Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-08-03

wine-hut with only the young men from
/ Cambridge, sir
And your clarct -
My good wholesome port, again, sir
lhree Wines out, three waters in, one pinch
ol tartarlc acid two ditto orris powder For a
iHllet claFet' II little brandy for lighter
claret, more water
But how did you contriye about Bur
gundy .
'Ihdt was mY c'dr,t, sir, with from three to
SIX drops of borgdino t, according us gentlemen
liked full flavor or delicate flavor As for
champagne, sir that Of course made nv
self
How do you mean 'of course Burlcv -
On, sir, said he, with an innocent, vet
waggish look, surely everybody makes his
own champagnc-clsc whm CAN bccomc oC all
the gooScbcrricS ,
ADuLTLRATIoNs or FooD.-The people or
London, and the British public generally,
have lately been excited by the revelations
contained in the Report Of Commission ON
" The Authorizations of Food. :" practiced bv
dealers in the various articles which come
under that name. The facts which have been
thus disclosed, are SO striking that we select
a few of them 10y way Of illustrating what
the people live upon in England, and what
we in America may come to at last in the
rrugroes Of the arts. 1t appears that these
adulterations extend to nearly every art icle
both of meat and drink, which is placed upon
the family board. We shall refer only to a
few that will be found most suggestive in
their character.
In the first place, it appears from the testi-
mOny submitted to the Commission. that a
large part of all the animals that die of
disease throughout England, after being pre-
pared SO as to deceive the purchaser, are sold
for food in various forms in the markets of
the kingdom. especially in those of London
One reputable witness tcstiics, .. am GER
tain that if one hundred carcascs of cows were
now lying dead in the ncighborhoOd OF London
! cpu!d get them all sold within twentv-iuur
hours. Companies exist in different parts
of England for insuring the lives of animals,
and when dead. these animals are abandoned
to the underwriters, who sell them to the
dealers i'll pruyis ions by whom they are either
sold again for immediate consumption, or are
manufactured into preserved meats. This
business Is not restricted to sheep. oxen and
swine-but equally comprehcnds donkcys and
horseS-and not unircquontly extends to
animals OF far inferior dignity and dclicacy
In the article OF bread, the adultcratiOns are
found to u" no less common and no less iniu-
rlous and offensive The adultcratinc inrrc-
dent most in use is alum. or a compound of
alum and salt and in some instances rulvcr-
lied potato, and these ingredients are
introduced sometimes by the baker into the
bread, and sometimes by the miller into the
-four. The whole mystery Of tea drinking is
likely also to lose its charm in the light Of
these revelations. 1t turns out that tea,
after being initiated and slammed IN hun
drcd different ways in civilized lands, is at
length udultcrdted and mixed with other
materials, hy the Chinese themselves, who
undoubtedly Imagine that they are thus graft
tying the taste of the uccidentals--snce for
their own consumption, they are very careful
to keep it wholly untanted. The various
kinds of tea are notoriously colored by the
Wholesale III Canton, in order to fit them for
the markets OF Europe and America-the
coIorlnS mixtures being generally gypsum,
Prussian blue, black lead, turmeric and
French chalk But in England the process
OF economy is carried one step further and
the leaves of the tea that has once been used
are carefully dried, rolled and colored, and
sold again for the consumption of her
MairstyS subjects. This is an extensive
business at some great hotels. But none of
thc authorizations mentioned in the report are
more offensive than those practiced upon
coffee The admixture Of chick0ry, which,
we believe, has been sometimes suspected
even in the United States, is a venial
matter compared with several others that are
enumerated. In addition to this, in most of
the preparations Of ground coffee, several of
which ar" advertised as :" best Java" of the
most d"Ilctt" iiavor there are constantly used
ground a,O.Ls, roasted beans. carrots and
pdrSnlps, roasted horse chcstnuts, and worst
oi all the baked liVers Of bullocks and horses
ground So as to resemble coffee After these.
are mentioned the aduterations of milk, of
sugars Of all kinds, Cf butter, and every kind
OF drink that an Englishman ever tastcs-for
hc knows nothing of the luxury of simple cold
water. In his wine, and other alcholc
drinks, lie OF course must be content to con
sumo all sorts of strange ingredients; but it
Is hard that he cannot have his malt liquors
uniainted, and that he must be Obliged to
drlnk Tor pale ale, porter and stout, molasscs
and water mixed with burnt sugar, alcohol,
tobacco Juice and salt-and sometimes with
poison like strychnuc or the extract of hons
These are samples OF what Mr.. John Bull
Is iprccd to live upon in these hard times.
while, good easy soul, he has been constantly
hattcrlng himself that he has upon his table
ana IN ms lardrr, the lest of every thing that
can hr produced in the British dominions.-
W e are not surprised that these revelations
nave somewhat disturbed his serenity, and
made hlm suspicious of every body with
whom he deals, and at the same time. We
confess to a strange curiosity existing in our
own minds, as To whether any similar rcyca-
u'n, could by any possibility be elected by
any in1ulrOS that might be instituted ON this
Hl"r "l the water, respecting the food we
Americans live uuon.-Pror. JoluHaI.
'"I' ffNEs AGO, it required from ten to