculiar
properties of this costly vegetable, as to the want of proper
food, which the expence of the former deprived these poor people
from procuring. I knew a family, confiding of a mother and several
children, whose fondness for Tea was so great, that three times
a day, as often as their meals, which generally confided of the
same articles, they regularly sent for Tea and sugar, with a
morsel of bread to support nature; by which practice, and the want
of a due quantity of nutritious food, they grew more enfeebled;
thin, emaciated habits and weak constitutions characterised this
distressed family, till some of the children were removed from this
baneful nursery, by which they acquired tolerable health.
My valuable friend, Dr. Walker, of Leeds, in Yorkshire, has noticed,
in several parts of that extensive and commercial county, and
particularly in Leeds; that, “since the more plentiful introduction
of Tea into the families of the industrious poor, by the late
reduction of its price, the Atrophia Lactantium, or Tabes Nutricum,
a species of decline, has made an unusually rapid progress. The
difficulty with which animal food is procured by the lower ranks of
society, in quantity sufficient for daily nutriment, has led many
of them to substitute, in the place of more wholesome provisions, a
cheap infusion of this foreign vegetable, whose grateful flavour (and
perhaps narcotic quality, which it possesses in a small degree in
common with most other ever-greens) is found to create an appetite
for itself, in preference to all other kinds of aliment that the
scanty income of poverty allows these deluded objects to procure;
though I am sorry to have occasion to add, that the lowering effects
of tea-drinking lead too many of these to seek relief from spirits,
and other pernicious cordials, at the expence of health, and the sure
consequences of penury and want.
“As this change, in the article of diet, has been very generally
made, especially by the females, and the younger branches of the
families of the manufacturing poor, their constitutions have been
rendered much less able to bear evacuations of any sort, and
particularly that of lactation. I may, with great truth, aver, that
more than two hundred patients of this denomination have, within the
last two years, come under my notice: upon their application for
relief, and the consequent enquiry which I have been led to make
respecting the nature of their diet, their almost invariable reply
has been, that they have chiefly depended upon Tea for their support,
at the same time that they were permitting an apparently healthy
child to draw the whole of its nourishment from them.
“That it is debility, and an impoverished state of the whole
system, arising from a deficiency in the due supply of proper and
sufficiently nutritious aliment, at a time when the constitution
particularly requires it, in consequence of the continual waste which
the mother sustains from the suckling of her infant, which lay the
foundation of this disease, and that the lungs are but secondarily or
symptomatically affected, is clearly evinced from an attention to the
symptoms.
“The patient first complains of languor, and general weakness; loss
of appetite; fatigue after exercise, though it be of the gentlest
kind; wearisome pains in the back and limbs; soon after which,
symptoms of general atrophy come on; the face, in particular, grows
thin, and is marked by a certain delicacy of complexion; paleness
about the nose; but with a small degree of settled redness in the
cheeks. In a short time, if the patient still continues to give
suck, she is seized with transitory stitches in the sides, under
the sternum, or in some other part of the thorax; accompanied with
a short dry cough, and slight dyspnæa, upon any muscular exertion;
the pulse also becomes frequent, but seldom so hard as in the
inflammatory state of the genuine phthisis pulmonalis; morning sweats
next make their appearance; abscesses and ulcers are often formed in
the lungs; pus mixed with mucus is expectorated; the general weakness
increases; the emaciated patient is unable to support an erect
posture; and at last dies literally exhausted.”
An ingenious author observes, that as much superfluous money is
expended on Tea and Sugar in this kingdom, as would maintain four
millions more of subjects in bread[102]. And the author of the
Farmer’s Letters calculates, that the entertainment of sipping Tea
costs the poor each time as follows:
_d._
The tea ¾
The sugar ½
The butter 1
The fuel and wear of the Tea equipage ¼
----
2½
When Tea is used twice a day, the annual expence amounts to 7l.
12s. a head. And the same judicious writer estimates the bread,
necessary for a labourer’s family of five persons, at 14l. 15s. 9d.
per annum[103]. By which it appears, that the yearly expence of Tea,
Sugar, &c. for two persons, exceeds that of the necessary article of
bread, sufficient for a family of five persons.
It appears also, from a moderate calculation, that twenty-one
millions of pounds of Tea[104] are annually imported into England.
In the beginning of the present century the annual public sales by
the East-India Company did not much exceed 50,000 pounds weight,
independently of what little might be clandestinely imported. The
Company’s annual sales about this time, 1797, approach to twenty
millions of pounds; being an increase of four hundred fold in less
than 100 years, and answers to the rate of more than a pound weight
each in the course of the year, for the individuals of all ranks,
sexes, and ages, throughout the British dominions in Europe and
America[105].
Since the year 1797, it is probable, that the import of Tea has
increased in a much greater ratio; for the East-India Company, at
their sale in September 1798, put up 1,300,000 pounds of bohea;
3,500,000 pounds of congou and campoi; 400,000 pounds of souchong and
pekoe; 600,000 pounds of singlo and twankay; 400,000 of hyson; hyson
skin 100,000; making, in the whole, 6,300,000 pounds, the quantity
sold in the autumnal quarterly sale: and it may be presumed, from the
table annexed, (p. 1. Section IV.) and other documents, that at least
30,000,000 of pounds are annually imported into Europe and America!
FINIS.
DIRECTIONS FOR THE PLATES.
Green Tea, to front the title page.
