diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031-8.txt | 6561 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 107131 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 345803 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031-h/19031-h.htm | 7516 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031-h/images/image1.png | bin | 0 -> 24344 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031-h/images/image2.png | bin | 0 -> 164647 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031-h/images/image3.png | bin | 0 -> 51286 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031.txt | 6561 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19031.zip | bin | 0 -> 107114 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
12 files changed, 20654 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19031-8.txt b/19031-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..896d236 --- /dev/null +++ b/19031-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6561 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and +Culinary Poisons, by Fredrick Accum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons + Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, + Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, + Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and + Other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy + +Author: Fredrick Accum + +Release Date: August 12, 2006 [EBook #19031] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON ADULTERATIONS *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + +A + +TREATISE + +ON + +ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD, + +_AND CULINARY POISONS_. + + +EXHIBITING + +The Fraudulent Sophistications of + +BREAD, BEER, WINE, SPIRITOUS LIQUORS, TEA, COFFEE, CREAM, CONFECTIONERY, +VINEGAR, MUSTARD, PEPPER, CHEESE, OLIVE OIL, PICKLES, + +AND OTHER ARTICLES EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY. + + +AND + +METHODS OF DETECTING THEM. + + +_By Fredrick Accum_, + +OPERATIVE CHEMIST, AND MEMBER OF THE PRINCIPAL ACADEMIES AND SOCIETIES +OF ARTS AND SCIENCES IN EUROPE. + + +Philadelphia: +PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY AB'M SMALL +1820. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This Treatise, as its title expresses, is intended to exhibit easy +methods of detecting the fraudulent adulterations of food, and of other +articles, classed either among the necessaries or luxuries of the table; +and to put the unwary on their guard against the use of such commodities +as are contaminated with substances deleterious to health. + +Every person is aware that bread, beer, wine, and other substances +employed in domestic economy, are frequently met with in an adulterated +state: and the late convictions of numerous individuals for +counterfeiting and adulterating tea, coffee, bread, beer, pepper, and +other articles of diet, are still fresh in the memory of the public. + +To such perfection of ingenuity has the system of counterfeiting and +adulterating various commodities of life arrived in this country, that +spurious articles are every where to be found in the market, made up so +skilfully, as to elude the discrimination of the most experienced +judges. + +But of all possible nefarious traffic and deception, practised by +mercenary dealers, that of adulterating the articles intended for human +food with ingredients deleterious to health, is the most criminal, and, +in the mind of every honest man, must excite feelings of regret and +disgust. Numerous facts are on record, of human food, contaminated with +poisonous ingredients, having been vended to the public; and the annals +of medicine record tragical events ensuing from the use of such food. + +The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, is proof against prohibitions +and penalties; and the possible sacrifice of a fellow-creature's life, +is a secondary consideration among unprincipled dealers. + +However invidious the office may appear, and however painful the duty +may be, of exposing the names of individuals, who have been convicted of +adulterating food; yet it was necessary, for the verification of my +statement, that cases should be adduced in their support; and I have +carefully avoided citing any, except those which are authenticated in +Parliamentary documents and other public records. + +To render this Treatise still more useful, I have also animadverted on +certain material errors, sometimes unconsciously committed through +accident or ignorance, in private families, during the preparation of +various articles of food, and of delicacies for the table. + +In stating the experimental proceedings necessary for the detection of +the frauds which it has been my object to expose, I have confined myself +to the task of pointing out such operations only as may be performed by +persons unacquainted with chemical science; and it has been my purpose +to express all necessary rules and instructions in the plainest +language, divested of those recondite terms of science, which would be +out of place in a work intended for general perusal. + +The design of the Treatise will be fully answered, if the views here +given should induce a single reader to pursue the object for which it +is published; or if it should tend to impress on the mind of the Public +the magnitude of an evil, which, in many cases, prevails to an extent so +alarming, that we may exclaim with the sons of the Prophet, + + "_THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT._" + +For the abolition of such nefarious practices, it is the interest of all +classes of the community to co-operate. + +FREDRICK ACCUM. + +LONDON. +1820. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD _Page_ 13 + + +EFFECT OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF WATER EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY 33 + +_Characters of Good Water_ 37 + +_Chemical Constitution of the Waters used in Domestic Economy and +the Arts_ 40 + +_Rain Water_ 40 +_Snow Water_ 41 +_Spring Water_ 42 +_River Water_ 44 + +_Substances usually contained in Common Water, and Tests by which +they are detected_ 48 + +_Method of ascertaining the Quantity of each of the different +Substances usually contained in Common Water_ 54 + +_Deleterious Effects of keeping Water for Domestic Economy, in +Leaden Reservoirs_ 60 + +_Method of detecting Lead, when contained in common Water_ 69 + + +ADULTERATION OF WINE 74 + +_Method of detecting the Deleterious Adulterations of Wine_ 86 + +_Specific Differences, and Component Parts of Wine_ 89 + +_Easy process of ascertaining the Quantity of Brandy contained in +various sorts of Wine_ 92 + +_Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage of Brandy or Alcohol +contained in various kinds of Wine and other fermented Liquors_ 94 + +_Constitution of Home-made Wines_ 96 + + +ADULTERATION OF BREAD 98 + +_Method of detecting the Presence of Alum in Bread_ 108 + +_Easy Method of judging of the Goodness of Bread-Corn and +Bread-Flour_ 110 + + +ADULTERATION OF BEER 113 + +_List of Druggists and Grocers, prosecuted and convicted for +supplying illegal Ingredients to Brewers for Adulterating Beer_ 119 + +_Porter_ 121 + +_Strength and Specific Differences of different kinds of Porter_ 125 + +_List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted for adulterating Beer +with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing Table Beer with their +Strong Beer_ 129 + +_Illegal Substances used for adulterating Beer_ 131 + +_Ingredients seized at various Breweries and Brewers' Druggists, +for adulterating Beer_ 136 + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted for adulterating Strong +Beer with Table Beer_ 143 + +_Old, or Entire Beer; and New or Mild Beer_ 144 + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted for receiving and using +illegal Ingredients in their Brewings_ 151 + +_Method of detecting the Adulteration of Beer_ 158 + +_Method of ascertaining the Quantity of Spirit contained in Porter, +Ale, &c._ 160 + +_Per Centage of Alcohol contained in Porter, and other kinds of +Malt Liquors_ 162 + + +COUNTERFEIT TEA-LEAVES 163 + +_Methods of detecting the Adulterations of Tea-Leaves_ 171 + + +COUNTERFEIT COFFEE 176 + + +ADULTERATION OF BRANDY, RUM, AND GIN 187 + +_Method of detecting the Adulterations of Brandy, Rum, and Malt +Spirit_ 195 + +_Method of detecting the Presence of Lead in Spiritous Liquors_ 202 + +_Method of ascertaining the Quantity of Alcohol contained in +different kinds of Spiritous Liquors_ 203 + +_Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Alcohol contained in various +kinds of Spiritous Liquors_ 205 + + +POISONOUS CHEESE, _and method of detecting it_ 206 + + +COUNTERFEIT PEPPER, _and Method of detecting it_ 211 + +_White Pepper, and method of manufacturing it_ 213 + + +POISONOUS CAYENNE PEPPER, _and method of detecting it_ 215 + + +POISONOUS PICKLES, _and method of detecting them_ 217 + + +ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR, _and method of detecting it_ 220 + +_Distilled Vinegar_ 221 + + +ADULTERATION OF CREAM, _and method of detecting it_ 222 + + +POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY, _and method of detecting it_ 224 + + +POISONOUS CATSUP, _and method of detecting it_ 227 + + +POISONOUS CUSTARDS 231 + + +POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE, _and method of detecting it_ 234 + + +ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES, _and method of detecting them_ 236 + + +POISONOUS OLIVE OIL, _and method of detecting it_ 239 + + +ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD 241 + + +ADULTERATION OF LEMON ACID, _and method of detecting it_ 243 + + +POISONOUS MUSHROOMS 246 + +_Mushroom catsup_ 250 + + +POISONOUS SODA WATER, _and method of detecting it_ 251 + + +FOOD POISONED BY COPPER VESSELS, _and method of detecting it_ 252 + + +FOOD POISONED BY LEADEN VESSELS, _and method of detecting it_ 257 + + +INDEX 261 + + + + +A + +TREATISE + +ON + +ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD, + +AND + +CULINARY POISONS. + + + + +PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. + + +Of all the frauds practised by mercenary dealers, there is none more +reprehensible, and at the same time more prevalent, than the +sophistication of the various articles of food. + +This unprincipled and nefarious practice, increasing in degree as it has +been found difficult of detection, is now applied to almost every +commodity which can be classed among either the necessaries or the +luxuries of life, and is carried on to a most alarming extent in every +part of the United Kingdom. + +It has been pursued by men, who, from the magnitude and apparent +respectability of their concerns, would be the least obnoxious to public +suspicion; and their successful example has called forth, from among the +retail dealers, a multitude of competitors in the same iniquitous +course. + +To such perfection of ingenuity has this system of adulterating food +arrived, that spurious articles of various kinds are every where to be +found, made up so skilfully as to baffle the discrimination of the most +experienced judges. + +Among the number of substances used in domestic economy which are now +very generally found sophisticated, may be distinguished--tea, coffee, +bread, beer, wine, spiritous liquors, salad oil, pepper, vinegar, +mustard, cream, and other articles of subsistence. + +Indeed, it would be difficult to mention a single article of food which +is not to be met with in an adulterated state; and there are some +substances which are scarcely ever to be procured genuine. + +Some of these spurious compounds are comparatively harmless when used +as food; and as in these cases merely substances of inferior value are +substituted for more costly and genuine ingredients, the sophistication, +though it may affect our purse, does not injure our health. Of this kind +are the manufacture of factitious pepper, the adulterations of mustard, +vinegar, cream, &c. Others, however, are highly deleterious; and to this +class belong the adulterations of beer, wines, spiritous liquors, +pickles, salad oil, and many others. + +There are particular chemists who make it a regular trade to supply +drugs or nefarious preparations to the unprincipled brewer of porter or +ale; others perform the same office to the wine and spirit merchant; and +others again to the grocer and the oilman. The operators carry on their +processes chiefly in secresy, and under some delusive firm, with the +ostensible denotements of a fair and lawful establishment. + +These illicit pursuits have assumed all the order and method of a +regular trade; they may severally claim to be distinguished as an _art +and mystery_; for the workmen employed in them are often wholly ignorant +of the nature of the substances which pass through their hands, and of +the purposes to which they are ultimately applied. + +To elude the vigilance of the inquisitive, to defeat the scrutiny of the +revenue officer, and to ensure the secresy of these mysteries, the +processes are very ingeniously divided and subdivided among individual +operators, and the manufacture is purposely carried on in separate +establishments. The task of proportioning the ingredients for use is +assigned to one individual, while the composition and preparation of +them may be said to form a distinct part of the business, and is +entrusted to another workman. Most of the articles are transmitted to +the consumer in a disguised state, or in such a form that their real +nature cannot possibly be detected by the unwary. Thus the extract of +_coculus indicus_, employed by fraudulent manufacturers of malt-liquors +to impart an intoxicating quality to porter or ales, is known in the +market by the name of _black extract_, ostensibly destined for the use +of tanners and dyers. It is obtained by boiling the berries of the +coculus indicus in water, and converting, by a subsequent evaporation, +this decoction into a stiff black tenacious mass, possessing, in a high +degree, the narcotic and intoxicating quality of the poisonous berry +from which it is prepared. Another substance, composed of extract of +quassia and liquorice juice, used by fraudulent brewers to economise +both malt and hops, is technically called _multum_.[1] + +The quantities of coculus indicus berries, as well as of black extract, +imported into this country for adulterating malt liquors, are enormous. +It forms a considerable branch of commerce in the hands of a few +brokers: yet, singular as it may seem, no inquiry appears to have been +hitherto made by the officers of the revenue respecting its application. +Many other substances employed in the adulteration of beer, ale, and +spiritous liquors, are in a similar manner intentionally disguised; and +of the persons by whom they are purchased, a great number are totally +unacquainted with their nature or composition. + +An extract, said to be innocent, sold in casks, containing from half a +cwt. to five cwt. by the brewers' druggists, under the name of +_bittern_, is composed of calcined sulphate of iron (copperas), extract +of coculus indicus berries, extract of quassia, and Spanish liquorice. + +It would be very easy to adduce, in support of these remarks, the +testimony of numerous individuals, by whom I have been professionally +engaged to examine certain mixtures, said to be perfectly innocent, +which are used in very extensive manufactories of the above description. +Indeed, during the long period devoted to the practice of my +profession, I have had abundant reason to be convinced that a vast +number of dealers, of the highest respectability, have vended to their +customers articles absolutely poisonous, which they themselves +considered as harmless, and which they would not have offered for sale, +had they been apprised of the spurious and pernicious nature of the +compounds, and of the purposes to which they were destined. + +For instance, I have known cases in which brandy merchants were not +aware that the substance which they frequently purchase under the +delusive name of _flash_, for strengthening and clarifying spiritous +liquors, and which is held out as consisting of burnt sugar and +isinglass only, in the form of an extract, is in reality a compound of +sugar, with extract of capsicum; and that to the acrid and pungent +qualities of the capsicum is to be ascribed the heightened flavour of +brandy and rum, when coloured with the above-mentioned matter. + +In other cases the ale-brewer has been supplied with ready-ground +coriander seeds, previously mixed with a portion of _nux vomica_ and +quassia, to give a bitter taste and narcotic property to the beverage. + +The retail venders of mustard do not appear to be aware that mustard +seed alone cannot produce, when ground, a powder of so intense and +brilliant a colour as that of the common mustard of commerce. Nor would +the powder of real mustard, when mixed with salt and water, without the +addition of a portion of pulverised capsicum, keep for so long a time as +the mustard usually offered for sale. + +Many other instances of unconscious deceptions might be mentioned, which +were practised by persons of upright and honourable minds. + +It is a painful reflection, that the division of labour which has been +so instrumental in bringing the manufactures of this country to their +present flourishing state, should have also tended to conceal and +facilitate the fraudulent practices in question; and that from a +correspondent ramification of commerce into a multitude of distinct +branches, particularly in the metropolis and the large towns of the +empire, the traffic in adulterated commodities should find its way +through so many circuitous channels, as to defy the most scrutinising +endeavour to trace it to its source. + +It is not less lamentable that the extensive application of chemistry to +the useful purposes of life, should have been perverted into an +auxiliary to this nefarious traffic. But, happily for the science, it +may, without difficulty, be converted into a means of detecting the +abuse; to effect which, very little chemical skill is required; and the +course to be pursued forms the object of the following pages. + +The baker asserts that he does not put alum into bread; but he is well +aware that, in purchasing a certain quantity of flour, he must take a +sack of _sharp whites_ (a term given to flour contaminated with a +quantity of alum), without which it would be impossible for him to +produce light, white, and porous bread, from a half-spoiled material. + +The wholesale mealman frequently purchases this spurious commodity, +(which forms a separate branch of business in the hands of certain +individuals,) in order to enable himself to sell his decayed and +half-spoiled flour. + +Other individuals furnish the baker with alum mixed up with salt, under +the obscure denomination of _stuff_. There are wholesale manufacturing +chemists, whose sole business is to crystallise alum, in such a form as +will adapt this salt to the purpose of being mixed in a crystalline +state with the crystals of common salt, to disguise the character of +the compound. The mixture called _stuff_, is composed of one part of +alum, in minute crystals, and three of common salt. In many other trades +a similar mode of proceeding prevails. Potatoes are soaked in water to +augment their weight. + +The practice of sophisticating the necessaries of life, being reduced to +systematic regularity, is ranked by public opinion among other +mercantile pursuits; and is not only regarded with less disgust than +formerly, but is almost generally esteemed as a justifiable way to +wealth. + +It is really astonishing that the penal law is not more effectually +enforced against practices so inimical to the public welfare. The man +who robs a fellow subject of a few shillings on the high-way, is +sentenced to death; while he who distributes a slow poison to a whole +community, escapes unpunished. + +It has been urged by some, that, under so vast a system of finance as +that of Great Britain, it is expedient that the revenue should be +collected in large amounts; and therefore that the severity of the law +should be relaxed in favour of all mercantile concerns in proportion to +their extent: encouragement must be given to large capitalists; and +where an extensive brewery or distillery yields an important +contribution to the revenue, no strict scrutiny need be adopted in +regard to the quality of the article from which such contribution is +raised, provided the excise do not suffer by the fraud. + +But the principles of the constitution afford no sanction to this +preference, and the true interests of the country require that it should +be abolished; for a tax dependent upon deception must be at best +precarious, and must be, sooner or later, diminished by the irresistible +diffusion of knowledge. Sound policy requires that the law should be +impartially enforced in all cases; and if its penalties were extended to +abuses of which it does not now take cognisance, there is no doubt that +the revenue would be abundantly benefited. + +Another species of fraud, to which I shall at present but briefly +advert, and which has increased to so alarming an extent, that it loudly +calls for the interference of government, is the adulteration of drugs +and medicines. + +Nine-tenths of the most potent drugs and chemical preparations used in +pharmacy, are vended in a sophisticated state by dealers who would be +the last to be suspected. It is well known, that of the article Peruvian +bark, there is a variety of species inferior to the genuine; that too +little discrimination is exercised by the collectors of this precious +medicament; that it is carelessly assorted, and is frequently packed in +green hides; that much of it arrives in Spain in a half-decayed state, +mixed with fragments of other vegetables and various extraneous +substances; and in this state is distributed throughout Europe. + +But as if this were not a sufficient deterioration, the public are often +served with a spurious compound of mahogany saw-dust and oak wood, +ground into powder mixed with a proportion of good quinquina, and sold +as genuine bark powder. + +Every chemist knows that there are mills constantly at work in this +metropolis, which furnish bark powder at a much cheaper rate than the +substance can be procured for in its natural state. The price of the +best genuine bark, upon an average, is not lower than twelve shillings +the pound; but immense quantities of powder bark are supplied to the +apothecaries at three or four shillings a pound. + +It is also notorious that there are manufacturers of spurious rhubarb +powder, ipecacuanha powder,[2] James's powder; and other simple and +compound medicines of great potency, who carry on their diabolical trade +on an amazingly large scale. Indeed, the quantity of medical +preparations thus sophisticated exceeds belief. Cheapness, and not +genuineness and excellence, is the grand desideratum with the +unprincipled dealers in drugs and medicines. + +Those who are familiar with chemistry may easily convince themselves of +the existence of the fraud, by subjecting to a chemical examination +either spirits of hartshorn, magnesia, calcined magnesia, calomel, or +any other chemical preparation in general demand. + +Spirit of hartshorn is counterfeited by mixing liquid caustic ammonia +with the distilled spirit of hartshorn, to increase the pungency of its +odour, and to enable it to bear an addition of water. + +The fraud is detected by adding spirit of wine to the sophisticated +spirit; for, if no considerable coagulation ensues, the adulteration is +proved. It may also be discovered by the hartshorn spirit not producing +a brisk effervescence when mixed with muriatic or nitric acid. + +Magnesia usually contains a portion of lime, originating from hard water +being used instead of soft, in the preparation of this medicine. + +To ascertain the purity of magnesia, add to a portion of it a little +sulphuric acid, diluted with ten times its bulk of water. If the +magnesia be completely soluble, and the solution remains transparent, it +may be pronounced _pure_; but not otherwise. Or, dissolve a portion of +the magnesia in muriatic acid, and add a solution of sub-carbonate of +ammonia. If any lime be present, it will form a precipitate; whereas +pure magnesia will remain in solution. + +Calcined magnesia is seldom met with in a pure state. It may be assayed +by the same tests as the common magnesia. It ought not to effervesce at +all, with dilute sulphuric acid; and, if the magnesia and acid be put +together into one scale of a balance, no diminution of weight should +ensue on mixing them together. Calcined magnesia, however, is very +seldom so pure as to be totally dissolved by diluted sulphuric acid; +for a small insoluble residue generally remains, consisting chiefly of +silicious earth, derived from the alkali employed in the preparation of +it. The solution in sulphuric acid, when largely diluted, ought not to +afford any precipitation by the addition of oxalate of ammonia. + +The genuineness of calomel may be ascertained by boiling, for a few +minutes, one part, with 1/32 part of muriate of ammonia in ten parts of +distilled water. When carbonate of potash is added to the filtered +solution, no precipitation will ensue if the calomel be pure. + +Indeed, some of the most common and cheap drugs do not escape the +adulterating hand of the unprincipled druggist. Syrup of buckthorn, for +example, instead of being prepared from the juice of buckthorn berries, +(_rhamnus catharticus_,) is made from the fruit of the blackberry +bearing alder, and the dogberry tree. A mixture of the berries of the +buckthorn and blackberry bearing alder, and of the dogberry tree, may be +seen publicly exposed for sale by some of the venders of medicinal +herbs. This abuse may be discovered by opening the berries: those of +buckthorn have almost always four seeds; of the alder, two; and of the +dogberry, only one. Buckthorn berries, bruised on white paper, stain it +of a green colour, which the others do not. + +Instead of worm-seed (_artemisia santonica_,) the seeds of tansy are +frequently offered for sale, or a mixture of both. + +A great many of the essential oils obtained from the more expensive +spices, are frequently so much adulterated, that it is not easy to meet +with such as are at all fit for use: nor are these adulterations easily +discoverable. The grosser abuses, indeed, may be readily detected. Thus, +if the oil be adulterated with alcohol, it will turn milky on the +addition of water; if with expressed oils, alcohol will dissolve the +volatile, and leave the other behind; if with oil of turpentine, on +dipping a piece of paper in the mixture, and drying it with a gentle +heat, the turpentine will be betrayed by its smell. The more subtile +artists, however, have contrived other methods of sophistication, which +elude all trials. And as all volatile oils agree in the general +properties of solubility in spirit of wine, and volatility in the heat +of boiling water, &c. it is plain that they may be variously mixed with +each other, or the dearer sophisticated with the cheaper, without any +possibility of discovering the abuse by any of the before-mentioned +trials. Perfumers assert that the smell and taste are the only certain +tests of which the nature of the thing will admit. For example, if a +bark should have in every respect the appearance of good cinnamon, and +should be proved indisputably to be the genuine bark of the cinnamon +tree; yet if it want the cinnamon flavour, or has it but in a low +degree, we reject it: and the case is the same with the essential oil of +cinnamon. It is only from use and habit, or comparisons with specimens +of known quality, that we can judge of the goodness, either of the drugs +themselves, or of their oils. + +Most of the arrow-root, the fecula of the Maranta arudinacea, sold by +druggists, is a mixture of potatoe starch and arrow-root. + +The same system of adulteration extends to articles used in various +trades and manufactures. For instance, linen tape, and various other +household commodities of that kind, instead of being manufactured of +linen thread only, are made up of linen and cotton. Colours for +painting, not only those used by artists, such as ultramarine,[3] +carmine,[4] and lake;[5] Antwerp blue,[6] chrome yellow,[7] and Indian +ink;[8] but also the coarser colours used by the common house-painter +are more or less adulterated. Thus, of the latter kind, white lead[9] is +mixed with carbonate or sulphate of barytes; vermilion[10] with red +lead. + +Soap used in house-keeping is frequently adulterated with a +considerable portion of fine white clay, brought from St. Stephens, in +Cornwall. In the manufacture of printing paper, a large quantity of +plaster of Paris is added to the paper stuff, to increase the weight of +the manufactured article. The selvage of cloth is often dyed with a +permanent colour, and artfully stitched to the edge of cloth dyed with a +fugitive dye. The frauds committed in the tanning of skins, and in the +manufacture of cutlery and jewelry, exceed belief. + +The object of all unprincipled modern manufacturers seems to be the +sparing of their time and labour as much as possible, and to increase +the quantity of the articles they produce, without much regard to their +quality. The ingenuity and perseverance of self-interest is proof +against prohibitions, and contrives to elude the vigilance of the most +active government. + +The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, which seems to be a leading +characteristic of the times, calls into action every human faculty, and +gives an irresistible impulse to the power of invention; and where lucre +becomes the reigning principle, the possible sacrifice of even a fellow +creature's life is a secondary consideration. In reference to the +deterioration of almost all the necessaries and comforts of existence, +it may be justly observed, in a civil as well as a religious sense, that +"_in the midst of life we are in death_." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _The Times_, May 18, 1818. The King _v._ Richard Bowman. The +defendant was a brewer, living in Wapping-street, Wapping, and was +charged with having in his possession a drug called _multum_, and a +quantity of copperas. + +The articles were produced by Thomas Gates, an excise officer, who had, +after a search, found them on the defendant's premises. The Court +sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of 200_l._ + +The King _v._ Luke Lyons. The defendant is a brewer, and was brought up +under an indictment charging him with having made use of various +deleterious drugs in his brewery, among which were capsicum, copperas, +&c. The defendant was ordered to pay the fines of 20_l._ upon the first +count, 200_l._ upon the third, and 200_l._ upon the seventh count in the +indictment. + +The King _v._ Thomas Evans. The charge against this defendant was, that +he had in his possession forty-seven barrels of stale unpalatable beer. +On, the 11th of March, John Wilson, an excise officer, went to the +storehouse, and found forty-seven casks containing forty-three barrels +and a half of sour unwholesome beer. Several samples of the beer were +produced, all of them of a different colour, and filled with sediment. A +fine of 30_l._ was ordered to be paid by the defendant. + +[2] Of this root, several varieties are imported. The white sort, which +has no wrinkles, and no perceptible bitterness in taste, and which, +though taken in a large dose, has scarcely any effect at all, after +being pulverised by fraudulent druggists, and mixed with a portion of +emetic tartar, is sold, at a low price, for the powder of genuine +ipecacuanha root. + +[3] Genuine ultramarine should become deprived of its colour when thrown +into concentrated nitric acid. + +[4] Genuine carmine should be totally soluble in liquid ammonia. + +[5] Genuine madder and carmine lakes should be totally soluble by +boiling in a concentrated solution of soda or potash. + +[6] Genuine Antwerp blue should not become deprived of its colour when +thrown into liquid chlorine. + +[7] Genuine chrome yellow should not effervesce with nitric acid. + +[8] The best Indian ink breaks, splintery, with a smooth glossy +fracture, and feels soft, and not gritty, when rubbed against the teeth. + +[9] Genuine white lead should be completely soluble in nitric acid, and +the solution should remain transparent when mingled with a solution of +sulphate of soda. + +[10] Genuine vermilion should become totally volatilised on being +exposed to a red heat; and it should not impart a red colour to spirit +of wine, when digested with it. + + + + +REMARKS + +ON THE + +Effect of different Kinds of Waters + +IN THEIR APPLICATION TO + +DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS; + +AND + +METHODS OF ASCERTAINING THEIR PURITY. + + +It requires not much reflection to become convinced that the waters +which issue from the recesses of the earth, and form springs, wells, +rivers, or lakes, often materially differ from each other in their taste +and other obvious properties. There are few people who have not observed +a difference in the waters used for domestic purposes and in the arts; +and the distinctions of _hard_ and _soft_ water are familiar to every +body. + +Water perfectly pure is scarcely ever met with in nature. + +It must also be obvious, that the health and comfort of families, and +the conveniences of domestic life, are materially affected by the supply +of good and wholesome water. Hence a knowledge of the quality and +salubrity of the different kinds of waters employed in the common +concerns of life, on account of the abundant daily use we make of them +in the preparation of food, is unquestionably an object of considerable +importance, and demands our attention. + +The effects produced by the foreign matters which water may contain, are +more considerable, and of greater importance, than might at first be +imagined. It cannot be denied, that such waters as are _hard_, or loaded +with earthy matter, have a decided effect upon some important functions +of the human body. They increase the distressing symptoms under which +those persons labour who are afflicted with what is commonly called +gravel complaints; and many other ailments might be named, that are +always aggravated by the use of waters abounding in saline and earthy +substances. + +The purity of the waters employed in some of the arts and manufactures, +is an object of not less consequence. In the process of brewing malt +liquors, soft water is preferable to hard. Every brewer knows that the +largest possible quantity of the extractive matter of the malt is +obtained in the least possible time, and at the smallest cost, by means +of soft water. + +In the art of the dyer, hard water not only opposes the solution of +several dye stuffs, but it also alters the natural tints of some +delicate colours; whilst in others again it precipitates the earthy and +saline matters with which it is impregnated, into the delicate fibres of +the stuff, and thus impedes the softness and brilliancy of the dye. + +The bleacher cannot use with advantage waters impregnated with earthy +salts; and a minute portion of iron imparts to the cloth a yellowish +hue. + +To the manufacturer of painters' colours, water as pure as possible is +absolutely essential for the successful preparation of several delicate +pigments. Carmine, madder lake, ultramarine, and Indian yellow, cannot +be prepared without perfectly pure water. + +For the steeping or raiting of flax, soft water is absolutely necessary; +in hard water the flax may be immersed for months, till its texture be +injured, and still the ligneous matter will not be decomposed, and the +fibres properly separated. + +In the culinary art, the effects of water more or less pure are +likewise obvious. Good and pure water softens the fibres of animal and +vegetable matters more readily than such as is called _hard_. Every cook +knows that dry or ripe pease, and other farinaceous seeds, cannot +_readily_ be boiled soft in hard water; because the farina of the seed +is not perfectly soluble in water loaded with earthy salts. + +Green esculent vegetable substances are more tender when boiled in soft +water than in hard water; although hard water imparts to them a better +colour. The effects of hard and soft water may be easily shown in the +following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Let two separate portions of tea-leaves be macerated, by precisely the +same processes, in circumstances all alike, in similar and separate +vessels, the one containing hard and the other soft water, either hot or +cold, the infusion made with the soft water will have by far the +strongest taste, although it possesses less colour than the infusion +made with the hard water. It will strike a more intense black with a +solution of sulphate of iron, and afford a more abundant precipitate, +with a solution of animal jelly, which at once shews that soft water has +extracted more tanning matter, and more gallic acid, from the +tea-leaves, than could be obtained from them under like circumstances by +means of hard water. + +Many animals which are accustomed to drink soft water, refuse hard +water. Horses in particular prefer the former. Pigeons refuse hard water +when they have been accustomed to soft water. + + +CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. + +A good criterion of the purity of water fit for domestic purposes, is +its softness. This quality is at once obvious by the touch, if we only +wash our hands in it with soap. Good water should be beautifully +transparent; a slight opacity indicates extraneous matter. To judge of +the perfect transparency of water, a quantity of it should be put into a +deep glass vessel, the larger the better, so that we can look down +perpendicularly into a considerable mass of the fluid; we may then +readily discover the slightest degree of muddiness much better than if +the water be viewed through the glass placed between the eye and the +light. It should be perfectly colourless, devoid of odour, and its +taste soft and agreeable. It should send out air-bubbles when poured +from one vessel into another; it should boil pulse soft, and form with +soap an uniform opaline fluid, which does not separate after standing +for several hours. + +It is to the presence of common air and carbonic acid gas that common +water owes its taste, and many of the good effects which it produces on +animals and vegetables. Spring water, which contains more air, has a +more lively taste than river water. + +Hence the insipid or vapid taste of newly boiled water, from which these +gases are expelled: fish cannot live in water deprived of those elastic +fluids. + +100 cubic inches of the New River water, with which part of this +metropolis is supplied, contains 2,25 of carbonic acid, and 1,25 of +common air. The water of the river Thames contains rather a larger +quantity of common air, and a smaller portion of carbonic acid. + +If water not fully saturated with common air be agitated with this +elastic fluid, a portion of the air is absorbed; but the two chief +constituent gases of the atmosphere, the oxygen and nitrogen, are not +equally affected, the former being absorbed in preference to the latter. + +According to Mr. Dalton, in agitating water with atmospheric air, +consisting of 79 of nitrogen, and 21 of oxygen, the water absorbs 1/64 +of 79/100 nitrogen gas = 1,234, and 1/27 of 21/100 oxygen gas = 778, +amounting in all to 2,012. + +Water is freed from foreign matter by distillation: and for any chemical +process in which accuracy is requisite, distilled water must be used. + +Hard waters may, in general, be cured in part, by dropping into them a +solution of sub-carbonate of potash; or, if the hardness be owing only +to the presence of super-carbonate of lime, mere boiling will greatly +remedy the defect; part of the carbonic acid flies off, and a neutral +carbonate of lime falls down to the bottom; it may then be used for +washing, scarcely curdling soap. But if the hardness be owing in part to +sulphate of lime, boiling does not soften it at all. + +When spring water is used for washing, it is advantageous to leave it +for some time exposed to the open air in a reservoir with a large +surface. Part of the carbonic acid becomes thus dissipated, and part of +the carbonate of lime falls to the bottom. Mr. Dalton[11] has observed +that the more any spring is drawn from, the softer the water becomes. + + +CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE WATERS USED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE +ARTS. + + +_Rain Water_, + +Collected with every precaution as it descends from the clouds, and at a +distance from large towns, or any other object capable of impregnating +the atmosphere with foreign matters, approaches more nearly to a state +of purity than perhaps any other natural water. Even collected under +these circumstances, however, it invariably contains a portion of common +air and carbonic acid gas. The specific gravity of rain water scarcely +differs from that of distilled water; and from the minute portions of +the foreign ingredients which it generally contains, it is very _soft_, +and admirably adapted for many culinary purposes, and various processes +in different manufactures and the arts. + +Fresh-fallen _snow_, melted without the contact of air, appears to be +nearly free from air. Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, however, affirm, that it +contains nearly the usual proportion of air. + +Water from melted _ice_ does not contain so much air. _Dew_ has been +supposed to be saturated with air. + +Snow water has long laid under the imputation of occasioning those +strumous swellings in the neck which deform the inhabitants of many of +the Alpine vallies; but this opinion is not supported by any +well-authenticated indisputable facts, and is rendered still more +improbable, if not entirely overturned, by the frequency of the disease +in Sumatra[12], where ice and snow are never seen. + +In high northern latitudes, thawed snow forms the constant drink of the +inhabitants during winter; and the vast masses of ice which float on the +polar seas, afford an abundant supply of fresh water to the mariner. + + +_Spring Water_, + +Includes well-water and all others that arise from some depth below the +surface of the earth, and which are used at the fountain-head, or at +least before they have run any considerable distance exposed to the air. +Indeed, springs may be considered as rain water which has passed through +the fissures of the earth, and, having accumulated at the bottom of +declivities, rises again to the surface forming springs and wells. As +wells take their origin at some depth from the surface, and below the +influence of the external atmosphere, their temperature is in general +pretty uniform during every vicissitude of season, and always several +degrees lower than the atmosphere. They differ from one another +according to the nature of the strata through which they issue; for +though the ingredients usually existing in them are in such minute +quantities as to impart to the water no striking properties, and do not +render it unfit for common purposes, yet they modify its nature very +considerably. Hence the water of some springs is said to be _hard_, of +others _soft_, some _sweet_, others _brackish_, according to the nature +and degree of the inpregnating ingredients. + +Common springs are insensibly changed into mineral or medicinal springs, +as their foreign contents become larger or more unusual; or, in some +instances, they derive medicinal celebrity from the absence of those +ingredients usually occurring in spring-water; as, for example, is the +case with the Malvern spring, which is nearly pure water. + +Almost all spring-waters possess the property termed _hardness_ in a +greater or less degree; a property which depends chiefly upon the +presence of super-carbonate, or of sulphate of lime, or of both; and the +quantity of these earthy salts varies very considerably in different +instances. Mr. Dalton[13] has shewn that one grain of sulphate of lime, +contained in 2000 grains of water, converts it into the hardest spring +water that is commonly met with. + +The waters of deep wells are usually much harder than those of springs +which overflow the mouth of the well; but there are some exceptions to +this rule. + +The purest springs are those which occur in primitive rocks, or beds of +gravel, or filter through sand or silicious strata. In general, large +springs are purer than small ones: and our old wells contain finer water +than those that are new, as the soluble parts through which the water +filters in channels under ground become gradually washed away. + + +_River Water_, + +Is a term applied to every running stream or rivulet exposed to the air, +and always flowing in an open channel. It is formed of spring water, +which, by exposure, becomes more pure, and of running land or surface +water, which, although turbid from particles of the alluvial soil +suspended in it, is otherwise very pure. It is purest when it runs over +a gravelly or rocky bed, and when its course is swift. It is generally +soft, and more free from earthy salts than spring water; but it usually +contains less common air and carbonic acid gas; for, by the agitation of +a long current, and exposed to the temperature of the atmosphere, part +of its carbonic acid gas is disengaged, and the lime held in solution by +it is in part precipitated, the loss of which contributes to the +softness of the water. Its specific gravity thereby becomes less, the +taste not so harsh, but less fresh and agreeable; and out of a hard +spring is often made a stream of sufficient purity for most of the +purposes where a soft water is required. + +The water called in this metropolis _New River Water_, contains a minute +portion of muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, and muriate of soda. + +Some streams, however, that arise from clean silicious beds, and flow in +a sandy or stony channel, are from the outset remarkably pure; such as +the mountain lakes and rivulets in the rocky districts of Wales, the +source of the beautiful waters of the Dee, and numberless other rivers +that flow through the hollow of every valley. Switzerland has long been +celebrated for the purity and excellence of its waters, which pour in +copious streams from the mountains, and give rise to the finest rivers +in Europe. + +Some rivers, however, that do not take their rise from a rocky soil, and +are indeed at first considerably charged with foreign matter, during a +long course, even over a richly cultivated plain, become remarkably pure +as to saline contents; but often fouled with mud containing much animal +and vegetable matter, which are rather suspended than held in true +solution. Such is the water of the river Thames, which, taken up at +London at low water mark, is very soft and good; and, after rest, it +contains but a very small portion of any thing that could prove +pernicious, or impede any manufacture. It is also excellently fitted for +sea-store; but it then undergoes a remarkable spontaneous change, when +preserved in wooden casks. No water carried to sea becomes putrid sooner +than that of the Thames. But the mode now adopted in the navy of +substituting iron tanks for wooden casks, tends greatly to obviate this +disadvantage. + +Whoever will consider the situation of the Thames, and the immense +population along its banks for so many miles, must at once perceive the +prodigious accumulation of animal matters of all kinds, which by means +of the common sewers constantly make their way into it. These matters +are, no doubt, in part the cause of the putrefaction which it is well +known to undergo at sea, and of the carburetted and sulphuretted +hydrogen gases which are evolved from it. When a wooden cask is opened, +after being kept a month or two, a quantity of carburetted and +sulphuretted hydrogen escapes, and the water is so black and offensive +as scarcely to be borne. Upon racking it off, however, into large +earthen vessels, and exposing it to the air, it gradually deposits a +quantity of black slimy mud, becomes clear as crystal, and remarkably +sweet and palatable. + +It might, at first sight, be expected that the water of the Thames, +after having received all the contents of the sewers, drains, and water +courses, of a large town, should acquire thereby such impregnation with +foreign matters, as to become very impure; but it appears, from the most +accurate experiments that have been made, that those kinds of impurities +have no perceptible influence on the salubrious quality of a mass of +water so immense, and constantly kept in motion by the action of the +tides. + +Some traces of animal matter may, however, be detected in the water of +the Thames; for if nitrate of lead be dropped into it,[14] "you will +find that it becomes milky, and that a white powder falls to the bottom, +which dissolves without effervescence in nitric acid. It is, therefore, +(says Dr. Thomson) a combination of oxide of lead with some animal +matter." + + +SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN COMMON WATER, AND TESTS BY WHICH THEY +ARE DETECTED. + +To acquire a knowledge of the general nature of common water, it is only +necessary to add to it a few chemical tests, which will quickly indicate +the presence or absence of the substances that may be expected. + +Almost the only salts contained in common waters are the carbonates, +sulphates, and muriates of soda, lime, and magnesia; and sometimes a +very minute portion of iron may also be detected in them. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Fill a wine-glass with distilled water, and add to it a few drops of a +solution of soap in alcohol, the water will remain transparent. + +This test is employed for ascertaining the presence of earthy salts in +waters. Hence it produces no change when mingled with distilled or +perfectly pure water; but when added to water containing earthy salts, a +white flocculent matter becomes separated, which speedily collects on +the surface of the fluid. Now, from the quantity of flocculent matter +produced, in equal quantities of water submitted to the test, a +tolerable notion may be formed of the degrees of hardness of different +kinds of water, at least so far as regards the fitness of the water for +the ordinary purposes of domestic economy. This may be rendered obvious +in the following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Fill a number of wine-glasses with different kinds of pump or well +water, and let fall into each glass a few drops of the solution of soap +in alcohol. A turbidness will instantly ensue, and a flocculent matter +collect on the surface of the fluid, if the mixture be left undisturbed. +The quantity of flocculent matter will be in the ratio of the quantity +of earthy salts contained in the water. + +It is obvious that the action of this test is not discriminative, with +regard to the chemical nature of the earthy salt present in the water. +It serves only to indicate the _presence_ or _absence_ of those kinds of +substances which occasion that quality in water which is usually called +_hardness_, and which is always owing to salts with an earthy base. + +If we wish to know the nature of the different acids and earths +contained in the water, the following test may be employed.[15] + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add about twenty drops of a solution of oxalate of ammonia, to half a +wine-glass of the water; if a white precipitate ensues, we conclude that +the water contains lime. + +By means of this test, one grain of lime may be detected in 24,250 of +water. + +If this test occasion a white precipitate in water taken fresh from the +pump or spring, and not after the water has been boiled and suffered to +grow cold, the lime is dissolved in the water by an excess of carbonic +acid; and if it continues to produce a precipitate in the water which +has been concentrated by boiling, we then are sure that the lime is +combined with a fixed acid. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +To detect the presence of iron, add to a wine-glassful of the water a +few drops of an infusion of nut-galls; or better, suffer a nut-gall to +be suspended in it for twenty-four hours, which will cause the water to +acquire a blueish black colour, if iron be present. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add a few grains of muriate of barytes, to half a wine-glass of the +water to be examined; if it produces a turbidness which does not +disappear by the admixture of a few drops of muriatic acid, the presence +of sulphuric acid is rendered obvious. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If a few drops of a solution of nitrate of silver occasions a milkiness +with the water, which vanishes again by the copious addition of liquid +ammonia, we have reason to believe that the water contains a salt, one +of the constituent parts of which is muriatic acid. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If lime water or barytic water occasions a precipitate which again +vanishes by the admixture of muriatic acid, then carbonic acid is +present in the water. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If a solution of phosphate of soda produces a milkiness with the water, +after a previous addition to it of a similar quantity of neutral +carbonate of ammonia, we may then expect magnesia. The application of +this test is best made in the following manner: + +Concentrate a quantity of the water to be examined to about 1/20 part of +its bulk, and drop into about half a wine-glassful, about five grains of +neutral carbonate of ammonia. No magnesia becomes yet precipitated if +this earth be present; but on adding a like quantity of phosphate of +soda, the magnesia falls down, as an insoluble salt. It is essential +that the carbonate of ammonia be neutral. + +This test was first pointed out by Dr. Wollaston. + +The presence of oxygen gas loosely combined in water may readily be +discovered in the following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Fill a vial with water, and add to it a small quantity of green sulphate +of iron. If the water be entirely free of oxygen, and if the vessel be +well stopped and completely filled, the solution is transparent; but if +otherwise, it soon becomes slightly turbid, from the oxide of iron +attracting the oxygen, and a small portion of it, in this more highly +oxidated state, leaving the acid and being precipitated. Or, according +to a method pointed out by Driessen, the water is to be boiled for two +hours in a flask filled with it, and immersed in a vessel of water kept +boiling, with the mouth of the flask under the surface of the water: it +is to be inverted in quicksilver, taking care that no air-bubble adheres +to the side of the flask, and being tinged with infusion of litmus, a +little nitrous gas is to be introduced: if the oxygen gas has been +sufficiently expelled from the water, the purple colour of the litmus +does not change; while, if oxygen be present, it immediately becomes +red.[16] + +If we examine the different waters which are used for the ordinary +purposes of life, and judge of them by the above tests, we shall find +them to differ considerably from each other. Some contain a large +quantity of saline and earthy matters, whilst others are nearly pure. +The differences are produced by the great solvent power which water +exercises upon most substances. Wells should never be lined with bricks, +which render soft water hard; or, if bricks be employed, they should be +bedded in and covered with cement. + + +METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE RELATIVE QUANTITY OF EACH OF THE DIFFERENT +SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN COMMON WATER. + +To ascertain the quantity of earthy and saline matter contained in +water, the following is the most simple and easy method. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Put any measured quantity of the water into a platina, or silver +evaporating basin, the weight of which is known, and evaporate the water +upon a steam bath, at a temperature of about 180°, nearly to dryness; +and, lastly, remove the basin to a sand bath, and let the mass be +evaporated to perfect dryness. The weight of the platina basin being +already known, we have only to weigh it carefully. When the solid saline +contents of the water is attached to it, the increase of weight gives +the quantity of solid matter contained in a given quantity of the water. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Pour upon the saline contents a quantity of distilled water equal to +that in which the obtained salts were originally dissolved. If the whole +saline matter become dissolved in this water, there is reason to believe +that the saline matter has not been altered during the evaporation of +the water. But if a portion remain undissolved, as is usually the case, +then we may conclude that some of the salts have mutually decomposed +each other, when brought into a concentrated state by the evaporation, +and that salts have been formed which did not originally exist in the +water before its evaporation. + +We have already mentioned that almost the only salts contained in common +waters, are the carbonates, sulphates, and muriates, of soda, lime, and +magnesia; and sometimes a very minute portion of iron. Having determined +the different acids and bases present, in the manner stated at p. 49, we +may easily ascertain the relative weight of each. + +The following formula suggested by Dr. Murray,[17] is fully as accurate +a means of analysing waters as any other, and it is easy of execution. +The weight of the saline ingredients of a given quantity of water being +determined, we may proceed to the accurate analysis of it in the +following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Measure out a determinate volume of the water (as 500 or 1000 cubic +inches,) and evaporate it gradually, in an unglazed open vessel defended +from dust, to one third of its original bulk; then divide this +evaporated liquid into three equal portions. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Drop into the first portion, muriate of barytes; wash the precipitate, +collect it, dry it at a red heat upon platina foil, and weigh it; digest +it in nitric acid, dry it, and weigh it again. The loss of weight +indicates the quantity of carbonate of barytes which the precipitate +contained. The residual weight is sulphate of barytes; the carbonic acid +in the water is equivalent to 0,22 of the weight of the carbonate of +barytes; the sulphuric acid to 0,339 of the weight of the sulphate of +barytes. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Precipitate the second portion of the concentrated water, by the +addition of nitrate of silver; wash the precipitate, dry it, and fuse it +on a piece of foil platina, previously weighed. By weighing the foil +containing the fused chloride of silver, the weight of the precipitate +may be ascertained. The fourth part of this weight is equivalent to the +weight of the muriatic acid contained in the portion of water +precipitated. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Precipitate the third portion of the water by the addition of oxalate of +ammonia; wash and dry the precipitate; expose it to a red heat, on a +platina foil, or in a capsule of platina; pour on it some dilute +sulphuric acid; digest for some time, then evaporate to dryness, expose +the capsule to a pretty strong heat, and, lastly, weigh the sulphate of +lime thus produced: 0.453 of its weight indicate the quantity of lime in +the portion of water precipitated. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add to the same third portion of the water thus freed from lime, a +portion of a solution of neutral carbonate of ammonia, and then add +phosphoric acid, drop by drop, as long as any precipitate falls down. +Wash the precipitate, dry it, and expose it to a red heat in a platina +capsule: it is phosphate of magnesia. 0.357 of the weight of this salt +is equivalent to the weight of the magnesia contained in the water. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If the water contain a minute portion of iron, a quantity of it equal to +one of the three preceding portions, must be taken and mixed with a +solution of benzoate of ammonia. The precipitate being washed, dried, +and exposed to a red heat, and weighed, nine-tenths of its weight +indicate the weight of protoxide of iron contained in the water. + +In this manner the quantity of all the substances contained in the water +will be ascertained, except there be any soda. To know the amount of it, +the following method, pointed out by Dr. Murray, answers very well. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Evaporate a portion of the water to one third of its bulk. Precipitate +the carbonic and sulphuric acids by the addition of muriate of barytes, +taking care not to add any excess of the tests. + +Precipitate the lime by oxalate of ammonia, and the magnesia by +carbonate of ammonia and phosphoric acid. (Page 52.) Then evaporate the +liquid thus treated to dryness. A quantity of common salt will remain: +let this be exposed to a red heat; 0.4 of its weight indicate the sodium +contained in the bulk of water employed; and 0.4 sodium are equivalent +to 0.53 of soda. + +It seems hardly requisite to mention some other substances that +occasionally make their appearance in the waters used for domestic +purposes. A fine divided sand is a common constituent, which is easily +obtained in a separate state. We have only to evaporate a portion of the +water to dryness, and redissolve the saline residue in distilled water. +The silicious sand remains undissolved, and betrays itself by its +insolubility in acids, and its easy fusibility into a transparant glass, +with soda, before the blow-pipe. + + +DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF KEEPING WATER FOR DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN LEADEN +RESERVOIRS. + +The deleterious effect of lead, when taken into the stomach, is at +present so universally known, that it is quite unnecessary to adduce +any argument in proof of its dangerous tendency. + +The ancients were, upwards of 2000 years ago, as well aware of the +pernicious quality of this metal as we are at the present day; and +indeed they appeared to have been much more apprehensive of its effects, +and scrupulous in the application of it to purposes of domestic economy. + +Their precautions may have been occasionally carried to an unnecessary +length. This was the natural consequence of the imperfect state of +experimental knowledge at that period. When men were unable to detect +the poisonous matters--to be over scrupulous in the use of such water, +was an error on the right side. + +The moderns, on the other hand, in part, perhaps, from an ill-founded +confidence, and inattention to a careful and continued examination of +its effects, have fallen into an opposite error. + +There can be no doubt that the mode of preserving water intended for +food or drink in leaden reservoirs, is exceedingly improper; and +although pure water exercises no sensible action upon metallic lead, +provided air be excluded, the metal is certainly acted on by the water +when air is admitted: this effect is so obvious, that it cannot escape +the notice of the least attentive observer. + +The white line which may be seen at the surface of the water preserved +in leaden cisterns, where the metal touches the water and where the air +is admitted, is a carbonate of lead, formed at the expense of the metal. +This substance, when taken into the stomach, is highly deleterious to +health. This was the reason which induced the ancients to condemn leaden +pipes for the conveyance of water; it having been remarked that persons +who swallowed the sediment of such water, became affected with disorders +of the bowels.[18] + +Leaden water reservoirs were condemned in ancient times by Hyppocrates, +Galen, and Vitruvius, as dangerous: in addition to which, we may depend +on the observations of Van Swieten, Tronchin, and others, who have +quoted numerous unhappy examples of whole families poisoned by water +which had remained in reservoirs of lead. Dr. Johnston, Dr. Percival, +Sir George Baker, and Dr. Lamb, have likewise recorded numerous +instances where dangerous diseases ensued from the use of water +impregnated with lead. + +Different potable waters have unequal solvent powers on this metal. In +some places the use of leaden pumps has been discontinued, from the +expense entailed upon the proprietors by the constant want of repair. +Dr. Lamb[19] states an instance where the proprietor of a well ordered +his plumber to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the +metal usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of repairs; because +he had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it +corroded the lead very soon. + +The following instance is related by Sir George Baker:[20] + +"A gentleman was the father of a numerous offspring, having had +one-and-twenty children, of whom eight died young, and thirteen survived +their parents. During their infancy, and indeed _until they had quitted +the place of their usual residence, they were all remarkably unhealthy_; +being particularly subject to disorders of the stomach and bowels. The +father, during many years, was paralytic; the mother, for a long time, +was subject to colics and bilious obstructions. + +"After the death of the parents, the family sold the house which they +had so long inhabited. The purchaser found it necessary to repair the +pump. This was made of lead; which, upon examination was found to be so +corroded, that several perforations were observed in the cylinder, in +which the bucket plays; and the cistern in the upper part was reduced to +the thinness of common brown paper, and was full of holes, like a +sieve." + +I have myself seen numerous instances where leaden cisterns have been +completely corroded by the action of water with which they were in +contact: and there is, perhaps, not a plumber who cannot give testimony +of having experienced numerous similar instances in the practice of his +trade. + +I have been frequently called upon to examine leaden cisterns, which had +become leaky on account of the action of the water which they contained; +and I could adduce an instance of a legal controversy having taken place +to settle the disputes between the proprietors of an estate and a +plumber, originating from a similar cause--the plumber being accused of +having furnished a faulty reservoir; whereas the case was proved to be +owing to the chemical action of the water on the lead. Water containing +a large quantity of common air and carbonic acid gas, always acts very +sensibly on metallic lead. + +Water, which has no sensible action, in its natural state, upon lead, +may acquire the capability of acting on it by heterogeneous matter, +which it may accidentally receive. Numerous instances have shewn that +vegetable matter, such as leaves, falling into leaden cisterns filled +with water, imparted to the water a considerable solvent power of action +on the lead, which, in its natural state it did not possess. Hence the +necessity of keeping leaden cisterns clean; and this is the more +necessary, as their situations expose them to accidental impurities. The +noted saturnine colic of Amsterdam, described by Tronchin, originated +from such a circumstance; as also the case related by Van Swieten,[21] +of a whole family afflicted with the same complaint, from such a +cistern. And it is highly probable that the case of disease recorded by +Dr. Duncan,[22] proceeded more from some foulness in the cistern, than +from the solvent power of the water. In this instance the officers of +the packet boat used water for their drink and cooking out of a leaden +cistern, whilst the sailors used the water taken from the same source, +except that theirs was kept in wooden vessels. The consequence was, that +all the officers were seized with the colic, and all the men continued +healthy. + +The carelessness of the bulk of mankind, Dr. Lambe very justly observes, +to these things, "is so great, that to repeat them again and again +cannot be wholly useless." + +Although the great majority of persons who daily use water kept in +leaden cisterns receive no sensible injury, yet the apparent salubrity +must be ascribed to the great slowness of its operation, and the +minuteness of the dose taken, the effects of which become modified by +different causes and different constitutions, and according to the +predisposition to diseases inherent in different individuals. The +supposed security of the multitude who use the water with impunity, +amounts to no more than presumption, in favour of any individual, which +may or may not be confirmed by experience. + +Independent of the morbid susceptibility of impressions which +distinguish certain habits, there is, besides, much variety in the +original constitution of the human frame, of which we are totally +ignorant. + +"The susceptibility or proneness to disease of each individual, must be +esteemed peculiar to himself. Confiding to the experience of others is a +ground of security which may prove fallacious; and the danger can with +certainty be obviated only by avoiding its source. And considering the +various and complicated changes of the human frame, under different +circumstances and at different ages, it is neither impossible nor +improbable that the substances taken into the system at one period, and +even for a series of years, with apparent impunity may, notwithstanding, +at another period, be eventually the occasion of disease and of death. + +"The experience of a single person, or of many persons, however +numerous, is quite incompetent to the decision of a question of this +nature. + +"The pernicious effects of an intemperate use of spiritous liquors is +not less certain because we often see habitual drunkards enjoy a state +of good health, and arrive at old age: and the same may be said of +individuals who indulge in vices of all kinds, evidently destructive to +life; many of whom, in spite of their bad habits, attain to a vigorous +old age."[23] + +In confirmation of these remarks, we adduce the following account of the +effect of water contaminated by lead, given by Sir G. Baker: + +"The most remarkable case on the subject that now occurs to my memory, +is that of Lord Ashburnham's family, in Sussex; to which, spring water +was supplied, from a considerable distance, in leaden pipes. In +consequence, his Lordship's servants were every year tormented with +colic, and some of them died. An eminent physician, of Battle, who +corresponded with me on the subject, sent up some gallons of that water, +which were analysed by Dr. Higgins, who reported that the water had +contained more than the common quantity of carbonic acid; and that he +found in it lead in solution, which he attributed to the carbonic acid. +In consequence of this, Lord Ashburnham substituted wooden for leaden +pipes; and from that time his family have had no particular complaints +in their bowels." + +_Richmond, Sept. 27, 1802._ + + +METHOD OF DETECTING LEAD, WHEN CONTAINED IN WATER. + +One of the most delicate tests for detecting lead, is water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which instantly imparts to the fluid +containing the minutest quantity of lead, a brown or blackish tinge. + +This test is so delicate that distilled water, when condensed by a +leaden pipe in a still tub, is affected by it. To shew the action of +this test, the following experiments will serve. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Pour into a wine-glass containing distilled water, an equal quantity of +water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas: no change will take +place; but if a 1/4 of a grain of acetate of lead (sugar of lead of +commerce), or any other preparation of lead, be added, the mixture will +instantly turn brown and dark-coloured. + +To apply this test, one part of the suspected water need merely to be +mingled with a like quantity of water impregnated with sulphuretted +hydrogen. Or better, a larger quantity, a gallon for example, of the +water may be concentrated by evaporation to about half a pint, and then +submitted to the action of the test. + +Another and more efficient mode of applying this test, is, to pass a +current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the suspected water in the +following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +[Illustration] + +Take a bottle (_a_) or Florence flask, adapt to the mouth of it a cork +furnished with a glass tube (_b_), bent at right angles; let one leg of +the tube be immersed in the vial (_c_) containing the water to be +examined; as shewn in the following sketch. Then take one part of +sulphuret of antimony of commerce, break it into pieces of half the size +of split pease, put it into the flask, and pour upon it four parts of +common concentrated muriatic acid (spirit of salt of commerce). +Sulphuretted hydrogen gas will become disengaged from the materials in +abundance, and pass through the water in the vial (_c_). Let the +extrication of the gas be continued for about five minutes; and if the +minutest quantity of lead be present, the water will acquire a +dark-brown or blackish tinge. The extrication of the gas is facilitated +by the application of a gentle heat. + +The action of the sulphuretted hydrogen test, when applied in this +manner, is astonishingly great; for one part of acetate of lead may be +detected by means of it, in 20000 parts of water.[24] + +Another test for readily detecting lead in water, is sulphuretted +chyazate of potash, first pointed out as such by Mr. Porret. A few drops +of this re-agent, added to water containing lead, occasion a white +precipitate, consisting of small brilliant scales of a considerable +lustre. + +Sulphate of potash, or sulphate of soda, is likewise a very delicate +test for detecting minute portions of lead. Dr. Thomson[25] discovered, +by means of it, one part of lead in 100000 parts of water; and this +acute Philosopher considers it as the most unequivocal test of lead that +we possess. Dr. Thomson remarks that "no other precipitate can well be +confounded with it, except sulphate of barytes; and there is no +probability of the presence of barytes existing in common water." + +Carbonate of potash, or carbonate of soda, may also be used as agents to +detect the presence of lead. By means of these salts Dr. Thomson was +enabled to detect the presence of a smaller quantity of lead in +distilled water, than by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen. But the +reader must here be told, that the use of these tests cannot be +entrusted to an unskilful hand; because the alkaline carbonates throw +down also lime and magnesia, two substances which are frequently found +in common water; the former tests, namely, water impregnated with +sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and nascent sulphuretted hydrogen, are +therefore preferable. + +It is absolutely essential that the water impregnated with sulphuretted +hydrogen, when employed as a test for detecting very minute quantities +of lead, be fresh prepared; and if sulphate of potash, or sulphate of +soda, be used as tests, they should be perfectly pure. Sulphate of +potash is preferable to sulphate of soda. It is likewise advisable to +act with these tests upon water concentrated by boiling. The water to +which the test has been added does sometimes appear not to undergo any +change, at first; it is therefore necessary to suffer the mixture to +stand for a few hours; after which time the action of the test will be +more evident. Mr. Silvester[26] has proposed gallic acid as a delicate +test for detecting lead. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Dalton, Manchester Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 55. + +[12] Marsden's History of Sumatra. + +[13] Manchester Memoirs vol. x. 1819. + +[14] Observations on the Water with which Tunbridge Wells is chiefly +supplied for Domestic Purposes, by Dr. Thomson; forming an Appendix to +an Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. Scudamore. + +[15] It is absolutely essential that the tests should be pure. + +[16] Philosophical Magazine, vol. xv. p. 252. + +[17] Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. viii. p. 259. + +[18] Sir G. Baker, Med. Trans. vol. i. p. 280. + +[19] Lamb on Spring Water. + +[20] Medical Trans. vol. i. p. 420. + +[21] Van Swieten ad Boerhaave, Aphorisms, 1060. Comment. + +[22] Medical Comment. Dec. 2, 1794. + +[23] Lambe on Spring Water. + +[24] See An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. +Scudamore, p. 55. + +The application of the sulphuretted hydrogen test requires some +precautions in those cases where other metals besides lead may be +expected; because silver, quicksilver, tin, copper, and several other +metals, are affected by it, as well as lead; but there is no chance of +these metals being met with in common water.--See _Chemical Tests_, +third edition, p. 207. + +[25] Analysis of Tunbridge Wells Water, by Dr. Scudamore, p. 55. + +[26] Nicholson's Journal, p. 33, 310. + + + + +_Adulteration of Wine._ + + +It is sufficiently obvious, that few of those commodities, which are the +objects of commerce, are adulterated to a greater extent than wine. All +persons moderately conversant with the subject, are aware, that a +portion of alum is added to young and meagre red wines, for the purpose +of brightening their colour; that Brazil wood, or the husks of +elderberries and bilberries,[27] are employed to impart a deep rich +purple tint to red Port of a pale, faint colour; that gypsum is used to +render cloudy white wines transparent;[28] that an additional +astringency is imparted to immature red wines by means of oak-wood +sawdust,[29] and the husks of filberts; and that a mixture of spoiled +foreign and home-made wines is converted into the wretched compound +frequently sold in this town by the name of _genuine old Port_. + +Various expedients are resorted to for the purpose of communicating +particular flavours to insipid wines. Thus a _nutty_ flavour is produced +by bitter almonds; factitious Port wine is flavoured with a tincture +drawn from the seeds of raisins; and the ingredients employed to form +the _bouquet_ of high-flavoured wines, are sweet-brier, oris-root, +clary, cherry laurel water, and elder-flowers. + +The flavouring ingredients used by manufacturers, may all be purchased +by those dealers in wine who are initiated in the mysteries of the +trade; and even a manuscript recipe book for preparing them, and the +whole mystery of managing all sorts of wines, may be obtained on payment +of a considerable fee. + +The sophistication of wine with substances not absolutely noxious to +health, is carried to an enormous extent in this metropolis. Many +thousand pipes of spoiled cyder are annually brought hither from the +country, for the purpose of being converted into factitious Port wine. +The art of manufacturing spurious wine is a regular trade of great +extent in this metropolis. + +"There is, in this city, a certain fraternity of chemical operators, who +work underground in holes, caverns, and dark retirements, to conceal +their mysteries from the eyes and observation of mankind. These +subterraneous philosophers are daily employed in the transmutation of +liquors; and by the power of magical drugs and incantations, raising +under the streets of London the choicest products of the hills and +valleys of France. They can squeeze Bourdeaux out of the sloe, and draw +Champagne from an apple. Virgil, in that remarkable prophecy, + + _Incultisque ruhens pendebit sentibus uva._ + + Virg. Ecl. iv. 29. + + The ripening grape shall hang on every thorn. + +seems to have hinted at this art, which can turn a plantation of +northern hedges into a vineyard. These adepts are known among one +another by the name of _Wine-brewers_; and, I am afraid, do great +injury, not only to her Majesty's customs, but to the bodies of many of +her good subjects."[30] + +The following are a few of the recipes employed in the manufacture of +spurious wine: + + To make _British Port Wine_.[31]--"Take of British grape wine, or + good cyder, 4 gallons; of the juice of red beet root two quarts; + brandy, two quarts; logwood 4 ounces; rhatany root, bruised, half a + pound: first infuse the logwood and rhatany root in brandy, and a + gallon of grape wine or cyder for one week; then strain off the + liquor, and mix it with the other ingredients; keep it in a cask + for a month, when it will be fit to bottle." + + + _British Champagne._--"Take of white sugar, 8 pounds; the whitest + brown sugar, 7 pounds, crystalline lemon acid, or tartaric acid, 1 + ounce and a quarter, pure water, 8 gallons; white grape wine, two + quarts, or perry, 4 quarts; of French brandy, 3 pints." + + "Put the sugar in the water, skimming it occasionally for two + hours, then pour it into a tub and dissolve in it the acid; before + it is cold, add some yeast and ferment. Put it into a clean cask + and add the other ingredients. The cask is then to be well bunged, + and kept in a cool place for two or three months; then bottle it + and keep it cool for a month longer, when it will be fit for use. + If it should not be perfectly clear after standing in the cask two + or three months, it should be rendered so by the use of isinglass. + By adding 1 lb. of fresh or preserved strawberries, and 2 ounces of + powdered cochineal, the PINK _Champagne may be made_." + + + _Southampton Port._[32]--"Take cyder, 36 gallons; elder wine, 11 + gallons; brandy, 5 gallons; damson wine, 11 gallons; mix." + +The particular and separate department in this factitious wine trade, +called _crusting_, consists in lining the interior surface of empty +wine-bottles, in part, with a red crust of super-tartrate of potash, by +suffering a saturated hot solution of this salt, coloured red with a +decoction of Brazil-wood, to crystallize within them; and after this +simulation of maturity is perfected, they are filled with the compound +called Port wine. + +Other artisans are regularly employed in staining the lower extremities +of bottle-corks with a fine red colour, to appear, on being drawn, as if +they had been long in contact with the wine. + +The preparation of an astringent extract, to produce, from spoiled +home-made and foreign wines, a "genuine old Port," by mere admixture; or +to impart to a weak wine a rough austere taste, a fine colour, and a +peculiar flavour; forms one branch of the business of particular +wine-coopers: while the mellowing and restoring of spoiled white wines, +is the sole occupation of men who are called _refiners of wine_. + +We have stated that a crystalline crust is formed on the interior +surface of bottles, for the purpose of misleading the unwary into a +belief that the wine contained in them is of a certain age. A +correspondent operation is performed on the wooden cask; the whole +interior of which is stained artificially with a crystalline crust of +super-tartrate of potash, artfully affixed in a manner precisely similar +to that before stated. Thus the wine-merchant, after bottling off a +pipe of wine, is enabled to impose on the understanding of his +customers, by taking to pieces the cask, and exhibiting the beautiful +dark coloured and fine crystalline crust, as an indubitable proof of the +age of the wine; a practice by no means uncommon, to flatter the vanity +of those who pride themselves in their acute discrimination of wines. + +These and many other sophistications, which have long been practised +with impunity, are considered as legitimate by those who pride +themselves for their skill in the art of _managing_, or, according to +the familiar phrase, _doctoring_ wines. The plea alleged in exculpation +of them, is, that, though deceptive, they are harmless: but even +admitting this as a palliation, yet they form only one department of an +art which includes other processes of a tendency absolutely criminal. + +Several well-authenticated facts have convinced me that the adulteration +of wine with substances deleterious to health, is certainly practised +oftener than is, perhaps, suspected; and it would be easy to give some +instances of very serious effects having arisen from wines contaminated +with deleterious substances, were this a subject on which I meant to +speak. The following statement is copied from the Monthly Magazine for +March 1811, p. 188. + +"On the 17th of January, the passengers by the Highflyer coach, from the +north, dined, as usual, at Newark. A bottle of Port wine was ordered; on +tasting which, one of the passengers observed that it had an unpleasant +flavour, and begged that it might be changed. The waiter took away the +bottle, poured into a fresh decanter half the wine which had been +objected to, and filled it up from another bottle. This he took into the +room, and the greater part was drank by the passengers, who, after the +coach had set out towards Grantham, were seized with extreme sickness; +one gentleman in particular, who had taken more of the wine than the +others, it was thought would have died, but has since recovered. The +half of the bottle of wine sent out of the passengers' room, was put +aside for the purpose of mixing negus. In the evening, Mr. Bland, of +Newark, went into the hotel, and drank a glass or two of wine and water. +He returned home at his usual hour, and went to bed; in the middle of +the night he was taken so ill, as to induce Mrs. Bland to send for his +brother, an apothecary in the town; but before that gentleman arrived, +he was dead. An inquest was held, and the jury, after the fullest +enquiry, and the examination of the surgeons by whom the body was +opened, returned a verdict of--_Died by Poison._" + +The most dangerous adulteration of wine is by some preparations of lead, +which possess the property of stopping the progress of acescence of +wine, and also of rendering white wines, when muddy, transparent. I have +good reason to state that lead is certainly employed for this purpose. +The effect is very rapid; and there appears to be no other method known, +of rapidly recovering ropy wines. Wine merchants persuade themselves +that the minute quantity of lead employed for that purpose is perfectly +harmless, and that no atom of lead remains in the wine. Chemical +analysis proves the contrary; and the practice of clarifying spoiled +white wines by means of lead, must be pronounced as highly deleterious. + +Lead, in whatever state it be taken into the stomach, occasions terrible +diseases; and wine, adulterated with the minutest quantity of it, +becomes a slow poison. The merchant or dealer who practises this +dangerous sophistication, adds the crime of murder to that of fraud, and +deliberately scatters the seeds of disease and death among those +consumers who contribute to his emolument. If to debase the current +coin of the realm be denounced as a capital offence, what punishment +should be awarded against a practice which converts into poison a liquor +used for sacred purposes. + +Dr. Watson[33] relates, that the method of adulterating wine with lead, +was at one time a common practice in Paris. + +Dr. Warren[34] states an instance of thirty-two persons having become +severely ill, after drinking white wine that had been adulterated with +lead. One of them died, and one became paralytic. + +In Graham's Treatise on Wine-Making,[35] under the article of _Secrets_, +belonging to the mysteries of vintners, p. 31, lead is recommended to +prevent wine from becoming acid. The following lines are copied from Mr. +Graham's work: + + + "_To hinder Wine from turning._ + + "Put a pound of melted lead, in fair water, into your cask, pretty + warm, and stop it close." + + + "_To soften Grey Wine._ + + "Put in a little vinegar wherein litharge has been well steeped, and + boil some honey, to draw out the wax. Strain it through a cloth, and + put a quart of it into a tierce of wine, and this will mend it." + + * * * * * + +The ancients knew that lead rendered harsh wines milder, and preserved +it from acidity, without being aware that it was pernicious: it was +therefore long used with confidence; and when its effects were +discovered, they were not ascribed to that metal, but to some other +cause.[36] When the Greek and Roman wine merchants wished to try whether +their wine was spoiled, they immersed in it a plate of lead;[37] if the +colour of the lead were corroded, they concluded that their wine was +spoiled. Wine may become accidentally impregnated with lead. + +It is well known that bottles in which wine has been kept, are usually +cleaned by means of shot, which by its rolling motion detaches the +super-tartrate of potash from the sides of the bottles. This practice, +which is generally pursued by wine-merchants, may give rise to serious +consequences, as will become evident from the following case:[38] + +"A gentleman who had never in his life experienced a day's illness, and +who was constantly in the habit of drinking half a bottle of Madeira +wine after his dinner, was taken ill, three hours after dinner, with a +severe pain in the stomach and violent bowel colic, which gradually +yielded within twelve hours to the remedies prescribed by his medical +adviser. The day following he drank the remainder of the same bottle of +wine which was left the preceding day, and within two hours afterwards +he was again seized with the most violent colliquative pains, headach, +shiverings, and great pain over the whole body. His apothecary becoming +suspicious that the wine he had drank might be the cause of the +disease, ordered the bottle from which the wine had been decanted to be +brought to him, with a view that he might examine the dregs, if any were +left. The bottle happening to slip out of the hand of the servant, +disclosed a row of shot wedged forcibly into the angular bent-up +circumference of it. On examining the beads of shot, they crumbled into +dust, the outer crust (defended by a coat of black lead with which the +shot is glazed) being alone left unacted on, whilst the remainder of the +metal was dissolved. The wine, therefore, had become contaminated with +_lead and arsenic_, the shot being a compound of these metals, which no +doubt had produced the mischief." + + +TEST FOR DETECTING THE DELETERIOUS ADULTERATIONS OF WINE. + +A ready re-agent for detecting the presence of lead, or any other +deleterious metal in wine, is known by the name of the _wine test_. It +consists of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, acidulated +with muriatic acid. By adding one part of it, to two of wine, or any +other liquid suspected to contain lead, a dark coloured or black +precipitate will fall down, which does not disappear by an addition of +muriatic acid; and this precipitate, dried and fused before the blowpipe +on a piece of charcoal, yields a globule of metallic lead. This test +does not precipitate iron; the muriatic acid retains iron in solution +when combined with sulphuretted hydrogen; and any acid in the wine has +no effect in precipitating any of the sulphur of the test liquor. Or a +still more efficacious method is, to pass a current of sulphuretted +hydrogen gas through the wine, in the manner described, p. 70, having +previously acidulated the wine with muriatic acid. + +The wine test sometimes employed is prepared in the following +manner:--Mix equal parts of finely powdered sulphur and of slacked +quick-lime, and expose it to a red heat for twenty minutes. To +thirty-six grains of this sulphuret of lime, add twenty-six grains of +super-tartrate of potassa; put the mixture into an ounce bottle, and +fill up the bottle with water that has been previously boiled, and +suffered to cool. The liquor, after having been repeatedly shaken, and +allowed to become clear, by the subsidence of the undissolved matter, +may then be poured into another phial, into which about twenty drops of +muriatic acid have been previously put. It is then ready for use. This +test, when mingled with wine containing lead or copper, turns the wine +of a dark-brown or black colour. But the mere application of +sulphuretted hydrogen gas to wine, acidulated by muriatic acid, is a far +more preferable mode of detecting lead in wine. + +M. Vogel[39] has lately recommended acetate of lead as a test for +detecting extraneous colours in red wine. He remarks, that none of the +substances that can be employed for colouring wine, such as the berries +of the Vaccinium Mirtillus (bilberries), elderberries, and Campeach +wood, produce with genuine red wine, a greenish grey precipitate, which +is the colour that is procured by this test by means of genuine red +wines. + +Wine coloured with the juice of the bilberries, or elderberries, or +Campeach wood, produces, with acetate of lead, a deep blue precipitate; +and Brazil-wood, red saunders, and the red beet, produce a colour which +is precipitated red by acetate of lead. Wine coloured by beet root is +also rendered colourless by lime water; but the weakest acid brings back +the colour. As the colouring matter of red wines resides in the skin of +the grape, M. Vogel prepared a quantity of skins, and reduced them to +powder. In this state he found that they communicated to alcohol a deep +red colour: a paper stained with this colour was rendered red by acids +and green by alkalies. + +M. Vogel made a quantity of red wine from black grapes, for the purpose +of his experiments; and this produced the genuine greyish green +precipitate with acetate of lead. He also found the same coloured +precipitate in two specimens of red wine, the genuineness of which could +not be suspected; the one from Chateau-Marguaux, and the other from the +neighbourhood of Coblentz. + + +SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES, AND COMPONENT PARTS OF WINE. + +Every body knows that no product of the arts varies so much as wine; +that different countries, and sometimes the different provinces of the +same country, produce different wines. These differences, no doubt, must +be attributed chiefly to the climate in which the vineyard is +situated--to its culture--the quantity of sugar contained in the grape +juice--the manufacture of the wine; or the mode of suffering its +fermentation to be accomplished. If the grapes be gathered unripe, the +wine abounds with acid; but if the fruit be gathered ripe, the wine will +be rich. When the proportion of sugar in the grape is sufficient, and +the fermentation complete, the wine is perfect and generous. If the +quantity of sugar be too large, part of it remains undecomposed, as the +fermentation is languid, and the wine is sweet and luscious; if, on the +contrary, it contains, even when full ripe, only a small portion of +sugar, the wine is thin and weak; and if it be bottled before the +fermentation be completed, part of the sugar remains undecomposed, the +fermentation will go on slowly in the bottle, and, on drawing the cork, +the wine sparkles in the glass; as, for example, Champagne. Such wines +are not sufficiently mature. When the must is separated from the husk of +the red grape before it is fermented, the wine has little or no colour: +these are called _white_ wines. If, on the contrary, the husks are +allowed to remain in the must while the fermentation is going on, the +alcohol dissolves the colouring matter of the husks, and the wine is +coloured: such are called _red_ wines. Hence white wines are often +prepared from red grapes, the liquor being drawn off before it has +acquired the red colour; for the skin of the grape only gives the +colour. Besides in these principal circumstances, wines vary much in +flavour. + +All wines contain one common and identical principle, from which their +similar effects are produced; namely, _brandy_ or _alcohol_. It is +especially by the different proportions of brandy contained in wines, +that they differ most from one another. When wine is distilled, the +alcohol readily separates. The spirit thus obtained is well known under +the name of _brandy_. + +All wines contain also a free acid; hence they turn blue tincture of +cabbage, red. The acid found in the greatest abundance in grape wines, +is tartaric acid. Every wine contains likewise a portion of +super-tartrate of potash, and extractive matter, derived from the juice +of the grape. These substances deposit slowly in the vessel in which +they are kept. To this is owing the improvement of wine from age. Those +wines which effervesce or froth, when poured into a glass, contain also +carbonic acid, to which their briskness is owing. The peculiar flavour +and odour of different kinds of wines probably depend upon the presence +of a _volatile oil_, so small in quantity that it cannot be separated. + + +EASY METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF BRANDY CONTAINED IN VARIOUS +SORTS OF WINE. + +The strength of all wines depends upon the quantity of alcohol or brandy +which they contain. Mr. Brande, and Gay-Lussac, have proved, by very +decisive experiments, that all wines contain brandy or alcohol ready +formed. The following is the process discovered by Mr. Brande, for +ascertaining the quantity of spirit, or brandy, contained in different +sorts of wine. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add to eight parts, by measure, of the wine to be examined, one part of +a concentrated solution of sub-acetate of lead: a dense insoluble +precipitate will ensue; which is a combination of the test liquor with +the colouring, extractive, and acid matter of the wine. Shake the +mixture for a few minutes, pour the whole upon a filtre, and collect the +filtered fluid. It contains the brandy or spirit, and water of the wine, +together with a portion of the sub-acetate of lead. Add, in small +quantities at a time, to this fluid, warm, dry, and pure sub-carbonate +of potash (_not salt of tartar, or sub-carbonate of potash of +commerce_), which has previously been freed from water by heat, till the +last portion added remains undissolved. The brandy or spirit contained +in the fluid will become separated; for the sub-carbonate of potash +abstracts from it the whole of the water with which it was combined; the +brandy or spirit of wine forming a distinct stratum, which floats upon +the aqueous solution of the alkaline salt. If the experiment be made in +a glass tube, from one-half inch to two inches in diameter, and +graduated into 100 equal parts, the _per centage_ of spirit, in a given +quantity of wine, may be read off by mere inspection. In this manner the +strength of any wine may be examined. + + +_Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage of Brandy or Alcohol[40] +contained in various kinds of Wines, and other fermented Liquors._[41] + + Proportion of Spirit + per Cent. + by measure. + Lissa 26,47 + Ditto 24,35 + Average 25,41 + Raisin Wine 26,40 + Ditto 25,77 + Ditto 23,30 + Average 25,12 + Marcella 26,03 + Ditto 25,05 + Average 25,09 + Madeira 24,42 + Ditto 23,93 + Ditto (Sercial) 21,40 + Ditto 19,24 + Average 22,27 + Port 25,83 + Ditto 24,29 + Ditto 23,71 + Ditto 23,39 + Ditto 22,30 + Ditto 21,40 + Ditto 19,96 + Average 22,96 + Sherry 19,81 + Ditto 19,83 + Ditto 18,79 + Ditto 18,25 + Average 19,17 + Teneriffe 19,79 + Colares 19,75 + Lachryma Christi 19,70 + Constantia (White) 19,75 + Ditto (Red) 18,92 + Lisbon 18,94 + Malaga (1666) 18,94 + Bucellas 18,49 + Red Madeira 22,30 + Ditto 18,40 + Average 20,35 + Cape Muschat 18,25 + Cape Madeira 22,94 + Ditto 20,50 + Ditto 18,11 + Average 20,51 + Grape Wine 18,11 + Calcavella 19,20 + Ditto 18,10 + Average 18,65 + Vidonia 19,25 + Alba Flora 17,26 + Malaga 17,26 + Hermitage (White) 17,43 + Roussillon 19,00 + Ditto 17,20 + Average 18,13 + Claret 17,11 + Ditto 16,32 + Ditto 14,08 + Ditto 12,91 + Average 15,10 + Malmsey Madeira 16,40 + Lunel 15,52 + Sheraaz 15,52 + Syracuse 15,28 + Sauterne 14,22 + Burgundy 16,60 + Ditto 15,22 + Ditto 14,53 + Ditto 11,95 + Average 14,57 + Hock 14,37 + Ditto 13,00 + Ditto (old in cask) 8,68 + Average 12,08 + Nice 14,62 + Barsac 13,86 + Tent 13,30 + Champagne (Still) 13,80 + Ditto (Sparkling) 12,80 + Ditto (Red) 12,56 + Ditto (ditto) 11,30 + Average 12,61 + Red Hermitage 12,32 + Vin de Grave 13,94 + Ditto 12,80 + Average 13,37 + Frontignac 12,79 + Cote Rotie 12,32 + Gooseberry Wine 11,84 + Currant Wine 20,55 + Orange Wine aver. 11,26 + Tokay 9,88 + Elder Wine 9,87 + Cyder highest aver. 9,87 + Ditto lowest ditto 5,21 + Perry average 7,26 + Mead 7,32 + Ale (Burton) 8,88 + Ditto (Edinburgh) 6,20 + Ditto (Dorchester) 5,50 + Average 6,87 + Brown Stout 6,80 + London Porter aver. 4,20 + Do. Small Beer, do. 1,28 + Brandy 53,39 + Rum 53,68 + Gin 51,60 + Scotch Whiskey 54,32 + Irish ditto 53,99 + + +CONSTITUTION OF HOME-MADE WINES. + +Besides grapes, the most valuable of the articles of which wine is made, +there are a considerable number of fruits from which a vinous liquor is +obtained. Of such, we have in this country the gooseberry, the currant, +the elderberry, the cherry, &c. which ferment well, and affords what are +called _home-made wines_. + +They differ chiefly from foreign wines in containing a much larger +quantity of acid. Dr. Macculloch[42] has remarked that the acid in +home-made wines is principally the malic acid; while in grape wines it +is the tartaric acid. + +The great deficiency in these wines, independent of the flavour, which +chiefly originates, not from the juice, but from the seeds and husks of +the fruits, is the excess of acid, which is but imperfectly concealed by +the addition of sugar. This is owing, chiefly, as Dr. Macculloch +remarks, to the tartaric acid existing in the grape juice in the state +of super-tartrate of potash, which is in part decomposed during the +fermentation, and the rest becomes gradually precipitated; whilst the +malic acid exists in the currant and gooseberry juice in the form of +malate of potash; which salt does not appear to suffer a decomposition +during the fermentation of the wine; and, by its greater solubility, is +retained in the wine. Hence Dr. Macculloch recommends the addition of +super-tartrate of potash, in the manufacture of British wines. They also +contain a much larger proportion of mucilage than wines made from +grapes. The juice of the gooseberry contains some portion of tartaric +acid; hence it is better suited for the production of what is called +_English Champagne_, than any other fruit of this country. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[27] Dried bilberries are imported from Germany, under the fallacious +name of _berry-dye_. + +[28] The gypsum had the property of clarifying wines, was known to the +ancients. "The Greeks and Romans put gypsum in their new wines, stirred +it often round, then let it stand for some time; and when it had +settled, decanted the clear liquor. (_Geopon_, lib. vii. p. 483, 494.) +They knew that the wine acquired, by this addition, a certain sharpness, +which it afterwards lost; but that the good effects of the gypsum were +lasting." + +[29] Sawdust for this purpose is chiefly supplied by the ship-builders, +and forms a regular article of commerce of the brewers' druggists. + +[30] Tatler, vol. viii. p. 110, edit. 1797. 8vo. + +[31] Dr. Reece's Gazette of Health, No. 7. + +[32] Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, p. 245. + +[33] Chemical Essays, vol. viii. p. 369. + +[34] Medical Trans. vol. ii. p. 80. + +[35] This book, which has run through many editions, may be supposed to +have done some mischief.--In the Vintner's Guide, 4th edit. 1770, p. 67, +a lump of sugar of lead, of the size of a walnut, and a table-spoonful +of sal enixum, are directed to be added to a tierce (forty-two gallons) +of muddy wine, _to cure it of its muddiness_. + +[36] Beckman's History of Inventions, vol. i. p. 398. + +[37] Pliny, lib. xiv. cap. 20. + +[38] Philosophical Magazine, 1819, No. 257, p. 229. + +[39] Journ. Pharm. iv. 56 (Feb. 1818.) and Thomson's Annals, Sept. 1818, +p. 232. + +[40] Of a Specific Gravity. 825. + +[41] Philosophical Trans. 1811, p. 345; 1813, p. 87; Journal of Science +and the Arts, No. viii. p. 290. + +[42] Macculloch on Wine. This is by far the best treatise published in +this country on the Manufacture of Home-made Wines. + + + + +_Adulteration of Bread._ + + +This is one of the sophistications of the articles of food most commonly +practised in this metropolis, where the goodness of bread is estimated +entirely by its whiteness. It is therefore usual to add a certain +quantity of alum to the dough; this improves the look of the bread very +much, and renders it whiter and firmer. Good, white, and porous bread, +may certainly be manufactured from good wheaten flour alone; but to +produce the degree of whiteness rendered indispensable by the caprice of +the consumers in London, it is necessary (unless the very best flour is +employed,) that the dough should be _bleached_; and no substance has +hitherto been found to answer this purpose better than alum. + +Without this salt it is impossible to make bread, from the kind of flour +usually employed by the London bakers, so white, as that which is +commonly sold in the metropolis. + +If the alum be omitted, the bread has a slight yellowish grey hue--as +may be seen in the instance of what is called _home-made bread_, of +private families. Such bread remains longer moist than bread made with +alum; yet it is not so light, and full of eyes, or porous, and it has +also a different taste. + +The quantity of alum requisite to produce the required whiteness and +porosity depends entirely upon the genuineness of the flour, and the +quality of the grain from which the flour is obtained. The mealman makes +different sorts of flour from the same kind of grain. The best flour is +mostly used by the biscuit bakers and pastry cooks, and the inferior +sorts in the making of bread. The bakers' flour is very often made of +the worst kinds of damaged foreign wheat, and other cereal grains mixed +with them in grinding the wheat into flour. In this capital, no fewer +than six distinct kinds of wheaten flour are brought into market. They +are called fine flour, seconds, middlings, fine middlings, coarse +middlings, and twenty-penny flour. Common garden beans, and pease, are +also frequently ground up among the London bread flour. + +I have been assured by several bakers, on whose testimony I can rely, +that the small profit attached to the bakers' trade, and the bad +quality of the flour, induces the generality of the London bakers to use +alum in the making of their bread. + +The smallest quantity of alum that can be employed with effect to +produce a white, light, and porous bread, from an inferior kind of +flour, I have my own baker's authority to state, is from three to four +ounces to a sack of flour, weighing 240 pounds. The alum is either mixed +well in the form of powder, with a quantity of flour previously made +into a liquid paste with water, and then incorporated with the dough; or +the alum is dissolved in the water employed for mixing up the whole +quantity of the flour for making the dough. + +Let us suppose that the baker intends to convert five bushels, or a sack +of flour, into loaves with the least adulteration practised. He pours +the flour into the kneading trough, and sifts it through a fine wire +sieve, which makes it lie very light, and serves to separate any +impurities with which the flour may be mixed. Two ounces of alum are +then dissolved in about a quart of boiling water, and the solution +poured into _the seasoning-tub_. Four or five pounds of salt are +likewise put into the tub, and a pailful of hot-water. When this mixture +has cooled down to the temperature of about 84°, three or four pints of +yeast are added; the whole is mixed, strained through the seasoning +sieve, emptied into a hole in the flour, and mixed up with the requisite +portion of it to the consistence of a thick batter. Some dry flour is +then sprinkled over the top, and it is covered up with cloths. + +In this situation it is left about three hours. It gradually swells and +breaks through the dry flour scattered on its surface. An additional +quantity of warm water, in which one ounce of alum is dissolved, is now +added, and the dough is made up into a paste as before; the whole is +then covered up. In this situation it is left for a few hours. + +The whole is then intimately kneaded with more water for upwards of an +hour. The dough is cut into pieces with a knife, and penned to one side +of the trough; some dry flour is sprinkled over it, and it is left in +this state for about four hours. It is then kneaded again for +half-an-hour. The dough is now cut into pieces and weighed, in order to +furnish the requisite quantity for each loaf. The loaves are left in the +oven about two hours and a half. When taken out, they are carefully +covered up, to prevent as much as possible the loss of weight.[43] + +The following account of making a sack, of five bushels of flour into +bread, is taken from Dr. P. Markham's Considerations on the Ingredients +used in the Adulteration of Bread Flour, and Bread, p. 21: + + 5 bushels of flour, + 8 ounces of alum,[44] + 4 lbs. of salt, + 1/2 a gallon of yeast, mixed with about + 3 gallons of water. + + * * * * * + + lbs. + The whole quantity of bread-flour obtained } + from the bushel of wheat, weighs } 48 + + lbs. + Fine pollard 4-1/4 + Coarse pollard 4 + Bran 2-3/4 + ------ 11 + -- + The whole together 59 + + To which add the loss of weight in } + manufacturing a bushel of wheat } 2 + -- + Produces the original weight 61 + -- + +The theory of the bleaching property of alum, as manifested in the +panification of an inferior kind of flour, is by no means well +understood; and indeed it is really surprising that the effect should be +produced by so small a quantity of that substance, two or three ounces +of alum being sufficient for a sack of flour. + +From experiments in which I have been employed, with the assistance of +skilful bakers, I am authorised to state, that without the addition of +alum, it does not appear possible to make white, light, and porous +bread, such as is used in this metropolis, unless the flour be of the +very best quality. + +Another substance employed by fraudulent bakers, is subcarbonate of +ammonia. With this salt, they realise the important consideration of +producing light and porous bread, from spoiled, or what is technically +called _sour flour_. This salt which becomes wholly converted into a +gaseous state during the operation of baking, causes the dough to swell +up into air bubbles, which carry before them the stiff dough, and thus +it renders the dough porous; the salt itself is, at the same time, +totally volatilised during the operation of baking. Thus not a vestige +of carbonate of ammonia remains in the bread. This salt is also largely +employed by the biscuit and ginger-bread bakers. + +Potatoes are likewise largely, and perhaps constantly, used by +fraudulent bakers, as a cheap ingredient, to enhance their profit. The +potatoes being boiled, are triturated, passed through a sieve, and +incorporated with the dough by kneading. This adulteration does not +materially injure the bread. The bakers assert, that the bad quality of +the flour renders the addition of potatoes advantageous as well to the +baker as to the purchaser, and that without this admixture in the +manufacture of bread, it would be impossible to carry on the trade of a +baker. But the grievance is, that the same price is taken for a potatoe +loaf, as for a loaf of genuine bread, though it must cost the baker +less. + +I have witness, that five bushels of flour, three ounces of alum, six +pounds of salt, one bushel of potatoes boiled into a stiff paste, and +three quarts of yeast, with the requisite quantity of water, produce a +white, light, and highly palatable bread. + +Such are the artifices practised in the preparation of bread,[45] and it +must be allowed, on contrasting them with those sophistications +practised by manufacturers of other articles of food, that they are +comparatively unimportant. However, some medical men have no hesitation +in attributing many diseases incidental to children to the use of eating +adulterated bread; others again will not admit these allegations: they +persuade themselves that the small quantity of alum added to the bread +(perhaps upon an average, from eight to ten grains to a quartern loaf,) +is absolutely harmless. + +Dr. Edmund Davy, Professor of Chemistry, at the Cork Institution, has +communicated the following important facts to the public concerning the +manufacture of bread. + +"The carbonate of magnesia of the shops, when well mixed with flour, in +the proportion of from twenty to forty grains to a pound of flour, +materially improves it for the purpose of making bread. + +"Loaves made with the addition of carbonate of magnesia, rise well in +the oven; and after being baked, the bread is light and spongy, has a +good taste, and keeps well. In cases when the new flour is of an +indifferent quality, from twenty to thirty grains of carbonate of +magnesia to a pound of the flour will considerably improve the bread. +When the flour is of the worst quality, forty grains to a pound of flour +seem necessary to produce the same effect. + +"As the improvement in the bread from new flour depends upon the +carbonate of magnesia, it is necessary that care should be taken to mix +it intimately with the flour, previous to the making of the dough. + +"Mr. Davy made a great number of comparative experiments with other +substances, mixed in different proportions with new bread flour. The +fixed alkalies, both in their pure and carbonated state, when used in +small quantity, to a certain extent were found to improve the bread made +from new flour; but no substance was so efficacious in this respect as +carbonate of magnesia. + +"The greater number of his experiments were performed on the worst new +_seconds_ flour Mr. Davy could procure. He also made some trials on +_seconds_ and _firsts_ of different quality. In some cases the results +were more striking and satisfactory than in others; but in every +instance the improvement of the bread, by carbonate of magnesia, was +obvious. + +"Mr. Davy observes, that a pound of carbonate of magnesia would be +sufficient to mix with two hundred and fifty-six pounds of new flour, or +at the rate of thirty grains to the pound. And supposing a pound of +carbonate of magnesia to cost half-a-crown, the additional expense would +be only half a farthing in the pound of flour. + +"Mr. Davy conceives that not the slightest danger can be apprehended +from the use of such an innocent substance, as the carbonate of +magnesia, in such small proportion as is necessary to improve bread from +new flour." + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF ALUM IN BREAD. + +Pour upon two ounces of the suspected bread, half a pint of boiling +distilled water; boil the mixture for a few minutes, and filter it +through unsized paper. Evaporate the fluid, to about one fourth of its +original bulk, and let gradually fall into the clear fluid a solution of +muriate of barytes. If a _copious_ white precipitate ensues, which does +not disappear by the addition of _pure_ nitric acid, the presence of +alum may be suspected. Bread, made without alum, produces, when assayed +in this manner, merely a very slight precipitate, which originates from +a minute portion of sulphate of magnesia contained in all common salt of +commerce; and bread made with salt freed from sulphate of magnesia, +produces an infusion with water, which does not become disturbed by the +barytic test. + +Other means of detecting all the constituent parts of alum, namely, the +alumine, sulphuric acid, and potash, so as to render the presence of the +alum unequivocal, will readily suggest itself to those who are familiar +with analytical chemistry; namely: one of the readiest means is, to +decompose the vegetable matter of the bread, by the action of chlorate +of potash, in a platina crucible, at a red heat, and then to assay the +residuary mass--by means of muriate of barytes, for sulphuric acid; by +ammonia, for alumine; and by muriate of platina, for potash[46]. The +above method of detecting the presence of alum, must therefore be taken +with some limitation. + +There is no unequivocal test for detecting in a _ready manner_ the +presence of alum in bread, on account of the impurity of the common salt +used in the making of bread. If we could, in the ordinary way of bread +making, employ common salt, absolutely free from foreign saline +substances, the mode of detecting the presence of alum, or at least one +of its constituent parts, namely, the sulphuric acid, would be very +easy. Some conjecture may, nevertheless, be formed of the presence, or +absence, of alum, by assaying the infusion of bread in the manner +stated, p. 109, and comparing the assay with the results afforded by an +infusion of home-made or household bread, known to be genuine, and +actually assayed in a similar manner. + + +EASY METHOD OF JUDGING OF THE GOODNESS OF BREAD CORN, AND BREAD-FLOUR. + +Millers judge of the goodness of bread corn by the quantity of bran +which the grain produces. + +Such grains as are full and plump, that have a bright and shining +appearance, without any shrivelling and shrinking in the covering of +the skin, are the best; for wrinkled grains have a greater quantity of +skin, or bran, than such as are sound or plump. + +Pastry-cooks and bakers judge of the goodness of flour in the manner in +which it comports itself in kneading. The best kind of wheaten flour +assumes, at the instant it is formed into paste by the addition of +water, a very gluey, ductile, and elastic paste, easy to be kneaded, and +which may be elongated, flattened, and drawn in every direction, without +breaking. + +For the following fact we are indebted to Mr. Hatchet. + +"Grain which has been heated or burnt in the stack, may in the following +manner be rendered fit for being made into bread: + +"The wheat must be put into a vessel capable of holding at least three +times the quantity, and the vessel filled with boiling water; the grain +should then be occasionally stirred, and the hollow decayed grains, +which float, may be removed. When the water has become cold, or in about +half an hour, it is drawn off. Then rince the corn with cold water, and, +having completely drained it, spread it thinly on the floor of a kiln, +and thus thoroughly dry it, stirring and turning it frequently during +this part of the process."