rsant with the Chinese manufacture, that the leaves for
the black teas were always allowed to remain exposed to the air in
mass for some time before they were roasted.'

This explanation by Mr Warrington from scientific data, is confirmed
by Mr Fortune from personal observation, and fully accounts, not only
for the difference in colour between the two teas, but also for the
effect produced on some constitutions by green tea, such as nervous
irritability, sleeplessness, &c.; and Mr Fortune truly remarks, that
what Mr Warrington observed in the laboratory of Apothecaries' Hall,
may be seen by every one who has a tree or bush in his garden. Mark
the leaves which are blown from trees in early autumn; they are brown,
or perhaps of a dullish green when they fall, but when they have been
exposed for some time in their detached state to air and moisture,
they become as black as our blackest teas. Without detailing the whole
process in the manufacture of either kind of tea, it may be stated in
reference to green tea, _1st_, That the leaves are roasted almost
immediately, after they are gathered; and _2d_, That they are dried
off quickly after the rolling process. In reference to black tea, on
the other hand, it may be observed, _1st_, That after being gathered,
the leaves are exposed for a considerable time; _2d_, That they are
tossed about until they become soft and flaccid, and are then left in
heaps; _3d_, That after being roasted for a few minutes and rolled,
they are exposed for some hours to the air in a soft and moist state;
and _4th_, That they are at last dried slowly over charcoal fires.
After all, then, genuine green tea is, as might reasonably be
conjectured, an article less artificial than black. There is, at the
same time, too much foundation for the suspicion, that the green teas
so much patronised in Europe and America, are not so innocently
manufactured. Mr Fortune witnessed the process of colouring them in
the Hung-chow green-tea country, and describes the process. The
substance used is a powder consisting of four parts of gypsum and
three parts of Prussian blue, which was applied to the teas during the
last process of roasting.

'During this part of the operation,' he says, 'the hands of the
workmen were quite blue. I could not help thinking, that if any
green-tea drinkers had been present during the operation, their taste
would have been corrected, and, I may be allowed to add, improved.
One day, an English