p. 16 | TEA DRUNKENNESS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 12, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 19.

TEA DRUNKENNESS.

In the Quarterly Journal of Inebriety, Dr. James Wood tells us that out of 1,000 patients applying for treatment at the Brooklyn Central Dispensary, 100 exhibited symptoms pertaining directly to tea drunkenness, while many others were doubtless suffering more or less from it. The headache so frequently suffered by tea tasters, he attributes to the essential oil, a powerful poison, which gives to tea its peculiar aroma, and of which the tea contains three-fourths of one per cent. He says: “Some people are profoundly intoxicated by indulging in two cups of strong tea per day. . . . We find that an ounce of tea leaves used daily will soon produce poisonous symptoms. This amount will contain six grains of theine.” Of the one hundred cases of tea poisoning mentioned by Dr. Wood sixty-nine were women and thirty-one were men. Fifty-four drank two pints or less; thirty-seven, four pints or less, and nine, ten pints or less. The following symptoms were present in nearly all cases of tea intoxication: Hallucinations, nightmares, successive dreams, obstinate neuralgia, anxiety, a persistent sinking sensation in the epigastrium, prostration and general weakness, excitement and mental depression. The writer declares that tea poisoning is responsible for half of the headaches, and a large proportion of all cases of despondency, palpitation of the heart, giddiness, and allied symptoms. The injurious effects of tea are so well recognized by the natives of China that they do not use tea until it is a year old, thus allowing the essential oil partially to escape. Green tea contains more of the essential oil than black tea, which accounts for the fact that it is more productive of nervousness.

These facts should be a warning to all tea-drinkers. We have seen many cured of daily headaches and much nervousness by abandoning tea. Of course it was a struggle. The head ached harder for a few days, and the nerves were all on fire; but the result of perseverance in abstinence from the poison, and the grace of God in the soul, accomplish wonders. Give it up, and you will be better physically, mentally, spiritually.