Bohea Tea Page 41
Olea fragrans 43
Camellia Sesanqua 46
Boxes for conveying plants by sea 55
ERRATUM.
P. 41. l. 10. for _than that_ read _as_.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Among several hundred specimens of dried Tea-flowers that I have
examined, scarcely one in twenty was perfect. Some had three petals
only, some nine, and others the several intermediate numbers. The
greatest number consisted of six large petals, and externally three
lesser ones of the same form. But the flowers, which blossomed on the
Tea-plant belonging to the duke of Northumberland, from which this
description is taken, consisted in general of six petals. One of the
flowers indeed appeared to have eight petals; however, the number in
the flowers in most plants vary considerably, which may account for
the mistake of Dr. Hill, and professor Linnæus (who described this
plant on Dr. Hill’s authority), who make the green and bohea Tea two
distinct species, giving nine petals to the former, and six to the
latter. See Amœn. Acad. Vol. VII. p. 248. Hill. Exot. t. 22. Kæmpfer.
Amœn. Exot. p. 607. Breyn. Exot. Plant. Cent. 1. p. 111. Hist. de.
l’Acad. des Sciences, 1776, p. 52.
[2] In a flower I received from that accurate naturalist, J. Ellis,
F. R. S. &c. I counted upwards of 280 filaments; and, in another I
had from Dr. Fothergill, there appeared to be nearly the same number.
[3] Kæmpfer describes the Antheræ as being single.
[4] Authors differ widely respecting the size of this tree. Le Compte
says, it grows of various sizes from two feet to two hundred, and
sometimes so thick, that two men can scarcely grasp the trunk in
their arms: though he afterwards observes, that the Tea-trees, he saw
in the province of Fokien, did not exceed five or six feet in height.
Journey through the empire of China, London, 1697, 8vo. p. 228. Du
Halde quotes a Chinese author, who describes the height of different
Tea-trees, from one to thirty feet. Description génerale historique,
chronologique, politique, et physique de la Chine, Paris, 1755. Fol.
4 Tom. History of China, London, 1736. 8vo. Vol. IV. page 22. See
also Guil. Piso in Itinere Brasilica.
But Kæmpfer, who is chiefly to be depended upon, confines the full
growth to about a man’s heighth. Amœn. Exot. Lemgov. 1712, 4to. pag.
605. Probably this may be a just medium; for Osbeck says, that he saw
Tea-shrubs in flower-pots, not above an ell high. Voyage to China,
Vol. I. p. 247. See also Eckeberg’s account of the Chinese husbandry,
Vol. II. p. 303.
[5] When the peduncles increase in thickness towards their
extremities.
[6] No author has hitherto remarked this obvious circumstance; even
Kæmpfer himself says, that the leaves terminate in a sharp point.
Amœn. Exot. p. 611.
[7] When the upper surface of the leaf rises in several places in
roundish swellings, hollow underneath.
[8] Whether the word TEA is borrowed from the Japanese _Tsjaa_, or
the Chinese _Theh_, is not of much importance. By this name, with
very little difference in pronunciation, the plant here treated of is
well known in most parts of the world.
[9] I have examined several hundred flowers, both from the bohea
and green Tea countries, and their botanical characters have always
appeared uniform. See Directions for bringing over seeds and plants
from distant countries, by John Ellis, Esq. Sir George Staunton’s
Embassy, Vol. II. p. 464, says, “Every information received
concerning the Tea plant concurred in affirming that its qualities
depended upon the soil in which it grew, and the age at which the
leaves were plucked off the tree, as well as upon the management of
them afterwards.”
[10] See Jac. Breynii Exotic. Cent. I. p. 114, 115.
[11] Vol. I. p. 734.
[12] Amœnit. Exotic. p. 618, et seq. See also his history of Japan by
Scheuchzer. Lond. 2 Vol. Fol. App. p. 3. Geoffr. Mat. Med. Vol. II.
p. 276. Other figures of this shrub are represented in Piso Itinere
Brasilico, Kircher’s China Illustrata, and Dutch Embassy.
[13] Osbeck, in his voyage to China, speaking of the Camellia, says,
“I bought one of a blind man in the street, which had fine double
white and red flowers. But, by farther observing it in my room, I
found that the flowers were taken from another; and one calyx was
so neatly fixed in the other with nails of bamboo, that I should
scarce have found it out, if the flowers had not begun to wither. The
tree itself had only buds, but no open flowers. I learned from this
instance, that whoever will deal with the Chinese, must make use of
his utmost circumspection, and even then must run the risk of being
cheated.” Vol. VII. p. 17. Mocquet in his Travels and Voyages, An.
1606, l. 4. p. 264, relates a curious piece of deception practised by
a Chinese of Canton. “A Portuguese,” he says, “bought a roasted duck
at a cook’s shop in Canton. Seeing it look well, and appearing to be
very fat, he carried it with him on-board his vessel, to eat it; but,
when he had put his knife within it to cut it up, he found nothing
but the skin, which was upon some paper, ingeniously fitted up with
little sticks, which made up the body of the duck; the Chinese
having very dexterously plucked away the flesh, and then so well
accommodated this skin, that it seemed to be a true duck.”
[14] This writer observes, that the Chinese have also an herb, out
of which they press a delicate juice, which serves them for a drink
instead of wine: it also preserves their health, and frees them from
all those evils “that the immediate use of wine doth breed unto us.”
