Effect of Tea on the Skin.
If you place a few drops of strong tea upon a piece of iron, a knife blade, for instance, the tannate of iron is formed, which is black. If you mix tea with iron filings, or pulverized iron, you can make a fair article of ink. If you mix it with fresh human blood, it forms with the iron of the blood the tannate of iron. Take human skin and let it soak for a time in strong tea; and it will become leather. Now, when we remember that the liquids which enter the stomach are rapidly absorbed by the venous absorbents of the stomach, and enter into the circulation and are thrown out of the system by the skin, lungs, and kidneys, it is probable that a drink so common as tea, and so abundantly used, will have some effect. Can it be possible that tannin, introduced with so much liquid-producing respiration, will have no effect upon the skin? Look at the tea-drinkers of Russia, and Chinese, and the old women of America, who have so long continued the habit of drinking strong tea. Are they not dark colored and leather skinned?