the compound in ordinary circumstances is not obvious, but that it unquestionably exists and exerts itself in both tea and coffee is proven by the fact that both were originally met with among nations whose diet was chiefly vegetable. These facts clearly show in what manner tea proves to the poor a substitute for animal food, and why it is that females, literary persons and others of sedentary habits or occupation, who take but little exercise, manifest such a partiality for tea, and also explain why the numerous attempts made to substitute other articles in its place have so signally failed. TEA AS A STIMULANT. “Life without stimulants would be a dreary waste,” remarks some modern philosopher, which, if true, the moderate use of good tea, properly prepared and not too strong, will be found less harmful than the habitual resort to alcoholic liquors. The impression so long existing that vinous or alcoholic beverages best excite the brain and cause it to produce more or better work is rapidly being exploded, healthier and more beneficial stimulants usurping their place. But while the claims made in favor of the “wine cup” must be admitted, it cannot for a moment be denied that as excellent literary work has been accomplished under the influence of tea, in our own times, particularly when the poet, the essayist, the historian, the statesman and the journalist no longer work under the baneful influence of spirituous stimulants. Mantegaza, an Italian physiologist of high repute, who has given the action of tea and other stimulants careful study, confirms this claim by placing tea above all other stimulants, his enthusiasm for it being almost unbounded, crediting it with “the power of dispelling weariness and lessening the annoyances of life, classing it as the greatest friend to the man of letters by enabling him to work without fatigue, and to society as an aid to conversation, rendering it more easy and pleasant, reviving the drooping intellectual activity and the best stimulus to exertion, and finally pronouncing it to be one of the greatest blessings of Providence to man.”