Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1883-08-30
ADULTERATED TEA.
Seizure .ofa Large Amount OF Adul.er,,..r
i Tea by a New. York Inspector-an.l,..
sis demonstrates that Active Poison.
arc Used for Adulterating y-rpesr..

New YORK, August 23.-The saost
important seizure of teas at this u,,t
since the passage of the act OF March .
1888, prohibiting the Importation q. Of
sdulterated teas into this country, was
made yesterday by Mr.. James 4.
Davies, inspector of teas at this port /.
The invoices rejected as unstable COM
prised about 700 hall. chests Of
Whist are known to the trade a.
Japaness tea-dust. There were twelve
invoices, which arrived on the
steamers Pembrokeshire, Nlosser.
and City of Toxic. By tho standard
adopted by the government chemist
Prof. Bnttershall, the teas condemned
were very much below what they should
be, and an analyais showed the samples
to be much ntiulterated and utterly unfs
for use. Some facts relative to the adul
tefntion of teas have come to light in con-
nection with the examination OF teas, un-
der the recent act, by Prof. Bnttershall
and DR.. j. Il. Davies, which NAV
we'll put people on their guard as to the.
kinds OF ten they use as d beverage.
The Japan tea-dust, even in tito cearsest
grades, has hardly semblance Ct a leaf
in it. tits generally a powder having
in its unadulterated state the color II
the genuine leaf. 1t is the siftipgs tha,
fall throt,gh the sieve when the leaf.
tea is being prepared for ship
ment. When adulterated the powder
and the leaf, too, assume q pale-greep
hue, and have distinct Iuster
very like that on bit of silk OF satin.
Tea buyers may always safely assume
that any ten with pale-green color ia
an adulterated or "faced tea, as it is
known to the trade. Wishing to ascer-
tain the material nsed in tho coloriDg Of
tea, Mr.. Davies secured from one of the
largest houses in this city engaged in
The importation ofJapan teas samples of
the materials used for analysis; three
boxes of fine powders in their pure state
and two of the powders mixed ready
for use we're given 10 the chemist for
analysis. Two of the Iinmixed powders
OF pure white proved to be gypsum and
soapstone respectively. The third, a.
deep blue powder, WAS Prussian blue
which il M active poison, and which
the importer before au analysis WAS
made claimed was not P1ussian blue,
but n blue powder the composition OF
which was secret with the japanese,
an illusion quickly dispelled when the
chemical tests were made. One OF tho
mixed powders contained S per
cent. of this active poison, and
the other 10 per cent. These powders.
pale blue iu color, are the material used
in giving to tea the pale green color
which 80 many tea buyers eTroneously
consider mark Of good tea, and with.
out their usc that color canrot be oh.
tanned. Tea so oplorcd and adulte1ate,l
was the tsa r,j-c ell by Mr.. Davies
10 day. There are Low five tirms i'll
this city known 70 be engaged in tho
coloring of tea after importation, using
the materials described. Mr.. Davies
received for examination samples of in
voices of adulterated teas from the COLI
lectors of the ports of Detroit, Chicago,
Ogdensburg and Plattsburg, at each
of which places the teas had been
rejected, and asking for his opinion.
The government chemists have tested
nearly 400 samples of tea since the tea
law went into effect the 1st of April.
They have found, in addition to other
facts, that green teas are converted INTO
black teas by the use OF iron, and that
black teas are converted into green's by
the use of the Prussian blue compound.