from _Pontus_ and _Rome_, we ceased to bring it from these Places, and wisely used our own. _Hoffman_, in _Lib. 2. de Med. Offic._ §. 5. tells us, "That these _European_ Mountains which are most exposed to a free Air, produce the wild or common _Wormwood_; whereas, those of the _Pontic_ and _Roman_ Kinds, are only to be found in Gardens." But how opposite is our Conduct with respect to _Tea_, which, at great Expence and Trouble, we bring from _Asia_, when large Quantities of it are produced in _Europe_? It is certainly unaccountable, and an unpardonable Folly, for a Man, who is rich at Home, to go Abroad and beg: Now, we are equally foolish, for despising that Plenty we have at Home, and purchasing, at a great Price, the _Chinese Tea_, when its Virtues are almost destroyed, as I shall afterwards demonstrate. Some Persons may, perhaps, reject my Sentiments, unless they found an exact Agreement between the Decoctions of _Chinese_ and _Tartarian Tea_, and the _Chamelæagnus_, in Colour, Taste, Smell, and other Qualities; and I doubt not in the least, but they would find this Agreement, provided our _Chamelæagnus_ was gathered at a proper Season, treated in the same Manner with the _Chinese Tea_, and prepared in the Method used by them. I would have tried Experiments of this Kind, had not I wrote this Treatise in the _Winter_ Season; but I thought a Delay of its Publication might be attended with bad Consequences; since all _Europe_ has large Sums of Money annually drained from it by the _Asiatic Tea_, I therefore obtest, not only all Physicians, but also others, fairly to examine, whether my Sentiments and Reasonings on this Particular are true, or only probable; for most Truths, according to _Cicero_, have the Disadvantage to be blended with Falshood and Error. But some Persons may say I advance many Things without establishing any. I own it is so; for I am like the Images of _Mercury_ set up by the Highways of the Antients, which pointed out the Road to others, without ever entering it themselves. Perhaps practical Physicians may blame me for making the _Chamelæagnus_ a Succedaneum for the _Chinese Tea_; since it is sufficiently known that the former greatly affects the Head. I own, indeed, I am subject to Error and Mistake, as well as other Mortals: But I would have these Physicians consider, that _Trigautius_ and _Rhodius_ affirm, that the Leaves of _Tea_ resemble those of the _Myrtle_. Now, the Leaves of the _Chamelæagnus_, when arrived at their full Growth in the _Summer_, are so like those of the _Myrtle_, except that these last are crenated at the Points, that the one cannot be distinguished from the other. They also produce an Effect similar to those of the _Myrtle_; we must therefore compare the _Chinese Tea_, the true _Myrtle_, and the _Chamelæagnus_, with one another, in order, from this Comparison, to ascertain and determine the Virtues and Faculties of the Leaves of each of them. The Virtues