By the use the modern Chinese make of Tea (who are a sober people) it
can be nothing else. Anderson’s Chronolog. Deduction of Commerce.
[15] Some authors add Siam also. Vid. Sim. Pauli Comment. et Wilh.
Leyl. epist. apud Simon. Pauli comment. Nich. Tulpius observ.
Medicin. lib. IV. cap. lx. Lond. 1641.
[16] Le Compte’s Journey through the Empire of China, p. 112.
Staunton’s Embassy, Vol. II. p. 96. and particularly p. 68.
[17] Kalm’s Travels into North America, Vol. II. p. 314. The
following note is added by the ingenious English translator in the 2d
edition, Vol. II. p. 141:
“On my travels through the desart plains, beyond the river Volga, I
have had several opportunities of making the same observations on
Tea; and every traveller in the same circumstances will readily allow
them to be very just.” Forster, ibid.
See Brydone’s Tour through Sicily and Malta, Let. 6. In letter 20, he
says, “We have travelled all night on mules; and arrived here about
ten o’clock, overcome with sleep and fatigue. We have just had an
excellent dish of tea, which never fails to cure me of both; and I am
now as fresh as when we set out.” Captain Forrest, in his Voyage to
New Guinea, relates several instances wherein the sailors experienced
the exhilarating effects of this infusion.
[18] Fischer’s Libirische Geschichte, Vol. II. p. 694-697. Monthly
Magazine, Vol. VI. p. 60.
[19] Hanway’s Journal of Eight Days Journey, Vol. II. p. 21. The
same author observes, that Tea sold at this time for sixty shillings
a pound. Anderson, in his “Chronological Deduction of Commerce,”
remarks, that the first European author that mentions Tea wrote in
the year 1590. However, by the preceding catalogue, it will appear,
that this subject had been considered much earlier.
In Renaudot’s anciennes Relations, Paris, 1718, p. 31, mention is
made of two Arabian travellers who visited China about the year 850;
and related, that the inhabitants of that empire had a medicinal
beverage, named chah or sah, which was prepared by pouring boiling
water on the dried leaves of a certain herb, which infusion was
reckoned an efficacious remedy in various diseases.
[20] By an act made this year, the duties of Excise on malt liquor,
cyder, perry, mead, spirits, or strong waters, coffee, tea, sherbet,
and chocolate, were settled on the King during his life. Then it was
that Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, were first mentioned in the statute
book. Noorthouck, in his History of London, remarks, that King
Charles II. issued a proclamation for shutting up the coffee-houses,
&c. about a month after he had dined with the Corporation of London,
at Guildhall, on their Lord-Mayor’s day, Oct. 29, 1675. At this feast
the King afforded the Citizens abundant matter for animadversion, in
which they indulged themselves so much to his dissatisfaction, and
that of his _cabal_ ministry, that a proclamation was issued December
20, for shutting up and suppressing all coffee-houses; “because, in
such houses, and by occasion of the meeting of disaffected persons in
them, divers false, malicious, and scandalous reports were devised
and read abroad, to the defamation of his Majesty’s government, and
to the disturbance of the quiet and peace of the realm.” The opinions
of the judges were taken on this great point of stopping people’s
tongues, when they sagely resolved, “that retailing of Coffee and Tea
might be an innocent trade; but as it was used to nourish sedition,
spread lies, and scandalize great men, it might also be a common
nuisance.” In short, on a petition of the merchants and retailers of
Coffee and Tea, permission was granted to keep open the coffee-houses
until the 24th of June next, under an admonition, that the masters
of them should prevent all scandalous papers, books, and libels,
from being read in them; and hinder every person from declaring,
uttering, or divulging all manner of false or scandalous reports
against government or the ministers thereof. Thus, by a refinement
of policy, the simple manufacturer of a dish of Coffee or Tea was
constituted licenser of books, corrector of manners, and arbiter of
the truth or falsehood of political intelligence over every company
he entertained! And here the matter ended. Chap. 15.
In May 1784 an act was passed, called the Commutation Act, “for
repealing the several duties on Tea, and for granting to his Majesty
other duties in lieu thereof; and also several duties on inhabited
houses.”
[21] The second edition was published under the title of Van The,
Coffy, en Chocolate. Haag. 1685. 8vo. The late Baron Van Swieten
censures this physician for his remarkable bias in favour of this
exotic. Comment. Vol. V. p. 587. Est modus in rebus, may be as aptly
applied to Dr. Bontekoe as to Dr. Duncan.
[22] In this province, this shrub is called Thee, or Te; and as the
Europeans first landed here, that dialect has been preserved. Le
Compte’s Journey through the Empire of China, p. 227. Du Halde’s
History of China, Vol. IV. p. 21.
[23] The best Tea grows in a mild temperate climate; the country
about Nankin producing better Tea than either Pekin or Canton,
between which places it is situated. It has been asserted, that no
Tea-plants have yet died in England through excess of cold; but the
contrary, I know, has happened. The plant in the Princess Dowager’s
garden at Kew flourished under glass windows, with the natural
heat of the sun, as now do those at Mile-end, in the possession of
the intelligent Botanist J. Gordon. The Tea-plant belonging to Dr.
Fothergill thrives in his garden at Upton, exposed to the open air,
and the plant introduced into the Botanic garden at Chelsea had one
leaf which measured five inches and a quarter in length.