[47] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[43] The sack of marketable flour is by law obliged to weigh 240 pounds, +which is the produce of five bushels of wheat, and is upon an average +supposed to make eighty quartern loaves of bread; and consequently +sixteen of such loaves are made from each bushel of good wheat. It is +admitted, however, that two or three loaves more than the above quantity +can be made from the sack of flour, when it is the _genuine produce_ of +_good wheat_; that is, in the proportion of about sixteen and a half +loaves from each bushel of sound grain, and, it may be presumed, sixteen +from a bushel of medium corn. The expense, in London, of making the sack +of flour into bread, and disposing of it, is about nine shillings. + +A bushel of wheat, upon an average, weighs sixty-one pounds; when +ground, the meal weighs 60-3/4 lbs.; which, on being dressed, produces +46-3/4 lbs. of flour, of the sort called _seconds_; which alone is used +for the making of bread in London and throughout the greater part of +this country; and of pollard and bran 12-3/4 lbs., which quantity, when +bolted, produces 3 lbs. of fine flour, this, when sifted, produces in +good second flour 1-1/4 lb. + +[44] Whilst correcting this sheet for the press, the printer transmits +to me the following lines: + +"On Saturday last, George Wood, a baker, was convicted before T. Evance, +Esq. Union Hall, of having in his possession a quantity of alum for the +adulteration of bread, and fined in the penalty of 5_l._ and costs, +under 55 Geo. III. c. 99."--_The Times_, Oct. 1819. + +[45] There are instances of convictions on record, of bakers having used +gypsum, chalk, and pipe clay, in the manufacture of bread. + +[46] See a Practical Treatise on the Use and Application of Chemical +Tests, illustrated by experiments, 3d edit. p. 270, 231, 177, & 196. + +[47] Phil. Trans. for 1817, part i. + + + + +_Adulteration of Beer._ + + +Malt liquors, and particularly porter, the favourite beverage of the +inhabitants of London, and of other large towns, is amongst those +articles, in the manufacture of which the greatest frauds are frequently +committed. + +The statute prohibits the brewer from using any ingredients in his +brewings, except malt and hops; but it too often happens that those who +suppose they are drinking a nutritious beverage, made of these +ingredients only, are entirely deceived. The beverage may, in fact, be +neither more nor less than a compound of the most deleterious +substances; and it is also clear that all ranks of society are alike +exposed to the nefarious fraud. The proofs of this statement will be +shewn hereafter.[48] + +The author[49] of a Practical Treatise on Brewing, which has run +through eleven editions, after having stated the various ingredients for +brewing porter, observes, "that however much they may surprise, however +pernicious or disagreeable they may appear, he has always found them +requisite in the brewing of porter, and he thinks they must invariably +be used by those who wish to continue the taste, flavour, and appearance +of the beer.[50] And though several Acts of Parliament have been passed +to prevent porter brewers from using many of them, yet the author can +affirm, from experience, he could never produce the present flavoured +porter without them.[51] The intoxicating qualities of porter are to be +ascribed to the various drugs intermixed with it. It is evident some +porter is more heady than other, and it arises from the greater or less +quantity of stupifying ingredients. Malt, to produce intoxication, must +be used in such large quantities as would very much diminish, if not +totally exclude, the brewer's profit." + +The practice of adulterating beer appears to be of early date. By an +Act so long ago as Queen Anne, the brewers are prohibited from mixing +_cocculus indicus_, or any unwholesome ingredients, in their beer, under +severe penalties: but few instances of convictions under this act are to +be met with in the public records for nearly a century. To shew that +they have augmented in our own days, we shall exhibit an abstract from +documents laid lately before Parliament.[52] + +These will not only amply prove, that unwholesome ingredients are used +by fraudulent brewers, and that very deleterious substances are also +vended both to brewers and publicans for adulterating beer, but that the +ingredients mixed up in the brewer's enchanting cauldron are placed +above all competition, even with the potent charms of Macbeth's witches: + + "Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark, + + + + + + + + + + + + + For a charm of pow'rful trouble, + Like a hell-broth boil and bubble; + Double, double, toil and trouble, + Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." + +The fraud of imparting to porter and ale an intoxicating quality by +narcotic substances, appears to have flourished during the period of the +late French war; for, if we examine the importation lists of drugs, it +will be noticed that the quantities of cocculus indicus imported in a +given time prior to that period, will bear no comparison with the +quantity imported in the same space of time during the war, although an +additional duty was laid upon this commodity. Such has been the amount +brought into this country in five years, that it far exceeds the +quantity imported during twelve years anterior to the above epoch. The +price of this drug has risen within these ten years from two shillings +to seven shillings the pound. + +It was at the period to which we have alluded, that the preparation of +an extract of cocculus indicus first appeared, as a new saleable +commodity, in the price-currents of _brewers'-druggists_. It was at the +same time, also, that a Mr. Jackson, of notorious memory, fell upon the +idea of brewing beer from various drugs, without any malt and hops. This +chemist did not turn brewer himself; but he struck out the more +profitable trade of teaching his mystery to the brewers for a handsome +fee. From that time forwards, written directions, and recipe-books for +using the chemical preparations to be substituted for malt and hops, +were respectively sold; and many adepts soon afterwards appeared every +where, to instruct brewers in the nefarious practice, first pointed out +by Mr. Jackson. From that time, also, the fraternity of +brewers'-chemists took its rise. They made it their chief business to +send travellers all over the country with lists and samples exhibiting +the price and quality of the articles manufactured by them for the use +of brewers only. Their trade spread far and wide, but it was amongst the +country brewers chiefly that they found the most customers; and it is +amongst them, up to the present day, as I am assured by some of these +operators, on whose veracity I can rely, that the greatest quantities of +unlawful ingredients are sold. + +The Act of Parliament[53] prohibits chemists, grocers, and druggists, +from supplying illegal ingredients to brewers under a heavy penalty, as +is obvious from the following abstract of the Act. + +"No druggist, vender of, or dealer in drugs, or chemist, or other +person, shall sell or deliver to any licensed brewer, dealer in or +retailer of beer, knowing him to be such, or shall sell or deliver to +any person on account of or in trust for any such brewer, dealer or +retailer, any liquor called by the name of or sold as colouring, from +whatever material the same may be made, or any material or preparation +other than unground brown malt for darkening the colour of worts or +beer, or any liquor or preparation made use of for darkening the colour +of worts or beer, or any molasses, honey, vitriol, quassia, cocculus +Indian, grains of paradise, Guinea pepper or opium, or any extract or +preparation of molasses, or any article or preparation to be used in +worts or beer for or as a substitute for malt or hops; and if any +druggist shall offend in any of these particulars, such liquor +preparation, molasses, &c. shall be forfeited, and may be seized by any +officer of excise, and the person so offending shall for each offence +forfeit 500_l._" + +The following is a list of druggists and grocers, prosecuted by the +Court of Excise, and convicted of supplying unlawful ingredients to +brewers. + + +_List of Druggists and Grocers, prosecuted and convicted from 1812 to +1819, for supplying illegal Ingredients to Brewers for adulterating +Beer._[54] + +John Dunn and another, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients +to brewers, verdict 500_l._ + +George Rugg and others, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients +to brewers, verdict 500_l._ + +John Hodgkinson and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to +brewers, 100_l._ and costs. + +William Hiscocks and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to a +brewer, 200_l._ and costs. + +G. Hornby; for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200_l._ + +W. Wilson, for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200_l._ + +George Andrews, grocer, for selling adulterating ingredients to a +brewer, 25_l._ and costs. + +Guy Knowles, for selling substitute for hops, costs. + +Kernot and Alsop, for selling cocculus india, &c. 25_l._ + +Joseph Moss, for selling various drugs, 300_l._ + +Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, druggists, for having +liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid and concealed. + +Isaac Hebberd, for having liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid +and concealed. + +Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, druggists, for making +liquor for darkening the colour of beer. + +John Lord, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and costs. + +John Smith Carr, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and +costs. + +Edward Fox, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25_l._ and costs. + +John Cooper, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40_l._ and costs. + +Joseph Bickering, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40_l._ and +costs. + +John Howard, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25_l._ and costs. + +James Reynolds, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs. + +Thomas Hammond, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and +costs. + +J. Mackway, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ + +T. Renton, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking +out a license. + +R. Adamson, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking +out a license. + +W. Weaver, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer, 200_l._ + +J. Moss, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer. + +Alex. Braden, for selling liquorice, 20_l._ + +J. Draper, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ + + +PORTER. + +The method of brewing porter has not been the same at all times as it is +at present. + +At first, the only essential difference in the methods of brewing this +liquor and that of other kinds of beer, was, that porter was brewed from +brown malt only; and this gave to it both the colour and flavour +required. Of late years it has been brewed from mixtures of pale and +brown malt. + +These, at some establishments, are mashed separately, and the worts from +each are afterwards mixed together. The proportion of pale and brown +malt, used for brewing porter, varies in different breweries; some +employ nearly two parts of pale malt and one part of brown malt; but +each brewer appears to have his own proportion; which the intelligent +manufacturer varies, according to the nature and qualities of the malt. +Three pounds of hops are, upon an average, allowed to every barrel, +(thirty-six gallons) of porter. + +When the price of malt, on account of the great increase in the price of +barley during the late war, was very high, the London brewers discovered +that a larger quantity of wort of a given strength could be obtained +from pale malt than from brown malt. They therefore increased the +quantity of the former and diminished that of the latter. This produced +beer of a paler colour, and of a less bitter flavour. To remedy these +disadvantages, they invented an artificial colouring substance, prepared +by boiling brown sugar till it acquired a very dark brown colour; a +solution of which was employed to darken the colour of the beer. Some +brewers made use of the infusion of malt instead of sugar colouring. To +impart to the beer a bitter taste, the fraudulent brewer employed +quassia wood and wormwood as a substitute for hops. + +But as the colouring of beer by means of sugar became in many instances +a pretext for using illegal ingredients, the Legislature, apprehensive +from the mischief that might, and actually did, result from it, passed +an Act prohibiting the use of burnt sugar, in July 1817; and nothing but +malt and hops is now allowed to enter into the composition of beer: even +the use of isinglass for clarifying beer, is contrary to law. + +No sooner had the beer-colouring Act been repealed, than other persons +obtained a patent for effecting the purpose of imparting an artificial +colour to porter, by means of brown malt, specifically prepared for that +purpose only. The beer, coloured by the new method, is more liable to +become spoiled, than when coloured by the process formerly practised. +The colouring malt does not contain any considerable portion of +saccharine matter. The grain is by mere torrefaction converted into a +gum-like substance, wholly soluble in water, which renders the beer +more liable to pass into the acetous fermentation than the common brown +malt is capable of doing; because the latter, if prepared from good +barley, contains a portion of saccharine matter, of which the patent +malt is destitute. + +But as brown malt is generally prepared from the worst kind of barley, +and as the patent malt can only be made from good grain, it may become, +on that account, an useful article to the brewer (at least, it gives +colour and body to the beer;) but it cannot materially economise the +quantity of malt necessary to produce good porter. Some brewers of +eminence in this town have assured me, that the use of this mode of +colouring beer is wholly unnecessary; and that porter of the requisite +colour may be brewed better without it; hence this kind of malt is not +used in their establishments. The quantity of gum-like matter which it +contains, gives too much ferment to the beer, and renders it liable to +spoil. Repeated experiments, made on a large scale, have settled this +fact. + + +STRENGTH AND SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PORTER. + +The strength of all kinds of beer, like that of wine, depends on the +quantity of spirit contained in a given bulk of the liquor. + +The reader need scarcely be told, that of no article there are more +varieties than of porter. This, no doubt, arises from the different mode +of manufacturing the beer, although the ingredients are the same. This +difference is more striking in the porter manufactured among country +brewers, than it is in the beer brewed by the eminent London porter +brewers. The totality of the London porter exhibits but very slight +differences, both with respect to strength or quantity of spirit, and +solid extractive matter, contained in a given bulk of it. The spirit may +be stated, upon an average, to be 4,50 per cent. in porter retailed at +the publicans; the solid matter, is from twenty-one to twenty-three +pounds per barrel of thirty-six gallons. The country-brewed porter is +seldom well fermented, and seldom contains so large a quantity of +spirit; it usually abounds in mucilage; hence it becomes turbid when +mixed with alcohol. Such beer cannot keep, without becoming sour. + +It has been matter of frequent complaint, that ALL the porter +now brewed, is not what porter was formerly. This idea may be true with +some exceptions. My professional occupations have, during these +twenty-eight years, repeatedly obliged me to examine the strength of +London porter, brewed by different brewers; and, from the minutes made +on that subject, I am authorised to state, that the porter now brewed by +the eminent London brewers, is unquestionably stronger than that which +was brewed at different periods during the late French war. Samples of +brown stout with which I have been obligingly favoured, whilst writing +this Treatise, by Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co.--Messrs. Truman, +Hanbury, and Co.--Messrs. Henry Meux and Co.--and other eminent brewers +of this capital--afforded, upon an average, 7,25 per cent. of alcohol, +of 0,833 specific gravity; and porter, from the same houses, yielded +upon an average 5,25 per cent. of alcohol, of the same specific +gravity;[55] this beer received from the brewers was taken from the +same store from which the publicans are supplied. + +It is nevertheless singular to observe, that from fifteen samples of +beer of the same denominations, procured from different retailers, the +proportions of spirit fell considerably short of the above quantities. +Samples of brown stout, procured from the retailers, afforded, upon an +average, 6,50 per cent. of alcohol; and the average strength of the +porter was 4,50 per cent. Whence can this difference between the beer +furnished by the brewer, and that retailed by the publican, arise? We +shall not be at a loss to answer this question, when we find that so +many retailers of porter have been prosecuted and convicted for mixing +table beer with their strong beer; this is prohibited by law, as becomes +obvious by the following words of the Act.[56] + +"If any common or other brewer, innkeeper, victualler, or retailer of +beer or ale, shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, ale, or +worts, with table beer, worts, or water, in any tub or measure, he shall +forfeit 50_l._" The difference between strong and table beer, is thus +settled by Parliament. + +"All beer or ale[57] above the price of eighteen shillings per barrel, +exclusive of ale duties now payable (viz. ten shillings per barrel,) or +that may be hereafter payable in respect thereof, shall be deemed strong +beer or ale; and all beer of the price of eighteen shillings the barrel +or under, exclusive of the duty payable (viz. two shillings per barrel) +in respect thereof, shall be deemed table beer within the meaning of +this and all other Acts now in force, or that may hereafter be passed in +relation to beer or ale or any duties thereon." + + +_List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted from 1815 to 1818, for +adulterating Beer with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing Table Beer +with their Strong Beer._[58] + +William Atterbury, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 40_l._ + +Richard Dean, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 50_l._ + +John Jay, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +table beer with strong beer, 50_l._ + +James Atkinson, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 20_l._ + +Samuel Langworth, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 50_l._ + +Hannah Spencer, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 150_l._ + +---- Hoeg, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +table beer with strong beer, 5_l._ + +Richard Craddock, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 100_l._ + +James Harris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +receiving stale beer, and mixing it with strong beer, 42_l._ and costs. + +Thomas Scoons, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing stale beer with strong beer, verdict 200_l._ + +Diones Geer and another, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. +and for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 400_l._ + +Charles Coleman, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing strong and table beer, 35_l._ and costs. + +William Orr, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 50_l._ + +John Gardiner, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing strong and table beer, 100_l._ + +John Morris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 20_l._ + +John Harbur, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 50_l._ + +John Corrie, for mixing strong beer with table beer. + +John Cape, for mixing strong beer with table beer. + +Joseph Gudge, for mixing strong beer with small beer. + + +ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR ADULTERATING BEER. + +We have stated already (p. 113) that nothing is allowed by law to enter +into the composition of beer, but malt and hops. + +The substances used by fraudulent brewers for adulterating beer, are +chiefly the following: + +Quassia, which gives to beer a bitter taste, is substituted for hops; +but hops possesses a more agreeable aromatic flavour, and there is also +reason to believe that they render beer less liable to spoil by keeping; +a property which does not belong to quassia. It requires but little +discrimination to distinguish very clearly the peculiar bitterness of +quassia in adulterated porter. Vast quantities of the shavings of this +wood are sold in a half-torrefied and ground state to disguise its +obvious character, and to prevent its being recognised among the waste +materials of the brewers. Wormwood[59] has likewise been used by +fraudulent brewers. + +The adulterating of hops is prohibited by the Legislature.[60] + +"If any person shall put any drug or ingredient whatever into hops to +alter the colour or scent thereof, every person so offending, convicted +by the oath of one witness before one justice of peace for the county or +place where the offence was committed, shall forfeit 5_l._ for every +hundred weight." + +Beer rendered bitter by quassia never keeps well, unless it be kept in a +place possessing a temperature considerably lower than the temperature +of the surrounding atmosphere; and this is not well practicable in large +establishments. + +The use of boiling the wort of beer with hops, is partly to communicate +a peculiar aromatic flavour which the hop contains, partly to cover the +sweetness of undecomposed saccharine matter, and also to separate, by +virtue of the gallic acid and tannin it contains, a portion of a +peculiar vegetable mucilage somewhat resembling gluten, which is still +diffused through the beer. The compound thus produced, separates in +small flakes like those of curdled soap; and by these means the beer is +rendered less liable to spoil. For nothing contributes more to the +conversion of beer, or any other vinous fluid, into vinegar, than +mucilage. Hence, also, all full-bodied and clammy ales, abounding in +mucilage, and which are generally ill fermented, do not keep as perfect +ale ought to do. Quassia is, therefore, unfit as a substitute for hops; +and even English hops are preferable to those imported from the +Continent; for nitrate of silver and acetate of lead produce a more +abundant precipitate from an infusion of English hops, than can be +obtained from a like infusion by the same agents from foreign hops. + +One of the qualities of good porter, is, that it should bear _a fine +frothy head_, as it is technically termed: because professed judges of +this beverage, would not pronounce the liquor excellent, although it +possessed all other good qualities of porter, without this requisite. + +To impart to porter this property of frothing when poured from one +vessel into another, or to produce what is also termed a _cauliflower +head_, the mixture called _beer-heading_, composed of common green +vitriol (sulphate of iron,) alum, and salt, is added. This addition to +the beer is generally made by the publicans.[61] It is unnecessary to +genuine beer, which of itself possesses the property of bearing a strong +white froth, without these additions; and it is only in consequence of +table beer being mixed with strong beer, that the frothing property of +the porter is lost. From experiments I have tried on this subject, I +have reason to believe that the sulphate of iron, added for that +purpose, does not possess the power ascribed to it. But the publicans +frequently, when they fine a butt of beer, by means of isinglass, +adulterate the porter at the same time with table beer, together with a +quantity of molasses and a small portion of extract of gentian root, to +keep up the peculiar flavour of the porter; and it is to the molasses +chiefly, which gives a spissitude to the beer, that the frothing +property must be ascribed; for, without it, the sulphate of iron does +not produce the property of frothing in diluted beer. + +Capsicum and grains of paradise, two highly acrid substances, are +employed to give a pungent taste to weak insipid beer. Of late, a +concentrated tincture of these articles, to be used for a similar +purpose, and possessing a powerful effect, has appeared in the +price-currents of brewers' druggists. Ginger root, coriander seed, and +orange peels, are employed as flavouring substances chiefly by the ale +brewers. + +From these statements, and the seizures that have been made of illegal +ingredients at various breweries, it is obvious that the adulterations +of beer are not imaginary. It will be noticed, however, that some of the +sophistications are comparatively harmless, whilst others are effected +by substances deleterious to health. + +The following list exhibits some of the unlawful substances seized at +different breweries and at chemical laboratories. + + +_List of Illegal Ingredients, seized from 1812 to 1818, at various +Breweries and Brewers' Druggists._[62] + +1812, July. Josiah Nibbs, at Tooting, Surrey. + + Multum 84 lbs. + Cocculus indicus 12 + Colouring 4 galls. + Honey about 180 lbs. + Hartshorn Shavings 14 + Spanish Juice 46 + Orange Powder 17 + Ginger 56 + +Penalty 300_l._ + + +1813, June 13. Sarah Willis, at West Ham, Essex. + + Cocculus indicus 1 lb. + Spanish Juice 12 + Hartshorn Shavings 6 + Orange Powder 1 + +Penalty 200_l._ + + +August 3. Cratcherode Whiffing, Limehouse. + + Grains of Paradise 44 lbs. + Quassia 10 + Liquorice 64 + Ginger 80 + Caraway Seeds 40 + Orange Powder 14 + Copperas 4 + +Penalty 200_l._ + + +Nov. 25. Elizabeth Hasler, at Stratford. + + Cocculus indicus 12 lbs. + Multum 26 + Grains of Paradise 12 + Spanish Juice 30 + Orange Powder 3 + +Penalty 200_l._ + + +Dec. 14. John Abbott, at Canterbury, Kent. + + Copperas, &c. 14 lbs. + Orange powder 2 + +Penalty 500_l._, and Crown's costs. + +Proof of using drugs at various times. + + +1815, Feb. 15. Mantel and Cook, Castle-street, Bloomsbury-square. + +Proof of mixing strong with table beer, and using colouring and other +things. + +Compromised for 300_l._ + + +1817. From Peter Stevenson, an old Servant to Dunn and Waller, St. +John-street, brewers' druggists. + + Cocculus Indicus Extract 6 lbs. + Multum 560 + Capsicum 88 + Copperas 310 + Quassia 150 + Colouring and Drugs 84 + Mixed Drugs 240 + Spanish Liquorice 420 + Hartshorn Shavings 77 + Liquorice Powder 175 + Orange powder 126 + Caraway Seeds 100 + Ginger 110 + Ginger Root 176 + +Condemned, not being claimed. + + +July 30. Luke Lyons, Shadwell. + + Capsicum 1 lb + Liquorice Root Powder 2 + Coriander Seed 2 + Copperas 1 + Orange Powder 8 + Spanish Liquorice 1/2 + Beer Colouring 24 galls + +Not tried. (7th May, 1818.) + + +Aug. 6. John Gray, at West Ham. + + Multum 4 lbs. + Spanish Liquorice 21 + Liquorice Root Powder 113 + Ginger 116 + Honey 11 + +Penalty, 300_l._, and costs; including mixing strong beer with table, +and paying table-beer duty for strong beer, &c. + + * * * * * + +Numerous other seizures of illegal substances, made at breweries, might +be advanced, were it necessary to enlarge this subject to a greater +extent. + +Mr. James West, from the excise office, being asked in the Committee of +the House of Commons, appointed, 1819, to examine and report on the +petition of several inhabitants of London, complaining of the high price +and inferior quality of beer, produced the following seized +articles:--"One bladder of honey, one bladder of extract of cocculus +indicus, ground guinea pepper or capsicum, vitriol or copperas, orange +powder, quassia, ground beer-heading, hard multum, another kind of +multum or beer preparation, liquorice powder, and ground grains of +paradise." + +Witness being asked "Where did you seize these things?" Answer, "Some of +them were seized from brewers, and some of them from brewers' +druggists, within these two years past." (May 8, 1818.) + +Another fraud frequently committed, both by brewers and publicans, (as +is evident from the Excise Report,) is the practice of adulterating +strong beer with small beer--This fraud is prohibited by law, since both +the revenue and the public suffer by it.[63] "The duty upon strong beer +is ten shillings a barrel; and upon table beer it is two shillings. The +revenue suffers, because a larger quantity of beer is sold as strong +beer; that is, at a price exceeding the price of table beer, without the +strong beer duty being paid. In the next place, the brewer suffers, +because the retailer gets table or mild beer, and retails it as strong +beer." The following are the words of the Act, prohibiting the brewers +mixing table beer with strong beer. + +"If any common brewer shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, +or strong worts with table beer or table worts, or with water in any +guile or fermenting tun after the declaration of the quantity of such +guile shall have been made; or if he shall at any time mix or suffer to +be mixed strong beer or strong worts with table beer worts or with +water, in any vat, cask, tub, measures or utensil, not being an entered +guile or fermenting tun, he shall forfeit 200 pounds."[64] + +With respect to the persons who commit this offence, Mr. Carr,[65] the +Solicitor of the Excise, observes, that "they are generally brewers who +carry on the double trade of brewing both strong and table beer. It is +almost impossible to prevent them from mixing one with the other; and +frauds of very great extent have been detected, and the parties punished +for that offence. One brewer at Plymouth evaded duties to the amount of +32,000 pounds; and other brewers, who brew party guiles of beer, +carrying on the two trades of ale and table beer brewers, where the +trade is a victualling brewer, which is different from the common +brewer, he being a person who sells only wholesale; the victualling +brewer being a brewer and also a seller by retail." + +"In the neighbourhood of London," Mr. Carr continues, "more +particularly, I speak from having had great experience, from the +informations and evidence which I have received, that the retailers +carry on a most extensive fraud upon the public, in purchasing stale +table beer, or the bottoms of casks. There are a class of men who go +about and sell such beer at table-beer price to public victuallers, who +mix it in their cellars. If they receive beer from their brewers which +is mild, they purchase stale beer; and if they receive stale beer, they +purchase common table beer for that purpose; and many of the +prosecutions are against retailers for that offence." The following may +serve in proof of this statement. + + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 1813 to 1819, for +adulterating Strong Beer with Table Beer._[66] + +Thomas Manton and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 300_l._ + +Mark Morrell and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +20_l._ and costs. + +Robert Jones and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 125_l._ + +Robert Stroad, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 200_l._ and +costs. + +William Cobbett, brewer, mixing strong and table beer, 100_l._ and +costs. + +Thomas Richard Withers, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 75_l._ +and costs. + +John Cowel, brewer, for mixing table beer with strong, 50_l._ and costs. + +John Mitchell, brewer, for mixing table beer with strong, absconded. + +George Lloyd and another, brewers, for mixing table beer with strong, +25_l._ and costs. + +James Edmunds and another, brewers, for mixing table beer with strong, +for a long period, verdict 600_l._ + +John Hoffman, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, and using +molasses, 130_l._ and costs. + +Samuel Langworth, brewer, for mixing strong with stale table beer, +10_l._ and costs. + +Hannah Spencer, brewer, for mixing strong with stale table beer, verdict +150_l._ + +Joseph Smith and others, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer. + +Philip George, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 200_l._ + +Joshua Row, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 400_l._ + +John Drew, jun. and another, for mixing strong beer with table, 50_l._ +and costs. + +John Cape, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 250_l._ and costs. + +John Williams and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 200_l._ + + +OLD, OR ENTIRE; AND NEW, OR MILD BEER. + +It is necessary to state, that every publican has two sorts of beer sent +to him from the brewer; the one is called _mild_, which is beer sent out +fresh as it is brewed; the other is called _old_; that is, such as is +brewed on purpose for keeping, and which has been kept in store a +twelve-month or eighteen months. The origin of the beer called +_entire_, is thus related by the editor of the Picture of London: +"Before the year 1730, the malt liquors in general used in London were +ale, beer, and two-penny; and it was customary to call for a pint, or +tankard, of half-and-half, _i.e._ half of ale and half of beer, half of +ale and half of two-penny. In course of time it also became the practice +to call for a pint or tankard of _three-threads_, meaning a third of +ale, beer, and two-penny; and thus the publican had the trouble to go to +three casks, and turn three cocks, for a pint of liquor. To avoid this +inconvenience and waste, a brewer of the name of Harwood conceived the +idea of making a liquor, which should partake of the same united +flavours of ale, beer, and two-penny; he did so, and succeeded, calling +it _entire_, or entire butt, meaning that it was drawn entirely from one +cask or butt; and as it was a very hearty and nourishing liquor, and +supposed to be very suitable for porters and other working people, it +obtained the name of _porter_." The system is now altered, and porter is +very generally compounded of two kinds, or rather the same liquor in two +different states, the due admixture of which is palatable, though +neither is good alone. One is _mild_ porter, and the other _stale_ +porter; the former is that which has a slightly bitter flavour; the +latter has been kept longer. This mixture the publican adapts to the +palates of his several customers, and effects the mixture very readily, +by means of a machine, containing small pumps worked by handles. In +these are four pumps, but only three spouts, because two of the pumps +throw out at the same spout: one of these two pumps draws the mild, and +the other the stale porter, from the casks down in the cellar; and the +publican, by dexterously changing his hold works either pump, and draws +both kinds of beer at the same spout. An indifferent observer supposes, +that since it all comes from one spout, it is entire butt beer, as the +publican professes over his door, and which has been decided by vulgar +prejudice to be only good porter, though the difference is not easily +distinguished. I have been informed by several eminent brewers, that of +late, a far greater quantity is consumed of mild than of stale beer. + +The entire beer of the modern brewer, according to the statement of C. +Barclay,[67] Esq. "consists of some beer brewed expressly for the +purpose of keeping: it likewise contains a portion of returns from +publicans; a portion of beer from the bottoms of vats; the beer that is +drawn off from the pipes, which convey the beer from one vat to another, +and from one part of the premises to another. This beer is collected and +put into vats. Mr. Barclay also states that it contains a certain +portion of brown stout, which is twenty shillings a barrel dearer than +common beer; and some bottling beer, which is ten shillings a barrel +dearer;[68] and that all these beers, united, are put into vats, and +that it depends upon various circumstances, how long they may remain in +those vats before they become perfectly bright. When bright, this beer +is sent out to the publicans, for their _entire_ beer, and there is +sometimes a small quantity of mild beer mixed with it." + +The present entire beer, therefore, is a very heterogeneous mixture, +composed of all the waste and spoiled beer of the publicans--the bottoms +of butts--the leavings of the pots--the drippings of the machines for +drawing the beer--the remnants of beer that lay in the leaden pipes of +the brewery, with a portion of brown stout, bottling beer, and mild +beer. + +The old or _entire_ beer we have examined, as obtained from Messrs. +Barclay's, and other eminent London brewers, is unquestionably a good +compound; but it does no longer appear to be necessary, among fraudulent +brewers, to brew beer on purpose for keeping, or to keep it twelve or +eighteen months. A more easy, expeditious, and economical method has +been discovered to convert any sort of beer into entire beer, merely by +the admixture of a portion of sulphuric acid. An imitation of the age of +eighteen months is thus produced in an instant. This process is +technically called to bring beer _forward_, or to make it _hard_. + +The practice is a bad one. The genuine, old, or entire beer, of the +honest brewer, is quite a different compound; it has a rich, generous, +full-bodied taste, without being acid, and a vinous odour: but it may, +perhaps, not be generally known that this kind of beer always affords a +less proportion of alcohol than is produced from mild beer. The practice +of bringing beer _forward_, it is to be understood, is resorted to only +by fraudulent brewers.[69] + +If, on the contrary, the brewer has too large a stock of old beer on his +hands, recourse is had to an opposite practice of converting stale, +half-spoiled, or sour beer, into mild beer, by the simple admixture of +an alkali, or an alkaline earth. Oyster-shell powder and subcarbonate of +potash, or soda, are usually employed for that purpose. These substances +neutralise the excess of acid, and render sour beer somewhat palatable. +By this process the beer becomes very liable to spoil. + +It is the worst expedient that the brewer can practise: the beer thus +rendered _mild_, soon loses its vinous taste; it becomes vapid; and +speedily assumes a muddy grey colour, and an exceedingly disagreeable +taste. + +These sophistications may be considered, at first, as minor crimes +practised by fraudulent brewers, when compared with the methods employed +by them for rendering beer noxious to health by substances absolutely +injurious. + +To increase the intoxicating quality of beer, the deleterious vegetable +substance, called _cocculus indicus_, and the extract of this poisonous +berry, technically called _black extract_, or, by some, _hard multum_, +are employed. Opium, tobacco, nux vomica, and extract of poppies, have +also been used. + +This fraud constitutes by far the most censurable offence committed by +unprincipled brewers; and it is a lamentable reflection to behold so +great a number of brewers prosecuted and convicted of this crime; nor is +it less deplorable to find the names of druggists, eminent in trade, +implicated in the fraud, by selling the unlawful ingredients to brewers +for fraudulent purposes. + + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 1813 to 1819, for +receiving and using illegal Ingredients in their Brewings._[70] + +Richard Gardner, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, 100_l._, +judgment by default. + +Stephen Webb and another, brewers, for using adulterating ingredients, +and mixing strong and table beer, verdict 500_l._ + +Henry Wyatt, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, verdict 400_l._ + +John Harbart, retailer, for receiving adulterating ingredients, verdict +150_l._ + +Philip Blake and others, brewers, for using adulterating ingredients, +and mixing strong and table beer, verdict 250_l._ + +James Sneed, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 25_l._ and costs. + +John Rewell and another, brewers, ditto, verdict 100_l._ + +John Swain and another, ditto, for using adulterating ingredients, +verdict 200_l._ + +John Ing, brewer, ditto, stayed on defendant's death. + +John Hall, ditto, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 5_l._ and +costs. + +John Webb, retailer, for using adulterating ingredients. + +Ralph Fogg and another, brewers, for receiving and using adulterating +ingredients. + +John Gray, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, 300_l._ and +costs. + +Richard Bowman, for using liquid in bladder, supposed to be extract of +cocculus, 100_l._ + +Richard Bowman, brewer, for ditto, 100_l._ and costs. + +Septimus Stephens, brewer, for ditto, verdict 50_l._ + +James Rogers and another, brewer, for ditto, 220_l._ and costs. + +George Moore, brewer, for using colouring, 300_l._ and costs. + +John Morris, for using adulterating ingredients. + +Webb and Ball, for using ginger, Guinea pepper, and brown powder, (name +unknown), 1st 100_l._ 2nd 500_l._ + +Henry Clarke, for using molasses, 150_l._ + +Kewell and Burrows, for using cocculus india, multum, &c. 100_l._ + +Allatson and Abraham, for using cocculus india, multum, and porter +flavour, 630_l._ + +Swain and Sewell, for using cocculus india, Guinea-opium, &c. 200_l._ + +John Ing, for using cocculus india, hard colouring, and honey, _dead_. + +William Dean, for using molasses, 50_l._ + +John Cowell, for using Spanish-liquorice, and mixing table beer with +strong beer, 50_l._ + +John Mitchell, for using cocculus india, vitriol, and Guinea pepper, +_left the country_. + +Lloyd and Man, for using extract of cocculus, 25_l._ + +John Gray, for using ginger, hartshorn shavings, and molasses, 300_l._ + +Jon Hoffman, for using molasses, Spanish juice, and mixing table with +strong beer, 130_l._ + +Rogers and Boon, for using extract of cocculus, multum, porter flavour, +&c. 220_l._ + +---- Betteley, for using wormwood, coriander seed, and Spanish juice, +200_l._ + +William Lane, brewer, for using wormwood instead of hops, 5_l._ and +costs. + + * * * * * + +That a minute portion of an unwholesome ingredient, daily taken in beer, +cannot fail to be productive of mischief, admits of no doubt; and there +is reasons to believe that a small quantity of a narcotic substance (and +cocculus indicus is a powerful narcotic[71]), daily taken into the +stomach, together with an intoxicating liquor, is highly more +efficacious than it would be without the liquor. The effect may be +gradual; and a strong constitution, especially if it be assisted with +constant and hard labour, may counteract the destructive consequences +perhaps for many years; but it never fails to shew its baneful effects +at last. Independent of this, it is a well-established fact, that porter +drinkers are very liable to apoplexy and palsy, without taking this +narcotic poison. + +If we judge from the preceding lists of prosecutions and convictions +furnished by the Solicitor of the Excise[72], it will be evident that +many wholesale brewers, as well as retail dealers, stand very +conspicuous among those offenders. But the reader will likewise notice, +that there are no convictions, in any instance, against any of the +eleven great London porter brewers[73] for any illegal practice. The +great London brewers, it appears, believe that the publicans alone +adulterate the beer. That many of the latter have been convicted of this +fraud, the Report of the Board of Excise amply shews.--See p. 129. + +The following statement relating to this subject, we transcribe from a +Parliamentary document:[74] + +Mr. Perkins being asked, whether he believed that any of the inferior +brewers adulterated beer, answered, "I am satisfied there are some +instances of that." + +_Question._--"Do you believe publicans do?" _Answer._--"I believe they +do." _Q._--"To a great extent?" _A._--"Yes." _Q._--"Do you believe they +adulterate the beer you sell them?" _A._--"I am satisfied there are +some instances of that."--Mr. J. Martineau[75] being asked the following + +_Question._[76]--"In your judgment is any of the beer of the metropolis, +as retailed to the publican, mixed with any deleterious ingredients?" + +_Answer._--"In retailing beer, in some instances, it has been." + +_Question._--"By whom, in your opinion, has that been done?" + +_Answer._--"In that case by the publicans who vend it." + +On this point, it is but fair, to the minor brewers, to record also the +answers of some officers of the revenue, when they were asked whether +they considered it more difficult to detect nefarious practices in large +breweries than in small ones. + +Mr. J. Rogers being thus questioned in the Committee of the House of +Commons,[77] "Supposing the large brewers to use deleterious or any +illegal ingredients to such an amount as could be of any importance to +their concern, do you think it would, or would not, be more easy to +detect it in those large breweries, than in small ones?" his answer was, +"more difficult to detect it in the large ones:" and witness being asked +to state the reason why, answered, "Their premises are so much larger, +and there is so much more strength, that a cart load or two is got rid +of in a minute or two." Witness "had known, in five minutes, twenty +barrels of molasses got rid of as soon as the door was shut." + +Another witness, W. Wells, an excise officer,[78] in describing the +contrivances used to prevent detection, stated, that at a brewer's, at +Westham, the adulterating substances "were not kept on the premises, but +in the brewer's house; not the principal, but the working brewers; it +not being considered, when there, as liable to seizure: the brewer had a +very large jacket made expressly for that purpose, with very large +pockets; and, on brewing mornings, he would take his pockets full of the +different ingredients. Witness supposed that such a man's jacket, +similar to what he had described, would convey quite sufficient for any +brewery in England, as to _cocculus indicus_." + +That it may be more difficult for the officers of the excise to detect +fraudulent practices in large breweries than in small ones, may be true +to a certain extent: but what eminent London porter brewer would stake +his reputation on the chance of so paltry a gain, in which he would +inevitably be at the mercy of his own man? The eleven great porter +brewers of this metropolis are persons of so high respectability, that +there is no ground for the slightest suspicion that they would attempt +any illegal practices, which they were aware could not possibly escape +detection in their extensive establishments. And let it be remembered, +that none of them have been detected for any unlawful practices,[79] +with regard to the processes of their manufacture, or the adulteration +of their beer. + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATION OF BEER. + +The detection of the adulteration of beer with deleterious vegetable +substances is beyond the reach of chemical analysis. The presence of +sulphate of iron (p. 134) may be detected by evaporating the beer to +perfect dryness, and burning away the vegetable matter obtained, by the +action of chlorate of pot-ash in a red-hot crucible. The sulphate of +iron will be left behind among the residue in the crucible, which when +dissolved in water, may be assayed, for the constituent parts of the +salt, namely, iron and sulphuric acid: for the former, by tincture of +galls, ammonia, and prussiate of potash; and for the latter, by muriate +of barytes.[80] + +Beer, which has been rendered fraudulently _hard_ (see p. 148) by the +admixture of sulphuric acid, affords a white precipitate (sulphate of +barytes), by dropping into it a solution of acetate or muriate of +barytes; and this precipitate, when collected by filtering the mass, and +after having been dried, and heated red-hot for a few minutes in a +platina crucible, does not disappear by the addition of nitric, or +muriatic acid. Genuine old beer may produce a precipitate; but the +precipitate which it affords, after having been made red-hot in a +platina crucible, instantly becomes re-dissolved with effervescence by +pouring on it some pure nitric or muriatic acid; in that case the +precipitate is malate (not sulphate) of barytes, and is owing to a +portion of malic acid having been formed in the beer. + +But with regard to the vegetable materials deleterious to health, it is +extremely difficult, in any instance, to detect them by chemical +agencies; and in most cases it is quite impossible, as in that of +cocculus indicus in beer. + + +METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF SPIRIT CONTAINED IN PORTER, ALE, +OR OTHER KINDS OF MALT LIQUORS. + +Take any quantity of the beer, put it into a glass retort, furnished +with a receiver, and distil, with a gentle heat, as long as any spirit +passes over into the receiver; which may be known by heating from time +to time a small quantity of the obtained fluid in a tea-spoon over a +candle, and bringing into contact with the vapour of it the flame of a +piece of paper. If the vapour of the distilled fluid catches fire, the +distillation must be continued until the vapour ceases to be set on +fire by the contact of a flaming body. To the distilled liquid thus +obtained, which is the spirit of the beer, combined with water, add, in +small quantities at a time, pure subcarbonate of potash (previously +freed from water by having been exposed to a red heat,) till the last +portion of this salt added, remains undissolved in the fluid. The spirit +will thus become separated from the water, because the subcarbonate of +potash abstracts from it the whole of the water which it contained; and +this combination sinks to the bottom, and the spirit alone floats on the +top. If this experiment be made in a glass tube, about half or +three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and graduated into 50 or 100 +equal parts, the relative per centage of spirit in a given quantity of +beer may be seen by mere inspection. + + +_Quantity of Alcohol contained in Porter, Ale, and other kinds of Malt +Liquors._[81] + + One hundred parts, by Measure, Parts of Alcohol, + contained. by Measure. + + Ale, home-brewed 8,30 + Ale, Burton, three Samples 6,25 + Ale, Burton[82] 8,88 + Ale, Edinburgh[82] 6,20 + Ale, Dorchester[82] 5,50 + Ale, common London-brewed, } + six samples } 5,82 + Ale, Scotch, three samples 5,75 + Porter, London, eight samples 4,00 + Ditto, Ditto[83] 4,20 + Ditto, Ditto[83] 4,45 + Ditto, Ditto, bottled. 4,75 + Brown Stout, four samples 5 + Ditto, Ditto[83] 6,80 + Small Beer, six samples 0,75 + Ditto, Ditto[84] 1,28 + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[48] See pages 119, &c. + +[49] Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 7. + +[50] Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 16. + +[51] Ibid. p. 16. + +[52] "Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, to whom the +petition of several inhabitants of London and its vicinity, complaining +of the high price and inferior quality of beer, was referred, to examine +the matter thereof, and to report the same, with their observations +thereupon, to the House. Printed by order of the House of Commons, +April, 1819." + +[53] 56 Geo. III. c. 2. + +[54] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of Beer.--See pages 18, +29, 30, 31, 36, 43. + +[55] The average specific gravity of different samples of brown stout, +obtained direct from the breweries of Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co. +Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, and Co. Messrs. Henry Meux and Co. and from +several other eminent London brewers, amounted to 1,022; and the average +specific gravity of porter, from the same breweries, 1,018. + +[56] 2 Geo. III. c. 14, § 2. + +[57] 59 Geo. III. c. 53, § 25. + +[58] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 19, 29, 36, +37, 43. + +[59] See Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons for reporting +on the Price and Quality of Beer, 1819, p. 29. + +[60] 7 Geo. II. c. 19, § 2. + +[61] See List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted for mixing table +beer with strong beer, &c. p. 129. + +"Alum gives likewise a smack of age to beer, and is penetrating to the +palate."--_S. Child on Brewing._ + +[62] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 38. + +[63] See Mr. Carr's evidence in the Minutes of the House of Commons, p. +32. + +[64] 42 George III, c. 38, § 12. + +[65] See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32. + +[66] Copied from the minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of Beer, 1819, p. 29, 36, +43. + +[67] See the Parliamentary Minutes, p. 94. + +[68] Mr. Barclay has not specified the relative proportions of brown +stout and of bottling beer which are introduced at such an augmentation +of expense. + +[69] Mr. Child, in his Treatise on Brewing, p. 23 directs, _to make new +beer older, use oil of vitriol_. + +[70] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons +appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 29, 36. + +[71] The deleterious effect of Cocculus Indicus (the fruit of the +memispermum cocculus) is owing to a peculiar bitter principle contained +in it; which, when swallowed in minute quantities, intoxicates and acts +as poison. It may be obtained from cocculus indicus berries in a +detached state:--chemists call it picrotoxin, from +pichros+, bitter; +and +toxichon+ poison. + +[72] See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 28, 36. + +[73] Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co.--Truman, Hanbury and Co.--Reid +and Co.--Whitbread and Co.--Combe, Delafield, and Co.--Henry Meux, and +Co.--Calvert and Co.--Goodwin and Co.--Elliot and Co.--Taylor and +Co.--Cox, and Camble and Co. + +See the Minutes, before quoted, p. 32. + +[74] _Ibid._ p. 58. + +[75] A partner in the brewery of Messrs. Whitbread and Co. + +[76] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 104. + +[77] Minutes, before quoted, p. 22. + +[78] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 40. + +[79] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32 + +[80] See a Treatise on the Use and Application of Chemical Tests, 3d +edition; Tests for Sulphuric Acid, &c. + +[81] Repository of Arts, No. 2, p. 74.--1816. + +[82] Copied from Professor Brande's Paper in the Philosophical +Transactions, 1811, p. 345. + +[83] Result of our own Experiments, see p. 127. + +[84] Professor Brande's Experiments. + + + + +_Counterfeit Tea-Leaves._ + + +The late detections that have been made respecting the illicit +establishments for the manufacture of imitation tea leaves, arrested, +not long ago, the attention of the public; and the parties by whom these +manufactories were conducted, together with the numerous venders of the +factitious tea, did not escape the hand of justice. In proof of this +statement, it is only necessary to consult the London newspapers (the +Times and the Courier) from March to July 1818; which show to what +extent this nefarious traffic has been carried on; and they report also +the prosecutions and convictions of numerous individuals who have been +guilty of the fraud. The following are some of those prosecutions and +convictions. + +HATTON GARDEN.--On Saturday an information came to be heard at +this office, before Thomas Leach, Esq. the sitting magistrate, against a +man of the name of Edmund Rhodes, charged with having, on the 12th of +August last, dyed, fabricated, and manufactured, divers large +quantities, viz. one hundred weight of sloe leaves, one hundred weight +of ash leaves, one hundred weight of elder leaves, and one hundred +weight of the leaves of a certain other tree, in imitation of tea, +contrary to the statute of the 17th of Geo. III.[85] whereby the said +Edmund Rhodes had, for every pound of such leaves so manufactured, +forfeited the sum of 5_l._ making the total of the penalties amount to +2,000_l._ The second count in the information charged the said Rhodes +with having in his possession the above quantity of sloe, ash, elder, +and other leaves, under the like penalty of 2,000_l._ The third count +charged him with having, on the said 12th of August last, in his +possession, divers quantities, exceeding six pounds weight of each +respective kind of leaves; viz. fifty pounds weight of green sloe +leaves, fifty pounds weight of green leaves of ash, fifty pounds weight +of green leaves of elder, and fifty pounds weight of the green leaves of +a certain other tree; not having proved that such leaves were gathered +with the consent of the owners of the trees and shrubs from which they +were taken, and that such leaves were gathered for some other use, and +not for the purpose of manufacturing the same in imitation of tea; +whereby he had forfeited for each pound weight, the sum of 5_l._ +amounting in the whole to 1,000_l._; and, in default of payment, in each +case, subjected himself to be committed to the house of correction for +not more than twelve months, nor less than six months. + +Mr. Denton, who appeared for the defendant, who was absent, said that he +was a very poor man, with a family of five children, and was only the +servant of the real manufacturer, and an ignorant man from the country, +put into the premises to carry on the business, without knowing what the +leaves were intended for. By direction of Mr. Mayo, who conducted the +prosecution, several barrels and bags, filled with the imitation tea, +were then brought into the office, and a sample from each handed round. +To the eye they seemed a good imitation of tea. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 500_l._ on the second +count. + +_The Attorney-General against Palmer._--This was an action by the +Attorney-General against the defendant, Palmer, charging him with +having in his possession a quantity of sloe-leaves and white-thorn +leaves, fabricated into an imitation of tea. + +Mr. Dauncey stated the case to the jury, and observed that the +defendant, Mr. Palmer, was a grocer. It would appear that a regular +manufactory was established in Goldstone-street. The parties by whom the +manufactory was conducted, was a person of the name of Proctor, and +another person named J. Malins. They engaged others to furnish them with +leaves, which, after undergoing a certain process, were sold to and +drank by the public as tea. The leaves, in order to be converted into an +article resembling black tea, were first boiled, then baked upon an iron +plate; and, when dry, rubbed with the hand, in order to produce that +curl which the genuine tea had. This was the most wholesome part of the +operation; for the colour which was yet to be given to it, was produced +by logwood. The green tea was manufactured in a manner more destructive +to the constitution of those by whom it was drank. The leaves, being +pressed and dried, were laid upon sheets of copper, where they received +their colour from an article known by the name of Dutch pink. The +article used in producing the appearance of the fine green bloom, +observable on the China tea, was, however, decidedly a dead poison! He +alluded to verdigris, which was added to the Dutch pink in order to +complete the operation. This was the case which he had to bring before +the jury; and hence it would appear, that, at the moment they were +supposing they were drinking a pleasant and nutritious beverage, they +were, in fact, in all probability, drinking the produce of the hedges +round the metropolis, prepared for the purposes of deception in the most +noxious manner. He trusted he should be enabled to trace to the +possession of the defendant eighty pounds weight of the commodity he had +been describing. + +Thomas Jones deposed, that he knew Proctor, and was employed by him at +the latter end of April, 1817, to gather black and white thorn leaves. +Sloe leaves were the black thorn. Witness also knew John Malins, the son +of William Malins, a coffee-roaster; he did not at first know the +purpose for which the leaves were gathered, but afterwards learnt they +were to make imitation tea. Witness did not gather more than one hundred +and a half weight of these leaves; but he employed another person, of +the name of John Bagster, to gather them. He had two-pence per pound for +them. They were first boiled, and the water squeezed from them in a +press. They were afterwards placed over a slow-fire upon sheets of +copper to dry; while on the copper they were rubbed with the hand to +curl them. At the time of boiling there was a little _verdigris_ put +into the water (this applied to green tea only.) After the leaves were +dried, they were sifted, to separate the thorns and stalks. After they +were sifted, more verdigris and some Dutch pink were added. The +verdigris gave the leaves that green bloom observable on genuine tea. + +The black tea went through a similar course as the green, except the +application of Dutch pink: a little verdigris was put in the boiling, +and to this was added a small quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus +the manufacture was complete. The drying operation took place on sheets +of iron. Witness knew the defendant, Edward Palmer; he took some of the +mixture he had been describing, to his shop. The first time he took some +was in May, 1817. In the course of that month, or the beginning of June, +he took four or five seven-pound parcels; when he took it there, it was +taken up to the top of the house. Witness afterwards carried some to +Russell-street, which was taken to the top of the house, about one +hundred weight and three quarters; from this quantity he carried +fifty-three pounds weight to the house of the defendant's porter, by the +desire of Mr. Malins; it was in paper parcels of seven pounds each. + +John Bagster proved that he had been employed by Malins and Proctor, to +gather sloe and white-thorn leaves: they were taken to Jones's house, +and from thence to Malins' coffee-roasting premises; witness received +two-pence per pound for them; he saw the manufacturing going on, but did +not know much about it: witness saw the leaves on sheets of copper, in +Goldstone-street. + +This was the case for the Crown.--Verdict for the Crown, 840_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against John Prentice._--This was an information +similar to the last, in which the defendant submitted to a verdict for +the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against Lawson Holmes._--In this case the +defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against John Orkney._--Thomas Jones proved that +the defendant was a grocer, and in the month of May last he carried to +his shop seven pounds of imitation tea, by the order of John Malins, +for which he received the money, viz. 15_s._ 9_d._ or 2_s._ 3_d._ per +pound. + +The jury found a verdict for the Crown.--Penalties 70_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against James Gray._--The defendant submitted to a +verdict for the Crown.--Penalties 120_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against H. Gilbert, and Powel._--These defendants +submitted to a verdict.--Penalties 140_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against William Clarke._--This defendant also +submitted to a verdict for the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against George David Bellis._--This defendant +submitted to a verdict for the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against John Horner._--The defendant in this case +was a grocer; it was proved by Jones that he received twenty pounds of +imitation tea.--Verdict for the Crown.--Penalties 210_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against William Dowling._--This was a grocer. +Jones proved that he delivered seven pounds of imitation tea at Mr. +Dowling's house, and received the money for it, namely 15_s._ +9_d._--Penalties 70_l._ + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA. + +The adulteration of tea may be evinced by comparing the botanical +characters of the leaves of the two respective trees, and by submitting +them to the action of a few chemical tests. + +The shape of the tea-leaf is slender and narrow, as shewn in this +sketch, the edges are deeply serrated, and the end or extremity is +acutely pointed. The texture of the leaf is very delicate, its surface +smooth and glossy, and its colour is a lively pale green. + +[Illustration] + +The sloe-leaf (and also the white-thorn leaf,) as shewn in this sketch, +is more rounded, and the leaf is obtusely pointed. The serratures or +jags on the edges are not so deep, the surface of the leaf is more +uneven, the texture not so delicate, and the colour is a dark olive +green. + +[Illustration] + +These characters of course can be observed only after the dried leaves +have been suffered to macerate in water for about twenty-four hours. + +The leaves of some sorts of tea may differ in size, but the shape is the +same in all of them; because all the different kinds of tea imported +from China, are the produce of one species of plant, and the difference +between the green and souchong, or black tea, depends chiefly upon the +climate, soil, culture, age, and mode of drying the leaves. + +Spurious black tea,[86] slightly moistened, when rubbed on a sheet of +white paper, immediately produces a blueish-black stain; and speedily +affords, when thrown into cold water, a blueish-black tincture, which +instantly becomes reddened by letting fall into it, a drop or two of +sulphuric acid. + +Two ounces of the suspected leaves, should be infused in half-a-pint of +cold, soft water, and suffered to stand for about an hour. Genuine tea +produces an amber-coloured infusion, which does not become reddened by +sulphuric acid. + +All the samples of spurious green tea (nineteen in number) which I have +examined, were coloured with carbonate of copper (a poisonous +substance,) and not by means of verdigris, or copperas.[87] The latter +substances would instantly turn the tea black; because both these +metallic salts being soluble in water, are acted on by the astringent +matter of the leaves, whether genuine or spurious, and convert the +infusion into ink. + +Tea, rendered poisonous by carbonate of copper, speedily imparts to +liquid ammonia a fine sapphire blue tinge. It is only necessary to shake +up in a stopped vial, for a few minutes, a tea-spoonful of the suspected +leaves, with about two table-spoonsful of liquid ammonia, diluted with +half its bulk of water. The supernatant liquid will exhibit a fine blue +colour, if the minutest quantity of copper be present. + +Green tea, coloured with carbonate of copper, when thrown into water +impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, immediately acquires a black +colour. Genuine green tea suffers no change from the action of these +tests. + +The presence of copper may be further rendered obvious, by mixing one +part of the suspected tea-leaves, reduced to powder, with two or three +parts of nitrate of potash, (or with two parts of chlorate of potash,) +and projecting this mixture by small portions at a time, into a platina, +or porcelain-ware crucible, kept red-hot in a coal fire; the whole +vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thus become destroyed, and the +oxide of copper left behind, in combination with the potash, of the +nitrate of potash (or salt-petre,) or with the muriate of potash, if +chlorate of potash has been employed. + +If water, acidulated with nitric acid, be then poured into the crucible +to dissolve the mass, the presence of the copper may be rendered +manifest by adding to the solution, liquid ammonia, in such quantity +that the pungent odour of it predominates. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[85] Also, 2 Geo. I, c. 30, § 5; and 4 Geo. II, c. 14, § 11. + +[86] The examination of twenty-seven samples of imitation tea of +different qualities, from the most costly, to the most common, which it +fell to my lot to undertake, induces me to point out the marks of +sophistications here detailed, as the most simple and expeditious. + +[87] Mr. Twining, an eminent tea-merchant, asserts, that "the leaves of +spurious tea are boiled in a copper, with copperas and sheep's +dung."--See Encyclop. Britan. vol. xviii. p. 331. 1797. See also the +History of the Tea Plant, p. 48; and p. 167 of this Treatise. + + + + +_Counterfeit Coffee._ + + +The fraud of counterfeiting ground coffee by means of pigeon's beans and +pease, is another subject which, not long ago, arrested the attention of +the public: and from the numerous convictions of grocers prosecuted for +the offence, it is evident that this practice has been carried on for a +long time, and to a considerable extent. + +The following statement exhibits some of the prosecutions, instituted by +the Solicitor of the Excise, against persons convicted of the fraud of +manufacturing spurious, and adulterating genuine coffee. + +Alexander Brady, a grocer, (_See p. 182_) prosecuted and convicted of +selling _sham-coffee_, said, "I have sold it for twenty years." Some of +the persons prosecuted by the Solicitor of the Excise for this fraud, we +might, at first sight, be inclined to believe, were inconscious that the +adulterating of genuine coffee with spurious substances was illegal; but +this ignorance affords no excuse, as the Act of the 43 Geo. III. cap. +129, explicitly states: "If after the first day of September, 1803, any +burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other grain, or vegetable +substance or substances prepared or manufactured for the purpose of +being in imitation of or in any respect to resemble coffee or cocoa, or +to serve as a substitute for coffee or cocoa, or alleged or pretended by +the possessor or vender thereof so to be, _shall be made_, or kept for +sale, or shall be _offered_ or _exposed to sale_, or shall be _found_ in +the custody or possession of any _dealer_ or dealers in or _seller_ or +sellers of _coffee_, or if any burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, +or other grain, or vegetable substance or substances not being coffee, +shall be called by the preparer, manufacturer, possessor, or vender +thereof, by the name of _English_ or _British_ coffee, or _any other +name_ of coffee, or by the name of _American_ cocoa, or _English_ or +_British_ cocoa, or any other name of cocoa, the same respectively shall +be forfeited, together with the packages containing the same, and shall +and may be seized by any officer or officers of Excise; and the person +or persons preparing, manufacturing, or selling the same, or having the +same in his, her, or their custody or possession, or the dealer or +dealers in or seller or sellers of coffee or cocoa, in whose custody +the same shall be found, shall forfeit and lose the sum of one hundred +pounds." + +_The Attorney-General against William Malins._--This was an information +filed by the Attorney-General against the defendant, charging him, he +being a dealer in coffee, with having in his possession a large quantity +of imitation coffee, made from scorched pease and beans, resembling +coffee, and intended to be sold as such, contrary to the statute of the +43d of the King, whereby he became liable to pay a fine of 100_l._ + +J. Lawes deposed that he had lived servant with the defendant; he +constantly roasted pease and beans, and ground them into powder. When so +ground, the powder very much resembled coffee. Sometimes the sweepings +of the coffee were thrown in among the pease and beans. Witness carried +out this powder to several grocers in different parts of the town. + +Thomas Jones lived with the defendant. His occupation was roasting and +grinding pease and beans. They looked, when ground, the same as coffee. +Witness had seen Mr. John Malins sweep up the refuse coffee, and mix it +with the pease and beans. He had taken out this mixture to grocers. + +J. Richardson, an excise-officer, deposed, that, in December 1817, he +went to the premises of the defendant, and there seized four sacks, five +tubs, and nine pounds in paper, of a powder made to resemble coffee. The +quantity ground was 1,567 pounds; it had all the appearance of coffee; +and a little coffee being mixed with it, any common person might be +deceived. He also seized two sacks, containing 279 pounds of whole pease +and beans roasted. Among the latter were some grains of coffee. The +witness here produced samples of the articles seized. + +John Lawes deposed, that the articles exhibited were such as he was in +the habit of manufacturing while in Mr. Malins' employment. + +The jury found a verdict for the Crown.--Penalty 100_l._ + +_The King against Chaloner._--Mr. Chaloner, a dealer in tea and coffee, +was charged on the oaths of Charles Henry Lord and John Pearson, both +Excise officers, with having in his possession, on the 17th of March, +nine pounds of spurious coffee, consisting of burnt pease, beans, and +gravel or sand, and a portion of coffee, and with selling some of the +same; also with having in his possession seventeen pounds of vegetable +powder, and an article imitating coffee, which contained not a particle +of genuine coffee. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 90_l._ + +_The King against Peether._--This was an information against Mr. Thomas +Peether, tea and coffee dealer, charging him with having in his +possession a quantity of imitation coffee (or vegetable powder) on the +25th of April last. + +The case being proved by the evidence of several witnesses, the +defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Topping._--This was an information against Mr. John +Lewis Topping, a dealer in tea and coffee, charging him with having +thirty-seven pounds of vegetable powder in his possession. The article +seized was produced to the commissioners of the Excise. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Samuel Hallett._--The defendant, Hallett, a grocer and +dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having seven pounds of +imitation coffee in his possession. + +Charles Henry Lord, an officer of the Excise, being sworn, stated, that +he and Spencer, an officer, went, on the 28th of February last, to the +shop of the defendant, and asked for an ounce of coffee, at three +halfpence per ounce. He received the same, and having paid for it, left +the shop. He examined the article, and found it was part coffee, and +part imitation coffee, or what the defendant called vegetable powder, +which is nothing more nor less than burnt pease and beans ground in a +mill. + +Spencer, the officer of the Excise, corroborated the above evidence, and +stated, that the sham-coffee seized at the defendant's house was shown +to Mr. Joseph Hubbard, grocer, and tea and coffee dealer, in +High-street, in the Borough of Southwark. + +Mr. Hubbard being sworn, stated, that he had examined the sham-coffee +seized by the officers in the defendant's shop. The one ounce purchased +by Lord, he knew to be nothing else than black pigeon's beans; there was +no coffee amongst it. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Fox._--Mr. Edward Fox, grocer, and dealer in tea and +coffee, was charged with having a large quantity of sham-coffee in his +possession, and with selling the same for genuine coffee. + +Henry Spencer, an officer of the Excise, stated, that on the 21st of +February he and Lord, another officer, went to the defendant's shop and +purchased an ounce of coffee, for which he paid three halfpence. They +examined it, and he was satisfied it was not genuine coffee; they +purchased another ounce (which he produced to the commissioners of the +Excise, who examined it); they were convinced it consisted partly of +coffee and beans and pease. + +The defendant, in his defence said, that the poor people wanted a +low-price article; and by mixing the vegetable powder and coffee +together, he was able to sell it at three halfpence an ounce; he had +sold it for years; he did it as a matter of accommodation to the poor, +who could not give a higher price; he did not sell it for genuine +coffee. + +_Commissioner._--"Then you have been defrauding the public for many +years, and injuring the revenue by your illicit practices: the poor have +an equal right to be supplied with as genuine an article as the rich." + +He was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Brady._--The defendant, Mr. Alexander Brady, grocer, +and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having, on the 28th of +February last, in his possession eighteen pounds of sham-coffee, and +selling the same for genuine coffee. + +Lord and Pearson, Excise officers, stated, that they purchased an ounce +of coffee of the defendant, on the 28th of February, and upon examining +it they discovered that it was made up of pease and beans, ground with a +small quantity of coffee. They also found eighteen pounds of vegetable +powder mixed with coffee, in a state prepared for sale, wrapped in +papers. + +One of the commissioners tasted some of the eighteen pounds of +sham-coffee produced by the officers, and declared that it was a most +infamous stuff, and unfit for human food. + +_Defendant._--"Why, I have sold it for twenty years." + +_Commissioner._--"Then you have been for twenty years acting most +dishonestly, defrauding the revenue; and the health of the poor must +have suffered very much by taking such an unwholesome article. Your +having dealt in this article so long aggravates your case; you have for +twenty years been selling burnt beans and pease for genuine coffee.--You +are convicted in the penalty of 50_l._" + +_The King against Bowser._--The excise officers stated, that on the 28th +of February they went to his shop: he was a grocer, dealer in tea and +coffee; they seized seven pounds and a half of vegetable powder, which +contained very little coffee, if any; and also a quarter of a pound of +coffee mixed with vegetable powder. + +The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, and prayed the court to +mitigate the penalty. He was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Thomas Owen._--The defendant, an extensive dealer in +tea and coffee, appeared to an information charging him with having in +his possession, and selling, a quantity of deleterious ingredients, and +mixing them with coffee. + +Charles Henry Lord deposed, that on the 26th of February, he found, at +the shop of the defendant, nineteen pounds of a composition consisting +of beans and pease ground, and prepared so as to imitate coffee. He also +discovered two pounds and a half of a mixture of coffee and vegetable +powder. On the same day he proceeded to another shop of the defendant, +and he there found five pounds more of the same stuff. + +Samples of the composition, in its mixed and unmixed state, were +produced. + +Mr. Lawes addressed the commissioners on behalf of the defendant, in +mitigation of punishment; for he did not mean to deny the offence. His +client was a very young man, and had been most unfortunate in business. +He was not aware until lately of the existence of any law by which it +could be punished. + +The Commissioners observed, that they had a double duty to perform, +namely, to protect the revenue from fraud, and to prevent the public +from being imposed upon and injured by ingredients served to them +instead of the food they intended to purchase. The fraud upon the +revenue was, in the estimation of the court, the least part of the +offence. Under all the circumstances, however, the court was inclined to +be lenient to the defendant. + +He was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ for each quantity of +sham-coffee. + +Mr. Greely and Mr. William Dando were fined 20_l._ each; and Mr. Hirling +and Mr. Terry were fined 90_l._ each for selling spurious coffee. + +The adulteration of ground coffee, with pease and beans, is beyond the +reach of chemical analysis; but it may, perhaps, not be amiss on this +occasion to give to our readers a piece of advice given by a retired +grocer to a friend, at no distant period:--"Never, my good fellow," he +said, "purchase from a grocer any thing which passes through his mill. +You know not what you get instead of the article you expect to +receive--coffee, pepper, and all-spice, are all mixed with substances +which detract from their own natural qualities."--Persons keeping mills +of their own can at all times prevent these impositions. + + + + +_Adulteration of Brandy, Rum, and Gin._ + + +By the Excise laws at present existing in this country, the various +degrees of strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, whiskey, and other +spiritous liquors, chiefly composed of little else than spirit of wine, +are determined by the quantity of alcohol of a given specific gravity +contained in the spiritous liquors of a supposed unknown strength. The +great public importance of this subject in this country, where the +consumption of spiritous liquors adds a vast sum to the public revenue, +has been the means of instituting many very interesting series of +experiments on this subject. The instrument used for that purpose by the +Customs and officers of Excise, is called _Sikes_'s hydrometer,[88] +which has now superseded the instrument called _Clark_'s hydrometer, +heretofore in use. + +The specific gravity or strength of the legal standard spirit of the +Excise, is technically called _proof_ or _proof spirit_. "This liquor +(not being spirit sweetened, or having any ingredient dissolved in it, +to defeat the strength thereof,) at the temperature of 57° Faht. weighs +exactly 12/13th parts of an equal measure of distilled water;" and with +this spirit the strength of all other spiritous liquors are compared +according to law. + +The strength of spirit stronger than _proof_ or _over proof_, as it is +termed by the revenue officers, is indicated by the bulk of water +necessary to reduce a given volume of it, to the legal standard spirit, +denominated _proof_--namely; if one gallon of water be required to bring +twenty gallons of brandy, rum, or any other spirit, to proof, that +spirit is said to be _1 to 20 over proof_. If one gallon of water be +required to bring 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor to _proof_, it +is said to be 1 to 15, 1 to 10, 1 to 5, and 1 to 2, _over proof_. + +The strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, or other spiritous liquors, +weaker than _proof_, or under _proof_, is estimated by the quantity of +water which would be necessary to abstract or bring the spirit up to +proof. + +Thus, if from twenty gallons of brandy one gallon of water must be +abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 20 under proof. +If from 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor, 1 gallon of water must be +abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 15, 1 in 10, 1 in +5, and 1 in 2 under proof. + +It is necessary to understand this absurd language, which is in use +amongst the officers of Excise and dealers in spirit, in order to know +what is meant in commerce by the strength of spiritous liquors of +different denominations. And hence, for the business of the exciseman, a +table has been constructed, expressing the strength or specific gravity +of mixtures of different proportions of spirit and water, at different +degrees of temperature; and according to this table the duty on spirit +is now levied. + +Brandy and rum is seizable, if sold by, or found in the possession of, +the dealer, unless it possesses a certain strength.[89] The following +are the words of the Act: + +"No distiller, rectifier,[90] compounder or dealer, shall serve or send +out any foreign spirits, of a lower strength than that of 1 in 6 under +hydrometer proof,[91] nor have in his possession any foreign spirits +mixed together, except shrub, cherry or raspberry brandy, of lower +strength than as aforesaid, upon pain of such spirits being forfeited; +and such spirits, with the casks and vessels containing the same, may be +seized by any officer of Excise." + +We have, therefore, a ready check against the frauds of the dishonest +dealers, in spiritous liquors. If the spirit merchant engages to deliver +a liquor of a certain strength, the hydrometer is by far the most easy +and expeditious check that can be adopted to guard against frauds of +receiving a weaker liquor for a stronger one; and to those individuals +who are in the habit of purchasing large quantities of brandy, rum, or +other spiritous liquors, the hydrometer renders the greatest service. +For it is by no means an uncommon occurrence to meet with brandy, rum, +and other spiritous liquors, of a specific gravity very much below the +pretended strength which the liquor ought to possess. + +The following advice, given to his readers,[92] by the author of a +Treatise on Brewing and Distilling, may serve to put the unwary on their +guard against some of the frauds practised by mercenary dealers. + +"It is a custom among retailing distillers, which I have not taken +notice of in this directory, to put one-third or one-fourth part of +proof molasses brandy, proportionably, to what rum they dispose of; +which cannot be distinguished, but by an extraordinary palate, and does +not at all lessen the body or proof of the goods; but makes them about +two shillings a gallon cheaper; and must be well mixed and incorporated +together in your retailing cask; but you should keep some of the best +rum, not adulterated, to please some customers, whose judgment and +palate must be humoured." + +"When you are to draw a sample of goods to shew a person that has +judgment in the proof, do not draw your goods into a phial to be tasted, +or make experiment of the strength thereof that way, because the proof +will not hold except the goods be exceedingly strong; but draw the +pattern of goods rather into a glass from the cock, to run very small, +or rather draw off a small quantity into a little pewter pot and pour it +into your glass, extending your pot as high above the glasses as you can +without wasting it, which makes the goods carry a better head +abundantly, than if the same goods were to be put and tried in a phial." + +"You must be so prudent as to make a distinction of the persons you have +to deal with; what goods you sell to gentlemen for their own use, who +require a great deal of attendance, and as much for time of payment, you +must take a considerably greater price than of others; what goods you +sell to persons where you believe there is a manifest, or at least some +hazard of your money, you may safely sell for more than common profit; +what goods you sell to the poor, especially medicinally, (as many of +your goods are sanative,) be as compassionate as the cases require." + +"All brandies, whether French, Spanish, or English; being proof goods, +will admit of one point of _liquor_[93] to each gallon, to be made up +and incorporated therewith in your cask, for retail, or selling smaller +quantities; and all persons that insist upon having proof goods, which +not one in twenty understands, you must supply out of what goods are not +so reduced, though at a higher price." + +Such is the advice given by Mr. Shannon. + +The mode of judging by the taste of spiritous liquors is deceitful. A +false strength is given to a weak liquor, by infusing in it acrid +vegetable substances, or by adding to it a tincture of grains of +paradise and Guinea pepper. These substances impart to weak brandy or +rum, an extremely hot and pungent taste. + +Brandy and rum is also frequently sophisticated with British molasses, +or sugar-spirit, coloured with burnt sugar. + +The flavour which characterises French brandy, and which is owing to a +small portion of a peculiar essential oil contained in it, is imitated +by distilling British molasses-spirit over wine lees;[94] but the +spirit, prior to being distilled over wine lees, is previously +deprived, in part, of its peculiar disagreeable flavour, by +rectification over fresh burnt charcoal and quick-lime. Other +brandy-merchants employ a spirit obtained from raisin wine, which is +suffered to pass into an incipient ascescency. The spirit thus procured +partakes strongly of the flavour which is characteristic to foreign +brandy. + +Oak saw-dust, and a spiritous tincture of raisin stones, are likewise +used to impart to new brandy and rum a _ripe taste_, resembling brandy +or rum long kept in oaken casks, and a somewhat oily consistence, so as +to form a durable froth at its surface, when strongly agitated in a +vial. The colouring substances are burnt sugar, or molasses; the latter +gives to imitative brandy a luscious taste, and fulness _in the mouth_. +These properties are said to render it particularly fit for the retail +London customers. + +The following is the method of compounding or _making up_, as it is +technically called, _brandy_[95] for retail: + + Gallons + "To ten puncheons of brandy 1081 + Add flavoured raisin spirit 118 + Tincture of grains of paradise 4 + Cherry laurel water 2 + Spirit of almond cakes 2 + ------- + 1207 + +"Add also 10 handfuls of oak saw-dust; and give it _complexion_ with +burnt sugar." + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF BRANDY, RUM, AND MALT SPIRIT. + +The false strength of brandy or rum is rendered obvious by diluting the +suspected liquor with water; the acrimony of the capsicum, and grains of +paradise, or pepper, may then be readily discovered by the taste. + +The adulteration of brandy with British molasses, or sugar-spirit, +becomes evident by rubbing a portion of the suspected brandy between +the palms of the hands; the spirit, as it evaporates, leaves the +disagreeable flavour which is peculiar to all British spirits. Or the +liquor may be deprived of its alcohol, by heating a portion in a spoon +over a candle, till the vapour ceases to catch fire on the approach of a +lighted taper. The residue thus obtained, of genuine French brandy, +possesses a vinous odour, still resembling the original flavour of the +brandy, whilst the residue, produced from sophisticated brandy, has a +peculiarly disagreeable smell, resembling gin, or the breath of habitual +drunkards. + +Arrack is coarsely imitated by adding to rum a small quantity of +pyroligneous acid and some flowers (acid) of benzoe. The compound thus +produced, however, must be pronounced a bad one. The author of a very +popular Cookery Book,[96] directs two scruples of benzoic acid to be +dissolved in one quart of rum, to make "_mock arrack_." + + +MALT SPIRIT. + +Malt spirit, or gin, the favourite liquor of the lower order of people, +which is characterised by the peculiar flavour of juniper berries, over +which the raw spirit is distilled, is usually obtained from a mixture of +malt and barley: sometimes both molasses and corn are employed, +particularly if there be a scarcity of grain. But the flavour of +whiskey, which is made from barley and oats, is owing to the malted +grain being dried with peat, the smoke of which gives it the +characteristic taste. + +The malt distiller is not allowed to furnish, under a heavy penalty, any +crude or raw spirit to the rectifier or manufacturer of gin, of a +greater strength than seven per cent. over proof. The rectifier who +receives the spirit from the malt distiller is not allowed, under a +certain penalty, to sweeten the liquor with sugar or other substances; +nor is he permitted to send out the spirit to his customers but of a +certain strength, as is obvious from the following words of the Act: + +"No rectifier or compounder shall sell or send out any British brandy, +British rectified spirits, British compounds, or other British spirits, +of greater strength than that of one in five under hydrometer proof[97]: +and if he shall sell and send out any such spirits of a greater strength +than that of one in five under hydrometer proof, such spirits, with the +casks or vessels containing the same, shall be forfeited, and may be +seized by any officer of Excise; and he shall also forfeit treble the +value of such spirit, or 50_l._ at the election of the King's +attorney-general, or the person who shall sue for the same; the single +value of such spirits to be estimated at the highest London Price.[98]" + +If we examine gin, as retailed, we shall soon be convinced that it is a +custom, pretty prevalent amongst dealers, to weaken this liquor +considerably with water, and to sweeten it with sugar. This fraud may +readily be detected by evaporating a quantity of the liquor in a +table-spoon over a candle, to dryness; the sugar will thus be rendered +obvious, in the form of a gum-like substance, when the spirit is +volatilised. + +One hundred and twenty gallons of genuine gin, as obtained from the +wholesale manufactories, are usually _made up_ by fraudulent retailers, +into a saleable commodity, with fourteen gallons of water and twenty-six +pounds of sugar. Now this dilution of the liquor produces a turbidness; +because the oil of juniper and other flavouring substances which the +spirit holds in solution, become precipitated by virtue of the water, +and thus cause the liquor to assume an opaline colour: and the spirit +thus weakened, cannot readily be rendered clear again by subsidence. +Several expedients are had recourse to, to clarify the liquor in an +expeditious manner; some of which are harmless; others are criminal, +because they render the liquor poisonous. + +One of the methods, which is innocent, consists in adding to the +weakened liquor, first, a portion of alum dissolved in water, and then a +solution of sub-carbonate of potash. The whole is stirred together, and +left undisturbed for twenty-four hours. The precipitated alumine thus +produced from the alum, by virtue of the sub-carbonate of potash, acts +as a strainer upon the milky liquor, and carries down with it the finely +divided oily matter which produced the blue colour of the diluted +liquor. Roach, or Roman alum, is also employed, without any other +addition, for clarifying spiritous liquors. + + +"_To reduce unsweetened Gin._[99] + + "A tun of fine gin 252 gallons + "Water 36 + ----- + "Which added together make 288 gallons + + "The _doctor is now put_ on, + and it is further reduced + with water 19 + ----- + "Which gives Total 307 gallons of gin. + +"This done, let 1 lb. of alum be just covered with water, and dissolved +by boiling; rummage the whole well together, and pour in the alum, and +the whole will be fine in a few hours." + + +"_To prepare and sweeten British Gin._[100] + +"Get from your distiller an empty puncheon or cask, which will contain +about 133 gallons. Then take a cask of clear rectified spirits, 120 +gallons, of the usual strength as rectifiers sell their goods at, put +the 120 gallons of spirits into your empty cask. + +"Then take a quarter of an ounce of oil of vitriol, half an ounce of +oil of almonds, a quarter of an ounce of oil of turpentine, one ounce of +oil of juniper berries, half a pint of spirit of wine, and half a pound +of lump sugar. Beat or rub the above in a mortar. When well rubbed +together, have ready prepared half a gallon of lime water, one gallon of +rose water; mix the whole in either a pail, or cask, with a stick, till +every particle shall be dissolved; then add to the foregoing, +twenty-five pounds of sugar dissolved in about nine gallons of rain or +Thames water, or water that has been boiled, mix the whole well +together, and stir them carefully with a stick in the 133 gallons cask. + +"To _force down_ the same, take and boil eight ounces of alum in three +quarts of water, for three quarters of an hour; take it from the fire, +and dissolve by degrees six or seven ounces of salt of tartar. When the +same is milk-warm pour it into your gin, and stir it well together, as +before, for five minutes, the same as you would a butt of beer newly +fined. Let your cask stand as you mean to draw it. At every time you +purpose to sweeten again, that cask must be well washed out; and take +great care never to shake your cask all the while it is drawing." + +Another method of fining spiritous liquors, consists in adding to it, +first, a solution of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solution of alum. +This practice is highly dangerous, because part of the sulphate of lead +produced, remains dissolved in the liquor, which it thus renders +poisonous. Unfortunately, this method of clarifying spiritous liquors, I +have good reason to believe, is more frequently practised than the +preceding method, because its action is more rapid; and it imparts to +the liquor a fine _complexion_, or great refractive power; hence some +vestiges of lead may often be detected in malt spirit. + +The weakened spirit is then sweetened with sugar, and, to cover the raw +taste of the malt spirit, _false strength_ is given to it with grains of +paradise, Guinea pepper, capsicum, and other acrid and aromatic +substances. + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF LEAD IN SPIRITOUS LIQUORS. + +The presence of lead may be detected in spiritous liquors, as stated on +pages 70 and 86. The cordial called shrub frequently exhibits vestiges +of copper. This contamination, I have been informed, is accidental, and +originates from the metallic vessels employed in the manufacture of the +liquor. + + +METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF ALCOHOL IN DIFFERENT KINDS OF +SPIRITOUS LIQUORS. + +The quantity of real alcohol in any spiritous liquors may readily be +ascertained by simple distillation, which process separates the alcohol +from the water and foreign matters contained in the liquor. Put any +quantity of brandy, rum, or malt spirit diluted with about one-fourth +its bulk of water, into a retort fitted to a capacious receiver, and +distil with a gentle heat. The strongest spirit distils over first into +the receiver, and the strength of the obtained products decreases, till +at last it contains so much water as no longer to be inflammable by the +approach of a lighted taper, when held in a spoon over a candle (see p. +160.) If the process be continued, the distilled product becomes milky, +scarcely spiritous to the smell, and of an acidulous taste. The +distilling operation may then be discontinued. If the first, fourth or +third part of the distilled product has been set apart, it will be +found a moderately strong alcohol, and the remainder one more diluted. +If the whole distilled spirit be mixed with perfectly dry subcarbonate +of potash, the alcohol will float at the top of the potash, as stated, +p. 161; it will separate into two distinct fluids. If the decanted +alcohol be redistilled carefully with a very gentle heat, over a small +portion of dry quick lime, or muriate of lime, it will be obtained +extremely pure, and of a specific gravity of about 825, at 60° of +temperature. Its flavour will vary according to the kind of spiritous +liquor from which it is obtained. + + +_Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Alcohol (of 825 specific gravity) +contained in various kinds of spiritous Liquors._[101] + + Proportion of + Alcohol per Cent. + by Measure. + +Brandy, Cogniac, average proportion of 4 samples 52,75 +Ditto, Bourdeaux, ditto ditto 54,50 +Ditto, Cette 53,00 +Ditto, Naples, average of 3 samples 53,25 +Ditto, Spanish average of 6 samples 52,28 +Rum 53,68 +Ditto, Leeward, average of 9 samples 53,00 +Scotch Whiskey, average of 6 samples 53,50 +Irish Ditto, average of 4 samples 54,25 +Arrack, Batavia 49,50 +Dutch Geneva 52,25 +Gin (Hodges's,[102]) 3 samples, procured from retail dealers 48,25 +Ditto (Ditto,)[102] procured from the manufacturer 52,35 + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[88] George III. c. xxviii. May 1818--"An Act for establishing the use +of Sikes's hydrometer in ascertaining the strength of spirit, instead of +Clark's hydrometer." + +[89] Sixteen and a half per cent. proof, according to Sikes's +hydrometer. + +[90] 30 Geo. III c. 37, § 31. + +[91] According to Clarke's hydrometer. + +[92] Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing +and Distilling, p. 167; and Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 232, +233. + +[93] Water. + +[94] This operation forms part of the business of the so-called brewers' +druggists. It forms the article in their Price Currents, called _Spirit +Flavour_. + +Wine lees are imported in this country for that purpose: they pay the +same duty as foreign wines. + +[95] Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing +and Distilling, p. 167. + +[96] Apicius Redivivus, 2d edition, p. 480. + +[97] Clark's hydrometer. + +[98] 30 Geo. III. c. 37, § 6. + +[99] Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 198. + +[100] Ibid. p. 199. + +[101] Repository of Arts, p. 350, Dec. 1819. + +[102] Own experiment. + + + + +_Poisonous Cheese._ + + +Several instances have come under my notice in which Gloucester cheese +has been contaminated with red lead, and has produced serious +consequences on being taken into the stomach. In one poisonous sample +which it fell to my lot to investigate, the evil had been caused by the +sophistication of the anotta, employed for colouring cheese. This +substance was found to contain a portion of red lead; a method of +sophistication which has lately been confirmed by the following fact, +communicated to the public by Mr. J. W. Wright, of Cambridge.[103] + +"As a striking example of the extent to which adulterated articles of +food may be unconsciously diffused, and of the consequent difficulty of +detecting the real fabricators of them, it may not be uninteresting to +relate to your readers, the various steps by which the fraud of a +poisonous adulteration of cheese was traced to its source. + +"Your readers ought here to be told, that several instances are on +record, that Gloucester and other cheeses have been found contaminated +with red lead, and that this contamination has produced serious +consequences. In the instance now alluded to, and probably in all other +cases, the deleterious mixture had been caused ignorantly, by the +adulteration of the anotta employed for colouring the cheese. This +substance, in the instance I shall relate, was found to contain a +portion of red lead; a species of adulteration which subsequent +experiments have shewn to be by no means uncommon. Before I proceed +further to trace this fraud to its source, I shall briefly relate the +circumstance which gave rise to its detection. + +"A gentleman, who had occasion to reside for some time in a city in the +West of England, was one night seized with a distressing but +indescribable pain in the region of the abdomen and of the stomach, +accompanied with a feeling of tension, which occasioned much +restlessness, anxiety, and repugnance to food. He began to apprehend the +access of an inflammatory disorder; but in twenty-four hours the +symptoms entirely subsided. In four days afterwards he experienced an +attack precisely similar; and he then recollected, that having, on both +occasions, arrived from the country late in the evening, he had ordered +a plate of toasted Gloucester cheese, of which he had partaken heartily; +a dish which, when at home, regularly served him for supper. He +attributed his illness to the cheese. The circumstance was mentioned to +the mistress of the inn, who expressed great surprise, as the cheese in +question was not purchased from a country dealer, but from a highly +respectable shop in London. He, therefore, ascribed the before-mentioned +effects to some peculiarity in his constitution. A few days afterwards +he partook of the same cheese; and he had scarcely retired to rest, when +a most violent cholic seized him, which lasted the whole night and part +of the ensuing day. The cook was now directed henceforth not to serve up +any toasted cheese, and he never again experienced these distressing +symptoms. Whilst this matter was a subject of conversation in the house, +a servant-maid mentioned that a kitten had been violently sick after +having eaten the rind cut off from the cheese prepared for the +gentleman's supper. The landlady, in consequence of this statement, +ordered the cheese to be examined by a chemist in the vicinity, who +returned for answer, that the cheese was contaminated with lead! So +unexpected an answer arrested general attention, and more particularly +as the suspected cheese had been served up for several other customers. + +"Application was therefore made by the London dealer to the farmer who +manufactured the cheese: he declared that he had bought the anotta of a +mercantile traveller, who had supplied him and his neighbours for years +with that commodity, without giving occasion to a single complaint. On +subsequent inquiries, through a circuitous channel, unnecessary to be +detailed here at length, on the part of the manufacturer of the cheese, +it was found, that as the supplies of anotta had been defective and of +inferior quality, recourse had been had to the expedient of colouring +the commodity with vermilion. Even this admixture could not be +considered deleterious. But on further application being made to the +druggist who sold the article, the answer was, that the vermilion had +been mixed with a portion of red lead; and the deception was held to be +perfectly innocent, as frequently practised on the supposition, that +the vermilion would be used only as a pigment for house-painting. Thus +the druggist sold his vermilion in the regular way of trade, adulterated +with red lead to increase his profit, without any suspicion of the use +to which it would be applied; and the purchaser who adulterated the +anotta, presuming that the vermilion was genuine, had no hesitation in +heightening the colour of his spurious anotta with so harmless an +adjunct. Thus, through the circuitous and diversified operations of +commerce, a portion of deadly poison may find admission into the +necessaries of life, in a way which can attach no criminality to the +parties through whose hands it has successively passed." + +This dangerous sophistication may be detected by macerating a portion of +the suspected cheese in water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, +acidulated with muriatic acid; which will instantly cause the cheese to +assume a brown or black colour, if the minutest portion of lead be +present. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[103] Repository of Arts, vol. viii. No. 47, p. 262. + + + + +_Counterfeit Pepper._ + + +Black pepper is the fruit of a shrubby creeping plant, which grows wild +in the East Indies, and is cultivated, with much advantage, for the sake +of its berries, in Java and Malabar. The berries are gathered before +they are ripe, and are dried in the sun. They become black and +corrugated on the surface. + +This factitious pepper-corns have of late been detected mixed with +genuine pepper, is a fact sufficiently known.[104] Such an adulteration +may prove, in many instances of household economy, exceedingly vexatious +and prejudicial to those who ignorantly make use of the spurious +article. I have examined large packages of both black and white pepper, +by order of the Excise, and have found them to contain about 16 per +cent. of this artificial compound. The spurious pepper is made up of +oil cakes (the residue of lintseed, from which the oil has been +pressed,) common clay, and a portion of Cayenne pepper, formed in a +mass, and granulated by being first pressed through a sieve, and then +rolled in a cask. The mode of detecting the fraud is easy. It is only +necessary to throw a sample of the suspected pepper into a bowl of +water; the artificial pepper-corns fall to powder, whilst the true +pepper remains whole. + +Ground pepper is very often sophisticated by adding to a portion of +genuine pepper, a quantity of pepper dust, or the sweepings from the +pepper warehouses, mixed with a little Cayenne pepper. The sweepings are +known, and purchased in the market, under the name of P. D. signifying +pepper dust. An inferior sort of this vile refuse, or the sweepings of +P. D. is distinguished among venders by the abbreviation of D. P. D. +denoting, dust (dirt) of pepper dust. + +The adulteration of pepper, and the making and selling commodities in +imitation of pepper, are prohibited, under a severe penalty. The +following are the words of the Act:[105] + +"And whereas commodities made in imitation of pepper have of late been +sold and found in the possession of various dealers in pepper, and other +persons in Great Britain; be it therefore enacted, that from and after +the said 5th day of July, 1819, if any commodity or substance shall be +prepared by any person in imitation of pepper, shall be mixed with +pepper, or sold or delivered as and for, or as a substitute for, pepper, +or if any such commodity or substance, alone or mixed, shall be kept for +sale, sold, or delivered, or shall be offered or exposed to sale, or +shall be in the custody or possession of any dealer or seller of pepper, +the same, together with all pepper with which the same shall be mixed, +shall be forfeited, with the packages containing the same, and shall and +may be seized by any officer of excise; and the person preparing, +manufacturing, mixing as aforesaid, selling, exposing to sale, or +delivering the same, or having the same in his, her, or their custody or +possession, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds." + + +WHITE PEPPER. + +The common white pepper is factitious, being prepared from the black +pepper in the following manner:--The pepper is first steeped in sea +water and urine, and then exposed to the heat of the sun for several +days, till the rind or outer bark loosens; it is then taken out of the +steep, and, when dry, it is rubbed with the hand till the rind falls +off. The white fruit is then dried, and the remains of the rind blown +away like chaff. A great deal of the peculiar flavour and pungent hot +taste of the pepper is taken off by this process. White pepper is always +inferior in flavour and quality to the black pepper. + +However, there is a sort of native white pepper, produced on a species +of the pepper plant, which is much better than the factitious, and +indeed little inferior to the common black pepper. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[104] Thomson's Annals of Chemistry, 1816; also Repository of Arts, vol. +i. 1816, p. 11. + +[105] George III. c. 53, § 21, 1819. + + + + +_Poisonous Cayenne Pepper._ + + +Cayenne pepper is an indiscriminate mixture of the powder of the dried +pods of many species of capsicum, but especially of the capsicum +frutescens, or bird pepper, which is the hottest of all. + +This annual plant, a native of South America, is cultivated in large +quantities in our West-India islands, and even frequently in our +gardens, for the beauty of its pods, which are long, pointed, and +pendulous, at first of a green colour, and, when ripe, of a bright +orange red. They are filled with a dry loose pulp, and contain many +small, flat, kidney-shaped seeds. The taste of capsicum is extremely +pungent and acrimonious, setting the mouth, as it were, on fire. + +The principle on which its pungency depends, is soluble in water and in +alcohol. + +It is sometimes adulterated with red lead, to prevent it becoming +bleached on exposure to light. This fraud may be readily detected by +shaking up part of it in a stopped vial containing water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which will cause it speedily to assume a +dark muddy black colour. Or the vegetable matter of the pepper may be +destroyed, by throwing a mixture of one part of the suspected pepper and +three of nitrate of potash (or two of chlorate of potash) into a red-hot +crucible, in small quantities at a time. The mass left behind may then +be digested in weak nitric acid, and the solution assayed for lead by +water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. + + + + +_Poisonous Pickles._ + + +Vegetable substances, preserved in the state called pickles, by means of +the antiseptic power of vinegar, whose sale frequently depends greatly +upon a fine lively green colour; and the consumption of which, by +sea-faring people in particular, is prodigious, are sometimes +intentionally coloured by means of copper. Gerkins, French beans, +samphires, the green pods of capsicum, and many other pickled vegetable +substances, oftener than is perhaps expected, are met with impregnated +with this metal. Numerous fatal consequences are known to have ensued +from the use of these stimulants of the palate, to which the fresh and +pleasing hue has been imparted according to the deadly _formulæ_ laid +down in some modern cookery books, such as boiling the pickles with +half-pence, or suffering them to stand for a considerable period in +brazen vessels. + +Dr. Percival[106] has given an account of "a young lady who amused +herself, while her hair was dressing, with eating samphire pickles +impregnated with copper. She soon complained of pain in the stomach; +and, in five days, vomiting commenced, which was incessant for two days. +After this, her stomach became prodigiously distended; and, in nine days +after eating the pickles, death relieved her from her suffering." + +Among many recipes which modern authors of cookery books have given for +imparting a green colour to pickles, the following are particularly +deserving of censure; and it is to be hoped that they will be suppressed +in future editions of the works. + +"_To Pickle Gerkins._[107]--"Boil the vinegar in a bell-metal or copper +pot; pour it boiling hot on your cucumbers." + +"_To make greening._[108]--"Take a bit of verdigris, the bigness of a +hazel-nut, finely powdered; half-a-pint of distilled vinegar, and a bit +of alum powder, with a little bay salt. Put all in a bottle, shake it, +and let it stand till clear. Put a small tea-spoonful into codlings, or +whatever you wish to green." + +Mrs. E. Raffald[109] directs, "to render pickles green, boil them with +halfpence, or allow them to stand for twenty-four hours in copper or +brass pans." + +To detect the presence of copper, it is only necessary to mince the +pickles, and to pour liquid ammonia, diluted with an equal bulk of +water, over them in a stopped phial: if the pickles contain the minutest +quantity of copper, the ammonia assumes a blue colour. