228 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [October, 



from. Many of the adulterants are so easily detected and the punish- 

 ment of the offender so certain that the question seems to have resolved 

 simply into the consideration of relative cost. It is to prevent this oi'gan- 

 ized system of robbery on the part of irresponsible persons that Congress 

 has devised means to protect the buyer of food stuffs. Most of the teas 

 shipped from Japan to the United States are now artificially colored. 

 Formerly this was not the case. Japan teas, which are naturally of a 

 blackish-green color, are now made to resemble the bluish-gray of teas 

 shipped from China as "green teas." The materials used to produce 

 these unnatural shades are not very pernicious, being nothing worse 

 than indigo and gypsum. They certainly add nothing to the value of 

 tea leaves for drinking purposes, while they do add considerably to their 

 cost. There is nothing to be said in favor of the practice except that 

 dealers in America prefer teas of that description. Their doing so is 

 probably explained by the fact th'at in teas so colored coarse leaves may 

 pass without detection. The adulteration will continue as long as con- 

 sumers in Amei'ica buy tea only in accordance with the appearance of 

 the leaf, regardless of its drawing qualities. To the Japanese the col- 

 ored article is an abomination. The American demand for the uncolored 

 teas known as "basket fired" has latterly increased, and it would be 

 as advantageous to the consumer in the United States as it would gratify 

 most shippers in Japan if this inclination to return to honest uncolored 

 teas were to become general, for it would certainly result in greater dis- 

 crimination in the picking and preparation of the leaf in Japan. It 

 would afford customers better teas at lower prices, would restrict the 

 supply to good teas only, and revive the favor which Japan teas formerly 

 enjoyed in the American market, as compared with the highly-colored 

 teas of China. 



The paper was accompanied by a series of beautiful plates of Dr. 

 Taylor's own preparation, as follows : 



Plate I. — i. Epidermal cells and Stomata. 2 and 3. Columnar or 



Palisade cells and chlorophyll cells. 4. A " Stone " cell. 5. 



Loose cells. 6. Vascular bundles. 7- Stomata. 

 Plate II. Cell structure of tea leaf between the epidermal layers. 

 Plate III. Sclerenchyma or " Stone" cells of the tea leaf. 

 Plate IV. 1. Cross section of camellia leaf. 2. Cross section of tea 



leaf. 3. Stomata in leaf of the Camellia jaftonica. 

 Plate V. Tea leaf, black currant. 

 Plate VI. Distinguishing serrations of leaves, sometimes mixed with 



tea leaves, e.g., willow, hawthorn, sloe, etc. 

 Plate VII. Distinguishing serrations of the leaves, sometimes mixed 



with tea leaves, e.g., black currants, ash, beech, etc. 

 Plate VIII. Leaves mixed with tea to adulterate. 1, willow leaf ; 



2, Ilex or Paraguay tea ; 3, ash ; 4, black currant ; 5, camellia ; 



6, sloe ; 7, beech. 



Mr. W. Drescher exhibited a new biological microscope, by Bausch 

 & Lomb, which followed Hartnack's model. 



Mr. M. S. Wiard read a paper on " The Busy Man's Amateur Mi- 

 croscopical Laboratory." 



Dr. Lewis said he had received some beautiful diatomaceous earth 

 and petrified wood, which he would distribute at the working session. 



