THE BLESSED BEVERAGE."

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 61, 9 September 1905, Page 10

THE BLESSED BEVERAGE."

It canndt be too v widely known '"( writes the Lancet)' that ftot only ia theihe the most essential constituent of tea", 'b^t also that it is 1 almost as quickly sdluble in hot water as is Jftlgar. The making of <t!io infusion is therefore complete in a few' minutes, and only tea ad prepared is the "blessed beverage." The abuse of tea, like .the abuse of anything etee, is, of course, reprehensible, and the guilty person deserves all the unpleadant symptoms Which excessive tea-drink-ing or the drinking of strong, stewed tea sooner or later brings in its train. The ugc of plenty of .milk with tea. is a ■wise precaution, and must be I'egarded'as a sound physiologioal proceeding, pince the proteids of milk destroy astringency, and probably prevent the otherwise, irtjurioiu action of tannin 'on the mucous membrane of the stomarjh. Ih tho intestinal juice tho proteid.3 are separated, and the tannin probably combines ,With tho sodium salts. Ths immoderate driflkitig of tea is an unquestionable evil, but, on ths whole, we are inclined td think than, the evils of ten-drinking 'have been exaggerated. The real difficulty is to convince people that -a. lightly drawn infusion gives -them their moneys worth.

A West Bromwich Magistrate tells a story of a small dog, which, having been defeated by the butcher's ferocious bull terrier, collected half a dozen other dogs, and after feasting them on pieces of nient which it had stored up, lod them to the fray, and, with their aid, avenged his disgrace by thoroughly whipping the terrier,-