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[106] Medical Transactions, vol. iv. p. 80. + +[107] The Ladies' Library, vol. ii. p. 203. + +[108] Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife--2d edition, p. 94. + +[109] The English Housekeeper, p. 352, 354. + + + + +_Adulteration of Vinegar._ + + +Vinegar, as prepared in this country, from malt, should be of a pale +brown colour, perfectly transparent, of a pleasant, somewhat pungent, +acid taste, and fragrant odour, but without any acrimony. From the +mucilaginous impurities which malt vinegar always contains, it is apt, +on exposure to air, to become turbid and ropy, and at last vapid. The +inconvenience is best obviated by keeping the vinegar in bottles +completely filled and well corked; and it is of advantage to boil it in +the bottles a few minutes before they are corked. + +Vinegar is sometimes largely adulterated with sulphuric acid, to give it +more acidity. The presence of this acid is detected, if, on the addition +of a solution of acetate of barytes, a white precipitate is formed, +which is insoluble in nitric acid, after having been made red-hot in the +fire. (See p. 159.) With the same intention, of making the vinegar +appear stronger, different acrid vegetable substances are infused in it. +This fraud is difficult of detection; but when tasted with attention, +the pungency of such vinegar will be found to depend rather on acrimony +than acidity. + +Distilled vinegar, which is employed for various purposes of domestic +economy, is frequently distilled, not in glass, as it ought to be, but +in common stills with a pewter pipe, whence it cannot fail to acquire a +metallic impregnation. + +One ounce, by measure, should dissolve at least thirteen grains of white +marble. + +It should not form a precipitate on the addition of a solution of +acetate of barytes, or of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen. +The former circumstance shews, that it is adulterated with sulphuric +acid; and the latter indicates a metal. + +The metallic impregnation is best rendered obvious by sulphuretted +hydrogen, in the manner stated, page 69. The distilled vinegar of +commerce usually contains tin, and not lead, as has been asserted. + + + + +_Adulteration of Cream._ + + +Cream is often adulterated with rice powder or arrow root. The former is +frequently employed for that purpose by pastry cooks, in fabricating +creams and custards, for tarts, and other kinds of pastry. The latter is +often used in the London dairies. Arrow-root is preferable to rice +powder; for, when converted with milk into a thick mucilage by a gentle +ebullition, it imparts to cream, previously diluted with milk, a +consistence and apparent richness, by no means unpalatable, without +materially impairing the taste of the cream. + +The arrow-root powder is mixed up with a small quantity of cold skimmed +milk into a perfect, smooth, uniform mixture; more milk is then added, +and the whole boiled for a few minutes, to effect the solution of the +arrow-root: this compound, when perfectly cold, is mixed up with the +cream. From 220 to 260 grains, (or three large tea-spoonfuls) of +arrow root are added to one pint of milk; and one part of this solution +is mixed with three of cream. It is scarcely necessary to state that +this sophistication is innocuous. + +The fraud may be detected by adding to a tea-spoonful of the +sophisticated cream a few drops of a solution of iodine in spirit of +wine, which instantly produces with it a dark blue colour. Genuine cream +acquires, by the addition of this test, a faint yellow tinge. + + + + +_Poisonous Confectionery._ + + +In the preparation of sugar plums, comfits, and other kinds of +confectionery, especially those sweetmeats of inferior quality, +frequently exposed to sale in the open streets, for the allurement of +children, the grossest abuses are committed. The white comfits, called +sugar pease, are chiefly composed of a mixture of sugar, starch, and +Cornish clay (a species of very white pipe-clay;) and the red sugar +drops are usually coloured with the inferior kind of vermilion. The +pigment is generally adulterated with red lead. Other kinds of +sweetmeats are sometimes rendered poisonous by being coloured with +preparations of copper. The following account of Mr. Miles[110] may be +advanced in proof of this statement. + +"Some time ago, while residing in the house of a confectioner, I +noticed the colouring of the green fancy sweetmeats being done by +dissolving sap-green in brandy. Now sap-green itself, as prepared from +the juice of the buckthorn berries, is no doubt a harmless substance; +but the manufacturers of this colour have for many years past produced +various tints, some extremely bright, which there can be no doubt are +effected by adding preparations of copper. + +"The sweetmeats which accompany these lines you will find exhibit +vestiges of being contaminated with copper.--The practice of colouring +these articles of confectionery should, therefore, be banished: the +proprietors of which are not aware of the deleterious quality of the +substances employed by them." + +The foreign conserves, such as small green limes, citrons, hop-tops, +plums, angelica roots, &c. imported into this country, and usually sold +in round chip boxes, are frequently impregnated with copper. + +The adulteration of confitures by means of clay, may be detected by +simply dissolving the comfits in a large quantity of boiling water. The +clay, after suffering the mixture to stand undisturbed for a few days, +will fall to the bottom of the vessel; and on decanting the clear fluid, +and suffering the sediment to become dry gradually, it may be obtained +in a separate state. If the adulteration has been effected by means of +clay, the obtained precipitate, on exposure to a red heat in the bowl of +a common tobacco-pipe, acquires a brick hardness. + +The presence of copper may be detected by pouring over the comfits +liquid ammonia, which speedily acquires a blue colour, if this metal be +present. The presence of lead is rendered obvious by water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with muriatic acid (see p. 69,) +which assumes a dark brown or black colour, if lead be present. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[110] Philosoph. Mag. No. 258, vol. 54. 1819, p. 317. + + + + +_Poisonous Catsup._ + + +This article is very often subjected to one of the most reprehensible +modes of adulteration ever devised. Quantities are daily to be met with, +which, on a chemical examination, are found to abound with copper. +Indeed, this condiment is often nothing else than the residue left +behind after the process employed for obtaining distilled vinegar, +subsequently diluted with a decoction of the outer green husk of the +walnut, and seasoned with all-spice, Cayenne pepper, pimento, onions, +and common salt. + +The quantity of copper which we have, more than once, detected in this +sauce, used for seasoning, and which, on account of its cheapness, is +much resorted to by people in the lower walks of life, has exceeded the +proportion of lead to be met with in other articles employed in domestic +economy. + +The following account of Mr. Lewis[111] on this subject, will be +sufficient to cause the public to be on their guard. + +"Being in the habit of frequently purchasing large quantities of pickles +and other culinary sauces, for the use of my establishment, and also for +foreign trade, it fell lately to my lot to purchase from a manufacturer +of those commodities a quantity of walnut catsup, apparently of an +excellent quality; but, to my great surprise, I had reason to believe +that the article might be contaminated with some deleterious substance, +from circumstances which happened in my business as a tavern keeper, but +which are unnecessary to be detailed here; and it was this that induced +me to make inquiry concerning the compounding of the suspected articles. + +"The catsup being prepared by boiling in a copper, as is usually +practised, the outer green shell of walnuts, after having been suffered +to turn black on exposure to air, in combination with common salt, with +a portion of pimento and pepper-dust, in common vinegar, strengthened +with some vinegar extract, left behind as residue in the still of +vinegar manufacturers; I therefore suspected that the catsup might be +impregnated with some copper. To convince myself of this opinion. I +boiled down to dryness a quart of it in a stone pipkin, which yielded +to me a dark brown mass. I put this mass into a crucible, and kept it in +a coal fire, red-hot, till it became reduced to a porous black charcoal; +on urging the heat with a pair of bellows, and stirring the mass in the +crucible with the stem of a tobacco-pipe, it became, after two hours' +exposure to an intense heat, converted into a greyish-white ash; but no +metal could be discriminated amongst it. I now poured upon it some aqua +fortis, which dissolved nearly the whole of it, with an effervescence; +and produced, after having been suffered to stand, to let the insoluble +portion subside, a bright grass-green solution, of a strong metallic +taste; after immersing into this solution the blade of a knife, it +became instantly covered with a bright coat of copper. + +"The walnut catsup was therefore evidently strongly impregnated with +copper. On informing the manufacturer of this fact, he assured me that +the same method of preparing the liquor was generally pursued, and that +he had manufactured the article in a like manner for upwards of twenty +years. + +"Such is the statement I wish to communicate; and if you will allow it a +place in your Literary Chronicle, it may perhaps tend to put the unwary +on their guard against the practice of preparing this sauce by boiling +it in a copper, which certainly may contaminate the liquor, and render +it poisonous." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[111] Literary Chronicle, No. 24, p. 379. + + + + +_Poisonous Custard._ + + +The leaves of the cherry laurel, _prunus lauro-cerasus_, a poisonous +plant, have a nutty flavour, resembling that of the kernels of +peach-stones, or of bitter almonds, which to most palates is grateful. +These leaves have for many years been in use among cooks, to communicate +an almond or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams, +_blanc-mange_, and other delicacies of the table. + +It has been asserted, that the laurel poison in custards and other +articles of cookery is, on account of its being used in very small +quantities, quite harmless. To refute this assertion, numerous instances +might be cited; and, among them, a recent one, in which four children +suffered most severely from partaking of custard flavoured with the +leaves of this poisonous plant. + +"Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Richmond, +having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves of the cherry +laurel, as is frequently practised by cooks, four of the poor innocents +were taken severely ill in consequence. Two of them, a girl six years of +age, and a boy of five years old, fell into a profound sleep, out of +which they could not be roused. + +"Notwithstanding the various medical exertions used, the boy remained in +a stupor ten hours; and the girl nine hours; the other two, one of which +was six years old, a girl, and a girl of seven years, complained of +severe pains in the epigastric region. They all recovered, after three +days' illness. I am anxious to communicate to you this fact, being +convinced that your publication is read at all the scholastic +establishments in this part of the country. I hope you will allow these +lines a corner in your Literary Chronicle, where they may contribute to +put the unwary on their guard, against the deleterious effects of +flavouring culinary dishes with that baneful herb, the Cherry Laurel. + +"I am, with respect, your's, Sir, + "THOMAS LIDIARD."[112] + +What person of sense or prudence, then, would trust to the discretion of +an ignorant cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingredient in his puddings +and creams? Who but a maniac would choose to season his victuals with +poison? + +The water distilled from cherry laurel leaves is frequently mixed with +brandy and other spiritous liquors, to impart to them the flavour of the +cordial called _noyeau_, (see also page 195.) + +This fluid, though long in frequent use as a flavouring substance, was +not known to be poisonous until the year 1728; when the sudden death of +two women, in Dublin, after drinking some of the common distilled cherry +laurel water, demonstrated its deleterious nature. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[112] Literary Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348.--1819. + + + + +_Poisonous Anchovy Sauce._ + + +Several samples which we have examined of this fish sauce have been +found contaminated with lead. + +The mode of preparation of this fish sauce, consists in rubbing down the +broken anchovy in a mortar: and this triturated mass, being of a dark +brown colour, receives, without much risk of detection, a certain +quantity of Venetian red, added for the purpose of colouring it, which, +if genuine, is an innocent colouring substance; but instances have +occurred of this pigment having been adulterated with orange lead, which +is nothing else than a better kind of minium, or red oxide of lead. The +fraud may be detected, as stated p. 229. + +The conscientious oilmen, less anxious with respect to colour, +substitute for this poison the more harmless pigment, called Armenian +bole. + +The following recipe for making this fish sauce is copied from Gray's +Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, p. 241. + +"Anchovies, 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. and a half; pulp through a fine hair sieve; +boil the bones with common salt, 7 oz. in water 6 lbs.; strain; add +flour 7 oz. and the pulp of the fish; boil; pass the whole through the +sieve; colour with Venetian red to your fancy. It should produce one +gallon." + + + + +_Adulteration of Lozenges._ + + +Lozenges, particularly those into the composition of which substances +enter that are not soluble in water, as ginger, cremor tartar, magnesia, +&c., are often sophisticated. The adulterating ingredient is usually +pipe-clay, of which a liberal portion is substituted for sugar. The +following detection of this fraud was lately made by Dr. T. Lloyd.[113] + +"Some ginger lozenges having lately fallen into my hands, I was not a +little surprised to observe, accidentally, that when thrown into a coal +fire, they suffered but little change. If one of the lozenges was laid +on a shovel, previously made red-hot, it speedily took fire; but, +instead of burning with a blaze and becoming converted into a charcoal, +it took fire, and burnt with a feeble flame for scarcely half a minute, +and there remained behind a stony hard substance, retaining the form of +the lozenge. This unexpected result led me to examine these lozenges, +which were bought at a respectable chemist's shop in the city; and I +soon became convinced, that, in the preparation of them, a considerable +quantity of common pipe-clay had been substituted for sugar. On making a +complaint about this fraud at the shop where the article was sold, I was +informed that there were two kinds of ginger lozenges kept for sale, the +one at three-pence the ounce, and the other at six-pence per ounce; and +that the article furnished to me by mistake was the cheaper commodity: +the latter were distinguished by the epithet _verum_, they being +composed of sugar and ginger only; but the former were manufactured +partly of white Cornish clay, with a portion of sugar only, with ginger +and Guinea pepper. I was likewise informed, that of Tolu lozenges, +peppermint lozenges and ginger pearls, and several other sorts of +lozenges, two kinds were kept; that the _reduced_ articles, as they were +called, were manufactured for those very clever persons in their own +conceit, who are fond of haggling, and insist on buying better bargains +than other people, shutting their eyes to the defects of an article, so +that they can enjoy the delight of getting it cheap; and, secondly for +those persons, who being but bad paymasters, yet, as the manufacturer, +for his own credit's sake, cannot charge more than the usual price of +the articles, he thinks himself therefore authorised to adulterate it in +value, to make up for the risk he runs, and the long credit he must +give." + +The comfits called ginger pearls, are frequently adulterated with clay. +These frauds may be detected in the manner stated, page 225. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[113] Literary Gazette, No. 146. + + + + +_Poisonous Olive Oil._ + + +This commodity is sometimes contaminated with lead, because the fruit +which yields the oil is submitted to the action of the press between +leaden plates; and it is, moreover, a practice (particularly in Spain) +to suffer the oil to become clear in leaden cisterns, before it is +brought to market for sale. The French and Italian olive oil is usually +free from this impregnation. + +Olive oil is sometimes mixed with oil of poppy seeds: but, by exposing +the mixture to the freezing temperature, the olive oil freezes, while +that of the poppy seeds remains fluid; and as oils which freeze with +most difficulty are most apt to become rancid, olive oil is deteriorated +by the mixture of poppy oil. + +Good olive oil should have a pale yellow colour, somewhat inclining to +green; a bland taste, without smell; and should congeal at 38° +Fahrenheit. In this country, it is frequently met with rancid. + +The presence of lead is detected by shaking, in a stopped vial, one part +of the suspected oil, with two or three parts of water impregnated with +sulphuretted hydrogen. This agent will render the oil of a dark brown or +black colour, if any metal, deleterious to health, be present. The +practice of keeping this oil in pewter or leaden cisterns, as is often +the case, is objectionable; because the oil acts upon the metal. The +dealers in this commodity assert, that it prevents the oil from becoming +rancid: and hence some retailers often suffer a pewter measure to remain +immersed in the oil. + + + + +_Adulteration of Mustard._ + + +Genuine mustard, either in powder, or in the state of a paste ready for +use, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops. The article sold +under the name of _genuine Durham mustard_, is usually a mixture of +mustard and common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cayenne pepper, and +a large quantity of bay salt, made with water into a paste, ready for +use. Some manufacturers adulterate their mustard with radish-seed and +pease flour. + +It has often been stated, that a fine yellow colour is given to mustard +by means of turmeric. We doubt the truth of this assertion. The presence +of the minutest quantity of turmeric may instantly be detected, by +adding to the mustard a few drops of a solution of potash, or any other +alkali, which changes the bright yellow colour, to a brown or deep +orange tint. + +Two ounces and a half of Cayenne pepper, 1-1/2 lbs. of bay salt, 8 lbs. +of mustard flour, and 1-1/2 lbs. of wheaten flour, made into a stiff +paste, with the requisite quantity of water, in which the bay-salt is +previously dissolved, forms the so-called _genuine Durham mustard_, sold +in pots. The salt and Cayenne pepper contribute materially to the +keeping of ready-made mustard. + +There is therefore nothing deleterious in the usual practice of +adulterating this commodity of the table. The fraud only tends to +deteriorate the quality and flavour of the genuine article itself. + + + + +_Adulteration of Lemon Acid._ + + +It is well known to every one, that the expressed juice of lemons is +extremely apt to spoil, on account of the sugar, mucilage, and +extractive matter which it contains; and hence various means have been +practised, with the intention of rendering it less perishable, and less +bulky. The juice has been evaporated to the consistence of rob; but this +always gives an unpleasant empyreumatic taste, and does not separate the +foreign matters, so that it is still apt to spoil when agitated on board +of ship in tropical climates. It has been exposed to frost, and part of +the water removed under the form of ice; but this is liable to all the +former objections; and, besides, where lemons are produced in sufficient +quantity, there is not a sufficient degree of cold. The addition of a +portion of spirit to the inspissated juice, separates the mucilage, but +not the extractive matter and the sugar. By means, however, of +separating the foreign matters associated with it, in the juice, by +chemical processes unnecessary to be detailed here, citric acid is now +manufactured, perfectly pure, and in a crystallised form, and is sold +under the name of concrete lemon acid. In this state it is extremely +convenient, both for domestic and medicinal purposes. One drachm, when +dissolved in one ounce of water, is equal in strength to a like bulk of +fresh lemon juice. To communicate the lemon flavour, it is only +necessary to rub a lump of sugar on the rind of a lemon to become +impregnated with a portion of the essential oil of the fruit, and to add +the sugar to the lemonade, negus, punch, shrub, jellies or culinary +sauces, prepared with the pure citric acid. + +Fraudulent dealers often substitute the cheaper tartareous acid, for +citric acid. The negus and lemonade made by the pastry-cooks, and the +liquor called punch, sold at taverns in this metropolis, is usually made +with tartareous acid. + +To discriminate citric acid from tartareous acid, it is only necessary +to add a concentrated solution of the suspected acid, to a concentrated +solution of muriate of potash, taking care that the solution of the acid +is in excess. If a precipitate ensues, the fraud is obvious, because +citric acid does not produce a precipitate with a solution of muriate +or potash. + +Or, by adding to a saturated solution of tartrate of potash, a saturated +solution of the suspected acid, in excess, which produces with it an +almost insoluble precipitate in minute granular crystals. Pure citric +acid produces no such effect when added in excess to tartrate of +potash. + + + + +_Poisonous Mushrooms._ + + +Mushrooms have been long used in sauces and other culinary preparations; +yet there are numerous instances on record of the deleterious effects of +some species of these _fungi_, almost all of which are fraught with +poison.[114] Pliny already exclaims against the luxury of his countrymen +in this article, and wonders what extraordinary pleasure there can be in +eating such dangerous food.[115] + +But if the palate must be indulged with these treacherous luxuries, or, +as Seneca calls them, "voluptuous poison,"[116] it is highly necessary +that the mild eatable mushrooms, should be gathered by persons skilful +enough to distinguish the good from the false, or poisonous, which is +not always the case; nor are the characters which distinguish them +strongly marked. + +The following statement is published by Mr. Glen, surgeon, of +Knightsbridge: + +"A poor man, residing in Knightsbridge, took a walk in Hyde Park, with +the intention of gathering some mushrooms. He collected a considerable +number, and, after stewing them, began to eat them. He had finished the +whole, with the exception of about six or eight, when, about eight or +ten minutes from the commencement of his meal, he was suddenly seized +with a dimness, or mist before his eyes, a giddiness of the head, with a +general trembling and sudden loss of power;--so much so, that he nearly +fell off the chair; to this succeeded loss of recollection: he forgot +where he was, and all the circumstances of his case. This deprivation +soon went off, and he so far rallied as to be able, though with +difficulty, to get up, with the intention of going to Mr. Glen for +assistance--a distance of about five hundred yards: he had not proceeded +more than half way, when his memory again failed him; he lost his road, +although previously well acquainted with it. He was met by a friend, who +with difficulty learned his state, and conducted him to Mr. Glen's +house. His countenance betrayed great anxiety: he reeled about, like a +drunken man, and was greatly inclined to sleep; his pulse was low and +feeble. Mr. Glen immediately gave him an emetic draught. The poison had +so diminished the sensibility of the stomach, that vomiting did not take +place for near twenty minutes, although another draught had been +exhibited. During this interval his drowsiness increased to such a +degree, that he was only kept awake by obliging him to walk round the +room with assistance; he also, at this time, complained of distressing +pains in the calves of his legs.--Full vomiting was at length produced. +After the operation of the emetic, he expressed himself generally +better, but still continued drowsy. In the evening Mr. Glen found him +doing well." + +The following case is recorded in the Medical Transactions, vol. ii. + +"A middle-aged man having gathered what he called champignons, they were +stewed, and eaten by himself and his wife; their child also, about four +years old, ate a little of them, and the sippets of bread which were put +into the liquor. Within five minutes after eating them, the man began to +stare in an unusual manner, and was unable to shut his eyes. All +objects appeared to him coloured with a variety of colours. He felt a +palpitation in what he called his stomach; and was so giddy, that he +could hardly stand. He seemed to himself swelled all over his body. He +hardly knew what he did or said; and sometimes was unable to speak at +all. These symptoms continued in a greater or less degree for +twenty-four hours; after which, he felt little or no disorder. Soon +after he perceived himself ill, one scruple of white vitriol was given +him, and repeated two or three times, with which he vomited plentifully. + +"The woman, aged thirty-nine, felt all the same symptoms, but in a +higher degree. She totally lost her voice and her senses, and was either +stupid, or so furious that it was necessary she should be held. The +white vitriol was offered to her, of which she was capable of taking but +very little; however, after four or five hours, she was much recovered: +but she continued many days far from being well, and from enjoying her +former health and strength. She frequently fainted for the first week +after; and there was, during a month longer, an uneasy sense of heat and +weight in her breast, stomach, and bowels, with great flatulence. Her +head was, at first waking, much confused; and she often experienced +palpitations, tremblings, and other hysteric affections, to all which +she had ever before been a stranger. + +"The child had some convulsive agitations of his arms, but was otherwise +little affected. He was capable of taking half a scruple of ipecacuanha, +with which he vomited, and was soon perfectly recovered." + + +MUSHROOM CATSUP. + +The edible mushroom is the basis of the sauce called mushroom catsup; a +great proportion of which is prepared by gardeners who grow the fungi. +The mushrooms employed for preparing this sauce are generally those +which are in a putrefactive state, and not having found a ready sale in +the market; for no vegetable substance is liable to so rapid a +spontaneous decomposition as mushrooms. In a few days after the fungus +has been removed from the dung-bed on which it grows, it becomes the +habitation of myriads of insects; and, if even the saleable mushroom be +attentively examined, it will frequently be found to swarm with life. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[114] Fungi plerique veneno turgent. Linn. Amæn. Acad. + +[115] Quæ voluptas tanta ancipitis cibi?--Plin. Nat. Hist. xxii. 23. + +[116] Sen. Ep. 95. + + + + +_Poisonous Soda Water._ + + +The beverage called soda water is frequently contaminated both with +copper and lead; these metals being largely employed in the construction +of the apparatus for preparing the carbonated water,[117] and the great +excess of carbonic acid which the water contains, particularly enables +it to act strongly on the metallic substances of the apparatus; a truth, +of which the reader will find no difficulty in convincing himself, by +suffering a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas to pass through the +water.--See p. 70. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[117] Some manufacturers have been hence induced to construct the +apparatus for manufacturing soda water wholly either of earthenware or +of glass. Mr. Johnston, of Greek Street, Soho, was the first who pointed +out to the public the absolute necessity of this precaution. + + + + +_Food poisoned by Copper Vessels._ + + +Many kinds of viands are frequently impregnated with copper, in +consequence of the employment of cooking utensils made of that metal. By +the use of such vessels in dressing food, we are daily liable to be +poisoned; as almost all acid vegetables, as well as sebaceous or pinguid +substances, employed in culinary preparations, act upon copper, and +dissolve a portion of it; and too many examples are met with of fatal +consequences having ensued from eating food which had been dressed in +copper vessels not well cleaned from the oxide of copper which they had +contracted by being exposed to the action of air and moisture. + +The inexcusable negligence of persons who make use of copper vessels has +been productive of mortality, so much more terrible, as they have +exerted their action on a great number of persons at once. The annals of +medicine furnish too many examples in support of this assertion, to +render it necessary to insist more upon it here. + +Mr. Thiery, who wrote a thesis on the noxious quality of copper, +observes, that "our food receives its quantity of poison in the kitchen +by the use of copper pans and dishes. The brewer mingles poison in our +beer, by boiling it in copper vessels. The sugar-baker employs copper +pans; the pastry-cook bakes our tarts in copper moulds; the confectioner +uses copper vessels: the oilman boils his pickles in copper or brass +vessels, and verdigris is plentifully formed by the action of the +vinegar upon the metal. + +"Though, after all, a single dose be not mortal, yet a quantity of +poison, however small, when taken at every meal, must produce more fatal +effects than are generally apprehended; and different constitutions are +differently affected by minute quantities of substances that act +powerfully on the system." + +The author of a tract, entitled, "Serious Reflections on the Dangers +attending the Use of Copper Vessels," asserts that a numerous and +frightful train of diseases is occasioned by the poisonous effects of +pernicious matter received into the stomach insensibly with our +victuals. + +Dr. Johnston[118] gives an account of the melancholy catastrophe of +three men being poisoned, after excruciating sufferings, in consequence +of eating food cooked in an unclean copper vessel, on board the Cyclops +frigate; and, besides these, thirty-three men became ill from the same +cause. + +The following case[119] is related by Sir George Baker, M. D. + +"Some cyder, which had been made in a gentleman's family, being thought +too sour, was boiled with honey in a brewing vessel, the rim of which +was capped with lead. All who drank this liquor were seized with a bowel +colic, more or less violently. One of the servants died very soon in +convulsions; several others were cruelly tortured a long time. The +master of the family, in particular, notwithstanding all the assistance +which art could give him, never recovered his health; but died +miserably, after having almost three years languished under a most +tedious and incurable malady." + +Too much care and attention cannot be taken in preserving all culinary +utensils of copper, in a state unexceptionably fit for their destined +purpose. They should be frequently tinned, and kept thoroughly clean, +nor should any food ever be suffered to remain in them for a longer time +than is absolutely necessary to their preparation for the table. But the +sure preventive of its pernicious effect, is, to banish copper utensils +from the kitchen altogether. + +The following wholesome advice on this subject is given to cooks by the +author of an excellent cookery book.[120] + +"Stew-pans and soup-kettles should be examined every time they are used; +these, and their covers, must be kept perfectly clean and well tinned, +not only on the inside, but about a couple of inches on the outside; so +much mischief arises from their getting out of repair; and, if not kept +nicely tinned, all your work will be in vain; the broths and soups will +look green and dirty, and taste bitter and poisonous, and will be +spoiled both for the eye and palate, and your credit will be lost; and +as the health, and even the life, of the family depends upon this; the +cook may be sure her employer had rather pay the tin-man's bill than +the doctor's." + +The senate of Sweden, in the year 1753, prohibited copper vessels, and +ordered that none but such as were made of iron should be used in their +fleet and armies. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[118] Johnston's Essay on Poison, p. 102. + +[119] Medical Transactions, vol. i. p. 213. + +[120] Apicius Redivivus, p. 91. + + + + +_Food Poisoned by Leaden Vessels._ + + +Various kinds of food used in domestic economy, are liable to become +impregnated with lead. + +The glazing of the common cream-coloured earthen ware, which is composed +of an oxide of lead, readily yields to the action of vinegar and saline +compounds; and therefore jars and pots of this kind of stone ware, are +wholly unfit to contain jellies of fruits, marmalade, and similar +conserves. Pickles should in no case be deposited in cream-coloured +glazed earthenware. + +The custom which still prevails in some parts of this country of keeping +milk in leaden vessels for the use of the dairy, is very improper. + +"In Lancashire[121] the dairies are furnished with milk-pans made of +lead: and when Mr. Parks expostulated with some individuals on the +danger of this practice, he was told that _leaden_ milk-pans throw up +the cream much better than vessels of any other kind. + +"In some parts of the north of England it is customary for the +inn-keepers to prepare mint-salad by bruising and grinding the vegetable +in a large wooden bowl with a _ball of lead_ of twelve or fourteen +pounds weight. In this operation the mint is cut, and portions of the +lead are ground off at every revolution of the ponderous instrument. In +the same county, it is a common practice to have brewing-coppers +constructed with the bottom of copper and the whole sides of lead." + +The baking of fruit tarts in cream-coloured earthenware, and the salting +and preserving of meat in leaden pans, are no less objectionable. All +kinds of food which contain free vegetable acids, or saline +preparations, attack utensils covered with a glaze, in the composition +of which lead enters as a component part. The leaden beds of presses for +squeezing the fruit in cyder countries, have produced incalculable +mischief. These consequences never follow, when the lead is combined +with tin; because this metal, being more eager for oxidation, prevents +the solution of the lead. + +When we consider the various unsuspected means by which the poisons of +lead and copper gain admittance into the human body, a very common but +dangerous instance presents itself: namely, the practice of painting +toys, made for the amusement of children, with poisonous substances, +viz. red lead, verdigris, &c. Children are apt to put every thing, +especially what gives them pleasure, into their mouths; the painting of +toys with colouring substances that are poisonous, ought therefore to be +abolished; a practice which lies the more open to censure, as it is of +no real utility. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[121] Park's Chemical Essays, vol. v. p. 193. + + + + +INDEX. + + +A + +Adulteration of anchovy sauce, 234 + beer, 113 + brandy, 187 + bread, 98 + catsup, 227 + cayenne pepper, 215 + cheese, 206 + coffee, 176 + confectionery, 224 + cream, 222 + custard, 231 + gin, 187 + lemon acid, 243 + lozenges, 236 + malt spirits, 197 + mustard, 241 + olive oil, 239 + pepper, 211 + pickles, 217 + porter, 113 + rum, 187 + soda water, 251 + tea, black, 173 + green, 173 + vinegar, 173 + distilled, 221 + wine, 74 + +Age of beer, how fraudulently imitated, 148 + +Alcohol, quantity contained in different kinds of wine, 94 + malt liquors, 126 + spiritous liquors, 205 + +Ale, Burton, quantity of spirit which it contains, 162 + Dorchester, ditto ditto, 162 + Edinburgh, ditto ditto, 162 + Home-brewed ditto ditto, 162 + +Alum, bleaching property in the panification of bread flour, 104 + method of detecting it in bread, 108 + for brightening muddy wines, 74 + clarifying spiritous liquors, 200 + adulterating beer, 134 + +Arrack, imitation of, 196 + Batavia, quantity of alcohol contained in it, 205 + +Arrow root, sophistication of, 29 + + +B + +Bakers, their methods of judging of the goodness of bread flour, 111 + +Beer, adulteration of, 113 + act prohibiting it, 114 + method of detecting it, 158 + with narcotic substances, 150 + with opium, tobacco, &c., 150 + colouring of, act prohibiting it, 123 + heading, composition and use of, 134 + hard, what is meant by it, 148 + fraudulent method of producing it, 148 + half-spoiled, fraudulent practice of recovering it, 149 + illegal substances used for adulterating it, 131 + old, what is meant by it, 144 + quantity of spirit contained in different kinds, 160 + strong, adulteration of with small beer, 140 + act prohibiting it, 140 + how defined by law, 128 + strength of different kinds, 125 + +Bilberries, employed for colouring port wine, 74 + +Bittern, for adulterating beer, 18 + +Black Extract, for adulterating beer, 150 + +Bland, Mr. tragical catastrophe of, 81 + +Bouquet of high-flavoured wines, how produced, 75 + +Brandy, adulteration of, 187 + and method of detecting it, 195 + complexion of, what is meant by it, 195 + +Brandy flavour of, how imitated, 193 + imitative, manufacture of, 194 + method of compounding for retail trade, 195 + quantity contained in different sorts of wine, 94 + of alcohol contained in different kinds of, 205 + legal strength, 190 + how discovered by the Excise, 188 + false strength, 195 + flavour, imitative, how produced, 193 + +Brazil wood, application of for colouring wine, 74 + +Bread, adulteration of with alum, 98 + methods of detecting it, 108 + with potatoes, 105 + goodness of, how estimated in this metropolis, 98 + how rendered white and firm, 99 + corn, method of judging its goodness, 110 + flour, different sorts of from the same kind of grain, 99 + adulteration of with bean flour, 99 + process of making five bushels into bread, 102 + made from new corn, improvement of, 107 + method of judging of goodness, 110 + +Brewers, list of, prosecuted for using illegal substances in their + brewings, 151 + convicted of adulterating their strong beer with table beer, 143 + Druggists, 119 + prosecuted for supplying illegal ingredients to brewers for + adulterating beer, 119 + +Breweries, illegal substances seized at various, 136 + +Brown Stout, quantity of spirit contained in it, 126 + + +C + +Calcavella, quantity of brandy which it contains, 95 + +Carbonate of ammonia, used by fraudulent bakers, 105 + +Catsup, adulteration of, 227 + +Claret, quantity of brandy which it contains, 95 + +Clary, used for flavouring wine, 75 + +Cheese, poisonous, and method of detecting it, 206 + +Chemists, are not permitted to sell illegal ingredients to brewers for + adulterating beer, 118 + list of, convicted of this fraud, 119 + +Cherry-laurel water, dangerous application of for flavouring creams, + &c., 231 + used in the manufacture of spurious wines, 75 + in the manufacture of brandy, 195 + +Citric Acid, adulteration of, 244 + method of detecting, 245 + +Cocculus indicus, nefarious application of in the brewing of beer, 18 + early law prohibiting its application, 115 + brewers prosecuted for using it, 152 + seizures made of at different breweries, 136 + narcotic property of, to what owing, 153 + extract of, application in brewing, 136 + +Coffee, adulteration of, 176 + law in force against it, 177 + grocers lately convicted of selling spurious, 176 + +Confectionery, adulteration of, 224 + methods of detecting it, 225 + +Conserves, contamination of with copper, 226 + should never be deposited in vessels glazed with lead, 257 + +Constantia, quantity of spirit which it contains, 94 + +Copperas, or salt of steel, publicans convicted of mixing it with their + beer, 129 + seizures of, at various breweries, 136 + +Cream, adulteration of, and mode of detecting it, 222 + +Custards, flavoured with cherry laurel leaves, dangerous effects from + it, 231 + +Cyder, melancholy catastrophe of persons drinking such as was + contaminated with lead, 254 + + +E + +Elder-berries are used for colouring port wine, 74 + flowers are used for flavouring insipid white wines, 75 + +Entire beer, origin of its name, 144 + composition of, 146 + +Extract of cocculus indicus is used by fraudulent brewers, 136 + + +F + +False strength, how given to wine and spiritous liquors, 19, 192 + how given to vinegar, 220 + +Flavour of French brandy, how imitated, 194 + +Flour, new, of an indifferent quality, how rendered fit for being made + into good and wholesome bread, 107 + different sorts, from the same kind of grain, 99 + sour, practice of converting it into bread, 105 + +Food, rendered poisonous by copper vessels, 252 + by leaden vessels, 257 + +Frothy head of porter, how artificially produced, 133 + + +G + +Geneva, Dutch, quantity of alcohol which it contains, 205 + +Gin, adulteration of, 187 + quantity of alcohol contained in different sorts, 205 + dangerous method of clarifying, 202 + legal exactment of its saleable strength, 197 + _proof_, what is meant by this term, 188 + strength of, how ascertained by the Excise, 188 + sweetened, fraudulent practice of composing it for sale, 200 + unsweetened, ditto ditto, 200 + false strength, how given, 202 + + +H + +Hermitage, quantity of brandy which it contains, 95 + +Hops, adulteration of, prohibited by law, 132 + its chemical action upon beer, 133 + +Hydrometer, legal, now in use for ascertaining the strength of spiritous + liquors, 187 + +Hyson tea, spurious. See Tea leaves + + +I + +Imitation arrack, 196 + tea. See Tea leaves + coffee. See Coffee + + +L + +Leaden pumps and water reservoirs, dangerous effects to be apprehended + from them, 62 + +Lisbon, quantity of spirit which it contains, 94 + +Lozenges, adulteration of, 236 + +Lemon acid, adulteration of, 243 + method of detecting it, 244 + + +M + +Madeira, quantity of brandy which it contains, 94 + +Malaga, quantity of brandy contained in it, 94 + +Malt, patent, for colouring porter, 123 + disadvantages of, 124 + liquors, dangerous adulteration of, 115 + strength of different kinds. See Porter, 126 + spirits, adulterations of, 197 + characteristic flavour, to what owing, 197 + nefarious practices of compounding them for sale, 199 + false strength, how given, 202 + act restricting the strength of it, 197 + +Meat, salted, should not be preserved in leaden vessels, 258 + +Milk, improper practice of keeping it in leaden vessels, 257 + +Mint salad, pernicious custom of preparing it, 258 + +Multum, a substance employed for adulterating beer, 17 + seizures of, at various breweries, 136 + +Mushroom, poisonous, 246 + Catsup, 250 + +Mustard, adulteration of, 241 + + +O + +Oak-wood saw-dust, is used in the manufacture of spurious port wine, 75 + in the manufacture of spurious brandy, 194 + +Orris-root, is used for flavouring insipid wines, 75 + +Olive oil, contamination of, with lead, and method of detecting it, 239 + + +P + +Pickles, contamination of with copper, 219 + improper vessels for keeping them, 257 + +Pepper, black, adulteration of, 211 + law in force against it, 213 + +Poisonous Cheese, 206 + Cayenne pepper, 215 + catsup, 227 + custard, 231 + olive oil, 239 + mushroom, 246 + pickles, 207 + soda water, 251 + +Porter, origin of its name, 121 + adulteration of with wormwood, 132 + act prohibiting it, 113 + average strength of, as furnished to the publican, 126 + ditto, as sent out by the retailers, 127 + illegal substances for adulterating it, 131 + brewers, convicted of adulterating their porter with illegal + ingredients, 151 + +Porter, frothy head of, how produced, 133 + method of ascertaining the strength of different kinds, 160 + quantity of alcohol contained in London porter, 162 + +Port wine, adulteration of, 74 + +Publicans, prosecuted for adulterating their strong beer with table + beer, 129 + + +Q + +Quassia, fraudulent substitution of, for hops, 131 + disadvantages of its application, 132 + seizures of, at various breweries, 137 + + +R + +Raisin wine, quantity of brandy which it contains, 94 + +Rum, adulteration of, 187 + false strength, how given to it, 202 + is seizable, if sold, unless of a certain strength, 189 + quantity of alcohol contained in it, 205 + + +S + +Soda Water, poisonous, and method of detecting it, 251 + +Spiritous Liquors, adulteration of, 187 + dangerous practice of fining them with noxious ingredients, 202 + quantity of alcohol contained in different kinds, 205 + +Sweetmeats, adulteration of, 224 + +Sweet-brier, use of it for flavouring wines, 75 + + +T + +Tarts of fruits, should not be baked in earthenware vessels glazed with + lead, 258 + +Tea leaves, adulteration of, 171 + method of detecting it, 171 + law in force against it, 163 + poisonous sophistication of, 173 + method of detecting it, 174 + coloring of, with verdigris, 168 + black, spurious, process of manufacturing it, 168 + green, imitation of, 169 + +Tea dealers, convicted for selling adulterated tea, 169 + +Toys, improper practice of painting them with poisonous colours, 259 + + +V + +Vidonia, quantity of brandy contained in it, 95 + +Vin de Grave, ditto ditto, 95 + +Vinegar, adulteration of, and method of detecting it, 220 + distilled, and method of ascertaining its strength, 221 + + +W + +Water, characters of good, 37 + chemical constitution of those used in domestic economy and the + arts, 33 + danger of keeping it in leaden reservoirs, 60 + hard, how softened and rendered fit for washing, 39 + New River, constitution of, 38, 45 + substances contained in potable, 48 + how detected, 50 + substances usually contained in spring, 42 + taste and salubrious quality, to what owing, 33 + Thames, constitution of, 46, 48 + +Wine, adulteration of with alum, 74 + British port, 77 + champaigne, 77 + bottles, improper practice of cleaning them, 85 + bottle corks, practice of staining them red, 79 + +Wine doctors, 80 + quantity of alcohol contained in various kinds, 94, 95 + dangerous practice of fining them, 83 + to prevent them turning sour, 84 + art of flavouring them, 75 + home-made, chemical constitution of, 96 + improvement from age, to what owing, 91 + Southampton port, 78 + strength of, on what it depends, 92 + specific differences of different kinds, to what owing, 89 + test, 86 + white, manufacture of, from red grapes, 90 + +Whiskey, Irish, flavour, to what owing, 197 + strength of, 205 + Scotch, ditto, 205 + +Wormwood, substitution of, for hops, 132 + + +THE END. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +Greek words in this text have been transliterated +and placed between +marks+. + +The word "Pharmacopoeias" used an "oe" ligature in the original. + +Unusual spellings, variations in spellings, and variations in +hyphenation have been left as in the original. Examples include: + + inpregnating + transparant + coculus/cocculus + inconscious + orris/oris root + +The following corrections have been made to the text: + + page iii--comma added after "beer" in "beer, pepper, and other + articles of diet" + + page x--changed period to comma after "Ale" in "Method of + ascertaining the Quantity of Spirit contained in Porter, Ale, &c." + + page 61--changed "where" to "were" in "When men were unable to + detect the poisonous matters" + + page 62--corrected spelling of "snd" to "and" in "by Hyppocrates, + Galen, and Vitruvius" + + page 78--added "t" to "yeas" and added period at end of "before it + is cold, add some yeast and ferment." + + page 98--corrected spelling of "indipensable" to "indispensable" in + "degree of whiteness rendered indispensable by the caprice of the + consumers" + + page 104--changed comma to period after "sufficient for a sack of + flour" + + page 113--changed comma to period after "made of these ingredients + only, are entirely deceived" + + page 120--corrected "Authur" to "Arthur" in "Arthur Waller" and + corrected "Dun" to "Dunn" in "John Dunn" + + page 126--added period after "Co" in "Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and + Co" + + page 129--added period after "l" in "strong beer, 20l" + + page 130--added comma after "Harbur" in "John Harbur, for using + salt of steel" + + page 140--added ending quote mark after "of them from brewers' + druggists, within these two years past." + + page 149--changed comma to period after "resorted to only by + fraudulent brewers" + + page 152--changed semi-colon after "Stephens" in "Septimus + Stephens, brewer" + + page 154--corrected spelling of "apolexy" to "apoplexy" in + "drinkers are very liable to apoplexy" + + page 169--corrected spelling of "Malin's" to "Malins'" in "Malins' + coffee-roasting premises" + + page 185--corrected spelling of "find" to "fined" in "were fined + 20l. each" + + page 202--added the word "on" in "as stated on pages 70 and 86" + + page 210--corrected spelling of "annotta" to "anotta" in "who + adulterated the anotta" + + page 222--added hyphen in "arrow-root" + + page 223--added hyphen in "tea-spoonful" and corrected spelling of + "jodine" to "iodine" in "few drops of a solution of iodine" + + page 227--added "s" at end of "Mr. Lewi " + + page 231--corrected spelling of "cookry" to "cookery" in "articles + of cookery" + + page 245--corrected spelling of "glanular" to "granular" in + "insoluble precipitate in minute granular crystals" + + Footnote 46--added period after "p" in "3d edit. p. 270" + + Footnote 87--added missing end quote after "with copperas and + sheep's dung." and removed extraneous period after "48" in "Plant, + p. 48;" + + Footnote 115--corrected spelling of "Qvæ" to "Quæ" in "Quæ voluptas + tanta ancipitis cibi?" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, +and Culinary Poisons, by Fredrick Accum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON ADULTERATIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 19031-8.txt or 19031-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/0/3/19031/ + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19031-8.zip b/19031-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a85bc8c --- /dev/null +++ b/19031-8.zip diff --git a/19031-h.zip b/19031-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b23488 --- /dev/null +++ b/19031-h.zip diff --git a/19031-h/19031-h.htm b/19031-h/19031-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4f786d --- /dev/null +++ b/19031-h/19031-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7516 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Treatise On Adulterations Of Food, And Culinary Poisons, by Fredrick Accum. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + body{ margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + ul { list-style-type: none; /* list with no symbol */ } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + + a { text-decoration: none } /*turns off link underline*/ + + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + table.left {margin-left: 10%} + + td.tdright {text-align:right} /* data right-aligned */ + td.tdleft {text-align:left} /* data left-aligned */ + td.tdcenter {text-align:center} /* data centered */ + td.tdindent {padding-left: 2em;} /* data indented a bit for a subitem */ + td.tdmedindent {padding-left: 5em;} + + li.subitem { margin-left: 1em; } + li.sub2 { margin-left: 2em; } + li.sub3 { margin-left: 3em; } + + hr.minor { width: 30%; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em; } + hr.minspaced { width: 30%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; } + + ins.correction { text-decoration: none; border-bottom: thin dotted red; } + ins.greekcorr { text-decoration: none; border-bottom: thin dotted #333; } + + .biggap { margin-top: 4em; } /* adds white space on title page */ + + .sectionhead { margin-top: 2em; + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; + } + .section { margin-top: 2em; } + + .columnleft { float: left; width: 45%; } + .columnright { float: right; width: 45%; } + .bottom { clear: both; } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + right: 3%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{ margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; } + + .center { text-align: center; } + .right { text-align: right; } + .smcap { font-variant: small-caps; } + .lowercase { text-transform:lowercase; } + + .img { text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } /* centering images */ + + .footnotehead { margin-left: 5%; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 1em; } + .footnotes { border: dashed 1px; } + .footnote { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em; } + .footnote .label { position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; } + .fnanchor { vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none; } + + .poem { margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left; } + .poem br { display: none; } + .poem .stanza { margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; } + .poem span.i0 { display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; } + .poem span.i14 { display: block; margin-left: 14em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; } + + .notebox { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; /* makes box around Transcriber's Notes at end of file */ + margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; border: solid black 1px; } + + .mynote { background-color: #DDE; color: black; padding: .5em; margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%; } /* colored box for notes at beginning of file */ + + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and +Culinary Poisons, by Fredrick Accum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons + Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, + Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, + Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and + Other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy + +Author: Fredrick Accum + +Release Date: August 12, 2006 [EBook #19031] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON ADULTERATIONS *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote">Transcriber's Note:<br /><br /> +Greek words that may not display correctly in all browsers are +transliterated in the text using popups like this: +<ins class="greekcorr" title="biblos">βιβλος</ins>. +Position your mouse over the word to see the transliteration.<br /><br /> + +A few typographical errors have been corrected. They have been marked in the text with <ins class="correction" title="like this">popups</ins>. A <a href="#TRANSCRIBERS_NOTES">complete list</a> of corrections follows the text.</div> + +<p class="biggap"> </p> +<h3>A</h3> + +<h1>TREATISE</h1> + +<h3>ON</h3> + +<h1>ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD,</h1> + +<h1><i>AND CULINARY POISONS</i>.</h1> + + +<h4>EXHIBITING</h4> + +<h2>The Fraudulent Sophistications of</h2> + +<h3>BREAD, BEER, WINE, SPIRITOUS LIQUORS, TEA, COFFEE, CREAM, CONFECTIONERY, +VINEGAR, MUSTARD, PEPPER, CHEESE, OLIVE OIL, PICKLES,</h3> + +<h4>AND OTHER ARTICLES EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY.</h4> + + +<h3>AND</h3> + +<h2>METHODS OF DETECTING THEM.</h2> + + +<h3 style="margin-top: 4em;"><i>By Fredrick Accum</i>,</h3> + +<h4>OPERATIVE CHEMIST, AND MEMBER OF THE PRINCIPAL ACADEMIES AND SOCIETIES +OF ARTS AND SCIENCES IN EUROPE.</h4> + + +<h3 style="margin-top: 4em;">Philadelphia:</h3> +<h4>PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY AB'M SMALL</h4> +<h4>1820.</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>This Treatise, as its title expresses, is intended to exhibit easy +methods of detecting the fraudulent adulterations of food, and of other +articles, classed either among the necessaries or luxuries of the table; +and to put the unwary on their guard against the use of such commodities +as are contaminated with substances deleterious to health.</p> + +<p>Every person is aware that bread, beer, wine, and other substances +employed in domestic economy, are frequently met with in an adulterated +state: and the late convictions of numerous individuals for +counterfeiting and adulterating tea, coffee, bread, beer<ins title="Comma missing in original.">,</ins> pepper, and +other articles of diet, are still fresh in the memory of the public.</p> + +<p>To such perfection of ingenuity has the system of counterfeiting and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span>adulterating various commodities of life arrived in this country, that +spurious articles are every where to be found in the market, made up so +skilfully, as to elude the discrimination of the most experienced +judges.</p> + +<p>But of all possible nefarious traffic and deception, practised by +mercenary dealers, that of adulterating the articles intended for human +food with ingredients deleterious to health, is the most criminal, and, +in the mind of every honest man, must excite feelings of regret and +disgust. Numerous facts are on record, of human food, contaminated with +poisonous ingredients, having been vended to the public; and the annals +of medicine record tragical events ensuing from the use of such food.</p> + +<p>The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, is proof against prohibitions +and penalties; and the possible sacrifice of a fellow-creature's life, +is a secondary consideration among unprincipled dealers.</p> + +<p>However invidious the office may appear, and however painful the duty +may be, of exposing the names of individuals, who have been convicted of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span>adulterating food; yet it was necessary, for the verification of my +statement, that cases should be adduced in their support; and I have +carefully avoided citing any, except those which are authenticated in +Parliamentary documents and other public records.</p> + +<p>To render this Treatise still more useful, I have also animadverted on +certain material errors, sometimes unconsciously committed through +accident or ignorance, in private families, during the preparation of +various articles of food, and of delicacies for the table.</p> + +<p>In stating the experimental proceedings necessary for the detection of +the frauds which it has been my object to expose, I have confined myself +to the task of pointing out such operations only as may be performed by +persons unacquainted with chemical science; and it has been my purpose +to express all necessary rules and instructions in the plainest +language, divested of those recondite terms of science, which would be +out of place in a work intended for general perusal.</p> + +<p>The design of the Treatise will be fully answered, if the views here +given should induce a single reader to pursue the object <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>for which it +is published; or if it should tend to impress on the mind of the Public +the magnitude of an evil, which, in many cases, prevails to an extent so +alarming, that we may exclaim with the sons of the Prophet,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT.</i>"</p></div> + +<p>For the abolition of such nefarious practices, it is the interest of all +classes of the community to co-operate.</p> + +<p class="right">FREDRICK ACCUM.</p> +<p>LONDON.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1820.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table summary="Table of Contents" cellpadding="3" > +<tr> + <td><a href="#PRELIMINARY_OBSERVATIONS"><span class="smcap">Preliminary Observations on the Adulteration of Food</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><i>Page</i> <a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Effect_of_different_Kinds_of_Water"><span class="smcap">Effect of different Kinds of Water employed in Domestic Economy</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Characters_of_Good_Water"><i>Characters of Good Water</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Chemical_Constitution"><i>Chemical Constitution of the Waters used in Domestic Economy and the Arts</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Rain_Water"><i>Rain Water</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Snow_Water"><i>Snow Water</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Spring_Water"><i>Spring Water</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#River_Water"><i>River Water</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Substances_in_Common_Water"><i>Substances usually contained in Common Water, and Tests by which they are detected</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Method_of_ascertaining_Quantity"><i>Method of ascertaining the Quantity of each of the different Substances usually contained in Common Water</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Deleterious_Effects"><i>Deleterious Effects of keeping Water for Domestic Economy, in Leaden Reservoirs</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Method_of_Detecting_Lead"><i>Method of detecting Lead, when contained in common Water</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_69">69</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Wine"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Wine</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Method_of_Detecting_Adulterations_of_Wine"><i>Method of detecting the Deleterious Adulterations of Wine</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Specific_Differences"><i>Specific Differences, and Component Parts of Wine</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Quantity_of_Brandy"><i>Easy process of ascertaining the Quantity of Brandy contained in various sorts of Wine</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Tabular_View"><i>Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage of Brandy or Alcohol contained in various kinds of Wine and other fermented Liquors</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Constitution_of_Home-made_Wine"><i>Constitution of Home-made Wines</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Bread"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Bread</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Detecting_Alum_in_Bread"><i>Method of detecting the Presence of Alum in Bread</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Goodness_of_Bread-Corn_Bread-Flour"><i>Easy Method of judging of the Goodness of Bread-Corn and Bread-Flour</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Beer"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Beer</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#List_of_Druggists_and_Grocers"><i>List of Druggists and Grocers, prosecuted and convicted for supplying illegal Ingredients to Brewers for Adulterating Beer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span><a href="#Porter"><i>Porter</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Strength_of_Porter"><i>Strength and Specific Differences of different kinds of Porter</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#List_of_Publicans_Prosecuted"><i>List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted for adulterating Beer with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing Table Beer with their Strong Beer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Illegal_Beer"><i>Illegal Substances used for adulterating Beer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Ingredients_seized"><i>Ingredients seized at various Breweries and Brewers' Druggists, for adulterating Beer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Strong_Beer_with_Table_Beer"><i>List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted for adulterating Strong Beer with Table Beer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Old_Beer"><i>Old, or Entire Beer; and New or Mild Beer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Illegal_Ingredients"><i>List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted for receiving and using illegal Ingredients in their Brewings</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Detecting_Adulteration_of_Beer"><i>Method of detecting the Adulteration of Beer</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span><a href="#Ascertaining_Quantity_of_Spirit"><i>Method of ascertaining the Quantity of Spirit contained in Porter, Ale<ins title="Original has period.">,</ins> &c.</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Per_Centage_of_Alcohol"><i>Per Centage of Alcohol contained in Porter, and other kinds of Malt Liquors</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Counterfeit_Tea-Leaves"><span class="smcap">Counterfeit Tea-Leaves</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Detecting_Adulterations_of_Tea-Leaves"><i>Methods of detecting the Adulterations of Tea-Leaves</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Counterfeit_Coffee"><span class="smcap">Counterfeit Coffee</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Brandy_Rum_and_Gin"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Brandy, Rum, and Gin</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Detecting_Adulterations_of_Brandy"><i>Method of detecting the Adulterations of Brandy, Rum, and Malt Spirit</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Detecting_Lead_in_Spirits"><i>Method of detecting the Presence of Lead in Spiritous Liquors</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Ascertaining_Alcohol_in_Spirits"><i>Method of ascertaining the Quantity of Alcohol contained in different kinds of Spiritous Liquors</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Per_Centage_of_Alcohol_in_Spirits"><i>Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Alcohol contained in various kinds of Spiritous Liquors</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Cheese"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Cheese</span></a> , <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span><a href="#Counterfeit_Pepper"><span class="smcap">Counterfeit Pepper</span></a>, <i>and Method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#White_Pepper"><i>White Pepper</i></a><i>, and method of manufacturing it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Cayenne_Pepper"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Cayenne Pepper</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Pickles"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Pickles</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting them</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Vinegar"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Vinegar</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Distilled_Vinegar"><i>Distilled Vinegar</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Cream"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Cream</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Confectionery"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Confectionery</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Catsup"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Catsup</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Custard"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Custards</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Anchovy_Sauce"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Anchovy Sauce</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span><a href="#Adulteration_of_Lozenges"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Lozenges</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting them</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Olive_Oil"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Olive Oil</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Mustard"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Mustard</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Adulteration_of_Lemon_Acid"><span class="smcap">Adulteration of Lemon Acid</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Mushrooms"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Mushrooms</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent"><a href="#Mushroom_Catsup"><i>Mushroom Catsup</i></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Poisonous_Soda_Water"><span class="smcap">Poisonous Soda Water</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Food_poisoned_by_Copper_Vessels"><span class="smcap">Food Poisoned by Copper Vessels</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#Food_Poisoned_by_Leaden_Vessels"><span class="smcap">Food Poisoned by Leaden Vessels</span></a>, <i>and method of detecting it</i></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><a href="#INDEX"><span class="smcap">Index</span></a></td> + <td class="tdright"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> +<h2>A</h2> + +<h1>TREATISE</h1> + +<h4>ON</h4> + +<h2>ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD,</h2> + +<h4>AND</h4> + +<h3>CULINARY POISONS.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PRELIMINARY_OBSERVATIONS" id="PRELIMINARY_OBSERVATIONS"></a>PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.</h2> + + +<p>Of all the frauds practised by mercenary dealers, there is none more +reprehensible, and at the same time more prevalent, than the +sophistication of the various articles of food.</p> + +<p>This unprincipled and nefarious practice, increasing in degree as it has +been found difficult of detection, is now applied to almost every +commodity which can be classed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>among either the necessaries or the +luxuries of life, and is carried on to a most alarming extent in every +part of the United Kingdom.</p> + +<p>It has been pursued by men, who, from the magnitude and apparent +respectability of their concerns, would be the least obnoxious to public +suspicion; and their successful example has called forth, from among the +retail dealers, a multitude of competitors in the same iniquitous +course.</p> + +<p>To such perfection of ingenuity has this system of adulterating food +arrived, that spurious articles of various kinds are every where to be +found, made up so skilfully as to baffle the discrimination of the most +experienced judges.</p> + +<p>Among the number of substances used in domestic economy which are now +very generally found sophisticated, may be distinguished—tea, coffee, +bread, beer, wine, spiritous liquors, salad oil, pepper, vinegar, +mustard, cream, and other articles of subsistence.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it would be difficult to mention a single article of food which +is not to be met with in an adulterated state; and there are some +substances which are scarcely ever to be procured genuine.</p> + +<p>Some of these spurious compounds are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>comparatively harmless when used +as food; and as in these cases merely substances of inferior value are +substituted for more costly and genuine ingredients, the sophistication, +though it may affect our purse, does not injure our health. Of this kind +are the manufacture of factitious pepper, the adulterations of mustard, +vinegar, cream, &c. Others, however, are highly deleterious; and to this +class belong the adulterations of beer, wines, spiritous liquors, +pickles, salad oil, and many others.</p> + +<p>There are particular chemists who make it a regular trade to supply +drugs or nefarious preparations to the unprincipled brewer of porter or +ale; others perform the same office to the wine and spirit merchant; and +others again to the grocer and the oilman. The operators carry on their +processes chiefly in secresy, and under some delusive firm, with the +ostensible denotements of a fair and lawful establishment.</p> + +<p>These illicit pursuits have assumed all the order and method of a +regular trade; they may severally claim to be distinguished as an <i>art +and mystery</i>; for the workmen employed in them are often wholly ignorant +of the nature of the substances which pass through their hands, and of +the purposes to which they are ultimately applied.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p><p>To elude the vigilance of the inquisitive, to defeat the scrutiny of the +revenue officer, and to ensure the secresy of these mysteries, the +processes are very ingeniously divided and subdivided among individual +operators, and the manufacture is purposely carried on in separate +establishments. The task of proportioning the ingredients for use is +assigned to one individual, while the composition and preparation of +them may be said to form a distinct part of the business, and is +entrusted to another workman. Most of the articles are transmitted to +the consumer in a disguised state, or in such a form that their real +nature cannot possibly be detected by the unwary. Thus the extract of +<i>coculus indicus</i>, employed by fraudulent manufacturers of malt-liquors +to impart an intoxicating quality to porter or ales, is known in the +market by the name of <i>black extract</i>, ostensibly destined for the use +of tanners and dyers. It is obtained by boiling the berries of the +coculus indicus in water, and converting, by a subsequent evaporation, +this decoction into a stiff black tenacious mass, possessing, in a high +degree, the narcotic and intoxicating quality of the poisonous berry +from which it is prepared. Another substance, composed of extract of +quassia and liquorice juice, used <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>by fraudulent brewers to economise +both malt and hops, is technically called <i>multum</i>.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>The quantities of coculus indicus berries, as well as of black extract, +imported into this country for adulterating malt liquors, are enormous. +It forms a considerable branch of commerce in the hands of a few +brokers: yet, singular as it may seem, no inquiry appears to have been +hitherto made by the officers of the revenue respecting its application. +Many other substances employed in the adulteration of beer, ale, and +spiritous liquors, are in a similar manner intentionally disguised; and +of the persons by whom they are purchased, a great number are totally +unacquainted with their nature or composition.</p> + +<p>An extract, said to be innocent, sold in casks, containing from half a +cwt. to five cwt. by the brewers' druggists, under the name of +<i>bittern</i>, is composed of calcined sulphate of iron (copperas), extract +of coculus indicus berries, extract of quassia, and Spanish liquorice.</p> + +<p>It would be very easy to adduce, in support of these remarks, the +testimony of numerous individuals, by whom I have been professionally +engaged to examine certain mixtures, said to be perfectly innocent, +which are used in very extensive manufactories of the above description. +Indeed, during the long period devoted to the practice <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>of my +profession, I have had abundant reason to be convinced that a vast +number of dealers, of the highest respectability, have vended to their +customers articles absolutely poisonous, which they themselves +considered as harmless, and which they would not have offered for sale, +had they been apprised of the spurious and pernicious nature of the +compounds, and of the purposes to which they were destined.</p> + +<p>For instance, I have known cases in which brandy merchants were not +aware that the substance which they frequently purchase under the +delusive name of <i>flash</i>, for strengthening and clarifying spiritous +liquors, and which is held out as consisting of burnt sugar and +isinglass only, in the form of an extract, is in reality a compound of +sugar, with extract of capsicum; and that to the acrid and pungent +qualities of the capsicum is to be ascribed the heightened flavour of +brandy and rum, when coloured with the above-mentioned matter.</p> + +<p>In other cases the ale-brewer has been supplied with ready-ground +coriander seeds, previously mixed with a portion of <i>nux vomica</i> and +quassia, to give a bitter taste and narcotic property to the beverage.</p> + +<p>The retail venders of mustard do not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>appear to be aware that mustard +seed alone cannot produce, when ground, a powder of so intense and +brilliant a colour as that of the common mustard of commerce. Nor would +the powder of real mustard, when mixed with salt and water, without the +addition of a portion of pulverised capsicum, keep for so long a time as +the mustard usually offered for sale.</p> + +<p>Many other instances of unconscious deceptions might be mentioned, which +were practised by persons of upright and honourable minds.</p> + +<p>It is a painful reflection, that the division of labour which has been +so instrumental in bringing the manufactures of this country to their +present flourishing state, should have also tended to conceal and +facilitate the fraudulent practices in question; and that from a +correspondent ramification of commerce into a multitude of distinct +branches, particularly in the metropolis and the large towns of the +empire, the traffic in adulterated commodities should find its way +through so many circuitous channels, as to defy the most scrutinising +endeavour to trace it to its source.</p> + +<p>It is not less lamentable that the extensive application of chemistry to +the useful purposes of life, should have been perverted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>into an +auxiliary to this nefarious traffic. But, happily for the science, it +may, without difficulty, be converted into a means of detecting the +abuse; to effect which, very little chemical skill is required; and the +course to be pursued forms the object of the following pages.</p> + +<p>The baker asserts that he does not put alum into bread; but he is well +aware that, in purchasing a certain quantity of flour, he must take a +sack of <i>sharp whites</i> (a term given to flour contaminated with a +quantity of alum), without which it would be impossible for him to +produce light, white, and porous bread, from a half-spoiled material.</p> + +<p>The wholesale mealman frequently purchases this spurious commodity, +(which forms a separate branch of business in the hands of certain +individuals,) in order to enable himself to sell his decayed and +half-spoiled flour.</p> + +<p>Other individuals furnish the baker with alum mixed up with salt, under +the obscure denomination of <i>stuff</i>. There are wholesale manufacturing +chemists, whose sole business is to crystallise alum, in such a form as +will adapt this salt to the purpose of being mixed in a crystalline +state with the crystals of common salt, to disguise the character <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>of +the compound. The mixture called <i>stuff</i>, is composed of one part of +alum, in minute crystals, and three of common salt. In many other trades +a similar mode of proceeding prevails. Potatoes are soaked in water to +augment their weight.</p> + +<p>The practice of sophisticating the necessaries of life, being reduced to +systematic regularity, is ranked by public opinion among other +mercantile pursuits; and is not only regarded with less disgust than +formerly, but is almost generally esteemed as a justifiable way to +wealth.</p> + +<p>It is really astonishing that the penal law is not more effectually +enforced against practices so inimical to the public welfare. The man +who robs a fellow subject of a few shillings on the high-way, is +sentenced to death; while he who distributes a slow poison to a whole +community, escapes unpunished.</p> + +<p>It has been urged by some, that, under so vast a system of finance as +that of Great Britain, it is expedient that the revenue should be +collected in large amounts; and therefore that the severity of the law +should be relaxed in favour of all mercantile concerns in proportion to +their extent: encouragement must be given to large capitalists; and +where an extensive brewery or distillery <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>yields an important +contribution to the revenue, no strict scrutiny need be adopted in +regard to the quality of the article from which such contribution is +raised, provided the excise do not suffer by the fraud.</p> + +<p>But the principles of the constitution afford no sanction to this +preference, and the true interests of the country require that it should +be abolished; for a tax dependent upon deception must be at best +precarious, and must be, sooner or later, diminished by the irresistible +diffusion of knowledge. Sound policy requires that the law should be +impartially enforced in all cases; and if its penalties were extended to +abuses of which it does not now take cognisance, there is no doubt that +the revenue would be abundantly benefited.</p> + +<p>Another species of fraud, to which I shall at present but briefly +advert, and which has increased to so alarming an extent, that it loudly +calls for the interference of government, is the adulteration of drugs +and medicines.</p> + +<p>Nine-tenths of the most potent drugs and chemical preparations used in +pharmacy, are vended in a sophisticated state by dealers who would be +the last to be suspected. It is well known, that of the article Peruvian +bark, there is a variety of species <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>inferior to the genuine; that too +little discrimination is exercised by the collectors of this precious +medicament; that it is carelessly assorted, and is frequently packed in +green hides; that much of it arrives in Spain in a half-decayed state, +mixed with fragments of other vegetables and various extraneous +substances; and in this state is distributed throughout Europe.</p> + +<p>But as if this were not a sufficient deterioration, the public are often +served with a spurious compound of mahogany saw-dust and oak wood, +ground into powder mixed with a proportion of good quinquina, and sold +as genuine bark powder.</p> + +<p>Every chemist knows that there are mills constantly at work in this +metropolis, which furnish bark powder at a much cheaper rate than the +substance can be procured for in its natural state. The price of the +best genuine bark, upon an average, is not lower than twelve shillings +the pound; but immense quantities of powder bark are supplied to the +apothecaries at three or four shillings a pound.</p> + +<p>It is also notorious that there are manufacturers of spurious rhubarb +powder, ipecacuanha powder,<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> James's powder; and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>other simple and +compound medicines of great potency, who carry on their diabolical trade +on an amazingly large scale. Indeed, the quantity of medical +preparations thus sophisticated exceeds belief. Cheapness, and not +genuineness and excellence, is the grand desideratum with the +unprincipled dealers in drugs and medicines.</p> + +<p>Those who are familiar with chemistry may easily convince themselves of +the existence of the fraud, by subjecting to a chemical examination +either spirits of hartshorn, magnesia, calcined magnesia, calomel, or +any other chemical preparation in general demand.</p> + +<p>Spirit of hartshorn is counterfeited by mixing liquid caustic ammonia +with the distilled spirit of hartshorn, to increase the pungency of its +odour, and to enable it to bear an addition of water.</p> + +<p>The fraud is detected by adding spirit of wine to the sophisticated +spirit; for, if no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>considerable coagulation ensues, the adulteration is +proved. It may also be discovered by the hartshorn spirit not producing +a brisk effervescence when mixed with muriatic or nitric acid.</p> + +<p>Magnesia usually contains a portion of lime, originating from hard water +being used instead of soft, in the preparation of this medicine.</p> + +<p>To ascertain the purity of magnesia, add to a portion of it a little +sulphuric acid, diluted with ten times its bulk of water. If the +magnesia be completely soluble, and the solution remains transparent, it +may be pronounced <i>pure</i>; but not otherwise. Or, dissolve a portion of +the magnesia in muriatic acid, and add a solution of sub-carbonate of +ammonia. If any lime be present, it will form a precipitate; whereas +pure magnesia will remain in solution.</p> + +<p>Calcined magnesia is seldom met with in a pure state. It may be assayed +by the same tests as the common magnesia. It ought not to effervesce at +all, with dilute sulphuric acid; and, if the magnesia and acid be put +together into one scale of a balance, no diminution of weight should +ensue on mixing them together. Calcined magnesia, however, is very +seldom so pure as to be totally dissolved by diluted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>sulphuric acid; +for a small insoluble residue generally remains, consisting chiefly of +silicious earth, derived from the alkali employed in the preparation of +it. The solution in sulphuric acid, when largely diluted, ought not to +afford any precipitation by the addition of oxalate of ammonia.</p> + +<p>The genuineness of calomel may be ascertained by boiling, for a few +minutes, one part, with 1/32 part of muriate of ammonia in ten parts of +distilled water. When carbonate of potash is added to the filtered +solution, no precipitation will ensue if the calomel be pure.</p> + +<p>Indeed, some of the most common and cheap drugs do not escape the +adulterating hand of the unprincipled druggist. Syrup of buckthorn, for +example, instead of being prepared from the juice of buckthorn berries, +(<i>rhamnus catharticus</i>,) is made from the fruit of the blackberry +bearing alder, and the dogberry tree. A mixture of the berries of the +buckthorn and blackberry bearing alder, and of the dogberry tree, may be +seen publicly exposed for sale by some of the venders of medicinal +herbs. This abuse may be discovered by opening the berries: those of +buckthorn have almost always four seeds; of the alder, two; and of the +dogberry, only one. Buckthorn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>berries, bruised on white paper, stain it +of a green colour, which the others do not.</p> + +<p>Instead of worm-seed (<i>artemisia santonica</i>,) the seeds of tansy are +frequently offered for sale, or a mixture of both.</p> + +<p>A great many of the essential oils obtained from the more expensive +spices, are frequently so much adulterated, that it is not easy to meet +with such as are at all fit for use: nor are these adulterations easily +discoverable. The grosser abuses, indeed, may be readily detected. Thus, +if the oil be adulterated with alcohol, it will turn milky on the +addition of water; if with expressed oils, alcohol will dissolve the +volatile, and leave the other behind; if with oil of turpentine, on +dipping a piece of paper in the mixture, and drying it with a gentle +heat, the turpentine will be betrayed by its smell. The more subtile +artists, however, have contrived other methods of sophistication, which +elude all trials. And as all volatile oils agree in the general +properties of solubility in spirit of wine, and volatility in the heat +of boiling water, &c. it is plain that they may be variously mixed with +each other, or the dearer sophisticated with the cheaper, without any +possibility of discovering the abuse by any of the before-mentioned +trials. Perfumers assert that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>the smell and taste are the only certain +tests of which the nature of the thing will admit. For example, if a +bark should have in every respect the appearance of good cinnamon, and +should be proved indisputably to be the genuine bark of the cinnamon +tree; yet if it want the cinnamon flavour, or has it but in a low +degree, we reject it: and the case is the same with the essential oil of +cinnamon. It is only from use and habit, or comparisons with specimens +of known quality, that we can judge of the goodness, either of the drugs +themselves, or of their oils.</p> + +<p>Most of the arrow-root, the fecula of the Maranta arudinacea, sold by +druggists, is a mixture of potatoe starch and arrow-root.</p> + +<p>The same system of adulteration extends to articles used in various +trades and manufactures. For instance, linen tape, and various other +household commodities of that kind, instead of being manufactured of +linen thread only, are made up of linen and cotton. Colours for +painting, not only those used by artists, such as ultramarine,<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>carmine,<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and lake;<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Antwerp blue,<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> chrome yellow,<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and Indian +ink;<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> but also the coarser colours used by the common house-painter +are more or less adulterated. Thus, of the latter kind, white lead<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> is +mixed with carbonate or sulphate of barytes; vermilion<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> with red +lead.</p> + +<p>Soap used in house-keeping is frequently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>adulterated with a +considerable portion of fine white clay, brought from St. Stephens, in +Cornwall. In the manufacture of printing paper, a large quantity of +plaster of Paris is added to the paper stuff, to increase the weight of +the manufactured article. The selvage of cloth is often dyed with a +permanent colour, and artfully stitched to the edge of cloth dyed with a +fugitive dye. The frauds committed in the tanning of skins, and in the +manufacture of cutlery and jewelry, exceed belief.</p> + +<p>The object of all unprincipled modern manufacturers seems to be the +sparing of their time and labour as much as possible, and to increase +the quantity of the articles they produce, without much regard to their +quality. The ingenuity and perseverance of self-interest is proof +against prohibitions, and contrives to elude the vigilance of the most +active government.</p> + +<p>The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, which seems to be a leading +characteristic of the times, calls into action every human faculty, and +gives an irresistible impulse to the power of invention; and where lucre +becomes the reigning principle, the possible sacrifice of even a fellow +creature's life is a secondary consideration. In reference <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>to the +deterioration of almost all the necessaries and comforts of existence, +it may be justly observed, in a civil as well as a religious sense, that +"<i>in the midst of life we are in death</i>."</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>The Times</i>, May 18, 1818. The King <i>v.</i> Richard Bowman. +The defendant was a brewer, living in Wapping-street, Wapping, and was +charged with having in his possession a drug called <i>multum</i>, and a +quantity of copperas. +</p><p> +The articles were produced by Thomas Gates, an excise officer, who had, +after a search, found them on the defendant's premises. The Court +sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of 200<i>l.</i> +</p><p> +The King <i>v.</i> Luke Lyons. The defendant is a brewer, and was brought up +under an indictment charging him with having made use of various +deleterious drugs in his brewery, among which were capsicum, copperas, +&c. The defendant was ordered to pay the fines of 20<i>l.</i> upon the first +count, 200<i>l.</i> upon the third, and 200<i>l.</i> upon the seventh count in the +indictment. +</p><p> +The King <i>v.</i> Thomas Evans. The charge against this defendant was, that +he had in his possession forty-seven barrels of stale unpalatable beer. +On, the 11th of March, John Wilson, an excise officer, went to the +storehouse, and found forty-seven casks containing forty-three barrels +and a half of sour unwholesome beer. Several samples of the beer were +produced, all of them of a different colour, and filled with sediment. A +fine of 30<i>l.</i> was ordered to be paid by the defendant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Of this root, several varieties are imported. The white +sort, which has no wrinkles, and no perceptible bitterness in taste, and +which, though taken in a large dose, has scarcely any effect at all, +after being pulverised by fraudulent druggists, and mixed with a portion +of emetic tartar, is sold, at a low price, for the powder of genuine +ipecacuanha root.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Genuine ultramarine should become deprived of its colour +when thrown into concentrated nitric acid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Genuine carmine should be totally soluble in liquid +ammonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Genuine madder and carmine lakes should be totally soluble +by boiling in a concentrated solution of soda or potash.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Genuine Antwerp blue should not become deprived of its +colour when thrown into liquid chlorine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Genuine chrome yellow should not effervesce with nitric +acid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The best Indian ink breaks, splintery, with a smooth glossy +fracture, and feels soft, and not gritty, when rubbed against the +teeth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Genuine white lead should be completely soluble in nitric +acid, and the solution should remain transparent when mingled with a +solution of sulphate of soda.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Genuine vermilion should become totally volatilised on +being exposed to a red heat; and it should not impart a red colour to +spirit of wine, when digested with it.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Effect_of_different_Kinds_of_Water" id="Effect_of_different_Kinds_of_Water"></a>REMARKS</h2> + +<h5>ON THE</h5> + +<h3>Effect of different Kinds of Waters</h3> + +<h5>IN THEIR APPLICATION TO</h5> + +<h4>DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS;</h4> + +<h5>AND</h5> + +<h4>METHODS OF ASCERTAINING THEIR PURITY.</h4> + + +<p>It requires not much reflection to become convinced that the waters +which issue from the recesses of the earth, and form springs, wells, +rivers, or lakes, often materially differ from each other in their taste +and other obvious properties. There are few people who have not observed +a difference in the waters used for domestic purposes and in the arts; +and the distinctions of <i>hard</i> and <i>soft</i> water are familiar to every +body.</p> + +<p>Water perfectly pure is scarcely ever met with in nature.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p><p>It must also be obvious, that the health and comfort of families, and +the conveniences of domestic life, are materially affected by the supply +of good and wholesome water. Hence a knowledge of the quality and +salubrity of the different kinds of waters employed in the common +concerns of life, on account of the abundant daily use we make of them +in the preparation of food, is unquestionably an object of considerable +importance, and demands our attention.</p> + +<p>The effects produced by the foreign matters which water may contain, are +more considerable, and of greater importance, than might at first be +imagined. It cannot be denied, that such waters as are <i>hard</i>, or loaded +with earthy matter, have a decided effect upon some important functions +of the human body. They increase the distressing symptoms under which +those persons labour who are afflicted with what is commonly called +gravel complaints; and many other ailments might be named, that are +always aggravated by the use of waters abounding in saline and earthy +substances.</p> + +<p>The purity of the waters employed in some of the arts and manufactures, +is an object of not less consequence. In the process of brewing malt +liquors, soft water is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>preferable to hard. Every brewer knows that the +largest possible quantity of the extractive matter of the malt is +obtained in the least possible time, and at the smallest cost, by means +of soft water.</p> + +<p>In the art of the dyer, hard water not only opposes the solution of +several dye stuffs, but it also alters the natural tints of some +delicate colours; whilst in others again it precipitates the earthy and +saline matters with which it is impregnated, into the delicate fibres of +the stuff, and thus impedes the softness and brilliancy of the dye.</p> + +<p>The bleacher cannot use with advantage waters impregnated with earthy +salts; and a minute portion of iron imparts to the cloth a yellowish +hue.</p> + +<p>To the manufacturer of painters' colours, water as pure as possible is +absolutely essential for the successful preparation of several delicate +pigments. Carmine, madder lake, ultramarine, and Indian yellow, cannot +be prepared without perfectly pure water.</p> + +<p>For the steeping or raiting of flax, soft water is absolutely necessary; +in hard water the flax may be immersed for months, till its texture be +injured, and still the ligneous matter will not be decomposed, and the +fibres properly separated.</p> + +<p>In the culinary art, the effects of water <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>more or less pure are +likewise obvious. Good and pure water softens the fibres of animal and +vegetable matters more readily than such as is called <i>hard</i>. Every cook +knows that dry or ripe pease, and other farinaceous seeds, cannot +<i>readily</i> be boiled soft in hard water; because the farina of the seed +is not perfectly soluble in water loaded with earthy salts.</p> + +<p>Green esculent vegetable substances are more tender when boiled in soft +water than in hard water; although hard water imparts to them a better +colour. The effects of hard and soft water may be easily shown in the +following manner.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Let two separate portions of tea-leaves be macerated, by precisely the +same processes, in circumstances all alike, in similar and separate +vessels, the one containing hard and the other soft water, either hot or +cold, the infusion made with the soft water will have by far the +strongest taste, although it possesses less colour than the infusion +made with the hard water. It will strike a more intense black with a +solution of sulphate of iron, and afford a more abundant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>precipitate, +with a solution of animal jelly, which at once shews that soft water has +extracted more tanning matter, and more gallic acid, from the +tea-leaves, than could be obtained from them under like circumstances by +means of hard water.</p> + +<p>Many animals which are accustomed to drink soft water, refuse hard +water. Horses in particular prefer the former. Pigeons refuse hard water +when they have been accustomed to soft water.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Characters_of_Good_Water" id="Characters_of_Good_Water"></a>CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER.</p> + +<p>A good criterion of the purity of water fit for domestic purposes, is +its softness. This quality is at once obvious by the touch, if we only +wash our hands in it with soap. Good water should be beautifully +transparent; a slight opacity indicates extraneous matter. To judge of +the perfect transparency of water, a quantity of it should be put into a +deep glass vessel, the larger the better, so that we can look down +perpendicularly into a considerable mass of the fluid; we may then +readily discover the slightest degree of muddiness much better than if +the water be viewed through the glass placed between the eye and the +light. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>should be perfectly colourless, devoid of odour, and its +taste soft and agreeable. It should send out air-bubbles when poured +from one vessel into another; it should boil pulse soft, and form with +soap an uniform opaline fluid, which does not separate after standing +for several hours.</p> + +<p>It is to the presence of common air and carbonic acid gas that common +water owes its taste, and many of the good effects which it produces on +animals and vegetables. Spring water, which contains more air, has a +more lively taste than river water.</p> + +<p>Hence the insipid or vapid taste of newly boiled water, from which these +gases are expelled: fish cannot live in water deprived of those elastic +fluids.</p> + +<p>100 cubic inches of the New River water, with which part of this +metropolis is supplied, contains 2,25 of carbonic acid, and 1,25 of +common air. The water of the river Thames contains rather a larger +quantity of common air, and a smaller portion of carbonic acid.</p> + +<p>If water not fully saturated with common air be agitated with this +elastic fluid, a portion of the air is absorbed; but the two chief +constituent gases of the atmosphere, the oxygen and nitrogen, are not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>equally affected, the former being absorbed in preference to the latter.</p> + +<p>According to Mr. Dalton, in agitating water with atmospheric air, +consisting of 79 of nitrogen, and 21 of oxygen, the water absorbs 1/64 +of 79/100 nitrogen gas = 1,234, and 1/27 of 21/100 oxygen gas = 778, +amounting in all to 2,012.</p> + +<p>Water is freed from foreign matter by distillation: and for any chemical +process in which accuracy is requisite, distilled water must be used.</p> + +<p>Hard waters may, in general, be cured in part, by dropping into them a +solution of sub-carbonate of potash; or, if the hardness be owing only +to the presence of super-carbonate of lime, mere boiling will greatly +remedy the defect; part of the carbonic acid flies off, and a neutral +carbonate of lime falls down to the bottom; it may then be used for +washing, scarcely curdling soap. But if the hardness be owing in part to +sulphate of lime, boiling does not soften it at all.</p> + +<p>When spring water is used for washing, it is advantageous to leave it +for some time exposed to the open air in a reservoir with a large +surface. Part of the carbonic acid becomes thus dissipated, and part of +the carbonate of lime falls to the bottom. Mr. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>Dalton<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> has observed +that the more any spring is drawn from, the softer the water becomes.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Chemical_Constitution" id="Chemical_Constitution"></a>CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE WATERS USED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE +ARTS.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Rain_Water" id="Rain_Water"></a><i>Rain Water</i>,</p> + +<p>Collected with every precaution as it descends from the clouds, and at a +distance from large towns, or any other object capable of impregnating +the atmosphere with foreign matters, approaches more nearly to a state +of purity than perhaps any other natural water. Even collected under +these circumstances, however, it invariably contains a portion of common +air and carbonic acid gas. The specific gravity of rain water scarcely +differs from that of distilled water; and from the minute portions of +the foreign ingredients which it generally contains, it is very <i>soft</i>, +and admirably adapted for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>many culinary purposes, and various processes +in different manufactures and the arts.</p> + +<p style="margin-top: 2em;"><a name="Snow_Water" id="Snow_Water"></a>Fresh-fallen <i><b>snow</b></i>, melted without the contact of air, appears to be +nearly free from air. Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, however, affirm, that it +contains nearly the usual proportion of air.</p> + +<p>Water from melted <i>ice</i> does not contain so much air. <i>Dew</i> has been +supposed to be saturated with air.</p> + +<p>Snow water has long laid under the imputation of occasioning those +strumous swellings in the neck which deform the inhabitants of many of +the Alpine vallies; but this opinion is not supported by any +well-authenticated indisputable facts, and is rendered still more +improbable, if not entirely overturned, by the frequency of the disease +in Sumatra<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>, where ice and snow are never seen.</p> + +<p>In high northern latitudes, thawed snow forms the constant drink of the +inhabitants during winter; and the vast masses of ice which float on the +polar seas, afford an abundant supply of fresh water to the mariner.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Spring_Water" id="Spring_Water"></a><i>Spring Water</i>,</p> + +<p>Includes well-water and all others that arise from some depth below the +surface of the earth, and which are used at the fountain-head, or at +least before they have run any considerable distance exposed to the air. +Indeed, springs may be considered as rain water which has passed through +the fissures of the earth, and, having accumulated at the bottom of +declivities, rises again to the surface forming springs and wells. As +wells take their origin at some depth from the surface, and below the +influence of the external atmosphere, their temperature is in general +pretty uniform during every vicissitude of season, and always several +degrees lower than the atmosphere. They differ from one another +according to the nature of the strata through which they issue; for +though the ingredients usually existing in them are in such minute +quantities as to impart to the water no striking properties, and do not +render it unfit for common purposes, yet they modify its nature very +considerably. Hence the water of some springs is said to be <i>hard</i>, of +others <i>soft</i>, some <i>sweet</i>, others <i>brackish</i>, according <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>to the nature +and degree of the inpregnating ingredients.</p> + +<p>Common springs are insensibly changed into mineral or medicinal springs, +as their foreign contents become larger or more unusual; or, in some +instances, they derive medicinal celebrity from the absence of those +ingredients usually occurring in spring-water; as, for example, is the +case with the Malvern spring, which is nearly pure water.</p> + +<p>Almost all spring-waters possess the property termed <i>hardness</i> in a +greater or less degree; a property which depends chiefly upon the +presence of super-carbonate, or of sulphate of lime, or of both; and the +quantity of these earthy salts varies very considerably in different +instances. Mr. Dalton<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> has shewn that one grain of sulphate of lime, +contained in 2000 grains of water, converts it into the hardest spring +water that is commonly met with.</p> + +<p>The waters of deep wells are usually much harder than those of springs +which overflow the mouth of the well; but there are some exceptions to +this rule.</p> + +<p>The purest springs are those which occur <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>in primitive rocks, or beds of +gravel, or filter through sand or silicious strata. In general, large +springs are purer than small ones: and our old wells contain finer water +than those that are new, as the soluble parts through which the water +filters in channels under ground become gradually washed away.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="River_Water" id="River_Water"></a><i>River Water</i>,</p> + +<p>Is a term applied to every running stream or rivulet exposed to the air, +and always flowing in an open channel. It is formed of spring water, +which, by exposure, becomes more pure, and of running land or surface +water, which, although turbid from particles of the alluvial soil +suspended in it, is otherwise very pure. It is purest when it runs over +a gravelly or rocky bed, and when its course is swift. It is generally +soft, and more free from earthy salts than spring water; but it usually +contains less common air and carbonic acid gas; for, by the agitation of +a long current, and exposed to the temperature of the atmosphere, part +of its carbonic acid gas is disengaged, and the lime held in solution by +it is in part precipitated, the loss of which contributes to the +softness of the water. Its specific gravity thereby <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>becomes less, the +taste not so harsh, but less fresh and agreeable; and out of a hard +spring is often made a stream of sufficient purity for most of the +purposes where a soft water is required.</p> + +<p>The water called in this metropolis <i>New River Water</i>, contains a minute +portion of muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, and muriate of soda.</p> + +<p>Some streams, however, that arise from clean silicious beds, and flow in +a sandy or stony channel, are from the outset remarkably pure; such as +the mountain lakes and rivulets in the rocky districts of Wales, the +source of the beautiful waters of the Dee, and numberless other rivers +that flow through the hollow of every valley. Switzerland has long been +celebrated for the purity and excellence of its waters, which pour in +copious streams from the mountains, and give rise to the finest rivers +in Europe.</p> + +<p>Some rivers, however, that do not take their rise from a rocky soil, and +are indeed at first considerably charged with foreign matter, during a +long course, even over a richly cultivated plain, become remarkably pure +as to saline contents; but often fouled with mud containing much animal +and vegetable matter, which are rather suspended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>than held in true +solution. Such is the water of the river Thames, which, taken up at +London at low water mark, is very soft and good; and, after rest, it +contains but a very small portion of any thing that could prove +pernicious, or impede any manufacture. It is also excellently fitted for +sea-store; but it then undergoes a remarkable spontaneous change, when +preserved in wooden casks. No water carried to sea becomes putrid sooner +than that of the Thames. But the mode now adopted in the navy of +substituting iron tanks for wooden casks, tends greatly to obviate this +disadvantage.</p> + +<p>Whoever will consider the situation of the Thames, and the immense +population along its banks for so many miles, must at once perceive the +prodigious accumulation of animal matters of all kinds, which by means +of the common sewers constantly make their way into it. These matters +are, no doubt, in part the cause of the putrefaction which it is well +known to undergo at sea, and of the carburetted and sulphuretted +hydrogen gases which are evolved from it. When a wooden cask is opened, +after being kept a month or two, a quantity of carburetted and +sulphuretted hydrogen escapes, and the water is so black and offensive +as scarcely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>to be borne. Upon racking it off, however, into large +earthen vessels, and exposing it to the air, it gradually deposits a +quantity of black slimy mud, becomes clear as crystal, and remarkably +sweet and palatable.</p> + +<p>It might, at first sight, be expected that the water of the Thames, +after having received all the contents of the sewers, drains, and water +courses, of a large town, should acquire thereby such impregnation with +foreign matters, as to become very impure; but it appears, from the most +accurate experiments that have been made, that those kinds of impurities +have no perceptible influence on the salubrious quality of a mass of +water so immense, and constantly kept in motion by the action of the +tides.</p> + +<p>Some traces of animal matter may, however, be detected in the water of +the Thames; for if nitrate of lead be dropped into it,<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> "you will +find that it becomes milky, and that a white powder falls to the bottom, +which dissolves without effervescence <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>in nitric acid. It is, therefore, +(says Dr. Thomson) a combination of oxide of lead with some animal +matter."</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Substances_in_Common_Water" id="Substances_in_Common_Water"></a>SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN COMMON WATER, AND TESTS BY WHICH THEY +ARE DETECTED.</p> + +<p>To acquire a knowledge of the general nature of common water, it is only +necessary to add to it a few chemical tests, which will quickly indicate +the presence or absence of the substances that may be expected.</p> + +<p>Almost the only salts contained in common waters are the carbonates, +sulphates, and muriates of soda, lime, and magnesia; and sometimes a +very minute portion of iron may also be detected in them.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Fill a wine-glass with distilled water, and add to it a few drops of a +solution of soap in alcohol, the water will remain transparent.</p> + +<p>This test is employed for ascertaining the presence of earthy salts in +waters. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>Hence it produces no change when mingled with distilled or +perfectly pure water; but when added to water containing earthy salts, a +white flocculent matter becomes separated, which speedily collects on +the surface of the fluid. Now, from the quantity of flocculent matter +produced, in equal quantities of water submitted to the test, a +tolerable notion may be formed of the degrees of hardness of different +kinds of water, at least so far as regards the fitness of the water for +the ordinary purposes of domestic economy. This may be rendered obvious +in the following manner.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Fill a number of wine-glasses with different kinds of pump or well +water, and let fall into each glass a few drops of the solution of soap +in alcohol. A turbidness will instantly ensue, and a flocculent matter +collect on the surface of the fluid, if the mixture be left undisturbed. +The quantity of flocculent matter will be in the ratio of the quantity +of earthy salts contained in the water.</p> + +<p>It is obvious that the action of this test is not discriminative, with +regard to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>chemical nature of the earthy salt present in the water. +It serves only to indicate the <i>presence</i> or <i>absence</i> of those kinds of +substances which occasion that quality in water which is usually called +<i>hardness</i>, and which is always owing to salts with an earthy base.</p> + +<p>If we wish to know the nature of the different acids and earths +contained in the water, the following test may be employed.<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Add about twenty drops of a solution of oxalate of ammonia, to half a +wine-glass of the water; if a white precipitate ensues, we conclude that +the water contains lime.</p> + +<p>By means of this test, one grain of lime may be detected in 24,250 of +water.</p> + +<p>If this test occasion a white precipitate in water taken fresh from the +pump or spring, and not after the water has been boiled and suffered to +grow cold, the lime is dissolved in the water by an excess of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>carbonic +acid; and if it continues to produce a precipitate in the water which +has been concentrated by boiling, we then are sure that the lime is +combined with a fixed acid.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>To detect the presence of iron, add to a wine-glassful of the water a +few drops of an infusion of nut-galls; or better, suffer a nut-gall to +be suspended in it for twenty-four hours, which will cause the water to +acquire a blueish black colour, if iron be present.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Add a few grains of muriate of barytes, to half a wine-glass of the +water to be examined; if it produces a turbidness which does not +disappear by the admixture of a few drops of muriatic acid, the presence +of sulphuric acid is rendered obvious.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>If a few drops of a solution of nitrate of silver occasions a milkiness +with the water, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>which vanishes again by the copious addition of liquid +ammonia, we have reason to believe that the water contains a salt, one +of the constituent parts of which is muriatic acid.