234 INA T OHRRAIESS GLEINGE- Marcu, 1893. 
tively, the French are next with only -9; then the American with °6 ; 
the Dane with -2; and other European nations with a rapidly 
decreasing amount down to the Italian, who is presumably satisfied 
with ‘oot. 
The book is divided into three parts; the first, dealing with 
‘‘ Botany and Culture,”’ begins witha botanical description including 
a good figure of a shoot, and also sketches of the leaf and parts of the 
flower. Chapter II. tells of a few unproductive attempts at European 
cultivation, and gives a very brief account of the culture and the three 
yearly pickings in China. Then the preparation of green and black tea 
is described, the difference lying in the treatment of the leaves; the 
author expresses his belief in the view that the black owes its colour to 
the fermentation the leaves have undergone, to which is also due the 
much greater percentage of ammonia salts than in the green, the pro- 
portion being as 40 to13. Anyhow, as we readin chapter IV., teaisa 
delicious beverage, though liable to be spoilt inthe making; accordingly 
we are told howthey make it in China fide General Tcheng-Ki-Tong. In 
Japan they doit a little differently, and in France differently again ; 
the English method, which strikes us as infinitely superior to them all, is. 
not given. 
The physiological action includes not only the well-known effect 
on the nervous system, but also that on the circulation and 
respiration. 
The second part gives a useful account of its adulteration with 
leaves from other plants. Rough figures of transverse sections 
illustrate how by presence or absence of certain tissue elements and 
arrangements we can distinguish the true from the false. 
Part III. is chemical; it tells us what tea contains, and how the 
green and black varieties differ. The latter are usually much richer 
in the characteristic alkaloid caffein or thein, which M. Biétrie decides 
to consider as identical; several of the methods of estimating the 
alkaloid are described. The last part contains short diagnoses, so to 
speak, of a large number of ‘teas,’ with hints for distinguishing 
them by physical characters. 
We quite enjoyed reading the book, though it has the French 
failing of falling to pieces as soon as opened. 
Messrs. BalLlieRE & Sons, of Paris, have just issued a new catalogue 
of zoological works, referring especially to fishes (and fisheries), 
reptiles, and batrachians; also a useful catalogue of phanerogamic 
botany. 
We gladly welcome the second volume of Mr. Blake’s Annals of British 
Geology, containing abstracts of the books and papers published during 
1891. The editor’s comments, which were not always gratefully 
received, are now relegated to footnotes. The abstracts are generally 
well done, but it seems a pity that so much space is occupied by lists. 
of names taken from British Museum catalogues. 
