HARDWICKE'S 



SCIENCE. GOSSIP. 



2GU 



the Tea will be found to be reuiform in shape ; but 

 in the Sloe partakin^ of the more typical shape of 

 semilunar form. Of these pores I may just here say, 

 that they can be very easily observed, if a very 

 thin piece of the skin of either of the leaves be cut 

 off,. and then placed on a glass with a very little 

 •water, under the microscope. 



Fig:. 173. Leaf of Thea Boheu (Black Tea). 



Still again I might as well observe that even in 

 a chemical sense the Sloe is eminently fitted as a 

 substitute ; for, excepting that it does not possess 

 the active principle of tea,— theine, it can, in the pro- 

 portions of all its other principles, be said to form 



Fig. 174. Leaf ot Thea viridis (Green Tea). 



a very near approximate. So to this, as well as its 

 physiologicalstrueture, and especially of its general 

 outline, may be attributed in a great measure, no 

 doubt, the success with which its illicit use has 

 been, and doubtless still is, carried on, if not, per- 



haps, in the now absolute employment of it as a 

 substitute, still in the less detectable, though none 

 the less positive, way of an adulterant. 



Besides the Sloe, we have the leaves of other 

 British plants which may here be mentioned, as 

 having been used in substitution of, and to adulterate 

 with, the true Tea. Among others which could be 

 named, are those of the Strawberry and the Sage. 

 Still none of these, 1 believe, have been found so 

 well adapted for the purpose, chemically and 

 botanically, as that of the Sloe. I have somewhere 

 read or heard too of the leaves of the Ilosebay 

 Willow-herb {Epilobium angustifolium) having been 

 employed for similar purposes. "From the result 

 of a Parliamentary investigation in 1835," says 

 Professor Burnett, " it appears that upwards of 

 four million pounds of fictitious tea are on an 

 average commonly made in this country, and used 

 to mix with that brought here from China. Within 

 a few years this illicit practice, which had previously 

 been carried on by stealth, was attempted to be 

 legalized by taking out a patent for the prepara- 

 tion of British leaves as a substitute for tea, and an 

 extensive manufactory established for this purpose." 

 But the purchasing of this prepared leaf for the 

 purpose of mixing with the tea sold as Chinese 

 very soon got noised abroad, so was consequently 

 suppressed, and large quantities detected in the 

 progress of manufacture were destroyed. But for 

 my own part, I would prefer any of these articles 

 of British industry to any adulteration formed of a 

 hotch-potch of catechu, sand, graphite, &c. &c., 

 which have been and are still used by the 

 fraudulent and dishonest trader for the low pur- 

 poses of gain. And I think, as it has now become 

 a somewhat contestable point among some cliemists 

 as to whether the whole of the active principle of 

 tea is really imparted to water or not, whether yet 

 the Sloe, or some other of our Britisli plants, may 

 not, after all, be found at some future time taking 

 the place of that most cheering and non-inebriating 

 beverage— Chinese tea. 



The idea of skeletonizing some of these leaves 

 (Tea and Sloe) has long since been entertained by 

 me, but I fear, from the amount of tannin they 

 contain, that it will be a task very difficult of accom- 

 plishment. John Haiuuson. , 



" In the deepest gloom, where the trees shut out 

 the sun, myriads of lights flit about, and twinkle 

 like little stars. They flash here and there, and 

 you might fancy that troops of fairies were carrying 

 torches in their hands. But there are no fairies in 

 the case; the lights are only the torches of the 

 fire-flies that live in the recesses of the wood, and 

 every night make a kind of illumination among the 

 trees." — Klrhys " Beautiful Birds, i|r."_, 