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>If lime water or barytic water occasions a precipitate which again +vanishes by the admixture of muriatic acid, then carbonic acid is +present in the water.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>If a solution of phosphate of soda produces a milkiness with the water, +after a previous addition to it of a similar quantity of neutral +carbonate of ammonia, we may then expect magnesia. The application of +this test is best made in the following manner:</p> + +<p>Concentrate a quantity of the water to be examined to about 1/20 part of +its bulk, and drop into about half a wine-glassful, about five grains of +neutral carbonate of ammonia. No magnesia becomes yet precipitated if +this earth be present; but on adding a like quantity of phosphate of +soda, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>the magnesia falls down, as an insoluble salt. It is essential +that the carbonate of ammonia be neutral.</p> + +<p>This test was first pointed out by Dr. Wollaston.</p> + +<p>The presence of oxygen gas loosely combined in water may readily be +discovered in the following manner.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Fill a vial with water, and add to it a small quantity of green sulphate +of iron. If the water be entirely free of oxygen, and if the vessel be +well stopped and completely filled, the solution is transparent; but if +otherwise, it soon becomes slightly turbid, from the oxide of iron +attracting the oxygen, and a small portion of it, in this more highly +oxidated state, leaving the acid and being precipitated. Or, according +to a method pointed out by Driessen, the water is to be boiled for two +hours in a flask filled with it, and immersed in a vessel of water kept +boiling, with the mouth of the flask under the surface of the water: it +is to be inverted in quicksilver, taking care that no air-bubble adheres +to the side of the flask, and being tinged with infusion of litmus, a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>little nitrous gas is to be introduced: if the oxygen gas has been +sufficiently expelled from the water, the purple colour of the litmus +does not change; while, if oxygen be present, it immediately becomes +red.<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>If we examine the different waters which are used for the ordinary +purposes of life, and judge of them by the above tests, we shall find +them to differ considerably from each other. Some contain a large +quantity of saline and earthy matters, whilst others are nearly pure. +The differences are produced by the great solvent power which water +exercises upon most substances. Wells should never be lined with bricks, +which render soft water hard; or, if bricks be employed, they should be +bedded in and covered with cement.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Method_of_ascertaining_Quantity" id="Method_of_ascertaining_Quantity"></a>METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE RELATIVE QUANTITY OF EACH OF THE DIFFERENT +SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN COMMON WATER.</p> + +<p>To ascertain the quantity of earthy and saline matter contained in +water, the following is the most simple and easy method.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p><p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Put any measured quantity of the water into a platina, or silver +evaporating basin, the weight of which is known, and evaporate the water +upon a steam bath, at a temperature of about 180°, nearly to dryness; +and, lastly, remove the basin to a sand bath, and let the mass be +evaporated to perfect dryness. The weight of the platina basin being +already known, we have only to weigh it carefully. When the solid saline +contents of the water is attached to it, the increase of weight gives +the quantity of solid matter contained in a given quantity of the water.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Pour upon the saline contents a quantity of distilled water equal to +that in which the obtained salts were originally dissolved. If the whole +saline matter become dissolved in this water, there is reason to believe +that the saline matter has not been altered during the evaporation of +the water. But if a portion remain undissolved, as is usually the case, +then we may conclude that some of the salts have mutually decomposed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>each other, when brought into a concentrated state by the evaporation, +and that salts have been formed which did not originally exist in the +water before its evaporation.</p> + +<p>We have already mentioned that almost the only salts contained in common +waters, are the carbonates, sulphates, and muriates, of soda, lime, and +magnesia; and sometimes a very minute portion of iron. Having determined +the different acids and bases present, in the manner stated at p. 49, we +may easily ascertain the relative weight of each.</p> + +<p>The following formula suggested by Dr. Murray,<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> is fully as accurate +a means of analysing waters as any other, and it is easy of execution. +The weight of the saline ingredients of a given quantity of water being +determined, we may proceed to the accurate analysis of it in the +following manner.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Measure out a determinate volume of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>water (as 500 or 1000 cubic +inches,) and evaporate it gradually, in an unglazed open vessel defended +from dust, to one third of its original bulk; then divide this +evaporated liquid into three equal portions.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Drop into the first portion, muriate of barytes; wash the precipitate, +collect it, dry it at a red heat upon platina foil, and weigh it; digest +it in nitric acid, dry it, and weigh it again. The loss of weight +indicates the quantity of carbonate of barytes which the precipitate +contained. The residual weight is sulphate of barytes; the carbonic acid +in the water is equivalent to 0,22 of the weight of the carbonate of +barytes; the sulphuric acid to 0,339 of the weight of the sulphate of +barytes.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Precipitate the second portion of the concentrated water, by the +addition of nitrate of silver; wash the precipitate, dry it, and fuse it +on a piece of foil platina, previously weighed. By weighing the foil +containing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>the fused chloride of silver, the weight of the precipitate +may be ascertained. The fourth part of this weight is equivalent to the +weight of the muriatic acid contained in the portion of water +precipitated.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Precipitate the third portion of the water by the addition of oxalate of +ammonia; wash and dry the precipitate; expose it to a red heat, on a +platina foil, or in a capsule of platina; pour on it some dilute +sulphuric acid; digest for some time, then evaporate to dryness, expose +the capsule to a pretty strong heat, and, lastly, weigh the sulphate of +lime thus produced: 0.453 of its weight indicate the quantity of lime in +the portion of water precipitated.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Add to the same third portion of the water thus freed from lime, a +portion of a solution of neutral carbonate of ammonia, and then add +phosphoric acid, drop by drop, as long as any precipitate falls down. +Wash the precipitate, dry it, and expose it to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>red heat in a platina +capsule: it is phosphate of magnesia. 0.357 of the weight of this salt +is equivalent to the weight of the magnesia contained in the water.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>If the water contain a minute portion of iron, a quantity of it equal to +one of the three preceding portions, must be taken and mixed with a +solution of benzoate of ammonia. The precipitate being washed, dried, +and exposed to a red heat, and weighed, nine-tenths of its weight +indicate the weight of protoxide of iron contained in the water.</p> + +<p>In this manner the quantity of all the substances contained in the water +will be ascertained, except there be any soda. To know the amount of it, +the following method, pointed out by Dr. Murray, answers very well.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Evaporate a portion of the water to one third of its bulk. Precipitate +the carbonic and sulphuric acids by the addition of muriate of barytes, +taking care not to add any excess of the tests.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p><p>Precipitate the lime by oxalate of ammonia, and the magnesia by +carbonate of ammonia and phosphoric acid. (Page <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.) Then evaporate the +liquid thus treated to dryness. A quantity of common salt will remain: +let this be exposed to a red heat; 0.4 of its weight indicate the sodium +contained in the bulk of water employed; and 0.4 sodium are equivalent +to 0.53 of soda.</p> + +<p>It seems hardly requisite to mention some other substances that +occasionally make their appearance in the waters used for domestic +purposes. A fine divided sand is a common constituent, which is easily +obtained in a separate state. We have only to evaporate a portion of the +water to dryness, and redissolve the saline residue in distilled water. +The silicious sand remains undissolved, and betrays itself by its +insolubility in acids, and its easy fusibility into a transparant glass, +with soda, before the blow-pipe.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Deleterious_Effects" id="Deleterious_Effects"></a>DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF KEEPING WATER FOR DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN LEADEN +RESERVOIRS.</p> + +<p>The deleterious effect of lead, when taken into the stomach, is at +present so universally known, that it is quite unnecessary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>to adduce +any argument in proof of its dangerous tendency.</p> + +<p>The ancients were, upwards of 2000 years ago, as well aware of the +pernicious quality of this metal as we are at the present day; and +indeed they appeared to have been much more apprehensive of its effects, +and scrupulous in the application of it to purposes of domestic economy.</p> + +<p>Their precautions may have been occasionally carried to an unnecessary +length. This was the natural consequence of the imperfect state of +experimental knowledge at that period. When men <ins class="correction" title="Original has where.">were</ins> unable to detect +the poisonous matters—to be over scrupulous in the use of such water, +was an error on the right side.</p> + +<p>The moderns, on the other hand, in part, perhaps, from an ill-founded +confidence, and inattention to a careful and continued examination of +its effects, have fallen into an opposite error.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt that the mode of preserving water intended for +food or drink in leaden reservoirs, is exceedingly improper; and +although pure water exercises no sensible action upon metallic lead, +provided air be excluded, the metal is certainly acted on by the water +when air is admitted: this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>effect is so obvious, that it cannot escape +the notice of the least attentive observer.</p> + +<p>The white line which may be seen at the surface of the water preserved +in leaden cisterns, where the metal touches the water and where the air +is admitted, is a carbonate of lead, formed at the expense of the metal. +This substance, when taken into the stomach, is highly deleterious to +health. This was the reason which induced the ancients to condemn leaden +pipes for the conveyance of water; it having been remarked that persons +who swallowed the sediment of such water, became affected with disorders +of the bowels.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Leaden water reservoirs were condemned in ancient times by Hyppocrates, +Galen, <ins class="correction" title="Original has snd.">and</ins> Vitruvius, as dangerous: in addition to which, we may depend +on the observations of Van Swieten, Tronchin, and others, who have +quoted numerous unhappy examples of whole families poisoned by water +which had remained in reservoirs of lead. Dr. Johnston, Dr. Percival, +Sir George Baker, and Dr. Lamb, have likewise recorded numerous +instances where dangerous diseases ensued from the use of water +impregnated with lead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p><p>Different potable waters have unequal solvent powers on this metal. In +some places the use of leaden pumps has been discontinued, from the +expense entailed upon the proprietors by the constant want of repair. +Dr. Lamb<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> states an instance where the proprietor of a well ordered +his plumber to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the +metal usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of repairs; because +he had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it +corroded the lead very soon.</p> + +<p>The following instance is related by Sir George Baker:<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>"A gentleman was the father of a numerous offspring, having had +one-and-twenty children, of whom eight died young, and thirteen survived +their parents. During their infancy, and indeed <i>until they had quitted +the place of their usual residence, they were all remarkably unhealthy</i>; +being particularly subject to disorders of the stomach and bowels. The +father, during many years, was paralytic; the mother, for a long time, +was subject to colics and bilious obstructions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p><p>"After the death of the parents, the family sold the house which they +had so long inhabited. The purchaser found it necessary to repair the +pump. This was made of lead; which, upon examination was found to be so +corroded, that several perforations were observed in the cylinder, in +which the bucket plays; and the cistern in the upper part was reduced to +the thinness of common brown paper, and was full of holes, like a +sieve."</p> + +<p>I have myself seen numerous instances where leaden cisterns have been +completely corroded by the action of water with which they were in +contact: and there is, perhaps, not a plumber who cannot give testimony +of having experienced numerous similar instances in the practice of his +trade.</p> + +<p>I have been frequently called upon to examine leaden cisterns, which had +become leaky on account of the action of the water which they contained; +and I could adduce an instance of a legal controversy having taken place +to settle the disputes between the proprietors of an estate and a +plumber, originating from a similar cause—the plumber being accused of +having furnished a faulty reservoir; whereas the case was proved to be +owing to the chemical action of the water on the lead. Water containing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>a large quantity of common air and carbonic acid gas, always acts very +sensibly on metallic lead.</p> + +<p>Water, which has no sensible action, in its natural state, upon lead, +may acquire the capability of acting on it by heterogeneous matter, +which it may accidentally receive. Numerous instances have shewn that +vegetable matter, such as leaves, falling into leaden cisterns filled +with water, imparted to the water a considerable solvent power of action +on the lead, which, in its natural state it did not possess. Hence the +necessity of keeping leaden cisterns clean; and this is the more +necessary, as their situations expose them to accidental impurities. The +noted saturnine colic of Amsterdam, described by Tronchin, originated +from such a circumstance; as also the case related by Van Swieten,<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +of a whole family afflicted with the same complaint, from such a +cistern. And it is highly probable that the case of disease recorded by +Dr. Duncan,<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> proceeded more from some foulness in the cistern, than +from the solvent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>power of the water. In this instance the officers of +the packet boat used water for their drink and cooking out of a leaden +cistern, whilst the sailors used the water taken from the same source, +except that theirs was kept in wooden vessels. The consequence was, that +all the officers were seized with the colic, and all the men continued +healthy.</p> + +<p>The carelessness of the bulk of mankind, Dr. Lambe very justly observes, +to these things, "is so great, that to repeat them again and again +cannot be wholly useless."</p> + +<p>Although the great majority of persons who daily use water kept in +leaden cisterns receive no sensible injury, yet the apparent salubrity +must be ascribed to the great slowness of its operation, and the +minuteness of the dose taken, the effects of which become modified by +different causes and different constitutions, and according to the +predisposition to diseases inherent in different individuals. The +supposed security of the multitude who use the water with impunity, +amounts to no more than presumption, in favour of any individual, which +may or may not be confirmed by experience.</p> + +<p>Independent of the morbid susceptibility <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>of impressions which +distinguish certain habits, there is, besides, much variety in the +original constitution of the human frame, of which we are totally +ignorant.</p> + +<p>"The susceptibility or proneness to disease of each individual, must be +esteemed peculiar to himself. Confiding to the experience of others is a +ground of security which may prove fallacious; and the danger can with +certainty be obviated only by avoiding its source. And considering the +various and complicated changes of the human frame, under different +circumstances and at different ages, it is neither impossible nor +improbable that the substances taken into the system at one period, and +even for a series of years, with apparent impunity may, notwithstanding, +at another period, be eventually the occasion of disease and of death.</p> + +<p>"The experience of a single person, or of many persons, however +numerous, is quite incompetent to the decision of a question of this +nature.</p> + +<p>"The pernicious effects of an intemperate use of spiritous liquors is +not less certain because we often see habitual drunkards enjoy a state +of good health, and arrive at old age: and the same may be said of +individuals who indulge in vices of all kinds, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>evidently destructive to +life; many of whom, in spite of their bad habits, attain to a vigorous +old age."<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>In confirmation of these remarks, we adduce the following account of the +effect of water contaminated by lead, given by Sir G. Baker:</p> + +<p>"The most remarkable case on the subject that now occurs to my memory, +is that of Lord Ashburnham's family, in Sussex; to which, spring water +was supplied, from a considerable distance, in leaden pipes. In +consequence, his Lordship's servants were every year tormented with +colic, and some of them died. An eminent physician, of Battle, who +corresponded with me on the subject, sent up some gallons of that water, +which were analysed by Dr. Higgins, who reported that the water had +contained more than the common quantity of carbonic acid; and that he +found in it lead in solution, which he attributed to the carbonic acid. +In consequence of this, Lord Ashburnham substituted wooden for leaden +pipes; and from that time his family have had no particular complaints +in their bowels."</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Richmond, Sept. 27, 1802.</i></p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Method_of_Detecting_Lead" id="Method_of_Detecting_Lead"></a>METHOD OF DETECTING LEAD, WHEN CONTAINED IN WATER.</p> + +<p>One of the most delicate tests for detecting lead, is water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which instantly imparts to the fluid +containing the minutest quantity of lead, a brown or blackish tinge.</p> + +<p>This test is so delicate that distilled water, when condensed by a +leaden pipe in a still tub, is affected by it. To shew the action of +this test, the following experiments will serve.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Pour into a wine-glass containing distilled water, an equal quantity of +water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas: no change will take +place; but if a 1/4 of a grain of acetate of lead (sugar of lead of +commerce), or any other preparation of lead, be added, the mixture will +instantly turn brown and dark-coloured.</p> + +<p>To apply this test, one part of the suspected water need merely to be +mingled with a like quantity of water impregnated with sulphuretted +hydrogen. Or better, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>larger quantity, a gallon for example, of the +water may be concentrated by evaporation to about half a pint, and then +submitted to the action of the test.</p> + +<p>Another and more efficient mode of applying this test, is, to pass a +current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the suspected water in the +following manner.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + + +<p>Take a bottle (<i>a</i>) or Florence flask, adapt to the mouth of it a cork +furnished with a glass tube (<i>b</i>), bent at right angles; let one leg of +the tube be immersed in the vial (<i>c</i>) containing the water to be +examined; as shewn in the following sketch. Then take one part of +sulphuret of antimony of commerce, break it into pieces of half the size +of split pease, put it into the flask, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>pour upon it four parts of +common concentrated muriatic acid (spirit of salt of commerce). +Sulphuretted hydrogen gas will become disengaged from the materials in +abundance, and pass through the water in the vial (<i>c</i>). Let the +extrication of the gas be continued for about five minutes; and if the +minutest quantity of lead be present, the water will acquire a +dark-brown or blackish tinge. The extrication of the gas is facilitated +by the application of a gentle heat.</p> + +<div class="img"> +<img src="images/image1.png" alt="" width="50%" /> +</div> + +<p>The action of the sulphuretted hydrogen test, when applied in this +manner, is astonishingly great; for one part of acetate of lead may be +detected by means of it, in 20000 parts of water.<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p><p>Another test for readily detecting lead in water, is sulphuretted +chyazate of potash, first pointed out as such by Mr. Porret. A few drops +of this re-agent, added to water containing lead, occasion a white +precipitate, consisting of small brilliant scales of a considerable +lustre.</p> + +<p>Sulphate of potash, or sulphate of soda, is likewise a very delicate +test for detecting minute portions of lead. Dr. Thomson<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> discovered, +by means of it, one part of lead in 100000 parts of water; and this +acute Philosopher considers it as the most unequivocal test of lead that +we possess. Dr. Thomson remarks that "no other precipitate can well be +confounded with it, except sulphate of barytes; and there is no +probability of the presence of barytes existing in common water."</p> + +<p>Carbonate of potash, or carbonate of soda, may also be used as agents to +detect the presence of lead. By means of these salts Dr. Thomson was +enabled to detect the presence of a smaller quantity of lead in +distilled water, than by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen. But the +reader must <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>here be told, that the use of these tests cannot be +entrusted to an unskilful hand; because the alkaline carbonates throw +down also lime and magnesia, two substances which are frequently found +in common water; the former tests, namely, water impregnated with +sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and nascent sulphuretted hydrogen, are +therefore preferable.</p> + +<p>It is absolutely essential that the water impregnated with sulphuretted +hydrogen, when employed as a test for detecting very minute quantities +of lead, be fresh prepared; and if sulphate of potash, or sulphate of +soda, be used as tests, they should be perfectly pure. Sulphate of +potash is preferable to sulphate of soda. It is likewise advisable to +act with these tests upon water concentrated by boiling. The water to +which the test has been added does sometimes appear not to undergo any +change, at first; it is therefore necessary to suffer the mixture to +stand for a few hours; after which time the action of the test will be +more evident. Mr. Silvester<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> has proposed gallic acid as a delicate +test for detecting lead.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Dalton, Manchester Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Marsden's History of Sumatra.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Manchester Memoirs vol. x. 1819.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Observations on the Water with which Tunbridge Wells is +chiefly supplied for Domestic Purposes, by Dr. Thomson; forming an +Appendix to an Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. +Scudamore.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> It is absolutely essential that the tests should be pure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Philosophical Magazine, vol. xv. p. 252.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. viii. +p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Sir G. Baker, Med. Trans. vol. i. p. 280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Lamb on Spring Water.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Medical Trans. vol. i. p. 420.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Van Swieten ad Boerhaave, Aphorisms, 1060. Comment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Medical Comment. Dec. 2, 1794.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Lambe on Spring Water.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, +by Dr. Scudamore, p. 55. +</p><p> +The application of the sulphuretted hydrogen test requires some +precautions in those cases where other metals besides lead may be +expected; because silver, quicksilver, tin, copper, and several other +metals, are affected by it, as well as lead; but there is no chance of +these metals being met with in common water.—See <i>Chemical Tests</i>, +third edition, p. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Analysis of Tunbridge Wells Water, by Dr. Scudamore, p. +55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Nicholson's Journal, p. 33, 310.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Wine" id="Adulteration_of_Wine"></a><i>Adulteration of Wine.</i></h2> + + +<p>It is sufficiently obvious, that few of those commodities, which are the +objects of commerce, are adulterated to a greater extent than wine. All +persons moderately conversant with the subject, are aware, that a +portion of alum is added to young and meagre red wines, for the purpose +of brightening their colour; that Brazil wood, or the husks of +elderberries and bilberries,<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> are employed to impart a deep rich +purple tint to red Port of a pale, faint colour; that gypsum is used to +render cloudy white wines transparent;<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> that an additional +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>astringency is imparted to immature red wines by means of oak-wood +sawdust,<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> and the husks of filberts; and that a mixture of spoiled +foreign and home-made wines is converted into the wretched compound +frequently sold in this town by the name of <i>genuine old Port</i>.</p> + +<p>Various expedients are resorted to for the purpose of communicating +particular flavours to insipid wines. Thus a <i>nutty</i> flavour is produced +by bitter almonds; factitious Port wine is flavoured with a tincture +drawn from the seeds of raisins; and the ingredients employed to form +the <i>bouquet</i> of high-flavoured wines, are sweet-brier, oris-root, +clary, cherry laurel water, and elder-flowers.</p> + +<p>The flavouring ingredients used by manufacturers, may all be purchased +by those dealers in wine who are initiated in the mysteries of the +trade; and even a manuscript recipe book for preparing them, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>and the +whole mystery of managing all sorts of wines, may be obtained on payment +of a considerable fee.</p> + +<p>The sophistication of wine with substances not absolutely noxious to +health, is carried to an enormous extent in this metropolis. Many +thousand pipes of spoiled cyder are annually brought hither from the +country, for the purpose of being converted into factitious Port wine. +The art of manufacturing spurious wine is a regular trade of great +extent in this metropolis.</p> + +<p>"There is, in this city, a certain fraternity of chemical operators, who +work underground in holes, caverns, and dark retirements, to conceal +their mysteries from the eyes and observation of mankind. These +subterraneous philosophers are daily employed in the transmutation of +liquors; and by the power of magical drugs and incantations, raising +under the streets of London the choicest products of the hills and +valleys of France. They can squeeze Bourdeaux out of the sloe, and draw +Champagne from an apple. Virgil, in that remarkable prophecy,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Incultisque ruhens pendebit sentibus uva.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">Virg. Ecl. iv. 29.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The ripening grape shall hang on every thorn.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><p>seems to have hinted at this art, which can turn a plantation of +northern hedges into a vineyard. These adepts are known among one +another by the name of <i>Wine-brewers</i>; and, I am afraid, do great +injury, not only to her Majesty's customs, but to the bodies of many of +her good subjects."<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>The following are a few of the recipes employed in the manufacture of +spurious wine:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>To make <i>British Port Wine</i>.<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>—"Take of British grape wine, or +good cyder, 4 gallons; of the juice of red beet root two quarts; +brandy, two quarts; logwood 4 ounces; rhatany root, bruised, half a +pound: first infuse the logwood and rhatany root in brandy, and a +gallon of grape wine or cyder for one week; then strain off the +liquor, and mix it with the other ingredients; keep it in a cask +for a month, when it will be fit to bottle."</p> + +<p class="section"><i>British Champagne.</i>—"Take of white sugar, 8 pounds; the whitest +brown sugar, 7 pounds, crystalline lemon acid, or tartaric acid, 1 +ounce and a quarter, pure water, 8 gallons; white <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>grape wine, two +quarts, or perry, 4 quarts; of French brandy, 3 pints."</p> + +<p>"Put the sugar in the water, skimming it occasionally for two +hours, then pour it into a tub and dissolve in it the acid; before +it is cold, add some yeas<ins title="t missing in original.">t</ins> and ferment<ins title="Period missing in original.">.</ins> Put it into a clean cask +and add the other ingredients. The cask is then to be well bunged, +and kept in a cool place for two or three months; then bottle it +and keep it cool for a month longer, when it will be fit for use. +If it should not be perfectly clear after standing in the cask two +or three months, it should be rendered so by the use of isinglass. +By adding 1 lb. of fresh or preserved strawberries, and 2 ounces of +powdered cochineal, the <span class="smcap lowercase">PINK</span> <i>Champagne may be made</i>."</p> + +<p class="section"><i>Southampton Port.</i><a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>—"Take cyder, 36 gallons; elder wine, 11 +gallons; brandy, 5 gallons; damson wine, 11 gallons; mix."</p></div> + +<p>The particular and separate department in this factitious wine trade, +called <i>crusting</i>, consists in lining the interior surface of empty +wine-bottles, in part, with a red crust of super-tartrate of potash, by +suffering a saturated hot solution of this salt, coloured <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>red with a +decoction of Brazil-wood, to crystallize within them; and after this +simulation of maturity is perfected, they are filled with the compound +called Port wine.</p> + +<p>Other artisans are regularly employed in staining the lower extremities +of bottle-corks with a fine red colour, to appear, on being drawn, as if +they had been long in contact with the wine.</p> + +<p>The preparation of an astringent extract, to produce, from spoiled +home-made and foreign wines, a "genuine old Port," by mere admixture; or +to impart to a weak wine a rough austere taste, a fine colour, and a +peculiar flavour; forms one branch of the business of particular +wine-coopers: while the mellowing and restoring of spoiled white wines, +is the sole occupation of men who are called <i>refiners of wine</i>.</p> + +<p>We have stated that a crystalline crust is formed on the interior +surface of bottles, for the purpose of misleading the unwary into a +belief that the wine contained in them is of a certain age. A +correspondent operation is performed on the wooden cask; the whole +interior of which is stained artificially with a crystalline crust of +super-tartrate of potash, artfully affixed in a manner precisely similar +to that before stated. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>Thus the wine-merchant, after bottling off a +pipe of wine, is enabled to impose on the understanding of his +customers, by taking to pieces the cask, and exhibiting the beautiful +dark coloured and fine crystalline crust, as an indubitable proof of the +age of the wine; a practice by no means uncommon, to flatter the vanity +of those who pride themselves in their acute discrimination of wines.</p> + +<p>These and many other sophistications, which have long been practised +with impunity, are considered as legitimate by those who pride +themselves for their skill in the art of <i>managing</i>, or, according to +the familiar phrase, <i>doctoring</i> wines. The plea alleged in exculpation +of them, is, that, though deceptive, they are harmless: but even +admitting this as a palliation, yet they form only one department of an +art which includes other processes of a tendency absolutely criminal.</p> + +<p>Several well-authenticated facts have convinced me that the adulteration +of wine with substances deleterious to health, is certainly practised +oftener than is, perhaps, suspected; and it would be easy to give some +instances of very serious effects having arisen from wines contaminated +with deleterious substances, were this a subject on which I meant to +speak. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>following statement is copied from the Monthly Magazine for +March 1811, p. 188.</p> + +<p>"On the 17th of January, the passengers by the Highflyer coach, from the +north, dined, as usual, at Newark. A bottle of Port wine was ordered; on +tasting which, one of the passengers observed that it had an unpleasant +flavour, and begged that it might be changed. The waiter took away the +bottle, poured into a fresh decanter half the wine which had been +objected to, and filled it up from another bottle. This he took into the +room, and the greater part was drank by the passengers, who, after the +coach had set out towards Grantham, were seized with extreme sickness; +one gentleman in particular, who had taken more of the wine than the +others, it was thought would have died, but has since recovered. The +half of the bottle of wine sent out of the passengers' room, was put +aside for the purpose of mixing negus. In the evening, Mr. Bland, of +Newark, went into the hotel, and drank a glass or two of wine and water. +He returned home at his usual hour, and went to bed; in the middle of +the night he was taken so ill, as to induce Mrs. Bland to send for his +brother, an apothecary in the town; but before that gentleman arrived, +he was dead. An inquest was held, and the jury, after the fullest +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>enquiry, and the examination of the surgeons by whom the body was +opened, returned a verdict of—<i>Died by Poison.</i>"</p> + +<p>The most dangerous adulteration of wine is by some preparations of lead, +which possess the property of stopping the progress of acescence of +wine, and also of rendering white wines, when muddy, transparent. I have +good reason to state that lead is certainly employed for this purpose. +The effect is very rapid; and there appears to be no other method known, +of rapidly recovering ropy wines. Wine merchants persuade themselves +that the minute quantity of lead employed for that purpose is perfectly +harmless, and that no atom of lead remains in the wine. Chemical +analysis proves the contrary; and the practice of clarifying spoiled +white wines by means of lead, must be pronounced as highly deleterious.</p> + +<p>Lead, in whatever state it be taken into the stomach, occasions terrible +diseases; and wine, adulterated with the minutest quantity of it, +becomes a slow poison. The merchant or dealer who practises this +dangerous sophistication, adds the crime of murder to that of fraud, and +deliberately scatters the seeds of disease and death among those +consumers who contribute to his emolument. If to debase the current +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>coin of the realm be denounced as a capital offence, what punishment +should be awarded against a practice which converts into poison a liquor +used for sacred purposes.</p> + +<p>Dr. Watson<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> relates, that the method of adulterating wine with lead, +was at one time a common practice in Paris.</p> + +<p>Dr. Warren<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> states an instance of thirty-two persons having become +severely ill, after drinking white wine that had been adulterated with +lead. One of them died, and one became paralytic.</p> + +<p>In Graham's Treatise on Wine-Making,<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> under the article of <i>Secrets</i>, +belonging to the mysteries of vintners, p. 31, lead is recommended to +prevent wine from becoming acid. The following lines are copied from Mr. +Graham's work:</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>To hinder Wine from turning.</i></p> + +<p>"Put a pound of melted lead, in fair water, into your cask, pretty +warm, and stop it close."</p> + + +<p class="section">"<i>To soften Grey Wine.</i></p> + +<p>"Put in a little vinegar wherein litharge has been well steeped, and +boil some honey, to draw out the wax. Strain it through a cloth, and +put a quart of it into a tierce of wine, and this will mend it."</p> +</div> + +<hr class="minspaced" /> + +<p>The ancients knew that lead rendered harsh wines milder, and preserved +it from acidity, without being aware that it was pernicious: it was +therefore long used with confidence; and when its effects were +discovered, they were not ascribed to that metal, but to some other +cause.<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> When the Greek and Roman wine merchants wished to try whether +their wine was spoiled, they immersed in it a plate of lead;<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> if the +colour of the lead were corroded, they concluded that their wine was +spoiled. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>Wine may become accidentally impregnated with lead.</p> + +<p>It is well known that bottles in which wine has been kept, are usually +cleaned by means of shot, which by its rolling motion detaches the +super-tartrate of potash from the sides of the bottles. This practice, +which is generally pursued by wine-merchants, may give rise to serious +consequences, as will become evident from the following case:<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>"A gentleman who had never in his life experienced a day's illness, and +who was constantly in the habit of drinking half a bottle of Madeira +wine after his dinner, was taken ill, three hours after dinner, with a +severe pain in the stomach and violent bowel colic, which gradually +yielded within twelve hours to the remedies prescribed by his medical +adviser. The day following he drank the remainder of the same bottle of +wine which was left the preceding day, and within two hours afterwards +he was again seized with the most violent colliquative pains, headach, +shiverings, and great pain over the whole body. His apothecary becoming +suspicious that the wine he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>drank might be the cause of the +disease, ordered the bottle from which the wine had been decanted to be +brought to him, with a view that he might examine the dregs, if any were +left. The bottle happening to slip out of the hand of the servant, +disclosed a row of shot wedged forcibly into the angular bent-up +circumference of it. On examining the beads of shot, they crumbled into +dust, the outer crust (defended by a coat of black lead with which the +shot is glazed) being alone left unacted on, whilst the remainder of the +metal was dissolved. The wine, therefore, had become contaminated with +<i>lead and arsenic</i>, the shot being a compound of these metals, which no +doubt had produced the mischief."</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Method_of_Detecting_Adulterations_of_Wine" id="Method_of_Detecting_Adulterations_of_Wine"></a>TEST FOR DETECTING THE DELETERIOUS ADULTERATIONS OF WINE.</p> + +<p>A ready re-agent for detecting the presence of lead, or any other +deleterious metal in wine, is known by the name of the <i>wine test</i>. It +consists of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, acidulated +with muriatic acid. By adding one part of it, to two of wine, or any +other liquid suspected to contain lead, a dark coloured <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>or black +precipitate will fall down, which does not disappear by an addition of +muriatic acid; and this precipitate, dried and fused before the blowpipe +on a piece of charcoal, yields a globule of metallic lead. This test +does not precipitate iron; the muriatic acid retains iron in solution +when combined with sulphuretted hydrogen; and any acid in the wine has +no effect in precipitating any of the sulphur of the test liquor. Or a +still more efficacious method is, to pass a current of sulphuretted +hydrogen gas through the wine, in the manner described, p. <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, having +previously acidulated the wine with muriatic acid.</p> + +<p>The wine test sometimes employed is prepared in the following +manner:—Mix equal parts of finely powdered sulphur and of slacked +quick-lime, and expose it to a red heat for twenty minutes. To +thirty-six grains of this sulphuret of lime, add twenty-six grains of +super-tartrate of potassa; put the mixture into an ounce bottle, and +fill up the bottle with water that has been previously boiled, and +suffered to cool. The liquor, after having been repeatedly shaken, and +allowed to become clear, by the subsidence of the undissolved matter, +may then be poured into another phial, into which about twenty drops of +muriatic acid have been previously put. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>It is then ready for use. This +test, when mingled with wine containing lead or copper, turns the wine +of a dark-brown or black colour. But the mere application of +sulphuretted hydrogen gas to wine, acidulated by muriatic acid, is a far +more preferable mode of detecting lead in wine.</p> + +<p>M. Vogel<a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> has lately recommended acetate of lead as a test for +detecting extraneous colours in red wine. He remarks, that none of the +substances that can be employed for colouring wine, such as the berries +of the Vaccinium Mirtillus (bilberries), elderberries, and Campeach +wood, produce with genuine red wine, a greenish grey precipitate, which +is the colour that is procured by this test by means of genuine red +wines.</p> + +<p>Wine coloured with the juice of the bilberries, or elderberries, or +Campeach wood, produces, with acetate of lead, a deep blue precipitate; +and Brazil-wood, red saunders, and the red beet, produce a colour which +is precipitated red by acetate of lead. Wine coloured by beet root is +also rendered colourless by lime water; but the weakest acid brings back +the colour. As the colouring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>matter of red wines resides in the skin of +the grape, M. Vogel prepared a quantity of skins, and reduced them to +powder. In this state he found that they communicated to alcohol a deep +red colour: a paper stained with this colour was rendered red by acids +and green by alkalies.</p> + +<p>M. Vogel made a quantity of red wine from black grapes, for the purpose +of his experiments; and this produced the genuine greyish green +precipitate with acetate of lead. He also found the same coloured +precipitate in two specimens of red wine, the genuineness of which could +not be suspected; the one from Chateau-Marguaux, and the other from the +neighbourhood of Coblentz.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Specific_Differences" id="Specific_Differences"></a>SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES, AND COMPONENT PARTS OF WINE.</p> + +<p>Every body knows that no product of the arts varies so much as wine; +that different countries, and sometimes the different provinces of the +same country, produce different wines. These differences, no doubt, must +be attributed chiefly to the climate in which the vineyard is +situated—to its culture—the quantity of sugar contained in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>grape +juice—the manufacture of the wine; or the mode of suffering its +fermentation to be accomplished. If the grapes be gathered unripe, the +wine abounds with acid; but if the fruit be gathered ripe, the wine will +be rich. When the proportion of sugar in the grape is sufficient, and +the fermentation complete, the wine is perfect and generous. If the +quantity of sugar be too large, part of it remains undecomposed, as the +fermentation is languid, and the wine is sweet and luscious; if, on the +contrary, it contains, even when full ripe, only a small portion of +sugar, the wine is thin and weak; and if it be bottled before the +fermentation be completed, part of the sugar remains undecomposed, the +fermentation will go on slowly in the bottle, and, on drawing the cork, +the wine sparkles in the glass; as, for example, Champagne. Such wines +are not sufficiently mature. When the must is separated from the husk of +the red grape before it is fermented, the wine has little or no colour: +these are called <i>white</i> wines. If, on the contrary, the husks are +allowed to remain in the must while the fermentation is going on, the +alcohol dissolves the colouring matter of the husks, and the wine is +coloured: such are called <i>red</i> wines. Hence white wines are often +prepared from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>red grapes, the liquor being drawn off before it has +acquired the red colour; for the skin of the grape only gives the +colour. Besides in these principal circumstances, wines vary much in +flavour.</p> + +<p>All wines contain one common and identical principle, from which their +similar effects are produced; namely, <i>brandy</i> or <i>alcohol</i>. It is +especially by the different proportions of brandy contained in wines, +that they differ most from one another. When wine is distilled, the +alcohol readily separates. The spirit thus obtained is well known under +the name of <i>brandy</i>.</p> + +<p>All wines contain also a free acid; hence they turn blue tincture of +cabbage, red. The acid found in the greatest abundance in grape wines, +is tartaric acid. Every wine contains likewise a portion of +super-tartrate of potash, and extractive matter, derived from the juice +of the grape. These substances deposit slowly in the vessel in which +they are kept. To this is owing the improvement of wine from age. Those +wines which effervesce or froth, when poured into a glass, contain also +carbonic acid, to which their briskness is owing. The peculiar flavour +and odour of different kinds of wines probably depend upon the presence +of a <i>volatile oil</i>, so small in quantity that it cannot be separated.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Quantity_of_Brandy" id="Quantity_of_Brandy"></a>EASY METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF BRANDY CONTAINED IN VARIOUS +SORTS OF WINE.</p> + +<p>The strength of all wines depends upon the quantity of alcohol or brandy +which they contain. Mr. Brande, and Gay-Lussac, have proved, by very +decisive experiments, that all wines contain brandy or alcohol ready +formed. The following is the process discovered by Mr. Brande, for +ascertaining the quantity of spirit, or brandy, contained in different +sorts of wine.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead">EXPERIMENT.</p> + +<p>Add to eight parts, by measure, of the wine to be examined, one part of +a concentrated solution of sub-acetate of lead: a dense insoluble +precipitate will ensue; which is a combination of the test liquor with +the colouring, extractive, and acid matter of the wine. Shake the +mixture for a few minutes, pour the whole upon a filtre, and collect the +filtered fluid. It contains the brandy or spirit, and water of the wine, +together with a portion of the sub-acetate of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>lead. Add, in small +quantities at a time, to this fluid, warm, dry, and pure sub-carbonate +of potash (<i>not salt of tartar, or sub-carbonate of potash of +commerce</i>), which has previously been freed from water by heat, till the +last portion added remains undissolved. The brandy or spirit contained +in the fluid will become separated; for the sub-carbonate of potash +abstracts from it the whole of the water with which it was combined; the +brandy or spirit of wine forming a distinct stratum, which floats upon +the aqueous solution of the alkaline salt. If the experiment be made in +a glass tube, from one-half inch to two inches in diameter, and +graduated into 100 equal parts, the <i>per centage</i> of spirit, in a given +quantity of wine, may be read off by mere inspection. In this manner the +strength of any wine may be examined.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Tabular_View" id="Tabular_View"></a><i>Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage of Brandy or Alcohol<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[40]</span></a> +contained in various kinds of Wines, and other fermented Liquors.</i><a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[41]</span></a></p> + + +<div class='columnleft'> +<table border="0" summary="Percentage of Alcohol in Wines and Liquors"> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdright">Proportion of Spirit</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdright">per Cent.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdright">by measure.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Lissa</td> + <td class="tdright">26,47</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">24,35</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">25,41</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Raisin Wine</td> + <td class="tdright">26,40</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">25,77</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">23,30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">25,12</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Marcella</td> + <td class="tdright">26,03</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">25,05</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">25,09</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Madeira</td> + <td class="tdright">24,42</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">23,93</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (Sercial)</td> + <td class="tdright">21,40</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">19,24</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">22,27</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Port</td> + <td class="tdright">25,83</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">24,29</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">23,71</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">23,39</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">22,30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">21,40</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">19,96</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">22,96</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Sherry</td> + <td class="tdright">19,81</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">19,83</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">18,79</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">18,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">19,17</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Teneriffe</td> + <td class="tdright">19,79</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Colares</td> + <td class="tdright">19,75</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Lachryma Christi</td> + <td class="tdright">19,70</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Constantia (White)</td> + <td class="tdright">19,75</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (Red)</td> + <td class="tdright">18,92</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Lisbon</td> + <td class="tdright">18,94</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Malaga (1666)</td> + <td class="tdright">18,94</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Bucellas</td> + <td class="tdright">18,49<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Red Madeira</td> + <td class="tdright">22,30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">18,40</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">20,35</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Cape Muschat</td> + <td class="tdright">18,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Cape Madeira</td> + <td class="tdright">22,94</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">20,50</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">18,11</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">20,51</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Grape Wine</td> + <td class="tdright">18,11</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Calcavella</td> + <td class="tdright">19,20</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">18,10</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">18,65</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Vidonia</td> + <td class="tdright">19,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Alba Flora</td> + <td class="tdright">17,26</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Malaga</td> + <td class="tdright">17,26</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Hermitage (White)</td> + <td class="tdright">17,43</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Roussillon</td> + <td class="tdright">19,00</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">17,20</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">18,13</td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<div class="columnright"> +<table border="0" summary="Percentage of Alcohol in Wines and Liquors"> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdright">Proportion of Spirit</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdright">per Cent.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdright">by measure.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Claret</td> + <td class="tdright">17,11</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">16,32</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">14,08</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">12,91</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">15,10</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Malmsey Madeira</td> + <td class="tdright">16,40</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Lunel</td> + <td class="tdright">15,52</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Sheraaz</td> + <td class="tdright">15,52</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Syracuse</td> + <td class="tdright">15,28</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Sauterne</td> + <td class="tdright">14,22</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Burgundy</td> + <td class="tdright">16,60</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">15,22</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">14,53</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">11,95</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">14,57</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Hock</td> + <td class="tdright">14,37</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">13,00</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (old in cask)</td> + <td class="tdright">8,68</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">12,08</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Nice</td> + <td class="tdright">14,62</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Barsac</td> + <td class="tdright">13,86</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Tent</td> + <td class="tdright">13,30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Champagne (Still)</td> + <td class="tdright">13,80</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (Sparkling)</td> + <td class="tdright">12,80</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (Red)</td> + <td class="tdright">12,56</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (ditto)</td> + <td class="tdright">11,30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">12,61</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Red Hermitage</td> + <td class="tdright">12,32</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Vin de Grave</td> + <td class="tdright">13,94</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">12,80</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">13,37</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Frontignac</td> + <td class="tdright">12,79</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Cote Rotie</td> + <td class="tdright">12,32</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Gooseberry Wine</td> + <td class="tdright">11,84</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Currant Wine</td> + <td class="tdright">20,55</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Orange Wine aver.</td> + <td class="tdright">11,26</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Tokay</td> + <td class="tdright">9,88</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Elder Wine</td> + <td class="tdright">9,87</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Cyder highest aver.</td> + <td class="tdright">9,87</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto lowest ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">5,21</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Perry average</td> + <td class="tdright">7,26</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Mead</td> + <td class="tdright">7,32</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale (Burton)</td> + <td class="tdright">8,88</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (Edinburgh)</td> + <td class="tdright">6,20</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto (Dorchester)</td> + <td class="tdright">5,50</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Average</td> + <td class="tdright">6,87</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Brown Stout</td> + <td class="tdright">6,80</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">London Porter aver.</td> + <td class="tdright">4,20</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Do. Small Beer, do.</td> + <td class="tdright">1,28</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Brandy</td> + <td class="tdright">53,39</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Rum</td> + <td class="tdright">53,68</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Gin</td> + <td class="tdright">51,60</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Scotch Whiskey</td> + <td class="tdright">54,32</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Irish ditto</td> + <td class="tdright">53,99</td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="bottom"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Constitution_of_Home-made_Wine" id="Constitution_of_Home-made_Wine"></a>CONSTITUTION OF HOME-MADE WINES.</p> + +<p>Besides grapes, the most valuable of the articles of which wine is made, +there are a considerable number of fruits from which a vinous liquor is +obtained. Of such, we have in this country the gooseberry, the currant, +the elderberry, the cherry, &c. which ferment well, and affords what are +called <i>home-made wines</i>.</p> + +<p>They differ chiefly from foreign wines in containing a much larger +quantity of acid. Dr. Macculloch<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> has remarked that the acid in +home-made wines is principally the malic acid; while in grape wines it +is the tartaric acid.</p> + +<p>The great deficiency in these wines, independent of the flavour, which +chiefly originates, not from the juice, but from the seeds and husks of +the fruits, is the excess of acid, which is but imperfectly concealed by +the addition of sugar. This is owing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>chiefly, as Dr. Macculloch +remarks, to the tartaric acid existing in the grape juice in the state +of super-tartrate of potash, which is in part decomposed during the +fermentation, and the rest becomes gradually precipitated; whilst the +malic acid exists in the currant and gooseberry juice in the form of +malate of potash; which salt does not appear to suffer a decomposition +during the fermentation of the wine; and, by its greater solubility, is +retained in the wine. Hence Dr. Macculloch recommends the addition of +super-tartrate of potash, in the manufacture of British wines. They also +contain a much larger proportion of mucilage than wines made from +grapes. The juice of the gooseberry contains some portion of tartaric +acid; hence it is better suited for the production of what is called +<i>English Champagne</i>, than any other fruit of this country.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Dried bilberries are imported from Germany, under the +fallacious name of <i>berry-dye</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The gypsum had the property of clarifying wines, was known +to the ancients. "The Greeks and Romans put gypsum in their new wines, +stirred it often round, then let it stand for some time; and when it had +settled, decanted the clear liquor. (<i>Geopon</i>, lib. vii. p. 483, 494.) +They knew that the wine acquired, by this addition, a certain sharpness, +which it afterwards lost; but that the good effects of the gypsum were +lasting."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Sawdust for this purpose is chiefly supplied by the +ship-builders, and forms a regular article of commerce of the brewers' +druggists.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Tatler, vol. viii. p. 110, edit. 1797. 8vo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Dr. Reece's Gazette of Health, No. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Supplement to the Pharmacopœias, p. 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Chemical Essays, vol. viii. p. 369.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Medical Trans. vol. ii. p. 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> This book, which has run through many editions, may be +supposed to have done some mischief.—In the Vintner's Guide, 4th edit. +1770, p. 67, a lump of sugar of lead, of the size of a walnut, and a +table-spoonful of sal enixum, are directed to be added to a tierce +(forty-two gallons) of muddy wine, <i>to cure it of its muddiness</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Beckman's History of Inventions, vol. i. p. 398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Pliny, lib. xiv. cap. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Philosophical Magazine, 1819, No. 257, p. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Journ. Pharm. iv. 56 (Feb. 1818.) and Thomson's Annals, +Sept. 1818, p. 232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Of a Specific Gravity. 825.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Philosophical Trans. 1811, p. 345; 1813, p. 87; Journal of +Science and the Arts, No. viii. p. 290.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Macculloch on Wine. This is by far the best treatise +published in this country on the Manufacture of Home-made Wines.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Bread" id="Adulteration_of_Bread"></a><i>Adulteration of Bread.</i></h2> + + +<p>This is one of the sophistications of the articles of food most commonly +practised in this metropolis, where the goodness of bread is estimated +entirely by its whiteness. It is therefore usual to add a certain +quantity of alum to the dough; this improves the look of the bread very +much, and renders it whiter and firmer. Good, white, and porous bread, +may certainly be manufactured from good wheaten flour alone; but to +produce the degree of whiteness rendered <ins class="correction" title="Spelled indipensable in original.">indispensable</ins> by the caprice of +the consumers in London, it is necessary (unless the very best flour is +employed,) that the dough should be <i>bleached</i>; and no substance has +hitherto been found to answer this purpose better than alum.</p> + +<p>Without this salt it is impossible to make bread, from the kind of flour +usually employed by the London bakers, so white, as that which is +commonly sold in the metropolis.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><p>If the alum be omitted, the bread has a slight yellowish grey hue—as +may be seen in the instance of what is called <i>home-made bread</i>, of +private families. Such bread remains longer moist than bread made with +alum; yet it is not so light, and full of eyes, or porous, and it has +also a different taste.</p> + +<p>The quantity of alum requisite to produce the required whiteness and +porosity depends entirely upon the genuineness of the flour, and the +quality of the grain from which the flour is obtained. The mealman makes +different sorts of flour from the same kind of grain. The best flour is +mostly used by the biscuit bakers and pastry cooks, and the inferior +sorts in the making of bread. The bakers' flour is very often made of +the worst kinds of damaged foreign wheat, and other cereal grains mixed +with them in grinding the wheat into flour. In this capital, no fewer +than six distinct kinds of wheaten flour are brought into market. They +are called fine flour, seconds, middlings, fine middlings, coarse +middlings, and twenty-penny flour. Common garden beans, and pease, are +also frequently ground up among the London bread flour.</p> + +<p>I have been assured by several bakers, on whose testimony I can rely, +that the small profit attached to the bakers' trade, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>and the bad +quality of the flour, induces the generality of the London bakers to use +alum in the making of their bread.</p> + +<p>The smallest quantity of alum that can be employed with effect to +produce a white, light, and porous bread, from an inferior kind of +flour, I have my own baker's authority to state, is from three to four +ounces to a sack of flour, weighing 240 pounds. The alum is either mixed +well in the form of powder, with a quantity of flour previously made +into a liquid paste with water, and then incorporated with the dough; or +the alum is dissolved in the water employed for mixing up the whole +quantity of the flour for making the dough.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose that the baker intends to convert five bushels, or a sack +of flour, into loaves with the least adulteration practised. He pours +the flour into the kneading trough, and sifts it through a fine wire +sieve, which makes it lie very light, and serves to separate any +impurities with which the flour may be mixed. Two ounces of alum are +then dissolved in about a quart of boiling water, and the solution +poured into <i>the seasoning-tub</i>. Four or five pounds of salt are +likewise put into the tub, and a pailful of hot-water. When this mixture +has cooled down to the temperature of about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>84°, three or four pints of +yeast are added; the whole is mixed, strained through the seasoning +sieve, emptied into a hole in the flour, and mixed up with the requisite +portion of it to the consistence of a thick batter. Some dry flour is +then sprinkled over the top, and it is covered up with cloths.</p> + +<p>In this situation it is left about three hours. It gradually swells and +breaks through the dry flour scattered on its surface. An additional +quantity of warm water, in which one ounce of alum is dissolved, is now +added, and the dough is made up into a paste as before; the whole is +then covered up. In this situation it is left for a few hours.</p> + +<p>The whole is then intimately kneaded with more water for upwards of an +hour. The dough is cut into pieces with a knife, and penned to one side +of the trough; some dry flour is sprinkled over it, and it is left in +this state for about four hours. It is then kneaded again for +half-an-hour. The dough is now cut into pieces and weighed, in order to +furnish the requisite quantity for each loaf. The loaves are left in the +oven about two hours and a half. When taken out, they are carefully +covered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>up, to prevent as much as possible the loss of weight.<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>The following account of making a sack, of five bushels of flour into +bread, is taken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>from Dr. P. Markham's Considerations on the Ingredients +used in the Adulteration of Bread Flour, and Bread, p. 21:</p> + + +<table class="left" border="0" width="50%" summary="Making a Sack, of Five Bushels of Flour, into Bread"> +<tr> + <td colspan="2">5 bushels of flour,</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2">8 ounces of alum,<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2">4 lbs. of salt,</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2">1/2 a gallon of yeast, mixed with about</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2">3 gallons of water.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2"><hr class="minor" /></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3" class="tdright">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" valign="bottom">The whole quantity of bread-flour obtained from the bushel of wheat, weighs</td> + <td class="tdright">48</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Fine pollard</td> + <td class="tdleft">4-1/4</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Coarse pollard</td> + <td class="tdleft">4</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Bran</td> + <td class="tdleft">2-3/4</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdleft">———</td> + <td class="tdright">11</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdright">—</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2">The whole together</td> + <td class="tdright">59</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" valign="bottom">To which add the loss of weight in manufacturing a bushel of wheat</td> + <td class="tdright">2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdright">—</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2">Produces the original weight</td> + <td class="tdright">61</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdright">—</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2"><hr class="minor" /></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p><p>The theory of the bleaching property of alum, as manifested in the +panification of an inferior kind of flour, is by no means well +understood; and indeed it is really surprising that the effect should be +produced by so small a quantity of that substance, two or three ounces +of alum being sufficient for a sack of flour<ins title="Original has comma.">.</ins></p> + +<p>From experiments in which I have been employed, with the assistance of +skilful bakers, I am authorised to state, that without the addition of +alum, it does not appear possible to make white, light, and porous +bread, such as is used in this metropolis, unless the flour be of the +very best quality.</p> + +<p>Another substance employed by fraudulent bakers, is subcarbonate of +ammonia. With this salt, they realise the important consideration of +producing light and porous bread, from spoiled, or what is technically +called <i>sour flour</i>. This salt which becomes wholly converted into a +gaseous state during the operation of baking, causes the dough to swell +up into air bubbles, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>carry before them the stiff dough, and thus +it renders the dough porous; the salt itself is, at the same time, +totally volatilised during the operation of baking. Thus not a vestige +of carbonate of ammonia remains in the bread. This salt is also largely +employed by the biscuit and ginger-bread bakers.</p> + +<p>Potatoes are likewise largely, and perhaps constantly, used by +fraudulent bakers, as a cheap ingredient, to enhance their profit. The +potatoes being boiled, are triturated, passed through a sieve, and +incorporated with the dough by kneading. This adulteration does not +materially injure the bread. The bakers assert, that the bad quality of +the flour renders the addition of potatoes advantageous as well to the +baker as to the purchaser, and that without this admixture in the +manufacture of bread, it would be impossible to carry on the trade of a +baker. But the grievance is, that the same price is taken for a potatoe +loaf, as for a loaf of genuine bread, though it must cost the baker +less.</p> + +<p>I have witness, that five bushels of flour, three ounces of alum, six +pounds of salt, one bushel of potatoes boiled into a stiff paste, and +three quarts of yeast, with the requisite quantity of water, produce a +white, light, and highly palatable bread.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p><p>Such are the artifices practised in the preparation of bread,<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> and it +must be allowed, on contrasting them with those sophistications +practised by manufacturers of other articles of food, that they are +comparatively unimportant. However, some medical men have no hesitation +in attributing many diseases incidental to children to the use of eating +adulterated bread; others again will not admit these allegations: they +persuade themselves that the small quantity of alum added to the bread +(perhaps upon an average, from eight to ten grains to a quartern loaf,) +is absolutely harmless.</p> + +<p>Dr. Edmund Davy, Professor of Chemistry, at the Cork Institution, has +communicated the following important facts to the public concerning the +manufacture of bread.</p> + +<p>"The carbonate of magnesia of the shops, when well mixed with flour, in +the proportion of from twenty to forty grains to a pound of flour, +materially improves it for the purpose of making bread.</p> + +<p>"Loaves made with the addition of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>carbonate of magnesia, rise well in +the oven; and after being baked, the bread is light and spongy, has a +good taste, and keeps well. In cases when the new flour is of an +indifferent quality, from twenty to thirty grains of carbonate of +magnesia to a pound of the flour will considerably improve the bread. +When the flour is of the worst quality, forty grains to a pound of flour +seem necessary to produce the same effect.</p> + +<p>"As the improvement in the bread from new flour depends upon the +carbonate of magnesia, it is necessary that care should be taken to mix +it intimately with the flour, previous to the making of the dough.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Davy made a great number of comparative experiments with other +substances, mixed in different proportions with new bread flour. The +fixed alkalies, both in their pure and carbonated state, when used in +small quantity, to a certain extent were found to improve the bread made +from new flour; but no substance was so efficacious in this respect as +carbonate of magnesia.</p> + +<p>"The greater number of his experiments were performed on the worst new +<i>seconds</i> flour Mr. Davy could procure. He also made some trials on +<i>seconds</i> and <i>firsts</i> of different quality. In some cases the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>results +were more striking and satisfactory than in others; but in every +instance the improvement of the bread, by carbonate of magnesia, was +obvious.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Davy observes, that a pound of carbonate of magnesia would be +sufficient to mix with two hundred and fifty-six pounds of new flour, or +at the rate of thirty grains to the pound. And supposing a pound of +carbonate of magnesia to cost half-a-crown, the additional expense would +be only half a farthing in the pound of flour.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Davy conceives that not the slightest danger can be apprehended +from the use of such an innocent substance, as the carbonate of +magnesia, in such small proportion as is necessary to improve bread from +new flour."</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Detecting_Alum_in_Bread" id="Detecting_Alum_in_Bread"></a>METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF ALUM IN BREAD.</p> + +<p>Pour upon two ounces of the suspected bread, half a pint of boiling +distilled water; boil the mixture for a few minutes, and filter it +through unsized paper. Evaporate the fluid, to about one fourth of its +original bulk, and let gradually fall into the clear fluid a solution of +muriate of barytes. If a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span><i>copious</i> white precipitate ensues, which does +not disappear by the addition of <i>pure</i> nitric acid, the presence of +alum may be suspected. Bread, made without alum, produces, when assayed +in this manner, merely a very slight precipitate, which originates from +a minute portion of sulphate of magnesia contained in all common salt of +commerce; and bread made with salt freed from sulphate of magnesia, +produces an infusion with water, which does not become disturbed by the +barytic test.</p> + +<p>Other means of detecting all the constituent parts of alum, namely, the +alumine, sulphuric acid, and potash, so as to render the presence of the +alum unequivocal, will readily suggest itself to those who are familiar +with analytical chemistry; namely: one of the readiest means is, to +decompose the vegetable matter of the bread, by the action of chlorate +of potash, in a platina crucible, at a red heat, and then to assay the +residuary mass—by means of muriate of barytes, for sulphuric acid; by +ammonia, for alumine; and by muriate of platina, for potash<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>. The +above method of detecting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>the presence of alum, must therefore be taken +with some limitation.</p> + +<p>There is no unequivocal test for detecting in a <i>ready manner</i> the +presence of alum in bread, on account of the impurity of the common salt +used in the making of bread. If we could, in the ordinary way of bread +making, employ common salt, absolutely free from foreign saline +substances, the mode of detecting the presence of alum, or at least one +of its constituent parts, namely, the sulphuric acid, would be very +easy. Some conjecture may, nevertheless, be formed of the presence, or +absence, of alum, by assaying the infusion of bread in the manner +stated, p. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, and comparing the assay with the results afforded by an +infusion of home-made or household bread, known to be genuine, and +actually assayed in a similar manner.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Goodness_of_Bread-Corn_Bread-Flour" id="Goodness_of_Bread-Corn_Bread-Flour"></a>EASY METHOD OF JUDGING OF THE GOODNESS OF BREAD CORN, AND BREAD-FLOUR.</p> + +<p>Millers judge of the goodness of bread corn by the quantity of bran +which the grain produces.</p> + +<p>Such grains as are full and plump, that have a bright and shining +appearance, without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>any shrivelling and shrinking in the covering of +the skin, are the best; for wrinkled grains have a greater quantity of +skin, or bran, than such as are sound or plump.</p> + +<p>Pastry-cooks and bakers judge of the goodness of flour in the manner in +which it comports itself in kneading. The best kind of wheaten flour +assumes, at the instant it is formed into paste by the addition of +water, a very gluey, ductile, and elastic paste, easy to be kneaded, and +which may be elongated, flattened, and drawn in every direction, without +breaking.</p> + +<p>For the following fact we are indebted to Mr. Hatchet.</p> + +<p>"Grain which has been heated or burnt in the stack, may in the following +manner be rendered fit for being made into bread:</p> + +<p>"The wheat must be put into a vessel capable of holding at least three +times the quantity, and the vessel filled with boiling water; the grain +should then be occasionally stirred, and the hollow decayed grains, +which float, may be removed. When the water has become cold, or in about +half an hour, it is drawn off. Then rince the corn with cold water, and, +having completely drained it, spread it thinly on the floor of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>kiln, +and thus thoroughly dry it, stirring and turning it frequently during +this part of the process."<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> The sack of marketable flour is by law obliged to weigh +240 pounds, which is the produce of five bushels of wheat, and is upon +an average supposed to make eighty quartern loaves of bread; and +consequently sixteen of such loaves are made from each bushel of good +wheat. It is admitted, however, that two or three loaves more than the +above quantity can be made from the sack of flour, when it is the +<i>genuine produce</i> of <i>good wheat</i>; that is, in the proportion of about +sixteen and a half loaves from each bushel of sound grain, and, it may +be presumed, sixteen from a bushel of medium corn. The expense, in +London, of making the sack of flour into bread, and disposing of it, is +about nine shillings. +</p><p> +A bushel of wheat, upon an average, weighs sixty-one pounds; when +ground, the meal weighs 60-3/4 lbs.; which, on being dressed, produces +46-3/4 lbs. of flour, of the sort called <i>seconds</i>; which alone is used +for the making of bread in London and throughout the greater part of +this country; and of pollard and bran 12-3/4 lbs., which quantity, when +bolted, produces 3 lbs. of fine flour, this, when sifted, produces in +good second flour 1-1/4 lb.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Whilst correcting this sheet for the press, the printer +transmits to me the following lines: +</p><p> +"On Saturday last, George Wood, a baker, was convicted before T. Evance, +Esq. Union Hall, of having in his possession a quantity of alum for the +adulteration of bread, and fined in the penalty of 5<i>l.</i> and costs, +under 55 Geo. III. c. 99."—<i>The Times</i>, Oct. 1819.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> There are instances of convictions on record, of bakers +having used gypsum, chalk, and pipe clay, in the manufacture of bread.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> See a Practical Treatise on the Use and Application of +Chemical Tests, illustrated by experiments, 3d edit. p<ins title="Period missing in original.">.</ins> 270, 231, 177, & +196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Phil. Trans. for 1817, part i.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Beer" id="Adulteration_of_Beer"></a><i>Adulteration of Beer.</i></h2> + + +<p>Malt liquors, and particularly porter, the favourite beverage of the +inhabitants of London, and of other large towns, is amongst those +articles, in the manufacture of which the greatest frauds are frequently +committed.</p> + +<p>The statute prohibits the brewer from using any ingredients in his +brewings, except malt and hops; but it too often happens that those who +suppose they are drinking a nutritious beverage, made of these +ingredients only, are entirely deceived<ins title="Original has comma.">.</ins> The beverage may, in fact, be +neither more nor less than a compound of the most deleterious +substances; and it is also clear that all ranks of society are alike +exposed to the nefarious fraud. The proofs of this statement will be +shewn hereafter.<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>The author<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> of a Practical Treatise on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>Brewing, which has run +through eleven editions, after having stated the various ingredients for +brewing porter, observes, "that however much they may surprise, however +pernicious or disagreeable they may appear, he has always found them +requisite in the brewing of porter, and he thinks they must invariably +be used by those who wish to continue the taste, flavour, and appearance +of the beer.<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> And though several Acts of Parliament have been passed +to prevent porter brewers from using many of them, yet the author can +affirm, from experience, he could never produce the present flavoured +porter without them.<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The intoxicating qualities of porter are to be +ascribed to the various drugs intermixed with it. It is evident some +porter is more heady than other, and it arises from the greater or less +quantity of stupifying ingredients. Malt, to produce intoxication, must +be used in such large quantities as would very much diminish, if not +totally exclude, the brewer's profit."</p> + +<p>The practice of adulterating beer appears <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>to be of early date. By an +Act so long ago as Queen Anne, the brewers are prohibited from mixing +<i>cocculus indicus</i>, or any unwholesome ingredients, in their beer, under +severe penalties: but few instances of convictions under this act are to +be met with in the public records for nearly a century. To shew that +they have augmented in our own days, we shall exhibit an abstract from +documents laid lately before Parliament.<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>These will not only amply prove, that unwholesome ingredients are used +by fraudulent brewers, and that very deleterious substances are also +vended both to brewers and publicans for adulterating beer, but that the +ingredients mixed up in the brewer's enchanting cauldron are placed +above all competition, even with the potent charms of Macbeth's witches:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span><span class="i0">"Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark,<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> + + + + +<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> + + + + +<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For a charm of pow'rful trouble,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a hell-broth boil and bubble;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Double, double, toil and trouble,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The fraud of imparting to porter and ale an intoxicating quality by +narcotic substances, appears to have flourished during the period of the +late French war; for, if we examine the importation lists of drugs, it +will be noticed that the quantities of cocculus indicus imported in a +given time prior to that period, will bear no comparison with the +quantity imported in the same space of time during the war, although an +additional duty was laid upon this commodity. Such has been the amount +brought into this country in five years, that it far exceeds the +quantity imported during twelve years anterior to the above epoch. The +price of this drug has risen within these ten years from two shillings +to seven shillings the pound.</p> + +<p>It was at the period to which we have alluded, that the preparation of +an extract of cocculus indicus first appeared, as a new saleable +commodity, in the price-currents of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span><i>brewers'-druggists</i>. It was at the +same time, also, that a Mr. Jackson, of notorious memory, fell upon the +idea of brewing beer from various drugs, without any malt and hops. This +chemist did not turn brewer himself; but he struck out the more +profitable trade of teaching his mystery to the brewers for a handsome +fee. From that time forwards, written directions, and recipe-books for +using the chemical preparations to be substituted for malt and hops, +were respectively sold; and many adepts soon afterwards appeared every +where, to instruct brewers in the nefarious practice, first pointed out +by Mr. Jackson. From that time, also, the fraternity of +brewers'-chemists took its rise. They made it their chief business to +send travellers all over the country with lists and samples exhibiting +the price and quality of the articles manufactured by them for the use +of brewers only. Their trade spread far and wide, but it was amongst the +country brewers chiefly that they found the most customers; and it is +amongst them, up to the present day, as I am assured by some of these +operators, on whose veracity I can rely, that the greatest quantities of +unlawful ingredients are sold.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><p>The Act of Parliament<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> prohibits chemists, grocers, and druggists, +from supplying illegal ingredients to brewers under a heavy penalty, as +is obvious from the following abstract of the Act.</p> + +<p>"No druggist, vender of, or dealer in drugs, or chemist, or other +person, shall sell or deliver to any licensed brewer, dealer in or +retailer of beer, knowing him to be such, or shall sell or deliver to +any person on account of or in trust for any such brewer, dealer or +retailer, any liquor called by the name of or sold as colouring, from +whatever material the same may be made, or any material or preparation +other than unground brown malt for darkening the colour of worts or +beer, or any liquor or preparation made use of for darkening the colour +of worts or beer, or any molasses, honey, vitriol, quassia, cocculus +Indian, grains of paradise, Guinea pepper or opium, or any extract or +preparation of molasses, or any article or preparation to be used in +worts or beer for or as a substitute for malt or hops; and if any +druggist shall offend in any of these particulars, such liquor +preparation, molasses, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>&c. shall be forfeited, and may be seized by any +officer of excise, and the person so offending shall for each offence +forfeit 500<i>l.</i>"</p> + +<p>The following is a list of druggists and grocers, prosecuted by the +Court of Excise, and convicted of supplying unlawful ingredients to +brewers.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><i><a name="List_of_Druggists_and_Grocers" id="List_of_Druggists_and_Grocers"></a>List of Druggists and Grocers, prosecuted and convicted from 1812 to +1819, for supplying illegal Ingredients to Brewers for adulterating +Beer.</i><a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[54]</span></a></p> + +<p>John Dunn and another, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients +to brewers, verdict 500<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>George Rugg and others, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients +to brewers, verdict 500<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Hodgkinson and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to +brewers, 100<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>William Hiscocks and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to a +brewer, 200<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p><p>G. Hornby; for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>W. Wilson, for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>George Andrews, grocer, for selling adulterating ingredients to a +brewer, 25<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>Guy Knowles, for selling substitute for hops, costs.</p> + +<p>Kernot and Alsop, for selling cocculus india, &c. 25<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Joseph Moss, for selling various drugs, 300<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Ph. Whitcombe, John <ins class="correction" title="Original has Dun.">Dunn</ins>, and Arthur Waller, druggists, for having +liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid and concealed.</p> + +<p>Isaac Hebberd, for having liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid +and concealed.</p> + +<p>Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and <ins class="correction" title="Original has Authur.">Arthur</ins> Waller, druggists, for making +liquor for darkening the colour of beer.</p> + +<p>John Lord, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>John Smith Carr, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<p>Edward Fox, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>John Cooper, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>Joseph Bickering, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p><p>John Howard, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>James Reynolds, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs.</p> + +<p>Thomas Hammond, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<p>J. Mackway, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>T. Renton, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking +out a license.</p> + +<p>R. Adamson, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking +out a license.</p> + +<p>W. Weaver, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer, 200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>J. Moss, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer.</p> + +<p>Alex. Braden, for selling liquorice, 20<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>J. Draper, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20<i>l.</i></p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Porter" id="Porter"></a>PORTER.</p> + +<p>The method of brewing porter has not been the same at all times as it is +at present.</p> + +<p>At first, the only essential difference in the methods of brewing this +liquor and that of other kinds of beer, was, that porter was brewed from +brown malt only; and this gave to it both the colour and flavour +required. Of late years it has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>brewed from mixtures of pale and +brown malt.</p> + +<p>These, at some establishments, are mashed separately, and the worts from +each are afterwards mixed together. The proportion of pale and brown +malt, used for brewing porter, varies in different breweries; some +employ nearly two parts of pale malt and one part of brown malt; but +each brewer appears to have his own proportion; which the intelligent +manufacturer varies, according to the nature and qualities of the malt. +Three pounds of hops are, upon an average, allowed to every barrel, +(thirty-six gallons) of porter.</p> + +<p>When the price of malt, on account of the great increase in the price of +barley during the late war, was very high, the London brewers discovered +that a larger quantity of wort of a given strength could be obtained +from pale malt than from brown malt. They therefore increased the +quantity of the former and diminished that of the latter. This produced +beer of a paler colour, and of a less bitter flavour. To remedy these +disadvantages, they invented an artificial colouring substance, prepared +by boiling brown sugar till it acquired a very dark brown colour; a +solution of which was employed to darken the colour <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>of the beer. Some +brewers made use of the infusion of malt instead of sugar colouring. To +impart to the beer a bitter taste, the fraudulent brewer employed +quassia wood and wormwood as a substitute for hops.</p> + +<p>But as the colouring of beer by means of sugar became in many instances +a pretext for using illegal ingredients, the Legislature, apprehensive +from the mischief that might, and actually did, result from it, passed +an Act prohibiting the use of burnt sugar, in July 1817; and nothing but +malt and hops is now allowed to enter into the composition of beer: even +the use of isinglass for clarifying beer, is contrary to law.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the beer-colouring Act been repealed, than other persons +obtained a patent for effecting the purpose of imparting an artificial +colour to porter, by means of brown malt, specifically prepared for that +purpose only. The beer, coloured by the new method, is more liable to +become spoiled, than when coloured by the process formerly practised. +The colouring malt does not contain any considerable portion of +saccharine matter. The grain is by mere torrefaction converted into a +gum-like substance, wholly soluble in water, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>renders the beer +more liable to pass into the acetous fermentation than the common brown +malt is capable of doing; because the latter, if prepared from good +barley, contains a portion of saccharine matter, of which the patent +malt is destitute.</p> + +<p>But as brown malt is generally prepared from the worst kind of barley, +and as the patent malt can only be made from good grain, it may become, +on that account, an useful article to the brewer (at least, it gives +colour and body to the beer;) but it cannot materially economise the +quantity of malt necessary to produce good porter. Some brewers of +eminence in this town have assured me, that the use of this mode of +colouring beer is wholly unnecessary; and that porter of the requisite +colour may be brewed better without it; hence this kind of malt is not +used in their establishments. The quantity of gum-like matter which it +contains, gives too much ferment to the beer, and renders it liable to +spoil. Repeated experiments, made on a large scale, have settled this +fact.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Strength_of_Porter" id="Strength_of_Porter"></a>STRENGTH AND SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PORTER.</p> + +<p>The strength of all kinds of beer, like that of wine, depends on the +quantity of spirit contained in a given bulk of the liquor.</p> + +<p>The reader need scarcely be told, that of no article there are more +varieties than of porter. This, no doubt, arises from the different mode +of manufacturing the beer, although the ingredients are the same. This +difference is more striking in the porter manufactured among country +brewers, than it is in the beer brewed by the eminent London porter +brewers. The totality of the London porter exhibits but very slight +differences, both with respect to strength or quantity of spirit, and +solid extractive matter, contained in a given bulk of it. The spirit may +be stated, upon an average, to be 4,50 per cent. in porter retailed at +the publicans; the solid matter, is from twenty-one to twenty-three +pounds per barrel of thirty-six gallons. The country-brewed porter is +seldom well fermented, and seldom contains so large a quantity of +spirit; it usually abounds in mucilage; hence it becomes turbid when +mixed with alcohol. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>Such beer cannot keep, without becoming sour.</p> + +<p>It has been matter of frequent complaint, that <span class="smcap lowercase">ALL</span> the porter +now brewed, is not what porter was formerly. This idea may be true with +some exceptions. My professional occupations have, during these +twenty-eight years, repeatedly obliged me to examine the strength of +London porter, brewed by different brewers; and, from the minutes made +on that subject, I am authorised to state, that the porter now brewed by +the eminent London brewers, is unquestionably stronger than that which +was brewed at different periods during the late French war. Samples of +brown stout with which I have been obligingly favoured, whilst writing +this Treatise, by Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co<ins title="Period missing in original.">.</ins>—Messrs. Truman, +Hanbury, and Co.—Messrs. Henry Meux and Co.—and other eminent brewers +of this capital—afforded, upon an average, 7,25 per cent. of alcohol, +of 0,833 specific gravity; and porter, from the same houses, yielded +upon an average 5,25 per cent. of alcohol, of the same specific +gravity;<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>beer received from the brewers was taken from the +same store from which the publicans are supplied.</p> + +<p>It is nevertheless singular to observe, that from fifteen samples of +beer of the same denominations, procured from different retailers, the +proportions of spirit fell considerably short of the above quantities. +Samples of brown stout, procured from the retailers, afforded, upon an +average, 6,50 per cent. of alcohol; and the average strength of the +porter was 4,50 per cent. Whence can this difference between the beer +furnished by the brewer, and that retailed by the publican, arise? We +shall not be at a loss to answer this question, when we find that so +many retailers of porter have been prosecuted and convicted for mixing +table beer with their strong beer; this is prohibited by law, as becomes +obvious by the following words of the Act.<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>"If any common or other brewer, innkeeper, victualler, or retailer of +beer or ale, shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, ale, or +worts, with table beer, worts, or water, in any tub or measure, he shall +forfeit 50<i>l.</i>" The difference between strong and table beer, is thus +settled by Parliament.</p> + +<p>"All beer or ale<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> above the price of eighteen shillings per barrel, +exclusive of ale duties now payable (viz. ten shillings per barrel,) or +that may be hereafter payable in respect thereof, shall be deemed strong +beer or ale; and all beer of the price of eighteen shillings the barrel +or under, exclusive of the duty payable (viz. two shillings per barrel) +in respect thereof, shall be deemed table beer within the meaning of +this and all other Acts now in force, or that may hereafter be passed in +relation to beer or ale or any duties thereon."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="List_of_Publicans_Prosecuted" id="List_of_Publicans_Prosecuted"></a><i>List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted from 1815 to 1818, for +adulterating Beer with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing Table Beer +with their Strong Beer.</i><a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[58]</span></a></p> + +<p>William Atterbury, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 40<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Richard Dean, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Jay, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +table beer with strong beer, 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>James Atkinson, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 20<i>l<ins title="Period missing in original.">.</ins></i></p> + +<p>Samuel Langworth, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Hannah Spencer, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 150<i>l.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p><p>—— Hoeg, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +table beer with strong beer, 5<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Richard Craddock, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 100<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>James Harris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +receiving stale beer, and mixing it with strong beer, 42<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>Thomas Scoons, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing stale beer with strong beer, verdict 200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Diones Geer and another, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. +and for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 400<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Charles Coleman, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing strong and table beer, 35<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>William Orr, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Gardiner, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing strong and table beer, 100<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Morris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 20<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Harbur<ins title="Comma missing in original.">,</ins> for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Corrie, for mixing strong beer with table beer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p><p>John Cape, for mixing strong beer with table beer.</p> + +<p>Joseph Gudge, for mixing strong beer with small beer.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Illegal_Beer" id="Illegal_Beer"></a>ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR ADULTERATING BEER.</p> + +<p>We have stated already (p. <a href="#Page_113">113</a>) that nothing is allowed by law to enter +into the composition of beer, but malt and hops.</p> + +<p>The substances used by fraudulent brewers for adulterating beer, are +chiefly the following:</p> + +<p>Quassia, which gives to beer a bitter taste, is substituted for hops; +but hops possesses a more agreeable aromatic flavour, and there is also +reason to believe that they render beer less liable to spoil by keeping; +a property which does not belong to quassia. It requires but little +discrimination to distinguish very clearly the peculiar bitterness of +quassia in adulterated porter. Vast quantities of the shavings of this +wood are sold in a half-torrefied and ground state to disguise its +obvious character, and to prevent its being recognised among the waste +materials of the brewers. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>Wormwood<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> has likewise been used by +fraudulent brewers.</p> + +<p>The adulterating of hops is prohibited by the Legislature.<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>"If any person shall put any drug or ingredient whatever into hops to +alter the colour or scent thereof, every person so offending, convicted +by the oath of one witness before one justice of peace for the county or +place where the offence was committed, shall forfeit 5<i>l.</i> for every +hundred weight."</p> + +<p>Beer rendered bitter by quassia never keeps well, unless it be kept in a +place possessing a temperature considerably lower than the temperature +of the surrounding atmosphere; and this is not well practicable in large +establishments.</p> + +<p>The use of boiling the wort of beer with hops, is partly to communicate +a peculiar aromatic flavour which the hop contains, partly to cover the +sweetness of undecomposed saccharine matter, and also to separate, by +virtue of the gallic acid and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>tannin it contains, a portion of a +peculiar vegetable mucilage somewhat resembling gluten, which is still +diffused through the beer. The compound thus produced, separates in +small flakes like those of curdled soap; and by these means the beer is +rendered less liable to spoil. For nothing contributes more to the +conversion of beer, or any other vinous fluid, into vinegar, than +mucilage. Hence, also, all full-bodied and clammy ales, abounding in +mucilage, and which are generally ill fermented, do not keep as perfect +ale ought to do. Quassia is, therefore, unfit as a substitute for hops; +and even English hops are preferable to those imported from the +Continent; for nitrate of silver and acetate of lead produce a more +abundant precipitate from an infusion of English hops, than can be +obtained from a like infusion by the same agents from foreign hops.</p> + +<p>One of the qualities of good porter, is, that it should bear <i>a fine +frothy head</i>, as it is technically termed: because professed judges of +this beverage, would not pronounce the liquor excellent, although it +possessed all other good qualities of porter, without this requisite.</p> + +<p>To impart to porter this property of frothing when poured from one +vessel into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>another, or to produce what is also termed a <i>cauliflower +head</i>, the mixture called <i>beer-heading</i>, composed of common green +vitriol (sulphate of iron,) alum, and salt, is added. This addition to +the beer is generally made by the publicans.<a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> It is unnecessary to +genuine beer, which of itself possesses the property of bearing a strong +white froth, without these additions; and it is only in consequence of +table beer being mixed with strong beer, that the frothing property of +the porter is lost. From experiments I have tried on this subject, I +have reason to believe that the sulphate of iron, added for that +purpose, does not possess the power ascribed to it. But the publicans +frequently, when they fine a butt of beer, by means of isinglass, +adulterate the porter at the same time with table beer, together with a +quantity of molasses and a small portion of extract of gentian root, to +keep up the peculiar flavour of the porter; and it is to the molasses +chiefly, which gives a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>spissitude to the beer, that the frothing +property must be ascribed; for, without it, the sulphate of iron does +not produce the property of frothing in diluted beer.</p> + +<p>Capsicum and grains of paradise, two highly acrid substances, are +employed to give a pungent taste to weak insipid beer. Of late, a +concentrated tincture of these articles, to be used for a similar +purpose, and possessing a powerful effect, has appeared in the +price-currents of brewers' druggists. Ginger root, coriander seed, and +orange peels, are employed as flavouring substances chiefly by the ale +brewers.</p> + +<p>From these statements, and the seizures that have been made of illegal +ingredients at various breweries, it is obvious that the adulterations +of beer are not imaginary. It will be noticed, however, that some of the +sophistications are comparatively harmless, whilst others are effected +by substances deleterious to health.</p> + +<p>The following list exhibits some of the unlawful substances seized at +different breweries and at chemical laboratories.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Ingredients_seized" id="Ingredients_seized"></a><i>List of Illegal Ingredients, seized from 1812 to 1818, at various +Breweries and Brewers' Druggists.</i><a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[62]</span></a></p> + + + + + + +<table class="left" width="50%" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Illegal Ingredients Seized 1812-1818"> +<tr> + <td>1812, July. Josiah Nibbs, at Tooting, Surrey.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Multum</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">84</td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Cocculus indicus</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">12</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Colouring</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">4</td> + <td class="tdleft">galls.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Honey</td> + <td class="tdright">about</td> + <td class="tdright">180</td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Hartshorn Shavings</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">14</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Spanish Juice</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">46</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Orange Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">17</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ginger</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">56</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdmedindent">Penalty 300<i>l.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3">1813, June 13. Sarah Willis, at West Ham, Essex.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Cocculus indicus</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">1</td> + <td class="tdleft">lb.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Spanish Juice</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">12</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Hartshorn Shavings</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">6</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Orange Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">1</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdmedindent">Penalty 200<i>l.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>August 3. Cratcherode Whiffing, Limehouse.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Grains of Paradise</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">44</td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Quassia</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">10</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Liquorice</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">64</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ginger</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">80</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Caraway Seeds</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">40</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Orange Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">14</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Copperas</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">4</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdmedindent">Penalty 200<i>l.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3">Nov. 25. Elizabeth Hasler, at Stratford.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Cocculus indicus</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">12</td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Multum</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">26</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Grains of Paradise</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">12</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Spanish Juice</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Orange Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">3</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdmedindent">Penalty 200<i>l.