The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-27
TEA AS AN INTOXIOANT.
Tipplers Who Find in 1t a Substitute
for Alcohol.

for Alcohol.
No longer, it appears, may we speak Of
tea as the cup which cheers, but does not
inebriate, says the New York Tribune. 1t
may, indeed, still cheer. 1t certainly does
inebriate with most deplorable effects
ranking, as an intoXicant, a good second
to alcohol itself. Many lay observers have
long suspected that such was the case.
Their suspicious are now confirmed by pro-
fessional authorities in manner so start
ling as to make it seem desirable that con-
certed action should be taken to check the
evil. To some, perhaps, the idea of tenn
perance crusade against the teapot will APP
pear grotesque. Yet, in all seriousness,
that very thing is urgently needed.
According to statistics recently furnished
to the Medical News by DR.. James Wood
of Brooklyn, of all the patients applying
for treatment at the chief dispensary OF
that city no less than 10 per cent are tea
drunkards. They are not aware of the
fact No one asks to be cured of what we
may call theamania. But the symptoms
of their cases point Enthusiastically to over
indulgence in tea and that presumption on
inquiry is confirmed by their confessions.
They suffer from headache, vertigo, in
somnia, palpitation of the heart, mental
confusion, Nightmares, nausea, hallucin-
atoms, morbid depression of spirits, and
sometimes from suicidal impulses, surely
formidably list of symptoms. These
patients are of both sexes and all
ages, and confess drinking from
a pint and half to fifteen pints OF tea
each day. Another interesting fact is that
nearly one-third of them are of Irish birth,
and it is safe to assume that of the nearly
two-thirds of American birth large pro-
portion are of Irish parentage. For In Ire
land itself tea-poisoning has long been rec
ogniZed as q widely prevalent evil, con-
tributing largely to the number of inmates
of insane asylums, and here, as most
housekeepers know, the most inveterate
and inordinate tea-drinkers are the domes
tic servants of Irish origin. 1t is an inter
esting question, worthy of investigation,
whether this prevalence OF tea intoxication
among that race IS because they use tea
more freely than other people, or because
their nervous temperament is more sus-
ceptible to its effects.
The evil of tea-drinking is due, however,
not only to the amount consumed, but also
to the manner in which it is prepared. An
unmeasured quantity of the leaves, says
DIR. Wood, is thrown into the teapot and
an unmeasured quantity of boiling water
added. In any time from ten to thirty
minutes this infusion is used. Then new
leaves are thrown in with the old, which
have been left to soak, and more water is
added, and so on. Sometimes leaves are
thus kept soaking for day or more. The
result is that the decoction is loaded, not
only with them, but with from to II per
cent of tannin, and with other even more
deleterious substances. This form of prep
aration is almost universal among kitchen
servants and among shop and factory girls,
who also are great tea-drinkers, and is too
often practiced among other people of
small means, who do not wish to waste a
single leaf so long as there is any strength"
in it.
Against this particular phase of the evil
crusade may well be directed Tea
drinkers should be taught how to prepare
the beverage properly, so that it will be
comparatively innocuous, and should be
warned that such decoctions as they are
making are nothing else than rank poisons
Physicians doubtless give such advice to
their patients whom they find suffering
from tea intoxication. But the mistress of
the household should give it to her domes-
! tics and enforce it upon them, too; and the
city missionary and dispenser of charity
among the poor should make the same
facts known to all whom they visit. This
is no light matter. There is serious reason
to believe that many cases of suicide and
insanity are directly due to tea poisoning,
while the number of chronic invalids from
the same cause in this CITY alone are to be
reckoned by thousands. 1t is high time
for the evil to be recognized and checked.