Star.
London, England, 1830-02-01 00:00:00

SUGGESTIONS TO MAGISTRATES FOR

REFORMING GIN-SWOP&

17 Ceo. 11. cap. 17. sec. 18. 9 Geo. IV. cap. 61. sec. 1 and 9'
Ist. Every licensed house to have a public tap-room.
2d. The tap-room and the bar to join and be seen from
the one to the other.
3d. The only general and usual place for drinking
drains to be the bar or the tap-room.
4th. No addition or alteration to be made in any
licensed house without the previous approbation of the
Magistrates in Petty Sessions assembled for the purposes
of the Licensing Act.
sth. No persons to be permitted to meet and drink
underground in any licensed house, except the usual
lodgers.
6th. That there be not more than one public entrance to
a licensed horse, unless scorner house, and then only two.
7th. That the tap-room of every ale-house be cleared
at eleven o'clock at night, and the door of the house kept
shut until the usual hour of opening in the morning,
except in such special cases as shall be allowed of by the
Magistrates in Petty Sessions.
Bth. That a ground plan of every licensed house be
deposited with the Licensing Magistrates.
Lastly. That if any licensed person fail in observing
these rules, his conduct be taken into consideration on the
next general annual licensing-day, with a view to the
non-renewal of his license.

METHOD OF MAKING FRENCH BREAD.—The very
light, spongy, and superior article called French bread is
made in the following manner :—lf a peck of the very
finest quality of wheaten flour is to be made into French
rolls, a small quantity of it is to be mixed with as much
warm water as will convert it into dough : in the water a
handful of salt should have been previously dissolved.
About a pint of distillers' yeast, or if this cannot be ob-
tained, ale brewers' yeast, which has been washed with
some cold water to remove the bitterness, is to be well
worked into the dough. This is to be set by in a warm
place to ferment. Meanwhile all the rest of the flour is
to be mixed with as much warm milk as will form a
sponge. Half a pound of butter, melted at the lowest
possible degree of heat, is to be poured on, along with
six eggs; and the whole is to be hastily mixed up
together, along with the sponge, provided that it has
sufficiently fermented, and is sufficiently swollen. After
the mixture, let the dough be left in a warm place, and
when it has risen sufficiently, let it be divided, shaped
into rolls, and baked in a moderately heated oven. The
oven should, as in all other cases, have been perfectly
heated before the bread is put in; and the heat should be
equal throughout, however difficult this may be to effect
with some ill-constructed ovens.—Dr. Lardner's Cabinet
Cyclopedia, Vol. 111. being a Treatise on Domestic
Economy, Vol. 1.
Suicide is again becoming general in Paris. The im-
possibility during the frost to destroy themselves in the
favourite way, by taking to the water, has driven the Pa-
risians to the use of a more expensive element for self-
destruction. I gave, a few posts since, the melancholy
details of an attempt at suicide by a man and a woman,
who hired a lodging for the night, closed the doors and
windows, and chimney, and then, igniting a quantity of
charcoal, went to bed, when the man was found suffocated
and the woman nearly so. A more pitable case of at-
tempt at double suicide occurred on Wednesday morning,
the parties being an aged couple, (each upwards of 60,) who
had seen better days, but who, having become reduced,
determined upon ending their lives and their miseries in
this world together. The intention must have been long
entertained, as the poor man made several testamentary
dispositions of mere trifles, to be sure, but in a manner the
most affecting. As in the instance above referred to, the
suicide was here to be effected by the agency of lighted
charcoal, and, as in that case also, the man was the imme-
diate victim, the poor woman still breathes—a Mend, to
whom the deceased bad written to acquaint him with his
intended self-destruction, having flown to the lodging of
the poor people on reading the letter, and in time to save
the cld lady from present death.
SUDDEN DEATH.—At four o'clock yesterday after-
noon, an awful instance of the uncertainty of life occurred
in the person of Mr. Taylor, sen. a respectable boot-
maker of Charing-cross. From the inclemency of the
weather he did not venture out yesterday to Orange..
street Chapel, where he was a regular attendant; and
ordered his servant to provide him with some little accom_
modation in his apartment, which was accordingly done.
Some little time afterwards, the servant had occasion to
go into his roem, when, to her astonishment and grief,
she found her muter sitting is his' hair—with his epee_
tacks before him—a corpse !

ADULTERATION of BREAD by POTATOES.

From Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, Vol. III;
being a Treatise on Domestic Economy, Vol. I.

It is well-known that potatoes are often used by bakers in
making bread. and a great popular clamor has been raised against
the practice. It is to be observed, however, that when the use of
them Is confined within moderate limits, there is neither-fraud nor
injury to the public. The following is the manner of using
them :
A cask is to be prepared by boring holes In its bottom : and the
bottom is made to fit into the mouth et a boiler containing water.
If the quantity of flour to be baked be four cwt. the quantity of
potatoes that can properly be used is five stone. The potatoes are
thrown into the cask, a cover is applied. the water is made to boil,
and the steam ascending through boles in the cask boils the potatoes.
The boiling ls continued, until the potatoes crack and become
mealy. They are then withdrawn, and are pounded with a wooden
instrument until they become quite line. While this potatoe-meal
is still very hot, cold water is added. in such quantity u to reduce
the whole to the thinness of buttermilk. To this liquid, still warm,
a gallon of yeast is to be added. A fermentation commences; and
after this has continued sufficiently long, during which the potato-
meal rises to the top and forms a tough mass, the whole is to be
well mixed ; and being now a homogenous liquid, it is to be
strained, first through a coarse hair sieve, and afterwards through

a liner.
To this strained matter, one half of the whole quantity of flour
is to be added, and well worked up with the hands so u to form
sponge. When the sponge has duly fermented, the other half of
the leer is to be added aloof with some more water holding salt
dissolved ; this minarets to be worked up into dough, and treated
in the usual manner. •

Tbis bread, when rightly managed, is not distinguishable by the
nicest judges from that which has been made from flour only. It
will keep for a week or ten days without a trace of sourness. The
specific gravity of the bread seems to be a little diminished by the
potatoes ; for the loaf is a little more plump than the same weight
of bread made from mere floor : the bread even looks better. It
is surprising how little the Ave stone of potatoes contributes to in-
crease the weight. The quantity of bread which the four cwt. of
flour by itself would have afforded Is increased only, on an average,
aboot half a stone by the addition of the potatoes. It appears.
therefore, that the employment of potatoes, in the above-mentioned
quantity, Is not done for any fraudulent purpose, but to improve
the quality of the bread : the small advantage by the increase of
weight is perhaps more than counterbalanced by the additional
trouble which the use of potatoes occasions.
It is certain, however, that there are bakers who me potatoes
with another intention than that of improvement, as well as in
much larger quantity than has been above specilled. Bread of
this kind is remarkable for its tendency to crack and crumble, and
for a dark-colored streak of an almost semi-transparent appearance,
which runs along the margin of the under-crust, almost the same
as forms when malted flour has been employed. When sub bread,
if stale, is cut even with a sharp knife, it will stick to the knife, sod
appear clammy.