NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 275 



Oct. Qth. 

 Mr. Vaux, Vice-President, in the Chair. 

 Twenty-two members present. 



Oct. 13 th. 



Mr. Vaux, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Twenty-six members present. 



Mr. Aubrey H. Smith stated that recently, in company with Dr. 

 Leidy and Mr. Charles E. Smith, he had found in a grove, in New Jersey, 

 about four miles out on the Camden and Atlantic Railroad, a well 

 grown, and perfect specimen of Quercus heterophylla. He also re- 

 marked that previously, in company with Dr. G-eorge Smith, he had 

 noticed a tree of the same kind, though not quite so well marked, in 

 Tinicum, Delaware Co., Pa. 



Mr. Durand made a communication, which was ordered to be pub- 

 lished, as follows : 



When false views pertaining to one ot the branches of the natural sciences 

 are spread before the public, either in good faith or with a view to speculation, 

 I consider it to be the duty of an institution like ours to interfere, and bring 

 the weight of its influence to counteract the diffusion of an error. 



A printed circular has been issued, emanating from a chartered company, 

 entitled " American Tea Company," and purporting to be an announcement 

 that the Chinese Tea-plant, or, a variety of it, has been found growing indigenous 

 in the mountainous districts of Pennsylvania. 



In this circular, which appears to be the programme of the originators of 

 the American Tea Company, these gentlemen declare that, " upon a thorough 

 investigation of the subject, they could not withhold their entire conviction 

 that this discovery of the Tea-plant, growing indigenously upon our own soil, 

 hardy, vigorous, and with a leaf of superior excellence, was not only a fact, 

 but look upon it a3 one of the most surprising bestowments ever vouchsafed 

 by Almighty God to the people of the United States !" 



This solemn assertion is countenanced by the following declaration of a 

 gentleman who, for about six years, held the responsible position of superin- 

 tendent and chief manager of the lands, in India, of the Assam Tea Company 

 of London and Calcutta. The following are his words : 



" Having been engaged, for several years, in the culture and manufacture of 

 tea, in the Valley of Assam, situated to the west of the province of Yunnau, 

 one of the principal tea-growing districts of China, I wrote an article on the 

 subject, which was published in the Agricultural Report of the U. S. Patent 

 Office for the year 1860. Since that time, several enterprising gentlemen, dis- 

 covering that the Tea-plant was indigenous to this country and growing in 

 wild profusion in the mountainous regions of Pennsylvania, called my attention 

 to the subject. At first I had some doubts as to the fact of its existence in this 

 climate ; but having been shown an excellent engraving of the plant and some 

 specimens of the dried leaves, I became convinced of its truth, and, on pro- 

 ceeding to the locality indicated, I found that my hopes and expectations were 

 more than realized. The existence of the Tea-plant in Pennsylvania is a fact ! It 

 grows indigenously, in the greatest luxuriance and abundance, in the places 

 that I have visited, limited, however, to those localities which afford the pe- 

 culiar soil indispensable to it, as it is the case in China, Assam and Japan " 



1863.] 



