the fermentation or oxidation, and the "cooking" process, is
simply carried further, and with higher roasting, some of the
volatile oils and delicate flavors are expelled, or are changed
into other flavors. Judging by diminished effects upon tea
drinkers, some of the volatile theine is also lost.

Both in China and Japan it is the custom to give large portions
of the tea crop which are intended for export to foreign
countries, only a preliminary drying or curing sufficient to
preserve them temporarily. When they arrive at the shipping ports
they are subjected to additional firing and thorough drying.



CHAPTER VII.

Chemistry and Physiological Aspects of Tea.

If the reader desires an example of imperfect and arrested
knowledge in some of the common affairs of life, let him collate
the statements of scientific experts concerning the physiological
effects upon mankind, of tea. He will then admit that "in a
multitude of counsellors there is confusion."

Without pretending to more than the rudiments of chemical or
physiological science, we shall attempt to examine the nature of
tea, and its effects upon the human system; taking as a basis for
our remarks Professor Jas. F. Johnston's Chemistry of Common
Life, from which work more recent writers draw most of their
inspiration.