The almost total absence of gouty and calculous diseases in China and Japan is claimed to be attributable to the constant and inveterate use of tea by the inhabitants of these countries, in confirmation of which Prout says: “Persons of a gouty or rheumatic nature, and, more especially, those prone to calculous diseases, will find tea the least objectionable article of common drink, but should use it without the addition of sugar and only very little milk. When the water is hard, the addition of a small quantity of carbonate of soda will improve the flavor of the tea at the same time, rendering it a more proper beverage for persons so affected, but should not be taken by them for at least four hours after any solid meal, the addition of the alkali serving to increase the action of the skin as well as to augment its cooling and refreshing properties in the fullest degree.” Dr. Smith alleges that “tea promotes all vital actions, the action of the skin particularly being increased and that of the bowels lessened, the kidney secretions are also affected, and the urine, perhaps, somewhat diminished, the latter being uncertain.” Other recent authorities agreeing that the direct effect of tea upon the human system is to increase the assimilation of food, both of the heat-giving and flesh-forming kinds, and that with an abundance of food it promotes nutrition, while in the absence of sufficient food it increases the waste of the tissues and body generally. An infusion of cold tea has been known to check violent retching and vomiting, while a very hot one will prove beneficial in severe attacks of colic and diarrhœa, having a specific action on the kidneys and urine. An application of infused tea leaves will subdue inflammation of the eyes produced by cold or other causes, but should be applied only and allowed to remain over night; and people who travel much will find a supply of tea a valuable accompaniment, as it is found to improve the taste and counteract the effects of the most brackish water, proving efficient also in preventing the dysenteric and diarrhetic results produced by the frequent and extreme changes of drinking waters. It is for the purpose of qualifying the water expressly that tea is so generally used in China, as very little good drinking water is to be met with in any part of that country.