898 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 
practice also enables the admixture of spent leaves with little fear of 
detection. Faced teas can not be excluded from this country under the 
United States tea adulteration act, since this law specifies that the 
addition of chemical and other deleterious substances must be in suffi- 
cient quantities to render the tea unfit for use. This wording admits 
of excessive facing, since it has never been shown that the substances 
usually employed for this purpose are prejudicial to health, even when 
taken in greater quantities than could be employed in treating teas. 
A few of the samples examined contained magnetic-iron oxide, prob- 
ably derived from the black-lead facing. Serial number 6679 contained 
a few fragments of brick and lead. These substances were probably 
added to increase the weight of the tea and were not accidental. 
A general qualitative examination was made of each sample. The 
foreign matters detected are given inthe table, p. 896. Very few objec- 
tionable substances were found. A statement of the condition of the 
leaves is also given in this table. The teas of all grades were largely 
composed of fragments of leaves. 
CONCLUSION. 
The analytical and other work in connection with this report indi. 
- cates that there are few if any spurious teas on the market. The range 
in quality is undoubtedly very great, many samples deserving to be 
terined “tea” simply because they are composed of the leaves of the 
Thea, and not through the many pleasant qualities which we usually 
associate with the beverage of this name. 
With the strict enforcement of the United States adulteration act, 
the consumer is reasonably well protected, so far as securing the genu- 
ine leaf is concerned, but of course has no protection from the sale of 
inferior teas, 