[24] Du Halde and other authors have observed, that the degree of
cold in some parts of China is very severe in winter. In the inland
parts of North America, and on extensive continents, the degrees of
heat and cold are found to be much more violent than in islands or
places bordering on the sea in the same latitude, as the air that
blows over the sea is liable to less variation in these respects,
than that which blows over large tracts of land.
[25] Amœnitat. Exotic. p. 618, et seq. History of Japan. Appendix to
Vol. II. p. 6, et seq.
[26] The same cautions are not used previous to collecting other
sorts of Tea.
[27] This cannot be the sort to which also the Dutch give that name,
as it is sold upon the spot to the princes of the country, for much
more than the common bloom Tea is sold for in Europe. Kæmpfer,
Amœnit. Exotic. p. 617. History of Japan, Appendix, p. 9. Neumann’s
Chemistry by Lewis, p. 373.
[28] In this case the under leaves, which are harsh and less
succulent, are probably left upon the trees. See Eckeberg’s Chinese
Husbandry in Osbeck’s Voyage, Vol. II. p. 303.
[29] Du Halde’s History of China, Vol. IV. p. 21.
[30] Du Halde, Vol. II. p. 300. Kæmpfer observes, in his History
of Japan, that the trade between these nations has continued from
remotest antiquity; formerly the Chinese had a much more general
intercourse with the Japanese than they have at present; the affinity
in the religion, customs, books, learned languages, arts and sciences
of the Chinese with the latter, procured them a free toleration in
Japan. History of Japan, Vol. I. p. 374.
[31] Some writers mention copper pans, and suppose that the green
efflorescence which appears on copper may increase the verdure of
green Tea; but, from experiments that I made, there does not appear
any foundation for this supposition. See SECT. VIII.
[32] Sir G. Staunton, Embassy to China, observes that the Tea leaves
are each rolled separately between the fingers of a female, Vol. II.
p. 465.
[33] This should be carefully attended to, in curing the fine green
Teas, to preserve their verdure and perishable flavour. See SECT.
VIII. ad finem.
[34] This is also done in China. See Eckeberg’s Chinese Husbandry in
Osbeck’s Voyage, Vol. II. p. 303.
[35] Journey through the Empire of China.
[36] Upon this subject, see SECT. VII. and VIII. It may be doubted
also whether the conclusion of Le Compte’s relation is not erroneous,
as it is improbable that any leaves should of themselves take so
perfect a curl as that in which Tea is brought into Europe. No
materials are used but iron and earthen for drying Tea, as observed
in note 1, p. 33.
[37] There are several disgusting circumstances attending the
preparation of Tea. Osbeck says, the Chinese servants tread the Tea
into the chests with their naked feet. Voyage to China, Vol. I. p.
252. Sir George Staunton makes a similar remark, Vol. II. p. 466.
[38] Du Halde’s History of China, Vol. IV. p. 21. Osbeck’s Voyage to
China, Vol. I. p. 246, et seq.
[39] The Chinese have another kind of Hyson Tea, which they call
Hyson-utchin, with narrow short leaves. Another sort of green Tea
they name Go-bé, the leaves of which are narrow and long.
[40] Padre sutchong has a finer taste and smell than the common
sutchong. The leaves are large and yellowish, not rolled up, but
expanded, and packed up in papers of half a pound each. It is
generally conveyed by caravans into Russia. Without much care, it
will be injured at sea. This Tea is rarely to be met with in England.
[41] There is a sort of Tea called lin-kisam, with narrow rough
leaves. It is seldom used alone, but mixed with other kinds. By
adding it to congo, the Chinese sometimes make a kind of pekoe Tea.
Osbeck’s Voyage to China, Vol. I. p. 249.
[42] The best bohea Tea is named by the Chinese tao-kyonn. An
inferior kind is called An-kai, from a place of that name. In the
district of Honam near Canton, the Tea is very coarse, the leaves
yellow or brownish, and the taste the least agreeable of any. By the
Chinese it is named Honam té, or Kuli té.
[43] This renders what has been observed at the conclusion of SECT.
I. more probable.
[44] A certain moderate degree of heat preserved the verdure and
flavour better than a hasty exsiccation. In the first case, it is
necessary to repeat the roasting oftener.
[45] Infusions of fine bohea Teas do not differ a great deal in
colour from those of green. To spirit they equally impart a fine deep
green colour.
[46] I am informed by intelligent persons, who have resided some
time at Canton, that the Tea about that city affords very little
smell whilst growing. The same is observed of the Tea plants in
England; and also of the dried specimens from China. We are not hence
to conclude, that art alone conveys to Teas when cured the smell
peculiar to each kind; for our vegetables, grasses for instance, have
little or no smell till dried, and made into hay.
[47] See Thunberg’s Flora Japonica, from which work the Botanic
History of the Olea Fragrans is chiefly taken.
[48] The hundredth part of a grain of copper, dissolved in a pint of
liquor, strikes a sensible blue with volatile alkalies. Neumann’s
Chemistry, by Lewis, p. 62. The finest imperial and bloom Teas shewed
no sign of the presence of this metal by experiment.
[49] See Short on Tea, p. 16. Boerhaave attributed the verdure of
green Tea to this substance.
