119 



The President, ex officio. Dr. Ihne, Dr. Thomson, and Mr. Smfth, 

 were appointed delegates to confer with the other Societies, and carry 

 out the necessary arrangements. >< 



Dr. Dickinson exhibited specimens of Cocculus Platyphylliis, from 

 the forests of the Amazon, and Ceradia Furcata, from Africa, supposed 

 to yield the frankincense of Scripture. 



TWELFTH MEETING. 



Royal Institution. — 3rd May, 1852. 



J. B. YATES, Esq., F.S.A., &c., President, in the chair. 



Mr. H. S. Evans read a Paper, of which the following is an abstract: 

 entitled, 



THE TEAS OF COMMERCE, 

 THEIR MANUFACTURE AND SOPHISTICATION. 



After tracing the history of tea from its earliest legendary introduc- 

 tion as an article of diet amongst the Chinese, the author detailed the 

 various methods of cultivating, gathering, and preparing the tea hop for 

 use ; from which he concluded that the difference in colour and proper- 

 ties of the green and black teas of commerce arises from the peculiar 

 method of preparing the leaves, and not from any specific difference in 

 the plants from which the leaves are obtained. Thus, from the northern 

 districts of China, a tea is furnished to the dealers having a fine olive 

 green colour, while, from the southern districts, the leaf of the same 

 plant is so prepared as to furnish a tea having a rich brown-black 

 colour. In both cases the principle of drying is the same ; and, in fact, 

 there is but little apparent difference in the details of the process ; yet, 

 shght though the difference may appear, it is quite sufficient to account 



•On Thursday, the 22nd April, 1852, the contemplated Soiree wa« held under the 

 Presidency of J. B. Yates, Esq., at the Royal Institution. 



