Mr. Jon Hanway has raised the alarm bell against a new substance plaguing the land. According to Mr. Hanway, it's a very harmful drug that costs the country millions of dollars a year in work lost. It also contributes to a rising trade in the black market. It's extremely unhealthy. It ruins people's complexions, particularly the teeth, and probably destroys women's reproductive organs. What is this evil substance? Heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, tobacco? Guess again.
What's that? You've never heard of Jon Hanway? Maybe that's because his real name was Jonas Hanway, and he wrote about this toxic drug in 1756. What was he inveighing against? That well known poison that's been destroying the "stature and comeliness" of women ever since it came into widespread use in the West: tea.
No comments:
Post a Comment