The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-21 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION.

(From the Votes and Proceedings of the house of Commons.)
TUESDAY, MARCII 19, 1839.
BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTER RAILWAY
BILL.
_ _

Order for Second reading read; Motion made, and Question
proposed,—" That the Bill be now read a second time :"
Amendment proposed, to leave out the word " now," and
at the end of the Question to add the words " upon this
day six months :"—Question put, " That the word now'
stand part of the Question :"—The House divided :

MAJORITY-AYES, 11g.

Acland, Sir Thomas
Acland, 'l'. D.
Arbuthnot, Hon. H.
Bailey, Jcseph
Bailley, Joseph, jun.
Baines, E.
Barnard, E. G.
Benett, John
Berkeley, F. H.
Bewes, T.
Blair, J.
Blakemore, R.
Bramston, T. W.
Broadley, Henry
Broadwood, H.
Brocklehurst, J. •
Brotherton, J.
Bruges, W. H. L.
Buller, E.
Buller, Sir J. B. Y.
Burr, Higford •
Butler, Hon. P.
Chichester, J. P. •
Chute, W. L.
Clay, W.
Clive, R. H.
Collier, J.
Corry, Right Hon. H
Courtenay, 'l. P.
Crawford, W.
Cripps, J.
D:imistoun, J.
Divett, E
Dunbar, George
Huncombe, W.
Evans, William
Filmer, Sir E
Finch, Francis
Fres hfield, J. W.
Gaskell, J. H.
Gladstone, W. E.

Graham, Sir J.
Grattan, J.
Grey. Sir G.
Grimsditch, T.
Grote, G.
Guest, J. J.
Hawes, B.
Hayter, W. G.
Heatbcote, Sir W.
hector, C. J.
Herries J. C.
Hill, Lord M.
Hodges, T. L.
Houldsworth, T.
Howard, P. H.
Hume, Joseph
Hurt, Francis
James, Sir Walter
Jones, John
Labouchere, H.
Lamhton, H.
Lascelles, W. S.
Law, Hon. C. E.
Lefevre, C. Shaw
Long, W.
Lowther, J. H.
Lushington, C.
.Lushington, Dr.
Lygon, lion. Gen.
Mackenzie, Thomas
Marslaud, T.
Martin, John
Miles, W.
Miles, P. S.
Moreton, Hon. A. H,
Muskett, George A.
O'Connor Don
Packe, C. W. ,
Pakington, John S.
Palmer, C. F..

Patten' Wilson
Pease, Joseph
Pendarres, E. NV.
Perccval, Captain
Philips, G. it.
Phillpotts John F.
Powell, dolonel
Pi.,wer, James
Powerscourt, Lord
Richards, It.
Round, C. G.
Round, J.
Rundle, J.
Rustihrooke, Colonel
Sandon, Lord
Sanford, F.. A.
Scholefield, J.
Sinclair, Sir G.
Stanley, Lord
Strutt, Edward
Stuart, Lord James
Stuart, W. Villiers
Style, Sir T. C.
Teignmouth' Lord
Tennent, J. E.
Turner, E.
Vivian, J. H.
Wallace,
Warburton, H.
Ward, H. G.
White, Andrew
Williams, W. A.
Winnington, 'I
Winnington, H.
Wood, Sir Matthew
Wood, G. W
Yates, J. A.

TELLERS.
Fremantle, Sir T.
Hope, H. T.

Alirourt, Capt. E.
Archdal). General
Baker, E.
Berkeley, C.
Maclutone,' W.S.
Boldero, H. G.
Bradshaw, James
Bruen, F.
Byng, G. S.
Castlereagh, Viscount
Clietwynd, Major
Codrington, Sir E.
Compton, H.
De Horsey, S. H.
D'lsraeli, Benjamin
Douro, Marquis of
Duff', James
Duißela, T. D.
Duncan, Lord
Evans, Sir G. Dc Lacy

NORITY—NOES,
Fitzalan, :And
Fitzroy, Lord C.
Forester, Hon. G.
Fox, G. Lane -2.
French, F.
Granby, Marquis
Greenaway, Charles
Hardinge, Sir H.
Hencage, G. W.
Hepburn, Sir T. B.
Billsborough, Earl
Hodgson, It.
Holmes, W.
Hurnphery, J.
Hurst, It. H.
Ingestrie, Lord
Jenkins, It.
Knox, Hon. T.
Langton, Col. G.
Lennox, Lord A.

Mackenzie, W. F.
Maclean, 1).
Manua.% Lard C.
MauriYell, T. P
Meynell, 11.
Murray. A.

Nor r' Lord
O'Neil,i 'J.

I'attison, J.

Pechell,-Captain
Polhill, F.

Somer;et, Lord C.
Standish, Charles
Surrey, Earl of
Villiers, Charles P.
Waddington, H. S.
Wyndham, VI.

TELLP.RIC
Berkeley, Grantley
Sibthorp, Culonel

Mr. Hawkes, M.P. for Dudley, has paired off till after Eas-
ter, with Mr. Lister, M.P. for Bradford.

ADULTERATION OF FOOD.

In large towns the goodness of bread is judged of
by its colour, and even the cheaper sorts are required
to be very white. Now unless the best flour is used,
bread cannot be made of such a colour without using
alum ; which bleaches the flour, and thus gives to bread
made of inferior or damaged wheat the appearance of the
better quality. The quantity of this salt employed is
comparatively small; but it is notwithstanding sufficient
to induce constipation in the weak, either very young or
very old, and to aggravate it when already existing ;
persons thus circumstanced should therefore abtain as
much as possible from eating baker's bread, using in its
stead home-made or brown bread.