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3">Dec. 14. John Abbott, at Canterbury, Kent.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Copperas, &c.</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">14</td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Orange powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdmedindent">Penalty 500<i>l.</i>, and Crown's costs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Proof of using drugs at various times.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3">1815, Feb. 15. Mantel and Cook, Castle-street,<br /> Bloomsbury-square.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><p>Proof of mixing strong with table beer, and using colouring and other things.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdmedindent">Compromised for 300<i>l.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span><p>1817. From Peter Stevenson, an old Servant to Dunn<br /> and Waller, St. John-street, brewers' druggists.</p></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Cocculus Indicus Extract</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">6</td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Multum</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">560</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Capsicum</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">88</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Copperas</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">310</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Quassia</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">150</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Colouring and Drugs</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">84</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Mixed Drugs</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">240</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Spanish Liquorice</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">420</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Hartshorn Shavings</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">77</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Liquorice Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">175</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Orange powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">126</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Caraway Seeds</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">100</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ginger</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">110</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ginger Root</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">176</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdmedindent">Condemned, not being claimed.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3">July 30. Luke Lyons, Shadwell.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Capsicum</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">1</td> + <td class="tdleft">lb</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Liquorice Root Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Coriander Seed</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Copperas</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">1</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Orange Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">8</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Spanish Liquorice</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">1/2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Beer Colouring</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">24</td> + <td class="tdleft">galls</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3" class="tdmedindent">Not tried. (7th May, 1818.)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><br /></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="3"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>Aug. 6. John Gray, at West Ham.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Multum</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">4</td> + <td class="tdleft">lbs.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Spanish Liquorice</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">21</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Liquorice Root Powder</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">113</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ginger</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">116</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Honey</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">11</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td><p>Penalty, 300<i>l.</i>, and costs; including mixing strong beer with table, and paying table-beer duty for strong beer, &c.</p></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="minspaced" /> + +<p>Numerous other seizures of illegal substances, made at breweries, might +be advanced, were it necessary to enlarge this subject to a greater +extent.</p> + +<p>Mr. James West, from the excise office, being asked in the Committee of +the House of Commons, appointed, 1819, to examine and report on the +petition of several inhabitants of London, complaining of the high price +and inferior quality of beer, produced the following seized +articles:—"One bladder of honey, one bladder of extract of cocculus +indicus, ground guinea pepper or capsicum, vitriol or copperas, orange +powder, quassia, ground beer-heading, hard multum, another kind of +multum or beer preparation, liquorice powder, and ground grains of +paradise."</p> + +<p>Witness being asked "Where did you seize these things?" Answer, "Some of +them were seized from brewers, and some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>of them from brewers' +druggists, within these two years past.<ins class="correction" title="End quote missing in original.">"</ins> (May 8, 1818.)</p> + +<p>Another fraud frequently committed, both by brewers and publicans, (as +is evident from the Excise Report,) is the practice of adulterating +strong beer with small beer—This fraud is prohibited by law, since both +the revenue and the public suffer by it.<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> "The duty upon strong beer +is ten shillings a barrel; and upon table beer it is two shillings. The +revenue suffers, because a larger quantity of beer is sold as strong +beer; that is, at a price exceeding the price of table beer, without the +strong beer duty being paid. In the next place, the brewer suffers, +because the retailer gets table or mild beer, and retails it as strong +beer." The following are the words of the Act, prohibiting the brewers +mixing table beer with strong beer.</p> + +<p>"If any common brewer shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, +or strong worts with table beer or table worts, or with water in any +guile or fermenting tun after the declaration of the quantity of such +guile shall have been made; or if he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>shall at any time mix or suffer to +be mixed strong beer or strong worts with table beer worts or with +water, in any vat, cask, tub, measures or utensil, not being an entered +guile or fermenting tun, he shall forfeit 200 pounds."<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>With respect to the persons who commit this offence, Mr. Carr,<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> the +Solicitor of the Excise, observes, that "they are generally brewers who +carry on the double trade of brewing both strong and table beer. It is +almost impossible to prevent them from mixing one with the other; and +frauds of very great extent have been detected, and the parties punished +for that offence. One brewer at Plymouth evaded duties to the amount of +32,000 pounds; and other brewers, who brew party guiles of beer, +carrying on the two trades of ale and table beer brewers, where the +trade is a victualling brewer, which is different from the common +brewer, he being a person who sells only wholesale; the victualling +brewer being a brewer and also a seller by retail."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p><p>"In the neighbourhood of London," Mr. Carr continues, "more +particularly, I speak from having had great experience, from the +informations and evidence which I have received, that the retailers +carry on a most extensive fraud upon the public, in purchasing stale +table beer, or the bottoms of casks. There are a class of men who go +about and sell such beer at table-beer price to public victuallers, who +mix it in their cellars. If they receive beer from their brewers which +is mild, they purchase stale beer; and if they receive stale beer, they +purchase common table beer for that purpose; and many of the +prosecutions are against retailers for that offence." The following may +serve in proof of this statement.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Strong_Beer_with_Table_Beer" id="Strong_Beer_with_Table_Beer"></a><i>List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 1813 to 1819, for +adulterating Strong Beer with Table Beer.</i><a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[66]</span></a></p> + +<p>Thomas Manton and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 300<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Mark Morrell and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +20<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>Robert Jones and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 125<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Robert Stroad, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 200<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<p>William Cobbett, brewer, mixing strong and table beer, 100<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<p>Thomas Richard Withers, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 75<i>l.</i> +and costs.</p> + +<p>John Cowel, brewer, for mixing table beer with strong, 50<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>John Mitchell, brewer, for mixing table beer with strong, absconded.</p> + +<p>George Lloyd and another, brewers, for mixing table beer with strong, +25<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>James Edmunds and another, brewers, for mixing table beer with strong, +for a long period, verdict 600<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Hoffman, brewer, for mixing strong <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>and table beer, and using +molasses, 130<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>Samuel Langworth, brewer, for mixing strong with stale table beer, +10<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>Hannah Spencer, brewer, for mixing strong with stale table beer, verdict +150<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Joseph Smith and others, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer.</p> + +<p>Philip George, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Joshua Row, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 400<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Drew, jun. and another, for mixing strong beer with table, 50<i>l.</i> +and costs.</p> + +<p>John Cape, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 250<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>John Williams and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 200<i>l.</i></p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Old_Beer" id="Old_Beer"></a>OLD, OR ENTIRE; AND NEW, OR MILD BEER.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to state, that every publican has two sorts of beer sent +to him from the brewer; the one is called <i>mild</i>, which is beer sent out +fresh as it is brewed; the other is called <i>old</i>; that is, such as is +brewed on purpose for keeping, and which has been kept in store a +twelve-month or eighteen months. The origin of the beer called +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span><i>entire</i>, is thus related by the editor of the Picture of London: +"Before the year 1730, the malt liquors in general used in London were +ale, beer, and two-penny; and it was customary to call for a pint, or +tankard, of half-and-half, <i>i.e.</i> half of ale and half of beer, half of +ale and half of two-penny. In course of time it also became the practice +to call for a pint or tankard of <i>three-threads</i>, meaning a third of +ale, beer, and two-penny; and thus the publican had the trouble to go to +three casks, and turn three cocks, for a pint of liquor. To avoid this +inconvenience and waste, a brewer of the name of Harwood conceived the +idea of making a liquor, which should partake of the same united +flavours of ale, beer, and two-penny; he did so, and succeeded, calling +it <i>entire</i>, or entire butt, meaning that it was drawn entirely from one +cask or butt; and as it was a very hearty and nourishing liquor, and +supposed to be very suitable for porters and other working people, it +obtained the name of <i>porter</i>." The system is now altered, and porter is +very generally compounded of two kinds, or rather the same liquor in two +different states, the due admixture of which is palatable, though +neither is good alone. One is <i>mild</i> porter, and the other <i>stale</i> +porter; the former is that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>which has a slightly bitter flavour; the +latter has been kept longer. This mixture the publican adapts to the +palates of his several customers, and effects the mixture very readily, +by means of a machine, containing small pumps worked by handles. In +these are four pumps, but only three spouts, because two of the pumps +throw out at the same spout: one of these two pumps draws the mild, and +the other the stale porter, from the casks down in the cellar; and the +publican, by dexterously changing his hold works either pump, and draws +both kinds of beer at the same spout. An indifferent observer supposes, +that since it all comes from one spout, it is entire butt beer, as the +publican professes over his door, and which has been decided by vulgar +prejudice to be only good porter, though the difference is not easily +distinguished. I have been informed by several eminent brewers, that of +late, a far greater quantity is consumed of mild than of stale beer.</p> + +<p>The entire beer of the modern brewer, according to the statement of C. +Barclay,<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Esq. "consists of some beer brewed expressly for the +purpose of keeping: it likewise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>contains a portion of returns from +publicans; a portion of beer from the bottoms of vats; the beer that is +drawn off from the pipes, which convey the beer from one vat to another, +and from one part of the premises to another. This beer is collected and +put into vats. Mr. Barclay also states that it contains a certain +portion of brown stout, which is twenty shillings a barrel dearer than +common beer; and some bottling beer, which is ten shillings a barrel +dearer;<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> and that all these beers, united, are put into vats, and +that it depends upon various circumstances, how long they may remain in +those vats before they become perfectly bright. When bright, this beer +is sent out to the publicans, for their <i>entire</i> beer, and there is +sometimes a small quantity of mild beer mixed with it."</p> + +<p>The present entire beer, therefore, is a very heterogeneous mixture, +composed of all the waste and spoiled beer of the publicans—the bottoms +of butts—the leavings of the pots—the drippings of the machines <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>for +drawing the beer—the remnants of beer that lay in the leaden pipes of +the brewery, with a portion of brown stout, bottling beer, and mild +beer.</p> + +<p>The old or <i>entire</i> beer we have examined, as obtained from Messrs. +Barclay's, and other eminent London brewers, is unquestionably a good +compound; but it does no longer appear to be necessary, among fraudulent +brewers, to brew beer on purpose for keeping, or to keep it twelve or +eighteen months. A more easy, expeditious, and economical method has +been discovered to convert any sort of beer into entire beer, merely by +the admixture of a portion of sulphuric acid. An imitation of the age of +eighteen months is thus produced in an instant. This process is +technically called to bring beer <i>forward</i>, or to make it <i>hard</i>.</p> + +<p>The practice is a bad one. The genuine, old, or entire beer, of the +honest brewer, is quite a different compound; it has a rich, generous, +full-bodied taste, without being acid, and a vinous odour: but it may, +perhaps, not be generally known that this kind of beer always affords a +less proportion of alcohol than is produced from mild beer. The practice +of bringing beer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span><i>forward</i>, it is to be understood, is resorted to only +by fraudulent brewers<ins title="Original has comma.">.</ins><a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>If, on the contrary, the brewer has too large a stock of old beer on his +hands, recourse is had to an opposite practice of converting stale, +half-spoiled, or sour beer, into mild beer, by the simple admixture of +an alkali, or an alkaline earth. Oyster-shell powder and subcarbonate of +potash, or soda, are usually employed for that purpose. These substances +neutralise the excess of acid, and render sour beer somewhat palatable. +By this process the beer becomes very liable to spoil.</p> + +<p>It is the worst expedient that the brewer can practise: the beer thus +rendered <i>mild</i>, soon loses its vinous taste; it becomes vapid; and +speedily assumes a muddy grey colour, and an exceedingly disagreeable +taste.</p> + +<p>These sophistications may be considered, at first, as minor crimes +practised by fraudulent brewers, when compared with the methods employed +by them for rendering beer noxious to health by substances absolutely +injurious.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p><p>To increase the intoxicating quality of beer, the deleterious vegetable +substance, called <i>cocculus indicus</i>, and the extract of this poisonous +berry, technically called <i>black extract</i>, or, by some, <i>hard multum</i>, +are employed. Opium, tobacco, nux vomica, and extract of poppies, have +also been used.</p> + +<p>This fraud constitutes by far the most censurable offence committed by +unprincipled brewers; and it is a lamentable reflection to behold so +great a number of brewers prosecuted and convicted of this crime; nor is +it less deplorable to find the names of druggists, eminent in trade, +implicated in the fraud, by selling the unlawful ingredients to brewers +for fraudulent purposes.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Illegal_Ingredients" id="Illegal_Ingredients"></a><i>List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 1813 to 1819, for +receiving and using illegal Ingredients in their Brewings.</i><a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[70]</span></a></p> + +<p>Richard Gardner, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, 100<i>l.</i>, +judgment by default.</p> + +<p>Stephen Webb and another, brewers, for using adulterating ingredients, +and mixing strong and table beer, verdict 500<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Henry Wyatt, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, verdict 400<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Harbart, retailer, for receiving adulterating ingredients, verdict +150<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Philip Blake and others, brewers, for using adulterating ingredients, +and mixing strong and table beer, verdict 250<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>James Sneed, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 25<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>John Rewell and another, brewers, ditto, verdict 100<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Swain and another, ditto, for using adulterating ingredients, +verdict 200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p><p>John Ing, brewer, ditto, stayed on defendant's death.</p> + +<p>John Hall, ditto, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 5<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<p>John Webb, retailer, for using adulterating ingredients.</p> + +<p>Ralph Fogg and another, brewers, for receiving and using adulterating +ingredients.</p> + +<p>John Gray, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, 300<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<p>Richard Bowman, for using liquid in bladder, supposed to be extract of +cocculus, 100<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Richard Bowman, brewer, for ditto, 100<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>Septimus Stephens<ins title="Original has semi-colon.">,</ins> brewer, for ditto, verdict 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>James Rogers and another, brewer, for ditto, 220<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>George Moore, brewer, for using colouring, 300<i>l.</i> and costs.</p> + +<p>John Morris, for using adulterating ingredients.</p> + +<p>Webb and Ball, for using ginger, Guinea pepper, and brown powder, (name +unknown), 1st 100<i>l.</i> 2nd 500<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Henry Clarke, for using molasses, 150<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Kewell and Burrows, for using cocculus india, multum, &c. 100<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Allatson and Abraham, for using cocculus india, multum, and porter +flavour, 630<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Swain and Sewell, for using cocculus india, Guinea-opium, &c. 200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><p>John Ing, for using cocculus india, hard colouring, and honey, <i>dead</i>.</p> + +<p>William Dean, for using molasses, 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Cowell, for using Spanish-liquorice, and mixing table beer with +strong beer, 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Mitchell, for using cocculus india, vitriol, and Guinea pepper, +<i>left the country</i>.</p> + +<p>Lloyd and Man, for using extract of cocculus, 25<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>John Gray, for using ginger, hartshorn shavings, and molasses, 300<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Jon Hoffman, for using molasses, Spanish juice, and mixing table with +strong beer, 130<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>Rogers and Boon, for using extract of cocculus, multum, porter flavour, +&c. 220<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>—— Betteley, for using wormwood, coriander seed, and Spanish juice, +200<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>William Lane, brewer, for using wormwood instead of hops, 5<i>l.</i> and +costs.</p> + +<hr class="minspaced" /> + +<p>That a minute portion of an unwholesome ingredient, daily taken in beer, +cannot fail to be productive of mischief, admits of no doubt; and there +is reasons to believe that a small quantity of a narcotic substance (and +cocculus indicus is a powerful narcotic<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a>), <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>daily taken into the +stomach, together with an intoxicating liquor, is highly more +efficacious than it would be without the liquor. The effect may be +gradual; and a strong constitution, especially if it be assisted with +constant and hard labour, may counteract the destructive consequences +perhaps for many years; but it never fails to shew its baneful effects +at last. Independent of this, it is a well-established fact, that porter +drinkers are very liable to <ins class="correction" title="Original has apolexy.">apoplexy</ins> and palsy, without taking this +narcotic poison.</p> + +<p>If we judge from the preceding lists of prosecutions and convictions +furnished by the Solicitor of the Excise<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>, it will be evident that +many wholesale brewers, as well as retail dealers, stand very +conspicuous among those offenders. But the reader will likewise notice, +that there are no convictions, in any instance, against any of the +eleven <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>great London porter brewers<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> for any illegal practice. The +great London brewers, it appears, believe that the publicans alone +adulterate the beer. That many of the latter have been convicted of this +fraud, the Report of the Board of Excise amply shews.—See p. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</p> + +<p>The following statement relating to this subject, we transcribe from a +Parliamentary document:<a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Perkins being asked, whether he believed that any of the inferior +brewers adulterated beer, answered, "I am satisfied there are some +instances of that."</p> + +<p><i>Question.</i>—"Do you believe publicans do?" <i>Answer.</i>—"I believe they +do." <i>Q.</i>—"To a great extent?" <i>A.</i>—"Yes." <i>Q.</i>—"Do you believe they +adulterate the beer you sell them?" <i>A.</i>—"I am satisfied <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>there are +some instances of that."—Mr. J. Martineau<a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> being asked the following</p> + +<p><i>Question.</i><a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>—"In your judgment is any of the beer of the metropolis, +as retailed to the publican, mixed with any deleterious ingredients?"</p> + +<p><i>Answer.</i>—"In retailing beer, in some instances, it has been."</p> + +<p><i>Question.</i>—"By whom, in your opinion, has that been done?"</p> + +<p><i>Answer.</i>—"In that case by the publicans who vend it."</p> + +<p>On this point, it is but fair, to the minor brewers, to record also the +answers of some officers of the revenue, when they were asked whether +they considered it more difficult to detect nefarious practices in large +breweries than in small ones.</p> + +<p>Mr. J. Rogers being thus questioned in the Committee of the House of +Commons,<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> "Supposing the large brewers to use deleterious or any +illegal ingredients to such an amount as could be of any importance to +their concern, do you think it would, or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>would not, be more easy to +detect it in those large breweries, than in small ones?" his answer was, +"more difficult to detect it in the large ones:" and witness being asked +to state the reason why, answered, "Their premises are so much larger, +and there is so much more strength, that a cart load or two is got rid +of in a minute or two." Witness "had known, in five minutes, twenty +barrels of molasses got rid of as soon as the door was shut."</p> + +<p>Another witness, W. Wells, an excise officer,<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> in describing the +contrivances used to prevent detection, stated, that at a brewer's, at +Westham, the adulterating substances "were not kept on the premises, but +in the brewer's house; not the principal, but the working brewers; it +not being considered, when there, as liable to seizure: the brewer had a +very large jacket made expressly for that purpose, with very large +pockets; and, on brewing mornings, he would take his pockets full of the +different ingredients. Witness supposed that such a man's jacket, +similar to what he had described, would convey quite sufficient for any +brewery in England, as to <i>cocculus indicus</i>."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>That it may be more difficult for the officers of the excise to detect +fraudulent practices in large breweries than in small ones, may be true +to a certain extent: but what eminent London porter brewer would stake +his reputation on the chance of so paltry a gain, in which he would +inevitably be at the mercy of his own man? The eleven great porter +brewers of this metropolis are persons of so high respectability, that +there is no ground for the slightest suspicion that they would attempt +any illegal practices, which they were aware could not possibly escape +detection in their extensive establishments. And let it be remembered, +that none of them have been detected for any unlawful practices,<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> +with regard to the processes of their manufacture, or the adulteration +of their beer.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Detecting_Adulteration_of_Beer" id="Detecting_Adulteration_of_Beer"></a>METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATION OF BEER.</p> + +<p>The detection of the adulteration of beer with deleterious vegetable +substances is beyond the reach of chemical analysis. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>presence of +sulphate of iron (p. <a href="#Page_134">134</a>) may be detected by evaporating the beer to +perfect dryness, and burning away the vegetable matter obtained, by the +action of chlorate of pot-ash in a red-hot crucible. The sulphate of +iron will be left behind among the residue in the crucible, which when +dissolved in water, may be assayed, for the constituent parts of the +salt, namely, iron and sulphuric acid: for the former, by tincture of +galls, ammonia, and prussiate of potash; and for the latter, by muriate +of barytes.<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<p>Beer, which has been rendered fraudulently <i>hard</i> (see p. <a href="#Page_148">148</a>) by the +admixture of sulphuric acid, affords a white precipitate (sulphate of +barytes), by dropping into it a solution of acetate or muriate of +barytes; and this precipitate, when collected by filtering the mass, and +after having been dried, and heated red-hot for a few minutes in a +platina crucible, does not disappear by the addition of nitric, or +muriatic acid. Genuine old beer may produce a precipitate; but the +precipitate which it affords, after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>having been made red-hot in a +platina crucible, instantly becomes re-dissolved with effervescence by +pouring on it some pure nitric or muriatic acid; in that case the +precipitate is malate (not sulphate) of barytes, and is owing to a +portion of malic acid having been formed in the beer.</p> + +<p>But with regard to the vegetable materials deleterious to health, it is +extremely difficult, in any instance, to detect them by chemical +agencies; and in most cases it is quite impossible, as in that of +cocculus indicus in beer.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Ascertaining_Quantity_of_Spirit" id="Ascertaining_Quantity_of_Spirit"></a>METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF SPIRIT CONTAINED IN PORTER, ALE, +OR OTHER KINDS OF MALT LIQUORS.</p> + +<p>Take any quantity of the beer, put it into a glass retort, furnished +with a receiver, and distil, with a gentle heat, as long as any spirit +passes over into the receiver; which may be known by heating from time +to time a small quantity of the obtained fluid in a tea-spoon over a +candle, and bringing into contact with the vapour of it the flame of a +piece of paper. If the vapour of the distilled fluid catches fire, the +distillation must be continued until the vapour ceases to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>set on +fire by the contact of a flaming body. To the distilled liquid thus +obtained, which is the spirit of the beer, combined with water, add, in +small quantities at a time, pure subcarbonate of potash (previously +freed from water by having been exposed to a red heat,) till the last +portion of this salt added, remains undissolved in the fluid. The spirit +will thus become separated from the water, because the subcarbonate of +potash abstracts from it the whole of the water which it contained; and +this combination sinks to the bottom, and the spirit alone floats on the +top. If this experiment be made in a glass tube, about half or +three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and graduated into 50 or 100 +equal parts, the relative per centage of spirit in a given quantity of +beer may be seen by mere inspection.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Per_Centage_of_Alcohol" id="Per_Centage_of_Alcohol"></a><i>Quantity of Alcohol contained in Porter, Ale, and other kinds of Malt +Liquors.</i><a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[81]</span></a></p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Quantity of Alcohol contained in Porter, Ale, and other kinds of Malt Liquors"> +<tr> + <th>One hundred parts,<br /> by Measure, contained.</th> + <th>Parts of Alcohol,<br /> by Measure.</th> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale, home-brewed</td> + <td class="tdindent">8,30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale, Burton, three Samples</td> + <td class="tdindent">6,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale, Burton<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></td> + <td class="tdindent">8,88</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale, Edinburgh<a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></td> + <td class="tdindent">6,20</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale, Dorchester<a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></td> + <td class="tdindent">5,50</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale, common London-brewed, six samples</td> + <td class="tdindent">5,82</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ale, Scotch, three samples</td> + <td class="tdindent">5,75</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Porter, London, eight samples</td> + <td class="tdindent">4,00</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto, Ditto<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></td> + <td class="tdindent">4,20</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto, Ditto<a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></td> + <td class="tdindent">4,45</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto, Ditto, bottled.</td> + <td class="tdindent">4,75</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Brown Stout, four samples</td> + <td class="tdindent">5</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto, Ditto<a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></td> + <td class="tdindent">6,80</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Small Beer, six samples</td> + <td class="tdindent">0,75</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Ditto, Ditto<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></td> + <td class="tdindent">1,28</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> See pages <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Ibid. p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> "Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, to whom +the petition of several inhabitants of London and its vicinity, +complaining of the high price and inferior quality of beer, was +referred, to examine the matter thereof, and to report the same, with +their observations thereupon, to the House. Printed by order of the +House of Commons, April, 1819."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> 56 Geo. III. c. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of +Commons, appointed for examining the price and quality of Beer.—See +pages 18, 29, 30, 31, 36, 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> The average specific gravity of different samples of brown +stout, obtained direct from the breweries of Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, +and Co. Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, and Co. Messrs. Henry Meux and Co. and +from several other eminent London brewers, amounted to 1,022; and the +average specific gravity of porter, from the same breweries, 1,018.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> 2 Geo. III. c. 14, § 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> 59 Geo. III. c. 53, § 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of +Commons, appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 19, +29, 36, 37, 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> See Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons for +reporting on the Price and Quality of Beer, 1819, p. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> 7 Geo. II. c. 19, § 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> See List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted for mixing +table beer with strong beer, &c. p. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>. +</p><p> +"Alum gives likewise a smack of age to beer, and is penetrating to the +palate."—<i>S. Child on Brewing.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of +Commons, appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> See Mr. Carr's evidence in the Minutes of the House of +Commons, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> 42 George III, c. 38, § 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Copied from the minutes of the Committee of the House of +Commons, appointed for examining the price and quality of Beer, 1819, p. +29, 36, 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> See the Parliamentary Minutes, p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Mr. Barclay has not specified the relative proportions of +brown stout and of bottling beer which are introduced at such an +augmentation of expense.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Mr. Child, in his Treatise on Brewing, p. 23 directs, <i>to +make new beer older, use oil of vitriol</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of +Commons appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 29, +36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> The deleterious effect of Cocculus Indicus (the fruit of +the memispermum cocculus) is owing to a peculiar bitter principle +contained in it; which, when swallowed in minute quantities, intoxicates +and acts as poison. It may be obtained from cocculus indicus berries in +a detached state:—chemists call it picrotoxin, from <ins class="greekcorr" title="pikros">πικρός</ins>, +bitter; and <ins class="greekcorr" title="toxikon">τοξικόν</ins> poison.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 28, 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co.—Truman, Hanbury and +Co.—Reid and Co.—Whitbread and Co.—Combe, Delafield, and Co.—Henry +Meux, and Co.—Calvert and Co.—Goodwin and Co.—Elliot and Co.—Taylor +and Co.—Cox, and Camble and Co. +</p><p> +See the Minutes, before quoted, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> A partner in the brewery of Messrs. Whitbread and Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Minutes, before quoted, p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> See a Treatise on the Use and Application of Chemical +Tests, 3d edition; Tests for Sulphuric Acid, &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Repository of Arts, No. 2, p. 74.—1816.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Copied from Professor Brande's Paper in the Philosophical +Transactions, 1811, p. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Result of our own Experiments, see p. <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Professor Brande's Experiments.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Counterfeit_Tea-Leaves" id="Counterfeit_Tea-Leaves"></a><i>Counterfeit Tea-Leaves.</i></h2> + + +<p>The late detections that have been made respecting the illicit +establishments for the manufacture of imitation tea leaves, arrested, +not long ago, the attention of the public; and the parties by whom these +manufactories were conducted, together with the numerous venders of the +factitious tea, did not escape the hand of justice. In proof of this +statement, it is only necessary to consult the London newspapers (the +Times and the Courier) from March to July 1818; which show to what +extent this nefarious traffic has been carried on; and they report also +the prosecutions and convictions of numerous individuals who have been +guilty of the fraud. The following are some of those prosecutions and +convictions.</p> + +<p class="section"><span class="smcap">Hatton Garden.</span>—On Saturday an information came to be heard at +this office, before Thomas Leach, Esq. the sitting magistrate, against a +man of the name of Edmund Rhodes, charged with having, on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>12th of +August last, dyed, fabricated, and manufactured, divers large +quantities, viz. one hundred weight of sloe leaves, one hundred weight +of ash leaves, one hundred weight of elder leaves, and one hundred +weight of the leaves of a certain other tree, in imitation of tea, +contrary to the statute of the 17th of Geo. III.<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> whereby the said +Edmund Rhodes had, for every pound of such leaves so manufactured, +forfeited the sum of 5<i>l.</i> making the total of the penalties amount to +2,000<i>l.</i> The second count in the information charged the said Rhodes +with having in his possession the above quantity of sloe, ash, elder, +and other leaves, under the like penalty of 2,000<i>l.</i> The third count +charged him with having, on the said 12th of August last, in his +possession, divers quantities, exceeding six pounds weight of each +respective kind of leaves; viz. fifty pounds weight of green sloe +leaves, fifty pounds weight of green leaves of ash, fifty pounds weight +of green leaves of elder, and fifty pounds weight of the green leaves of +a certain other tree; not having proved that such leaves were gathered +with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>consent of the owners of the trees and shrubs from which they +were taken, and that such leaves were gathered for some other use, and +not for the purpose of manufacturing the same in imitation of tea; +whereby he had forfeited for each pound weight, the sum of 5<i>l.</i> +amounting in the whole to 1,000<i>l.</i>; and, in default of payment, in each +case, subjected himself to be committed to the house of correction for +not more than twelve months, nor less than six months.</p> + +<p>Mr. Denton, who appeared for the defendant, who was absent, said that he +was a very poor man, with a family of five children, and was only the +servant of the real manufacturer, and an ignorant man from the country, +put into the premises to carry on the business, without knowing what the +leaves were intended for. By direction of Mr. Mayo, who conducted the +prosecution, several barrels and bags, filled with the imitation tea, +were then brought into the office, and a sample from each handed round. +To the eye they seemed a good imitation of tea.</p> + +<p>The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 500<i>l.</i> on the second +count.</p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against Palmer.</i>—This was an action by the +Attorney-General against the defendant, Palmer, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>charging him with +having in his possession a quantity of sloe-leaves and white-thorn +leaves, fabricated into an imitation of tea.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dauncey stated the case to the jury, and observed that the +defendant, Mr. Palmer, was a grocer. It would appear that a regular +manufactory was established in Goldstone-street. The parties by whom the +manufactory was conducted, was a person of the name of Proctor, and +another person named J. Malins. They engaged others to furnish them with +leaves, which, after undergoing a certain process, were sold to and +drank by the public as tea. The leaves, in order to be converted into an +article resembling black tea, were first boiled, then baked upon an iron +plate; and, when dry, rubbed with the hand, in order to produce that +curl which the genuine tea had. This was the most wholesome part of the +operation; for the colour which was yet to be given to it, was produced +by logwood. The green tea was manufactured in a manner more destructive +to the constitution of those by whom it was drank. The leaves, being +pressed and dried, were laid upon sheets of copper, where they received +their colour from an article known by the name of Dutch pink. The +article used in producing the appearance of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>fine green bloom, +observable on the China tea, was, however, decidedly a dead poison! He +alluded to verdigris, which was added to the Dutch pink in order to +complete the operation. This was the case which he had to bring before +the jury; and hence it would appear, that, at the moment they were +supposing they were drinking a pleasant and nutritious beverage, they +were, in fact, in all probability, drinking the produce of the hedges +round the metropolis, prepared for the purposes of deception in the most +noxious manner. He trusted he should be enabled to trace to the +possession of the defendant eighty pounds weight of the commodity he had +been describing.</p> + +<p>Thomas Jones deposed, that he knew Proctor, and was employed by him at +the latter end of April, 1817, to gather black and white thorn leaves. +Sloe leaves were the black thorn. Witness also knew John Malins, the son +of William Malins, a coffee-roaster; he did not at first know the +purpose for which the leaves were gathered, but afterwards learnt they +were to make imitation tea. Witness did not gather more than one hundred +and a half weight of these leaves; but he employed another person, of +the name of John Bagster, to gather them. He had two-pence per pound for +them. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>They were first boiled, and the water squeezed from them in a +press. They were afterwards placed over a slow-fire upon sheets of +copper to dry; while on the copper they were rubbed with the hand to +curl them. At the time of boiling there was a little <i>verdigris</i> put +into the water (this applied to green tea only.) After the leaves were +dried, they were sifted, to separate the thorns and stalks. After they +were sifted, more verdigris and some Dutch pink were added. The +verdigris gave the leaves that green bloom observable on genuine tea.</p> + +<p>The black tea went through a similar course as the green, except the +application of Dutch pink: a little verdigris was put in the boiling, +and to this was added a small quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus +the manufacture was complete. The drying operation took place on sheets +of iron. Witness knew the defendant, Edward Palmer; he took some of the +mixture he had been describing, to his shop. The first time he took some +was in May, 1817. In the course of that month, or the beginning of June, +he took four or five seven-pound parcels; when he took it there, it was +taken up to the top of the house. Witness afterwards carried some to +Russell-street, which was taken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>to the top of the house, about one +hundred weight and three quarters; from this quantity he carried +fifty-three pounds weight to the house of the defendant's porter, by the +desire of Mr. Malins; it was in paper parcels of seven pounds each.</p> + +<p>John Bagster proved that he had been employed by Malins and Proctor, to +gather sloe and white-thorn leaves: they were taken to Jones's house, +and from thence to <ins class="correction" title="Original has Malin's.">Malins'</ins> coffee-roasting premises; witness received +two-pence per pound for them; he saw the manufacturing going on, but did +not know much about it: witness saw the leaves on sheets of copper, in +Goldstone-street.</p> + +<p>This was the case for the Crown.—Verdict for the Crown, 840<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against John Prentice.</i>—This was an information +similar to the last, in which the defendant submitted to a verdict for +the Crown.</p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against Lawson Holmes.</i>—In this case the +defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.</p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against John Orkney.</i>—Thomas Jones proved that +the defendant was a grocer, and in the month of May last he carried to +his shop seven pounds of imitation tea, by the order of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>John Malins, +for which he received the money, viz. 15<i>s.</i> 9<i>d.</i> or 2<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i> per +pound.</p> + +<p>The jury found a verdict for the Crown.—Penalties 70<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against James Gray.</i>—The defendant submitted to a +verdict for the Crown.—Penalties 120<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against H. Gilbert, and Powel.</i>—These defendants +submitted to a verdict.—Penalties 140<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against William Clarke.</i>—This defendant also +submitted to a verdict for the Crown.</p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against George David Bellis.</i>—This defendant +submitted to a verdict for the Crown.</p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against John Horner.</i>—The defendant in this case +was a grocer; it was proved by Jones that he received twenty pounds of +imitation tea.—Verdict for the Crown.—Penalties 210<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against William Dowling.</i>—This was a grocer. +Jones proved that he delivered seven pounds of imitation tea at Mr. +Dowling's house, and received the money for it, namely 15<i>s.</i> +9<i>d.</i>—Penalties 70<i>l.</i></p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Detecting_Adulterations_of_Tea-Leaves" id="Detecting_Adulterations_of_Tea-Leaves"></a>METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA.</p> + +<p>The adulteration of tea may be evinced by comparing the botanical +characters of the leaves of the two respective trees, and by submitting +them to the action of a few chemical tests.</p> + +<p>The shape of the tea-leaf is slender and narrow, as shewn in this +sketch, the edges are deeply serrated, and the end or extremity is +acutely pointed. The texture of the leaf is very delicate, its surface +smooth and glossy, and its colour is a lively pale green.</p> + +<div class="img"> +<img src="images/image2.png" alt="Tea leaves" width="50%" /> +</div> + +<p>The sloe-leaf (and also the white-thorn leaf,) as shewn in this sketch, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>is more rounded, and the leaf is obtusely pointed. The serratures or +jags on the edges are not so deep, the surface of the leaf is more +uneven, the texture not so delicate, and the colour is a dark olive +green.</p> + +<div class="img"> +<img src="images/image3.png" alt="Sloe leaves" width="50%" /> +</div> + +<p>These characters of course can be observed only after the dried leaves +have been suffered to macerate in water for about twenty-four hours.</p> + +<p>The leaves of some sorts of tea may differ in size, but the shape is the +same in all of them; because all the different kinds of tea imported +from China, are the produce of one species of plant, and the difference +between the green and souchong, or black tea, depends chiefly upon the +climate, soil, culture, age, and mode of drying the leaves.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p><p>Spurious black tea,<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> slightly moistened, when rubbed on a sheet of +white paper, immediately produces a blueish-black stain; and speedily +affords, when thrown into cold water, a blueish-black tincture, which +instantly becomes reddened by letting fall into it, a drop or two of +sulphuric acid.</p> + +<p>Two ounces of the suspected leaves, should be infused in half-a-pint of +cold, soft water, and suffered to stand for about an hour. Genuine tea +produces an amber-coloured infusion, which does not become reddened by +sulphuric acid.</p> + +<p>All the samples of spurious green tea (nineteen in number) which I have +examined, were coloured with carbonate of copper (a poisonous +substance,) and not by means of verdigris, or copperas.<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>latter +substances would instantly turn the tea black; because both these +metallic salts being soluble in water, are acted on by the astringent +matter of the leaves, whether genuine or spurious, and convert the +infusion into ink.</p> + +<p>Tea, rendered poisonous by carbonate of copper, speedily imparts to +liquid ammonia a fine sapphire blue tinge. It is only necessary to shake +up in a stopped vial, for a few minutes, a tea-spoonful of the suspected +leaves, with about two table-spoonsful of liquid ammonia, diluted with +half its bulk of water. The supernatant liquid will exhibit a fine blue +colour, if the minutest quantity of copper be present.</p> + +<p>Green tea, coloured with carbonate of copper, when thrown into water +impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, immediately acquires a black +colour. Genuine green tea suffers no change from the action of these +tests.</p> + +<p>The presence of copper may be further rendered obvious, by mixing one +part of the suspected tea-leaves, reduced to powder, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>with two or three +parts of nitrate of potash, (or with two parts of chlorate of potash,) +and projecting this mixture by small portions at a time, into a platina, +or porcelain-ware crucible, kept red-hot in a coal fire; the whole +vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thus become destroyed, and the +oxide of copper left behind, in combination with the potash, of the +nitrate of potash (or salt-petre,) or with the muriate of potash, if +chlorate of potash has been employed.</p> + +<p>If water, acidulated with nitric acid, be then poured into the crucible +to dissolve the mass, the presence of the copper may be rendered +manifest by adding to the solution, liquid ammonia, in such quantity +that the pungent odour of it predominates.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Also, 2 Geo. I, c. 30, § 5; and 4 Geo. II, c. 14, § 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> The examination of twenty-seven samples of imitation tea +of different qualities, from the most costly, to the most common, which +it fell to my lot to undertake, induces me to point out the marks of +sophistications here detailed, as the most simple and expeditious.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Mr. Twining, an eminent tea-merchant, asserts, that "the +leaves of spurious tea are boiled in a copper, with copperas and sheep's +dung.<ins class="correction" title="End quote missing in original.">"</ins>—See Encyclop. Britan. vol. xviii. p. 331. 1797. See also the +History of the Tea Plant, p<ins title="Original has two periods.">.</ins> 48; and p. <a href="#Page_167">167</a> of this Treatise.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Counterfeit_Coffee" id="Counterfeit_Coffee"></a><i>Counterfeit Coffee.</i></h2> + + +<p>The fraud of counterfeiting ground coffee by means of pigeon's beans and +pease, is another subject which, not long ago, arrested the attention of +the public: and from the numerous convictions of grocers prosecuted for +the offence, it is evident that this practice has been carried on for a +long time, and to a considerable extent.</p> + +<p>The following statement exhibits some of the prosecutions, instituted by +the Solicitor of the Excise, against persons convicted of the fraud of +manufacturing spurious, and adulterating genuine coffee.</p> + +<p>Alexander Brady, a grocer, (<i>See p. <a href="#Page_182">182</a></i>) prosecuted and convicted of +selling <i>sham-coffee</i>, said, "I have sold it for twenty years." Some of +the persons prosecuted by the Solicitor of the Excise for this fraud, we +might, at first sight, be inclined to believe, were inconscious that the +adulterating of genuine coffee with spurious substances was illegal; but +this ignorance affords no excuse, as the Act of the 43 Geo. III. cap. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>129, explicitly states: "If after the first day of September, 1803, any +burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other grain, or vegetable +substance or substances prepared or manufactured for the purpose of +being in imitation of or in any respect to resemble coffee or cocoa, or +to serve as a substitute for coffee or cocoa, or alleged or pretended by +the possessor or vender thereof so to be, <i>shall be made</i>, or kept for +sale, or shall be <i>offered</i> or <i>exposed to sale</i>, or shall be <i>found</i> in +the custody or possession of any <i>dealer</i> or dealers in or <i>seller</i> or +sellers of <i>coffee</i>, or if any burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, +or other grain, or vegetable substance or substances not being coffee, +shall be called by the preparer, manufacturer, possessor, or vender +thereof, by the name of <i>English</i> or <i>British</i> coffee, or <i>any other +name</i> of coffee, or by the name of <i>American</i> cocoa, or <i>English</i> or +<i>British</i> cocoa, or any other name of cocoa, the same respectively shall +be forfeited, together with the packages containing the same, and shall +and may be seized by any officer or officers of Excise; and the person +or persons preparing, manufacturing, or selling the same, or having the +same in his, her, or their custody or possession, or the dealer or +dealers in or seller or sellers of coffee or cocoa, in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>whose custody +the same shall be found, shall forfeit and lose the sum of one hundred +pounds."</p> + +<p class="section"><i>The Attorney-General against William Malins.</i>—This was an information +filed by the Attorney-General against the defendant, charging him, he +being a dealer in coffee, with having in his possession a large quantity +of imitation coffee, made from scorched pease and beans, resembling +coffee, and intended to be sold as such, contrary to the statute of the +43d of the King, whereby he became liable to pay a fine of 100<i>l.</i></p> + +<p>J. Lawes deposed that he had lived servant with the defendant; he +constantly roasted pease and beans, and ground them into powder. When so +ground, the powder very much resembled coffee. Sometimes the sweepings +of the coffee were thrown in among the pease and beans. Witness carried +out this powder to several grocers in different parts of the town.</p> + +<p>Thomas Jones lived with the defendant. His occupation was roasting and +grinding pease and beans. They looked, when ground, the same as coffee. +Witness had seen Mr. John Malins sweep up the refuse coffee, and mix it +with the pease and beans. He had taken out this mixture to grocers.</p> + +<p>J. Richardson, an excise-officer, deposed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>that, in December 1817, he +went to the premises of the defendant, and there seized four sacks, five +tubs, and nine pounds in paper, of a powder made to resemble coffee. The +quantity ground was 1,567 pounds; it had all the appearance of coffee; +and a little coffee being mixed with it, any common person might be +deceived. He also seized two sacks, containing 279 pounds of whole pease +and beans roasted. Among the latter were some grains of coffee. The +witness here produced samples of the articles seized.</p> + +<p>John Lawes deposed, that the articles exhibited were such as he was in +the habit of manufacturing while in Mr. Malins' employment.</p> + +<p>The jury found a verdict for the Crown.—Penalty 100<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Chaloner.</i>—Mr. Chaloner, a dealer in tea and coffee, +was charged on the oaths of Charles Henry Lord and John Pearson, both +Excise officers, with having in his possession, on the 17th of March, +nine pounds of spurious coffee, consisting of burnt pease, beans, and +gravel or sand, and a portion of coffee, and with selling some of the +same; also with having in his possession seventeen pounds of vegetable +powder, and an article imitating <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>coffee, which contained not a particle +of genuine coffee.</p> + +<p>The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 90<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Peether.</i>—This was an information against Mr. Thomas +Peether, tea and coffee dealer, charging him with having in his +possession a quantity of imitation coffee (or vegetable powder) on the +25th of April last.</p> + +<p>The case being proved by the evidence of several witnesses, the +defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Topping.</i>—This was an information against Mr. John +Lewis Topping, a dealer in tea and coffee, charging him with having +thirty-seven pounds of vegetable powder in his possession. The article +seized was produced to the commissioners of the Excise.</p> + +<p>The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Samuel Hallett.</i>—The defendant, Hallett, a grocer and +dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having seven pounds of +imitation coffee in his possession.</p> + +<p>Charles Henry Lord, an officer of the Excise, being sworn, stated, that +he and Spencer, an officer, went, on the 28th of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>February last, to the +shop of the defendant, and asked for an ounce of coffee, at three +halfpence per ounce. He received the same, and having paid for it, left +the shop. He examined the article, and found it was part coffee, and +part imitation coffee, or what the defendant called vegetable powder, +which is nothing more nor less than burnt pease and beans ground in a +mill.</p> + +<p>Spencer, the officer of the Excise, corroborated the above evidence, and +stated, that the sham-coffee seized at the defendant's house was shown +to Mr. Joseph Hubbard, grocer, and tea and coffee dealer, in +High-street, in the Borough of Southwark.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hubbard being sworn, stated, that he had examined the sham-coffee +seized by the officers in the defendant's shop. The one ounce purchased +by Lord, he knew to be nothing else than black pigeon's beans; there was +no coffee amongst it.</p> + +<p>The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Fox.</i>—Mr. Edward Fox, grocer, and dealer in tea and +coffee, was charged with having a large quantity of sham-coffee in his +possession, and with selling the same for genuine coffee.</p> + +<p>Henry Spencer, an officer of the Excise, stated, that on the 21st of +February he and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>Lord, another officer, went to the defendant's shop and +purchased an ounce of coffee, for which he paid three halfpence. They +examined it, and he was satisfied it was not genuine coffee; they +purchased another ounce (which he produced to the commissioners of the +Excise, who examined it); they were convinced it consisted partly of +coffee and beans and pease.</p> + +<p>The defendant, in his defence said, that the poor people wanted a +low-price article; and by mixing the vegetable powder and coffee +together, he was able to sell it at three halfpence an ounce; he had +sold it for years; he did it as a matter of accommodation to the poor, +who could not give a higher price; he did not sell it for genuine +coffee.</p> + +<p><i>Commissioner.</i>—"Then you have been defrauding the public for many +years, and injuring the revenue by your illicit practices: the poor have +an equal right to be supplied with as genuine an article as the rich."</p> + +<p>He was convicted in the penalty of 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Brady.</i>—The defendant, Mr. Alexander Brady, grocer, +and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having, on the 28th of +February last, in his possession eighteen pounds of sham-coffee, and +selling the same for genuine coffee.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p>Lord and Pearson, Excise officers, stated, that they purchased an ounce +of coffee of the defendant, on the 28th of February, and upon examining +it they discovered that it was made up of pease and beans, ground with a +small quantity of coffee. They also found eighteen pounds of vegetable +powder mixed with coffee, in a state prepared for sale, wrapped in +papers.</p> + +<p>One of the commissioners tasted some of the eighteen pounds of +sham-coffee produced by the officers, and declared that it was a most +infamous stuff, and unfit for human food.</p> + +<p><i>Defendant.</i>—"Why, I have sold it for twenty years."</p> + +<p><i>Commissioner.</i>—"Then you have been for twenty years acting most +dishonestly, defrauding the revenue; and the health of the poor must +have suffered very much by taking such an unwholesome article. Your +having dealt in this article so long aggravates your case; you have for +twenty years been selling burnt beans and pease for genuine coffee.—You +are convicted in the penalty of 50<i>l.</i>"</p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Bowser.</i>—The excise officers stated, that on the 28th +of February they went to his shop: he was a grocer, dealer in tea and +coffee; they seized seven pounds and a half of vegetable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>powder, which +contained very little coffee, if any; and also a quarter of a pound of +coffee mixed with vegetable powder.</p> + +<p>The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, and prayed the court to +mitigate the penalty. He was convicted in the penalty of 50<i>l.</i></p> + +<p class="section"><i>The King against Thomas Owen.</i>—The defendant, an extensive dealer in +tea and coffee, appeared to an information charging him with having in +his possession, and selling, a quantity of deleterious ingredients, and +mixing them with coffee.</p> + +<p>Charles Henry Lord deposed, that on the 26th of February, he found, at +the shop of the defendant, nineteen pounds of a composition consisting +of beans and pease ground, and prepared so as to imitate coffee. He also +discovered two pounds and a half of a mixture of coffee and vegetable +powder. On the same day he proceeded to another shop of the defendant, +and he there found five pounds more of the same stuff.</p> + +<p>Samples of the composition, in its mixed and unmixed state, were +produced.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lawes addressed the commissioners on behalf of the defendant, in +mitigation of punishment; for he did not mean to deny the offence. His +client was a very young <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>man, and had been most unfortunate in business. +He was not aware until lately of the existence of any law by which it +could be punished.</p> + +<p>The Commissioners observed, that they had a double duty to perform, +namely, to protect the revenue from fraud, and to prevent the public +from being imposed upon and injured by ingredients served to them +instead of the food they intended to purchase. The fraud upon the +revenue was, in the estimation of the court, the least part of the +offence. Under all the circumstances, however, the court was inclined to +be lenient to the defendant.</p> + +<p>He was convicted in the penalty of 50<i>l.</i> for each quantity of +sham-coffee.</p> + +<p>Mr. Greely and Mr. William Dando were fined 20<i>l.</i> each; and Mr. Hirling +and Mr. Terry were <ins class="correction" title="Original has find.">fined</ins> 90<i>l.</i> each for selling spurious coffee.</p> + +<p class="section">The adulteration of ground coffee, with pease and beans, is beyond the +reach of chemical analysis; but it may, perhaps, not be amiss on this +occasion to give to our readers a piece of advice given by a retired +grocer to a friend, at no distant period:—"Never, my good fellow," he +said, "purchase from a grocer any thing which passes through his mill. +You know not what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>you get instead of the article you expect to +receive—coffee, pepper, and all-spice, are all mixed with substances +which detract from their own natural qualities."—Persons keeping mills +of their own can at all times prevent these impositions.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Brandy_Rum_and_Gin" id="Adulteration_of_Brandy_Rum_and_Gin"></a><i>Adulteration of Brandy, Rum, and Gin.</i></h2> + + +<p>By the Excise laws at present existing in this country, the various +degrees of strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, whiskey, and other +spiritous liquors, chiefly composed of little else than spirit of wine, +are determined by the quantity of alcohol of a given specific gravity +contained in the spiritous liquors of a supposed unknown strength. The +great public importance of this subject in this country, where the +consumption of spiritous liquors adds a vast sum to the public revenue, +has been the means of instituting many very interesting series of +experiments on this subject. The instrument used for that purpose by the +Customs and officers of Excise, is called <i>Sikes</i>'s hydrometer,<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +which has now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>superseded the instrument called <i>Clark</i>'s hydrometer, +heretofore in use.</p> + +<p>The specific gravity or strength of the legal standard spirit of the +Excise, is technically called <i>proof</i> or <i>proof spirit</i>. "This liquor +(not being spirit sweetened, or having any ingredient dissolved in it, +to defeat the strength thereof,) at the temperature of 57° Faht. weighs +exactly 12/13th parts of an equal measure of distilled water;" and with +this spirit the strength of all other spiritous liquors are compared +according to law.</p> + +<p>The strength of spirit stronger than <i>proof</i> or <i>over proof</i>, as it is +termed by the revenue officers, is indicated by the bulk of water +necessary to reduce a given volume of it, to the legal standard spirit, +denominated <i>proof</i>—namely; if one gallon of water be required to bring +twenty gallons of brandy, rum, or any other spirit, to proof, that +spirit is said to be <i>1 to 20 over proof</i>. If one gallon of water be +required to bring 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor to <i>proof</i>, it +is said to be 1 to 15, 1 to 10, 1 to 5, and 1 to 2, <i>over proof</i>.</p> + +<p>The strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, or other spiritous liquors, +weaker than <i>proof</i>, or under <i>proof</i>, is estimated by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>quantity of +water which would be necessary to abstract or bring the spirit up to +proof.</p> + +<p>Thus, if from twenty gallons of brandy one gallon of water must be +abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 20 under proof. +If from 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor, 1 gallon of water must be +abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 15, 1 in 10, 1 in +5, and 1 in 2 under proof.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to understand this absurd language, which is in use +amongst the officers of Excise and dealers in spirit, in order to know +what is meant in commerce by the strength of spiritous liquors of +different denominations. And hence, for the business of the exciseman, a +table has been constructed, expressing the strength or specific gravity +of mixtures of different proportions of spirit and water, at different +degrees of temperature; and according to this table the duty on spirit +is now levied.</p> + +<p>Brandy and rum is seizable, if sold by, or found in the possession of, +the dealer, unless it possesses a certain strength.<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> The following +are the words of the Act:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p><p>"No distiller, rectifier,<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> compounder or dealer, shall serve or send +out any foreign spirits, of a lower strength than that of 1 in 6 under +hydrometer proof,<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> nor have in his possession any foreign spirits +mixed together, except shrub, cherry or raspberry brandy, of lower +strength than as aforesaid, upon pain of such spirits being forfeited; +and such spirits, with the casks and vessels containing the same, may be +seized by any officer of Excise."</p> + +<p>We have, therefore, a ready check against the frauds of the dishonest +dealers, in spiritous liquors. If the spirit merchant engages to deliver +a liquor of a certain strength, the hydrometer is by far the most easy +and expeditious check that can be adopted to guard against frauds of +receiving a weaker liquor for a stronger one; and to those individuals +who are in the habit of purchasing large quantities of brandy, rum, or +other spiritous liquors, the hydrometer renders the greatest service. +For it is by no means an uncommon occurrence to meet with brandy, rum, +and other spiritous liquors, of a specific gravity very much below the +pretended strength which the liquor ought to possess.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p><p>The following advice, given to his readers,<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> by the author of a +Treatise on Brewing and Distilling, may serve to put the unwary on their +guard against some of the frauds practised by mercenary dealers.</p> + +<p>"It is a custom among retailing distillers, which I have not taken +notice of in this directory, to put one-third or one-fourth part of +proof molasses brandy, proportionably, to what rum they dispose of; +which cannot be distinguished, but by an extraordinary palate, and does +not at all lessen the body or proof of the goods; but makes them about +two shillings a gallon cheaper; and must be well mixed and incorporated +together in your retailing cask; but you should keep some of the best +rum, not adulterated, to please some customers, whose judgment and +palate must be humoured."</p> + +<p>"When you are to draw a sample of goods to shew a person that has +judgment in the proof, do not draw your goods into a phial to be tasted, +or make experiment of the strength thereof that way, because the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>proof +will not hold except the goods be exceedingly strong; but draw the +pattern of goods rather into a glass from the cock, to run very small, +or rather draw off a small quantity into a little pewter pot and pour it +into your glass, extending your pot as high above the glasses as you can +without wasting it, which makes the goods carry a better head +abundantly, than if the same goods were to be put and tried in a phial."</p> + +<p>"You must be so prudent as to make a distinction of the persons you have +to deal with; what goods you sell to gentlemen for their own use, who +require a great deal of attendance, and as much for time of payment, you +must take a considerably greater price than of others; what goods you +sell to persons where you believe there is a manifest, or at least some +hazard of your money, you may safely sell for more than common profit; +what goods you sell to the poor, especially medicinally, (as many of +your goods are sanative,) be as compassionate as the cases require."</p> + +<p>"All brandies, whether French, Spanish, or English; being proof goods, +will admit of one point of <i>liquor</i><a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> to each gallon, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>be made up +and incorporated therewith in your cask, for retail, or selling smaller +quantities; and all persons that insist upon having proof goods, which +not one in twenty understands, you must supply out of what goods are not +so reduced, though at a higher price."</p> + +<p>Such is the advice given by Mr. Shannon.</p> + +<p>The mode of judging by the taste of spiritous liquors is deceitful. A +false strength is given to a weak liquor, by infusing in it acrid +vegetable substances, or by adding to it a tincture of grains of +paradise and Guinea pepper. These substances impart to weak brandy or +rum, an extremely hot and pungent taste.</p> + +<p>Brandy and rum is also frequently sophisticated with British molasses, +or sugar-spirit, coloured with burnt sugar.</p> + +<p>The flavour which characterises French brandy, and which is owing to a +small portion of a peculiar essential oil contained in it, is imitated +by distilling British molasses-spirit over wine lees;<a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> but the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>spirit, prior to being distilled over wine lees, is previously +deprived, in part, of its peculiar disagreeable flavour, by +rectification over fresh burnt charcoal and quick-lime. Other +brandy-merchants employ a spirit obtained from raisin wine, which is +suffered to pass into an incipient ascescency. The spirit thus procured +partakes strongly of the flavour which is characteristic to foreign +brandy.</p> + +<p>Oak saw-dust, and a spiritous tincture of raisin stones, are likewise +used to impart to new brandy and rum a <i>ripe taste</i>, resembling brandy +or rum long kept in oaken casks, and a somewhat oily consistence, so as +to form a durable froth at its surface, when strongly agitated in a +vial. The colouring substances are burnt sugar, or molasses; the latter +gives to imitative brandy a luscious taste, and fulness <i>in the mouth</i>. +These properties are said to render it particularly fit for the retail +London customers.</p> + +<p>The following is the method of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>compounding or <i>making up</i>, as it is +technically called, <i>brandy</i><a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> for retail:</p> + + + +<table class="left" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Compounding Brandy for Retail Sale"> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">Gallons</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">"To ten puncheons of brandy</td> + <td class="tdright">1081</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Add flavoured raisin spirit</td> + <td class="tdright">118</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Tincture of grains of paradise</td> + <td class="tdright">4</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Cherry laurel water</td> + <td class="tdright">2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Spirit of almond cakes</td> + <td class="tdright">2</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">———</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">1207</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>"Add also 10 handfuls of oak saw-dust; and give it <i>complexion</i> with +burnt sugar."</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Detecting_Adulterations_of_Brandy" id="Detecting_Adulterations_of_Brandy"></a>METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF BRANDY, RUM, AND MALT SPIRIT.</p> + +<p>The false strength of brandy or rum is rendered obvious by diluting the +suspected liquor with water; the acrimony of the capsicum, and grains of +paradise, or pepper, may then be readily discovered by the taste.</p> + +<p>The adulteration of brandy with British molasses, or sugar-spirit, +becomes evident <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>by rubbing a portion of the suspected brandy between +the palms of the hands; the spirit, as it evaporates, leaves the +disagreeable flavour which is peculiar to all British spirits. Or the +liquor may be deprived of its alcohol, by heating a portion in a spoon +over a candle, till the vapour ceases to catch fire on the approach of a +lighted taper. The residue thus obtained, of genuine French brandy, +possesses a vinous odour, still resembling the original flavour of the +brandy, whilst the residue, produced from sophisticated brandy, has a +peculiarly disagreeable smell, resembling gin, or the breath of habitual +drunkards.</p> + +<p>Arrack is coarsely imitated by adding to rum a small quantity of +pyroligneous acid and some flowers (acid) of benzoe. The compound thus +produced, however, must be pronounced a bad one. The author of a very +popular Cookery Book,<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> directs two scruples of benzoic acid to be +dissolved in one quart of rum, to make "<i>mock arrack</i>."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead">MALT SPIRIT.</p> + +<p>Malt spirit, or gin, the favourite liquor of the lower order of people, +which is characterised by the peculiar flavour of juniper berries, over +which the raw spirit is distilled, is usually obtained from a mixture of +malt and barley: sometimes both molasses and corn are employed, +particularly if there be a scarcity of grain. But the flavour of +whiskey, which is made from barley and oats, is owing to the malted +grain being dried with peat, the smoke of which gives it the +characteristic taste.</p> + +<p>The malt distiller is not allowed to furnish, under a heavy penalty, any +crude or raw spirit to the rectifier or manufacturer of gin, of a +greater strength than seven per cent. over proof. The rectifier who +receives the spirit from the malt distiller is not allowed, under a +certain penalty, to sweeten the liquor with sugar or other substances; +nor is he permitted to send out the spirit to his customers but of a +certain strength, as is obvious from the following words of the Act:</p> + +<p>"No rectifier or compounder shall sell or send out any British brandy, +British <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>rectified spirits, British compounds, or other British spirits, +of greater strength than that of one in five under hydrometer proof<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a>: +and if he shall sell and send out any such spirits of a greater strength +than that of one in five under hydrometer proof, such spirits, with the +casks or vessels containing the same, shall be forfeited, and may be +seized by any officer of Excise; and he shall also forfeit treble the +value of such spirit, or 50<i>l.</i> at the election of the King's +attorney-general, or the person who shall sue for the same; the single +value of such spirits to be estimated at the highest London Price.<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a>"</p> + +<p>If we examine gin, as retailed, we shall soon be convinced that it is a +custom, pretty prevalent amongst dealers, to weaken this liquor +considerably with water, and to sweeten it with sugar. This fraud may +readily be detected by evaporating a quantity of the liquor in a +table-spoon over a candle, to dryness; the sugar will thus be rendered +obvious, in the form of a gum-like substance, when the spirit is +volatilised.</p> + +<p>One hundred and twenty gallons of genuine gin, as obtained from the +wholesale <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>manufactories, are usually <i>made up</i> by fraudulent retailers, +into a saleable commodity, with fourteen gallons of water and twenty-six +pounds of sugar. Now this dilution of the liquor produces a turbidness; +because the oil of juniper and other flavouring substances which the +spirit holds in solution, become precipitated by virtue of the water, +and thus cause the liquor to assume an opaline colour: and the spirit +thus weakened, cannot readily be rendered clear again by subsidence. +Several expedients are had recourse to, to clarify the liquor in an +expeditious manner; some of which are harmless; others are criminal, +because they render the liquor poisonous.</p> + +<p>One of the methods, which is innocent, consists in adding to the +weakened liquor, first, a portion of alum dissolved in water, and then a +solution of sub-carbonate of potash. The whole is stirred together, and +left undisturbed for twenty-four hours. The precipitated alumine thus +produced from the alum, by virtue of the sub-carbonate of potash, acts +as a strainer upon the milky liquor, and carries down with it the finely +divided oily matter which produced the blue colour of the diluted +liquor. Roach, or Roman alum, is also employed, without any other +addition, for clarifying spiritous liquors.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> +<p class="section">"<i>To reduce unsweetened Gin.</i><a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<table class="left" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="To reduce unsweetened Gin"> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">"A tun of fine gin</td> + <td class="tdright">252</td> + <td class="tdleft">gallons</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">"Water</td> + <td class="tdright">36</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">——</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">"Which added together make</td> + <td class="tdright">288</td> + <td class="tdleft">gallons</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">"The <i>doctor is now put</i> on,<br /> + and it is further reduced<br /> + with water</td> + <td class="tdright" valign="bottom">19</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdright">——</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">"Which gives <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Total</span></td> + <td class="tdright">307</td> + <td class="tdleft">gallons of gin.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>"This done, let 1 lb. of alum be just covered with water, and dissolved +by boiling; rummage the whole well together, and pour in the alum, and +the whole will be fine in a few hours."</p> + + +<p class="section">"<i>To prepare and sweeten British Gin.</i><a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> + +<p>"Get from your distiller an empty puncheon or cask, which will contain +about 133 gallons. Then take a cask of clear rectified spirits, 120 +gallons, of the usual strength as rectifiers sell their goods at, put +the 120 gallons of spirits into your empty cask.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p><p>"Then take a quarter of an ounce of oil of vitriol, half an ounce of +oil of almonds, a quarter of an ounce of oil of turpentine, one ounce of +oil of juniper berries, half a pint of spirit of wine, and half a pound +of lump sugar. Beat or rub the above in a mortar. When well rubbed +together, have ready prepared half a gallon of lime water, one gallon of +rose water; mix the whole in either a pail, or cask, with a stick, till +every particle shall be dissolved; then add to the foregoing, +twenty-five pounds of sugar dissolved in about nine gallons of rain or +Thames water, or water that has been boiled, mix the whole well +together, and stir them carefully with a stick in the 133 gallons cask.</p> + +<p>"To <i>force down</i> the same, take and boil eight ounces of alum in three +quarts of water, for three quarters of an hour; take it from the fire, +and dissolve by degrees six or seven ounces of salt of tartar. When the +same is milk-warm pour it into your gin, and stir it well together, as +before, for five minutes, the same as you would a butt of beer newly +fined. Let your cask stand as you mean to draw it. At every time you +purpose to sweeten again, that cask must be well washed out; and take +great care never to shake your cask all the while it is drawing."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>Another method of fining spiritous liquors, consists in adding to it, +first, a solution of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solution of alum. +This practice is highly dangerous, because part of the sulphate of lead +produced, remains dissolved in the liquor, which it thus renders +poisonous. Unfortunately, this method of clarifying spiritous liquors, I +have good reason to believe, is more frequently practised than the +preceding method, because its action is more rapid; and it imparts to +the liquor a fine <i>complexion</i>, or great refractive power; hence some +vestiges of lead may often be detected in malt spirit.</p> + +<p>The weakened spirit is then sweetened with sugar, and, to cover the raw +taste of the malt spirit, <i>false strength</i> is given to it with grains of +paradise, Guinea pepper, capsicum, and other acrid and aromatic +substances.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Detecting_Lead_in_Spirits" id="Detecting_Lead_in_Spirits"></a>METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF LEAD IN SPIRITOUS LIQUORS.</p> + +<p>The presence of lead may be detected in spiritous liquors, as stated <ins class="correction" title="Word missing in original.">on</ins> +pages <a href="#Page_70">70</a> and <a href="#Page_86">86</a>. The cordial called shrub frequently exhibits vestiges +of copper. This <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>contamination, I have been informed, is accidental, and +originates from the metallic vessels employed in the manufacture of the +liquor.</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Ascertaining_Alcohol_in_Spirits" id="Ascertaining_Alcohol_in_Spirits"></a>METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF ALCOHOL IN DIFFERENT KINDS OF +SPIRITOUS LIQUORS.</p> + +<p>The quantity of real alcohol in any spiritous liquors may readily be +ascertained by simple distillation, which process separates the alcohol +from the water and foreign matters contained in the liquor. Put any +quantity of brandy, rum, or malt spirit diluted with about one-fourth +its bulk of water, into a retort fitted to a capacious receiver, and +distil with a gentle heat. The strongest spirit distils over first into +the receiver, and the strength of the obtained products decreases, till +at last it contains so much water as no longer to be inflammable by the +approach of a lighted taper, when held in a spoon over a candle (see p. +<a href="#Page_160">160</a>.) If the process be continued, the distilled product becomes milky, +scarcely spiritous to the smell, and of an acidulous taste. The +distilling operation may then be discontinued. If the first, fourth or +third <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>part of the distilled product has been set apart, it will be +found a moderately strong alcohol, and the remainder one more diluted. +If the whole distilled spirit be mixed with perfectly dry subcarbonate +of potash, the alcohol will float at the top of the potash, as stated, +p. <a href="#Page_161">161</a>; it will separate into two distinct fluids. If the decanted +alcohol be redistilled carefully with a very gentle heat, over a small +portion of dry quick lime, or muriate of lime, it will be obtained +extremely pure, and of a specific gravity of about 825, at 60° of +temperature. Its flavour will vary according to the kind of spiritous +liquor from which it is obtained.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Per_Centage_of_Alcohol_in_Spirits" id="Per_Centage_of_Alcohol_in_Spirits"></a><i>Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Alcohol (of 825 specific gravity) +contained in various kinds of spiritous Liquors.</i><a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor"><span style="font-weight: normal;">[101]</span></a></p> + + +<table class="left" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Percentage of alcohol in liquors"> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdcenter">Proportion of</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdcenter">Alcohol per Cent.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="tdcenter">by Measure.</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Brandy, Cogniac, average proportion of 4 samples</td> + <td class="tdcenter">52,75</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ditto, Bourdeaux, ditto ditto</td> + <td class="tdcenter">54,50</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ditto, Cette</td> + <td class="tdcenter">53,00</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ditto, Naples, average of 3 samples</td> + <td class="tdcenter">53,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ditto, Spanish average of 6 samples</td> + <td class="tdcenter">52,28</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Rum</td> + <td class="tdcenter">53,68</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ditto, Leeward, average of 9 samples</td> + <td class="tdcenter">53,00</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Scotch Whiskey, average of 6 samples</td> + <td class="tdcenter">53,50</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Irish Ditto, average of 4 samples</td> + <td class="tdcenter">54,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Arrack, Batavia</td> + <td class="tdcenter">49,50</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Dutch Geneva</td> + <td class="tdcenter">52,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdleft">Gin (Hodges's,<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a>) 3 samples, procured from retail dealers</td> + <td class="tdcenter">48,25</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdindent">Ditto (Ditto,)<a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> procured from the manufacturer</td> + <td class="tdcenter">52,35</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p> </p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> George III. c. xxviii. May 1818—"An Act for establishing +the use of Sikes's hydrometer in ascertaining the strength of spirit, +instead of Clark's hydrometer."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Sixteen and a half per cent. proof, according to Sikes's +hydrometer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> 30 Geo. III c. 37, § 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> According to Clarke's hydrometer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with +Brewing and Distilling, p. 167; and Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, +p. 232, 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Water.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> This operation forms part of the business of the so-called +brewers' druggists. It forms the article in their Price Currents, called +<i>Spirit Flavour</i>. +</p><p> +Wine lees are imported in this country for that purpose: they pay the +same duty as foreign wines.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with +Brewing and Distilling, p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Apicius Redivivus, 2d edition, p. 480.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Clark's hydrometer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> 30 Geo. III. c. 37, § 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Ibid. p. 199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Repository of Arts, p. 350, Dec. 1819.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Own experiment.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Cheese" id="Poisonous_Cheese"></a><i>Poisonous Cheese.</i></h2> + + +<p>Several instances have come under my notice in which Gloucester cheese +has been contaminated with red lead, and has produced serious +consequences on being taken into the stomach. In one poisonous sample +which it fell to my lot to investigate, the evil had been caused by the +sophistication of the anotta, employed for colouring cheese. This +substance was found to contain a portion of red lead; a method of +sophistication which has lately been confirmed by the following fact, +communicated to the public by Mr. J. W. Wright, of Cambridge.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> + +<p>"As a striking example of the extent to which adulterated articles of +food may be unconsciously diffused, and of the consequent difficulty of +detecting the real fabricators of them, it may not be uninteresting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>to +relate to your readers, the various steps by which the fraud of a +poisonous adulteration of cheese was traced to its source.</p> + +<p>"Your readers ought here to be told, that several instances are on +record, that Gloucester and other cheeses have been found contaminated +with red lead, and that this contamination has produced serious +consequences. In the instance now alluded to, and probably in all other +cases, the deleterious mixture had been caused ignorantly, by the +adulteration of the anotta employed for colouring the cheese. This +substance, in the instance I shall relate, was found to contain a +portion of red lead; a species of adulteration which subsequent +experiments have shewn to be by no means uncommon. Before I proceed +further to trace this fraud to its source, I shall briefly relate the +circumstance which gave rise to its detection.</p> + +<p>"A gentleman, who had occasion to reside for some time in a city in the +West of England, was one night seized with a distressing but +indescribable pain in the region of the abdomen and of the stomach, +accompanied with a feeling of tension, which occasioned much +restlessness, anxiety, and repugnance to food. He began to apprehend the +access of an inflammatory <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>disorder; but in twenty-four hours the +symptoms entirely subsided. In four days afterwards he experienced an +attack precisely similar; and he then recollected, that having, on both +occasions, arrived from the country late in the evening, he had ordered +a plate of toasted Gloucester cheese, of which he had partaken heartily; +a dish which, when at home, regularly served him for supper. He +attributed his illness to the cheese. The circumstance was mentioned to +the mistress of the inn, who expressed great surprise, as the cheese in +question was not purchased from a country dealer, but from a highly +respectable shop in London. He, therefore, ascribed the before-mentioned +effects to some peculiarity in his constitution. A few days afterwards +he partook of the same cheese; and he had scarcely retired to rest, when +a most violent cholic seized him, which lasted the whole night and part +of the ensuing day. The cook was now directed henceforth not to serve up +any toasted cheese, and he never again experienced these distressing +symptoms. Whilst this matter was a subject of conversation in the house, +a servant-maid mentioned that a kitten had been violently sick after +having eaten the rind cut off from the cheese <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>prepared for the +gentleman's supper. The landlady, in consequence of this statement, +ordered the cheese to be examined by a chemist in the vicinity, who +returned for answer, that the cheese was contaminated with lead! So +unexpected an answer arrested general attention, and more particularly +as the suspected cheese had been served up for several other customers.</p> + +<p>"Application was therefore made by the London dealer to the farmer who +manufactured the cheese: he declared that he had bought the anotta of a +mercantile traveller, who had supplied him and his neighbours for years +with that commodity, without giving occasion to a single complaint. On +subsequent inquiries, through a circuitous channel, unnecessary to be +detailed here at length, on the part of the manufacturer of the cheese, +it was found, that as the supplies of anotta had been defective and of +inferior quality, recourse had been had to the expedient of colouring +the commodity with vermilion. Even this admixture could not be +considered deleterious. But on further application being made to the +druggist who sold the article, the answer was, that the vermilion had +been mixed with a portion of red lead; and the deception was held to be +perfectly innocent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>as frequently practised on the supposition, that +the vermilion would be used only as a pigment for house-painting. Thus +the druggist sold his vermilion in the regular way of trade, adulterated +with red lead to increase his profit, without any suspicion of the use +to which it would be applied; and the purchaser who adulterated the +<ins class="correction" title="Original has annotta.">anotta</ins>, presuming that the vermilion was genuine, had no hesitation in +heightening the colour of his spurious anotta with so harmless an +adjunct. Thus, through the circuitous and diversified operations of +commerce, a portion of deadly poison may find admission into the +necessaries of life, in a way which can attach no criminality to the +parties through whose hands it has successively passed."</p> + +<p>This dangerous sophistication may be detected by macerating a portion of +the suspected cheese in water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, +acidulated with muriatic acid; which will instantly cause the cheese to +assume a brown or black colour, if the minutest portion of lead be +present.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Repository of Arts, vol. viii. No. 47, p. 262.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Counterfeit_Pepper" id="Counterfeit_Pepper"></a><i>Counterfeit Pepper.</i></h2> + + +<p>Black pepper is the fruit of a shrubby creeping plant, which grows wild +in the East Indies, and is cultivated, with much advantage, for the sake +of its berries, in Java and Malabar. The berries are gathered before +they are ripe, and are dried in the sun. They become black and +corrugated on the surface.</p> + +<p>This factitious pepper-corns have of late been detected mixed with +genuine pepper, is a fact sufficiently known.<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> Such an adulteration +may prove, in many instances of household economy, exceedingly vexatious +and prejudicial to those who ignorantly make use of the spurious +article. I have examined large packages of both black and white pepper, +by order of the Excise, and have found them to contain about 16 per +cent. of this artificial compound. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>spurious pepper is made up of +oil cakes (the residue of lintseed, from which the oil has been +pressed,) common clay, and a portion of Cayenne pepper, formed in a +mass, and granulated by being first pressed through a sieve, and then +rolled in a cask. The mode of detecting the fraud is easy. It is only +necessary to throw a sample of the suspected pepper into a bowl of +water; the artificial pepper-corns fall to powder, whilst the true +pepper remains whole.</p> + +<p>Ground pepper is very often sophisticated by adding to a portion of +genuine pepper, a quantity of pepper dust, or the sweepings from the +pepper warehouses, mixed with a little Cayenne pepper. The sweepings are +known, and purchased in the market, under the name of P. D. signifying +pepper dust. An inferior sort of this vile refuse, or the sweepings of +P. D. is distinguished among venders by the abbreviation of D. P. D. +denoting, dust (dirt) of pepper dust.</p> + +<p>The adulteration of pepper, and the making and selling commodities in +imitation of pepper, are prohibited, under a severe penalty. The +following are the words of the Act:<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p><p>"And whereas commodities made in imitation of pepper have of late been +sold and found in the possession of various dealers in pepper, and other +persons in Great Britain; be it therefore enacted, that from and after +the said 5th day of July, 1819, if any commodity or substance shall be +prepared by any person in imitation of pepper, shall be mixed with +pepper, or sold or delivered as and for, or as a substitute for, pepper, +or if any such commodity or substance, alone or mixed, shall be kept for +sale, sold, or delivered, or shall be offered or exposed to sale, or +shall be in the custody or possession of any dealer or seller of pepper, +the same, together with all pepper with which the same shall be mixed, +shall be forfeited, with the packages containing the same, and shall and +may be seized by any officer of excise; and the person preparing, +manufacturing, mixing as aforesaid, selling, exposing to sale, or +delivering the same, or having the same in his, her, or their custody or +possession, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds."</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="White_Pepper" id="White_Pepper"></a>WHITE PEPPER.</p> + +<p>The common white pepper is factitious, being prepared from the black +pepper in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>the following manner:—The pepper is first steeped in sea +water and urine, and then exposed to the heat of the sun for several +days, till the rind or outer bark loosens; it is then taken out of the +steep, and, when dry, it is rubbed with the hand till the rind falls +off. The white fruit is then dried, and the remains of the rind blown +away like chaff. A great deal of the peculiar flavour and pungent hot +taste of the pepper is taken off by this process. White pepper is always +inferior in flavour and quality to the black pepper.</p> + +<p>However, there is a sort of native white pepper, produced on a species +of the pepper plant, which is much better than the factitious, and +indeed little inferior to the common black pepper.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Thomson's Annals of Chemistry, 1816; also Repository of +Arts, vol. i. 1816, p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> George III. c. 53, § 21, 1819.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Cayenne_Pepper" id="Poisonous_Cayenne_Pepper"></a><i>Poisonous Cayenne Pepper.</i></h2> + + +<p>Cayenne pepper is an indiscriminate mixture of the powder of the dried +pods of many species of capsicum, but especially of the capsicum +frutescens, or bird pepper, which is the hottest of all.</p> + +<p>This annual plant, a native of South America, is cultivated in large +quantities in our West-India islands, and even frequently in our +gardens, for the beauty of its pods, which are long, pointed, and +pendulous, at first of a green colour, and, when ripe, of a bright +orange red. They are filled with a dry loose pulp, and contain many +small, flat, kidney-shaped seeds. The taste of capsicum is extremely +pungent and acrimonious, setting the mouth, as it were, on fire.</p> + +<p>The principle on which its pungency depends, is soluble in water and in +alcohol.</p> + +<p>It is sometimes adulterated with red lead, to prevent it becoming +bleached on exposure to light. This fraud may be readily detected by +shaking up part of it in a stopped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>vial containing water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which will cause it speedily to assume a +dark muddy black colour. Or the vegetable matter of the pepper may be +destroyed, by throwing a mixture of one part of the suspected pepper and +three of nitrate of potash (or two of chlorate of potash) into a red-hot +crucible, in small quantities at a time. The mass left behind may then +be digested in weak nitric acid, and the solution assayed for lead by +water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Pickles" id="Poisonous_Pickles"></a><i>Poisonous Pickles.</i></h2> + + +<p>Vegetable substances, preserved in the state called pickles, by means of +the antiseptic power of vinegar, whose sale frequently depends greatly +upon a fine lively green colour; and the consumption of which, by +sea-faring people in particular, is prodigious, are sometimes +intentionally coloured by means of copper. Gerkins, French beans, +samphires, the green pods of capsicum, and many other pickled vegetable +substances, oftener than is perhaps expected, are met with impregnated +with this metal. Numerous fatal consequences are known to have ensued +from the use of these stimulants of the palate, to which the fresh and +pleasing hue has been imparted according to the deadly <i>formulæ</i> laid +down in some modern cookery books, such as boiling the pickles with +half-pence, or suffering them to stand for a considerable period in +brazen vessels.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>Dr. Percival<a name="FNanchor_106" id="FNanchor_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> has given an account of "a young lady who amused +herself, while her hair was dressing, with eating samphire pickles +impregnated with copper. She soon complained of pain in the stomach; +and, in five days, vomiting commenced, which was incessant for two days. +After this, her stomach became prodigiously distended; and, in nine days +after eating the pickles, death relieved her from her suffering."</p> + +<p>Among many recipes which modern authors of cookery books have given for +imparting a green colour to pickles, the following are particularly +deserving of censure; and it is to be hoped that they will be suppressed +in future editions of the works.</p> + +<p>"<i>To Pickle Gerkins.</i><a name="FNanchor_107" id="FNanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a>—"Boil the vinegar in a bell-metal or copper +pot; pour it boiling hot on your cucumbers."</p> + +<p>"<i>To make greening.</i><a name="FNanchor_108" id="FNanchor_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a>—"Take a bit of verdigris, the bigness of a +hazel-nut, finely powdered; half-a-pint of distilled vinegar, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>and a bit +of alum powder, with a little bay salt. Put all in a bottle, shake it, +and let it stand till clear. Put a small tea-spoonful into codlings, or +whatever you wish to green."</p> + +<p>Mrs. E. Raffald<a name="FNanchor_109" id="FNanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> directs, "to render pickles green, boil them with +halfpence, or allow them to stand for twenty-four hours in copper or +brass pans."</p> + +<p>To detect the presence of copper, it is only necessary to mince the +pickles, and to pour liquid ammonia, diluted with an equal bulk of +water, over them in a stopped phial: if the pickles contain the minutest +quantity of copper, the ammonia assumes a blue colour.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Medical Transactions, vol. iv. p. 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> The Ladies' Library, vol. ii. p. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife—2d edition, p. +94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> The English Housekeeper, p. 352, 354.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Vinegar" id="Adulteration_of_Vinegar"></a><i>Adulteration of Vinegar.</i></h2> + + +<p>Vinegar, as prepared in this country, from malt, should be of a pale +brown colour, perfectly transparent, of a pleasant, somewhat pungent, +acid taste, and fragrant odour, but without any acrimony. From the +mucilaginous impurities which malt vinegar always contains, it is apt, +on exposure to air, to become turbid and ropy, and at last vapid. The +inconvenience is best obviated by keeping the vinegar in bottles +completely filled and well corked; and it is of advantage to boil it in +the bottles a few minutes before they are corked.</p> + +<p>Vinegar is sometimes largely adulterated with sulphuric acid, to give it +more acidity. The presence of this acid is detected, if, on the addition +of a solution of acetate of barytes, a white precipitate is formed, +which is insoluble in nitric acid, after having been made red-hot in the +fire. (See p. <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.) With the same intention, of making the vinegar +appear stronger, different acrid vegetable substances are infused in it. +This fraud is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>difficult of detection; but when tasted with attention, +the pungency of such vinegar will be found to depend rather on acrimony +than acidity.</p> + +<p><a name="Distilled_Vinegar" id="Distilled_Vinegar"></a>Distilled vinegar, which is employed for various purposes of domestic +economy, is frequently distilled, not in glass, as it ought to be, but +in common stills with a pewter pipe, whence it cannot fail to acquire a +metallic impregnation.</p> + +<p>One ounce, by measure, should dissolve at least thirteen grains of white +marble.</p> + +<p>It should not form a precipitate on the addition of a solution of +acetate of barytes, or of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen. +The former circumstance shews, that it is adulterated with sulphuric +acid; and the latter indicates a metal.</p> + +<p>The metallic impregnation is best rendered obvious by sulphuretted +hydrogen, in the manner stated, page <a href="#Page_69">69</a>. The distilled vinegar of +commerce usually contains tin, and not lead, as has been asserted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Cream" id="Adulteration_of_Cream"></a><i>Adulteration of Cream.</i></h2> + + +<p>Cream is often adulterated with rice powder or arrow root. The former is +frequently employed for that purpose by pastry cooks, in fabricating +creams and custards, for tarts, and other kinds of pastry. The latter is +often used in the London dairies. Arrow-root is preferable to rice +powder; for, when converted with milk into a thick mucilage by a gentle +ebullition, it imparts to cream, previously diluted with milk, a +consistence and apparent richness, by no means unpalatable, without +materially impairing the taste of the cream.</p> + +<p>The arrow-root powder is mixed up with a small quantity of cold skimmed +milk into a perfect, smooth, uniform mixture; more milk is then added, +and the whole boiled for a few minutes, to effect the solution of the +arrow-root: this compound, when perfectly cold, is mixed up with the +cream. From 220 to 260 grains, (or three large tea-spoonfuls) of +arrow root are added to one pint of milk; and one part of this solution +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>is mixed with three of cream. It is scarcely necessary to state that +this sophistication is innocuous.</p> + +<p>The fraud may be detected by adding to a <ins class="correction" title="No hyphen in original.">tea-spoonful</ins> of the +sophisticated cream a few drops of a solution of <ins class="correction" title="Spelled jodine in original.">iodine</ins> in spirit of +wine, which instantly produces with it a dark blue colour. Genuine cream +acquires, by the addition of this test, a faint yellow tinge.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Confectionery" id="Poisonous_Confectionery"></a><i>Poisonous Confectionery.</i></h2> + + +<p>In the preparation of sugar plums, comfits, and other kinds of +confectionery, especially those sweetmeats of inferior quality, +frequently exposed to sale in the open streets, for the allurement of +children, the grossest abuses are committed. The white comfits, called +sugar pease, are chiefly composed of a mixture of sugar, starch, and +Cornish clay (a species of very white pipe-clay;) and the red sugar +drops are usually coloured with the inferior kind of vermilion. The +pigment is generally adulterated with red lead. Other kinds of +sweetmeats are sometimes rendered poisonous by being coloured with +preparations of copper. The following account of Mr. Miles<a name="FNanchor_110" id="FNanchor_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> may be +advanced in proof of this statement.</p> + +<p>"Some time ago, while residing in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>house of a confectioner, I +noticed the colouring of the green fancy sweetmeats being done by +dissolving sap-green in brandy. Now sap-green itself, as prepared from +the juice of the buckthorn berries, is no doubt a harmless substance; +but the manufacturers of this colour have for many years past produced +various tints, some extremely bright, which there can be no doubt are +effected by adding preparations of copper.</p> + +<p>"The sweetmeats which accompany these lines you will find exhibit +vestiges of being contaminated with copper.—The practice of colouring +these articles of confectionery should, therefore, be banished: the +proprietors of which are not aware of the deleterious quality of the +substances employed by them."</p> + +<p>The foreign conserves, such as small green limes, citrons, hop-tops, +plums, angelica roots, &c. imported into this country, and usually sold +in round chip boxes, are frequently impregnated with copper.