The code of health and longevity, or, a general view of the rules and principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life / by John Sinclair.

Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet

Date:: 1844

Credit: The code of health and longevity, or, a general view of the rules and principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life / by John Sinclair. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

95/650 (page 71)

$ferred to all others for making tea *. Sir William Temple re- commends it, not only as a wholesome herb for common uses, but as serviceable in consumptive coughs, a draught every morning, of spring water with a handful of sage boiled in it, having in a month cured some very desperate ones f. It was for- merly considered highly serviceable in palsies, apoplexies, and cold rheumatic defluxions; and it has been remarked, that if it had come like tea, from some remote region, it would pro- bably have been equally prized:]:. Balm is another article, an infusion of which has been used for tea. The species of this herb, called by botanists the Me- lissa hortensis, or Garden Balm, is preferred for medicinal or dietetic purposes. As a medicine, it is reckoned cordial, and beneficial for all disorders in the head and nerves ; and even as tea, according to Miller, it is greatly esteemed. One or two examples, are not sufficient to establish any particular sys- tem ; but it is asserted, that John Hussey of Sydenham, in Kent, who lived to the age of 116, breakfasted for fifty years, on balm-tea, sweetened with honey ; and herb teas were the usual breakfast of Fluellyn, Prince of Glamorgan, who died in the 108th year of his age §, Infusions are also prepared, in the same manner as tea, from juniper-berries, aniseed, fennel, coriander, the leaves of be- tony, rosemary, and other herbs. These are drank either with or without sugar ||. Among other infusions, that of ginger has been strongly re- commended, more especially in gouty cases; and it is con- tended, that ginger tea, with a large addition of milk for break- fast, is preferable to Chinese tea as at present taken f. The best Barbadoes white ginger, should be powdered rough in a mortar, and a tea-spoonful taken in boiled milk, either to sup- per or breakfast. The quantity may afterwards be increased to two, or even three drachms **. 6. Coffee and its substitutes.—Among the various articles of foreign growth, introduced into general use in Europe-ff, there * Miller's Gardener's Diet. Salvia, f Hart's Diet of the Diseased, p. 56. \ Easton on Longevity. § Vide Appendix. Sage Tea. II It is said that the flowers of the Linden tree (the lime, tilea europea), are used at Pans instead of tea, more especially by ladies subject to headachs jPinkerton s Recollections of Paris, vol. i. p. 233. t Manual of Health, p. 311. ** See Appendix of Receipts. T -t^ Lord Bacon is the first Author who mentions coffee. In his History of Lite and Death, (see the chapter on the Operation upon the Spirits, No. 25,$