776 



Irict of Fokieii, was surprised to find what he conceived to be the true 

 Thea viridis employed in malting hlack tea in districts near where the 

 best black tea was made. He took plants with him from Fokien to 

 Shaughae, and could find no difference between them. It was still, 

 however, desirable, to get specimens from the district where the blaclc 

 and green teas of commerce were actually made; and this had latterly 

 been effected. In consequence of the great success which had 

 attended the experimental culture of tea in the nurseries established 

 in the Himalayas, Mr. Fortune was again sent to China, by the East 

 India Company. He proceeded to the northern parts of the country, 

 in order to obtain tea-seeds and plants of the best description, as the 

 most likely to stand the Himalaya climate. Mr. Fortune procured 

 seeds and plants in great numbers, and sent them to the Himalayas, 

 where they had been since cultivated. When he had reached Cal- 

 cutta, the tea-manufacturers, whom he had brought with him, made 

 from plants in the Botanic Gardens their black and green tea from 

 the same specimens ; so that it was evident it was the process of 

 manufacture, and not the plant itself, that produced the green tea. 

 All now who were acquainted with the difference between black and 

 green teas, knew that they could be prepared from the same plant 

 without the assistance of any extraneous materials, though it was a 

 common thing for manufacturers to use indigo, Prussian blue, turme- 

 ric, &c., in colouring the tea. Dr. Royle showed specimens of the 

 black-tea- plant from the Woo-e-Shan, and of the green-tea- plant 

 from the Hwuychou districts. No specific difference could be ob- 

 served between the two specimens. 



Growth and Vitality of Seeds. 



Dr. Lankester read the ' Twelfth Report of a Committee appointed 

 to make Experiments on the Growth and Vitality of Seeds.' The 

 seeds set apart for this year's sowing were those collected in 1844. 

 It was the third time the same seeds had been experimented on ; and 

 it was found that there was a very evident decrease in the numbers 

 which have vegetated, compared with those of previous sowings. Dr. 

 Lankester explained the object of the Committee, and stated that the 

 fact of raspberry-seeds growing, which had been taken from the sto- 

 mach of the body of a human being buried in a tumulus in Dorset- 

 shire, and which had been doubted, had been re-investigated during 

 the past year ; and there seemed no reason to doubt that the seeds 

 thus buried for centuries had germinated. 



Dr. Royle stated that, having been present when the original mass 



