STRONG TEA.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 17, Issue 17, 19 April 1895, Page 2

STRONG TEA.

«- That the continual use of strong tea | and improperly infused tea is seriously i harmful, baa long been known to exI perienced medical practitioners. A case reported from New York will illustrate j some of the dangers of the practice. The person of whom tha facts are recorded was a healthy young man of I 30. He was a total abstainer and a non-smoker. la November, 1892, having been up to that time a non-tea-drinker, he commenced the habit of taking half a pint of stroDg tea at noon, and a second half-pint at four o'clock. Those quantities he gradually increased until he was taking three full pints a day — a ridiculous quantity, it must be admitted. After continuing for six weeks he began to experience a ' mild tingling' in the right hand, which speedily extended up the forearm. Small ' bleds ' appeared on the fingers, the skin o( the body became unusually sensitive, and the heart's action feeble and irregular. The tea-drinking was thereupon stopped, and in six weeks, with suitable treatment, the patient became quite well. About 15 months later, baviog probably almost forgotten his former experience, the young man returned to his passion for strong tea. In less than a month hi 3 former symptoms, all the. more severe, and some new ones, began to appear. These were so manifestly due to the strong tea that it was again given up, and again cure resulted. The moral of the story ia that, however delightful a stimulator good tea, properly infused and taken in moderation, may be, its excessive use should be avoided, especially by those who have once shown susceptibility to its influence. — ' The Hospital/