EXPERIMENT I.
I took an equal quantity of an infusion of superfine green Tea, and of common bohea Tea, made equally strong; and also the same quantity of the liquor remaining after distillation (Sect. III. I.), and of simple water; into each of which, contained in separate vessels, I put two drachms of beef, that had been killed about two days.
The beef, which was immersed in the simple water, became putrid in forty-eight hours; but the pieces in the two infusions of Tea, and in the liquor remaining after distillation, shewed no signs of putrefaction, till after about seventy hours[76].
EXPERIMENT II.
Into strong infusions of every kind of green and bohea Tea that I could procure, I put equal quantities of salt of iron (sal martis), which immediately changed the several infusions into a deep purple colour[77].
It is evident from these experiments, that both green and bohea Tea possess an antiseptic (Experiment I.), and astringent power (Experiment II.), applied to the dead animal fibre.