[50] “It is confidently said in the country, that no plates of copper
are ever employed for that purpose. Indeed, scarcely any utensil used
in China is of that metal, the chief application of which is for
coin. The earthen or iron plates are placed over a charcoal fire,
which draws all remaining moisture from the leaves, rendering them
dry and crisp.” Sir G. Staunton’s Embassy, Vol. II. p. 465.
[51] Kæmpfer, Amœnit. Exot. p. 625. History of Japan, Vol. II. App.
p. 10. 16.
[52] Osbeck’s Voyage to China, Vol. I. p. 299.
[53] This is called koitsjaa, that is, thick Tea, to distinguish it
from that made by infusion.
[54] An inferior kind of Tea is infused, and drank in the Chinese
manner. SECT. VI. II. and SECT. IX. I.
[55] History of China, Vol. IV. p. 22.
[56] In public roads, and in all places of much resort in Japan, and
even in the midst of fields and frequented woods, Tea booths are
erected; as most travellers drink scarcely any thing else upon the
road. Kæmpfer’s History of Japan, by Scheuchzer, Fol. Vol. II. p. 428.
[57] Myrica Gale. Goule, Sweet Willow, or Dutch Myrtle. Hudson’s
Fl. Angl. p. 368. Linn. System. Natur. Vol. III. p. 651. A plant of
peculiar fragrance, found in the North of England, Brabant, and other
Northern countries. Simon de Molingriis was the first who opposed
this opinion of Simon Paulli, by shewing the difference betwixt this
species of myrtle and the oriental Tea. See also Wilh. Leyl. epist.
apud Sim. Paulli comment. &c.
[58] Figures of the same were published in the Acta Haffniensia, and
German Ephemerides, Dec. 11. Ann. IV.
[59] Nouveau Voyage aux Iles de l’Amerique, Paris, 1721, 12mo. 6 vol.
[60] This shrub I have frequently met with in the West-Indies.
[61] Two specimens of this plant are now in the physic garden at
Upsal. About the year 1755, they were brought over from China by
M. Lagerstrom, a director of the Swedish East-India Company, under
the supposition of being Tea-plants, till they appeared in blossom,
when they proved to be this species of Tsubakki, called by Linnæus,
Camellia. Spec. Plant, p. 982. This celebrated Naturalist says, “That
the leaves of his Camellia are so like the true Tea, that they would
deceive the most skilful botanist; the only difference is, that
they are a little broader.” Amœnit. Academ. Vol. VII. p. 251. See
also Ellis’s Directions for bringing over foreign Plants, p. 28. A
Camellia was brought in 1771 from China in good health; the leaves
of this shrub end in a double obtuse point (obtusely emarginated)
like those of the Tea tree, which makes them still more liable to be
mistaken for those of the latter. Kæmpfer observes, that the leaves
of a species of Tsubakki are preserved, and mixed with Tea, to give
it a fine flavour. Amœnit. Exotic. p. 858. It is now a common plant
in the green-houses about London.
[62] Mich. Frid. Lochner, de novis Theæ et Coffeæ Succedaneis. Hall.
1717. 4to. Veronica officinalis. Flor. Suec. p. 12. Veronica Chamædr.
Fl. Suec. p. 18. Pechlin Theophilus bibaculus, Franckfort. 1684.
Francus, de Veronica vel Theezantem. Coburg. 1690. 12mo. 1700. 12mo.
Paris, sub titulo, le Thè de l’Europe. 1704 and 1707, 12mo. Frid.
Hoffman de infusi Veronicæ efficacia præferenda herbæ Theæ, Hall. an.
1694. 4to.
[63] Fr. Afforty & Jos. de Tournefort ergo potus ex Salvia salubris,
1695. Wedel, de Salvia, 4to. 1707. Jena. Paulini nobilis salvia Ang.
Vindel. an. 1688. 8vo.
[64] Simon Paulli de abusu Theæ et Tabaci. Strasburg, 1665. Lond.
1746.
[65] Botanical writers celebrate this herb for its many virtues;
hence arose the Italian proverb, “_Vende la tonica, et compra la
Betonica_.”
[66] In the year 1776, an act was passed for the more effectual
prevention of the manufacturing of ash, elder, sloe, and other
leaves, in imitation of Tea; and to prevent frauds in the revenue of
Excise in respect to Tea, 17 George III. chap. 29, being an amendment
of the act 4 George II. intituled, “An Act to prevent Frauds in
the Revenue of Excise with respect to Starch, Coffee, Tea, and
Chocolate.” In the Appendix, from Sir George Staunton’s Embassy to
China, this is particularly detailed.
[67] Joseph Serer Lettera sopra la bevanda del Caffé Europæo,
Veron. An. 1730. Rose leaves are here substituted for those of Tea.
Godofred. Thomasius Thea ex Rosis in Cent III. Nat. curiosor. n. 199.
See also Cent. vij. obs. 15. by J. A. Fischer.
[68] See Neumann’s Chemistry, by Lewis, p. 375. J. Adrian. Slevogt,
De Thea Romana et Silesiaca, an. 1721. Aignan. le prêtre Medecin,
avec un Traité du Caffé, et du Thé de France. Paris. an. 1696. 12mo.
This author, whose name is probably corrupted, prefers balm leaves to
those of the Asiatic Tea.
M. Fr. Lockner, de novis et exoticis Thee et Cafe succedaneis
Noriberg. 1717. 4to. Et in Eph. Nat. Cur. Cent. vj.
