1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

298

Kola is said to be a cure for drunkenness,

a tonic.

and to sober an inebriate in an hour s time ; but woe be to him if he returns to his evil courses for three or four days — ^his punishment will be equal to sea-sick- ness. There is a new product, about which, at present, very little is known in Europe, This is the Cattia edulis, which is said to be similar in its properties to Mat6, Cuca, and Kola, in maintaining animal strength for a time, in the absence of food. It has been used by the natives of Arabia and Abyssinia for centuries. The plant is a shrub with lanceolate leaves of an olive- green colour, and it flourishes in Africa between 15** N. and 30° S. latitude, but it is chiefly cultivated in Arabia, especially in the province of Yemen. From Aden it is exported to the north-east of Africa, and the coasts of Somali land. The leaves are either chewed or infused like tea, and their sustaining vir- tues have recently been tested by M. Leloups, a French therapeutist. He employed not only the infusion, but the tincture, and an extract of the leaves, finding them all to produce wakefulness and banish fatigue. No definite alkaloid has yet been obtained from the

leaves.

may give the following list of substi-

In conclusion I

tutes for Chinese Tea and Mate.

Name of Plant.

Where collected and used.

Popular Name.

Arabia.

j Cattia edulis. t Cattia Spinosa. Sageretia theezans.

Arabian Tea.

Abyssinia.

Unnamed.

China.

New Jersey Tea.

CeanothusAmericanus.

N. America.

trnnamed.

Psoralea glandulosa.

Chili.