Nature's own book, or practical results of a vegetable diet, illustrated by facts and experiments of many years' practice / by A. Nicholson.

  • Nicholson, A.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Nature's own book, or practical results of a vegetable diet, illustrated by facts and experiments of many years' practice / by A. Nicholson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    17/98 (page 17)
    Tea and Coffee, what is their nature and what their effects1 Their nature is poison, and death their effects; as Graham terms them, antivital or Zi/e-destroying,—destroying instantly when taken strong, and coming in contact with the living tissue, of which we are told there are three general ones, the cellular, muscular, and nervous, composing the animal system, each tissue containing its own vital properties; so that when any deleterious substance comes in contact, they are immediately disturbed, the alarm is given through the system, and every force is rallied to repel the enemy ; if the poison be in a liighly concentrated form, either the nervous power becomes paralyzed and death is the immediate result, or violent reaction will ex- haust the vital properties, and destroy the constitution ox the tissues, and death comes in and ends the sufferings. This was clearly demonstrated by John Burdell, of New York, who made an experiment on rabbits, squirrels, and birds, by preparing a decoction of tea very strong. He applied one single drop to the tongue of each, and the rabbit lived about fourteen minutes, and some lived but seven ; the birds died in a minute and half or two minutes, the muscles contracting in the deadly struggle, and the mouth emitting froth. The tea and coffee were prepared by simply boiling them in a tin cup till very strong. Delirium tremens can be produced, and often is, by tea, and the poor victim may be a teetotaller, and wholly ignorant of the causes of this dreadful suffering, and often repeating the dose while the fit is on. The writer had a specimen of a fearful kind in the person of a woman residing in her house, who, when a headache commenced, took strong tea without cream or sugar, and went to her room ; in an hour she was screaming, calling for help, scratching upon the wall with wild and staring eyes,