J. Franc. Nic. Faber, de Thea Helvetica, Basil. 1715. 4to.
J. Georg. Siegesbeck, de Theæ et Caffeæ succedaneis in Kanoldiana
collectione, an. 1722. Jan.
Zanichelli obzervazioni intorno all abusodella Coffea ed alla vertute
di innuovo Te-Venegiano. Venez. 1755. 4to.
K. Collegii medici Rundgiorelse om den misbruk som Thee, och Caffe
drickande är unders kastot, samt anwisning pa Swenka örter, at Brucka
i stâlle for Thee Stokholm, 1746. 4to.
Conf. Murray, appar. Medicam. Vol. IV. p. 232. & seq.
[69] In some parts of Europe, however, Tea is yet a stranger. See
Brydone’s Tour through Sicily and Malta, Let. 6.
[70] See Directions for bringing over seeds and plants from the
East-Indies, by J. Ellis, F. R. S. &c. in which particular directions
are given, both to choose the proper seeds, and to preserve them
in the best manner for vegetation. See also the Naturalist’s and
traveller’s companion, containing instructions for discovering and
preserving objects of natural history, SECT. III. We may observe
here, that the best method of bringing over the parts of flowers
intire is to put them in bottles of spirit of wine, good rum, first
runnings, or brandy. In the directions, &c. above-mentioned the
learned naturalist has not recommended this easy method of preserving
the parts of fructification; but in a future edition, I am informed
he purposes to do it. Flowers of the Illicium Floridanum, or starry
anniseed tree, published in the last volume of Philosophical
Transactions (LX.) were sent to him in this manner.
In a paper by John Sneyd, Esq. inserted in the Transactions of the
Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Vol. XVI. p. 265, a method
of preserving seeds is related, which appears to have been highly
successful; this is merely by packing up seeds in absorbent paper,
and surrounding the same by raisins, or brown moist sugar; which,
by experiment, seems to afford that genial moisture requisite to
preserve the seeds in a state fit for vegetation.
Thouin, in his directions to the unfortunate navigator Pèrouse,
recommends the seeds to be placed “in alternate layers of earth or
sand, in tin boxes, which must be closed up exactly, and placed in
solid cases, which should be covered with waxed cloth; the boxes
should be put in a part of the ship the least accessible to moisture,
and the most sheltered from extreme heat or cold.” Vol. I. p. 278.
[71] “The carrying of trees cannot be done, with any hope of success,
except in boxes, wherein they may vegetate during the voyage. For
this purpose it is necessary to have a box forty inches long by
twenty broad, and as much in depth, with a dozen holes bored through
the bottom, for the superabundant water to run off. Its upper part
must be composed of a triangular frame, upon which lattice work of
iron wire must be fitted, with glazed frames and window shutters,
to keep up a free circulation of air, encrease the warmth when
necessary, and keep out the cold.” Pèrouse’s Voyage, Vol. I. p. 283.
[72] Another method has succeeded with some North American seeds, by
putting them into a box, not made too close, upon alternate layers of
moss, in such a manner as to admit the seeds to vegetate, or shoot
their small tendrils into the moss. In the passage, the box may be
hung up at the roof of the cabin; and, when arrived here, the seeds
should be put into pots of mold, with a little of the moss also about
them, on which they had lain. This method has procured us seeds in
a state fit for vegetation, which had often miscarried under the
preceding precautions; and therefore might be tried at least with Tea
and other oriental seeds. In order to succeed more certainly, some
of the Tea seeds, in whatever manner they may have been preserved,
should be sown when the vessel arrives at St. Helena, and also after
passing the tropic of Cancer, near the latitude of 30 degrees North.
[73] The high price of labour in this country may prove the principal
objection to this prospect. In China provisions are very cheap.
Osbeck says, that a workman who lives upon plucking of Tea-leaves,
will scarce be able to get more than one penny a day, which is
sufficient to maintain him. Voyage to China, Vol. I. p. 298.
[74] The following extract from Gerard’s Herbal, p. 780. ed. 1636.
though foreign to the subject of this Essay, is so curious, that
it may not be deemed improper to transcribe it. “Potatoes grow in
India, Barbarie, Spaine, and other hot regions, of which I planted
diuers rootes (that I bought in the Exchange in London) in my garden,
where they flourished untill winter, at which time they perished and
rotted.” At this date, he adds, “they were roasted in the ashes;
some, when they be so roasted, infuse them, and sop them in wine;
and others, to give them the greater grace in eating, do boile them
with prunes, and so eate them. And likewise others dresse them (being
first roasted) with oile, vinegar, and salt, every man according to
his own taste and liking.”
“These rootes (he observes) may serue as a ground or foundation
wheron the cunning confectioner, or sugar-baker, may worke and frame
many comfortable delicate conserves, and restorative sweete meates.”
In 1664 J. Foster published his “England’s Happyness increased by a
Plantation of Potatoes,” 4to.
“Captain Hawkins is said to have brought this root from Santa Fè, in
New Spain, A. D. 1565. Sir Walter Rawleigh soon after planted it on
his lands in Ireland; but, on eating the apple, that it produced,
which is nauseous and unwholesome, he had nearly consigned the whole
crop to destruction. Luckily the spade discovered the real potatoe,
and the root became rapidly a favourite eatable. It continued,
however, for a long time to be thought rather a species of dainty
than of provision; nor, till the close of the 18th century, was it
supposed capable of guarding the country where it was fostered, from
the attacks of famine.” Andrews’s History, Vol. I. p. 408. Comp.
