122 



NATURE 



[June 5, 1890 



processes. Among other tables given by him is the 

 following ; a quantity of leaf was divided into three 

 portions, whereof one portion is A, another portion is 

 manufactured into green tea B, the third portion is 

 manufactured into black tea C. Y. Kozai analyzses A, 

 B, C, and finds— 



He remarks that the general result of the green-tea 

 manufacture is merely to dry the leaf ; the black-tea 

 manufacture alters materially its chemical constitution. 

 The principal change is the remarkable diminution of the 

 tannin. He does not explain how this is brought about, 

 nor is it easy to see how the incipient fermentation should 

 affect the tannin. 



The only teas exported to Europe from Japan are of 

 low class ; they are frequently " faced," and sometimes 

 mixed with the leaves of various Japanese plants. Any 

 plentiful leaf, not too unlike the leaf of tea, will do for this 

 adulteration ; the leaves actually employed are (Y. Kozai 

 assures us) all harmless, and several contain tannin, but 

 none of them any theine. As to the " facing," he says 

 it can hardly be called adulteration ; the quantity of 

 Prussian blue employed to improve the appearance of 

 green tea is (according to Y. Kozai) about o-ooi per cent, 

 the weight of the tea, perfectly innocent, and pleasing to 

 a purchaser. 



The author concludes with an account of the different 

 ways of taking tea in Japan, with some analyses of the 

 prepared liquor. 



(i) In the case of flat tea, or of the very finest quality 

 of Japanese green tea, the tea is ground to fine powder, 

 and the whole infusion drunk. 



(2) In the case of superior {i.e. from the Japan point of 

 view) tea, the leaves are infused for two minutes in water 

 at i20°-i5o° F. 



(3) In the case of a medium tea, the leaves are infused 

 for one minute in boiling water. 



(4) In the case of inferior tea, the leaves are boiled in 

 water. 



The object to be aimed at in the preparation is to get 

 the largest possible quantity of theine without dissipating 

 the aroma, and accompanied by only a moderate amount 

 of tannin. Y. Kozai gives analyses to show that this is 

 effected (in the case of superior teas) by the infusion in 

 water at 1 20°- 150° F. for two to five minutes. By 

 superior teas, he understands teas worth five to seven 

 shillings a pound in Japan. It is probable, therefore, that 

 the highest class teas we ever have to deal with in 

 England come under the medium teas of Y. Kozai, which 

 require infusion in boiling water — for one minute at least. 

 The majority of English people like a good deal of chicory 

 with their coffee, and probably a majority also like a good 

 deal of tannin with their tea ; and to them the analyses 

 NO. 1075, VOL. 42] 



and recommendations of the Japanese writer are of small 

 importance. 



The paper will be of more use as food for reflec- 

 tion to the Anglo-Indian planter than as direct instruc- 

 tion. The palate of the Englishman is as yet only very 

 roughly educated in tea. There can be very few English- 

 men who would greatly prefer the superior teas of Japan 

 and China to the ordinary Kumaon or Ceylon tea ; most 

 persons used to drinking the latter would probably prefer 

 it to the most expensive tea made — say China tea worth 

 forty shillings per pound in China. The English planter in 

 Bengal has a tea-garden of 200 acres (possibly still larger). 

 His object is, by the aid of a steam-engine or other coarse 

 help, to put his tea through — to keep his factory clear 

 when he has a strong flush on. He has to carry the 

 daily make through by the aid of uncivilized labourers 

 and overseers. He must reduce every step of his manu- 

 facture to a routine ; he must have no special tea separately 

 and differently manufactured, and no current experiments. 

 Few planters have made much profit by Pekoe ; and the 

 green tea hardly exists commercially in India. There 

 are no doubt many Englishmen who, having not a planta- 

 tion but (literally) a garden with some tea in it in India, 

 have manufactured, not unsuccessfully so far as the flavour 

 of the tea is concerned, green tea, Pekoe, &c., but this has 

 been a fancy article for their own drinking or for presents 

 and has never been put in any quantity on the market. 

 To plant successfully in India, the Englishman has to pro- 

 ceed on a broad scale ; his large cost and high expected 

 profit cannot be got out of the close superintendence of 

 elaborate hand manufacture. Or, at least, it will be a long 

 time before the public tea taste at home is sufficiently 

 elevated to be willing to pay so large a price for such teas 

 as would remunerate the English planter. For the present^ 

 the object of the planter must be to produce the maximum 

 quantity of tea that the English grocer can sell at \s. 6d. 

 to 2s. 6d. a pound. Hence to plan ters the utility of the 

 paper of Y. Kozai must be mainly future. 



CATALOGUE OF BRITISH FOSSIL 

 VERTEBRATES. 



A Catalogue of British Fossil Vertebrata. By Arthur 

 Smith Woodward and Charles Davies Sherborn. 

 Pp. i.-xxxv., 1-396. (London : Dulau and Co., 1890.) 

 A WANT long felt by all students of the fossil Verte- 

 ■^ *- brates of the British Islands has been supplied by the 

 issue of the present volume, which, so far as we have been 

 able to exainine it, is noteworthy alike for the absence of 

 misprints, the accuracy of the references, and the care 

 which has been taken in the selection of the correct 

 names for the various genera and species, as well as for 

 the orthography of the names themselves. The last 

 edition ofthe late Prof. John Morris's '' Catalogue of British 

 Fossils" was published as far back as 1854, and the ad- 

 vances made by this branch of palaeontology since that 

 date — and more especially during the last ten years — 

 have naturally rendered that work quite out of date. It is 

 true, indeed, that the first part of Mr. R. Etheridge's 

 " Catalogue of the Fossils of the British Islands," and 

 the British Museum Catalogues of Fossil Vertebrates, 

 have afforded some assistance to students of this subject ; 



