When softer devotions our senses invite."

CAPTAIN MORRIS.

_Dr. Kitchiner._

* * * * *


MAKING TEA.


It has been long observed that the infusion of tea made in silver, or
polished metal tea-pots, is stronger than that which is produced in black,
or other kinds of earthenware pots. This is explained on the principle,
that polished surfaces retain heat much better than dark, rough surfaces,
and that, consequently, the caloric being confined in the former case,
must act more powerfully than in the latter.

It is further certain, that the silver or metal pot, when filled a second
time, produces worse tea than the earthenware vessel; and that it is
advisable to use the earthenware pot, unless a silver or metal one can be
procured sufficiently large to contain at once all that may be required.
These facts are readily explained by considering, that the action of heat
retained by the silver vessel so far exhausts the herb as to leave very
little soluble substance for a second infusion; whereas the reduced
temperature of the water in the earthenware pot, by extracting only a
small proportion at first, leaves some soluble matter for the action of
a subsequent infusion.