Mocquet’s Travels, p. 54.
Shakespeare, very early also in this century, mentions this root in
the Merry Wives of Windsor, one edition of which, in 4to. was printed
in 1619. Vide Scene III. Falstaff.
[75] Compare Joh. Ludov. Hannemane de potu calido in Miscell. curios.
Simon Paulli de abusu Theæ et Tabaci. Tissot on the diseases of
literary and sedentary persons, &c. with Waldsmick in Disput. var.
argum. &c.
[76] See Percival’s Experimental Essays, p. 119, et seq. wherein many
ingenious experiments and observations are related.
[77] In this experiment, four ounces of infusion were drawn from two
drachms of each kind of Tea, and one grain of sal martis added to the
respective infusions.
See Neumann’s Chemistry by Lewis, page 377. Short, on the Nature and
Properties of Tea, p. 29. The first author I have met with, that
tried this experiment, was J. And. Hahn, who wrote in the year 1722.
De herbæ exoticæ Theæ infuso, ejusque usu et abusu, Erford, 4to.
Though it should be premised, that Nic. de Blegny, who published his
work, intituled, _Le bon usage du Thé_, &c. in 1680, takes notice of
the astringency of Tea, from which quality he deduces many of its
virtues. Vid. Act. Eruditor. V. vi. page 49. Ann. 1688.
[78] J. Andr. Hahn takes notice also of the odour of the water
distilled from Tea.
[79] The same author prepared an extract from this Tea, though in a
less proportion than my experiment afforded, or what Neumann relates
from his.
[80] Theæ infusum, nervo musculove ranæ admotum, vires motrices
minuit, perdit. Smith, Tentamen inaugurale de actione musculari.
Edinburgh, p. 46. Exper. 36.
[81] Two drachms of this odorous water were given to a delicate
person. He was soon after affected with a nausea, sickness, general
lowness, and debility, which continued for some hours, which he
observes usually follows the use of superfine green Tea.
Smelling forcibly at the same has occasioned similar effects upon
some delicate people. Dr Blegny, who wrote in 1680, attributes
considerable virtues to this fragrant odour, which he recommends to
be breathed into the lungs, where it acts as a sedative, according
to his own relation, producing sleep, and relieving pains of the
head. 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.
[82]
Arboribus primum certis gravis umbra tributa est
Usque adeo, capitis faciant ut sæpe dolores,
Si quis eas subter jacuit prostratus in herbis.
Est etiam in magnis Heliconis montibus arbos
Floris odore hominem tetro confueta necare.
LUCRETIUS, B. 6.
[83] Vol. I. p. 282. Ed. 2.
[84] In some parts of Scotland the common people give children large
draughts of sugar and water to destroy worms. See also Boerhaav.
Elem. Chemiae, Tom. II. p. 160. Historisch Verhaal. &c. inde
Voorreeden Bezoar. London, 1715, 8vo. Slare de Sacchar. et lapid.
Van. Swieten Commen. v. V. p. 586. Duncan, in his Avis Salutaire,
frequently introduces sugar as an agreeable poison, though he offers
no proof in support of this epithet. Dr. Robertson, in his History of
Charles V. Vol. I. p. 401, 8vo. observes, that “some plants of the
Sugar-cane were brought from Asia; and the first attempt to cultivate
them in Sicily was made about the middle of the 12th century. From
thence they were transplanted into the southern provinces of Spain.
From Spain they were carried to the Canary and Madeira Isles, and at
length into the New World. Ludovico Guicciardini, in enumerating the
goods imported into Antwerp, about the year 1560, mentions the sugar
which they received from Spain and Portugal as a considerable article
of import. He describes that as the product of the Madeira and Canary
islands. Deseritt. de Paesi Bassi, p. 180, 181. The sugar-cane was
either not introduced into the West-Indies at that time, or the
cultivation of it was not so considerable as to furnish an article
in commerce. In the middle ages, though Sugar was not raised in such
quantities, or employed for so many purposes, as to become one of the
common necessaries of life, it appears to have been a considerable
article in the commerce of the Italian States.” It is, however, well
ascertained, that the Sugar Cane is indigenous to South America, and
the West Indies. Moseley on Sugar, p. 29.
[85] Granger’s Sugar Cane, 4to. p. 109. See also p. 9.
Dulces bibebant ex arundine succos. LUCAN.
Μελι καλαμινον το λεγομενον σακχαρι. ARRIAN.
[86] Whytt’s Works, 4to. p. 642.
[87] From these instances of the deleterious effects of Tea, one
might be led to suppose that the same unhappy consequences would
frequently attend those who are employed in examining and mixing
different kinds of Tea in China; but there the Teas are mixed under
an open shed, through which the air has a free current, by which the
odour and the dust are dissipated: but in London this business is
usually done in a back room, confined on every side.
[88] Van Swieten, in his Commentaries on Boerhaave’s aphorisms,
speaks of the effects of Tea and Coffee in the following manner.
“Vidi plurimos, his potibus diu abusos, adeo enervatum corpus
habuisse, ut vix languida membra traherent, ac plures etiam apoplexia
et paralysi correptos suisse.” Tom. III. § 1060, p. 362, de paralysi.
