By way of Digression, I shall intreat every Lover of Truth, to throw the Leaves, (not the Shrub, Flowers, or Seeds) of the _European Chamelæagnus_, which, when dry, have no Scent upon live Coals, and do the same with an equal Quantity of _Chinese Tea_, tho' in different Rooms, and by the exact Resemblance of the Smell diffused by each, he will be convinced that the _Chamelæagnus_ is a Plant of the same Species with _Tea_.
I am not acquainted with all the Acts, Statutes, and Laws, of the different Cities of _Europe_, made for suppressing and preventing the Avarice and Exorbitance of Apothecaries; only in Upper and Lower _Germany_, a certain Fine is, by public Authority, laid upon the Apothecary who sells old and mouldy Herbs, or uses any Methods to make them appear good and fresh: Nay, it is customary, in some Provinces of _Germany_, publickly to burn such Herbs, Roots, Shrubs, or Plants as are bad, or suspected to be more than one Year old; lest the poorer Inhabitants should, like the Widow mentioned in _Luke_, Chap. viii. 43, spend all their Money upon Physicians, without being healed by any: But the Case is quite otherwise with _Tea_; for supposing it to be only one Year old, when it is put into the Ships at _China_, it must be double that Time, and often more, before it arrives to us. How great then is the Stupidity of us _Europeans_, who are never disgusted at the Avarice and Baseness of the _Asiatics_, though they should send us _Tea_ as old as the _Trojan_ War, whilst they use it fresh and good themselves? Besides, as the _Tea_-Leaves have no Smell, it is highly probable, that the _Asiatics_ have infused and macerated them, and then dried them a second Time for the Use of the _Europeans_; since, when chewed in the Mouth, they are resolved into a Kind of gross Powder. I am also of the Opinion of the celebrated _Wormius_, who thought it highly probable, that _Tea_-Leaves were either mixed with others, or had others intirely substituted in their stead. If we are at such Care and Pains to discharge and prohibit the Sale of old _European_ Plants, ought we not, with the same Rigour and Authority, to prohibit the Import of _Tea_ deprived of its Smell, and long ago dried and prepared for the Use of the _Chinese_? The Man would surely be ridiculous who should import into _Europe_ large Quantities of _Tobacco_, already cut small for the present Smoaking of the _Indians_, or _Americans_; or who should commend it on account of its unctuous Sulphur, or prefer it to large Pricks, made up hard and compact for the Sake of keeping; for cut _Tobacco_ after it has been kept some Months and become dry, loses all its Virtue, and is despised by a phlegmatic _European_. It is also obvious from what has been said, that after the _Chinese_ have toasted their _Tea_, they preserve it in close stopped Vessels, that it may not be corrupted, or too much dried by the Access of the Air: It is, therefore, the Duty of every _European_ to join in engaging the Legislature to put a Stop to this epidemical Evil, and prohibit the Abuse, not only of _Tea_, but also of _Tobacco_, since both of these, and _Coffee_, as I have before shewn, so enervate the _European_ Men, that they become incapable of propagating their Species, like _Eunuchs_, some of whom are highly salacious; but it is sufficiently known, that they are incapable of Procreation, tho' they emit something analogous to _Semen_. For this Reason, the _Turks_ perform Castration in a different Manner from the _Italians_, since the former cut off _Penis_, _Testicles_, and all; and the latter only the _Testicles_. The Curious may consult _Bartholinus Anatom. Reformat. Lib. 1._ at the End of which, they will be informed why, and when it happens, that Horses and Bulls procreate their respective Species after Castration: The _Turks_, therefore, lest their Eunuchs should provide them with a spurious Progeny, treat them in a far more inhuman Manner, than the _Italians_ do. Since we have mentioned the _Turks_, it will not be improper to observe, that the _Persians_, though salacious, are, nevertheless, generally impotent: For since, on account of _Polygamy_, which they have in common with the _Turks_, they have a numerous Progeny to be supported; when they copulate with their Wives and Whores, they are not so sollicitous to procure an Offspring, as, like the infamous _Onan_, to emit a vapid and unprolific Seed, which, on account of the _Coffee_ corrupted in their Veins, may, by a Person acquainted with Chymical Principles, be justly compared to the Lees of Wine, in a great Measure deprived of the volatile Salt and Sulphur of the Wine: Or it may be compared to that of the Eunuchs of other less brutal Nations; or that of the _Scythians_, who are by _Hippocrates_, in _Lib.