retarded in its cure, if not confirmed in the constitution, by the
power of secretion being weakened, India teas are the most dangerous
that can be possibly used as a general beverage. By too much dilating
the canals, the concussive force of the sides is increased, which
destroys the oscillatory motion, and thus are the secretions altered
and disturbed; and as the action of medicines consists in removing
impediments to the equal motion of the fluids, the greater care should
be taken to abstain from all food or drink that may increase those
impediments. That India teas not only increase but occasion such evils
is evident, from their having been experienced to relax the tone and
reduce the consistence of the solids. As the powers of secretion depend
upon the just equilibrium of force between the solids and the liquids,
the latter must, in the above instance, make a greater _impetus_ upon
one part than another, from which proceeds that morbid state so justly
and emphatically termed Disease. Thus, according to the learned
Boerhaave, to heal is to take away the disease from the body; that is,
to remove and expel the causes which hinder the equal motion or
transflux. Medicines, he says, are those mechanical instruments by
which an artist may remove the causes of the balance being destroyed,
and thus re-instate the lost equilibrium of solids and liquids. He
therefore concludes, that a medicine supposes a flowing of the humours
or liquids; that it operates mechanically; that it acts only mediately;
that its good or bad effects depend entirely on the bulk, motion, and
figure of the acting particles, and that the destruction of the balance
must be deduced from the solids. So that, as it has been found that the
solids are wasted and impaired by the constant use of India tea, the
chief cause of disease, in general, may be attributed to such a
pernicious custom; even the properties which he ascribes to medicines
are in direct opposition to what have been found to be the prevailing
effects of teas imported into Europe. It is consequently evident, that
the drinking of this injurious tea being not only, in its operation,
productive of disease in its general sense, but also repugnant to the
salutary operation of medicine, it is the most dangerous beverage that
can be generally taken; for it appears, from the above consideration,
that its pernicious effects are not confined to any system of
disorders; it is found inimical to the first pri