DRINKABLES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR'] Sin,—In support of Dr. Aldridge's statements, though not neces- sarily in opposition to all yours, let me mention the following facts. Taking shelter in a cottage, near Banbridge, county Down, some time ago, during a shower of rain, and noticing the teapot on the hob, I observed that tea stewed in that way did a great deal of harm. The woman who lived in the cottage at once admitted that the parish doctor had said, "the folks were killing themselves with tea," and that it caused him more trouble than anything else. A few days ago a gentleman, just come up to town, was mentioning that the poor people in his neighbourhood suffered dreadfully from tic.' I replied that this was a disease often caused, I believed, by excessive tea-drinking. "Indeed," he answered ; "well, I must say, they do take immense quantities of tea." You refer to the Chinese. I have been toll by a gentle- man long resident in China that they would be astonished at the strength of the tea drunk by the English. A medical man in large practice said to me recently he would give anything to know what to order his patients to take instead of the Chinese infusion. Doubtless tea, like other things, may disagree with some people, and do little or no harm to others. And it is most difficult, as you truly say, to discover any good substitute. But while there is so much to prove it does serious harm in some cases, and while its "precise effect," as you observe, "on the system is still un- decided," will you not lend your powerful help (1) to advise all persons who drink it pretty freely, and suffer from any kind of ailment, to see if they are not relieved by at least temporary dis- continuance of its use ; and (2) to dissuade everybody, especially the poor, from stewing their tea on the hob, or keeping it long enough in the pot at any time, for the possibly poisonous acrid element to be extracted ? Milk, fresh or sour, is the best of all drinks in some form or other, and we should have it cheap enough under a better social system. Have not we heard, by the by, something of the wonderful qualities of " Koumiss," a kind of soured milk ? Can you, or your readers, tell us anything about [We have always protested warmly against the stewed tea,—
kitchen tea in fact. No tea should stand, if the water really boils, above two minutes, unless it is to be spoiled. But then it cannot be denied that such tea is expensive.—En. Spectator.]
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