In order to determine that dubious and perplexing Question, Whether the _Tea_ of the _Chinese_ is an Herb, or a small Shrub? It is necessary I should previously enquire, whether it is only produced in _Asia_, or whether any of it is also to be found in _Europe_; as also which of the _European_ Plants is the most proper Succedaneum to it? In these Disquisitions, I must, therefore, have recourse to the Suffrages of the before-quoted Authors. But I must here advise all Physicians to divest their Minds of Prejudice, and carefully peruse _Hippocrates_'s Treatise _de Aere, Aquis, & Locis_, by which they will be informed, how much _Airs_, _Waters_, and _Soils_, agree, or disagree, and what proportionable Variations, or Alterations, these Agreements, or Differences are capable of producing. The celebrated _Hoffman_, in _Lib. 2. de Medicament. Officinalibus, Cap. 15._ when speaking of the _Myrtle_, tells us, "That we are carefully to attend to the native Soil and Climate of a Plant, by which it is rendered either better or worse, in consequence of which, its Faculties and Virtues will not be the same in different Countries." This Doctrine I have everywhere inculcated in my _Quadripartitium_, but especially in the Histories of _Betony_, _Carduus Benedictus_, _Scurvy-Grass_, _Marsh Trefoil_, _Dragons_ and _Squills_. My Design in advancing this is, to shew the Probability of the Production of _Tea_, not only in the Kingdoms of the _East Indies_, such as _China_, _Japan_, _Chian_, _Nanquin_, and _Cham_; but also, according to the Conjecture of _Trigautius_, in the _European_ Woods and Forests: And I am the more inclined to this Opinion, because the celebrated _Olearius_ informs us, that the _Tartars_ of _Uzbeck_, who, according to _De Laet. in Descript. Persiæ_, _Cap. 1._ are separated from the _Persians_, wage War upon them, and export _Tea_ from _Cattajo_ into _Persia_: Besides, _Gulielmus Leyl_, a Gentleman, not only of Distinction, but also of untainted Veracity, informs me, in his Letter, that in _Java_ the greater, _Macassar_, and _Celibes_, he was told by the Inhabitants, that _Cha_ or _The_ grows in _China_ and _Catajo_; but that the best is, by the _Tartars_, exported from the latter of these Places, Now, it is sufficiently known, that _Tartary_, on account of the Elevation of the Pole, in many Respects, agrees with the _European_ Provinces, situated under the same Degree of Elevation; so that, it is by no means absurd to assert that many Trees, Shrubs, and Herbs, should thrive as well in these _Northern_ Provinces, as in _Tartary_, which, like them, is diversified with Precipices, Forests, Mountains, Pasture-Grounds, Vallies, and Rivers. In a word, as _Tulpius_ and _Trigautius_ think that neither _Tea_, nor its Use, were long known to the _Chinese_, because they had neither any antient Names for it, nor Hieroglyphics to express its Nature; I am more and more confirmed, that _Cha_, or _The_,