has been a national beverage for millions of people in the
central portions of South America for several centuries.

With the exception of Mate, not one of the above named
substitutes for Chinese tea contains the peculiar nerve
stimulating and nerve refreshing constituent upon which depends
the physiological value of Black or Green tea, the Theine: nor do
they possess the characteristic flavoring principle or essential
oil which distinguishes commercial teas from all other known
plant products. The Ledums are indeed accredited by Professor
James F. Johnson (Chemistry of Common Life) with stimulating and
narcotic properties, but the same may be said of tobacco.

A comforting, stimulating and healthful beverage, which has been
in habitual use by the most extensive nation of the globe for
more than a thousand years, and which has at length become a
necessity as well as a luxury for seven hundred millions of
people, or of a majority of the inhabitants of the earth, is
certainly worthy of more than the passing thought which
accompanies its daily use in the form of "cup of tea."

Douglass Jerriold, writing of tea, some 50 years ago, said:--
"Of the social influence of Tea upon the masses of the people in
this country, it is not very easy to say too much. It has
civilized brutish and turbulent homes, saved the drunkard from
his doom, and to many a mother, who else have indeed been most
wretched and forlorn, it has given cheerful, peaceful thoughts
that have sustained her. Its work among us in England and
elsewhere, aye, throughout the civilized world, has been
humanizing and good. Its effect upon us all has been socially