276 



Simple Home Tests for 

 Tea and Coffee 



THE commonest adul- 

 teration in the case 

 of tea is the addition of 

 what is known as "dress- 

 ing." This is really a 

 matter of dyeing. Poor 

 tea is treated with cer- 

 tain substances in order 

 to give it a fine, black 

 color. The presence of 

 "dressing" in tea may be 

 detected by rubbing a 

 sample of tea in a piece of 

 fine white lin- 

 en. A pocket 

 handkerchief 

 serves the pur- 

 pose very well. 

 If the tea is 

 pure, only a 

 little dust will 

 be left on the 

 handkerchief, 

 and this dust 

 may be blown 

 away by your 

 breath. If the 

 tea has been 



treated, a dark stain will be found on the 

 material. 



The test for coffee is equally simple. 

 Fill a tumbler with water and sprinkle a 

 few grains of coffee on the surface of the 

 water. Pure coffee will float, because the 

 coffee bean contains so much oil that each 



grain is coated ^ 



with a film of oil. 

 If the coffee has 

 been adulterated, 

 the grains will sink 

 and the water will 

 become discolored. 

 If chickory has 

 been added to the 

 coffee, the chicko- 

 ry grains will sink 

 very rapidly while 

 the coffee grains 

 will continue to 

 float. 



Thus easily you 

 can determine the 

 purity of tea or 

 coffee. 



Popular Science Monihhj 



Above: Adul- 

 terated tea 

 leaves a dark 

 stain onlinen. 

 At right : 

 Pure coffee 

 does not dis- 

 color the wa- 

 ter. At left: 

 Adulterated 

 coffee sinks 

 and rapidly 

 discolors 

 the water 



There Is An Increasing 

 Wastage of Adult Life 



A CHILD born to-day 

 has about ten times 

 as many chances of liv-ing 

 and growing to maturity 

 as had the child born thirty 

 years ago. On the other 

 hand, a man forty years 

 old has fewer years to live 

 than had the man of the 

 same age thirty years ago. 

 Medical statistics prove 

 that infant mortality and 

 preventable diseases are 

 decreasing, 

 whereas degen- 

 erative diseases 

 and cancer are 

 increasing. 

 However, the 

 gravity of the 

 wastage of 

 adult life will 

 not be appre- 

 ciated until 

 there isanation- 

 wide registra- 

 tion of the sick. 



With the aid of the raised letters on the 

 cards, the blind can read them easily 



The Blind Have a Deck of Cards All 

 Their Own 



CARDS that have recently been de- 

 vised for the blind have raised letters 

 in the top and bottom corners that reveal 

 their identity. By placing his thumb over 

 the letters, the 

 blind man can tell 

 what cards he 

 holds nearly as 

 quickly as the or- 

 ordinary person. 

 Dots form the let- 

 ters. "Two D" 

 means that the 

 card is the Two of 

 Diamonds; "J.H." 

 means the Jack of 

 Hearts, and so on. 

 At first the blind 

 experience a little 

 difficulty in read- 

 ing the cards read- 

 ily, but they soon 

 become proficient. 