[89] Vide Trattato di Medicina preservation: Scritto da Carlo
Gianella. Veron. 1751. p. 112. Simon Pauli, who took a pleasure in
opposing the use of Tea, indulges himself with the irony of the
following lines:
_Drinct Wiin and warff_,
_Drinct Beer and verdarff_,
_Drinct Waater and starff_:
Or;
Drink Wine, and profit;
Drink Beer, and grow thin;
Drink Water, and die.
[90] See Du Halde’s history of China, V. III. p. 362. He observes
here, that bleeding is not entirely unknown amongst the Chinese.
[91] The late Owen Salusbury Brereton, Esq. a gentleman well known
among the learned, had in his possession a MS. dated “apud Eltham,
mense Jan. 22, Hen. viij.” intituled, “Articles devised by his
Royal Highness (the title of Majesty was not given to our Kings
till a reign or two after), with Advice of his Council, for the
Establishment of good Order and Reformation of sundry Errors and
Misuses in his Household and Chambers.” In p. 85, “The queen’s maids
of honour to have a chet loaf, a manchat, a gallon of ale, and a
chine of beef, for their breakfasts.” Compare the Archæologia,
published by the Society of Antiquaries of London, Vol. III. p. 157.
Hume’s History of England, Vol. IV. p. 499. Historia delle cose
occorse nel regno d’Inghilterra in materia del Duca di Notomberlan
dopo la morte di Odvardo vi. Venice, 1538.
[92] Philosophical Transactions, Vol. LX. 1770. p. 368, & seq.
[93] Sistens Observationes ad vires Theæ pertinentes. Lugd. Batav.
1769.
[94] See Anson’s Voyage round the World, 8vo. p. 366, and many later
authorities.
[95] See likewise Du Halde’s History of China, Vol. II. p. 75, 130,
et seq. Les Lettres Curieuses et Edifiantes des Jesuites.
[96] Milton’s Paradise Lost.
[97] Vid. Alex. Rhod. Sommaire, &c. J. N. Pechlin. Obs. xxvii. de
Remed. Arthr. Prophylact. p. 276. Baglivius in doloribus calculosis
et podagricis eam specialiter commendavit, p. 117. Vogel. Mat. Med.
Thee Folia. Sir G. Staunton, Vol. II. p. 68, 69.
[98] By long boiling, water is certainly freed from some of the
earthy and saline substances it may contain, and thereby rendered
considerably softer; but it is by no means altered in these respects
by infusing with Tea. See Percival’s Experiments and Observations on
Water, p. 27 et 33.
[99] This is particularly remarked, as one of the good effects of
Tea, by De Blegny, who wrote in 1680, which he probably copied from
Alex. Rhod. Sommaire des divers Voyages, &c. printed in 1653. See
also Chamberlayn on Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate, p. 40. Le Compte’s
Memoirs and Observations, p. 227. Home’s Principia Medicinæ, p. 5.
Cheynæi Tractatus, p. 89. Percival’s Experimental Essays, p. 130.
Tissot on the Diseases of Literary and Sedentary persons, p. 145, &
seq. Dr. Kirkpatrick, in his notes upon this Work, relates the case
of a Lawyer, who had been troubled for some time with the gravel and
stone, and taken many medicines in vain; till at length he resolved
to try the effects of Tea, an account of which is given by himself
in the following words. “I had never used myself to Tea, so that
the drink was new to me. I took a quarter of an ounce of fine bohea
Tea, and, pouring a quantity of boiling water upon it, suffered the
infusion to stand till it grew cold. I then poured it off clear,
and drank three cups of it in the morning, at the distance of about
an hour between each, two cups fasting, one after breakfast, and
a fourth two hours after dinner. The first day, the only effect
produced was a more plentiful discharge of urine; but the second day
I voided in the morning twelve large fragments, a nucleus of the size
of a small pea, with some gravel; and what gave me more satisfaction
was, that the use of the Tea kept my body open as in perfect health.”
[100] See Percival’s Experimental Essays, p. 126. Duncan, in his Avis
Salutaire, takes occasion to be merry upon the use and influence of
Tea and hot liquors; whilst he would not deprive voluptuous persons
of their idol, he would prevent it from burning its adorers, as
_Moloch_ did. Methuselah, he observes, who lived near 1000 years, was
a water-drinker; but, since the time of Noah, the first wine-drinker,
the life of man is contracted, and diseases augmented.
[101] See Dr. Walker’s excellent Remarks, in Memoirs of the Medical
Society, Vol. II. p. 43.
[102] Essays on Husbandry, p. 166.
[103] Vol. I. p. 202, and 299.
[104] If we include the quantity smuggled into this kingdom, the
consumption might be calculated at half a million more.
[105] Compare Sir George Staunton’s Embassy, vol. I. p. 22.
* * * * * *
Transcriber’s note:
The change noted in the ERRATUM at the end of the book has been
applied to the etext.
In the original text the latin and english botanical descriptions
were placed side by side in two columns. In this etext the english
description has been indented and placed under the latin one.
(Part I Section I and Section VIII).
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in
the public domain.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 8: ‘ .147’ replaced by ‘p. 147’.
Pg 35: ‘earthern pots’ replaced by ‘earthen pots’.
Pg 51 Footnote [59]: ‘Iles d l’Amerique’ replaced by
‘Iles de l’Amerique’.
Pg 65 Footnote [81]: ‘head-ach’ replaced by ‘head ache’.
Pg 75: ‘head ach’ replaced by ‘head ache’.