Beer is the favouritebeverage of the immense majority
of the English people ; and if no other ingredients were
used in its composition than those which the law permits,
viz., malt and hops, it would be a nourishing and whole-
some as well as favourite liquor. But this unfortunately
is not the case. Beer is mixed with a large proportion of
water, and a great number of drugs, more or less dele-
terious, are employed to make the mixture resemble
genuine beer in its sensible qualities, at a smaller expense
than malt and hops can be obtained for. One of these
ingredients is a composition of extract of quassia and
liquorice-juice, which goes by the name of " multum,"
and is very extensively employed. Of a worse description
than this are those adulterations which are intended to
make the beer heady, and thus give to weak liquor the
appearance of strength. For this purpose a variety of
narcotics is used, such as coculus indicus, nux vomica,
&c. In addition to these, several other substances are
employed in the adulteration of beer ; for instance,
sulphate of iron, wormwood, capsicum, &c.* It should
be observed, that the greater number of these illegal
adulterations are supposed to be perpetrated not by
wholesale brewers, but by the publicans, who
in many cases retail the beer at a lower rate
than they purchase it wholesale. It is to be
feared that, in spite of the numerous heavy
fines imposed upon persons found guilty of such
practices, they are still carried on to a considerable ex-
tent ; at least, it is difficult, if not impossible, in some
parts of London to procure good genuine beer. I may
mention as a proof of the extent to which the adultera--
don of beer is carried, that there is a class of men called
brewers' druggists, whose business it is to prepare the
compounds for brewers and publicans.
Ale is made of pale malt, and is frequently adulterated
with several of the articles used for porter, as well as with
opium, tobacco, grains of paradise, &c. Stale or sour
ale is converted into mild ale by the admixture of pre-
pared chalk, soda, or carbonate of potash ; and to give
new all the appearance of old liquor, oil of vitriol is em-
ployed.
Now there can be no doubt that a beverage containing
even minute quantities of such articles as those above
enumerated, must be detrimental to health ; and as the law
has hitherto proved unequal to the task of preventing their
employment, all who regard their health, especially inva-
lids, should drink home-brewed beer, or procure their
porter direct from the brewers. And here I cannot but
observe that the abolition or reduction of the malt-duty
would be a great boon to the community. The induce-
ments to adulterate malt liquors would thereby be
much diminished, and private persons would then be
better able to brew their own beer, and thus escape
the hazard of consuming what is frequently little better
than a slow poison. It has been frequently noticed of
late, that London porter is becoming worse and worse ;
yet we seldom hear of convictions for the offence of
adulteration. Some strenuous measures ought to be
forthwith adopted for the repression of the evils in
question.
Few articles are more commonly and largely adulte-
rated than wine. Being a foreign product, msny of those
who consume it in this country are unable to distin-
guish the adulterated from the genuine. Many of the
substances used in doctoring wine (as it is termed) are
of the most pernicious nature, and cannot fail to
prove highly injurious. Of this truth, not a few
striking and appalling proofs have from time to time
occurred. Port and Sherry, the wines commonly
drank in England, are those most liable to adultera-
tion, and unless known to be genuine, should not be
taken by the aged. What, indeed, can be expected of
port wine sold for a guinea a dozen? which it not unfre-
quently is at public auctions. Port is mixed with water, and
adulterated with alum, oak-bark, and other astringents,
for the purpose of imparting the flavour of the genuine
wine ; and with logwood and alkanet root, as the means
of colouring it. Spirit of wine is also employed to give
strength to the compound. Sour Sherry is adulterated
with acetate of lead, for the purpose of neutralizing its
acidity; and when thick, is fined by gypsum, and is then
often passed off as good, genuine wine. Other foreign
wines are frequently adulterated in various ways, which
chemical analysis alone can detect. Our home-made
wines, such as grape, currant, or gooseberry, if properly
made, with sufficient quantities of fruit and sugar and kept
long enough, are far superior to the common Spanish
and Portuguese wines as made up for the London mar-
ket. In my opinion, the most wholesome wines, both
on account of their original qualities and because they
are comparatively little adulterated, are the light French
and German wines. The reduction of the duty on
these wines is much to be desiderated—at present they
are too expensive for general consumption ; so that many
are compelled to put up with an unwholesome, and
at the same time high-priced beverage, or with the
home-products of ardent sprits, on which latter a tax of
the same amount of those removed from malt, hops, and
wine, might very beneficially be imposed. Meanwhile,
let the aged drink moderately, and of the best descrip-
I tion of wines.
Perhaps few articles are more adulterated than
brandy, rum, and gin. A false strength is frequently
given to weak liquor by infusing in it cayenne pepper,
which imparts to brandy or rum an extremely pungent
taste ; burnt sugar is also employed to colour these two
liquors. Gin is adulterated by the mineral acids, and is
frequently quite poisonous.
Tea, it is well known, is frequently mixed with the
leaves of the sloe, ash, or elder ; in the preparation of
which, various hurtful substances are employed. Log-
wood is used to die a counterfeit black tea ; and the
substitute for green tea is coloured by means of Dutch
pink and verdigris, the latter a deadly poison.
Coffee is adulterated with ground beans and peas, and
sometimes also with fine gravel.
The best way to ensure genuine tea and coffee, is to
purchase them at respectable houses, and to pay the
higher pricesfor them. If any articles are adulterated,
it may be taken for granted that they are the cheaper
sorts. As to coffee, it should be purchased unground ;
it cannot then so well be adulterated.

Confectionery, fish-sauces, oil, pepper, mustard,
pickles, vinegar, &c., are frequently adulterated, the
latter two with sulphuric acid, which renders them highly
injurious to the coats of the stomach.—Curtis on Health.

4 Accum.