[Pg 1]
TEA 
AND THE
EFFECTS OF TEA DRINKING.
BY
W. SCOTT TEBB, M.A., M.D., Cantab., D.P.H.
Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry, Public Analyst to the
Metropolitan Borough of Southwark.
London:
T. Cornell & Sons, Commercial, Law and General Printers,
63, Borough Road, S.E.
[Pg 2]
In March, 1904, the Southwark Borough Council at the request of SirWilliam Collins gave permission for an inquiry to be made into theconstituents of tea in order to ascertain what injurious ingredientswere present, and if it were possible to obtain the characteristiceffects without subjecting tea-drinkers to any of the deleterioussymptoms. The subject will be seen to be of importance and I proposeto include a brief history of the use of the Tea plant, together witha general review of the experience gained by those best competent tojudge of the effects since its introduction of what has now come to beconsidered a necessity of life. In addition there are set forth theresults of examination of different samples of tea and the generalconclusions to which I have arrived.
What we call tea, is called by the Chinese tcha, tha, or te, and by theRussians tchai. The original English word was tee, at least this is thename used by Samuel Pepys one of the earliest to allude to the herb inthis country. Tee was afterwards altered to tay, as will be seen fromPope’s lines in the “Rape of the Lock.”
Soft yielding minds to water glide away
And sip, with nymphs, their elemental tay.
[Pg 3]
Or again,
Hear thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey
Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tay.
Some of the modern editions of Pope have altered the spelling at theexpense of the rhyme.
The tea-plant, Thea Sinensis, botanically speaking a close ally ofthe Camellia is in its natural state a tree which attains to 20 or 30feet in height. Under cultivation it remains a shrub from three tosix feet high. It grows in all tropical and sub-tropical countries,and roughly it takes the labour of one man a day to produce a poundof tea. The leaves—the only part of the plant used in commerce—varyfrom two to six inches long, are evergreen, lanceolate and serratedthroughout nearly the whole margin; the leaves are stalked and arrangedalternately on axis, the flowers somewhat resemble apple blossoms butare smaller.
The shrubs are planted in rows three or four feet apart and look likea field of currant or gooseberry bushes; at the end of the third yearthe bushes become large enough to allow of the first picking and in theeighth year the plant is cut down, when new shoots spring up from theold roots. In Ceylon and parts of India the first picking is in Marchand there may be as