</p> + +<p>The adulteration of confitures by means of clay, may be detected by +simply dissolving the comfits in a large quantity of boiling water. The +clay, after suffering the mixture to stand undisturbed for a few days, +will fall to the bottom of the vessel; and on decanting the clear fluid, +and suffering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>the sediment to become dry gradually, it may be obtained +in a separate state. If the adulteration has been effected by means of +clay, the obtained precipitate, on exposure to a red heat in the bowl of +a common tobacco-pipe, acquires a brick hardness.</p> + +<p>The presence of copper may be detected by pouring over the comfits +liquid ammonia, which speedily acquires a blue colour, if this metal be +present. The presence of lead is rendered obvious by water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with muriatic acid (see p. <a href="#Page_69">69</a>,) +which assumes a dark brown or black colour, if lead be present.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Philosoph. Mag. No. 258, vol. 54. 1819, p. 317.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Catsup" id="Poisonous_Catsup"></a><i>Poisonous Catsup.</i></h2> + + +<p>This article is very often subjected to one of the most reprehensible +modes of adulteration ever devised. Quantities are daily to be met with, +which, on a chemical examination, are found to abound with copper. +Indeed, this condiment is often nothing else than the residue left +behind after the process employed for obtaining distilled vinegar, +subsequently diluted with a decoction of the outer green husk of the +walnut, and seasoned with all-spice, Cayenne pepper, pimento, onions, +and common salt.</p> + +<p>The quantity of copper which we have, more than once, detected in this +sauce, used for seasoning, and which, on account of its cheapness, is +much resorted to by people in the lower walks of life, has exceeded the +proportion of lead to be met with in other articles employed in domestic +economy.</p> + +<p>The following account of Mr. <ins class="correction" title="Original has Lewi .">Lewis</ins><a name="FNanchor_111" id="FNanchor_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>this subject, will be +sufficient to cause the public to be on their guard.</p> + +<p>"Being in the habit of frequently purchasing large quantities of pickles +and other culinary sauces, for the use of my establishment, and also for +foreign trade, it fell lately to my lot to purchase from a manufacturer +of those commodities a quantity of walnut catsup, apparently of an +excellent quality; but, to my great surprise, I had reason to believe +that the article might be contaminated with some deleterious substance, +from circumstances which happened in my business as a tavern keeper, but +which are unnecessary to be detailed here; and it was this that induced +me to make inquiry concerning the compounding of the suspected articles.</p> + +<p>"The catsup being prepared by boiling in a copper, as is usually +practised, the outer green shell of walnuts, after having been suffered +to turn black on exposure to air, in combination with common salt, with +a portion of pimento and pepper-dust, in common vinegar, strengthened +with some vinegar extract, left behind as residue in the still of +vinegar manufacturers; I therefore suspected that the catsup might be +impregnated with some copper. To convince myself of this opinion. I +boiled down to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>dryness a quart of it in a stone pipkin, which yielded +to me a dark brown mass. I put this mass into a crucible, and kept it in +a coal fire, red-hot, till it became reduced to a porous black charcoal; +on urging the heat with a pair of bellows, and stirring the mass in the +crucible with the stem of a tobacco-pipe, it became, after two hours' +exposure to an intense heat, converted into a greyish-white ash; but no +metal could be discriminated amongst it. I now poured upon it some aqua +fortis, which dissolved nearly the whole of it, with an effervescence; +and produced, after having been suffered to stand, to let the insoluble +portion subside, a bright grass-green solution, of a strong metallic +taste; after immersing into this solution the blade of a knife, it +became instantly covered with a bright coat of copper.</p> + +<p>"The walnut catsup was therefore evidently strongly impregnated with +copper. On informing the manufacturer of this fact, he assured me that +the same method of preparing the liquor was generally pursued, and that +he had manufactured the article in a like manner for upwards of twenty +years.</p> + +<p>"Such is the statement I wish to communicate; and if you will allow it a +place <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>in your Literary Chronicle, it may perhaps tend to put the unwary +on their guard against the practice of preparing this sauce by boiling +it in a copper, which certainly may contaminate the liquor, and render +it poisonous."</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Literary Chronicle, No. 24, p. 379.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Custard" id="Poisonous_Custard"></a><i>Poisonous Custard.</i></h2> + + +<p>The leaves of the cherry laurel, <i>prunus lauro-cerasus</i>, a poisonous +plant, have a nutty flavour, resembling that of the kernels of +peach-stones, or of bitter almonds, which to most palates is grateful. +These leaves have for many years been in use among cooks, to communicate +an almond or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams, +<i>blanc-mange</i>, and other delicacies of the table.</p> + +<p>It has been asserted, that the laurel poison in custards and other +articles of <ins class="correction" title="Original has cookry.">cookery</ins> is, on account of its being used in very small +quantities, quite harmless. To refute this assertion, numerous instances +might be cited; and, among them, a recent one, in which four children +suffered most severely from partaking of custard flavoured with the +leaves of this poisonous plant.</p> + +<p>"Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Richmond, +having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves of the cherry +laurel, as is frequently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>practised by cooks, four of the poor innocents +were taken severely ill in consequence. Two of them, a girl six years of +age, and a boy of five years old, fell into a profound sleep, out of +which they could not be roused.</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding the various medical exertions used, the boy remained in +a stupor ten hours; and the girl nine hours; the other two, one of which +was six years old, a girl, and a girl of seven years, complained of +severe pains in the epigastric region. They all recovered, after three +days' illness. I am anxious to communicate to you this fact, being +convinced that your publication is read at all the scholastic +establishments in this part of the country. I hope you will allow these +lines a corner in your Literary Chronicle, where they may contribute to +put the unwary on their guard, against the deleterious effects of +flavouring culinary dishes with that baneful herb, the Cherry Laurel.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 20em;">"I am, with respect, your's, Sir,</p> +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Thomas Lidiard</span>."<a name="FNanchor_112" id="FNanchor_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p> + +<p class="section"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>What person of sense or prudence, then, would trust to the discretion of +an ignorant cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingredient in his puddings +and creams? Who but a maniac would choose to season his victuals with +poison?</p> + +<p>The water distilled from cherry laurel leaves is frequently mixed with +brandy and other spiritous liquors, to impart to them the flavour of the +cordial called <i>noyeau</i>, (see also page <a href="#Page_195">195</a>.)</p> + +<p>This fluid, though long in frequent use as a flavouring substance, was +not known to be poisonous until the year 1728; when the sudden death of +two women, in Dublin, after drinking some of the common distilled cherry +laurel water, demonstrated its deleterious nature.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Literary Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348.—1819.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Anchovy_Sauce" id="Poisonous_Anchovy_Sauce"></a><i>Poisonous Anchovy Sauce.</i></h2> + + +<p>Several samples which we have examined of this fish sauce have been +found contaminated with lead.</p> + +<p>The mode of preparation of this fish sauce, consists in rubbing down the +broken anchovy in a mortar: and this triturated mass, being of a dark +brown colour, receives, without much risk of detection, a certain +quantity of Venetian red, added for the purpose of colouring it, which, +if genuine, is an innocent colouring substance; but instances have +occurred of this pigment having been adulterated with orange lead, which +is nothing else than a better kind of minium, or red oxide of lead. The +fraud may be detected, as stated p. <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</p> + +<p>The conscientious oilmen, less anxious with respect to colour, +substitute for this poison the more harmless pigment, called Armenian +bole.</p> + +<p>The following recipe for making this fish sauce is copied from Gray's +Supplement to the Pharmacopœias, p. 241.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>"Anchovies, 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. and a half; pulp through a fine hair sieve; +boil the bones with common salt, 7 oz. in water 6 lbs.; strain; add +flour 7 oz. and the pulp of the fish; boil; pass the whole through the +sieve; colour with Venetian red to your fancy. It should produce one +gallon."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Lozenges" id="Adulteration_of_Lozenges"></a><i>Adulteration of Lozenges.</i></h2> + + +<p>Lozenges, particularly those into the composition of which substances +enter that are not soluble in water, as ginger, cremor tartar, magnesia, +&c., are often sophisticated. The adulterating ingredient is usually +pipe-clay, of which a liberal portion is substituted for sugar. The +following detection of this fraud was lately made by Dr. T. Lloyd.<a name="FNanchor_113" id="FNanchor_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>"Some ginger lozenges having lately fallen into my hands, I was not a +little surprised to observe, accidentally, that when thrown into a coal +fire, they suffered but little change. If one of the lozenges was laid +on a shovel, previously made red-hot, it speedily took fire; but, +instead of burning with a blaze and becoming converted into a charcoal, +it took fire, and burnt with a feeble flame for scarcely half a minute, +and there remained behind a stony hard substance, retaining the form of +the lozenge. This unexpected result led me to examine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>these lozenges, +which were bought at a respectable chemist's shop in the city; and I +soon became convinced, that, in the preparation of them, a considerable +quantity of common pipe-clay had been substituted for sugar. On making a +complaint about this fraud at the shop where the article was sold, I was +informed that there were two kinds of ginger lozenges kept for sale, the +one at three-pence the ounce, and the other at six-pence per ounce; and +that the article furnished to me by mistake was the cheaper commodity: +the latter were distinguished by the epithet <i>verum</i>, they being +composed of sugar and ginger only; but the former were manufactured +partly of white Cornish clay, with a portion of sugar only, with ginger +and Guinea pepper. I was likewise informed, that of Tolu lozenges, +peppermint lozenges and ginger pearls, and several other sorts of +lozenges, two kinds were kept; that the <i>reduced</i> articles, as they were +called, were manufactured for those very clever persons in their own +conceit, who are fond of haggling, and insist on buying better bargains +than other people, shutting their eyes to the defects of an article, so +that they can enjoy the delight of getting it cheap; and, secondly for +those persons, who being but bad paymasters, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>yet, as the manufacturer, +for his own credit's sake, cannot charge more than the usual price of +the articles, he thinks himself therefore authorised to adulterate it in +value, to make up for the risk he runs, and the long credit he must +give."</p> + +<p>The comfits called ginger pearls, are frequently adulterated with clay. +These frauds may be detected in the manner stated, page <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Literary Gazette, No. 146.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Olive_Oil" id="Poisonous_Olive_Oil"></a><i>Poisonous Olive Oil.</i></h2> + + +<p>This commodity is sometimes contaminated with lead, because the fruit +which yields the oil is submitted to the action of the press between +leaden plates; and it is, moreover, a practice (particularly in Spain) +to suffer the oil to become clear in leaden cisterns, before it is +brought to market for sale. The French and Italian olive oil is usually +free from this impregnation.</p> + +<p>Olive oil is sometimes mixed with oil of poppy seeds: but, by exposing +the mixture to the freezing temperature, the olive oil freezes, while +that of the poppy seeds remains fluid; and as oils which freeze with +most difficulty are most apt to become rancid, olive oil is deteriorated +by the mixture of poppy oil.</p> + +<p>Good olive oil should have a pale yellow colour, somewhat inclining to +green; a bland taste, without smell; and should congeal at 38° +Fahrenheit. In this country, it is frequently met with rancid.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>The presence of lead is detected by shaking, in a stopped vial, one part +of the suspected oil, with two or three parts of water impregnated with +sulphuretted hydrogen. This agent will render the oil of a dark brown or +black colour, if any metal, deleterious to health, be present. The +practice of keeping this oil in pewter or leaden cisterns, as is often +the case, is objectionable; because the oil acts upon the metal. The +dealers in this commodity assert, that it prevents the oil from becoming +rancid: and hence some retailers often suffer a pewter measure to remain +immersed in the oil.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Mustard" id="Adulteration_of_Mustard"></a><i>Adulteration of Mustard.</i></h2> + + +<p>Genuine mustard, either in powder, or in the state of a paste ready for +use, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops. The article sold +under the name of <i>genuine Durham mustard</i>, is usually a mixture of +mustard and common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cayenne pepper, and +a large quantity of bay salt, made with water into a paste, ready for +use. Some manufacturers adulterate their mustard with radish-seed and +pease flour.</p> + +<p>It has often been stated, that a fine yellow colour is given to mustard +by means of turmeric. We doubt the truth of this assertion. The presence +of the minutest quantity of turmeric may instantly be detected, by +adding to the mustard a few drops of a solution of potash, or any other +alkali, which changes the bright yellow colour, to a brown or deep +orange tint.</p> + +<p>Two ounces and a half of Cayenne pepper, 1-1/2 lbs. of bay salt, 8 lbs. +of mustard flour, and 1-1/2 lbs. of wheaten flour, made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>into a stiff +paste, with the requisite quantity of water, in which the bay-salt is +previously dissolved, forms the so-called <i>genuine Durham mustard</i>, sold +in pots. The salt and Cayenne pepper contribute materially to the +keeping of ready-made mustard.</p> + +<p>There is therefore nothing deleterious in the usual practice of +adulterating this commodity of the table. The fraud only tends to +deteriorate the quality and flavour of the genuine article itself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Adulteration_of_Lemon_Acid" id="Adulteration_of_Lemon_Acid"></a><i>Adulteration of Lemon Acid.</i></h2> + + +<p>It is well known to every one, that the expressed juice of lemons is +extremely apt to spoil, on account of the sugar, mucilage, and +extractive matter which it contains; and hence various means have been +practised, with the intention of rendering it less perishable, and less +bulky. The juice has been evaporated to the consistence of rob; but this +always gives an unpleasant empyreumatic taste, and does not separate the +foreign matters, so that it is still apt to spoil when agitated on board +of ship in tropical climates. It has been exposed to frost, and part of +the water removed under the form of ice; but this is liable to all the +former objections; and, besides, where lemons are produced in sufficient +quantity, there is not a sufficient degree of cold. The addition of a +portion of spirit to the inspissated juice, separates the mucilage, but +not the extractive matter and the sugar. By means, however, of +separating the foreign matters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>associated with it, in the juice, by +chemical processes unnecessary to be detailed here, citric acid is now +manufactured, perfectly pure, and in a crystallised form, and is sold +under the name of concrete lemon acid. In this state it is extremely +convenient, both for domestic and medicinal purposes. One drachm, when +dissolved in one ounce of water, is equal in strength to a like bulk of +fresh lemon juice. To communicate the lemon flavour, it is only +necessary to rub a lump of sugar on the rind of a lemon to become +impregnated with a portion of the essential oil of the fruit, and to add +the sugar to the lemonade, negus, punch, shrub, jellies or culinary +sauces, prepared with the pure citric acid.</p> + +<p>Fraudulent dealers often substitute the cheaper tartareous acid, for +citric acid. The negus and lemonade made by the pastry-cooks, and the +liquor called punch, sold at taverns in this metropolis, is usually made +with tartareous acid.</p> + +<p>To discriminate citric acid from tartareous acid, it is only necessary +to add a concentrated solution of the suspected acid, to a concentrated +solution of muriate of potash, taking care that the solution of the acid +is in excess. If a precipitate ensues, the fraud is obvious, because +citric acid does <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>not produce a precipitate with a solution of muriate +or potash.</p> + +<p>Or, by adding to a saturated solution of tartrate of potash, a saturated +solution of the suspected acid, in excess, which produces with it an +almost insoluble precipitate in minute <ins class="correction" title="Original has glanular.">granular</ins> crystals. Pure citric +acid produces no such effect when added in excess to tartrate of +potash.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Mushrooms" id="Poisonous_Mushrooms"></a><i>Poisonous Mushrooms.</i></h2> + + +<p>Mushrooms have been long used in sauces and other culinary preparations; +yet there are numerous instances on record of the deleterious effects of +some species of these <i>fungi</i>, almost all of which are fraught with +poison.<a name="FNanchor_114" id="FNanchor_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> Pliny already exclaims against the luxury of his countrymen +in this article, and wonders what extraordinary pleasure there can be in +eating such dangerous food.<a name="FNanchor_115" id="FNanchor_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>But if the palate must be indulged with these treacherous luxuries, or, +as Seneca calls them, "voluptuous poison,"<a name="FNanchor_116" id="FNanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> it is highly necessary +that the mild eatable mushrooms, should be gathered by persons skilful +enough to distinguish the good from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>the false, or poisonous, which is +not always the case; nor are the characters which distinguish them +strongly marked.</p> + +<p>The following statement is published by Mr. Glen, surgeon, of +Knightsbridge:</p> + +<p>"A poor man, residing in Knightsbridge, took a walk in Hyde Park, with +the intention of gathering some mushrooms. He collected a considerable +number, and, after stewing them, began to eat them. He had finished the +whole, with the exception of about six or eight, when, about eight or +ten minutes from the commencement of his meal, he was suddenly seized +with a dimness, or mist before his eyes, a giddiness of the head, with a +general trembling and sudden loss of power;—so much so, that he nearly +fell off the chair; to this succeeded loss of recollection: he forgot +where he was, and all the circumstances of his case. This deprivation +soon went off, and he so far rallied as to be able, though with +difficulty, to get up, with the intention of going to Mr. Glen for +assistance—a distance of about five hundred yards: he had not proceeded +more than half way, when his memory again failed him; he lost his road, +although previously well acquainted with it. He was met by a friend, who +with difficulty learned his state, and conducted him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>to Mr. Glen's +house. His countenance betrayed great anxiety: he reeled about, like a +drunken man, and was greatly inclined to sleep; his pulse was low and +feeble. Mr. Glen immediately gave him an emetic draught. The poison had +so diminished the sensibility of the stomach, that vomiting did not take +place for near twenty minutes, although another draught had been +exhibited. During this interval his drowsiness increased to such a +degree, that he was only kept awake by obliging him to walk round the +room with assistance; he also, at this time, complained of distressing +pains in the calves of his legs.—Full vomiting was at length produced. +After the operation of the emetic, he expressed himself generally +better, but still continued drowsy. In the evening Mr. Glen found him +doing well."</p> + +<p>The following case is recorded in the Medical Transactions, vol. ii.</p> + +<p>"A middle-aged man having gathered what he called champignons, they were +stewed, and eaten by himself and his wife; their child also, about four +years old, ate a little of them, and the sippets of bread which were put +into the liquor. Within five minutes after eating them, the man began to +stare in an unusual manner, and was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>unable to shut his eyes. All +objects appeared to him coloured with a variety of colours. He felt a +palpitation in what he called his stomach; and was so giddy, that he +could hardly stand. He seemed to himself swelled all over his body. He +hardly knew what he did or said; and sometimes was unable to speak at +all. These symptoms continued in a greater or less degree for +twenty-four hours; after which, he felt little or no disorder. Soon +after he perceived himself ill, one scruple of white vitriol was given +him, and repeated two or three times, with which he vomited plentifully.</p> + +<p>"The woman, aged thirty-nine, felt all the same symptoms, but in a +higher degree. She totally lost her voice and her senses, and was either +stupid, or so furious that it was necessary she should be held. The +white vitriol was offered to her, of which she was capable of taking but +very little; however, after four or five hours, she was much recovered: +but she continued many days far from being well, and from enjoying her +former health and strength. She frequently fainted for the first week +after; and there was, during a month longer, an uneasy sense of heat and +weight in her breast, stomach, and bowels, with great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>flatulence. Her +head was, at first waking, much confused; and she often experienced +palpitations, tremblings, and other hysteric affections, to all which +she had ever before been a stranger.</p> + +<p>"The child had some convulsive agitations of his arms, but was otherwise +little affected. He was capable of taking half a scruple of ipecacuanha, +with which he vomited, and was soon perfectly recovered."</p> + + +<p class="sectionhead"><a name="Mushroom_Catsup" id="Mushroom_Catsup"></a>MUSHROOM CATSUP.</p> + +<p>The edible mushroom is the basis of the sauce called mushroom catsup; a +great proportion of which is prepared by gardeners who grow the fungi. +The mushrooms employed for preparing this sauce are generally those +which are in a putrefactive state, and not having found a ready sale in +the market; for no vegetable substance is liable to so rapid a +spontaneous decomposition as mushrooms. In a few days after the fungus +has been removed from the dung-bed on which it grows, it becomes the +habitation of myriads of insects; and, if even the saleable mushroom be +attentively examined, it will frequently be found to swarm with life.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Fungi plerique veneno turgent. Linn. Amæn. Acad.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> <ins class="correction" title="Original has Qvæ.">Quæ</ins> voluptas tanta ancipitis cibi?—Plin. Nat. Hist. +xxii. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Sen. Ep. 95.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Poisonous_Soda_Water" id="Poisonous_Soda_Water"></a><i>Poisonous Soda Water.</i></h2> + + +<p>The beverage called soda water is frequently contaminated both with +copper and lead; these metals being largely employed in the construction +of the apparatus for preparing the carbonated water,<a name="FNanchor_117" id="FNanchor_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> and the great +excess of carbonic acid which the water contains, particularly enables +it to act strongly on the metallic substances of the apparatus; a truth, +of which the reader will find no difficulty in convincing himself, by +suffering a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas to pass through the +water.—See p. <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Some manufacturers have been hence induced to construct +the apparatus for manufacturing soda water wholly either of earthenware +or of glass. Mr. Johnston, of Greek Street, Soho, was the first who +pointed out to the public the absolute necessity of this precaution.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Food_poisoned_by_Copper_Vessels" id="Food_poisoned_by_Copper_Vessels"></a><i>Food poisoned by Copper Vessels.</i></h2> + + +<p>Many kinds of viands are frequently impregnated with copper, in +consequence of the employment of cooking utensils made of that metal. By +the use of such vessels in dressing food, we are daily liable to be +poisoned; as almost all acid vegetables, as well as sebaceous or pinguid +substances, employed in culinary preparations, act upon copper, and +dissolve a portion of it; and too many examples are met with of fatal +consequences having ensued from eating food which had been dressed in +copper vessels not well cleaned from the oxide of copper which they had +contracted by being exposed to the action of air and moisture.</p> + +<p>The inexcusable negligence of persons who make use of copper vessels has +been productive of mortality, so much more terrible, as they have +exerted their action on a great number of persons at once. The annals of +medicine furnish too many examples in support of this assertion, to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>render it necessary to insist more upon it here.</p> + +<p>Mr. Thiery, who wrote a thesis on the noxious quality of copper, +observes, that "our food receives its quantity of poison in the kitchen +by the use of copper pans and dishes. The brewer mingles poison in our +beer, by boiling it in copper vessels. The sugar-baker employs copper +pans; the pastry-cook bakes our tarts in copper moulds; the confectioner +uses copper vessels: the oilman boils his pickles in copper or brass +vessels, and verdigris is plentifully formed by the action of the +vinegar upon the metal.</p> + +<p>"Though, after all, a single dose be not mortal, yet a quantity of +poison, however small, when taken at every meal, must produce more fatal +effects than are generally apprehended; and different constitutions are +differently affected by minute quantities of substances that act +powerfully on the system."</p> + +<p>The author of a tract, entitled, "Serious Reflections on the Dangers +attending the Use of Copper Vessels," asserts that a numerous and +frightful train of diseases is occasioned by the poisonous effects of +pernicious matter received into the stomach insensibly with our +victuals.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>Dr. Johnston<a name="FNanchor_118" id="FNanchor_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> gives an account of the melancholy catastrophe of +three men being poisoned, after excruciating sufferings, in consequence +of eating food cooked in an unclean copper vessel, on board the Cyclops +frigate; and, besides these, thirty-three men became ill from the same +cause.</p> + +<p>The following case<a name="FNanchor_119" id="FNanchor_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> is related by Sir George Baker, M. D.</p> + +<p>"Some cyder, which had been made in a gentleman's family, being thought +too sour, was boiled with honey in a brewing vessel, the rim of which +was capped with lead. All who drank this liquor were seized with a bowel +colic, more or less violently. One of the servants died very soon in +convulsions; several others were cruelly tortured a long time. The +master of the family, in particular, notwithstanding all the assistance +which art could give him, never recovered his health; but died +miserably, after having almost three years languished under a most +tedious and incurable malady."</p> + +<p>Too much care and attention cannot be taken in preserving all culinary +utensils of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>copper, in a state unexceptionably fit for their destined +purpose. They should be frequently tinned, and kept thoroughly clean, +nor should any food ever be suffered to remain in them for a longer time +than is absolutely necessary to their preparation for the table. But the +sure preventive of its pernicious effect, is, to banish copper utensils +from the kitchen altogether.</p> + +<p>The following wholesome advice on this subject is given to cooks by the +author of an excellent cookery book.<a name="FNanchor_120" id="FNanchor_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p> + +<p>"Stew-pans and soup-kettles should be examined every time they are used; +these, and their covers, must be kept perfectly clean and well tinned, +not only on the inside, but about a couple of inches on the outside; so +much mischief arises from their getting out of repair; and, if not kept +nicely tinned, all your work will be in vain; the broths and soups will +look green and dirty, and taste bitter and poisonous, and will be +spoiled both for the eye and palate, and your credit will be lost; and +as the health, and even the life, of the family depends upon this; the +cook may be sure her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>employer had rather pay the tin-man's bill than +the doctor's."</p> + +<p>The senate of Sweden, in the year 1753, prohibited copper vessels, and +ordered that none but such as were made of iron should be used in their +fleet and armies.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Johnston's Essay on Poison, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Medical Transactions, vol. i. p. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Apicius Redivivus, p. 91.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Food_Poisoned_by_Leaden_Vessels" id="Food_Poisoned_by_Leaden_Vessels"></a><i>Food Poisoned by Leaden Vessels.</i></h2> + + +<p>Various kinds of food used in domestic economy, are liable to become +impregnated with lead.</p> + +<p>The glazing of the common cream-coloured earthen ware, which is composed +of an oxide of lead, readily yields to the action of vinegar and saline +compounds; and therefore jars and pots of this kind of stone ware, are +wholly unfit to contain jellies of fruits, marmalade, and similar +conserves. Pickles should in no case be deposited in cream-coloured +glazed earthenware.</p> + +<p>The custom which still prevails in some parts of this country of keeping +milk in leaden vessels for the use of the dairy, is very improper.</p> + +<p>"In Lancashire<a name="FNanchor_121" id="FNanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> the dairies are furnished with milk-pans made of +lead: and when Mr. Parks expostulated with some individuals on the +danger of this practice, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>he was told that <i>leaden</i> milk-pans throw up +the cream much better than vessels of any other kind.</p> + +<p>"In some parts of the north of England it is customary for the +inn-keepers to prepare mint-salad by bruising and grinding the vegetable +in a large wooden bowl with a <i>ball of lead</i> of twelve or fourteen +pounds weight. In this operation the mint is cut, and portions of the +lead are ground off at every revolution of the ponderous instrument. In +the same county, it is a common practice to have brewing-coppers +constructed with the bottom of copper and the whole sides of lead."</p> + +<p>The baking of fruit tarts in cream-coloured earthenware, and the salting +and preserving of meat in leaden pans, are no less objectionable. All +kinds of food which contain free vegetable acids, or saline +preparations, attack utensils covered with a glaze, in the composition +of which lead enters as a component part. The leaden beds of presses for +squeezing the fruit in cyder countries, have produced incalculable +mischief. These consequences never follow, when the lead is combined +with tin; because this metal, being more eager for oxidation, prevents +the solution of the lead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p><p>When we consider the various unsuspected means by which the poisons of +lead and copper gain admittance into the human body, a very common but +dangerous instance presents itself: namely, the practice of painting +toys, made for the amusement of children, with poisonous substances, +viz. red lead, verdigris, &c. Children are apt to put every thing, +especially what gives them pleasure, into their mouths; the painting of +toys with colouring substances that are poisonous, ought therefore to be +abolished; a practice which lies the more open to censure, as it is of +no real utility.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Park's Chemical Essays, vol. v. p. 193.</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> + + + +<ul> + <li>A + <ul> + <li>Adulteration of anchovy sauce, <span class="smcap lowercase">PAGE</span> <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + <li class="subitem">beer, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + <li class="subitem">brandy, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li class="subitem">bread, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + <li class="subitem">catsup, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + <li class="subitem">cayenne pepper, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + <li class="subitem">cheese, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + <li class="subitem">coffee, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + <li class="subitem">confectionery, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + <li class="subitem">cream, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + <li class="subitem">custard, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + <li class="subitem">gin, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li class="subitem">lemon acid, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + <li class="subitem">lozenges, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + <li class="subitem">malt spirits, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + <li class="subitem">mustard, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + <li class="subitem">olive oil, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + <li class="subitem">pepper, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + <li class="subitem">pickles, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + <li class="subitem">porter, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + <li class="subitem">rum, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li class="subitem">soda water, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + <li class="subitem">tea, black, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + <li class="sub2">green, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + <li class="subitem">vinegar, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + <li class="sub2">distilled, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + <li class="subitem">wine, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + <li>Age of beer, how fraudulently imitated, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + <li>Alcohol, quantity contained in different kinds of wine, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + <li class="subitem">malt liquors, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + <li class="subitem">spiritous liquors, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>Ale, Burton, quantity of spirit which it contains, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Dorchester, ditto ditto, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Edinburgh, ditto ditto, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Home-brewed ditto ditto, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + <li>Alum, bleaching property in the panification of bread flour, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + <li class="subitem">method of detecting it in bread, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + <li class="subitem">for brightening muddy wines, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + <li class="sub2">clarifying spiritous liquors, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + <li class="sub3">adulterating beer, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + <li>Arrack, imitation of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Batavia, quantity of alcohol contained in it, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li>Arrow root, sophistication of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>B + <ul> + <li>Bakers, their methods of judging of the goodness of bread flour, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + <li>Beer, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + <li class="sub2">act prohibiting it, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + <li class="sub2">method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + <li class="sub2">with narcotic substances, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + <li class="sub2">with opium, tobacco, &c., <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + <li class="subitem">colouring of, act prohibiting it, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + <li class="subitem">heading, composition and use of, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + <li class="subitem">hard, what is meant by it, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + <li class="sub2">fraudulent method of producing it, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + <li class="subitem">half-spoiled, fraudulent practice of recovering it, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + <li class="subitem">illegal substances used for adulterating it, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + <li class="subitem">old, what is meant by it, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + <li class="subitem">quantity of spirit contained in different kinds, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + <li class="subitem">strong, adulteration of with small beer, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + <li class="sub3">act prohibiting it, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + <li class="sub2">how defined by law, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + <li class="subitem">strength of different kinds, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + <li>Bilberries, employed for colouring port wine, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + <li>Bittern, for adulterating beer, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + <li>Black Extract, for adulterating beer, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + <li>Bland, Mr. tragical catastrophe of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + <li>Bouquet of high-flavoured wines, how produced, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li>Brandy, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li class="sub2">and method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + <li class="subitem">complexion of, what is meant by it, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + <li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>Brandy flavour of, how imitated, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + <li class="subitem">imitative, manufacture of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + <li class="subitem">method of compounding for retail trade, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + <li class="subitem">quantity contained in different sorts of wine, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + <li class="sub2">of alcohol contained in different kinds of, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li class="subitem">legal strength, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + <li class="sub2">how discovered by the Excise, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + <li class="subitem">false strength, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + <li class="subitem">flavour, imitative, how produced, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + <li>Brazil wood, application of for colouring wine, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + <li>Bread, adulteration of with alum <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + <li class="sub3">methods of detecting it, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + <li class="sub2">with potatoes, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + <li class="subitem">goodness of, how estimated in this metropolis, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + <li class="subitem">how rendered white and firm, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + <li class="subitem">corn, method of judging its goodness, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + <li class="subitem">flour, different sorts of from the same kind of grain, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + <li class="sub2"> adulteration of with bean flour, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + <li class="sub2"> process of making five bushels into bread, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + <li class="sub2"> made from new corn, improvement of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + <li class="sub2"> method of judging of goodness, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + <li>Brewers, list of, prosecuted for using illegal substances in their brewings, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + <li class="subitem">convicted of adulterating their strong beer with table beer, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + <li class="sub2">Druggists, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + <li class="sub3">prosecuted for supplying illegal ingredients to brewers for adulterating beer, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + <li>Breweries, illegal substances seized at various, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + <li>Brown Stout, quantity of spirit contained in it, <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>C<br /> + <ul> + <li>Calcavella, quantity of brandy which it contains, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + <li>Carbonate of ammonia, used by fraudulent bakers, <a href="#Page_104">105</a></li> + <li>Catsup, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + <li>Claret, quantity of brandy which it contains, <a href="#Page_94">95</a></li> + <li>Clary, used for flavouring wine, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li>Cheese, poisonous, and method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + <li>Chemists, are not permitted to sell illegal ingredients to brewers for adulterating beer, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + <li class="subitem"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>list of, convicted of this fraud, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + <li>Cherry-laurel water, dangerous application of for flavouring creams, &c., <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + <li class="subitem">used in the manufacture of spurious wines, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li class="sub2">in the manufacture of brandy, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + <li>Citric Acid, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + <li class="subitem"> method of detecting, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + <li>Cocculus indicus, nefarious application of in the brewing of beer, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + <li class="subitem">early law prohibiting its application, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + <li class="subitem">brewers prosecuted for using it, <a href="#Page_151">152</a></li> + <li class="subitem">seizures made of at different breweries, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + <li class="subitem">narcotic property of, to what owing, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + <li class="subitem">extract of, application in brewing, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + <li><a name="Coffee" id="Coffee"></a>Coffee, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + <li class="sub2">law in force against it, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + <li class="subitem">grocers lately convicted of selling spurious, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + <li>Confectionery, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + <li class="subitem">methods of detecting it, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + <li>Conserves, contamination of with copper, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + <li class="subitem">should never be deposited in vessels glazed with lead, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + <li>Constantia, quantity of spirit which it contains, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + <li>Copperas, or salt of steel, publicans convicted of mixing it with their beer, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + <li class="subitem">seizures of, at various breweries, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + <li>Cream, adulteration of, and mode of detecting it, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + <li>Custards, flavoured with cherry laurel leaves, dangerous effects from it, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + <li>Cyder, melancholy catastrophe of persons drinking such as was contaminated with lead, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>E<br /> + <ul> + <li>Elder-berries are used for colouring port wine, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + <li class="subitem">flowers are used for flavouring insipid white wines, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li>Entire beer, origin of its name, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + <li class="subitem">composition of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + <li>Extract of cocculus indicus is used by fraudulent brewers, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>F<br /> + <ul> + <li>False strength, how given to wine and spiritous liquors, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + <li class="subitem"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>how given to vinegar, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + <li>Flavour of French brandy, how imitated, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + <li>Flour, new, of an indifferent quality, how rendered fit for being made into good and wholesome bread, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + <li class="subitem">different sorts, from the same kind of grain, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + <li class="subitem">sour, practice of converting it into bread, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + <li>Food, rendered poisonous by copper vessels, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + <li class="subitem">by leaden vessels, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + <li>Frothy head of porter, how artificially produced, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>G<br /> + <ul> + <li>Geneva, Dutch, quantity of alcohol which it contains, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li>Gin, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li class="subitem">quantity of alcohol contained in different sorts, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li class="subitem">dangerous method of clarifying, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + <li class="subitem">legal exactment of its saleable strength, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + <li class="subitem"><i>proof</i>, what is meant by this term, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + <li class="subitem">strength of, how ascertained by the Excise, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + <li class="subitem">sweetened, fraudulent practice of composing it for sale, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + <li class="subitem">unsweetened, ditto ditto, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + <li class="subitem">false strength, how given, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>H<br /> + <ul> + <li>Hermitage, quantity of brandy which it contains, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + <li>Hops, adulteration of, prohibited by law, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + <li class="subitem">its chemical action upon beer, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + <li>Hydrometer, legal, now in use for ascertaining the strength of spiritous liquors, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li>Hyson tea, spurious. See <a href="#Tea_leaves">Tea leaves</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>I<br /> + <ul> + <li>Imitation arrack, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + <li class="subitem">tea. See <a href="#Tea_leaves">Tea leaves</a></li> + <li class="subitem">coffee. See <a href="#Coffee">Coffee</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>L<br /> + <ul> + <li>Leaden pumps and water reservoirs, dangerous effects to be apprehended from them, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + <li>Lisbon, quantity of spirit which it contains, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + <li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>Lozenges, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + <li>Lemon acid, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + <li class="subitem">method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>M<br /> + <ul> + <li>Madeira, quantity of brandy which it contains, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + <li>Malaga, quantity of brandy contained in it, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + <li>Malt, patent, for colouring porter, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + <li class="sub2">disadvantages of, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + <li class="subitem">liquors, dangerous adulteration of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + <li class="sub2">strength of different kinds. See Porter, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + <li class="subitem">spirits, adulterations of, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + <li class="sub2">characteristic flavour, to what owing, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + <li class="sub2">nefarious practices of compounding them for sale, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + <li class="sub2">false strength, how given, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + <li class="sub2">act restricting the strength of it, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + <li>Meat, salted, should not be preserved in leaden vessels, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + <li>Milk, improper practice of keeping it in leaden vessels, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + <li>Mint salad, pernicious custom of preparing it, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + <li>Multum, a substance employed for adulterating beer, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + <li class="subitem">seizures of, at various breweries, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + <li>Mushroom, poisonous, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Catsup, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + <li>Mustard, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>O<br /> + <ul> + <li>Oak-wood saw-dust, is used in the manufacture of spurious port wine, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li class="subitem">in the manufacture of spurious brandy, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + <li>Orris-root, is used for flavouring insipid wines, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li>Olive oil, contamination of, with lead, and method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>P<br /> + <ul> + <li>Pickles, contamination of with copper, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + <li class="subitem">improper vessels for keeping them, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + <li>Pepper, black, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + <li class="subitem">law in force against it, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + <li>Poisonous Cheese, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + <li class="subitem"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>Cayenne pepper, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + <li class="subitem">catsup, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + <li class="subitem">custard, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + <li class="subitem">olive oil, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + <li class="subitem">mushroom, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + <li class="subitem">pickles, <a href="#Page_217">207</a></li> + <li class="subitem">soda water, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + <li>Porter, origin of its name, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + <li class="subitem">adulteration of with wormwood, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + <li class="sub2">act prohibiting it, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + <li class="subitem">average strength of, as furnished to the publican, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + <li class="sub2"> ditto, as sent out by the retailers, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + <li class="subitem">illegal substances for adulterating it, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + <li class="subitem">brewers, convicted of adulterating their porter with illegal ingredients, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + <li>Porter, frothy head of, how produced, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + <li class="subitem">method of ascertaining the strength of different kinds, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + <li class="subitem">quantity of alcohol contained in London porter, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + <li>Port wine, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + <li>Publicans, prosecuted for adulterating their strong beer with table beer, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>Q<br /> + <ul> + <li>Quassia, fraudulent substitution of, for hops, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + <li class="subitem">disadvantages of its application, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + <li class="subitem">seizures of, at various breweries, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>R<br /> + <ul> + <li>Raisin wine, quantity of brandy which it contains, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + <li>Rum, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li class="subitem">false strength, how given to it, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + <li class="subitem">is seizable, if sold, unless of a certain strength, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + <li class="subitem">quantity of alcohol contained in it, <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>S<br /> + <ul> + <li>Soda Water, poisonous, and method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + <li>Spiritous Liquors, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + <li class="sub2">dangerous practice of fining them with noxious ingredients, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + <li class="subitem">quantity of alcohol contained in different kinds, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>Sweetmeats, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + <li>Sweet-brier, use of it for flavouring wines, <a href="#Page_75">75</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>T<br /> + <ul> + <li>Tarts of fruits, should not be baked in earthenware vessels glazed with lead, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + <li><a name="Tea_leaves" id="Tea_leaves"></a>Tea leaves, adulteration of, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + <li class="sub2">method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + <li class="sub2">law in force against it, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + <li class="subitem">poisonous sophistication of, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + <li class="sub2">method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + <li class="subitem">coloring of, with verdigris, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + <li class="subitem">black, spurious, process of manufacturing it, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> + <li class="subitem">green, imitation of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + <li>Tea dealers, convicted for selling adulterated tea, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + <li>Toys, improper practice of painting them with poisonous colours, <a href="#Page_259">259</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>V<br /> + <ul> + <li>Vidonia, quantity of brandy contained in it, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + <li>Vin de Grave, ditto ditto, <a href="#Page_94">95</a></li> + <li>Vinegar, adulteration of, and method of detecting it, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + <li class="subitem">distilled, and method of ascertaining its strength, <a href="#Page_221">221</a><br /><br /></li> + </ul></li> + + <li>W<br/> + <ul> + <li>Water, characters of good, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + <li class="subitem">chemical constitution of those used in domestic economy and the arts, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + <li class="subitem">danger of keeping it in leaden reservoirs, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + <li class="subitem">hard, how softened and rendered fit for washing, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + <li class="subitem">New River, constitution of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + <li class="subitem">substances contained in potable, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + <li class="sub2">how detected, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + <li class="subitem">substances usually contained in spring, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + <li class="subitem">taste and salubrious quality, to what owing, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Thames, constitution of, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">48</a></li> + <li>Wine, adulteration of with alum, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + <li class="subitem">British port, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + <li class="sub2">champaigne, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + <li class="subitem">bottles, improper practice of cleaning them, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + <li class="subitem">bottle corks, practice of staining them red, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + <li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>Wine doctors, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + <li class="subitem">quantity of alcohol contained in various kinds, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + <li class="subitem">dangerous practice of fining them, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + <li class="sub2"> to prevent them turning sour, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + <li class="subitem">art of flavouring them, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + <li class="subitem">home-made, chemical constitution of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + <li class="subitem">improvement from age, to what owing, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Southampton port, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + <li class="subitem">strength of, on what it depends, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + <li class="subitem">specific differences of different kinds, to what owing, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + <li class="subitem">test, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + <li class="subitem">white, manufacture of, from red grapes, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + <li>Whiskey, Irish, flavour, to what owing, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + <li class="sub2">strength of, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li class="subitem">Scotch, ditto, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + <li>Wormwood, substitution of, for hops, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + </ul></li> +</ul> + + + +<h4>THE END.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="notebox"> +<h2><a name="TRANSCRIBERS_NOTES" id="TRANSCRIBERS_NOTES"></a>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:</h2> + +<p>Unusual spellings, variations in spellings, and variations in +hyphenation have been left as in the original. Examples include:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>inpregnating<br /> +transparant<br /> +coculus/cocculus<br /> +inconscious<br /> +orris/oris root<br /></p> +</div> + +<p>The following corrections have been made to the text:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>page iii—comma added after "beer" in "beer, pepper, and other +articles of diet"</p> + +<p>page x—changed period to comma after "Ale" in "Method of +ascertaining the Quantity of Spirit contained in Porter, Ale, &c."</p> + +<p>page 61—changed "where" to "were" in "When men were unable to +detect the poisonous matters"</p> + +<p>page 62—corrected spelling of "snd" to "and" in "by Hyppocrates, +Galen, and Vitruvius"</p> + +<p>page 78—added "t" to "yeas" and added period at end of "before it +is cold, add some yeast and ferment."</p> + +<p>page 98—corrected spelling of "indipensable" to "indispensable" in +"degree of whiteness rendered indispensable by the caprice of the +consumers"</p> + +<p>page 104—changed comma to period after "sufficient for a sack of +flour"</p> + +<p>page 113—changed comma to period after "made of these ingredients +only, are entirely deceived"</p> + +<p>page 120—corrected "Authur" to "Arthur" in "Arthur Waller" and +corrected "Dun" to "Dunn" in "John Dunn"</p> + +<p>page 126—added period after "Co" in "Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and +Co"</p> + +<p>page 129—added period after "l" in "strong beer, 20l"</p> + +<p>page 130—added comma after "Harbur" in "John Harbur, for using +salt of steel"</p> + +<p>page 140—added ending quote mark after "of them from brewers' +druggists, within these two years past."</p> + +<p>page 149—changed comma to period after "resorted to only by +fraudulent brewers"</p> + +<p>page 152—changed semi-colon after "Stephens" in "Septimus +Stephens, brewer"</p> + +<p>page 154—corrected spelling of "apolexy" to "apoplexy" in +"drinkers are very liable to apoplexy"</p> + +<p>page 169—corrected spelling of "Malin's" to "Malins'" in "Malins' +coffee-roasting premises"</p> + +<p>page 185—corrected spelling of "find" to "fined" in "were fined +20l. each"</p> + +<p>page 202—added the word "on" in "as stated on pages 70 and 86"</p> + +<p>page 210—corrected spelling of "annotta" to "anotta" in "who +adulterated the anotta"</p> + +<p>page 223—added hyphen in "tea-spoonful" and corrected spelling of +"jodine" to "iodine" in "few drops of a solution of iodine"</p> + +<p>page 227—added "s" at end of "Mr. Lewi "</p> + +<p>page 231—corrected spelling of "cookry" to "cookery" in "articles +of cookery"</p> + +<p>page 245—corrected spelling of "glanular" to "granular" in +"insoluble precipitate in minute granular crystals"</p> + +<p>Footnote 46—added period after "p" in "3d edit. p. 270"</p> + +<p>Footnote 87—added missing end quote after "with copperas and +sheep's dung." and removed extraneous period after "48" in "Plant, +p. 48;"</p> + +<p>Footnote 115—corrected spelling of "Qvæ" to "Quæ" in "Quæ voluptas +tanta ancipitis cibi?"</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, +and Culinary Poisons, by Fredrick Accum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON ADULTERATIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 19031-h.htm or 19031-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/0/3/19031/ + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/19031-h/images/image1.png b/19031-h/images/image1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f5eee0 --- /dev/null +++ b/19031-h/images/image1.png diff --git a/19031-h/images/image2.png b/19031-h/images/image2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0db145 --- /dev/null +++ b/19031-h/images/image2.png diff --git a/19031-h/images/image3.png b/19031-h/images/image3.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fcbb48 --- /dev/null +++ b/19031-h/images/image3.png diff --git a/19031.txt b/19031.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e2a356 --- /dev/null +++ b/19031.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6561 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and +Culinary Poisons, by Fredrick Accum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons + Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, + Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, + Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and + Other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy + +Author: Fredrick Accum + +Release Date: August 12, 2006 [EBook #19031] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON ADULTERATIONS *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + +A + +TREATISE + +ON + +ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD, + +_AND CULINARY POISONS_. + + +EXHIBITING + +The Fraudulent Sophistications of + +BREAD, BEER, WINE, SPIRITOUS LIQUORS, TEA, COFFEE, CREAM, CONFECTIONERY, +VINEGAR, MUSTARD, PEPPER, CHEESE, OLIVE OIL, PICKLES, + +AND OTHER ARTICLES EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY. + + +AND + +METHODS OF DETECTING THEM. + + +_By Fredrick Accum_, + +OPERATIVE CHEMIST, AND MEMBER OF THE PRINCIPAL ACADEMIES AND SOCIETIES +OF ARTS AND SCIENCES IN EUROPE. + + +Philadelphia: +PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY AB'M SMALL +1820. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This Treatise, as its title expresses, is intended to exhibit easy +methods of detecting the fraudulent adulterations of food, and of other +articles, classed either among the necessaries or luxuries of the table; +and to put the unwary on their guard against the use of such commodities +as are contaminated with substances deleterious to health. + +Every person is aware that bread, beer, wine, and other substances +employed in domestic economy, are frequently met with in an adulterated +state: and the late convictions of numerous individuals for +counterfeiting and adulterating tea, coffee, bread, beer, pepper, and +other articles of diet, are still fresh in the memory of the public. + +To such perfection of ingenuity has the system of counterfeiting and +adulterating various commodities of life arrived in this country, that +spurious articles are every where to be found in the market, made up so +skilfully, as to elude the discrimination of the most experienced +judges. + +But of all possible nefarious traffic and deception, practised by +mercenary dealers, that of adulterating the articles intended for human +food with ingredients deleterious to health, is the most criminal, and, +in the mind of every honest man, must excite feelings of regret and +disgust. Numerous facts are on record, of human food, contaminated with +poisonous ingredients, having been vended to the public; and the annals +of medicine record tragical events ensuing from the use of such food. + +The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, is proof against prohibitions +and penalties; and the possible sacrifice of a fellow-creature's life, +is a secondary consideration among unprincipled dealers. + +However invidious the office may appear, and however painful the duty +may be, of exposing the names of individuals, who have been convicted of +adulterating food; yet it was necessary, for the verification of my +statement, that cases should be adduced in their support; and I have +carefully avoided citing any, except those which are authenticated in +Parliamentary documents and other public records. + +To render this Treatise still more useful, I have also animadverted on +certain material errors, sometimes unconsciously committed through +accident or ignorance, in private families, during the preparation of +various articles of food, and of delicacies for the table. + +In stating the experimental proceedings necessary for the detection of +the frauds which it has been my object to expose, I have confined myself +to the task of pointing out such operations only as may be performed by +persons unacquainted with chemical science; and it has been my purpose +to express all necessary rules and instructions in the plainest +language, divested of those recondite terms of science, which would be +out of place in a work intended for general perusal. + +The design of the Treatise will be fully answered, if the views here +given should induce a single reader to pursue the object for which it +is published; or if it should tend to impress on the mind of the Public +the magnitude of an evil, which, in many cases, prevails to an extent so +alarming, that we may exclaim with the sons of the Prophet, + + "_THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT._" + +For the abolition of such nefarious practices, it is the interest of all +classes of the community to co-operate. + +FREDRICK ACCUM. + +LONDON. +1820. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD _Page_ 13 + + +EFFECT OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF WATER EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY 33 + +_Characters of Good Water_ 37 + +_Chemical Constitution of the Waters used in Domestic Economy and +the Arts_ 40 + +_Rain Water_ 40 +_Snow Water_ 41 +_Spring Water_ 42 +_River Water_ 44 + +_Substances usually contained in Common Water, and Tests by which +they are detected_ 48 + +_Method of ascertaining the Quantity of each of the different +Substances usually contained in Common Water_ 54 + +_Deleterious Effects of keeping Water for Domestic Economy, in +Leaden Reservoirs_ 60 + +_Method of detecting Lead, when contained in common Water_ 69 + + +ADULTERATION OF WINE 74 + +_Method of detecting the Deleterious Adulterations of Wine_ 86 + +_Specific Differences, and Component Parts of Wine_ 89 + +_Easy process of ascertaining the Quantity of Brandy contained in +various sorts of Wine_ 92 + +_Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage of Brandy or Alcohol +contained in various kinds of Wine and other fermented Liquors_ 94 + +_Constitution of Home-made Wines_ 96 + + +ADULTERATION OF BREAD 98 + +_Method of detecting the Presence of Alum in Bread_ 108 + +_Easy Method of judging of the Goodness of Bread-Corn and +Bread-Flour_ 110 + + +ADULTERATION OF BEER 113 + +_List of Druggists and Grocers, prosecuted and convicted for +supplying illegal Ingredients to Brewers for Adulterating Beer_ 119 + +_Porter_ 121 + +_Strength and Specific Differences of different kinds of Porter_ 125 + +_List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted for adulterating Beer +with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing Table Beer with their +Strong Beer_ 129 + +_Illegal Substances used for adulterating Beer_ 131 + +_Ingredients seized at various Breweries and Brewers' Druggists, +for adulterating Beer_ 136 + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted for adulterating Strong +Beer with Table Beer_ 143 + +_Old, or Entire Beer; and New or Mild Beer_ 144 + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted for receiving and using +illegal Ingredients in their Brewings_ 151 + +_Method of detecting the Adulteration of Beer_ 158 + +_Method of ascertaining the Quantity of Spirit contained in Porter, +Ale, &c._ 160 + +_Per Centage of Alcohol contained in Porter, and other kinds of +Malt Liquors_ 162 + + +COUNTERFEIT TEA-LEAVES 163 + +_Methods of detecting the Adulterations of Tea-Leaves_ 171 + + +COUNTERFEIT COFFEE 176 + + +ADULTERATION OF BRANDY, RUM, AND GIN 187 + +_Method of detecting the Adulterations of Brandy, Rum, and Malt +Spirit_ 195 + +_Method of detecting the Presence of Lead in Spiritous Liquors_ 202 + +_Method of ascertaining the Quantity of Alcohol contained in +different kinds of Spiritous Liquors_ 203 + +_Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Alcohol contained in various +kinds of Spiritous Liquors_ 205 + + +POISONOUS CHEESE, _and method of detecting it_ 206 + + +COUNTERFEIT PEPPER, _and Method of detecting it_ 211 + +_White Pepper, and method of manufacturing it_ 213 + + +POISONOUS CAYENNE PEPPER, _and method of detecting it_ 215 + + +POISONOUS PICKLES, _and method of detecting them_ 217 + + +ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR, _and method of detecting it_ 220 + +_Distilled Vinegar_ 221 + + +ADULTERATION OF CREAM, _and method of detecting it_ 222 + + +POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY, _and method of detecting it_ 224 + + +POISONOUS CATSUP, _and method of detecting it_ 227 + + +POISONOUS CUSTARDS 231 + + +POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE, _and method of detecting it_ 234 + + +ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES, _and method of detecting them_ 236 + + +POISONOUS OLIVE OIL, _and method of detecting it_ 239 + + +ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD 241 + + +ADULTERATION OF LEMON ACID, _and method of detecting it_ 243 + + +POISONOUS MUSHROOMS 246 + +_Mushroom catsup_ 250 + + +POISONOUS SODA WATER, _and method of detecting it_ 251 + + +FOOD POISONED BY COPPER VESSELS, _and method of detecting it_ 252 + + +FOOD POISONED BY LEADEN VESSELS, _and method of detecting it_ 257 + + +INDEX 261 + + + + +A + +TREATISE + +ON + +ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD, + +AND + +CULINARY POISONS. + + + + +PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. + + +Of all the frauds practised by mercenary dealers, there is none more +reprehensible, and at the same time more prevalent, than the +sophistication of the various articles of food. + +This unprincipled and nefarious practice, increasing in degree as it has +been found difficult of detection, is now applied to almost every +commodity which can be classed among either the necessaries or the +luxuries of life, and is carried on to a most alarming extent in every +part of the United Kingdom. + +It has been pursued by men, who, from the magnitude and apparent +respectability of their concerns, would be the least obnoxious to public +suspicion; and their successful example has called forth, from among the +retail dealers, a multitude of competitors in the same iniquitous +course. + +To such perfection of ingenuity has this system of adulterating food +arrived, that spurious articles of various kinds are every where to be +found, made up so skilfully as to baffle the discrimination of the most +experienced judges. + +Among the number of substances used in domestic economy which are now +very generally found sophisticated, may be distinguished--tea, coffee, +bread, beer, wine, spiritous liquors, salad oil, pepper, vinegar, +mustard, cream, and other articles of subsistence. + +Indeed, it would be difficult to mention a single article of food which +is not to be met with in an adulterated state; and there are some +substances which are scarcely ever to be procured genuine. + +Some of these spurious compounds are comparatively harmless when used +as food; and as in these cases merely substances of inferior value are +substituted for more costly and genuine ingredients, the sophistication, +though it may affect our purse, does not injure our health. Of this kind +are the manufacture of factitious pepper, the adulterations of mustard, +vinegar, cream, &c. Others, however, are highly deleterious; and to this +class belong the adulterations of beer, wines, spiritous liquors, +pickles, salad oil, and many others. + +There are particular chemists who make it a regular trade to supply +drugs or nefarious preparations to the unprincipled brewer of porter or +ale; others perform the same office to the wine and spirit merchant; and +others again to the grocer and the oilman. The operators carry on their +processes chiefly in secresy, and under some delusive firm, with the +ostensible denotements of a fair and lawful establishment. + +These illicit pursuits have assumed all the order and method of a +regular trade; they may severally claim to be distinguished as an _art +and mystery_; for the workmen employed in them are often wholly ignorant +of the nature of the substances which pass through their hands, and of +the purposes to which they are ultimately applied. + +To elude the vigilance of the inquisitive, to defeat the scrutiny of the +revenue officer, and to ensure the secresy of these mysteries, the +processes are very ingeniously divided and subdivided among individual +operators, and the manufacture is purposely carried on in separate +establishments. The task of proportioning the ingredients for use is +assigned to one individual, while the composition and preparation of +them may be said to form a distinct part of the business, and is +entrusted to another workman. Most of the articles are transmitted to +the consumer in a disguised state, or in such a form that their real +nature cannot possibly be detected by the unwary. Thus the extract of +_coculus indicus_, employed by fraudulent manufacturers of malt-liquors +to impart an intoxicating quality to porter or ales, is known in the +market by the name of _black extract_, ostensibly destined for the use +of tanners and dyers. It is obtained by boiling the berries of the +coculus indicus in water, and converting, by a subsequent evaporation, +this decoction into a stiff black tenacious mass, possessing, in a high +degree, the narcotic and intoxicating quality of the poisonous berry +from which it is prepared. Another substance, composed of extract of +quassia and liquorice juice, used by fraudulent brewers to economise +both malt and hops, is technically called _multum_.[1] + +The quantities of coculus indicus berries, as well as of black extract, +imported into this country for adulterating malt liquors, are enormous. +It forms a considerable branch of commerce in the hands of a few +brokers: yet, singular as it may seem, no inquiry appears to have been +hitherto made by the officers of the revenue respecting its application. +Many other substances employed in the adulteration of beer, ale, and +spiritous liquors, are in a similar manner intentionally disguised; and +of the persons by whom they are purchased, a great number are totally +unacquainted with their nature or composition. + +An extract, said to be innocent, sold in casks, containing from half a +cwt. to five cwt. by the brewers' druggists, under the name of +_bittern_, is composed of calcined sulphate of iron (copperas), extract +of coculus indicus berries, extract of quassia, and Spanish liquorice. + +It would be very easy to adduce, in support of these remarks, the +testimony of numerous individuals, by whom I have been professionally +engaged to examine certain mixtures, said to be perfectly innocent, +which are used in very extensive manufactories of the above description. +Indeed, during the long period devoted to the practice of my +profession, I have had abundant reason to be convinced that a vast +number of dealers, of the highest respectability, have vended to their +customers articles absolutely poisonous, which they themselves +considered as harmless, and which they would not have offered for sale, +had they been apprised of the spurious and pernicious nature of the +compounds, and of the purposes to which they were destined. + +For instance, I have known cases in which brandy merchants were not +aware that the substance which they frequently purchase under the +delusive name of _flash_, for strengthening and clarifying spiritous +liquors, and which is held out as consisting of burnt sugar and +isinglass only, in the form of an extract, is in reality a compound of +sugar, with extract of capsicum; and that to the acrid and pungent +qualities of the capsicum is to be ascribed the heightened flavour of +brandy and rum, when coloured with the above-mentioned matter. + +In other cases the ale-brewer has been supplied with ready-ground +coriander seeds, previously mixed with a portion of _nux vomica_ and +quassia, to give a bitter taste and narcotic property to the beverage. + +The retail venders of mustard do not appear to be aware that mustard +seed alone cannot produce, when ground, a powder of so intense and +brilliant a colour as that of the common mustard of commerce. Nor would +the powder of real mustard, when mixed with salt and water, without the +addition of a portion of pulverised capsicum, keep for so long a time as +the mustard usually offered for sale. + +Many other instances of unconscious deceptions might be mentioned, which +were practised by persons of upright and honourable minds. + +It is a painful reflection, that the division of labour which has been +so instrumental in bringing the manufactures of this country to their +present flourishing state, should have also tended to conceal and +facilitate the fraudulent practices in question; and that from a +correspondent ramification of commerce into a multitude of distinct +branches, particularly in the metropolis and the large towns of the +empire, the traffic in adulterated commodities should find its way +through so many circuitous channels, as to defy the most scrutinising +endeavour to trace it to its source. + +It is not less lamentable that the extensive application of chemistry to +the useful purposes of life, should have been perverted into an +auxiliary to this nefarious traffic. But, happily for the science, it +may, without difficulty, be converted into a means of detecting the +abuse; to effect which, very little chemical skill is required; and the +course to be pursued forms the object of the following pages. + +The baker asserts that he does not put alum into bread; but he is well +aware that, in purchasing a certain quantity of flour, he must take a +sack of _sharp whites_ (a term given to flour contaminated with a +quantity of alum), without which it would be impossible for him to +produce light, white, and porous bread, from a half-spoiled material. + +The wholesale mealman frequently purchases this spurious commodity, +(which forms a separate branch of business in the hands of certain +individuals,) in order to enable himself to sell his decayed and +half-spoiled flour. + +Other individuals furnish the baker with alum mixed up with salt, under +the obscure denomination of _stuff_. There are wholesale manufacturing +chemists, whose sole business is to crystallise alum, in such a form as +will adapt this salt to the purpose of being mixed in a crystalline +state with the crystals of common salt, to disguise the character of +the compound. The mixture called _stuff_, is composed of one part of +alum, in minute crystals, and three of common salt. In many other trades +a similar mode of proceeding prevails. Potatoes are soaked in water to +augment their weight. + +The practice of sophisticating the necessaries of life, being reduced to +systematic regularity, is ranked by public opinion among other +mercantile pursuits; and is not only regarded with less disgust than +formerly, but is almost generally esteemed as a justifiable way to +wealth. + +It is really astonishing that the penal law is not more effectually +enforced against practices so inimical to the public welfare. The man +who robs a fellow subject of a few shillings on the high-way, is +sentenced to death; while he who distributes a slow poison to a whole +community, escapes unpunished. + +It has been urged by some, that, under so vast a system of finance as +that of Great Britain, it is expedient that the revenue should be +collected in large amounts; and therefore that the severity of the law +should be relaxed in favour of all mercantile concerns in proportion to +their extent: encouragement must be given to large capitalists; and +where an extensive brewery or distillery yields an important +contribution to the revenue, no strict scrutiny need be adopted in +regard to the quality of the article from which such contribution is +raised, provided the excise do not suffer by the fraud. + +But the principles of the constitution afford no sanction to this +preference, and the true interests of the country require that it should +be abolished; for a tax dependent upon deception must be at best +precarious, and must be, sooner or later, diminished by the irresistible +diffusion of knowledge. Sound policy requires that the law should be +impartially enforced in all cases; and if its penalties were extended to +abuses of which it does not now take cognisance, there is no doubt that +the revenue would be abundantly benefited. + +Another species of fraud, to which I shall at present but briefly +advert, and which has increased to so alarming an extent, that it loudly +calls for the interference of government, is the adulteration of drugs +and medicines. + +Nine-tenths of the most potent drugs and chemical preparations used in +pharmacy, are vended in a sophisticated state by dealers who would be +the last to be suspected. It is well known, that of the article Peruvian +bark, there is a variety of species inferior to the genuine; that too +little discrimination is exercised by the collectors of this precious +medicament; that it is carelessly assorted, and is frequently packed in +green hides; that much of it arrives in Spain in a half-decayed state, +mixed with fragments of other vegetables and various extraneous +substances; and in this state is distributed throughout Europe. + +But as if this were not a sufficient deterioration, the public are often +served with a spurious compound of mahogany saw-dust and oak wood, +ground into powder mixed with a proportion of good quinquina, and sold +as genuine bark powder. + +Every chemist knows that there are mills constantly at work in this +metropolis, which furnish bark powder at a much cheaper rate than the +substance can be procured for in its natural state. The price of the +best genuine bark, upon an average, is not lower than twelve shillings +the pound; but immense quantities of powder bark are supplied to the +apothecaries at three or four shillings a pound. + +It is also notorious that there are manufacturers of spurious rhubarb +powder, ipecacuanha powder,[2] James's powder; and other simple and +compound medicines of great potency, who carry on their diabolical trade +on an amazingly large scale. Indeed, the quantity of medical +preparations thus sophisticated exceeds belief. Cheapness, and not +genuineness and excellence, is the grand desideratum with the +unprincipled dealers in drugs and medicines. + +Those who are familiar with chemistry may easily convince themselves of +the existence of the fraud, by subjecting to a chemical examination +either spirits of hartshorn, magnesia, calcined magnesia, calomel, or +any other chemical preparation in general demand. + +Spirit of hartshorn is counterfeited by mixing liquid caustic ammonia +with the distilled spirit of hartshorn, to increase the pungency of its +odour, and to enable it to bear an addition of water. + +The fraud is detected by adding spirit of wine to the sophisticated +spirit; for, if no considerable coagulation ensues, the adulteration is +proved. It may also be discovered by the hartshorn spirit not producing +a brisk effervescence when mixed with muriatic or nitric acid. + +Magnesia usually contains a portion of lime, originating from hard water +being used instead of soft, in the preparation of this medicine. + +To ascertain the purity of magnesia, add to a portion of it a little +sulphuric acid, diluted with ten times its bulk of water. If the +magnesia be completely soluble, and the solution remains transparent, it +may be pronounced _pure_; but not otherwise. Or, dissolve a portion of +the magnesia in muriatic acid, and add a solution of sub-carbonate of +ammonia. If any lime be present, it will form a precipitate; whereas +pure magnesia will remain in solution. + +Calcined magnesia is seldom met with in a pure state. It may be assayed +by the same tests as the common magnesia. It ought not to effervesce at +all, with dilute sulphuric acid; and, if the magnesia and acid be put +together into one scale of a balance, no diminution of weight should +ensue on mixing them together. Calcined magnesia, however, is very +seldom so pure as to be totally dissolved by diluted sulphuric acid; +for a small insoluble residue generally remains, consisting chiefly of +silicious earth, derived from the alkali employed in the preparation of +it. The solution in sulphuric acid, when largely diluted, ought not to +afford any precipitation by the addition of oxalate of ammonia. + +The genuineness of calomel may be ascertained by boiling, for a few +minutes, one part, with 1/32 part of muriate of ammonia in ten parts of +distilled water. When carbonate of potash is added to the filtered +solution, no precipitation will ensue if the calomel be pure. + +Indeed, some of the most common and cheap drugs do not escape the +adulterating hand of the unprincipled druggist. Syrup of buckthorn, for +example, instead of being prepared from the juice of buckthorn berries, +(_rhamnus catharticus_,) is made from the fruit of the blackberry +bearing alder, and the dogberry tree. A mixture of the berries of the +buckthorn and blackberry bearing alder, and of the dogberry tree, may be +seen publicly exposed for sale by some of the venders of medicinal +herbs. This abuse may be discovered by opening the berries: those of +buckthorn have almost always four seeds; of the alder, two; and of the +dogberry, only one. Buckthorn berries, bruised on white paper, stain it +of a green colour, which the others do not. + +Instead of worm-seed (_artemisia santonica_,) the seeds of tansy are +frequently offered for sale, or a mixture of both. + +A great many of the essential oils obtained from the more expensive +spices, are frequently so much adulterated, that it is not easy to meet +with such as are at all fit for use: nor are these adulterations easily +discoverable. The grosser abuses, indeed, may be readily detected. Thus, +if the oil be adulterated with alcohol, it will turn milky on the +addition of water; if with expressed oils, alcohol will dissolve the +volatile, and leave the other behind; if with oil of turpentine, on +dipping a piece of paper in the mixture, and drying it with a gentle +heat, the turpentine will be betrayed by its smell. The more subtile +artists, however, have contrived other methods of sophistication, which +elude all trials. And as all volatile oils agree in the general +properties of solubility in spirit of wine, and volatility in the heat +of boiling water, &c. it is plain that they may be variously mixed with +each other, or the dearer sophisticated with the cheaper, without any +possibility of discovering the abuse by any of the before-mentioned +trials. Perfumers assert that the smell and taste are the only certain +tests of which the nature of the thing will admit. For example, if a +bark should have in every respect the appearance of good cinnamon, and +should be proved indisputably to be the genuine bark of the cinnamon +tree; yet if it want the cinnamon flavour, or has it but in a low +degree, we reject it: and the case is the same with the essential oil of +cinnamon. It is only from use and habit, or comparisons with specimens +of known quality, that we can judge of the goodness, either of the drugs +themselves, or of their oils. + +Most of the arrow-root, the fecula of the Maranta arudinacea, sold by +druggists, is a mixture of potatoe starch and arrow-root. + +The same system of adulteration extends to articles used in various +trades and manufactures. For instance, linen tape, and various other +household commodities of that kind, instead of being manufactured of +linen thread only, are made up of linen and cotton. Colours for +painting, not only those used by artists, such as ultramarine,[3] +carmine,[4] and lake;[5] Antwerp blue,[6] chrome yellow,[7] and Indian +ink;[8] but also the coarser colours used by the common house-painter +are more or less adulterated. Thus, of the latter kind, white lead[9] is +mixed with carbonate or sulphate of barytes; vermilion[10] with red +lead. + +Soap used in house-keeping is frequently adulterated with a +considerable portion of fine white clay, brought from St. Stephens, in +Cornwall. In the manufacture of printing paper, a large quantity of +plaster of Paris is added to the paper stuff, to increase the weight of +the manufactured article. The selvage of cloth is often dyed with a +permanent colour, and artfully stitched to the edge of cloth dyed with a +fugitive dye. The frauds committed in the tanning of skins, and in the +manufacture of cutlery and jewelry, exceed belief. + +The object of all unprincipled modern manufacturers seems to be the +sparing of their time and labour as much as possible, and to increase +the quantity of the articles they produce, without much regard to their +quality. The ingenuity and perseverance of self-interest is proof +against prohibitions, and contrives to elude the vigilance of the most +active government. + +The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, which seems to be a leading +characteristic of the times, calls into action every human faculty, and +gives an irresistible impulse to the power of invention; and where lucre +becomes the reigning principle, the possible sacrifice of even a fellow +creature's life is a secondary consideration. In reference to the +deterioration of almost all the necessaries and comforts of existence, +it may be justly observed, in a civil as well as a religious sense, that +"_in the midst of life we are in death_." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _The Times_, May 18, 1818. The King _v._ Richard Bowman. The +defendant was a brewer, living in Wapping-street, Wapping, and was +charged with having in his possession a drug called _multum_, and a +quantity of copperas. + +The articles were produced by Thomas Gates, an excise officer, who had, +after a search, found them on the defendant's premises. The Court +sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of 200_l._ + +The King _v._ Luke Lyons. The defendant is a brewer, and was brought up +under an indictment charging him with having made use of various +deleterious drugs in his brewery, among which were capsicum, copperas, +&c. The defendant was ordered to pay the fines of 20_l._ upon the first +count, 200_l._ upon the third, and 200_l._ upon the seventh count in the +indictment. + +The King _v._ Thomas Evans. The charge against this defendant was, that +he had in his possession forty-seven barrels of stale unpalatable beer. +On, the 11th of March, John Wilson, an excise officer, went to the +storehouse, and found forty-seven casks containing forty-three barrels +and a half of sour unwholesome beer. Several samples of the beer were +produced, all of them of a different colour, and filled with sediment. A +fine of 30_l._ was ordered to be paid by the defendant. + +[2] Of this root, several varieties are imported. The white sort, which +has no wrinkles, and no perceptible bitterness in taste, and which, +though taken in a large dose, has scarcely any effect at all, after +being pulverised by fraudulent druggists, and mixed with a portion of +emetic tartar, is sold, at a low price, for the powder of genuine +ipecacuanha root. + +[3] Genuine ultramarine should become deprived of its colour when thrown +into concentrated nitric acid. + +[4] Genuine carmine should be totally soluble in liquid ammonia. + +[5] Genuine madder and carmine lakes should be totally soluble by +boiling in a concentrated solution of soda or potash. + +[6] Genuine Antwerp blue should not become deprived of its colour when +thrown into liquid chlorine. + +[7] Genuine chrome yellow should not effervesce with nitric acid. + +[8] The best Indian ink breaks, splintery, with a smooth glossy +fracture, and feels soft, and not gritty, when rubbed against the teeth. + +[9] Genuine white lead should be completely soluble in nitric acid, and +the solution should remain transparent when mingled with a solution of +sulphate of soda. + +[10] Genuine vermilion should become totally volatilised on being +exposed to a red heat; and it should not impart a red colour to spirit +of wine, when digested with it. + + + + +REMARKS + +ON THE + +Effect of different Kinds of Waters + +IN THEIR APPLICATION TO + +DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS; + +AND + +METHODS OF ASCERTAINING THEIR PURITY. + + +It requires not much reflection to become convinced that the waters +which issue from the recesses of the earth, and form springs, wells, +rivers, or lakes, often materially differ from each other in their taste +and other obvious properties. There are few people who have not observed +a difference in the waters used for domestic purposes and in the arts; +and the distinctions of _hard_ and _soft_ water are familiar to every +body. + +Water perfectly pure is scarcely ever met with in nature. + +It must also be obvious, that the health and comfort of families, and +the conveniences of domestic life, are materially affected by the supply +of good and wholesome water. Hence a knowledge of the quality and +salubrity of the different kinds of waters employed in the common +concerns of life, on account of the abundant daily use we make of them +in the preparation of food, is unquestionably an object of considerable +importance, and demands our attention. + +The effects produced by the foreign matters which water may contain, are +more considerable, and of greater importance, than might at first be +imagined. It cannot be denied, that such waters as are _hard_, or loaded +with earthy matter, have a decided effect upon some important functions +of the human body. They increase the distressing symptoms under which +those persons labour who are afflicted with what is commonly called +gravel complaints; and many other ailments might be named, that are +always aggravated by the use of waters abounding in saline and earthy +substances. + +The purity of the waters employed in some of the arts and manufactures, +is an object of not less consequence. In the process of brewing malt +liquors, soft water is preferable to hard. Every brewer knows that the +largest possible quantity of the extractive matter of the malt is +obtained in the least possible time, and at the smallest cost, by means +of soft water. + +In the art of the dyer, hard water not only opposes the solution of +several dye stuffs, but it also alters the natural tints of some +delicate colours; whilst in others again it precipitates the earthy and +saline matters with which it is impregnated, into the delicate fibres of +the stuff, and thus impedes the softness and brilliancy of the dye. + +The bleacher cannot use with advantage waters impregnated with earthy +salts; and a minute portion of iron imparts to the cloth a yellowish +hue. + +To the manufacturer of painters' colours, water as pure as possible is +absolutely essential for the successful preparation of several delicate +pigments. Carmine, madder lake, ultramarine, and Indian yellow, cannot +be prepared without perfectly pure water. + +For the steeping or raiting of flax, soft water is absolutely necessary; +in hard water the flax may be immersed for months, till its texture be +injured, and still the ligneous matter will not be decomposed, and the +fibres properly separated. + +In the culinary art, the effects of water more or less pure are +likewise obvious. Good and pure water softens the fibres of animal and +vegetable matters more readily than such as is called _hard_. Every cook +knows that dry or ripe pease, and other farinaceous seeds, cannot +_readily_ be boiled soft in hard water; because the farina of the seed +is not perfectly soluble in water loaded with earthy salts. + +Green esculent vegetable substances are more tender when boiled in soft +water than in hard water; although hard water imparts to them a better +colour. The effects of hard and soft water may be easily shown in the +following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Let two separate portions of tea-leaves be macerated, by precisely the +same processes, in circumstances all alike, in similar and separate +vessels, the one containing hard and the other soft water, either hot or +cold, the infusion made with the soft water will have by far the +strongest taste, although it possesses less colour than the infusion +made with the hard water. It will strike a more intense black with a +solution of sulphate of iron, and afford a more abundant precipitate, +with a solution of animal jelly, which at once shews that soft water has +extracted more tanning matter, and more gallic acid, from the +tea-leaves, than could be obtained from them under like circumstances by +means of hard water. + +Many animals which are accustomed to drink soft water, refuse hard +water. Horses in particular prefer the former. Pigeons refuse hard water +when they have been accustomed to soft water. + + +CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. + +A good criterion of the purity of water fit for domestic purposes, is +its softness. This quality is at once obvious by the touch, if we only +wash our hands in it with soap. Good water should be beautifully +transparent; a slight opacity indicates extraneous matter. To judge of +the perfect transparency of water, a quantity of it should be put into a +deep glass vessel, the larger the better, so that we can look down +perpendicularly into a considerable mass of the fluid; we may then +readily discover the slightest degree of muddiness much better than if +the water be viewed through the glass placed between the eye and the +light. It should be perfectly colourless, devoid of odour, and its +taste soft and agreeable. It should send out air-bubbles when poured +from one vessel into another; it should boil pulse soft, and form with +soap an uniform opaline fluid, which does not separate after standing +for several hours. + +It is to the presence of common air and carbonic acid gas that common +water owes its taste, and many of the good effects which it produces on +animals and vegetables. Spring water, which contains more air, has a +more lively taste than river water. + +Hence the insipid or vapid taste of newly boiled water, from which these +gases are expelled: fish cannot live in water deprived of those elastic +fluids. + +100 cubic inches of the New River water, with which part of this +metropolis is supplied, contains 2,25 of carbonic acid, and 1,25 of +common air. The water of the river Thames contains rather a larger +quantity of common air, and a smaller portion of carbonic acid. + +If water not fully saturated with common air be agitated with this +elastic fluid, a portion of the air is absorbed; but the two chief +constituent gases of the atmosphere, the oxygen and nitrogen, are not +equally affected, the former being absorbed in preference to the latter. + +According to Mr. Dalton, in agitating water with atmospheric air, +consisting of 79 of nitrogen, and 21 of oxygen, the water absorbs 1/64 +of 79/100 nitrogen gas = 1,234, and 1/27 of 21/100 oxygen gas = 778, +amounting in all to 2,012. + +Water is freed from foreign matter by distillation: and for any chemical +process in which accuracy is requisite, distilled water must be used. + +Hard waters may, in general, be cured in part, by dropping into them a +solution of sub-carbonate of potash; or, if the hardness be owing only +to the presence of super-carbonate of lime, mere boiling will greatly +remedy the defect; part of the carbonic acid flies off, and a neutral +carbonate of lime falls down to the bottom; it may then be used for +washing, scarcely curdling soap. But if the hardness be owing in part to +sulphate of lime, boiling does not soften it at all. + +When spring water is used for washing, it is advantageous to leave it +for some time exposed to the open air in a reservoir with a large +surface. Part of the carbonic acid becomes thus dissipated, and part of +the carbonate of lime falls to the bottom. Mr. Dalton[11] has observed +that the more any spring is drawn from, the softer the water becomes. + + +CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE WATERS USED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE +ARTS. + + +_Rain Water_, + +Collected with every precaution as it descends from the clouds, and at a +distance from large towns, or any other object capable of impregnating +the atmosphere with foreign matters, approaches more nearly to a state +of purity than perhaps any other natural water. Even collected under +these circumstances, however, it invariably contains a portion of common +air and carbonic acid gas. The specific gravity of rain water scarcely +differs from that of distilled water; and from the minute portions of +the foreign ingredients which it generally contains, it is very _soft_, +and admirably adapted for many culinary purposes, and various processes +in different manufactures and the arts. + +Fresh-fallen _snow_, melted without the contact of air, appears to be +nearly free from air. Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, however, affirm, that it +contains nearly the usual proportion of air. + +Water from melted _ice_ does not contain so much air. _Dew_ has been +supposed to be saturated with air. + +Snow water has long laid under the imputation of occasioning those +strumous swellings in the neck which deform the inhabitants of many of +the Alpine vallies; but this opinion is not supported by any +well-authenticated indisputable facts, and is rendered still more +improbable, if not entirely overturned, by the frequency of the disease +in Sumatra[12], where ice and snow are never seen. + +In high northern latitudes, thawed snow forms the constant drink of the +inhabitants during winter; and the vast masses of ice which float on the +polar seas, afford an abundant supply of fresh water to the mariner. + + +_Spring Water_, + +Includes well-water and all others that arise from some depth below the +surface of the earth, and which are used at the fountain-head, or at +least before they have run any considerable distance exposed to the air. +Indeed, springs may be considered as rain water which has passed through +the fissures of the earth, and, having accumulated at the bottom of +declivities, rises again to the surface forming springs and wells. As +wells take their origin at some depth from the surface, and below the +influence of the external atmosphere, their temperature is in general +pretty uniform during every vicissitude of season, and always several +degrees lower than the atmosphere. They differ from one another +according to the nature of the strata through which they issue; for +though the ingredients usually existing in them are in such minute +quantities as to impart to the water no striking properties, and do not +render it unfit for common purposes, yet they modify its nature very +considerably. Hence the water of some springs is said to be _hard_, of +others _soft_, some _sweet_, others _brackish_, according to the nature +and degree of the inpregnating ingredients. + +Common springs are insensibly changed into mineral or medicinal springs, +as their foreign contents become larger or more unusual; or, in some +instances, they derive medicinal celebrity from the absence of those +ingredients usually occurring in spring-water; as, for example, is the +case with the Malvern spring, which is nearly pure water. + +Almost all spring-waters possess the property termed _hardness_ in a +greater or less degree; a property which depends chiefly upon the +presence of super-carbonate, or of sulphate of lime, or of both; and the +quantity of these earthy salts varies very considerably in different +instances. Mr. Dalton[13] has shewn that one grain of sulphate of lime, +contained in 2000 grains of water, converts it into the hardest spring +water that is commonly met with. + +The waters of deep wells are usually much harder than those of springs +which overflow the mouth of the well; but there are some exceptions to +this rule. + +The purest springs are those which occur in primitive rocks, or beds of +gravel, or filter through sand or silicious strata. In general, large +springs are purer than small ones: and our old wells contain finer water +than those that are new, as the soluble parts through which the water +filters in channels under ground become gradually washed away. + + +_River Water_, + +Is a term applied to every running stream or rivulet exposed to the air, +and always flowing in an open channel. It is formed of spring water, +which, by exposure, becomes more pure, and of running land or surface +water, which, although turbid from particles of the alluvial soil +suspended in it, is otherwise very pure. It is purest when it runs over +a gravelly or rocky bed, and when its course is swift. It is generally +soft, and more free from earthy salts than spring water; but it usually +contains less common air and carbonic acid gas; for, by the agitation of +a long current, and exposed to the temperature of the atmosphere, part +of its carbonic acid gas is disengaged, and the lime held in solution by +it is in part precipitated, the loss of which contributes to the +softness of the water. Its specific gravity thereby becomes less, the +taste not so harsh, but less fresh and agreeable; and out of a hard +spring is often made a stream of sufficient purity for most of the +purposes where a soft water is required. + +The water called in this metropolis _New River Water_, contains a minute +portion of muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, and muriate of soda. + +Some streams, however, that arise from clean silicious beds, and flow in +a sandy or stony channel, are from the outset remarkably pure; such as +the mountain lakes and rivulets in the rocky districts of Wales, the +source of the beautiful waters of the Dee, and numberless other rivers +that flow through the hollow of every valley. Switzerland has long been +celebrated for the purity and excellence of its waters, which pour in +copious streams from the mountains, and give rise to the finest rivers +in Europe. + +Some rivers, however, that do not take their rise from a rocky soil, and +are indeed at first considerably charged with foreign matter, during a +long course, even over a richly cultivated plain, become remarkably pure +as to saline contents; but often fouled with mud containing much animal +and vegetable matter, which are rather suspended than held in true +solution. Such is the water of the river Thames, which, taken up at +London at low water mark, is very soft and good; and, after rest, it +contains but a very small portion of any thing that could prove +pernicious, or impede any manufacture. It is also excellently fitted for +sea-store; but it then undergoes a remarkable spontaneous change, when +preserved in wooden casks. No water carried to sea becomes putrid sooner +than that of the Thames. But the mode now adopted in the navy of +substituting iron tanks for wooden casks, tends greatly to obviate this +disadvantage. + +Whoever will consider the situation of the Thames, and the immense +population along its banks for so many miles, must at once perceive the +prodigious accumulation of animal matters of all kinds, which by means +of the common sewers constantly make their way into it. These matters +are, no doubt, in part the cause of the putrefaction which it is well +known to undergo at sea, and of the carburetted and sulphuretted +hydrogen gases which are evolved from it. When a wooden cask is opened, +after being kept a month or two, a quantity of carburetted and +sulphuretted hydrogen escapes, and the water is so black and offensive +as scarcely to be borne. Upon racking it off, however, into large +earthen vessels, and exposing it to the air, it gradually deposits a +quantity of black slimy mud, becomes clear as crystal, and remarkably +sweet and palatable. + +It might, at first sight, be expected that the water of the Thames, +after having received all the contents of the sewers, drains, and water +courses, of a large town, should acquire thereby such impregnation with +foreign matters, as to become very impure; but it appears, from the most +accurate experiments that have been made, that those kinds of impurities +have no perceptible influence on the salubrious quality of a mass of +water so immense, and constantly kept in motion by the action of the +tides. + +Some traces of animal matter may, however, be detected in the water of +the Thames; for if nitrate of lead be dropped into it,[14] "you will +find that it becomes milky, and that a white powder falls to the bottom, +which dissolves without effervescence in nitric acid. It is, therefore, +(says Dr. Thomson) a combination of oxide of lead with some animal +matter." + + +SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN COMMON WATER, AND TESTS BY WHICH THEY +ARE DETECTED. + +To acquire a knowledge of the general nature of common water, it is only +necessary to add to it a few chemical tests, which will quickly indicate +the presence or absence of the substances that may be expected. + +Almost the only salts contained in common waters are the carbonates, +sulphates, and muriates of soda, lime, and magnesia; and sometimes a +very minute portion of iron may also be detected in them. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Fill a wine-glass with distilled water, and add to it a few drops of a +solution of soap in alcohol, the water will remain transparent. + +This test is employed for ascertaining the presence of earthy salts in +waters. Hence it produces no change when mingled with distilled or +perfectly pure water; but when added to water containing earthy salts, a +white flocculent matter becomes separated, which speedily collects on +the surface of the fluid. Now, from the quantity of flocculent matter +produced, in equal quantities of water submitted to the test, a +tolerable notion may be formed of the degrees of hardness of different +kinds of water, at least so far as regards the fitness of the water for +the ordinary purposes of domestic economy. This may be rendered obvious +in the following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Fill a number of wine-glasses with different kinds of pump or well +water, and let fall into each glass a few drops of the solution of soap +in alcohol. A turbidness will instantly ensue, and a flocculent matter +collect on the surface of the fluid, if the mixture be left undisturbed. +The quantity of flocculent matter will be in the ratio of the quantity +of earthy salts contained in the water. + +It is obvious that the action of this test is not discriminative, with +regard to the chemical nature of the earthy salt present in the water. +It serves only to indicate the _presence_ or _absence_ of those kinds of +substances which occasion that quality in water which is usually called +_hardness_, and which is always owing to salts with an earthy base. + +If we wish to know the nature of the different acids and earths +contained in the water, the following test may be employed.