COLOUR AND SCENT EXPERTS 37 
but the name, and the tea is often tasted now by sight 
and smell. Boiling-water is first poured on an accurately 
measured portion of the leaves. In a few minutes the 
liquid shows some tint of green or brown, and the length 
of this time and the shade of the colour produced are 
important elements in the test. The tester then, with 
the aid of a spoon, inhales the rising steam from the 
mixture. This is called ‘‘ getting the aroma,” and is 
the most important part of the test. He may perhaps in 
some case actually taste the liquid, but this is no longer 
generally done. Colour, aroma, and the ‘‘liquoring” 
qualities of the tea are sufficient grounds to judge by. 
The old-fashioned tea-taster was a high-salaried expert, 
who frequently ended his career with heart disease or 
fits, the result of slow poisoning from the quantities of 
adulterated tea he tasted; but now, as a rule, every 
merchant tests his own teas by the recent and approved 
method. 
CoLouR AND SCENT EXPERTS 
“It is remarkable how well a perfumer learns to 
recognise a scent,” remarked one of several clever 
business men met together by chance in the coffee-room 
of a hotel in Edinburgh. ‘In testing a sweet-smelling 
liquid he wets the base of his thumb with a little of it. 
Then he rubs the place rapidly with his right hand. 
The alcohol in which the essence is dissolved, being the 
more volatile, is at once evaporated, and the substance 
which emits the odour remaining behind, he can smell 
it in its purity. Of course it is an easy thing to recognise 
the principal odours that are in use, but when several 
are mixed, as is common, his task becomes more difficult. 
Yet a skilled man can not only tell you what three or 
_ four perfumes enter into the composition of the one he 
is testing, but, also, roughly, the relative proportions of 
each.” ‘It is easy to tell the relative amount of wool 