[15] + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add about twenty drops of a solution of oxalate of ammonia, to half a +wine-glass of the water; if a white precipitate ensues, we conclude that +the water contains lime. + +By means of this test, one grain of lime may be detected in 24,250 of +water. + +If this test occasion a white precipitate in water taken fresh from the +pump or spring, and not after the water has been boiled and suffered to +grow cold, the lime is dissolved in the water by an excess of carbonic +acid; and if it continues to produce a precipitate in the water which +has been concentrated by boiling, we then are sure that the lime is +combined with a fixed acid. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +To detect the presence of iron, add to a wine-glassful of the water a +few drops of an infusion of nut-galls; or better, suffer a nut-gall to +be suspended in it for twenty-four hours, which will cause the water to +acquire a blueish black colour, if iron be present. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add a few grains of muriate of barytes, to half a wine-glass of the +water to be examined; if it produces a turbidness which does not +disappear by the admixture of a few drops of muriatic acid, the presence +of sulphuric acid is rendered obvious. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If a few drops of a solution of nitrate of silver occasions a milkiness +with the water, which vanishes again by the copious addition of liquid +ammonia, we have reason to believe that the water contains a salt, one +of the constituent parts of which is muriatic acid. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If lime water or barytic water occasions a precipitate which again +vanishes by the admixture of muriatic acid, then carbonic acid is +present in the water. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If a solution of phosphate of soda produces a milkiness with the water, +after a previous addition to it of a similar quantity of neutral +carbonate of ammonia, we may then expect magnesia. The application of +this test is best made in the following manner: + +Concentrate a quantity of the water to be examined to about 1/20 part of +its bulk, and drop into about half a wine-glassful, about five grains of +neutral carbonate of ammonia. No magnesia becomes yet precipitated if +this earth be present; but on adding a like quantity of phosphate of +soda, the magnesia falls down, as an insoluble salt. It is essential +that the carbonate of ammonia be neutral. + +This test was first pointed out by Dr. Wollaston. + +The presence of oxygen gas loosely combined in water may readily be +discovered in the following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Fill a vial with water, and add to it a small quantity of green sulphate +of iron. If the water be entirely free of oxygen, and if the vessel be +well stopped and completely filled, the solution is transparent; but if +otherwise, it soon becomes slightly turbid, from the oxide of iron +attracting the oxygen, and a small portion of it, in this more highly +oxidated state, leaving the acid and being precipitated. Or, according +to a method pointed out by Driessen, the water is to be boiled for two +hours in a flask filled with it, and immersed in a vessel of water kept +boiling, with the mouth of the flask under the surface of the water: it +is to be inverted in quicksilver, taking care that no air-bubble adheres +to the side of the flask, and being tinged with infusion of litmus, a +little nitrous gas is to be introduced: if the oxygen gas has been +sufficiently expelled from the water, the purple colour of the litmus +does not change; while, if oxygen be present, it immediately becomes +red.[16] + +If we examine the different waters which are used for the ordinary +purposes of life, and judge of them by the above tests, we shall find +them to differ considerably from each other. Some contain a large +quantity of saline and earthy matters, whilst others are nearly pure. +The differences are produced by the great solvent power which water +exercises upon most substances. Wells should never be lined with bricks, +which render soft water hard; or, if bricks be employed, they should be +bedded in and covered with cement. + + +METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE RELATIVE QUANTITY OF EACH OF THE DIFFERENT +SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN COMMON WATER. + +To ascertain the quantity of earthy and saline matter contained in +water, the following is the most simple and easy method. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Put any measured quantity of the water into a platina, or silver +evaporating basin, the weight of which is known, and evaporate the water +upon a steam bath, at a temperature of about 180 deg., nearly to dryness; +and, lastly, remove the basin to a sand bath, and let the mass be +evaporated to perfect dryness. The weight of the platina basin being +already known, we have only to weigh it carefully. When the solid saline +contents of the water is attached to it, the increase of weight gives +the quantity of solid matter contained in a given quantity of the water. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Pour upon the saline contents a quantity of distilled water equal to +that in which the obtained salts were originally dissolved. If the whole +saline matter become dissolved in this water, there is reason to believe +that the saline matter has not been altered during the evaporation of +the water. But if a portion remain undissolved, as is usually the case, +then we may conclude that some of the salts have mutually decomposed +each other, when brought into a concentrated state by the evaporation, +and that salts have been formed which did not originally exist in the +water before its evaporation. + +We have already mentioned that almost the only salts contained in common +waters, are the carbonates, sulphates, and muriates, of soda, lime, and +magnesia; and sometimes a very minute portion of iron. Having determined +the different acids and bases present, in the manner stated at p. 49, we +may easily ascertain the relative weight of each. + +The following formula suggested by Dr. Murray,[17] is fully as accurate +a means of analysing waters as any other, and it is easy of execution. +The weight of the saline ingredients of a given quantity of water being +determined, we may proceed to the accurate analysis of it in the +following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Measure out a determinate volume of the water (as 500 or 1000 cubic +inches,) and evaporate it gradually, in an unglazed open vessel defended +from dust, to one third of its original bulk; then divide this +evaporated liquid into three equal portions. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Drop into the first portion, muriate of barytes; wash the precipitate, +collect it, dry it at a red heat upon platina foil, and weigh it; digest +it in nitric acid, dry it, and weigh it again. The loss of weight +indicates the quantity of carbonate of barytes which the precipitate +contained. The residual weight is sulphate of barytes; the carbonic acid +in the water is equivalent to 0,22 of the weight of the carbonate of +barytes; the sulphuric acid to 0,339 of the weight of the sulphate of +barytes. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Precipitate the second portion of the concentrated water, by the +addition of nitrate of silver; wash the precipitate, dry it, and fuse it +on a piece of foil platina, previously weighed. By weighing the foil +containing the fused chloride of silver, the weight of the precipitate +may be ascertained. The fourth part of this weight is equivalent to the +weight of the muriatic acid contained in the portion of water +precipitated. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Precipitate the third portion of the water by the addition of oxalate of +ammonia; wash and dry the precipitate; expose it to a red heat, on a +platina foil, or in a capsule of platina; pour on it some dilute +sulphuric acid; digest for some time, then evaporate to dryness, expose +the capsule to a pretty strong heat, and, lastly, weigh the sulphate of +lime thus produced: 0.453 of its weight indicate the quantity of lime in +the portion of water precipitated. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add to the same third portion of the water thus freed from lime, a +portion of a solution of neutral carbonate of ammonia, and then add +phosphoric acid, drop by drop, as long as any precipitate falls down. +Wash the precipitate, dry it, and expose it to a red heat in a platina +capsule: it is phosphate of magnesia. 0.357 of the weight of this salt +is equivalent to the weight of the magnesia contained in the water. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +If the water contain a minute portion of iron, a quantity of it equal to +one of the three preceding portions, must be taken and mixed with a +solution of benzoate of ammonia. The precipitate being washed, dried, +and exposed to a red heat, and weighed, nine-tenths of its weight +indicate the weight of protoxide of iron contained in the water. + +In this manner the quantity of all the substances contained in the water +will be ascertained, except there be any soda. To know the amount of it, +the following method, pointed out by Dr. Murray, answers very well. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Evaporate a portion of the water to one third of its bulk. Precipitate +the carbonic and sulphuric acids by the addition of muriate of barytes, +taking care not to add any excess of the tests. + +Precipitate the lime by oxalate of ammonia, and the magnesia by +carbonate of ammonia and phosphoric acid. (Page 52.) Then evaporate the +liquid thus treated to dryness. A quantity of common salt will remain: +let this be exposed to a red heat; 0.4 of its weight indicate the sodium +contained in the bulk of water employed; and 0.4 sodium are equivalent +to 0.53 of soda. + +It seems hardly requisite to mention some other substances that +occasionally make their appearance in the waters used for domestic +purposes. A fine divided sand is a common constituent, which is easily +obtained in a separate state. We have only to evaporate a portion of the +water to dryness, and redissolve the saline residue in distilled water. +The silicious sand remains undissolved, and betrays itself by its +insolubility in acids, and its easy fusibility into a transparant glass, +with soda, before the blow-pipe. + + +DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF KEEPING WATER FOR DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN LEADEN +RESERVOIRS. + +The deleterious effect of lead, when taken into the stomach, is at +present so universally known, that it is quite unnecessary to adduce +any argument in proof of its dangerous tendency. + +The ancients were, upwards of 2000 years ago, as well aware of the +pernicious quality of this metal as we are at the present day; and +indeed they appeared to have been much more apprehensive of its effects, +and scrupulous in the application of it to purposes of domestic economy. + +Their precautions may have been occasionally carried to an unnecessary +length. This was the natural consequence of the imperfect state of +experimental knowledge at that period. When men were unable to detect +the poisonous matters--to be over scrupulous in the use of such water, +was an error on the right side. + +The moderns, on the other hand, in part, perhaps, from an ill-founded +confidence, and inattention to a careful and continued examination of +its effects, have fallen into an opposite error. + +There can be no doubt that the mode of preserving water intended for +food or drink in leaden reservoirs, is exceedingly improper; and +although pure water exercises no sensible action upon metallic lead, +provided air be excluded, the metal is certainly acted on by the water +when air is admitted: this effect is so obvious, that it cannot escape +the notice of the least attentive observer. + +The white line which may be seen at the surface of the water preserved +in leaden cisterns, where the metal touches the water and where the air +is admitted, is a carbonate of lead, formed at the expense of the metal. +This substance, when taken into the stomach, is highly deleterious to +health. This was the reason which induced the ancients to condemn leaden +pipes for the conveyance of water; it having been remarked that persons +who swallowed the sediment of such water, became affected with disorders +of the bowels.[18] + +Leaden water reservoirs were condemned in ancient times by Hyppocrates, +Galen, and Vitruvius, as dangerous: in addition to which, we may depend +on the observations of Van Swieten, Tronchin, and others, who have +quoted numerous unhappy examples of whole families poisoned by water +which had remained in reservoirs of lead. Dr. Johnston, Dr. Percival, +Sir George Baker, and Dr. Lamb, have likewise recorded numerous +instances where dangerous diseases ensued from the use of water +impregnated with lead. + +Different potable waters have unequal solvent powers on this metal. In +some places the use of leaden pumps has been discontinued, from the +expense entailed upon the proprietors by the constant want of repair. +Dr. Lamb[19] states an instance where the proprietor of a well ordered +his plumber to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the +metal usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of repairs; because +he had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it +corroded the lead very soon. + +The following instance is related by Sir George Baker:[20] + +"A gentleman was the father of a numerous offspring, having had +one-and-twenty children, of whom eight died young, and thirteen survived +their parents. During their infancy, and indeed _until they had quitted +the place of their usual residence, they were all remarkably unhealthy_; +being particularly subject to disorders of the stomach and bowels. The +father, during many years, was paralytic; the mother, for a long time, +was subject to colics and bilious obstructions. + +"After the death of the parents, the family sold the house which they +had so long inhabited. The purchaser found it necessary to repair the +pump. This was made of lead; which, upon examination was found to be so +corroded, that several perforations were observed in the cylinder, in +which the bucket plays; and the cistern in the upper part was reduced to +the thinness of common brown paper, and was full of holes, like a +sieve." + +I have myself seen numerous instances where leaden cisterns have been +completely corroded by the action of water with which they were in +contact: and there is, perhaps, not a plumber who cannot give testimony +of having experienced numerous similar instances in the practice of his +trade. + +I have been frequently called upon to examine leaden cisterns, which had +become leaky on account of the action of the water which they contained; +and I could adduce an instance of a legal controversy having taken place +to settle the disputes between the proprietors of an estate and a +plumber, originating from a similar cause--the plumber being accused of +having furnished a faulty reservoir; whereas the case was proved to be +owing to the chemical action of the water on the lead. Water containing +a large quantity of common air and carbonic acid gas, always acts very +sensibly on metallic lead. + +Water, which has no sensible action, in its natural state, upon lead, +may acquire the capability of acting on it by heterogeneous matter, +which it may accidentally receive. Numerous instances have shewn that +vegetable matter, such as leaves, falling into leaden cisterns filled +with water, imparted to the water a considerable solvent power of action +on the lead, which, in its natural state it did not possess. Hence the +necessity of keeping leaden cisterns clean; and this is the more +necessary, as their situations expose them to accidental impurities. The +noted saturnine colic of Amsterdam, described by Tronchin, originated +from such a circumstance; as also the case related by Van Swieten,[21] +of a whole family afflicted with the same complaint, from such a +cistern. And it is highly probable that the case of disease recorded by +Dr. Duncan,[22] proceeded more from some foulness in the cistern, than +from the solvent power of the water. In this instance the officers of +the packet boat used water for their drink and cooking out of a leaden +cistern, whilst the sailors used the water taken from the same source, +except that theirs was kept in wooden vessels. The consequence was, that +all the officers were seized with the colic, and all the men continued +healthy. + +The carelessness of the bulk of mankind, Dr. Lambe very justly observes, +to these things, "is so great, that to repeat them again and again +cannot be wholly useless." + +Although the great majority of persons who daily use water kept in +leaden cisterns receive no sensible injury, yet the apparent salubrity +must be ascribed to the great slowness of its operation, and the +minuteness of the dose taken, the effects of which become modified by +different causes and different constitutions, and according to the +predisposition to diseases inherent in different individuals. The +supposed security of the multitude who use the water with impunity, +amounts to no more than presumption, in favour of any individual, which +may or may not be confirmed by experience. + +Independent of the morbid susceptibility of impressions which +distinguish certain habits, there is, besides, much variety in the +original constitution of the human frame, of which we are totally +ignorant. + +"The susceptibility or proneness to disease of each individual, must be +esteemed peculiar to himself. Confiding to the experience of others is a +ground of security which may prove fallacious; and the danger can with +certainty be obviated only by avoiding its source. And considering the +various and complicated changes of the human frame, under different +circumstances and at different ages, it is neither impossible nor +improbable that the substances taken into the system at one period, and +even for a series of years, with apparent impunity may, notwithstanding, +at another period, be eventually the occasion of disease and of death. + +"The experience of a single person, or of many persons, however +numerous, is quite incompetent to the decision of a question of this +nature. + +"The pernicious effects of an intemperate use of spiritous liquors is +not less certain because we often see habitual drunkards enjoy a state +of good health, and arrive at old age: and the same may be said of +individuals who indulge in vices of all kinds, evidently destructive to +life; many of whom, in spite of their bad habits, attain to a vigorous +old age."[23] + +In confirmation of these remarks, we adduce the following account of the +effect of water contaminated by lead, given by Sir G. Baker: + +"The most remarkable case on the subject that now occurs to my memory, +is that of Lord Ashburnham's family, in Sussex; to which, spring water +was supplied, from a considerable distance, in leaden pipes. In +consequence, his Lordship's servants were every year tormented with +colic, and some of them died. An eminent physician, of Battle, who +corresponded with me on the subject, sent up some gallons of that water, +which were analysed by Dr. Higgins, who reported that the water had +contained more than the common quantity of carbonic acid; and that he +found in it lead in solution, which he attributed to the carbonic acid. +In consequence of this, Lord Ashburnham substituted wooden for leaden +pipes; and from that time his family have had no particular complaints +in their bowels." + +_Richmond, Sept. 27, 1802._ + + +METHOD OF DETECTING LEAD, WHEN CONTAINED IN WATER. + +One of the most delicate tests for detecting lead, is water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which instantly imparts to the fluid +containing the minutest quantity of lead, a brown or blackish tinge. + +This test is so delicate that distilled water, when condensed by a +leaden pipe in a still tub, is affected by it. To shew the action of +this test, the following experiments will serve. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Pour into a wine-glass containing distilled water, an equal quantity of +water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas: no change will take +place; but if a 1/4 of a grain of acetate of lead (sugar of lead of +commerce), or any other preparation of lead, be added, the mixture will +instantly turn brown and dark-coloured. + +To apply this test, one part of the suspected water need merely to be +mingled with a like quantity of water impregnated with sulphuretted +hydrogen. Or better, a larger quantity, a gallon for example, of the +water may be concentrated by evaporation to about half a pint, and then +submitted to the action of the test. + +Another and more efficient mode of applying this test, is, to pass a +current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the suspected water in the +following manner. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +[Illustration] + +Take a bottle (_a_) or Florence flask, adapt to the mouth of it a cork +furnished with a glass tube (_b_), bent at right angles; let one leg of +the tube be immersed in the vial (_c_) containing the water to be +examined; as shewn in the following sketch. Then take one part of +sulphuret of antimony of commerce, break it into pieces of half the size +of split pease, put it into the flask, and pour upon it four parts of +common concentrated muriatic acid (spirit of salt of commerce). +Sulphuretted hydrogen gas will become disengaged from the materials in +abundance, and pass through the water in the vial (_c_). Let the +extrication of the gas be continued for about five minutes; and if the +minutest quantity of lead be present, the water will acquire a +dark-brown or blackish tinge. The extrication of the gas is facilitated +by the application of a gentle heat. + +The action of the sulphuretted hydrogen test, when applied in this +manner, is astonishingly great; for one part of acetate of lead may be +detected by means of it, in 20000 parts of water.[24] + +Another test for readily detecting lead in water, is sulphuretted +chyazate of potash, first pointed out as such by Mr. Porret. A few drops +of this re-agent, added to water containing lead, occasion a white +precipitate, consisting of small brilliant scales of a considerable +lustre. + +Sulphate of potash, or sulphate of soda, is likewise a very delicate +test for detecting minute portions of lead. Dr. Thomson[25] discovered, +by means of it, one part of lead in 100000 parts of water; and this +acute Philosopher considers it as the most unequivocal test of lead that +we possess. Dr. Thomson remarks that "no other precipitate can well be +confounded with it, except sulphate of barytes; and there is no +probability of the presence of barytes existing in common water." + +Carbonate of potash, or carbonate of soda, may also be used as agents to +detect the presence of lead. By means of these salts Dr. Thomson was +enabled to detect the presence of a smaller quantity of lead in +distilled water, than by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen. But the +reader must here be told, that the use of these tests cannot be +entrusted to an unskilful hand; because the alkaline carbonates throw +down also lime and magnesia, two substances which are frequently found +in common water; the former tests, namely, water impregnated with +sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and nascent sulphuretted hydrogen, are +therefore preferable. + +It is absolutely essential that the water impregnated with sulphuretted +hydrogen, when employed as a test for detecting very minute quantities +of lead, be fresh prepared; and if sulphate of potash, or sulphate of +soda, be used as tests, they should be perfectly pure. Sulphate of +potash is preferable to sulphate of soda. It is likewise advisable to +act with these tests upon water concentrated by boiling. The water to +which the test has been added does sometimes appear not to undergo any +change, at first; it is therefore necessary to suffer the mixture to +stand for a few hours; after which time the action of the test will be +more evident. Mr. Silvester[26] has proposed gallic acid as a delicate +test for detecting lead. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Dalton, Manchester Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 55. + +[12] Marsden's History of Sumatra. + +[13] Manchester Memoirs vol. x. 1819. + +[14] Observations on the Water with which Tunbridge Wells is chiefly +supplied for Domestic Purposes, by Dr. Thomson; forming an Appendix to +an Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. Scudamore. + +[15] It is absolutely essential that the tests should be pure. + +[16] Philosophical Magazine, vol. xv. p. 252. + +[17] Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. viii. p. 259. + +[18] Sir G. Baker, Med. Trans. vol. i. p. 280. + +[19] Lamb on Spring Water. + +[20] Medical Trans. vol. i. p. 420. + +[21] Van Swieten ad Boerhaave, Aphorisms, 1060. Comment. + +[22] Medical Comment. Dec. 2, 1794. + +[23] Lambe on Spring Water. + +[24] See An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. +Scudamore, p. 55. + +The application of the sulphuretted hydrogen test requires some +precautions in those cases where other metals besides lead may be +expected; because silver, quicksilver, tin, copper, and several other +metals, are affected by it, as well as lead; but there is no chance of +these metals being met with in common water.--See _Chemical Tests_, +third edition, p. 207. + +[25] Analysis of Tunbridge Wells Water, by Dr. Scudamore, p. 55. + +[26] Nicholson's Journal, p. 33, 310. + + + + +_Adulteration of Wine._ + + +It is sufficiently obvious, that few of those commodities, which are the +objects of commerce, are adulterated to a greater extent than wine. All +persons moderately conversant with the subject, are aware, that a +portion of alum is added to young and meagre red wines, for the purpose +of brightening their colour; that Brazil wood, or the husks of +elderberries and bilberries,[27] are employed to impart a deep rich +purple tint to red Port of a pale, faint colour; that gypsum is used to +render cloudy white wines transparent;[28] that an additional +astringency is imparted to immature red wines by means of oak-wood +sawdust,[29] and the husks of filberts; and that a mixture of spoiled +foreign and home-made wines is converted into the wretched compound +frequently sold in this town by the name of _genuine old Port_. + +Various expedients are resorted to for the purpose of communicating +particular flavours to insipid wines. Thus a _nutty_ flavour is produced +by bitter almonds; factitious Port wine is flavoured with a tincture +drawn from the seeds of raisins; and the ingredients employed to form +the _bouquet_ of high-flavoured wines, are sweet-brier, oris-root, +clary, cherry laurel water, and elder-flowers. + +The flavouring ingredients used by manufacturers, may all be purchased +by those dealers in wine who are initiated in the mysteries of the +trade; and even a manuscript recipe book for preparing them, and the +whole mystery of managing all sorts of wines, may be obtained on payment +of a considerable fee. + +The sophistication of wine with substances not absolutely noxious to +health, is carried to an enormous extent in this metropolis. Many +thousand pipes of spoiled cyder are annually brought hither from the +country, for the purpose of being converted into factitious Port wine. +The art of manufacturing spurious wine is a regular trade of great +extent in this metropolis. + +"There is, in this city, a certain fraternity of chemical operators, who +work underground in holes, caverns, and dark retirements, to conceal +their mysteries from the eyes and observation of mankind. These +subterraneous philosophers are daily employed in the transmutation of +liquors; and by the power of magical drugs and incantations, raising +under the streets of London the choicest products of the hills and +valleys of France. They can squeeze Bourdeaux out of the sloe, and draw +Champagne from an apple. Virgil, in that remarkable prophecy, + + _Incultisque ruhens pendebit sentibus uva._ + + Virg. Ecl. iv. 29. + + The ripening grape shall hang on every thorn. + +seems to have hinted at this art, which can turn a plantation of +northern hedges into a vineyard. These adepts are known among one +another by the name of _Wine-brewers_; and, I am afraid, do great +injury, not only to her Majesty's customs, but to the bodies of many of +her good subjects."[30] + +The following are a few of the recipes employed in the manufacture of +spurious wine: + + To make _British Port Wine_.[31]--"Take of British grape wine, or + good cyder, 4 gallons; of the juice of red beet root two quarts; + brandy, two quarts; logwood 4 ounces; rhatany root, bruised, half a + pound: first infuse the logwood and rhatany root in brandy, and a + gallon of grape wine or cyder for one week; then strain off the + liquor, and mix it with the other ingredients; keep it in a cask + for a month, when it will be fit to bottle." + + + _British Champagne._--"Take of white sugar, 8 pounds; the whitest + brown sugar, 7 pounds, crystalline lemon acid, or tartaric acid, 1 + ounce and a quarter, pure water, 8 gallons; white grape wine, two + quarts, or perry, 4 quarts; of French brandy, 3 pints." + + "Put the sugar in the water, skimming it occasionally for two + hours, then pour it into a tub and dissolve in it the acid; before + it is cold, add some yeast and ferment. Put it into a clean cask + and add the other ingredients. The cask is then to be well bunged, + and kept in a cool place for two or three months; then bottle it + and keep it cool for a month longer, when it will be fit for use. + If it should not be perfectly clear after standing in the cask two + or three months, it should be rendered so by the use of isinglass. + By adding 1 lb. of fresh or preserved strawberries, and 2 ounces of + powdered cochineal, the PINK _Champagne may be made_." + + + _Southampton Port._[32]--"Take cyder, 36 gallons; elder wine, 11 + gallons; brandy, 5 gallons; damson wine, 11 gallons; mix." + +The particular and separate department in this factitious wine trade, +called _crusting_, consists in lining the interior surface of empty +wine-bottles, in part, with a red crust of super-tartrate of potash, by +suffering a saturated hot solution of this salt, coloured red with a +decoction of Brazil-wood, to crystallize within them; and after this +simulation of maturity is perfected, they are filled with the compound +called Port wine. + +Other artisans are regularly employed in staining the lower extremities +of bottle-corks with a fine red colour, to appear, on being drawn, as if +they had been long in contact with the wine. + +The preparation of an astringent extract, to produce, from spoiled +home-made and foreign wines, a "genuine old Port," by mere admixture; or +to impart to a weak wine a rough austere taste, a fine colour, and a +peculiar flavour; forms one branch of the business of particular +wine-coopers: while the mellowing and restoring of spoiled white wines, +is the sole occupation of men who are called _refiners of wine_. + +We have stated that a crystalline crust is formed on the interior +surface of bottles, for the purpose of misleading the unwary into a +belief that the wine contained in them is of a certain age. A +correspondent operation is performed on the wooden cask; the whole +interior of which is stained artificially with a crystalline crust of +super-tartrate of potash, artfully affixed in a manner precisely similar +to that before stated. Thus the wine-merchant, after bottling off a +pipe of wine, is enabled to impose on the understanding of his +customers, by taking to pieces the cask, and exhibiting the beautiful +dark coloured and fine crystalline crust, as an indubitable proof of the +age of the wine; a practice by no means uncommon, to flatter the vanity +of those who pride themselves in their acute discrimination of wines. + +These and many other sophistications, which have long been practised +with impunity, are considered as legitimate by those who pride +themselves for their skill in the art of _managing_, or, according to +the familiar phrase, _doctoring_ wines. The plea alleged in exculpation +of them, is, that, though deceptive, they are harmless: but even +admitting this as a palliation, yet they form only one department of an +art which includes other processes of a tendency absolutely criminal. + +Several well-authenticated facts have convinced me that the adulteration +of wine with substances deleterious to health, is certainly practised +oftener than is, perhaps, suspected; and it would be easy to give some +instances of very serious effects having arisen from wines contaminated +with deleterious substances, were this a subject on which I meant to +speak. The following statement is copied from the Monthly Magazine for +March 1811, p. 188. + +"On the 17th of January, the passengers by the Highflyer coach, from the +north, dined, as usual, at Newark. A bottle of Port wine was ordered; on +tasting which, one of the passengers observed that it had an unpleasant +flavour, and begged that it might be changed. The waiter took away the +bottle, poured into a fresh decanter half the wine which had been +objected to, and filled it up from another bottle. This he took into the +room, and the greater part was drank by the passengers, who, after the +coach had set out towards Grantham, were seized with extreme sickness; +one gentleman in particular, who had taken more of the wine than the +others, it was thought would have died, but has since recovered. The +half of the bottle of wine sent out of the passengers' room, was put +aside for the purpose of mixing negus. In the evening, Mr. Bland, of +Newark, went into the hotel, and drank a glass or two of wine and water. +He returned home at his usual hour, and went to bed; in the middle of +the night he was taken so ill, as to induce Mrs. Bland to send for his +brother, an apothecary in the town; but before that gentleman arrived, +he was dead. An inquest was held, and the jury, after the fullest +enquiry, and the examination of the surgeons by whom the body was +opened, returned a verdict of--_Died by Poison._" + +The most dangerous adulteration of wine is by some preparations of lead, +which possess the property of stopping the progress of acescence of +wine, and also of rendering white wines, when muddy, transparent. I have +good reason to state that lead is certainly employed for this purpose. +The effect is very rapid; and there appears to be no other method known, +of rapidly recovering ropy wines. Wine merchants persuade themselves +that the minute quantity of lead employed for that purpose is perfectly +harmless, and that no atom of lead remains in the wine. Chemical +analysis proves the contrary; and the practice of clarifying spoiled +white wines by means of lead, must be pronounced as highly deleterious. + +Lead, in whatever state it be taken into the stomach, occasions terrible +diseases; and wine, adulterated with the minutest quantity of it, +becomes a slow poison. The merchant or dealer who practises this +dangerous sophistication, adds the crime of murder to that of fraud, and +deliberately scatters the seeds of disease and death among those +consumers who contribute to his emolument. If to debase the current +coin of the realm be denounced as a capital offence, what punishment +should be awarded against a practice which converts into poison a liquor +used for sacred purposes. + +Dr. Watson[33] relates, that the method of adulterating wine with lead, +was at one time a common practice in Paris. + +Dr. Warren[34] states an instance of thirty-two persons having become +severely ill, after drinking white wine that had been adulterated with +lead. One of them died, and one became paralytic. + +In Graham's Treatise on Wine-Making,[35] under the article of _Secrets_, +belonging to the mysteries of vintners, p. 31, lead is recommended to +prevent wine from becoming acid. The following lines are copied from Mr. +Graham's work: + + + "_To hinder Wine from turning._ + + "Put a pound of melted lead, in fair water, into your cask, pretty + warm, and stop it close." + + + "_To soften Grey Wine._ + + "Put in a little vinegar wherein litharge has been well steeped, and + boil some honey, to draw out the wax. Strain it through a cloth, and + put a quart of it into a tierce of wine, and this will mend it." + + * * * * * + +The ancients knew that lead rendered harsh wines milder, and preserved +it from acidity, without being aware that it was pernicious: it was +therefore long used with confidence; and when its effects were +discovered, they were not ascribed to that metal, but to some other +cause.[36] When the Greek and Roman wine merchants wished to try whether +their wine was spoiled, they immersed in it a plate of lead;[37] if the +colour of the lead were corroded, they concluded that their wine was +spoiled. Wine may become accidentally impregnated with lead. + +It is well known that bottles in which wine has been kept, are usually +cleaned by means of shot, which by its rolling motion detaches the +super-tartrate of potash from the sides of the bottles. This practice, +which is generally pursued by wine-merchants, may give rise to serious +consequences, as will become evident from the following case:[38] + +"A gentleman who had never in his life experienced a day's illness, and +who was constantly in the habit of drinking half a bottle of Madeira +wine after his dinner, was taken ill, three hours after dinner, with a +severe pain in the stomach and violent bowel colic, which gradually +yielded within twelve hours to the remedies prescribed by his medical +adviser. The day following he drank the remainder of the same bottle of +wine which was left the preceding day, and within two hours afterwards +he was again seized with the most violent colliquative pains, headach, +shiverings, and great pain over the whole body. His apothecary becoming +suspicious that the wine he had drank might be the cause of the +disease, ordered the bottle from which the wine had been decanted to be +brought to him, with a view that he might examine the dregs, if any were +left. The bottle happening to slip out of the hand of the servant, +disclosed a row of shot wedged forcibly into the angular bent-up +circumference of it. On examining the beads of shot, they crumbled into +dust, the outer crust (defended by a coat of black lead with which the +shot is glazed) being alone left unacted on, whilst the remainder of the +metal was dissolved. The wine, therefore, had become contaminated with +_lead and arsenic_, the shot being a compound of these metals, which no +doubt had produced the mischief." + + +TEST FOR DETECTING THE DELETERIOUS ADULTERATIONS OF WINE. + +A ready re-agent for detecting the presence of lead, or any other +deleterious metal in wine, is known by the name of the _wine test_. It +consists of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, acidulated +with muriatic acid. By adding one part of it, to two of wine, or any +other liquid suspected to contain lead, a dark coloured or black +precipitate will fall down, which does not disappear by an addition of +muriatic acid; and this precipitate, dried and fused before the blowpipe +on a piece of charcoal, yields a globule of metallic lead. This test +does not precipitate iron; the muriatic acid retains iron in solution +when combined with sulphuretted hydrogen; and any acid in the wine has +no effect in precipitating any of the sulphur of the test liquor. Or a +still more efficacious method is, to pass a current of sulphuretted +hydrogen gas through the wine, in the manner described, p. 70, having +previously acidulated the wine with muriatic acid. + +The wine test sometimes employed is prepared in the following +manner:--Mix equal parts of finely powdered sulphur and of slacked +quick-lime, and expose it to a red heat for twenty minutes. To +thirty-six grains of this sulphuret of lime, add twenty-six grains of +super-tartrate of potassa; put the mixture into an ounce bottle, and +fill up the bottle with water that has been previously boiled, and +suffered to cool. The liquor, after having been repeatedly shaken, and +allowed to become clear, by the subsidence of the undissolved matter, +may then be poured into another phial, into which about twenty drops of +muriatic acid have been previously put. It is then ready for use. This +test, when mingled with wine containing lead or copper, turns the wine +of a dark-brown or black colour. But the mere application of +sulphuretted hydrogen gas to wine, acidulated by muriatic acid, is a far +more preferable mode of detecting lead in wine. + +M. Vogel[39] has lately recommended acetate of lead as a test for +detecting extraneous colours in red wine. He remarks, that none of the +substances that can be employed for colouring wine, such as the berries +of the Vaccinium Mirtillus (bilberries), elderberries, and Campeach +wood, produce with genuine red wine, a greenish grey precipitate, which +is the colour that is procured by this test by means of genuine red +wines. + +Wine coloured with the juice of the bilberries, or elderberries, or +Campeach wood, produces, with acetate of lead, a deep blue precipitate; +and Brazil-wood, red saunders, and the red beet, produce a colour which +is precipitated red by acetate of lead. Wine coloured by beet root is +also rendered colourless by lime water; but the weakest acid brings back +the colour. As the colouring matter of red wines resides in the skin of +the grape, M. Vogel prepared a quantity of skins, and reduced them to +powder. In this state he found that they communicated to alcohol a deep +red colour: a paper stained with this colour was rendered red by acids +and green by alkalies. + +M. Vogel made a quantity of red wine from black grapes, for the purpose +of his experiments; and this produced the genuine greyish green +precipitate with acetate of lead. He also found the same coloured +precipitate in two specimens of red wine, the genuineness of which could +not be suspected; the one from Chateau-Marguaux, and the other from the +neighbourhood of Coblentz. + + +SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES, AND COMPONENT PARTS OF WINE. + +Every body knows that no product of the arts varies so much as wine; +that different countries, and sometimes the different provinces of the +same country, produce different wines. These differences, no doubt, must +be attributed chiefly to the climate in which the vineyard is +situated--to its culture--the quantity of sugar contained in the grape +juice--the manufacture of the wine; or the mode of suffering its +fermentation to be accomplished. If the grapes be gathered unripe, the +wine abounds with acid; but if the fruit be gathered ripe, the wine will +be rich. When the proportion of sugar in the grape is sufficient, and +the fermentation complete, the wine is perfect and generous. If the +quantity of sugar be too large, part of it remains undecomposed, as the +fermentation is languid, and the wine is sweet and luscious; if, on the +contrary, it contains, even when full ripe, only a small portion of +sugar, the wine is thin and weak; and if it be bottled before the +fermentation be completed, part of the sugar remains undecomposed, the +fermentation will go on slowly in the bottle, and, on drawing the cork, +the wine sparkles in the glass; as, for example, Champagne. Such wines +are not sufficiently mature. When the must is separated from the husk of +the red grape before it is fermented, the wine has little or no colour: +these are called _white_ wines. If, on the contrary, the husks are +allowed to remain in the must while the fermentation is going on, the +alcohol dissolves the colouring matter of the husks, and the wine is +coloured: such are called _red_ wines. Hence white wines are often +prepared from red grapes, the liquor being drawn off before it has +acquired the red colour; for the skin of the grape only gives the +colour. Besides in these principal circumstances, wines vary much in +flavour. + +All wines contain one common and identical principle, from which their +similar effects are produced; namely, _brandy_ or _alcohol_. It is +especially by the different proportions of brandy contained in wines, +that they differ most from one another. When wine is distilled, the +alcohol readily separates. The spirit thus obtained is well known under +the name of _brandy_. + +All wines contain also a free acid; hence they turn blue tincture of +cabbage, red. The acid found in the greatest abundance in grape wines, +is tartaric acid. Every wine contains likewise a portion of +super-tartrate of potash, and extractive matter, derived from the juice +of the grape. These substances deposit slowly in the vessel in which +they are kept. To this is owing the improvement of wine from age. Those +wines which effervesce or froth, when poured into a glass, contain also +carbonic acid, to which their briskness is owing. The peculiar flavour +and odour of different kinds of wines probably depend upon the presence +of a _volatile oil_, so small in quantity that it cannot be separated. + + +EASY METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF BRANDY CONTAINED IN VARIOUS +SORTS OF WINE. + +The strength of all wines depends upon the quantity of alcohol or brandy +which they contain. Mr. Brande, and Gay-Lussac, have proved, by very +decisive experiments, that all wines contain brandy or alcohol ready +formed. The following is the process discovered by Mr. Brande, for +ascertaining the quantity of spirit, or brandy, contained in different +sorts of wine. + + +EXPERIMENT. + +Add to eight parts, by measure, of the wine to be examined, one part of +a concentrated solution of sub-acetate of lead: a dense insoluble +precipitate will ensue; which is a combination of the test liquor with +the colouring, extractive, and acid matter of the wine. Shake the +mixture for a few minutes, pour the whole upon a filtre, and collect the +filtered fluid. It contains the brandy or spirit, and water of the wine, +together with a portion of the sub-acetate of lead. Add, in small +quantities at a time, to this fluid, warm, dry, and pure sub-carbonate +of potash (_not salt of tartar, or sub-carbonate of potash of +commerce_), which has previously been freed from water by heat, till the +last portion added remains undissolved. The brandy or spirit contained +in the fluid will become separated; for the sub-carbonate of potash +abstracts from it the whole of the water with which it was combined; the +brandy or spirit of wine forming a distinct stratum, which floats upon +the aqueous solution of the alkaline salt. If the experiment be made in +a glass tube, from one-half inch to two inches in diameter, and +graduated into 100 equal parts, the _per centage_ of spirit, in a given +quantity of wine, may be read off by mere inspection. In this manner the +strength of any wine may be examined. + + +_Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage of Brandy or Alcohol[40] +contained in various kinds of Wines, and other fermented Liquors._[41] + + Proportion of Spirit + per Cent. + by measure. + Lissa 26,47 + Ditto 24,35 + Average 25,41 + Raisin Wine 26,40 + Ditto 25,77 + Ditto 23,30 + Average 25,12 + Marcella 26,03 + Ditto 25,05 + Average 25,09 + Madeira 24,42 + Ditto 23,93 + Ditto (Sercial) 21,40 + Ditto 19,24 + Average 22,27 + Port 25,83 + Ditto 24,29 + Ditto 23,71 + Ditto 23,39 + Ditto 22,30 + Ditto 21,40 + Ditto 19,96 + Average 22,96 + Sherry 19,81 + Ditto 19,83 + Ditto 18,79 + Ditto 18,25 + Average 19,17 + Teneriffe 19,79 + Colares 19,75 + Lachryma Christi 19,70 + Constantia (White) 19,75 + Ditto (Red) 18,92 + Lisbon 18,94 + Malaga (1666) 18,94 + Bucellas 18,49 + Red Madeira 22,30 + Ditto 18,40 + Average 20,35 + Cape Muschat 18,25 + Cape Madeira 22,94 + Ditto 20,50 + Ditto 18,11 + Average 20,51 + Grape Wine 18,11 + Calcavella 19,20 + Ditto 18,10 + Average 18,65 + Vidonia 19,25 + Alba Flora 17,26 + Malaga 17,26 + Hermitage (White) 17,43 + Roussillon 19,00 + Ditto 17,20 + Average 18,13 + Claret 17,11 + Ditto 16,32 + Ditto 14,08 + Ditto 12,91 + Average 15,10 + Malmsey Madeira 16,40 + Lunel 15,52 + Sheraaz 15,52 + Syracuse 15,28 + Sauterne 14,22 + Burgundy 16,60 + Ditto 15,22 + Ditto 14,53 + Ditto 11,95 + Average 14,57 + Hock 14,37 + Ditto 13,00 + Ditto (old in cask) 8,68 + Average 12,08 + Nice 14,62 + Barsac 13,86 + Tent 13,30 + Champagne (Still) 13,80 + Ditto (Sparkling) 12,80 + Ditto (Red) 12,56 + Ditto (ditto) 11,30 + Average 12,61 + Red Hermitage 12,32 + Vin de Grave 13,94 + Ditto 12,80 + Average 13,37 + Frontignac 12,79 + Cote Rotie 12,32 + Gooseberry Wine 11,84 + Currant Wine 20,55 + Orange Wine aver. 11,26 + Tokay 9,88 + Elder Wine 9,87 + Cyder highest aver. 9,87 + Ditto lowest ditto 5,21 + Perry average 7,26 + Mead 7,32 + Ale (Burton) 8,88 + Ditto (Edinburgh) 6,20 + Ditto (Dorchester) 5,50 + Average 6,87 + Brown Stout 6,80 + London Porter aver. 4,20 + Do. Small Beer, do. 1,28 + Brandy 53,39 + Rum 53,68 + Gin 51,60 + Scotch Whiskey 54,32 + Irish ditto 53,99 + + +CONSTITUTION OF HOME-MADE WINES. + +Besides grapes, the most valuable of the articles of which wine is made, +there are a considerable number of fruits from which a vinous liquor is +obtained. Of such, we have in this country the gooseberry, the currant, +the elderberry, the cherry, &c. which ferment well, and affords what are +called _home-made wines_. + +They differ chiefly from foreign wines in containing a much larger +quantity of acid. Dr. Macculloch[42] has remarked that the acid in +home-made wines is principally the malic acid; while in grape wines it +is the tartaric acid. + +The great deficiency in these wines, independent of the flavour, which +chiefly originates, not from the juice, but from the seeds and husks of +the fruits, is the excess of acid, which is but imperfectly concealed by +the addition of sugar. This is owing, chiefly, as Dr. Macculloch +remarks, to the tartaric acid existing in the grape juice in the state +of super-tartrate of potash, which is in part decomposed during the +fermentation, and the rest becomes gradually precipitated; whilst the +malic acid exists in the currant and gooseberry juice in the form of +malate of potash; which salt does not appear to suffer a decomposition +during the fermentation of the wine; and, by its greater solubility, is +retained in the wine. Hence Dr. Macculloch recommends the addition of +super-tartrate of potash, in the manufacture of British wines. They also +contain a much larger proportion of mucilage than wines made from +grapes. The juice of the gooseberry contains some portion of tartaric +acid; hence it is better suited for the production of what is called +_English Champagne_, than any other fruit of this country. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[27] Dried bilberries are imported from Germany, under the fallacious +name of _berry-dye_. + +[28] The gypsum had the property of clarifying wines, was known to the +ancients. "The Greeks and Romans put gypsum in their new wines, stirred +it often round, then let it stand for some time; and when it had +settled, decanted the clear liquor. (_Geopon_, lib. vii. p. 483, 494.) +They knew that the wine acquired, by this addition, a certain sharpness, +which it afterwards lost; but that the good effects of the gypsum were +lasting." + +[29] Sawdust for this purpose is chiefly supplied by the ship-builders, +and forms a regular article of commerce of the brewers' druggists. + +[30] Tatler, vol. viii. p. 110, edit. 1797. 8vo. + +[31] Dr. Reece's Gazette of Health, No. 7. + +[32] Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, p. 245. + +[33] Chemical Essays, vol. viii. p. 369. + +[34] Medical Trans. vol. ii. p. 80. + +[35] This book, which has run through many editions, may be supposed to +have done some mischief.--In the Vintner's Guide, 4th edit. 1770, p. 67, +a lump of sugar of lead, of the size of a walnut, and a table-spoonful +of sal enixum, are directed to be added to a tierce (forty-two gallons) +of muddy wine, _to cure it of its muddiness_. + +[36] Beckman's History of Inventions, vol. i. p. 398. + +[37] Pliny, lib. xiv. cap. 20. + +[38] Philosophical Magazine, 1819, No. 257, p. 229. + +[39] Journ. Pharm. iv. 56 (Feb. 1818.) and Thomson's Annals, Sept. 1818, +p. 232. + +[40] Of a Specific Gravity. 825. + +[41] Philosophical Trans. 1811, p. 345; 1813, p. 87; Journal of Science +and the Arts, No. viii. p. 290. + +[42] Macculloch on Wine. This is by far the best treatise published in +this country on the Manufacture of Home-made Wines. + + + + +_Adulteration of Bread._ + + +This is one of the sophistications of the articles of food most commonly +practised in this metropolis, where the goodness of bread is estimated +entirely by its whiteness. It is therefore usual to add a certain +quantity of alum to the dough; this improves the look of the bread very +much, and renders it whiter and firmer. Good, white, and porous bread, +may certainly be manufactured from good wheaten flour alone; but to +produce the degree of whiteness rendered indispensable by the caprice of +the consumers in London, it is necessary (unless the very best flour is +employed,) that the dough should be _bleached_; and no substance has +hitherto been found to answer this purpose better than alum. + +Without this salt it is impossible to make bread, from the kind of flour +usually employed by the London bakers, so white, as that which is +commonly sold in the metropolis. + +If the alum be omitted, the bread has a slight yellowish grey hue--as +may be seen in the instance of what is called _home-made bread_, of +private families. Such bread remains longer moist than bread made with +alum; yet it is not so light, and full of eyes, or porous, and it has +also a different taste. + +The quantity of alum requisite to produce the required whiteness and +porosity depends entirely upon the genuineness of the flour, and the +quality of the grain from which the flour is obtained. The mealman makes +different sorts of flour from the same kind of grain. The best flour is +mostly used by the biscuit bakers and pastry cooks, and the inferior +sorts in the making of bread. The bakers' flour is very often made of +the worst kinds of damaged foreign wheat, and other cereal grains mixed +with them in grinding the wheat into flour. In this capital, no fewer +than six distinct kinds of wheaten flour are brought into market. They +are called fine flour, seconds, middlings, fine middlings, coarse +middlings, and twenty-penny flour. Common garden beans, and pease, are +also frequently ground up among the London bread flour. + +I have been assured by several bakers, on whose testimony I can rely, +that the small profit attached to the bakers' trade, and the bad +quality of the flour, induces the generality of the London bakers to use +alum in the making of their bread. + +The smallest quantity of alum that can be employed with effect to +produce a white, light, and porous bread, from an inferior kind of +flour, I have my own baker's authority to state, is from three to four +ounces to a sack of flour, weighing 240 pounds. The alum is either mixed +well in the form of powder, with a quantity of flour previously made +into a liquid paste with water, and then incorporated with the dough; or +the alum is dissolved in the water employed for mixing up the whole +quantity of the flour for making the dough. + +Let us suppose that the baker intends to convert five bushels, or a sack +of flour, into loaves with the least adulteration practised. He pours +the flour into the kneading trough, and sifts it through a fine wire +sieve, which makes it lie very light, and serves to separate any +impurities with which the flour may be mixed. Two ounces of alum are +then dissolved in about a quart of boiling water, and the solution +poured into _the seasoning-tub_. Four or five pounds of salt are +likewise put into the tub, and a pailful of hot-water. When this mixture +has cooled down to the temperature of about 84 deg., three or four pints of +yeast are added; the whole is mixed, strained through the seasoning +sieve, emptied into a hole in the flour, and mixed up with the requisite +portion of it to the consistence of a thick batter. Some dry flour is +then sprinkled over the top, and it is covered up with cloths. + +In this situation it is left about three hours. It gradually swells and +breaks through the dry flour scattered on its surface. An additional +quantity of warm water, in which one ounce of alum is dissolved, is now +added, and the dough is made up into a paste as before; the whole is +then covered up. In this situation it is left for a few hours. + +The whole is then intimately kneaded with more water for upwards of an +hour. The dough is cut into pieces with a knife, and penned to one side +of the trough; some dry flour is sprinkled over it, and it is left in +this state for about four hours. It is then kneaded again for +half-an-hour. The dough is now cut into pieces and weighed, in order to +furnish the requisite quantity for each loaf. The loaves are left in the +oven about two hours and a half. When taken out, they are carefully +covered up, to prevent as much as possible the loss of weight.[43] + +The following account of making a sack, of five bushels of flour into +bread, is taken from Dr. P. Markham's Considerations on the Ingredients +used in the Adulteration of Bread Flour, and Bread, p. 21: + + 5 bushels of flour, + 8 ounces of alum,[44] + 4 lbs. of salt, + 1/2 a gallon of yeast, mixed with about + 3 gallons of water. + + * * * * * + + lbs. + The whole quantity of bread-flour obtained } + from the bushel of wheat, weighs } 48 + + lbs. + Fine pollard 4-1/4 + Coarse pollard 4 + Bran 2-3/4 + ------ 11 + -- + The whole together 59 + + To which add the loss of weight in } + manufacturing a bushel of wheat } 2 + -- + Produces the original weight 61 + -- + +The theory of the bleaching property of alum, as manifested in the +panification of an inferior kind of flour, is by no means well +understood; and indeed it is really surprising that the effect should be +produced by so small a quantity of that substance, two or three ounces +of alum being sufficient for a sack of flour. + +From experiments in which I have been employed, with the assistance of +skilful bakers, I am authorised to state, that without the addition of +alum, it does not appear possible to make white, light, and porous +bread, such as is used in this metropolis, unless the flour be of the +very best quality. + +Another substance employed by fraudulent bakers, is subcarbonate of +ammonia. With this salt, they realise the important consideration of +producing light and porous bread, from spoiled, or what is technically +called _sour flour_. This salt which becomes wholly converted into a +gaseous state during the operation of baking, causes the dough to swell +up into air bubbles, which carry before them the stiff dough, and thus +it renders the dough porous; the salt itself is, at the same time, +totally volatilised during the operation of baking. Thus not a vestige +of carbonate of ammonia remains in the bread. This salt is also largely +employed by the biscuit and ginger-bread bakers. + +Potatoes are likewise largely, and perhaps constantly, used by +fraudulent bakers, as a cheap ingredient, to enhance their profit. The +potatoes being boiled, are triturated, passed through a sieve, and +incorporated with the dough by kneading. This adulteration does not +materially injure the bread. The bakers assert, that the bad quality of +the flour renders the addition of potatoes advantageous as well to the +baker as to the purchaser, and that without this admixture in the +manufacture of bread, it would be impossible to carry on the trade of a +baker. But the grievance is, that the same price is taken for a potatoe +loaf, as for a loaf of genuine bread, though it must cost the baker +less. + +I have witness, that five bushels of flour, three ounces of alum, six +pounds of salt, one bushel of potatoes boiled into a stiff paste, and +three quarts of yeast, with the requisite quantity of water, produce a +white, light, and highly palatable bread. + +Such are the artifices practised in the preparation of bread,[45] and it +must be allowed, on contrasting them with those sophistications +practised by manufacturers of other articles of food, that they are +comparatively unimportant. However, some medical men have no hesitation +in attributing many diseases incidental to children to the use of eating +adulterated bread; others again will not admit these allegations: they +persuade themselves that the small quantity of alum added to the bread +(perhaps upon an average, from eight to ten grains to a quartern loaf,) +is absolutely harmless. + +Dr. Edmund Davy, Professor of Chemistry, at the Cork Institution, has +communicated the following important facts to the public concerning the +manufacture of bread. + +"The carbonate of magnesia of the shops, when well mixed with flour, in +the proportion of from twenty to forty grains to a pound of flour, +materially improves it for the purpose of making bread. + +"Loaves made with the addition of carbonate of magnesia, rise well in +the oven; and after being baked, the bread is light and spongy, has a +good taste, and keeps well. In cases when the new flour is of an +indifferent quality, from twenty to thirty grains of carbonate of +magnesia to a pound of the flour will considerably improve the bread. +When the flour is of the worst quality, forty grains to a pound of flour +seem necessary to produce the same effect. + +"As the improvement in the bread from new flour depends upon the +carbonate of magnesia, it is necessary that care should be taken to mix +it intimately with the flour, previous to the making of the dough. + +"Mr. Davy made a great number of comparative experiments with other +substances, mixed in different proportions with new bread flour. The +fixed alkalies, both in their pure and carbonated state, when used in +small quantity, to a certain extent were found to improve the bread made +from new flour; but no substance was so efficacious in this respect as +carbonate of magnesia. + +"The greater number of his experiments were performed on the worst new +_seconds_ flour Mr. Davy could procure. He also made some trials on +_seconds_ and _firsts_ of different quality. In some cases the results +were more striking and satisfactory than in others; but in every +instance the improvement of the bread, by carbonate of magnesia, was +obvious. + +"Mr. Davy observes, that a pound of carbonate of magnesia would be +sufficient to mix with two hundred and fifty-six pounds of new flour, or +at the rate of thirty grains to the pound. And supposing a pound of +carbonate of magnesia to cost half-a-crown, the additional expense would +be only half a farthing in the pound of flour. + +"Mr. Davy conceives that not the slightest danger can be apprehended +from the use of such an innocent substance, as the carbonate of +magnesia, in such small proportion as is necessary to improve bread from +new flour." + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF ALUM IN BREAD. + +Pour upon two ounces of the suspected bread, half a pint of boiling +distilled water; boil the mixture for a few minutes, and filter it +through unsized paper. Evaporate the fluid, to about one fourth of its +original bulk, and let gradually fall into the clear fluid a solution of +muriate of barytes. If a _copious_ white precipitate ensues, which does +not disappear by the addition of _pure_ nitric acid, the presence of +alum may be suspected. Bread, made without alum, produces, when assayed +in this manner, merely a very slight precipitate, which originates from +a minute portion of sulphate of magnesia contained in all common salt of +commerce; and bread made with salt freed from sulphate of magnesia, +produces an infusion with water, which does not become disturbed by the +barytic test. + +Other means of detecting all the constituent parts of alum, namely, the +alumine, sulphuric acid, and potash, so as to render the presence of the +alum unequivocal, will readily suggest itself to those who are familiar +with analytical chemistry; namely: one of the readiest means is, to +decompose the vegetable matter of the bread, by the action of chlorate +of potash, in a platina crucible, at a red heat, and then to assay the +residuary mass--by means of muriate of barytes, for sulphuric acid; by +ammonia, for alumine; and by muriate of platina, for potash[46]. The +above method of detecting the presence of alum, must therefore be taken +with some limitation. + +There is no unequivocal test for detecting in a _ready manner_ the +presence of alum in bread, on account of the impurity of the common salt +used in the making of bread. If we could, in the ordinary way of bread +making, employ common salt, absolutely free from foreign saline +substances, the mode of detecting the presence of alum, or at least one +of its constituent parts, namely, the sulphuric acid, would be very +easy. Some conjecture may, nevertheless, be formed of the presence, or +absence, of alum, by assaying the infusion of bread in the manner +stated, p. 109, and comparing the assay with the results afforded by an +infusion of home-made or household bread, known to be genuine, and +actually assayed in a similar manner. + + +EASY METHOD OF JUDGING OF THE GOODNESS OF BREAD CORN, AND BREAD-FLOUR. + +Millers judge of the goodness of bread corn by the quantity of bran +which the grain produces. + +Such grains as are full and plump, that have a bright and shining +appearance, without any shrivelling and shrinking in the covering of +the skin, are the best; for wrinkled grains have a greater quantity of +skin, or bran, than such as are sound or plump. + +Pastry-cooks and bakers judge of the goodness of flour in the manner in +which it comports itself in kneading. The best kind of wheaten flour +assumes, at the instant it is formed into paste by the addition of +water, a very gluey, ductile, and elastic paste, easy to be kneaded, and +which may be elongated, flattened, and drawn in every direction, without +breaking. + +For the following fact we are indebted to Mr. Hatchet. + +"Grain which has been heated or burnt in the stack, may in the following +manner be rendered fit for being made into bread: + +"The wheat must be put into a vessel capable of holding at least three +times the quantity, and the vessel filled with boiling water; the grain +should then be occasionally stirred, and the hollow decayed grains, +which float, may be removed. When the water has become cold, or in about +half an hour, it is drawn off. Then rince the corn with cold water, and, +having completely drained it, spread it thinly on the floor of a kiln, +and thus thoroughly dry it, stirring and turning it frequently during +this part of the process."[47] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[43] The sack of marketable flour is by law obliged to weigh 240 pounds, +which is the produce of five bushels of wheat, and is upon an average +supposed to make eighty quartern loaves of bread; and consequently +sixteen of such loaves are made from each bushel of good wheat. It is +admitted, however, that two or three loaves more than the above quantity +can be made from the sack of flour, when it is the _genuine produce_ of +_good wheat_; that is, in the proportion of about sixteen and a half +loaves from each bushel of sound grain, and, it may be presumed, sixteen +from a bushel of medium corn. The expense, in London, of making the sack +of flour into bread, and disposing of it, is about nine shillings. + +A bushel of wheat, upon an average, weighs sixty-one pounds; when +ground, the meal weighs 60-3/4 lbs.; which, on being dressed, produces +46-3/4 lbs. of flour, of the sort called _seconds_; which alone is used +for the making of bread in London and throughout the greater part of +this country; and of pollard and bran 12-3/4 lbs., which quantity, when +bolted, produces 3 lbs. of fine flour, this, when sifted, produces in +good second flour 1-1/4 lb. + +[44] Whilst correcting this sheet for the press, the printer transmits +to me the following lines: + +"On Saturday last, George Wood, a baker, was convicted before T. Evance, +Esq. Union Hall, of having in his possession a quantity of alum for the +adulteration of bread, and fined in the penalty of 5_l._ and costs, +under 55 Geo. III. c. 99."--_The Times_, Oct. 1819. + +[45] There are instances of convictions on record, of bakers having used +gypsum, chalk, and pipe clay, in the manufacture of bread. + +[46] See a Practical Treatise on the Use and Application of Chemical +Tests, illustrated by experiments, 3d edit. p. 270, 231, 177, & 196. + +[47] Phil. Trans. for 1817, part i. + + + + +_Adulteration of Beer._ + + +Malt liquors, and particularly porter, the favourite beverage of the +inhabitants of London, and of other large towns, is amongst those +articles, in the manufacture of which the greatest frauds are frequently +committed. + +The statute prohibits the brewer from using any ingredients in his +brewings, except malt and hops; but it too often happens that those who +suppose they are drinking a nutritious beverage, made of these +ingredients only, are entirely deceived. The beverage may, in fact, be +neither more nor less than a compound of the most deleterious +substances; and it is also clear that all ranks of society are alike +exposed to the nefarious fraud. The proofs of this statement will be +shewn hereafter.[48] + +The author[49] of a Practical Treatise on Brewing, which has run +through eleven editions, after having stated the various ingredients for +brewing porter, observes, "that however much they may surprise, however +pernicious or disagreeable they may appear, he has always found them +requisite in the brewing of porter, and he thinks they must invariably +be used by those who wish to continue the taste, flavour, and appearance +of the beer.[50] And though several Acts of Parliament have been passed +to prevent porter brewers from using many of them, yet the author can +affirm, from experience, he could never produce the present flavoured +porter without them.[51] The intoxicating qualities of porter are to be +ascribed to the various drugs intermixed with it. It is evident some +porter is more heady than other, and it arises from the greater or less +quantity of stupifying ingredients. Malt, to produce intoxication, must +be used in such large quantities as would very much diminish, if not +totally exclude, the brewer's profit." + +The practice of adulterating beer appears to be of early date. By an +Act so long ago as Queen Anne, the brewers are prohibited from mixing +_cocculus indicus_, or any unwholesome ingredients, in their beer, under +severe penalties: but few instances of convictions under this act are to +be met with in the public records for nearly a century. To shew that +they have augmented in our own days, we shall exhibit an abstract from +documents laid lately before Parliament.[52] + +These will not only amply prove, that unwholesome ingredients are used +by fraudulent brewers, and that very deleterious substances are also +vended both to brewers and publicans for adulterating beer, but that the +ingredients mixed up in the brewer's enchanting cauldron are placed +above all competition, even with the potent charms of Macbeth's witches: + + "Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark, + + + + + + + + + + + + + For a charm of pow'rful trouble, + Like a hell-broth boil and bubble; + Double, double, toil and trouble, + Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." + +The fraud of imparting to porter and ale an intoxicating quality by +narcotic substances, appears to have flourished during the period of the +late French war; for, if we examine the importation lists of drugs, it +will be noticed that the quantities of cocculus indicus imported in a +given time prior to that period, will bear no comparison with the +quantity imported in the same space of time during the war, although an +additional duty was laid upon this commodity. Such has been the amount +brought into this country in five years, that it far exceeds the +quantity imported during twelve years anterior to the above epoch. The +price of this drug has risen within these ten years from two shillings +to seven shillings the pound. + +It was at the period to which we have alluded, that the preparation of +an extract of cocculus indicus first appeared, as a new saleable +commodity, in the price-currents of _brewers'-druggists_. It was at the +same time, also, that a Mr. Jackson, of notorious memory, fell upon the +idea of brewing beer from various drugs, without any malt and hops. This +chemist did not turn brewer himself; but he struck out the more +profitable trade of teaching his mystery to the brewers for a handsome +fee. From that time forwards, written directions, and recipe-books for +using the chemical preparations to be substituted for malt and hops, +were respectively sold; and many adepts soon afterwards appeared every +where, to instruct brewers in the nefarious practice, first pointed out +by Mr. Jackson. From that time, also, the fraternity of +brewers'-chemists took its rise. They made it their chief business to +send travellers all over the country with lists and samples exhibiting +the price and quality of the articles manufactured by them for the use +of brewers only. Their trade spread far and wide, but it was amongst the +country brewers chiefly that they found the most customers; and it is +amongst them, up to the present day, as I am assured by some of these +operators, on whose veracity I can rely, that the greatest quantities of +unlawful ingredients are sold. + +The Act of Parliament[53] prohibits chemists, grocers, and druggists, +from supplying illegal ingredients to brewers under a heavy penalty, as +is obvious from the following abstract of the Act. + +"No druggist, vender of, or dealer in drugs, or chemist, or other +person, shall sell or deliver to any licensed brewer, dealer in or +retailer of beer, knowing him to be such, or shall sell or deliver to +any person on account of or in trust for any such brewer, dealer or +retailer, any liquor called by the name of or sold as colouring, from +whatever material the same may be made, or any material or preparation +other than unground brown malt for darkening the colour of worts or +beer, or any liquor or preparation made use of for darkening the colour +of worts or beer, or any molasses, honey, vitriol, quassia, cocculus +Indian, grains of paradise, Guinea pepper or opium, or any extract or +preparation of molasses, or any article or preparation to be used in +worts or beer for or as a substitute for malt or hops; and if any +druggist shall offend in any of these particulars, such liquor +preparation, molasses, &c. shall be forfeited, and may be seized by any +officer of excise, and the person so offending shall for each offence +forfeit 500_l._" + +The following is a list of druggists and grocers, prosecuted by the +Court of Excise, and convicted of supplying unlawful ingredients to +brewers. + + +_List of Druggists and Grocers, prosecuted and convicted from 1812 to +1819, for supplying illegal Ingredients to Brewers for adulterating +Beer._[54] + +John Dunn and another, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients +to brewers, verdict 500_l._ + +George Rugg and others, druggists, for selling adulterating ingredients +to brewers, verdict 500_l._ + +John Hodgkinson and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to +brewers, 100_l._ and costs. + +William Hiscocks and others, for selling adulterating ingredients to a +brewer, 200_l._ and costs. + +G. Hornby; for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200_l._ + +W. Wilson, for selling adulterating ingredients to a brewer, 200_l._ + +George Andrews, grocer, for selling adulterating ingredients to a +brewer, 25_l._ and costs. + +Guy Knowles, for selling substitute for hops, costs. + +Kernot and Alsop, for selling cocculus india, &c. 25_l._ + +Joseph Moss, for selling various drugs, 300_l._ + +Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, druggists, for having +liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid and concealed. + +Isaac Hebberd, for having liquor for darkening the colour of beer, hid +and concealed. + +Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, druggists, for making +liquor for darkening the colour of beer. + +John Lord, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and costs. + +John Smith Carr, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and +costs. + +Edward Fox, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25_l._ and costs. + +John Cooper, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40_l._ and costs. + +Joseph Bickering, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 40_l._ and +costs. + +John Howard, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 25_l._ and costs. + +James Reynolds, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs. + +Thomas Hammond, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ and +costs. + +J. Mackway, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ + +T. Renton, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking +out a license. + +R. Adamson, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, costs, and taking +out a license. + +W. Weaver, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer, 200_l._ + +J. Moss, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer. + +Alex. Braden, for selling liquorice, 20_l._ + +J. Draper, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20_l._ + + +PORTER. + +The method of brewing porter has not been the same at all times as it is +at present. + +At first, the only essential difference in the methods of brewing this +liquor and that of other kinds of beer, was, that porter was brewed from +brown malt only; and this gave to it both the colour and flavour +required. Of late years it has been brewed from mixtures of pale and +brown malt. + +These, at some establishments, are mashed separately, and the worts from +each are afterwards mixed together. The proportion of pale and brown +malt, used for brewing porter, varies in different breweries; some +employ nearly two parts of pale malt and one part of brown malt; but +each brewer appears to have his own proportion; which the intelligent +manufacturer varies, according to the nature and qualities of the malt. +Three pounds of hops are, upon an average, allowed to every barrel, +(thirty-six gallons) of porter. + +When the price of malt, on account of the great increase in the price of +barley during the late war, was very high, the London brewers discovered +that a larger quantity of wort of a given strength could be obtained +from pale malt than from brown malt. They therefore increased the +quantity of the former and diminished that of the latter. This produced +beer of a paler colour, and of a less bitter flavour. To remedy these +disadvantages, they invented an artificial colouring substance, prepared +by boiling brown sugar till it acquired a very dark brown colour; a +solution of which was employed to darken the colour of the beer. Some +brewers made use of the infusion of malt instead of sugar colouring. To +impart to the beer a bitter taste, the fraudulent brewer employed +quassia wood and wormwood as a substitute for hops. + +But as the colouring of beer by means of sugar became in many instances +a pretext for using illegal ingredients, the Legislature, apprehensive +from the mischief that might, and actually did, result from it, passed +an Act prohibiting the use of burnt sugar, in July 1817; and nothing but +malt and hops is now allowed to enter into the composition of beer: even +the use of isinglass for clarifying beer, is contrary to law. + +No sooner had the beer-colouring Act been repealed, than other persons +obtained a patent for effecting the purpose of imparting an artificial +colour to porter, by means of brown malt, specifically prepared for that +purpose only. The beer, coloured by the new method, is more liable to +become spoiled, than when coloured by the process formerly practised. +The colouring malt does not contain any considerable portion of +saccharine matter. The grain is by mere torrefaction converted into a +gum-like substance, wholly soluble in water, which renders the beer +more liable to pass into the acetous fermentation than the common brown +malt is capable of doing; because the latter, if prepared from good +barley, contains a portion of saccharine matter, of which the patent +malt is destitute. + +But as brown malt is generally prepared from the worst kind of barley, +and as the patent malt can only be made from good grain, it may become, +on that account, an useful article to the brewer (at least, it gives +colour and body to the beer;) but it cannot materially economise the +quantity of malt necessary to produce good porter. Some brewers of +eminence in this town have assured me, that the use of this mode of +colouring beer is wholly unnecessary; and that porter of the requisite +colour may be brewed better without it; hence this kind of malt is not +used in their establishments. The quantity of gum-like matter which it +contains, gives too much ferment to the beer, and renders it liable to +spoil. Repeated experiments, made on a large scale, have settled this +fact. + + +STRENGTH AND SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PORTER. + +The strength of all kinds of beer, like that of wine, depends on the +quantity of spirit contained in a given bulk of the liquor. + +The reader need scarcely be told, that of no article there are more +varieties than of porter. This, no doubt, arises from the different mode +of manufacturing the beer, although the ingredients are the same. This +difference is more striking in the porter manufactured among country +brewers, than it is in the beer brewed by the eminent London porter +brewers. The totality of the London porter exhibits but very slight +differences, both with respect to strength or quantity of spirit, and +solid extractive matter, contained in a given bulk of it. The spirit may +be stated, upon an average, to be 4,50 per cent. in porter retailed at +the publicans; the solid matter, is from twenty-one to twenty-three +pounds per barrel of thirty-six gallons. The country-brewed porter is +seldom well fermented, and seldom contains so large a quantity of +spirit; it usually abounds in mucilage; hence it becomes turbid when +mixed with alcohol. Such beer cannot keep, without becoming sour. + +It has been matter of frequent complaint, that ALL the porter +now brewed, is not what porter was formerly. This idea may be true with +some exceptions. My professional occupations have, during these +twenty-eight years, repeatedly obliged me to examine the strength of +London porter, brewed by different brewers; and, from the minutes made +on that subject, I am authorised to state, that the porter now brewed by +the eminent London brewers, is unquestionably stronger than that which +was brewed at different periods during the late French war. Samples of +brown stout with which I have been obligingly favoured, whilst writing +this Treatise, by Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co.--Messrs. Truman, +Hanbury, and Co.--Messrs. Henry Meux and Co.--and other eminent brewers +of this capital--afforded, upon an average, 7,25 per cent. of alcohol, +of 0,833 specific gravity; and porter, from the same houses, yielded +upon an average 5,25 per cent. of alcohol, of the same specific +gravity;[55] this beer received from the brewers was taken from the +same store from which the publicans are supplied. + +It is nevertheless singular to observe, that from fifteen samples of +beer of the same denominations, procured from different retailers, the +proportions of spirit fell considerably short of the above quantities. +Samples of brown stout, procured from the retailers, afforded, upon an +average, 6,50 per cent. of alcohol; and the average strength of the +porter was 4,50 per cent. Whence can this difference between the beer +furnished by the brewer, and that retailed by the publican, arise? We +shall not be at a loss to answer this question, when we find that so +many retailers of porter have been prosecuted and convicted for mixing +table beer with their strong beer; this is prohibited by law, as becomes +obvious by the following words of the Act.[56] + +"If any common or other brewer, innkeeper, victualler, or retailer of +beer or ale, shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, ale, or +worts, with table beer, worts, or water, in any tub or measure, he shall +forfeit 50_l._" The difference between strong and table beer, is thus +settled by Parliament. + +"All beer or ale[57] above the price of eighteen shillings per barrel, +exclusive of ale duties now payable (viz. ten shillings per barrel,) or +that may be hereafter payable in respect thereof, shall be deemed strong +beer or ale; and all beer of the price of eighteen shillings the barrel +or under, exclusive of the duty payable (viz. two shillings per barrel) +in respect thereof, shall be deemed table beer within the meaning of +this and all other Acts now in force, or that may hereafter be passed in +relation to beer or ale or any duties thereon." + + +_List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted from 1815 to 1818, for +adulterating Beer with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing Table Beer +with their Strong Beer._[58] + +William Atterbury, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 40_l._ + +Richard Dean, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 50_l._ + +John Jay, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +table beer with strong beer, 50_l._ + +James Atkinson, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 20_l._ + +Samuel Langworth, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 50_l._ + +Hannah Spencer, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 150_l._ + +---- Hoeg, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +table beer with strong beer, 5_l._ + +Richard Craddock, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing table beer with strong beer, 100_l._ + +James Harris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +receiving stale beer, and mixing it with strong beer, 42_l._ and costs. + +Thomas Scoons, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing stale beer with strong beer, verdict 200_l._ + +Diones Geer and another, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. +and for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 400_l._ + +Charles Coleman, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing strong and table beer, 35_l._ and costs. + +William Orr, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 50_l._ + +John Gardiner, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for +mixing strong and table beer, 100_l._ + +John Morris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 20_l._ + +John Harbur, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. and for mixing +strong and table beer, 50_l._ + +John Corrie, for mixing strong beer with table beer. + +John Cape, for mixing strong beer with table beer. + +Joseph Gudge, for mixing strong beer with small beer. + + +ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR ADULTERATING BEER. + +We have stated already (p. 113) that nothing is allowed by law to enter +into the composition of beer, but malt and hops. + +The substances used by fraudulent brewers for adulterating beer, are +chiefly the following: + +Quassia, which gives to beer a bitter taste, is substituted for hops; +but hops possesses a more agreeable aromatic flavour, and there is also +reason to believe that they render beer less liable to spoil by keeping; +a property which does not belong to quassia. It requires but little +discrimination to distinguish very clearly the peculiar bitterness of +quassia in adulterated porter. Vast quantities of the shavings of this +wood are sold in a half-torrefied and ground state to disguise its +obvious character, and to prevent its being recognised among the waste +materials of the brewers. Wormwood[59] has likewise been used by +fraudulent brewers. + +The adulterating of hops is prohibited by the Legislature.[60] + +"If any person shall put any drug or ingredient whatever into hops to +alter the colour or scent thereof, every person so offending, convicted +by the oath of one witness before one justice of peace for the county or +place where the offence was committed, shall forfeit 5_l._ for every +hundred weight." + +Beer rendered bitter by quassia never keeps well, unless it be kept in a +place possessing a temperature considerably lower than the temperature +of the surrounding atmosphere; and this is not well practicable in large +establishments. + +The use of boiling the wort of beer with hops, is partly to communicate +a peculiar aromatic flavour which the hop contains, partly to cover the +sweetness of undecomposed saccharine matter, and also to separate, by +virtue of the gallic acid and tannin it contains, a portion of a +peculiar vegetable mucilage somewhat resembling gluten, which is still +diffused through the beer. The compound thus produced, separates in +small flakes like those of curdled soap; and by these means the beer is +rendered less liable to spoil. For nothing contributes more to the +conversion of beer, or any other vinous fluid, into vinegar, than +mucilage. Hence, also, all full-bodied and clammy ales, abounding in +mucilage, and which are generally ill fermented, do not keep as perfect +ale ought to do. Quassia is, therefore, unfit as a substitute for hops; +and even English hops are preferable to those imported from the +Continent; for nitrate of silver and acetate of lead produce a more +abundant precipitate from an infusion of English hops, than can be +obtained from a like infusion by the same agents from foreign hops. + +One of the qualities of good porter, is, that it should bear _a fine +frothy head_, as it is technically termed: because professed judges of +this beverage, would not pronounce the liquor excellent, although it +possessed all other good qualities of porter, without this requisite. + +To impart to porter this property of frothing when poured from one +vessel into another, or to produce what is also termed a _cauliflower +head_, the mixture called _beer-heading_, composed of common green +vitriol (sulphate of iron,) alum, and salt, is added. This addition to +the beer is generally made by the publicans.[61] It is unnecessary to +genuine beer, which of itself possesses the property of bearing a strong +white froth, without these additions; and it is only in consequence of +table beer being mixed with strong beer, that the frothing property of +the porter is lost. From experiments I have tried on this subject, I +have reason to believe that the sulphate of iron, added for that +purpose, does not possess the power ascribed to it. But the publicans +frequently, when they fine a butt of beer, by means of isinglass, +adulterate the porter at the same time with table beer, together with a +quantity of molasses and a small portion of extract of gentian root, to +keep up the peculiar flavour of the porter; and it is to the molasses +chiefly, which gives a spissitude to the beer, that the frothing +property must be ascribed; for, without it, the sulphate of iron does +not produce the property of frothing in diluted beer. + +Capsicum and grains of paradise, two highly acrid substances, are +employed to give a pungent taste to weak insipid beer. Of late, a +concentrated tincture of these articles, to be used for a similar +purpose, and possessing a powerful effect, has appeared in the +price-currents of brewers' druggists. Ginger root, coriander seed, and +orange peels, are employed as flavouring substances chiefly by the ale +brewers. + +From these statements, and the seizures that have been made of illegal +ingredients at various breweries, it is obvious that the adulterations +of beer are not imaginary. It will be noticed, however, that some of the +sophistications are comparatively harmless, whilst others are effected +by substances deleterious to health. + +The following list exhibits some of the unlawful substances seized at +different breweries and at chemical laboratories. + + +_List of Illegal Ingredients, seized from 1812 to 1818, at various +Breweries and Brewers' Druggists._[62] + +1812, July. Josiah Nibbs, at Tooting, Surrey. + + Multum 84 lbs. + Cocculus indicus 12 + Colouring 4 galls. + Honey about 180 lbs. + Hartshorn Shavings 14 + Spanish Juice 46 + Orange Powder 17 + Ginger 56 + +Penalty 300_l._ + + +1813, June 13. Sarah Willis, at West Ham, Essex. + + Cocculus indicus 1 lb. + Spanish Juice 12 + Hartshorn Shavings 6 + Orange Powder 1 + +Penalty 200_l._ + + +August 3. Cratcherode Whiffing, Limehouse. + + Grains of Paradise 44 lbs. + Quassia 10 + Liquorice 64 + Ginger 80 + Caraway Seeds 40 + Orange Powder 14 + Copperas 4 + +Penalty 200_l._ + + +Nov. 25. Elizabeth Hasler, at Stratford. + + Cocculus indicus 12 lbs. + Multum 26 + Grains of Paradise 12 + Spanish Juice 30 + Orange Powder 3 + +Penalty 200_l._ + + +Dec. 14. John Abbott, at Canterbury, Kent. + + Copperas, &c. 14 lbs. + Orange powder 2 + +Penalty 500_l._, and Crown's costs. + +Proof of using drugs at various times. + + +1815, Feb. 15. Mantel and Cook, Castle-street, Bloomsbury-square. + +Proof of mixing strong with table beer, and using colouring and other +things. + +Compromised for 300_l._ + + +1817. From Peter Stevenson, an old Servant to Dunn and Waller, St. +John-street, brewers' druggists. + + Cocculus Indicus Extract 6 lbs. + Multum 560 + Capsicum 88 + Copperas 310 + Quassia 150 + Colouring and Drugs 84 + Mixed Drugs 240 + Spanish Liquorice 420 + Hartshorn Shavings 77 + Liquorice Powder 175 + Orange powder 126 + Caraway Seeds 100 + Ginger 110 + Ginger Root 176 + +Condemned, not being claimed. + + +July 30. Luke Lyons, Shadwell. + + Capsicum 1 lb + Liquorice Root Powder 2 + Coriander Seed 2 + Copperas 1 + Orange Powder 8 + Spanish Liquorice 1/2 + Beer Colouring 24 galls + +Not tried. (7th May, 1818.) + + +Aug. 6. John Gray, at West Ham. + + Multum 4 lbs. + Spanish Liquorice 21 + Liquorice Root Powder 113 + Ginger 116 + Honey 11 + +Penalty, 300_l._, and costs; including mixing strong beer with table, +and paying table-beer duty for strong beer, &c. + + * * * * * + +Numerous other seizures of illegal substances, made at breweries, might +be advanced, were it necessary to enlarge this subject to a greater +extent. + +Mr. James West, from the excise office, being asked in the Committee of +the House of Commons, appointed, 1819, to examine and report on the +petition of several inhabitants of London, complaining of the high price +and inferior quality of beer, produced the following seized +articles:--"One bladder of honey, one bladder of extract of cocculus +indicus, ground guinea pepper or capsicum, vitriol or copperas, orange +powder, quassia, ground beer-heading, hard multum, another kind of +multum or beer preparation, liquorice powder, and ground grains of +paradise." + +Witness being asked "Where did you seize these things?" Answer, "Some of +them were seized from brewers, and some of them from brewers' +druggists, within these two years past." (May 8, 1818.) + +Another fraud frequently committed, both by brewers and publicans, (as +is evident from the Excise Report,) is the practice of adulterating +strong beer with small beer--This fraud is prohibited by law, since both +the revenue and the public suffer by it.[63] "The duty upon strong beer +is ten shillings a barrel; and upon table beer it is two shillings. The +revenue suffers, because a larger quantity of beer is sold as strong +beer; that is, at a price exceeding the price of table beer, without the +strong beer duty being paid. In the next place, the brewer suffers, +because the retailer gets table or mild beer, and retails it as strong +beer." The following are the words of the Act, prohibiting the brewers +mixing table beer with strong beer. + +"If any common brewer shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong beer, +or strong worts with table beer or table worts, or with water in any +guile or fermenting tun after the declaration of the quantity of such +guile shall have been made; or if he shall at any time mix or suffer to +be mixed strong beer or strong worts with table beer worts or with +water, in any vat, cask, tub, measures or utensil, not being an entered +guile or fermenting tun, he shall forfeit 200 pounds."[64] + +With respect to the persons who commit this offence, Mr. Carr,[65] the +Solicitor of the Excise, observes, that "they are generally brewers who +carry on the double trade of brewing both strong and table beer. It is +almost impossible to prevent them from mixing one with the other; and +frauds of very great extent have been detected, and the parties punished +for that offence. One brewer at Plymouth evaded duties to the amount of +32,000 pounds; and other brewers, who brew party guiles of beer, +carrying on the two trades of ale and table beer brewers, where the +trade is a victualling brewer, which is different from the common +brewer, he being a person who sells only wholesale; the victualling +brewer being a brewer and also a seller by retail." + +"In the neighbourhood of London," Mr. Carr continues, "more +particularly, I speak from having had great experience, from the +informations and evidence which I have received, that the retailers +carry on a most extensive fraud upon the public, in purchasing stale +table beer, or the bottoms of casks. There are a class of men who go +about and sell such beer at table-beer price to public victuallers, who +mix it in their cellars. If they receive beer from their brewers which +is mild, they purchase stale beer; and if they receive stale beer, they +purchase common table beer for that purpose; and many of the +prosecutions are against retailers for that offence." The following may +serve in proof of this statement. + + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 1813 to 1819, for +adulterating Strong Beer with Table Beer._[66] + +Thomas Manton and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 300_l._ + +Mark Morrell and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +20_l._ and costs. + +Robert Jones and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 125_l._ + +Robert Stroad, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 200_l._ and +costs. + +William Cobbett, brewer, mixing strong and table beer, 100_l._ and +costs. + +Thomas Richard Withers, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 75_l._ +and costs. + +John Cowel, brewer, for mixing table beer with strong, 50_l._ and costs. + +John Mitchell, brewer, for mixing table beer with strong, absconded. + +George Lloyd and another, brewers, for mixing table beer with strong, +25_l._ and costs. + +James Edmunds and another, brewers, for mixing table beer with strong, +for a long period, verdict 600_l._ + +John Hoffman, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, and using +molasses, 130_l._ and costs. + +Samuel Langworth, brewer, for mixing strong with stale table beer, +10_l._ and costs. + +Hannah Spencer, brewer, for mixing strong with stale table beer, verdict +150_l._ + +Joseph Smith and others, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer. + +Philip George, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 200_l._ + +Joshua Row, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, verdict 400_l._ + +John Drew, jun. and another, for mixing strong beer with table, 50_l._ +and costs. + +John Cape, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 250_l._ and costs. + +John Williams and another, brewers, for mixing strong and table beer, +verdict 200_l._ + + +OLD, OR ENTIRE; AND NEW, OR MILD BEER. + +It is necessary to state, that every publican has two sorts of beer sent +to him from the brewer; the one is called _mild_, which is beer sent out +fresh as it is brewed; the other is called _old_; that is, such as is +brewed on purpose for keeping, and which has been kept in store a +twelve-month or eighteen months. The origin of the beer called +_entire_, is thus related by the editor of the Picture of London: +"Before the year 1730, the malt liquors in general used in London were +ale, beer, and two-penny; and it was customary to call for a pint, or +tankard, of half-and-half, _i.e._ half of ale and half of beer, half of +ale and half of two-penny. In course of time it also became the practice +to call for a pint or tankard of _three-threads_, meaning a third of +ale, beer, and two-penny; and thus the publican had the trouble to go to +three casks, and turn three cocks, for a pint of liquor. To avoid this +inconvenience and waste, a brewer of the name of Harwood conceived the +idea of making a liquor, which should partake of the same united +flavours of ale, beer, and two-penny; he did so, and succeeded, calling +it _entire_, or entire butt, meaning that it was drawn entirely from one +cask or butt; and as it was a very hearty and nourishing liquor, and +supposed to be very suitable for porters and other working people, it +obtained the name of _porter_." The system is now altered, and porter is +very generally compounded of two kinds, or rather the same liquor in two +different states, the due admixture of which is palatable, though +neither is good alone. One is _mild_ porter, and the other _stale_ +porter; the former is that which has a slightly bitter flavour; the +latter has been kept longer. This mixture the publican adapts to the +palates of his several customers, and effects the mixture very readily, +by means of a machine, containing small pumps worked by handles. In +these are four pumps, but only three spouts, because two of the pumps +throw out at the same spout: one of these two pumps draws the mild, and +the other the stale porter, from the casks down in the cellar; and the +publican, by dexterously changing his hold works either pump, and draws +both kinds of beer at the same spout. An indifferent observer supposes, +that since it all comes from one spout, it is entire butt beer, as the +publican professes over his door, and which has been decided by vulgar +prejudice to be only good porter, though the difference is not easily +distinguished. I have been informed by several eminent brewers, that of +late, a far greater quantity is consumed of mild than of stale beer. + +The entire beer of the modern brewer, according to the statement of C. +Barclay,[67] Esq. "consists of some beer brewed expressly for the +purpose of keeping: it likewise contains a portion of returns from +publicans; a portion of beer from the bottoms of vats; the beer that is +drawn off from the pipes, which convey the beer from one vat to another, +and from one part of the premises to another. This beer is collected and +put into vats. Mr. Barclay also states that it contains a certain +portion of brown stout, which is twenty shillings a barrel dearer than +common beer; and some bottling beer, which is ten shillings a barrel +dearer;[68] and that all these beers, united, are put into vats, and +that it depends upon various circumstances, how long they may remain in +those vats before they become perfectly bright. When bright, this beer +is sent out to the publicans, for their _entire_ beer, and there is +sometimes a small quantity of mild beer mixed with it." + +The present entire beer, therefore, is a very heterogeneous mixture, +composed of all the waste and spoiled beer of the publicans--the bottoms +of butts--the leavings of the pots--the drippings of the machines for +drawing the beer--the remnants of beer that lay in the leaden pipes of +the brewery, with a portion of brown stout, bottling beer, and mild +beer. + +The old or _entire_ beer we have examined, as obtained from Messrs. +Barclay's, and other eminent London brewers, is unquestionably a good +compound; but it does no longer appear to be necessary, among fraudulent +brewers, to brew beer on purpose for keeping, or to keep it twelve or +eighteen months. A more easy, expeditious, and economical method has +been discovered to convert any sort of beer into entire beer, merely by +the admixture of a portion of sulphuric acid. An imitation of the age of +eighteen months is thus produced in an instant. This process is +technically called to bring beer _forward_, or to make it _hard_. + +The practice is a bad one. The genuine, old, or entire beer, of the +honest brewer, is quite a different compound; it has a rich, generous, +full-bodied taste, without being acid, and a vinous odour: but it may, +perhaps, not be generally known that this kind of beer always affords a +less proportion of alcohol than is produced from mild beer. The practice +of bringing beer _forward_, it is to be understood, is resorted to only +by fraudulent brewers.[69] + +If, on the contrary, the brewer has too large a stock of old beer on his +hands, recourse is had to an opposite practice of converting stale, +half-spoiled, or sour beer, into mild beer, by the simple admixture of +an alkali, or an alkaline earth. Oyster-shell powder and subcarbonate of +potash, or soda, are usually employed for that purpose. These substances +neutralise the excess of acid, and render sour beer somewhat palatable. +By this process the beer becomes very liable to spoil. + +It is the worst expedient that the brewer can practise: the beer thus +rendered _mild_, soon loses its vinous taste; it becomes vapid; and +speedily assumes a muddy grey colour, and an exceedingly disagreeable +taste. + +These sophistications may be considered, at first, as minor crimes +practised by fraudulent brewers, when compared with the methods employed +by them for rendering beer noxious to health by substances absolutely +injurious. + +To increase the intoxicating quality of beer, the deleterious vegetable +substance, called _cocculus indicus_, and the extract of this poisonous +berry, technically called _black extract_, or, by some, _hard multum_, +are employed. Opium, tobacco, nux vomica, and extract of poppies, have +also been used. + +This fraud constitutes by far the most censurable offence committed by +unprincipled brewers; and it is a lamentable reflection to behold so +great a number of brewers prosecuted and convicted of this crime; nor is +it less deplorable to find the names of druggists, eminent in trade, +implicated in the fraud, by selling the unlawful ingredients to brewers +for fraudulent purposes. + + +_List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 1813 to 1819, for +receiving and using illegal Ingredients in their Brewings._[70] + +Richard Gardner, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, 100_l._, +judgment by default. + +Stephen Webb and another, brewers, for using adulterating ingredients, +and mixing strong and table beer, verdict 500_l._ + +Henry Wyatt, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, verdict 400_l._ + +John Harbart, retailer, for receiving adulterating ingredients, verdict +150_l._ + +Philip Blake and others, brewers, for using adulterating ingredients, +and mixing strong and table beer, verdict 250_l._ + +James Sneed, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 25_l._ and costs. + +John Rewell and another, brewers, ditto, verdict 100_l._ + +John Swain and another, ditto, for using adulterating ingredients, +verdict 200_l._ + +John Ing, brewer, ditto, stayed on defendant's death. + +John Hall, ditto, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 5_l._ and +costs. + +John Webb, retailer, for using adulterating ingredients. + +Ralph Fogg and another, brewers, for receiving and using adulterating +ingredients. + +John Gray, brewer, for using adulterating ingredients, 300_l._ and +costs. + +Richard Bowman, for using liquid in bladder, supposed to be extract of +cocculus, 100_l._ + +Richard Bowman, brewer, for ditto, 100_l._ and costs. + +Septimus Stephens, brewer, for ditto, verdict 50_l._ + +James Rogers and another, brewer, for ditto, 220_l._ and costs. + +George Moore, brewer, for using colouring, 300_l._ and costs. + +John Morris, for using adulterating ingredients. + +Webb and Ball, for using ginger, Guinea pepper, and brown powder, (name +unknown), 1st 100_l._ 2nd 500_l._ + +Henry Clarke, for using molasses, 150_l._ + +Kewell and Burrows, for using cocculus india, multum, &c. 100_l._ + +Allatson and Abraham, for using cocculus india, multum, and porter +flavour, 630_l._ + +Swain and Sewell, for using cocculus india, Guinea-opium, &c. 200_l._ + +John Ing, for using cocculus india, hard colouring, and honey, _dead_. + +William Dean, for using molasses, 50_l._ + +John Cowell, for using Spanish-liquorice, and mixing table beer with +strong beer, 50_l._ + +John Mitchell, for using cocculus india, vitriol, and Guinea pepper, +_left the country_. + +Lloyd and Man, for using extract of cocculus, 25_l._ + +John Gray, for using ginger, hartshorn shavings, and molasses, 300_l._ + +Jon Hoffman, for using molasses, Spanish juice, and mixing table with +strong beer, 130_l._ + +Rogers and Boon, for using extract of cocculus, multum, porter flavour, +&c. 220_l._ + +---- Betteley, for using wormwood, coriander seed, and Spanish juice, +200_l._ + +William Lane, brewer, for using wormwood instead of hops, 5_l._ and +costs. + + * * * * * + +That a minute portion of an unwholesome ingredient, daily taken in beer, +cannot fail to be productive of mischief, admits of no doubt; and there +is reasons to believe that a small quantity of a narcotic substance (and +cocculus indicus is a powerful narcotic[71]), daily taken into the +stomach, together with an intoxicating liquor, is highly more +efficacious than it would be without the liquor. The effect may be +gradual; and a strong constitution, especially if it be assisted with +constant and hard labour, may counteract the destructive consequences +perhaps for many years; but it never fails to shew its baneful effects +at last. Independent of this, it is a well-established fact, that porter +drinkers are very liable to apoplexy and palsy, without taking this +narcotic poison. + +If we judge from the preceding lists of prosecutions and convictions +furnished by the Solicitor of the Excise[72], it will be evident that +many wholesale brewers, as well as retail dealers, stand very +conspicuous among those offenders. But the reader will likewise notice, +that there are no convictions, in any instance, against any of the +eleven great London porter brewers[73] for any illegal practice. The +great London brewers, it appears, believe that the publicans alone +adulterate the beer. That many of the latter have been convicted of this +fraud, the Report of the Board of Excise amply shews.--See p. 129. + +The following statement relating to this subject, we transcribe from a +Parliamentary document:[74] + +Mr. Perkins being asked, whether he believed that any of the inferior +brewers adulterated beer, answered, "I am satisfied there are some +instances of that." + +_Question._--"Do you believe publicans do?" _Answer._--"I believe they +do." _Q._--"To a great extent?" _A._--"Yes." _Q._--"Do you believe they +adulterate the beer you sell them?" _A._--"I am satisfied there are +some instances of that."--Mr. J. Martineau[75] being asked the following + +_Question._[76]--"In your judgment is any of the beer of the metropolis, +as retailed to the publican, mixed with any deleterious ingredients?" + +_Answer._--"In retailing beer, in some instances, it has been." + +_Question._--"By whom, in your opinion, has that been done?" + +_Answer._--"In that case by the publicans who vend it." + +On this point, it is but fair, to the minor brewers, to record also the +answers of some officers of the revenue, when they were asked whether +they considered it more difficult to detect nefarious practices in large +breweries than in small ones. + +Mr. J. Rogers being thus questioned in the Committee of the House of +Commons,[77] "Supposing the large brewers to use deleterious or any +illegal ingredients to such an amount as could be of any importance to +their concern, do you think it would, or would not, be more easy to +detect it in those large breweries, than in small ones?" his answer was, +"more difficult to detect it in the large ones:" and witness being asked +to state the reason why, answered, "Their premises are so much larger, +and there is so much more strength, that a cart load or two is got rid +of in a minute or two." Witness "had known, in five minutes, twenty +barrels of molasses got rid of as soon as the door was shut." + +Another witness, W. Wells, an excise officer,[78] in describing the +contrivances used to prevent detection, stated, that at a brewer's, at +Westham, the adulterating substances "were not kept on the premises, but +in the brewer's house; not the principal, but the working brewers; it +not being considered, when there, as liable to seizure: the brewer had a +very large jacket made expressly for that purpose, with very large +pockets; and, on brewing mornings, he would take his pockets full of the +different ingredients. Witness supposed that such a man's jacket, +similar to what he had described, would convey quite sufficient for any +brewery in England, as to _cocculus indicus_." + +That it may be more difficult for the officers of the excise to detect +fraudulent practices in large breweries than in small ones, may be true +to a certain extent: but what eminent London porter brewer would stake +his reputation on the chance of so paltry a gain, in which he would +inevitably be at the mercy of his own man? The eleven great porter +brewers of this metropolis are persons of so high respectability, that +there is no ground for the slightest suspicion that they would attempt +any illegal practices, which they were aware could not possibly escape +detection in their extensive establishments. And let it be remembered, +that none of them have been detected for any unlawful practices,[79] +with regard to the processes of their manufacture, or the adulteration +of their beer. + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATION OF BEER. + +The detection of the adulteration of beer with deleterious vegetable +substances is beyond the reach of chemical analysis. The presence of +sulphate of iron (p. 134) may be detected by evaporating the beer to +perfect dryness, and burning away the vegetable matter obtained, by the +action of chlorate of pot-ash in a red-hot crucible. The sulphate of +iron will be left behind among the residue in the crucible, which when +dissolved in water, may be assayed, for the constituent parts of the +salt, namely, iron and sulphuric acid: for the former, by tincture of +galls, ammonia, and prussiate of potash; and for the latter, by muriate +of barytes.[80] + +Beer, which has been rendered fraudulently _hard_ (see p. 148) by the +admixture of sulphuric acid, affords a white precipitate (sulphate of +barytes), by dropping into it a solution of acetate or muriate of +barytes; and this precipitate, when collected by filtering the mass, and +after having been dried, and heated red-hot for a few minutes in a +platina crucible, does not disappear by the addition of nitric, or +muriatic acid. Genuine old beer may produce a precipitate; but the +precipitate which it affords, after having been made red-hot in a +platina crucible, instantly becomes re-dissolved with effervescence by +pouring on it some pure nitric or muriatic acid; in that case the +precipitate is malate (not sulphate) of barytes, and is owing to a +portion of malic acid having been formed in the beer. + +But with regard to the vegetable materials deleterious to health, it is +extremely difficult, in any instance, to detect them by chemical +agencies; and in most cases it is quite impossible, as in that of +cocculus indicus in beer. + + +METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF SPIRIT CONTAINED IN PORTER, ALE, +OR OTHER KINDS OF MALT LIQUORS. + +Take any quantity of the beer, put it into a glass retort, furnished +with a receiver, and distil, with a gentle heat, as long as any spirit +passes over into the receiver; which may be known by heating from time +to time a small quantity of the obtained fluid in a tea-spoon over a +candle, and bringing into contact with the vapour of it the flame of a +piece of paper. If the vapour of the distilled fluid catches fire, the +distillation must be continued until the vapour ceases to be set on +fire by the contact of a flaming body. To the distilled liquid thus +obtained, which is the spirit of the beer, combined with water, add, in +small quantities at a time, pure subcarbonate of potash (previously +freed from water by having been exposed to a red heat,) till the last +portion of this salt added, remains undissolved in the fluid. The spirit +will thus become separated from the water, because the subcarbonate of +potash abstracts from it the whole of the water which it contained; and +this combination sinks to the bottom, and the spirit alone floats on the +top. If this experiment be made in a glass tube, about half or +three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and graduated into 50 or 100 +equal parts, the relative per centage of spirit in a given quantity of +beer may be seen by mere inspection. + + +_Quantity of Alcohol contained in Porter, Ale, and other kinds of Malt +Liquors._[81] + + One hundred parts, by Measure, Parts of Alcohol, + contained. by Measure. + + Ale, home-brewed 8,30 + Ale, Burton, three Samples 6,25 + Ale, Burton[82] 8,88 + Ale, Edinburgh[82] 6,20 + Ale, Dorchester[82] 5,50 + Ale, common London-brewed, } + six samples } 5,82 + Ale, Scotch, three samples 5,75 + Porter, London, eight samples 4,00 + Ditto, Ditto[83] 4,20 + Ditto, Ditto[83] 4,45 + Ditto, Ditto, bottled. 4,75 + Brown Stout, four samples 5 + Ditto, Ditto[83] 6,80 + Small Beer, six samples 0,75 + Ditto, Ditto[84] 1,28 + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[48] See pages 119, &c. + +[49] Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 7. + +[50] Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 16. + +[51] Ibid. p. 16. + +[52] "Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, to whom the +petition of several inhabitants of London and its vicinity, complaining +of the high price and inferior quality of beer, was referred, to examine +the matter thereof, and to report the same, with their observations +thereupon, to the House. Printed by order of the House of Commons, +April, 1819." + +[53] 56 Geo. III. c. 2. + +[54] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of Beer.--See pages 18, +29, 30, 31, 36, 43. + +[55] The average specific gravity of different samples of brown stout, +obtained direct from the breweries of Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co. +Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, and Co. Messrs. Henry Meux and Co. and from +several other eminent London brewers, amounted to 1,022; and the average +specific gravity of porter, from the same breweries, 1,018. + +[56] 2 Geo. III. c. 14, Sec. 2. + +[57] 59 Geo. III. c. 53, Sec. 25. + +[58] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 19, 29, 36, +37, 43. + +[59] See Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons for reporting +on the Price and Quality of Beer, 1819, p. 29. + +[60] 7 Geo. II. c. 19, Sec. 2. + +[61] See List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted for mixing table +beer with strong beer, &c. p. 129. + +"Alum gives likewise a smack of age to beer, and is penetrating to the +palate."--_S. Child on Brewing._ + +[62] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 38. + +[63] See Mr. Carr's evidence in the Minutes of the House of Commons, p. +32. + +[64] 42 George III, c. 38, Sec. 12. + +[65] See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32. + +[66] Copied from the minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons, +appointed for examining the price and quality of Beer, 1819, p. 29, 36, +43. + +[67] See the Parliamentary Minutes, p. 94. + +[68] Mr. Barclay has not specified the relative proportions of brown +stout and of bottling beer which are introduced at such an augmentation +of expense. + +[69] Mr. Child, in his Treatise on Brewing, p. 23 directs, _to make new +beer older, use oil of vitriol_. + +[70] Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House of Commons +appointed for examining the price and quality of beer, p. 29, 36. + +[71] The deleterious effect of Cocculus Indicus (the fruit of the +memispermum cocculus) is owing to a peculiar bitter principle contained +in it; which, when swallowed in minute quantities, intoxicates and acts +as poison. It may be obtained from cocculus indicus berries in a +detached state:--chemists call it picrotoxin, from +pichros+, bitter; +and +toxichon+ poison. + +[72] See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 28, 36. + +[73] Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co.--Truman, Hanbury and Co.--Reid +and Co.--Whitbread and Co.--Combe, Delafield, and Co.--Henry Meux, and +Co.--Calvert and Co.--Goodwin and Co.--Elliot and Co.--Taylor and +Co.--Cox, and Camble and Co. + +See the Minutes, before quoted, p. 32. + +[74] _Ibid._ p. 58. + +[75] A partner in the brewery of Messrs. Whitbread and Co. + +[76] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 104. + +[77] Minutes, before quoted, p. 22. + +[78] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 40. + +[79] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32 + +[80] See a Treatise on the Use and Application of Chemical Tests, 3d +edition; Tests for Sulphuric Acid, &c. + +[81] Repository of Arts, No. 2, p. 74.--1816. + +[82] Copied from Professor Brande's Paper in the Philosophical +Transactions, 1811, p. 345. + +[83] Result of our own Experiments, see p. 127. + +[84] Professor Brande's Experiments. + + + + +_Counterfeit Tea-Leaves._ + + +The late detections that have been made respecting the illicit +establishments for the manufacture of imitation tea leaves, arrested, +not long ago, the attention of the public; and the parties by whom these +manufactories were conducted, together with the numerous venders of the +factitious tea, did not escape the hand of justice. In proof of this +statement, it is only necessary to consult the London newspapers (the +Times and the Courier) from March to July 1818; which show to what +extent this nefarious traffic has been carried on; and they report also +the prosecutions and convictions of numerous individuals who have been +guilty of the fraud. The following are some of those prosecutions and +convictions. + +HATTON GARDEN.--On Saturday an information came to be heard at +this office, before Thomas Leach, Esq. the sitting magistrate, against a +man of the name of Edmund Rhodes, charged with having, on the 12th of +August last, dyed, fabricated, and manufactured, divers large +quantities, viz. one hundred weight of sloe leaves, one hundred weight +of ash leaves, one hundred weight of elder leaves, and one hundred +weight of the leaves of a certain other tree, in imitation of tea, +contrary to the statute of the 17th of Geo. III.[85] whereby the said +Edmund Rhodes had, for every pound of such leaves so manufactured, +forfeited the sum of 5_l._ making the total of the penalties amount to +2,000_l._ The second count in the information charged the said Rhodes +with having in his possession the above quantity of sloe, ash, elder, +and other leaves, under the like penalty of 2,000_l._ The third count +charged him with having, on the said 12th of August last, in his +possession, divers quantities, exceeding six pounds weight of each +respective kind of leaves; viz. fifty pounds weight of green sloe +leaves, fifty pounds weight of green leaves of ash, fifty pounds weight +of green leaves of elder, and fifty pounds weight of the green leaves of +a certain other tree; not having proved that such leaves were gathered +with the consent of the owners of the trees and shrubs from which they +were taken, and that such leaves were gathered for some other use, and +not for the purpose of manufacturing the same in imitation of tea; +whereby he had forfeited for each pound weight, the sum of 5_l._ +amounting in the whole to 1,000_l._; and, in default of payment, in each +case, subjected himself to be committed to the house of correction for +not more than twelve months, nor less than six months. + +Mr. Denton, who appeared for the defendant, who was absent, said that he +was a very poor man, with a family of five children, and was only the +servant of the real manufacturer, and an ignorant man from the country, +put into the premises to carry on the business, without knowing what the +leaves were intended for. By direction of Mr. Mayo, who conducted the +prosecution, several barrels and bags, filled with the imitation tea, +were then brought into the office, and a sample from each handed round. +To the eye they seemed a good imitation of tea. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 500_l._ on the second +count. + +_The Attorney-General against Palmer._--This was an action by the +Attorney-General against the defendant, Palmer, charging him with +having in his possession a quantity of sloe-leaves and white-thorn +leaves, fabricated into an imitation of tea. + +Mr. Dauncey stated the case to the jury, and observed that the +defendant, Mr. Palmer, was a grocer. It would appear that a regular +manufactory was established in Goldstone-street. The parties by whom the +manufactory was conducted, was a person of the name of Proctor, and +another person named J. Malins. They engaged others to furnish them with +leaves, which, after undergoing a certain process, were sold to and +drank by the public as tea. The leaves, in order to be converted into an +article resembling black tea, were first boiled, then baked upon an iron +plate; and, when dry, rubbed with the hand, in order to produce that +curl which the genuine tea had. This was the most wholesome part of the +operation; for the colour which was yet to be given to it, was produced +by logwood. The green tea was manufactured in a manner more destructive +to the constitution of those by whom it was drank. The leaves, being +pressed and dried, were laid upon sheets of copper, where they received +their colour from an article known by the name of Dutch pink. The +article used in producing the appearance of the fine green bloom, +observable on the China tea, was, however, decidedly a dead poison! He +alluded to verdigris, which was added to the Dutch pink in order to +complete the operation. This was the case which he had to bring before +the jury; and hence it would appear, that, at the moment they were +supposing they were drinking a pleasant and nutritious beverage, they +were, in fact, in all probability, drinking the produce of the hedges +round the metropolis, prepared for the purposes of deception in the most +noxious manner. He trusted he should be enabled to trace to the +possession of the defendant eighty pounds weight of the commodity he had +been describing. + +Thomas Jones deposed, that he knew Proctor, and was employed by him at +the latter end of April, 1817, to gather black and white thorn leaves. +Sloe leaves were the black thorn. Witness also knew John Malins, the son +of William Malins, a coffee-roaster; he did not at first know the +purpose for which the leaves were gathered, but afterwards learnt they +were to make imitation tea. Witness did not gather more than one hundred +and a half weight of these leaves; but he employed another person, of +the name of John Bagster, to gather them. He had two-pence per pound for +them. They were first boiled, and the water squeezed from them in a +press. They were afterwards placed over a slow-fire upon sheets of +copper to dry; while on the copper they were rubbed with the hand to +curl them. At the time of boiling there was a little _verdigris_ put +into the water (this applied to green tea only.) After the leaves were +dried, they were sifted, to separate the thorns and stalks. After they +were sifted, more verdigris and some Dutch pink were added. The +verdigris gave the leaves that green bloom observable on genuine tea. + +The black tea went through a similar course as the green, except the +application of Dutch pink: a little verdigris was put in the boiling, +and to this was added a small quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus +the manufacture was complete. The drying operation took place on sheets +of iron. Witness knew the defendant, Edward Palmer; he took some of the +mixture he had been describing, to his shop. The first time he took some +was in May, 1817. In the course of that month, or the beginning of June, +he took four or five seven-pound parcels; when he took it there, it was +taken up to the top of the house. Witness afterwards carried some to +Russell-street, which was taken to the top of the house, about one +hundred weight and three quarters; from this quantity he carried +fifty-three pounds weight to the house of the defendant's porter, by the +desire of Mr. Malins; it was in paper parcels of seven pounds each. + +John Bagster proved that he had been employed by Malins and Proctor, to +gather sloe and white-thorn leaves: they were taken to Jones's house, +and from thence to Malins' coffee-roasting premises; witness received +two-pence per pound for them; he saw the manufacturing going on, but did +not know much about it: witness saw the leaves on sheets of copper, in +Goldstone-street. + +This was the case for the Crown.--Verdict for the Crown, 840_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against John Prentice._--This was an information +similar to the last, in which the defendant submitted to a verdict for +the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against Lawson Holmes._--In this case the +defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against John Orkney._--Thomas Jones proved that +the defendant was a grocer, and in the month of May last he carried to +his shop seven pounds of imitation tea, by the order of John Malins, +for which he received the money, viz. 15_s._ 9_d._ or 2_s._ 3_d._ per +pound. + +The jury found a verdict for the Crown.--Penalties 70_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against James Gray._--The defendant submitted to a +verdict for the Crown.--Penalties 120_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against H. Gilbert, and Powel._--These defendants +submitted to a verdict.--Penalties 140_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against William Clarke._--This defendant also +submitted to a verdict for the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against George David Bellis._--This defendant +submitted to a verdict for the Crown. + +_The Attorney-General against John Horner._--The defendant in this case +was a grocer; it was proved by Jones that he received twenty pounds of +imitation tea.--Verdict for the Crown.--Penalties 210_l._ + +_The Attorney-General against William Dowling._--This was a grocer. +Jones proved that he delivered seven pounds of imitation tea at Mr. +Dowling's house, and received the money for it, namely 15_s._ +9_d._--Penalties 70_l._ + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA. + +The adulteration of tea may be evinced by comparing the botanical +characters of the leaves of the two respective trees, and by submitting +them to the action of a few chemical tests. + +The shape of the tea-leaf is slender and narrow, as shewn in this +sketch, the edges are deeply serrated, and the end or extremity is +acutely pointed. The texture of the leaf is very delicate, its surface +smooth and glossy, and its colour is a lively pale green. + +[Illustration] + +The sloe-leaf (and also the white-thorn leaf,) as shewn in this sketch, +is more rounded, and the leaf is obtusely pointed. The serratures or +jags on the edges are not so deep, the surface of the leaf is more +uneven, the texture not so delicate, and the colour is a dark olive +green. + +[Illustration] + +These characters of course can be observed only after the dried leaves +have been suffered to macerate in water for about twenty-four hours. + +The leaves of some sorts of tea may differ in size, but the shape is the +same in all of them; because all the different kinds of tea imported +from China, are the produce of one species of plant, and the difference +between the green and souchong, or black tea, depends chiefly upon the +climate, soil, culture, age, and mode of drying the leaves. + +Spurious black tea,[86] slightly moistened, when rubbed on a sheet of +white paper, immediately produces a blueish-black stain; and speedily +affords, when thrown into cold water, a blueish-black tincture, which +instantly becomes reddened by letting fall into it, a drop or two of +sulphuric acid. + +Two ounces of the suspected leaves, should be infused in half-a-pint of +cold, soft water, and suffered to stand for about an hour. Genuine tea +produces an amber-coloured infusion, which does not become reddened by +sulphuric acid. + +All the samples of spurious green tea (nineteen in number) which I have +examined, were coloured with carbonate of copper (a poisonous +substance,) and not by means of verdigris, or copperas.[87] The latter +substances would instantly turn the tea black; because both these +metallic salts being soluble in water, are acted on by the astringent +matter of the leaves, whether genuine or spurious, and convert the +infusion into ink. + +Tea, rendered poisonous by carbonate of copper, speedily imparts to +liquid ammonia a fine sapphire blue tinge. It is only necessary to shake +up in a stopped vial, for a few minutes, a tea-spoonful of the suspected +leaves, with about two table-spoonsful of liquid ammonia, diluted with +half its bulk of water. The supernatant liquid will exhibit a fine blue +colour, if the minutest quantity of copper be present. + +Green tea, coloured with carbonate of copper, when thrown into water +impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, immediately acquires a black +colour. Genuine green tea suffers no change from the action of these +tests. + +The presence of copper may be further rendered obvious, by mixing one +part of the suspected tea-leaves, reduced to powder, with two or three +parts of nitrate of potash, (or with two parts of chlorate of potash,) +and projecting this mixture by small portions at a time, into a platina, +or porcelain-ware crucible, kept red-hot in a coal fire; the whole +vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thus become destroyed, and the +oxide of copper left behind, in combination with the potash, of the +nitrate of potash (or salt-petre,) or with the muriate of potash, if +chlorate of potash has been employed. + +If water, acidulated with nitric acid, be then poured into the crucible +to dissolve the mass, the presence of the copper may be rendered +manifest by adding to the solution, liquid ammonia, in such quantity +that the pungent odour of it predominates. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[85] Also, 2 Geo. I, c. 30, Sec. 5; and 4 Geo. II, c. 14, Sec. 11. + +[86] The examination of twenty-seven samples of imitation tea of +different qualities, from the most costly, to the most common, which it +fell to my lot to undertake, induces me to point out the marks of +sophistications here detailed, as the most simple and expeditious. + +[87] Mr. Twining, an eminent tea-merchant, asserts, that "the leaves of +spurious tea are boiled in a copper, with copperas and sheep's +dung."--See Encyclop. Britan. vol. xviii. p. 331. 1797. See also the +History of the Tea Plant, p. 48; and p. 167 of this Treatise. + + + + +_Counterfeit Coffee._ + + +The fraud of counterfeiting ground coffee by means of pigeon's beans and +pease, is another subject which, not long ago, arrested the attention of +the public: and from the numerous convictions of grocers prosecuted for +the offence, it is evident that this practice has been carried on for a +long time, and to a considerable extent. + +The following statement exhibits some of the prosecutions, instituted by +the Solicitor of the Excise, against persons convicted of the fraud of +manufacturing spurious, and adulterating genuine coffee. + +Alexander Brady, a grocer, (_See p. 182_) prosecuted and convicted of +selling _sham-coffee_, said, "I have sold it for twenty years." Some of +the persons prosecuted by the Solicitor of the Excise for this fraud, we +might, at first sight, be inclined to believe, were inconscious that the +adulterating of genuine coffee with spurious substances was illegal; but +this ignorance affords no excuse, as the Act of the 43 Geo. III. cap. +129, explicitly states: "If after the first day of September, 1803, any +burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other grain, or vegetable +substance or substances prepared or manufactured for the purpose of +being in imitation of or in any respect to resemble coffee or cocoa, or +to serve as a substitute for coffee or cocoa, or alleged or pretended by +the possessor or vender thereof so to be, _shall be made_, or kept for +sale, or shall be _offered_ or _exposed to sale_, or shall be _found_ in +the custody or possession of any _dealer_ or dealers in or _seller_ or +sellers of _coffee_, or if any burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, +or other grain, or vegetable substance or substances not being coffee, +shall be called by the preparer, manufacturer, possessor, or vender +thereof, by the name of _English_ or _British_ coffee, or _any other +name_ of coffee, or by the name of _American_ cocoa, or _English_ or +_British_ cocoa, or any other name of cocoa, the same respectively shall +be forfeited, together with the packages containing the same, and shall +and may be seized by any officer or officers of Excise; and the person +or persons preparing, manufacturing, or selling the same, or having the +same in his, her, or their custody or possession, or the dealer or +dealers in or seller or sellers of coffee or cocoa, in whose custody +the same shall be found, shall forfeit and lose the sum of one hundred +pounds." + +_The Attorney-General against William Malins._--This was an information +filed by the Attorney-General against the defendant, charging him, he +being a dealer in coffee, with having in his possession a large quantity +of imitation coffee, made from scorched pease and beans, resembling +coffee, and intended to be sold as such, contrary to the statute of the +43d of the King, whereby he became liable to pay a fine of 100_l._ + +J. Lawes deposed that he had lived servant with the defendant; he +constantly roasted pease and beans, and ground them into powder. When so +ground, the powder very much resembled coffee. Sometimes the sweepings +of the coffee were thrown in among the pease and beans. Witness carried +out this powder to several grocers in different parts of the town. + +Thomas Jones lived with the defendant. His occupation was roasting and +grinding pease and beans. They looked, when ground, the same as coffee. +Witness had seen Mr. John Malins sweep up the refuse coffee, and mix it +with the pease and beans. He had taken out this mixture to grocers. + +J. Richardson, an excise-officer, deposed, that, in December 1817, he +went to the premises of the defendant, and there seized four sacks, five +tubs, and nine pounds in paper, of a powder made to resemble coffee. The +quantity ground was 1,567 pounds; it had all the appearance of coffee; +and a little coffee being mixed with it, any common person might be +deceived. He also seized two sacks, containing 279 pounds of whole pease +and beans roasted. Among the latter were some grains of coffee. The +witness here produced samples of the articles seized. + +John Lawes deposed, that the articles exhibited were such as he was in +the habit of manufacturing while in Mr. Malins' employment. + +The jury found a verdict for the Crown.--Penalty 100_l._ + +_The King against Chaloner._--Mr. Chaloner, a dealer in tea and coffee, +was charged on the oaths of Charles Henry Lord and John Pearson, both +Excise officers, with having in his possession, on the 17th of March, +nine pounds of spurious coffee, consisting of burnt pease, beans, and +gravel or sand, and a portion of coffee, and with selling some of the +same; also with having in his possession seventeen pounds of vegetable +powder, and an article imitating coffee, which contained not a particle +of genuine coffee. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 90_l._ + +_The King against Peether._--This was an information against Mr. Thomas +Peether, tea and coffee dealer, charging him with having in his +possession a quantity of imitation coffee (or vegetable powder) on the +25th of April last. + +The case being proved by the evidence of several witnesses, the +defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Topping._--This was an information against Mr. John +Lewis Topping, a dealer in tea and coffee, charging him with having +thirty-seven pounds of vegetable powder in his possession. The article +seized was produced to the commissioners of the Excise. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Samuel Hallett._--The defendant, Hallett, a grocer and +dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having seven pounds of +imitation coffee in his possession. + +Charles Henry Lord, an officer of the Excise, being sworn, stated, that +he and Spencer, an officer, went, on the 28th of February last, to the +shop of the defendant, and asked for an ounce of coffee, at three +halfpence per ounce. He received the same, and having paid for it, left +the shop. He examined the article, and found it was part coffee, and +part imitation coffee, or what the defendant called vegetable powder, +which is nothing more nor less than burnt pease and beans ground in a +mill. + +Spencer, the officer of the Excise, corroborated the above evidence, and +stated, that the sham-coffee seized at the defendant's house was shown +to Mr. Joseph Hubbard, grocer, and tea and coffee dealer, in +High-street, in the Borough of Southwark. + +Mr. Hubbard being sworn, stated, that he had examined the sham-coffee +seized by the officers in the defendant's shop. The one ounce purchased +by Lord, he knew to be nothing else than black pigeon's beans; there was +no coffee amongst it. + +The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Fox._--Mr. Edward Fox, grocer, and dealer in tea and +coffee, was charged with having a large quantity of sham-coffee in his +possession, and with selling the same for genuine coffee. + +Henry Spencer, an officer of the Excise, stated, that on the 21st of +February he and Lord, another officer, went to the defendant's shop and +purchased an ounce of coffee, for which he paid three halfpence. They +examined it, and he was satisfied it was not genuine coffee; they +purchased another ounce (which he produced to the commissioners of the +Excise, who examined it); they were convinced it consisted partly of +coffee and beans and pease. + +The defendant, in his defence said, that the poor people wanted a +low-price article; and by mixing the vegetable powder and coffee +together, he was able to sell it at three halfpence an ounce; he had +sold it for years; he did it as a matter of accommodation to the poor, +who could not give a higher price; he did not sell it for genuine +coffee. + +_Commissioner._--"Then you have been defrauding the public for many +years, and injuring the revenue by your illicit practices: the poor have +an equal right to be supplied with as genuine an article as the rich." + +He was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Brady._--The defendant, Mr. Alexander Brady, grocer, +and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having, on the 28th of +February last, in his possession eighteen pounds of sham-coffee, and +selling the same for genuine coffee. + +Lord and Pearson, Excise officers, stated, that they purchased an ounce +of coffee of the defendant, on the 28th of February, and upon examining +it they discovered that it was made up of pease and beans, ground with a +small quantity of coffee. They also found eighteen pounds of vegetable +powder mixed with coffee, in a state prepared for sale, wrapped in +papers. + +One of the commissioners tasted some of the eighteen pounds of +sham-coffee produced by the officers, and declared that it was a most +infamous stuff, and unfit for human food. + +_Defendant._--"Why, I have sold it for twenty years." + +_Commissioner._--"Then you have been for twenty years acting most +dishonestly, defrauding the revenue; and the health of the poor must +have suffered very much by taking such an unwholesome article. Your +having dealt in this article so long aggravates your case; you have for +twenty years been selling burnt beans and pease for genuine coffee.--You +are convicted in the penalty of 50_l._" + +_The King against Bowser._--The excise officers stated, that on the 28th +of February they went to his shop: he was a grocer, dealer in tea and +coffee; they seized seven pounds and a half of vegetable powder, which +contained very little coffee, if any; and also a quarter of a pound of +coffee mixed with vegetable powder. + +The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, and prayed the court to +mitigate the penalty. He was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ + +_The King against Thomas Owen._--The defendant, an extensive dealer in +tea and coffee, appeared to an information charging him with having in +his possession, and selling, a quantity of deleterious ingredients, and +mixing them with coffee. + +Charles Henry Lord deposed, that on the 26th of February, he found, at +the shop of the defendant, nineteen pounds of a composition consisting +of beans and pease ground, and prepared so as to imitate coffee. He also +discovered two pounds and a half of a mixture of coffee and vegetable +powder. On the same day he proceeded to another shop of the defendant, +and he there found five pounds more of the same stuff. + +Samples of the composition, in its mixed and unmixed state, were +produced. + +Mr. Lawes addressed the commissioners on behalf of the defendant, in +mitigation of punishment; for he did not mean to deny the offence. His +client was a very young man, and had been most unfortunate in business. +He was not aware until lately of the existence of any law by which it +could be punished. + +The Commissioners observed, that they had a double duty to perform, +namely, to protect the revenue from fraud, and to prevent the public +from being imposed upon and injured by ingredients served to them +instead of the food they intended to purchase. The fraud upon the +revenue was, in the estimation of the court, the least part of the +offence. Under all the circumstances, however, the court was inclined to +be lenient to the defendant. + +He was convicted in the penalty of 50_l._ for each quantity of +sham-coffee. + +Mr. Greely and Mr. William Dando were fined 20_l._ each; and Mr. Hirling +and Mr. Terry were fined 90_l._ each for selling spurious coffee. + +The adulteration of ground coffee, with pease and beans, is beyond the +reach of chemical analysis; but it may, perhaps, not be amiss on this +occasion to give to our readers a piece of advice given by a retired +grocer to a friend, at no distant period:--"Never, my good fellow," he +said, "purchase from a grocer any thing which passes through his mill. +You know not what you get instead of the article you expect to +receive--coffee, pepper, and all-spice, are all mixed with substances +which detract from their own natural qualities."--Persons keeping mills +of their own can at all times prevent these impositions. + + + + +_Adulteration of Brandy, Rum, and Gin._ + + +By the Excise laws at present existing in this country, the various +degrees of strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, whiskey, and other +spiritous liquors, chiefly composed of little else than spirit of wine, +are determined by the quantity of alcohol of a given specific gravity +contained in the spiritous liquors of a supposed unknown strength. The +great public importance of this subject in this country, where the +consumption of spiritous liquors adds a vast sum to the public revenue, +has been the means of instituting many very interesting series of +experiments on this subject. The instrument used for that purpose by the +Customs and officers of Excise, is called _Sikes_'s hydrometer,[88] +which has now superseded the instrument called _Clark_'s hydrometer, +heretofore in use. + +The specific gravity or strength of the legal standard spirit of the +Excise, is technically called _proof_ or _proof spirit_. "This liquor +(not being spirit sweetened, or having any ingredient dissolved in it, +to defeat the strength thereof,) at the temperature of 57 deg. Faht. weighs +exactly 12/13th parts of an equal measure of distilled water;" and with +this spirit the strength of all other spiritous liquors are compared +according to law. + +The strength of spirit stronger than _proof_ or _over proof_, as it is +termed by the revenue officers, is indicated by the bulk of water +necessary to reduce a given volume of it, to the legal standard spirit, +denominated _proof_--namely; if one gallon of water be required to bring +twenty gallons of brandy, rum, or any other spirit, to proof, that +spirit is said to be _1 to 20 over proof_. If one gallon of water be +required to bring 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor to _proof_, it +is said to be 1 to 15, 1 to 10, 1 to 5, and 1 to 2, _over proof_. + +The strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, or other spiritous liquors, +weaker than _proof_, or under _proof_, is estimated by the quantity of +water which would be necessary to abstract or bring the spirit up to +proof. + +Thus, if from twenty gallons of brandy one gallon of water must be +abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 20 under proof. +If from 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor, 1 gallon of water must be +abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 15, 1 in 10, 1 in +5, and 1 in 2 under proof. + +It is necessary to understand this absurd language, which is in use +amongst the officers of Excise and dealers in spirit, in order to know +what is meant in commerce by the strength of spiritous liquors of +different denominations. And hence, for the business of the exciseman, a +table has been constructed, expressing the strength or specific gravity +of mixtures of different proportions of spirit and water, at different +degrees of temperature; and according to this table the duty on spirit +is now levied. + +Brandy and rum is seizable, if sold by, or found in the possession of, +the dealer, unless it possesses a certain strength.[89] The following +are the words of the Act: + +"No distiller, rectifier,[90] compounder or dealer, shall serve or send +out any foreign spirits, of a lower strength than that of 1 in 6 under +hydrometer proof,[91] nor have in his possession any foreign spirits +mixed together, except shrub, cherry or raspberry brandy, of lower +strength than as aforesaid, upon pain of such spirits being forfeited; +and such spirits, with the casks and vessels containing the same, may be +seized by any officer of Excise." + +We have, therefore, a ready check against the frauds of the dishonest +dealers, in spiritous liquors. If the spirit merchant engages to deliver +a liquor of a certain strength, the hydrometer is by far the most easy +and expeditious check that can be adopted to guard against frauds of +receiving a weaker liquor for a stronger one; and to those individuals +who are in the habit of purchasing large quantities of brandy, rum, or +other spiritous liquors, the hydrometer renders the greatest service. +For it is by no means an uncommon occurrence to meet with brandy, rum, +and other spiritous liquors, of a specific gravity very much below the +pretended strength which the liquor ought to possess. + +The following advice, given to his readers,[92] by the author of a +Treatise on Brewing and Distilling, may serve to put the unwary on their +guard against some of the frauds practised by mercenary dealers. + +"It is a custom among retailing distillers, which I have not taken +notice of in this directory, to put one-third or one-fourth part of +proof molasses brandy, proportionably, to what rum they dispose of; +which cannot be distinguished, but by an extraordinary palate, and does +not at all lessen the body or proof of the goods; but makes them about +two shillings a gallon cheaper; and must be well mixed and incorporated +together in your retailing cask; but you should keep some of the best +rum, not adulterated, to please some customers, whose judgment and +palate must be humoured." + +"When you are to draw a sample of goods to shew a person that has +judgment in the proof, do not draw your goods into a phial to be tasted, +or make experiment of the strength thereof that way, because the proof +will not hold except the goods be exceedingly strong; but draw the +pattern of goods rather into a glass from the cock, to run very small, +or rather draw off a small quantity into a little pewter pot and pour it +into your glass, extending your pot as high above the glasses as you can +without wasting it, which makes the goods carry a better head +abundantly, than if the same goods were to be put and tried in a phial." + +"You must be so prudent as to make a distinction of the persons you have +to deal with; what goods you sell to gentlemen for their own use, who +require a great deal of attendance, and as much for time of payment, you +must take a considerably greater price than of others; what goods you +sell to persons where you believe there is a manifest, or at least some +hazard of your money, you may safely sell for more than common profit; +what goods you sell to the poor, especially medicinally, (as many of +your goods are sanative,) be as compassionate as the cases require." + +"All brandies, whether French, Spanish, or English; being proof goods, +will admit of one point of _liquor_[93] to each gallon, to be made up +and incorporated therewith in your cask, for retail, or selling smaller +quantities; and all persons that insist upon having proof goods, which +not one in twenty understands, you must supply out of what goods are not +so reduced, though at a higher price." + +Such is the advice given by Mr. Shannon. + +The mode of judging by the taste of spiritous liquors is deceitful. A +false strength is given to a weak liquor, by infusing in it acrid +vegetable substances, or by adding to it a tincture of grains of +paradise and Guinea pepper. These substances impart to weak brandy or +rum, an extremely hot and pungent taste. + +Brandy and rum is also frequently sophisticated with British molasses, +or sugar-spirit, coloured with burnt sugar. + +The flavour which characterises French brandy, and which is owing to a +small portion of a peculiar essential oil contained in it, is imitated +by distilling British molasses-spirit over wine lees;[94] but the +spirit, prior to being distilled over wine lees, is previously +deprived, in part, of its peculiar disagreeable flavour, by +rectification over fresh burnt charcoal and quick-lime. Other +brandy-merchants employ a spirit obtained from raisin wine, which is +suffered to pass into an incipient ascescency. The spirit thus procured +partakes strongly of the flavour which is characteristic to foreign +brandy. + +Oak saw-dust, and a spiritous tincture of raisin stones, are likewise +used to impart to new brandy and rum a _ripe taste_, resembling brandy +or rum long kept in oaken casks, and a somewhat oily consistence, so as +to form a durable froth at its surface, when strongly agitated in a +vial. The colouring substances are burnt sugar, or molasses; the latter +gives to imitative brandy a luscious taste, and fulness _in the mouth_. +These properties are said to render it particularly fit for the retail +London customers. + +The following is the method of compounding or _making up_, as it is +technically called, _brandy_[95] for retail: + + Gallons + "To ten puncheons of brandy 1081 + Add flavoured raisin spirit 118 + Tincture of grains of paradise 4 + Cherry laurel water 2 + Spirit of almond cakes 2 + ------- + 1207 + +"Add also 10 handfuls of oak saw-dust; and give it _complexion_ with +burnt sugar." + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF BRANDY, RUM, AND MALT SPIRIT. + +The false strength of brandy or rum is rendered obvious by diluting the +suspected liquor with water; the acrimony of the capsicum, and grains of +paradise, or pepper, may then be readily discovered by the taste. + +The adulteration of brandy with British molasses, or sugar-spirit, +becomes evident by rubbing a portion of the suspected brandy between +the palms of the hands; the spirit, as it evaporates, leaves the +disagreeable flavour which is peculiar to all British spirits. Or the +liquor may be deprived of its alcohol, by heating a portion in a spoon +over a candle, till the vapour ceases to catch fire on the approach of a +lighted taper. The residue thus obtained, of genuine French brandy, +possesses a vinous odour, still resembling the original flavour of the +brandy, whilst the residue, produced from sophisticated brandy, has a +peculiarly disagreeable smell, resembling gin, or the breath of habitual +drunkards. + +Arrack is coarsely imitated by adding to rum a small quantity of +pyroligneous acid and some flowers (acid) of benzoe. The compound thus +produced, however, must be pronounced a bad one. The author of a very +popular Cookery Book,[96] directs two scruples of benzoic acid to be +dissolved in one quart of rum, to make "_mock arrack_." + + +MALT SPIRIT. + +Malt spirit, or gin, the favourite liquor of the lower order of people, +which is characterised by the peculiar flavour of juniper berries, over +which the raw spirit is distilled, is usually obtained from a mixture of +malt and barley: sometimes both molasses and corn are employed, +particularly if there be a scarcity of grain. But the flavour of +whiskey, which is made from barley and oats, is owing to the malted +grain being dried with peat, the smoke of which gives it the +characteristic taste. + +The malt distiller is not allowed to furnish, under a heavy penalty, any +crude or raw spirit to the rectifier or manufacturer of gin, of a +greater strength than seven per cent. over proof. The rectifier who +receives the spirit from the malt distiller is not allowed, under a +certain penalty, to sweeten the liquor with sugar or other substances; +nor is he permitted to send out the spirit to his customers but of a +certain strength, as is obvious from the following words of the Act: + +"No rectifier or compounder shall sell or send out any British brandy, +British rectified spirits, British compounds, or other British spirits, +of greater strength than that of one in five under hydrometer proof[97]: +and if he shall sell and send out any such spirits of a greater strength +than that of one in five under hydrometer proof, such spirits, with the +casks or vessels containing the same, shall be forfeited, and may be +seized by any officer of Excise; and he shall also forfeit treble the +value of such spirit, or 50_l._ at the election of the King's +attorney-general, or the person who shall sue for the same; the single +value of such spirits to be estimated at the highest London Price.[98]" + +If we examine gin, as retailed, we shall soon be convinced that it is a +custom, pretty prevalent amongst dealers, to weaken this liquor +considerably with water, and to sweeten it with sugar. This fraud may +readily be detected by evaporating a quantity of the liquor in a +table-spoon over a candle, to dryness; the sugar will thus be rendered +obvious, in the form of a gum-like substance, when the spirit is +volatilised. + +One hundred and twenty gallons of genuine gin, as obtained from the +wholesale manufactories, are usually _made up_ by fraudulent retailers, +into a saleable commodity, with fourteen gallons of water and twenty-six +pounds of sugar. Now this dilution of the liquor produces a turbidness; +because the oil of juniper and other flavouring substances which the +spirit holds in solution, become precipitated by virtue of the water, +and thus cause the liquor to assume an opaline colour: and the spirit +thus weakened, cannot readily be rendered clear again by subsidence. +Several expedients are had recourse to, to clarify the liquor in an +expeditious manner; some of which are harmless; others are criminal, +because they render the liquor poisonous. + +One of the methods, which is innocent, consists in adding to the +weakened liquor, first, a portion of alum dissolved in water, and then a +solution of sub-carbonate of potash. The whole is stirred together, and +left undisturbed for twenty-four hours. The precipitated alumine thus +produced from the alum, by virtue of the sub-carbonate of potash, acts +as a strainer upon the milky liquor, and carries down with it the finely +divided oily matter which produced the blue colour of the diluted +liquor. Roach, or Roman alum, is also employed, without any other +addition, for clarifying spiritous liquors. + + +"_To reduce unsweetened Gin._[99] + + "A tun of fine gin 252 gallons + "Water 36 + ----- + "Which added together make 288 gallons + + "The _doctor is now put_ on, + and it is further reduced + with water 19 + ----- + "Which gives Total 307 gallons of gin. + +"This done, let 1 lb. of alum be just covered with water, and dissolved +by boiling; rummage the whole well together, and pour in the alum, and +the whole will be fine in a few hours." + + +"_To prepare and sweeten British Gin._[100] + +"Get from your distiller an empty puncheon or cask, which will contain +about 133 gallons. Then take a cask of clear rectified spirits, 120 +gallons, of the usual strength as rectifiers sell their goods at, put +the 120 gallons of spirits into your empty cask. + +"Then take a quarter of an ounce of oil of vitriol, half an ounce of +oil of almonds, a quarter of an ounce of oil of turpentine, one ounce of +oil of juniper berries, half a pint of spirit of wine, and half a pound +of lump sugar. Beat or rub the above in a mortar. When well rubbed +together, have ready prepared half a gallon of lime water, one gallon of +rose water; mix the whole in either a pail, or cask, with a stick, till +every particle shall be dissolved; then add to the foregoing, +twenty-five pounds of sugar dissolved in about nine gallons of rain or +Thames water, or water that has been boiled, mix the whole well +together, and stir them carefully with a stick in the 133 gallons cask. + +"To _force down_ the same, take and boil eight ounces of alum in three +quarts of water, for three quarters of an hour; take it from the fire, +and dissolve by degrees six or seven ounces of salt of tartar. When the +same is milk-warm pour it into your gin, and stir it well together, as +before, for five minutes, the same as you would a butt of beer newly +fined. Let your cask stand as you mean to draw it. At every time you +purpose to sweeten again, that cask must be well washed out; and take +great care never to shake your cask all the while it is drawing." + +Another method of fining spiritous liquors, consists in adding to it, +first, a solution of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solution of alum. +This practice is highly dangerous, because part of the sulphate of lead +produced, remains dissolved in the liquor, which it thus renders +poisonous. Unfortunately, this method of clarifying spiritous liquors, I +have good reason to believe, is more frequently practised than the +preceding method, because its action is more rapid; and it imparts to +the liquor a fine _complexion_, or great refractive power; hence some +vestiges of lead may often be detected in malt spirit. + +The weakened spirit is then sweetened with sugar, and, to cover the raw +taste of the malt spirit, _false strength_ is given to it with grains of +paradise, Guinea pepper, capsicum, and other acrid and aromatic +substances. + + +METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF LEAD IN SPIRITOUS LIQUORS. + +The presence of lead may be detected in spiritous liquors, as stated on +pages 70 and 86. The cordial called shrub frequently exhibits vestiges +of copper. This contamination, I have been informed, is accidental, and +originates from the metallic vessels employed in the manufacture of the +liquor. + + +METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF ALCOHOL IN DIFFERENT KINDS OF +SPIRITOUS LIQUORS. + +The quantity of real alcohol in any spiritous liquors may readily be +ascertained by simple distillation, which process separates the alcohol +from the water and foreign matters contained in the liquor. Put any +quantity of brandy, rum, or malt spirit diluted with about one-fourth +its bulk of water, into a retort fitted to a capacious receiver, and +distil with a gentle heat. The strongest spirit distils over first into +the receiver, and the strength of the obtained products decreases, till +at last it contains so much water as no longer to be inflammable by the +approach of a lighted taper, when held in a spoon over a candle (see p. +160.) If the process be continued, the distilled product becomes milky, +scarcely spiritous to the smell, and of an acidulous taste. The +distilling operation may then be discontinued. If the first, fourth or +third part of the distilled product has been set apart, it will be +found a moderately strong alcohol, and the remainder one more diluted. +If the whole distilled spirit be mixed with perfectly dry subcarbonate +of potash, the alcohol will float at the top of the potash, as stated, +p. 161; it will separate into two distinct fluids. If the decanted +alcohol be redistilled carefully with a very gentle heat, over a small +portion of dry quick lime, or muriate of lime, it will be obtained +extremely pure, and of a specific gravity of about 825, at 60 deg. of +temperature. Its flavour will vary according to the kind of spiritous +liquor from which it is obtained. + + +_Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Alcohol (of 825 specific gravity) +contained in various kinds of spiritous Liquors._[101] + + Proportion of + Alcohol per Cent. + by Measure. + +Brandy, Cogniac, average proportion of 4 samples 52,75 +Ditto, Bourdeaux, ditto ditto 54,50 +Ditto, Cette 53,00 +Ditto, Naples, average of 3 samples 53,25 +Ditto, Spanish average of 6 samples 52,28 +Rum 53,68 +Ditto, Leeward, average of 9 samples 53,00 +Scotch Whiskey, average of 6 samples 53,50 +Irish Ditto, average of 4 samples 54,25 +Arrack, Batavia 49,50 +Dutch Geneva 52,25 +Gin (Hodges's,[102]) 3 samples, procured from retail dealers 48,25 +Ditto (Ditto,)[102] procured from the manufacturer 52,35 + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[88] George III. c. xxviii. May 1818--"An Act for establishing the use +of Sikes's hydrometer in ascertaining the strength of spirit, instead of +Clark's hydrometer." + +[89] Sixteen and a half per cent. proof, according to Sikes's +hydrometer. + +[90] 30 Geo. III c. 37, Sec. 31. + +[91] According to Clarke's hydrometer. + +[92] Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing +and Distilling, p. 167; and Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 232, +233. + +[93] Water. + +[94] This operation forms part of the business of the so-called brewers' +druggists. It forms the article in their Price Currents, called _Spirit +Flavour_. + +Wine lees are imported in this country for that purpose: they pay the +same duty as foreign wines. + +[95] Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing +and Distilling, p. 167. + +[96] Apicius Redivivus, 2d edition, p. 480. + +[97] Clark's hydrometer. + +[98] 30 Geo. III. c. 37, Sec. 6. + +[99] Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 198. + +[100] Ibid. p. 199. + +[101] Repository of Arts, p. 350, Dec. 1819. + +[102] Own experiment. + + + + +_Poisonous Cheese._ + + +Several instances have come under my notice in which Gloucester cheese +has been contaminated with red lead, and has produced serious +consequences on being taken into the stomach. In one poisonous sample +which it fell to my lot to investigate, the evil had been caused by the +sophistication of the anotta, employed for colouring cheese. This +substance was found to contain a portion of red lead; a method of +sophistication which has lately been confirmed by the following fact, +communicated to the public by Mr. J. W. Wright, of Cambridge.[103] + +"As a striking example of the extent to which adulterated articles of +food may be unconsciously diffused, and of the consequent difficulty of +detecting the real fabricators of them, it may not be uninteresting to +relate to your readers, the various steps by which the fraud of a +poisonous adulteration of cheese was traced to its source. + +"Your readers ought here to be told, that several instances are on +record, that Gloucester and other cheeses have been found contaminated +with red lead, and that this contamination has produced serious +consequences. In the instance now alluded to, and probably in all other +cases, the deleterious mixture had been caused ignorantly, by the +adulteration of the anotta employed for colouring the cheese. This +substance, in the instance I shall relate, was found to contain a +portion of red lead; a species of adulteration which subsequent +experiments have shewn to be by no means uncommon. Before I proceed +further to trace this fraud to its source, I shall briefly relate the +circumstance which gave rise to its detection. + +"A gentleman, who had occasion to reside for some time in a city in the +West of England, was one night seized with a distressing but +indescribable pain in the region of the abdomen and of the stomach, +accompanied with a feeling of tension, which occasioned much +restlessness, anxiety, and repugnance to food. He began to apprehend the +access of an inflammatory disorder; but in twenty-four hours the +symptoms entirely subsided. In four days afterwards he experienced an +attack precisely similar; and he then recollected, that having, on both +occasions, arrived from the country late in the evening, he had ordered +a plate of toasted Gloucester cheese, of which he had partaken heartily; +a dish which, when at home, regularly served him for supper. He +attributed his illness to the cheese. The circumstance was mentioned to +the mistress of the inn, who expressed great surprise, as the cheese in +question was not purchased from a country dealer, but from a highly +respectable shop in London. He, therefore, ascribed the before-mentioned +effects to some peculiarity in his constitution. A few days afterwards +he partook of the same cheese; and he had scarcely retired to rest, when +a most violent cholic seized him, which lasted the whole night and part +of the ensuing day. The cook was now directed henceforth not to serve up +any toasted cheese, and he never again experienced these distressing +symptoms. Whilst this matter was a subject of conversation in the house, +a servant-maid mentioned that a kitten had been violently sick after +having eaten the rind cut off from the cheese prepared for the +gentleman's supper. The landlady, in consequence of this statement, +ordered the cheese to be examined by a chemist in the vicinity, who +returned for answer, that the cheese was contaminated with lead! So +unexpected an answer arrested general attention, and more particularly +as the suspected cheese had been served up for several other customers. + +"Application was therefore made by the London dealer to the farmer who +manufactured the cheese: he declared that he had bought the anotta of a +mercantile traveller, who had supplied him and his neighbours for years +with that commodity, without giving occasion to a single complaint. On +subsequent inquiries, through a circuitous channel, unnecessary to be +detailed here at length, on the part of the manufacturer of the cheese, +it was found, that as the supplies of anotta had been defective and of +inferior quality, recourse had been had to the expedient of colouring +the commodity with vermilion. Even this admixture could not be +considered deleterious. But on further application being made to the +druggist who sold the article, the answer was, that the vermilion had +been mixed with a portion of red lead; and the deception was held to be +perfectly innocent, as frequently practised on the supposition, that +the vermilion would be used only as a pigment for house-painting. Thus +the druggist sold his vermilion in the regular way of trade, adulterated +with red lead to increase his profit, without any suspicion of the use +to which it would be applied; and the purchaser who adulterated the +anotta, presuming that the vermilion was genuine, had no hesitation in +heightening the colour of his spurious anotta with so harmless an +adjunct. Thus, through the circuitous and diversified operations of +commerce, a portion of deadly poison may find admission into the +necessaries of life, in a way which can attach no criminality to the +parties through whose hands it has successively passed." + +This dangerous sophistication may be detected by macerating a portion of +the suspected cheese in water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, +acidulated with muriatic acid; which will instantly cause the cheese to +assume a brown or black colour, if the minutest portion of lead be +present. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[103] Repository of Arts, vol. viii. No. 47, p. 262. + + + + +_Counterfeit Pepper._ + + +Black pepper is the fruit of a shrubby creeping plant, which grows wild +in the East Indies, and is cultivated, with much advantage, for the sake +of its berries, in Java and Malabar. The berries are gathered before +they are ripe, and are dried in the sun. They become black and +corrugated on the surface. + +This factitious pepper-corns have of late been detected mixed with +genuine pepper, is a fact sufficiently known.[104] Such an adulteration +may prove, in many instances of household economy, exceedingly vexatious +and prejudicial to those who ignorantly make use of the spurious +article. I have examined large packages of both black and white pepper, +by order of the Excise, and have found them to contain about 16 per +cent. of this artificial compound. The spurious pepper is made up of +oil cakes (the residue of lintseed, from which the oil has been +pressed,) common clay, and a portion of Cayenne pepper, formed in a +mass, and granulated by being first pressed through a sieve, and then +rolled in a cask. The mode of detecting the fraud is easy. It is only +necessary to throw a sample of the suspected pepper into a bowl of +water; the artificial pepper-corns fall to powder, whilst the true +pepper remains whole. + +Ground pepper is very often sophisticated by adding to a portion of +genuine pepper, a quantity of pepper dust, or the sweepings from the +pepper warehouses, mixed with a little Cayenne pepper. The sweepings are +known, and purchased in the market, under the name of P. D. signifying +pepper dust. An inferior sort of this vile refuse, or the sweepings of +P. D. is distinguished among venders by the abbreviation of D. P. D. +denoting, dust (dirt) of pepper dust. + +The adulteration of pepper, and the making and selling commodities in +imitation of pepper, are prohibited, under a severe penalty. The +following are the words of the Act:[105] + +"And whereas commodities made in imitation of pepper have of late been +sold and found in the possession of various dealers in pepper, and other +persons in Great Britain; be it therefore enacted, that from and after +the said 5th day of July, 1819, if any commodity or substance shall be +prepared by any person in imitation of pepper, shall be mixed with +pepper, or sold or delivered as and for, or as a substitute for, pepper, +or if any such commodity or substance, alone or mixed, shall be kept for +sale, sold, or delivered, or shall be offered or exposed to sale, or +shall be in the custody or possession of any dealer or seller of pepper, +the same, together with all pepper with which the same shall be mixed, +shall be forfeited, with the packages containing the same, and shall and +may be seized by any officer of excise; and the person preparing, +manufacturing, mixing as aforesaid, selling, exposing to sale, or +delivering the same, or having the same in his, her, or their custody or +possession, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds." + + +WHITE PEPPER. + +The common white pepper is factitious, being prepared from the black +pepper in the following manner:--The pepper is first steeped in sea +water and urine, and then exposed to the heat of the sun for several +days, till the rind or outer bark loosens; it is then taken out of the +steep, and, when dry, it is rubbed with the hand till the rind falls +off. The white fruit is then dried, and the remains of the rind blown +away like chaff. A great deal of the peculiar flavour and pungent hot +taste of the pepper is taken off by this process. White pepper is always +inferior in flavour and quality to the black pepper. + +However, there is a sort of native white pepper, produced on a species +of the pepper plant, which is much better than the factitious, and +indeed little inferior to the common black pepper. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[104] Thomson's Annals of Chemistry, 1816; also Repository of Arts, vol. +i. 1816, p. 11. + +[105] George III. c. 53, Sec. 21, 1819. + + + + +_Poisonous Cayenne Pepper._ + + +Cayenne pepper is an indiscriminate mixture of the powder of the dried +pods of many species of capsicum, but especially of the capsicum +frutescens, or bird pepper, which is the hottest of all. + +This annual plant, a native of South America, is cultivated in large +quantities in our West-India islands, and even frequently in our +gardens, for the beauty of its pods, which are long, pointed, and +pendulous, at first of a green colour, and, when ripe, of a bright +orange red. They are filled with a dry loose pulp, and contain many +small, flat, kidney-shaped seeds. The taste of capsicum is extremely +pungent and acrimonious, setting the mouth, as it were, on fire. + +The principle on which its pungency depends, is soluble in water and in +alcohol. + +It is sometimes adulterated with red lead, to prevent it becoming +bleached on exposure to light. This fraud may be readily detected by +shaking up part of it in a stopped vial containing water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which will cause it speedily to assume a +dark muddy black colour. Or the vegetable matter of the pepper may be +destroyed, by throwing a mixture of one part of the suspected pepper and +three of nitrate of potash (or two of chlorate of potash) into a red-hot +crucible, in small quantities at a time. The mass left behind may then +be digested in weak nitric acid, and the solution assayed for lead by +water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. + + + + +_Poisonous Pickles._ + + +Vegetable substances, preserved in the state called pickles, by means of +the antiseptic power of vinegar, whose sale frequently depends greatly +upon a fine lively green colour; and the consumption of which, by +sea-faring people in particular, is prodigious, are sometimes +intentionally coloured by means of copper. Gerkins, French beans, +samphires, the green pods of capsicum, and many other pickled vegetable +substances, oftener than is perhaps expected, are met with impregnated +with this metal. Numerous fatal consequences are known to have ensued +from the use of these stimulants of the palate, to which the fresh and +pleasing hue has been imparted according to the deadly _formulae_ laid +down in some modern cookery books, such as boiling the pickles with +half-pence, or suffering them to stand for a considerable period in +brazen vessels. + +Dr. Percival[106] has given an account of "a young lady who amused +herself, while her hair was dressing, with eating samphire pickles +impregnated with copper. She soon complained of pain in the stomach; +and, in five days, vomiting commenced, which was incessant for two days. +After this, her stomach became prodigiously distended; and, in nine days +after eating the pickles, death relieved her from her suffering." + +Among many recipes which modern authors of cookery books have given for +imparting a green colour to pickles, the following are particularly +deserving of censure; and it is to be hoped that they will be suppressed +in future editions of the works. + +"_To Pickle Gerkins._[107]--"Boil the vinegar in a bell-metal or copper +pot; pour it boiling hot on your cucumbers." + +"_To make greening._[108]--"Take a bit of verdigris, the bigness of a +hazel-nut, finely powdered; half-a-pint of distilled vinegar, and a bit +of alum powder, with a little bay salt. Put all in a bottle, shake it, +and let it stand till clear. Put a small tea-spoonful into codlings, or +whatever you wish to green." + +Mrs. E. Raffald[109] directs, "to render pickles green, boil them with +halfpence, or allow them to stand for twenty-four hours in copper or +brass pans." + +To detect the presence of copper, it is only necessary to mince the +pickles, and to pour liquid ammonia, diluted with an equal bulk of +water, over them in a stopped phial: if the pickles contain the minutest +quantity of copper, the ammonia assumes a blue colour. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[106] Medical Transactions, vol. iv. p. 80. + +[107] The Ladies' Library, vol. ii. p. 203. + +[108] Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife--2d edition, p. 94. + +[109] The English Housekeeper, p. 352, 354. + + + + +_Adulteration of Vinegar._ + + +Vinegar, as prepared in this country, from malt, should be of a pale +brown colour, perfectly transparent, of a pleasant, somewhat pungent, +acid taste, and fragrant odour, but without any acrimony. From the +mucilaginous impurities which malt vinegar always contains, it is apt, +on exposure to air, to become turbid and ropy, and at last vapid. The +inconvenience is best obviated by keeping the vinegar in bottles +completely filled and well corked; and it is of advantage to boil it in +the bottles a few minutes before they are corked. + +Vinegar is sometimes largely adulterated with sulphuric acid, to give it +more acidity. The presence of this acid is detected, if, on the addition +of a solution of acetate of barytes, a white precipitate is formed, +which is insoluble in nitric acid, after having been made red-hot in the +fire. (See p. 159.) With the same intention, of making the vinegar +appear stronger, different acrid vegetable substances are infused in it. +This fraud is difficult of detection; but when tasted with attention, +the pungency of such vinegar will be found to depend rather on acrimony +than acidity. + +Distilled vinegar, which is employed for various purposes of domestic +economy, is frequently distilled, not in glass, as it ought to be, but +in common stills with a pewter pipe, whence it cannot fail to acquire a +metallic impregnation. + +One ounce, by measure, should dissolve at least thirteen grains of white +marble. + +It should not form a precipitate on the addition of a solution of +acetate of barytes, or of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen. +The former circumstance shews, that it is adulterated with sulphuric +acid; and the latter indicates a metal. + +The metallic impregnation is best rendered obvious by sulphuretted +hydrogen, in the manner stated, page 69. The distilled vinegar of +commerce usually contains tin, and not lead, as has been asserted. + + + + +_Adulteration of Cream._ + + +Cream is often adulterated with rice powder or arrow root. The former is +frequently employed for that purpose by pastry cooks, in fabricating +creams and custards, for tarts, and other kinds of pastry. The latter is +often used in the London dairies. Arrow-root is preferable to rice +powder; for, when converted with milk into a thick mucilage by a gentle +ebullition, it imparts to cream, previously diluted with milk, a +consistence and apparent richness, by no means unpalatable, without +materially impairing the taste of the cream. + +The arrow-root powder is mixed up with a small quantity of cold skimmed +milk into a perfect, smooth, uniform mixture; more milk is then added, +and the whole boiled for a few minutes, to effect the solution of the +arrow-root: this compound, when perfectly cold, is mixed up with the +cream. From 220 to 260 grains, (or three large tea-spoonfuls) of +arrow root are added to one pint of milk; and one part of this solution +is mixed with three of cream. It is scarcely necessary to state that +this sophistication is innocuous. + +The fraud may be detected by adding to a tea-spoonful of the +sophisticated cream a few drops of a solution of iodine in spirit of +wine, which instantly produces with it a dark blue colour. Genuine cream +acquires, by the addition of this test, a faint yellow tinge. + + + + +_Poisonous Confectionery._ + + +In the preparation of sugar plums, comfits, and other kinds of +confectionery, especially those sweetmeats of inferior quality, +frequently exposed to sale in the open streets, for the allurement of +children, the grossest abuses are committed. The white comfits, called +sugar pease, are chiefly composed of a mixture of sugar, starch, and +Cornish clay (a species of very white pipe-clay;) and the red sugar +drops are usually coloured with the inferior kind of vermilion. The +pigment is generally adulterated with red lead. Other kinds of +sweetmeats are sometimes rendered poisonous by being coloured with +preparations of copper. The following account of Mr. Miles[110] may be +advanced in proof of this statement. + +"Some time ago, while residing in the house of a confectioner, I +noticed the colouring of the green fancy sweetmeats being done by +dissolving sap-green in brandy. Now sap-green itself, as prepared from +the juice of the buckthorn berries, is no doubt a harmless substance; +but the manufacturers of this colour have for many years past produced +various tints, some extremely bright, which there can be no doubt are +effected by adding preparations of copper. + +"The sweetmeats which accompany these lines you will find exhibit +vestiges of being contaminated with copper.--The practice of colouring +these articles of confectionery should, therefore, be banished: the +proprietors of which are not aware of the deleterious quality of the +substances employed by them." + +The foreign conserves, such as small green limes, citrons, hop-tops, +plums, angelica roots, &c. imported into this country, and usually sold +in round chip boxes, are frequently impregnated with copper. + +The adulteration of confitures by means of clay, may be detected by +simply dissolving the comfits in a large quantity of boiling water. The +clay, after suffering the mixture to stand undisturbed for a few days, +will fall to the bottom of the vessel; and on decanting the clear fluid, +and suffering the sediment to become dry gradually, it may be obtained +in a separate state. If the adulteration has been effected by means of +clay, the obtained precipitate, on exposure to a red heat in the bowl of +a common tobacco-pipe, acquires a brick hardness. + +The presence of copper may be detected by pouring over the comfits +liquid ammonia, which speedily acquires a blue colour, if this metal be +present. The presence of lead is rendered obvious by water impregnated +with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with muriatic acid (see p. 69,) +which assumes a dark brown or black colour, if lead be present. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[110] Philosoph. Mag. No. 258, vol. 54. 1819, p. 317. + + + + +_Poisonous Catsup._ + + +This article is very often subjected to one of the most reprehensible +modes of adulteration ever devised. Quantities are daily to be met with, +which, on a chemical examination, are found to abound with copper. +Indeed, this condiment is often nothing else than the residue left +behind after the process employed for obtaining distilled vinegar, +subsequently diluted with a decoction of the outer green husk of the +walnut, and seasoned with all-spice, Cayenne pepper, pimento, onions, +and common salt. + +The quantity of copper which we have, more than once, detected in this +sauce, used for seasoning, and which, on account of its cheapness, is +much resorted to by people in the lower walks of life, has exceeded the +proportion of lead to be met with in other articles employed in domestic +economy. + +The following account of Mr. Lewis[111] on this subject, will be +sufficient to cause the public to be on their guard. + +"Being in the habit of frequently purchasing large quantities of pickles +and other culinary sauces, for the use of my establishment, and also for +foreign trade, it fell lately to my lot to purchase from a manufacturer +of those commodities a quantity of walnut catsup, apparently of an +excellent quality; but, to my great surprise, I had reason to believe +that the article might be contaminated with some deleterious substance, +from circumstances which happened in my business as a tavern keeper, but +which are unnecessary to be detailed here; and it was this that induced +me to make inquiry concerning the compounding of the suspected articles. + +"The catsup being prepared by boiling in a copper, as is usually +practised, the outer green shell of walnuts, after having been suffered +to turn black on exposure to air, in combination with common salt, with +a portion of pimento and pepper-dust, in common vinegar, strengthened +with some vinegar extract, left behind as residue in the still of +vinegar manufacturers; I therefore suspected that the catsup might be +impregnated with some copper. To convince myself of this opinion. I +boiled down to dryness a quart of it in a stone pipkin, which yielded +to me a dark brown mass. I put this mass into a crucible, and kept it in +a coal fire, red-hot, till it became reduced to a porous black charcoal; +on urging the heat with a pair of bellows, and stirring the mass in the +crucible with the stem of a tobacco-pipe, it became, after two hours' +exposure to an intense heat, converted into a greyish-white ash; but no +metal could be discriminated amongst it. I now poured upon it some aqua +fortis, which dissolved nearly the whole of it, with an effervescence; +and produced, after having been suffered to stand, to let the insoluble +portion subside, a bright grass-green solution, of a strong metallic +taste; after immersing into this solution the blade of a knife, it +became instantly covered with a bright coat of copper. + +"The walnut catsup was therefore evidently strongly impregnated with +copper. On informing the manufacturer of this fact, he assured me that +the same method of preparing the liquor was generally pursued, and that +he had manufactured the article in a like manner for upwards of twenty +years. + +"Such is the statement I wish to communicate; and if you will allow it a +place in your Literary Chronicle, it may perhaps tend to put the unwary +on their guard against the practice of preparing this sauce by boiling +it in a copper, which certainly may contaminate the liquor, and render +it poisonous." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[111] Literary Chronicle, No. 24, p. 379. + + + + +_Poisonous Custard._ + + +The leaves of the cherry laurel, _prunus lauro-cerasus_, a poisonous +plant, have a nutty flavour, resembling that of the kernels of +peach-stones, or of bitter almonds, which to most palates is grateful. +These leaves have for many years been in use among cooks, to communicate +an almond or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams, +_blanc-mange_, and other delicacies of the table. + +It has been asserted, that the laurel poison in custards and other +articles of cookery is, on account of its being used in very small +quantities, quite harmless. To refute this assertion, numerous instances +might be cited; and, among them, a recent one, in which four children +suffered most severely from partaking of custard flavoured with the +leaves of this poisonous plant. + +"Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Richmond, +having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves of the cherry +laurel, as is frequently practised by cooks, four of the poor innocents +were taken severely ill in consequence. Two of them, a girl six years of +age, and a boy of five years old, fell into a profound sleep, out of +which they could not be roused. + +"Notwithstanding the various medical exertions used, the boy remained in +a stupor ten hours; and the girl nine hours; the other two, one of which +was six years old, a girl, and a girl of seven years, complained of +severe pains in the epigastric region. They all recovered, after three +days' illness. I am anxious to communicate to you this fact, being +convinced that your publication is read at all the scholastic +establishments in this part of the country. I hope you will allow these +lines a corner in your Literary Chronicle, where they may contribute to +put the unwary on their guard, against the deleterious effects of +flavouring culinary dishes with that baneful herb, the Cherry Laurel. + +"I am, with respect, your's, Sir, + "THOMAS LIDIARD."[112] + +What person of sense or prudence, then, would trust to the discretion of +an ignorant cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingredient in his puddings +and creams? Who but a maniac would choose to season his victuals with +poison? + +The water distilled from cherry laurel leaves is frequently mixed with +brandy and other spiritous liquors, to impart to them the flavour of the +cordial called _noyeau_, (see also page 195.) + +This fluid, though long in frequent use as a flavouring substance, was +not known to be poisonous until the year 1728; when the sudden death of +two women, in Dublin, after drinking some of the common distilled cherry +laurel water, demonstrated its deleterious nature. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[112] Literary Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348.--1819. + + + + +_Poisonous Anchovy Sauce._ + + +Several samples which we have examined of this fish sauce have been +found contaminated with lead. + +The mode of preparation of this fish sauce, consists in rubbing down the +broken anchovy in a mortar: and this triturated mass, being of a dark +brown colour, receives, without much risk of detection, a certain +quantity of Venetian red, added for the purpose of colouring it, which, +if genuine, is an innocent colouring substance; but instances have +occurred of this pigment having been adulterated with orange lead, which +is nothing else than a better kind of minium, or red oxide of lead. The +fraud may be detected, as stated p. 229. + +The conscientious oilmen, less anxious with respect to colour, +substitute for this poison the more harmless pigment, called Armenian +bole. + +The following recipe for making this fish sauce is copied from Gray's +Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, p. 241. + +"Anchovies, 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. and a half; pulp through a fine hair sieve; +boil the bones with common salt, 7 oz. in water 6 lbs.; strain; add +flour 7 oz. and the pulp of the fish; boil; pass the whole through the +sieve; colour with Venetian red to your fancy. It should produce one +gallon." + + + + +_Adulteration of Lozenges._ + + +Lozenges, particularly those into the composition of which substances +enter that are not soluble in water, as ginger, cremor tartar, magnesia, +&c., are often sophisticated. The adulterating ingredient is usually +pipe-clay, of which a liberal portion is substituted for sugar. The +following detection of this fraud was lately made by Dr. T. Lloyd.[113] + +"Some ginger lozenges having lately fallen into my hands, I was not a +little surprised to observe, accidentally, that when thrown into a coal +fire, they suffered but little change. If one of the lozenges was laid +on a shovel, previously made red-hot, it speedily took fire; but, +instead of burning with a blaze and becoming converted into a charcoal, +it took fire, and burnt with a feeble flame for scarcely half a minute, +and there remained behind a stony hard substance, retaining the form of +the lozenge. This unexpected result led me to examine these lozenges, +which were bought at a respectable chemist's shop in the city; and I +soon became convinced, that, in the preparation of them, a considerable +quantity of common pipe-clay had been substituted for sugar. On making a +complaint about this fraud at the shop where the article was sold, I was +informed that there were two kinds of ginger lozenges kept for sale, the +one at three-pence the ounce, and the other at six-pence per ounce; and +that the article furnished to me by mistake was the cheaper commodity: +the latter were distinguished by the epithet _verum_, they being +composed of sugar and ginger only; but the former were manufactured +partly of white Cornish clay, with a portion of sugar only, with ginger +and Guinea pepper. I was likewise informed, that of Tolu lozenges, +peppermint lozenges and ginger pearls, and several other sorts of +lozenges, two kinds were kept; that the _reduced_ articles, as they were +called, were manufactured for those very clever persons in their own +conceit, who are fond of haggling, and insist on buying better bargains +than other people, shutting their eyes to the defects of an article, so +that they can enjoy the delight of getting it cheap; and, secondly for +those persons, who being but bad paymasters, yet, as the manufacturer, +for his own credit's sake, cannot charge more than the usual price of +the articles, he thinks himself therefore authorised to adulterate it in +value, to make up for the risk he runs, and the long credit he must +give." + +The comfits called ginger pearls, are frequently adulterated with clay. +These frauds may be detected in the manner stated, page 225. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[113] Literary Gazette, No. 146. + + + + +_Poisonous Olive Oil._ + + +This commodity is sometimes contaminated with lead, because the fruit +which yields the oil is submitted to the action of the press between +leaden plates; and it is, moreover, a practice (particularly in Spain) +to suffer the oil to become clear in leaden cisterns, before it is +brought to market for sale. The French and Italian olive oil is usually +free from this impregnation. + +Olive oil is sometimes mixed with oil of poppy seeds: but, by exposing +the mixture to the freezing temperature, the olive oil freezes, while +that of the poppy seeds remains fluid; and as oils which freeze with +most difficulty are most apt to become rancid, olive oil is deteriorated +by the mixture of poppy oil. + +Good olive oil should have a pale yellow colour, somewhat inclining to +green; a bland taste, without smell; and should congeal at 38 deg. +Fahrenheit. In this country, it is frequently met with rancid. + +The presence of lead is detected by shaking, in a stopped vial, one part +of the suspected oil, with two or three parts of water impregnated with +sulphuretted hydrogen. This agent will render the oil of a dark brown or +black colour, if any metal, deleterious to health, be present. The +practice of keeping this oil in pewter or leaden cisterns, as is often +the case, is objectionable; because the oil acts upon the metal. The +dealers in this commodity assert, that it prevents the oil from becoming +rancid: and hence some retailers often suffer a pewter measure to remain +immersed in the oil. + + + + +_Adulteration of Mustard._ + + +Genuine mustard, either in powder, or in the state of a paste ready for +use, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops. The article sold +under the name of _genuine Durham mustard_, is usually a mixture of +mustard and common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cayenne pepper, and +a large quantity of bay salt, made with water into a paste, ready for +use. Some manufacturers adulterate their mustard with radish-seed and +pease flour. + +It has often been stated, that a fine yellow colour is given to mustard +by means of turmeric. We doubt the truth of this assertion. The presence +of the minutest quantity of turmeric may instantly be detected, by +adding to the mustard a few drops of a solution of potash, or any other +alkali, which changes the bright yellow colour, to a brown or deep +orange tint. + +Two ounces and a half of Cayenne pepper, 1-1/2 lbs. of bay salt, 8 lbs. +of mustard flour, and 1-1/2 lbs. of wheaten flour, made into a stiff +paste, with the requisite quantity of water, in which the bay-salt is +previously dissolved, forms the so-called _genuine Durham mustard_, sold +in pots. The salt and Cayenne pepper contribute materially to the +keeping of ready-made mustard. + +There is therefore nothing deleterious in the usual practice of +adulterating this commodity of the table. The fraud only tends to +deteriorate the quality and flavour of the genuine article itself. + + + + +_Adulteration of Lemon Acid._ + + +It is well known to every one, that the expressed juice of lemons is +extremely apt to spoil, on account of the sugar, mucilage, and +extractive matter which it contains; and hence various means have been +practised, with the intention of rendering it less perishable, and less +bulky. The juice has been evaporated to the consistence of rob; but this +always gives an unpleasant empyreumatic taste, and does not separate the +foreign matters, so that it is still apt to spoil when agitated on board +of ship in tropical climates. It has been exposed to frost, and part of +the water removed under the form of ice; but this is liable to all the +former objections; and, besides, where lemons are produced in sufficient +quantity, there is not a sufficient degree of cold. The addition of a +portion of spirit to the inspissated juice, separates the mucilage, but +not the extractive matter and the sugar. By means, however, of +separating the foreign matters associated with it, in the juice, by +chemical processes unnecessary to be detailed here, citric acid is now +manufactured, perfectly pure, and in a crystallised form, and is sold +under the name of concrete lemon acid. In this state it is extremely +convenient, both for domestic and medicinal purposes. One drachm, when +dissolved in one ounce of water, is equal in strength to a like bulk of +fresh lemon juice. To communicate the lemon flavour, it is only +necessary to rub a lump of sugar on the rind of a lemon to become +impregnated with a portion of the essential oil of the fruit, and to add +the sugar to the lemonade, negus, punch, shrub, jellies or culinary +sauces, prepared with the pure citric acid. + +Fraudulent dealers often substitute the cheaper tartareous acid, for +citric acid. The negus and lemonade made by the pastry-cooks, and the +liquor called punch, sold at taverns in this metropolis, is usually made +with tartareous acid. + +To discriminate citric acid from tartareous acid, it is only necessary +to add a concentrated solution of the suspected acid, to a concentrated +solution of muriate of potash, taking care that the solution of the acid +is in excess. If a precipitate ensues, the fraud is obvious, because +citric acid does not produce a precipitate with a solution of muriate +or potash. + +Or, by adding to a saturated solution of tartrate of potash, a saturated +solution of the suspected acid, in excess, which produces with it an +almost insoluble precipitate in minute granular crystals. Pure citric +acid produces no such effect when added in excess to tartrate of +potash. + + + + +_Poisonous Mushrooms._ + + +Mushrooms have been long used in sauces and other culinary preparations; +yet there are numerous instances on record of the deleterious effects of +some species of these _fungi_, almost all of which are fraught with +poison.[114] Pliny already exclaims against the luxury of his countrymen +in this article, and wonders what extraordinary pleasure there can be in +eating such dangerous food.[115] + +But if the palate must be indulged with these treacherous luxuries, or, +as Seneca calls them, "voluptuous poison,"[116] it is highly necessary +that the mild eatable mushrooms, should be gathered by persons skilful +enough to distinguish the good from the false, or poisonous, which is +not always the case; nor are the characters which distinguish them +strongly marked. + +The following statement is published by Mr. Glen, surgeon, of +Knightsbridge: + +"A poor man, residing in Knightsbridge, took a walk in Hyde Park, with +the intention of gathering some mushrooms. He collected a considerable +number, and, after stewing them, began to eat them. He had finished the +whole, with the exception of about six or eight, when, about eight or +ten minutes from the commencement of his meal, he was suddenly seized +with a dimness, or mist before his eyes, a giddiness of the head, with a +general trembling and sudden loss of power;--so much so, that he nearly +fell off the chair; to this succeeded loss of recollection: he forgot +where he was, and all the circumstances of his case. This deprivation +soon went off, and he so far rallied as to be able, though with +difficulty, to get up, with the intention of going to Mr. Glen for +assistance--a distance of about five hundred yards: he had not proceeded +more than half way, when his memory again failed him; he lost his road, +although previously well acquainted with it. He was met by a friend, who +with difficulty learned his state, and conducted him to Mr. Glen's +house. His countenance betrayed great anxiety: he reeled about, like a +drunken man, and was greatly inclined to sleep; his pulse was low and +feeble. Mr. Glen immediately gave him an emetic draught. The poison had +so diminished the sensibility of the stomach, that vomiting did not take +place for near twenty minutes, although another draught had been +exhibited. During this interval his drowsiness increased to such a +degree, that he was only kept awake by obliging him to walk round the +room with assistance; he also, at this time, complained of distressing +pains in the calves of his legs.--Full vomiting was at length produced. +After the operation of the emetic, he expressed himself generally +better, but still continued drowsy. In the evening Mr. Glen found him +doing well." + +The following case is recorded in the Medical Transactions, vol. ii. + +"A middle-aged man having gathered what he called champignons, they were +stewed, and eaten by himself and his wife; their child also, about four +years old, ate a little of them, and the sippets of bread which were put +into the liquor. Within five minutes after eating them, the man began to +stare in an unusual manner, and was unable to shut his eyes. All +objects appeared to him coloured with a variety of colours. He felt a +palpitation in what he called his stomach; and was so giddy, that he +could hardly stand. He seemed to himself swelled all over his body. He +hardly knew what he did or said; and sometimes was unable to speak at +all. These symptoms continued in a greater or less degree for +twenty-four hours; after which, he felt little or no disorder. Soon +after he perceived himself ill, one scruple of white vitriol was given +him, and repeated two or three times, with which he vomited plentifully. + +"The woman, aged thirty-nine, felt all the same symptoms, but in a +higher degree. She totally lost her voice and her senses, and was either +stupid, or so furious that it was necessary she should be held. The +white vitriol was offered to her, of which she was capable of taking but +very little; however, after four or five hours, she was much recovered: +but she continued many days far from being well, and from enjoying her +former health and strength. She frequently fainted for the first week +after; and there was, during a month longer, an uneasy sense of heat and +weight in her breast, stomach, and bowels, with great flatulence. Her +head was, at first waking, much confused; and she often experienced +palpitations, tremblings, and other hysteric affections, to all which +she had ever before been a stranger. + +"The child had some convulsive agitations of his arms, but was otherwise +little affected. He was capable of taking half a scruple of ipecacuanha, +with which he vomited, and was soon perfectly recovered." + + +MUSHROOM CATSUP. + +The edible mushroom is the basis of the sauce called mushroom catsup; a +great proportion of which is prepared by gardeners who grow the fungi. +The mushrooms employed for preparing this sauce are generally those +which are in a putrefactive state, and not having found a ready sale in +the market; for no vegetable substance is liable to so rapid a +spontaneous decomposition as mushrooms. In a few days after the fungus +has been removed from the dung-bed on which it grows, it becomes the +habitation of myriads of insects; and, if even the saleable mushroom be +attentively examined, it will frequently be found to swarm with life. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[114] Fungi plerique veneno turgent. Linn. Amaen. Acad. + +[115] Quae voluptas tanta ancipitis cibi?--Plin. Nat. Hist. xxii. 23. + +[116] Sen. Ep. 95. + + + + +_Poisonous Soda Water._ + + +The beverage called soda water is frequently contaminated both with +copper and lead; these metals being largely employed in the construction +of the apparatus for preparing the carbonated water,[117] and the great +excess of carbonic acid which the water contains, particularly enables +it to act strongly on the metallic substances of the apparatus; a truth, +of which the reader will find no difficulty in convincing himself, by +suffering a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas to pass through the +water.--See p. 70. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[117] Some manufacturers have been hence induced to construct the +apparatus for manufacturing soda water wholly either of earthenware or +of glass. Mr. Johnston, of Greek Street, Soho, was the first who pointed +out to the public the absolute necessity of this precaution. + + + + +_Food poisoned by Copper Vessels._ + + +Many kinds of viands are frequently impregnated with copper, in +consequence of the employment of cooking utensils made of that metal. By +the use of such vessels in dressing food, we are daily liable to be +poisoned; as almost all acid vegetables, as well as sebaceous or pinguid +substances, employed in culinary preparations, act upon copper, and +dissolve a portion of it; and too many examples are met with of fatal +consequences having ensued from eating food which had been dressed in +copper vessels not well cleaned from the oxide of copper which they had +contracted by being exposed to the action of air and moisture. + +The inexcusable negligence of persons who make use of copper vessels has +been productive of mortality, so much more terrible, as they have +exerted their action on a great number of persons at once. The annals of +medicine furnish too many examples in support of this assertion, to +render it necessary to insist more upon it here. + +Mr. Thiery, who wrote a thesis on the noxious quality of copper, +observes, that "our food receives its quantity of poison in the kitchen +by the use of copper pans and dishes. The brewer mingles poison in our +beer, by boiling it in copper vessels. The sugar-baker employs copper +pans; the pastry-cook bakes our tarts in copper moulds; the confectioner +uses copper vessels: the oilman boils his pickles in copper or brass +vessels, and verdigris is plentifully formed by the action of the +vinegar upon the metal. + +"Though, after all, a single dose be not mortal, yet a quantity of +poison, however small, when taken at every meal, must produce more fatal +effects than are generally apprehended; and different constitutions are +differently affected by minute quantities of substances that act +powerfully on the system." + +The author of a tract, entitled, "Serious Reflections on the Dangers +attending the Use of Copper Vessels," asserts that a numerous and +frightful train of diseases is occasioned by the poisonous effects of +pernicious matter received into the stomach insensibly with our +victuals. + +Dr. Johnston[118] gives an account of the melancholy catastrophe of +three men being poisoned, after excruciating sufferings, in consequence +of eating food cooked in an unclean copper vessel, on board the Cyclops +frigate; and, besides these, thirty-three men became ill from the same +cause. + +The following case[119] is related by Sir George Baker, M. D. + +"Some cyder, which had been made in a gentleman's family, being thought +too sour, was boiled with honey in a brewing vessel, the rim of which +was capped with lead. All who drank this liquor were seized with a bowel +colic, more or less violently. One of the servants died very soon in +convulsions; several others were cruelly tortured a long time. The +master of the family, in particular, notwithstanding all the assistance +which art could give him, never recovered his health; but died +miserably, after having almost three years languished under a most +tedious and incurable malady." + +Too much care and attention cannot be taken in preserving all culinary +utensils of copper, in a state unexceptionably fit for their destined +purpose. They should be frequently tinned, and kept thoroughly clean, +nor should any food ever be suffered to remain in them for a longer time +than is absolutely necessary to their preparation for the table. But the +sure preventive of its pernicious effect, is, to banish copper utensils +from the kitchen altogether. + +The following wholesome advice on this subject is given to cooks by the +author of an excellent cookery book.[120] + +"Stew-pans and soup-kettles should be examined every time they are used; +these, and their covers, must be kept perfectly clean and well tinned, +not only on the inside, but about a couple of inches on the outside; so +much mischief arises from their getting out of repair; and, if not kept +nicely tinned, all your work will be in vain; the broths and soups will +look green and dirty, and taste bitter and poisonous, and will be +spoiled both for the eye and palate, and your credit will be lost; and +as the health, and even the life, of the family depends upon this; the +cook may be sure her employer had rather pay the tin-man's bill than +the doctor's." + +The senate of Sweden, in the year 1753, prohibited copper vessels, and +ordered that none but such as were made of iron should be used in their +fleet and armies. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[118] Johnston's Essay on Poison, p. 102. + +[119] Medical Transactions, vol. i. p. 213. + +[120] Apicius Redivivus, p. 91. + + + + +_Food Poisoned by Leaden Vessels._ + + +Various kinds of food used in domestic economy, are liable to become +impregnated with lead. + +The glazing of the common cream-coloured earthen ware, which is composed +of an oxide of lead, readily yields to the action of vinegar and saline +compounds; and therefore jars and pots of this kind of stone ware, are +wholly unfit to contain jellies of fruits, marmalade, and similar +conserves. Pickles should in no case be deposited in cream-coloured +glazed earthenware. + +The custom which still prevails in some parts of this country of keeping +milk in leaden vessels for the use of the dairy, is very improper. + +"In Lancashire[121] the dairies are furnished with milk-pans made of +lead: and when Mr. Parks expostulated with some individuals on the +danger of this practice, he was told that _leaden_ milk-pans throw up +the cream much better than vessels of any other kind. + +"In some parts of the north of England it is customary for the +inn-keepers to prepare mint-salad by bruising and grinding the vegetable +in a large wooden bowl with a _ball of lead_ of twelve or fourteen +pounds weight. In this operation the mint is cut, and portions of the +lead are ground off at every revolution of the ponderous instrument. In +the same county, it is a common practice to have brewing-coppers +constructed with the bottom of copper and the whole sides of lead." + +The baking of fruit tarts in cream-coloured earthenware, and the salting +and preserving of meat in leaden pans, are no less objectionable. All +kinds of food which contain free vegetable acids, or saline +preparations, attack utensils covered with a glaze, in the composition +of which lead enters as a component part. The leaden beds of presses for +squeezing the fruit in cyder countries, have produced incalculable +mischief. These consequences never follow, when the lead is combined +with tin; because this metal, being more eager for oxidation, prevents +the solution of the lead. + +When we consider the various unsuspected means by which the poisons of +lead and copper gain admittance into the human body, a very common but +dangerous instance presents itself: namely, the practice of painting +toys, made for the amusement of children, with poisonous substances, +viz. red lead, verdigris, &c. Children are apt to put every thing, +especially what gives them pleasure, into their mouths; the painting of +toys with colouring substances that are poisonous, ought therefore to be +abolished; a practice which lies the more open to censure, as it is of +no real utility. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[121] Park's Chemical Essays, vol. v. p. 193. + + + + +INDEX. + + +A + +Adulteration of anchovy sauce, 234 + beer, 113 + brandy, 187 + bread, 98 + catsup, 227 + cayenne pepper, 215 + cheese, 206 + coffee, 176 + confectionery, 224 + cream, 222 + custard, 231 + gin, 187 + lemon acid, 243 + lozenges, 236 + malt spirits, 197 + mustard, 241 + olive oil, 239 + pepper, 211 + pickles, 217 + porter, 113 + rum, 187 + soda water, 251 + tea, black, 173 + green, 173 + vinegar, 173 + distilled, 221 + wine, 74 + +Age of beer, how fraudulently imitated, 148 + +Alcohol, quantity contained in different kinds of wine, 94 + malt liquors, 126 + spiritous liquors, 205 + +Ale, Burton, quantity of spirit which it contains, 162 + Dorchester, ditto ditto, 162 + Edinburgh, ditto ditto, 162 + Home-brewed ditto ditto, 162 + +Alum, bleaching property in the panification of bread flour, 104 + method of detecting it in bread, 108 + for brightening muddy wines, 74 + clarifying spiritous liquors, 200 + adulterating beer, 134 + +Arrack, imitation of, 196 + Batavia, quantity of alcohol contained in it, 205 + +Arrow root, sophistication of, 29 + + +B + +Bakers, their methods of judging of the goodness of bread flour, 111 + +Beer, adulteration of, 113 + act prohibiting it, 114 + method of detecting it, 158 + with narcotic substances, 150 + with opium, tobacco, &c., 150 + colouring of, act prohibiting it, 123 + heading, composition and use of, 134 + hard, what is meant by it, 148 + fraudulent method of producing it, 148 + half-spoiled, fraudulent practice of recovering it, 149 + illegal substances used for adulterating it, 131 + old, what is meant by it, 144 + quantity of spirit contained in different kinds, 160 + strong, adulteration of with small beer, 140 + act prohibiting it, 140 + how defined by law, 128 + strength of different kinds, 125 + +Bilberries, employed for colouring port wine, 74 + +Bittern, for adulterating beer, 18 + +Black Extract, for adulterating beer, 150 + +Bland, Mr. tragical catastrophe of, 81 + +Bouquet of high-flavoured wines, how produced, 75 + +Brandy, adulteration of, 187 + and method of detecting it, 195 + complexion of, what is meant by it, 195 + +Brandy flavour of, how imitated, 193 + imitative, manufacture of, 194 + method of compounding for retail trade, 195 + quantity contained in different sorts of wine, 94 + of alcohol contained in different kinds of, 205 + legal strength, 190 + how discovered by the Excise, 188 + false strength, 195 + flavour, imitative, how produced, 193 + +Brazil wood, application of for colouring wine, 74 + +Bread, adulteration of with alum, 98 + methods of detecting it, 108 + with potatoes, 105 + goodness of, how estimated in this metropolis, 98 + how rendered white and firm, 99 + corn, method of judging its goodness, 110 + flour, different sorts of from the same kind of grain, 99 + adulteration of with bean flour, 99 + process of making five bushels into bread, 102 + made from new corn, improvement of, 107 + method of judging of goodness, 110 + +Brewers, list of, prosecuted for using illegal substances in their + brewings, 151 + convicted of adulterating their strong beer with table beer, 143 + Druggists, 119 + prosecuted for supplying illegal ingredients to brewers for + adulterating beer, 119 + +Breweries, illegal substances seized at various, 136 + +Brown Stout, quantity of spirit contained in it, 126 + + +C + +Calcavella, quantity of brandy which it contains, 95 + +Carbonate of ammonia, used by fraudulent bakers, 105 + +Catsup, adulteration of, 227 + +Claret, quantity of brandy which it contains, 95 + +Clary, used for flavouring wine, 75 + +Cheese, poisonous, and method of detecting it, 206 + +Chemists, are not permitted to sell illegal ingredients to brewers for + adulterating beer, 118 + list of, convicted of this fraud, 119 + +Cherry-laurel water, dangerous application of for flavouring creams, + &c., 231 + used in the manufacture of spurious wines, 75 + in the manufacture of brandy, 195 + +Citric Acid, adulteration of, 244 + method of detecting, 245 + +Cocculus indicus, nefarious application of in the brewing of beer, 18 + early law prohibiting its application, 115 + brewers prosecuted for using it, 152 + seizures made of at different breweries, 136 + narcotic property of, to what owing, 153 + extract of, application in brewing, 136 + +Coffee, adulteration of, 176 + law in force against it, 177 + grocers lately convicted of selling spurious, 176 + +Confectionery, adulteration of, 224 + methods of detecting it, 225 + +Conserves, contamination of with copper, 226 + should never be deposited in vessels glazed with lead, 257 + +Constantia, quantity of spirit which it contains, 94 + +Copperas, or salt of steel, publicans convicted of mixing it with their + beer, 129 + seizures of, at various breweries, 136 + +Cream, adulteration of, and mode of detecting it, 222 + +Custards, flavoured with cherry laurel leaves, dangerous effects from + it, 231 + +Cyder, melancholy catastrophe of persons drinking such as was + contaminated with lead, 254 + + +E + +Elder-berries are used for colouring port wine, 74 + flowers are used for flavouring insipid white wines, 75 + +Entire beer, origin of its name, 144 + composition of, 146 + +Extract of cocculus indicus is used by fraudulent brewers, 136 + + +F + +False strength, how given to wine and spiritous liquors, 19, 192 + how given to vinegar, 220 + +Flavour of French brandy, how imitated, 194 + +Flour, new, of an indifferent quality, how rendered fit for being made + into good and wholesome bread, 107 + different sorts, from the same kind of grain, 99 + sour, practice of converting it into bread, 105 + +Food, rendered poisonous by copper vessels, 252 + by leaden vessels, 257 + +Frothy head of porter, how artificially produced, 133 + + +G + +Geneva, Dutch, quantity of alcohol which it contains, 205 + +Gin, adulteration of, 187 + quantity of alcohol contained in different sorts, 205 + dangerous method of clarifying, 202 + legal exactment of its saleable strength, 197 + _proof_, what is meant by this term, 188 + strength of, how ascertained by the Excise, 188 + sweetened, fraudulent practice of composing it for sale, 200 + unsweetened, ditto ditto, 200 + false strength, how given, 202 + + +H + +Hermitage, quantity of brandy which it contains, 95 + +Hops, adulteration of, prohibited by law, 132 + its chemical action upon beer, 133 + +Hydrometer, legal, now in use for ascertaining the strength of spiritous + liquors, 187 + +Hyson tea, spurious. See Tea leaves + + +I + +Imitation arrack, 196 + tea. See Tea leaves + coffee. See Coffee + + +L + +Leaden pumps and water reservoirs, dangerous effects to be apprehended + from them, 62 + +Lisbon, quantity of spirit which it contains, 94 + +Lozenges, adulteration of, 236 + +Lemon acid, adulteration of, 243 + method of detecting it, 244 + + +M + +Madeira, quantity of brandy which it contains, 94 + +Malaga, quantity of brandy contained in it, 94 + +Malt, patent, for colouring porter, 123 + disadvantages of, 124 + liquors, dangerous adulteration of, 115 + strength of different kinds. See Porter, 126 + spirits, adulterations of, 197 + characteristic flavour, to what owing, 197 + nefarious practices of compounding them for sale, 199 + false strength, how given, 202 + act restricting the strength of it, 197 + +Meat, salted, should not be preserved in leaden vessels, 258 + +Milk, improper practice of keeping it in leaden vessels, 257 + +Mint salad, pernicious custom of preparing it, 258 + +Multum, a substance employed for adulterating beer, 17 + seizures of, at various breweries, 136 + +Mushroom, poisonous, 246 + Catsup, 250 + +Mustard, adulteration of, 241 + + +O + +Oak-wood saw-dust, is used in the manufacture of spurious port wine, 75 + in the manufacture of spurious brandy, 194 + +Orris-root, is used for flavouring insipid wines, 75 + +Olive oil, contamination of, with lead, and method of detecting it, 239 + + +P + +Pickles, contamination of with copper, 219 + improper vessels for keeping them, 257 + +Pepper, black, adulteration of, 211 + law in force against it, 213 + +Poisonous Cheese, 206 + Cayenne pepper, 215 + catsup, 227 + custard, 231 + olive oil, 239 + mushroom, 246 + pickles, 207 + soda water, 251 + +Porter, origin of its name, 121 + adulteration of with wormwood, 132 + act prohibiting it, 113 + average strength of, as furnished to the publican, 126 + ditto, as sent out by the retailers, 127 + illegal substances for adulterating it, 131 + brewers, convicted of adulterating their porter with illegal + ingredients, 151 + +Porter, frothy head of, how produced, 133 + method of ascertaining the strength of different kinds, 160 + quantity of alcohol contained in London porter, 162 + +Port wine, adulteration of, 74 + +Publicans, prosecuted for adulterating their strong beer with table + beer, 129 + + +Q + +Quassia, fraudulent substitution of, for hops, 131 + disadvantages of its application, 132 + seizures of, at various breweries, 137 + + +R + +Raisin wine, quantity of brandy which it contains, 94 + +Rum, adulteration of, 187 + false strength, how given to it, 202 + is seizable, if sold, unless of a certain strength, 189 + quantity of alcohol contained in it, 205 + + +S + +Soda Water, poisonous, and method of detecting it, 251 + +Spiritous Liquors, adulteration of, 187 + dangerous practice of fining them with noxious ingredients, 202 + quantity of alcohol contained in different kinds, 205 + +Sweetmeats, adulteration of, 224 + +Sweet-brier, use of it for flavouring wines, 75 + + +T + +Tarts of fruits, should not be baked in earthenware vessels glazed with + lead, 258 + +Tea leaves, adulteration of, 171 + method of detecting it, 171 + law in force against it, 163 + poisonous sophistication of, 173 + method of detecting it, 174 + coloring of, with verdigris, 168 + black, spurious, process of manufacturing it, 168 + green, imitation of, 169 + +Tea dealers, convicted for selling adulterated tea, 169 + +Toys, improper practice of painting them with poisonous colours, 259 + + +V + +Vidonia, quantity of brandy contained in it, 95 + +Vin de Grave, ditto ditto, 95 + +Vinegar, adulteration of, and method of detecting it, 220 + distilled, and method of ascertaining its strength, 221 + + +W + +Water, characters of good, 37 + chemical constitution of those used in domestic economy and the + arts, 33 + danger of keeping it in leaden reservoirs, 60 + hard, how softened and rendered fit for washing, 39 + New River, constitution of, 38, 45 + substances contained in potable, 48 + how detected, 50 + substances usually contained in spring, 42 + taste and salubrious quality, to what owing, 33 + Thames, constitution of, 46, 48 + +Wine, adulteration of with alum, 74 + British port, 77 + champaigne, 77 + bottles, improper practice of cleaning them, 85 + bottle corks, practice of staining them red, 79 + +Wine doctors, 80 + quantity of alcohol contained in various kinds, 94, 95 + dangerous practice of fining them, 83 + to prevent them turning sour, 84 + art of flavouring them, 75 + home-made, chemical constitution of, 96 + improvement from age, to what owing, 91 + Southampton port, 78 + strength of, on what it depends, 92 + specific differences of different kinds, to what owing, 89 + test, 86 + white, manufacture of, from red grapes, 90 + +Whiskey, Irish, flavour, to what owing, 197 + strength of, 205 + Scotch, ditto, 205 + +Wormwood, substitution of, for hops, 132 + + +THE END. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +Greek words in this text have been transliterated +and placed between +marks+. + +The word "Pharmacopoeias" used an "oe" ligature in the original. + +Unusual spellings, variations in spellings, and variations in +hyphenation have been left as in the original. Examples include: + + inpregnating + transparant + coculus/cocculus + inconscious + orris/oris root + +The following corrections have been made to the text: + + page iii--comma added after "beer" in "beer, pepper, and other + articles of diet" + + page x--changed period to comma after "Ale" in "Method of + ascertaining the Quantity of Spirit contained in Porter, Ale, &c." + + page 61--changed "where" to "were" in "When men were unable to + detect the poisonous matters" + + page 62--corrected spelling of "snd" to "and" in "by Hyppocrates, + Galen, and Vitruvius" + + page 78--added "t" to "yeas" and added period at end of "before it + is cold, add some yeast and ferment." + + page 98--corrected spelling of "indipensable" to "indispensable" in + "degree of whiteness rendered indispensable by the caprice of the + consumers" + + page 104--changed comma to period after "sufficient for a sack of + flour" + + page 113--changed comma to period after "made of these ingredients + only, are entirely deceived" + + page 120--corrected "Authur" to "Arthur" in "Arthur Waller" and + corrected "Dun" to "Dunn" in "John Dunn" + + page 126--added period after "Co" in "Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and + Co" + + page 129--added period after "l" in "strong beer, 20l" + + page 130--added comma after "Harbur" in "John Harbur, for using + salt of steel" + + page 140--added ending quote mark after "of them from brewers' + druggists, within these two years past." + + page 149--changed comma to period after "resorted to only by + fraudulent brewers" + + page 152--changed semi-colon after "Stephens" in "Septimus + Stephens, brewer" + + page 154--corrected spelling of "apolexy" to "apoplexy" in + "drinkers are very liable to apoplexy" + + page 169--corrected spelling of "Malin's" to "Malins'" in "Malins' + coffee-roasting premises" + + page 185--corrected spelling of "find" to "fined" in "were fined + 20l. each" + + page 202--added the word "on" in "as stated on pages 70 and 86" + + page 210--corrected spelling of "annotta" to "anotta" in "who + adulterated the anotta" + + page 222--added hyphen in "arrow-root" + + page 223--added hyphen in "tea-spoonful" and corrected spelling of + "jodine" to "iodine" in "few drops of a solution of iodine" + + page 227--added "s" at end of "Mr. Lewi " + + page 231--corrected spelling of "cookry" to "cookery" in "articles + of cookery" + + page 245--corrected spelling of "glanular" to "granular" in + "insoluble precipitate in minute granular crystals" + + Footnote 46--added period after "p" in "3d edit. p. 270" + + Footnote 87--added missing end quote after "with copperas and + sheep's dung." and removed extraneous period after "48" in "Plant, + p. 48;" + + Footnote 115--corrected spelling of "Qvae" to "Quae" in "Quae voluptas + tanta ancipitis cibi?" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, +and Culinary Poisons, by Fredrick Accum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON ADULTERATIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 19031.txt or 19031.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/0/3/19031/ + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19031.zip b/19031.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8ba57c --- /dev/null +++ b/19031.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b43c244 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #19031 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19031) |
