Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-01-18
ADUETERATED co NFEor1oNFRY:
The Poisonous Compounds that are Sold
in Cheap Shops for Candy.

nlty OF science, the manutacJur'
ers of confectionery have done their
part. Properly, there are only
three component parts in pure con.
fectionery-the sugar, or body OF
he matter; the extract, or favOring
quality of the same; and the color
lug property. To such a degree OF
ingenuity have candy makers ar
rived, that some kinds of their wares
are put mp for the market with only
a very li.ht proportion of the first,
and with coloring and favoring OF
so cheap quality that their manu-
fuctured articles can be bought at
the same price per pound as the
plain sugar itself.
Ii is not to be supposed that there
is no confectionery. Those who
purchase at our best and old estab-
lished places are morally sure of
getting a genuine article. But child
rem do not always go to these places.
They strike for the nearest shop or
store, and where they can get the
most for their pennies. The cheap
er candies, of which hundreds of
tons are sold every year, contain
some of the most deadly poisonS
known, among them red lead, gam
boge, vermillion, chromate of lead,
Prussian blue, verditer or carbonate
of copper, arsenite of copper, Bruins
wick green, the various oxides of
iron. white lead, &c. Terra alba, a
kind of clay or white earth, is very
largely used, in some qualities form
ing from fifty to sixty per cent. of
the manufactured article.
The argument that the substances
named are used in quantities so
small that poisoning cannot result
from their use is founded upon ig-
nOrance. Some of the poisons named
are known as cumulative, from the
fact that they accumulate in the sys-
TEN, and that no matter how small
the quantity taken in at time, each
addition remains, the constantly
growing mass working slowly and
silently, producing even more deadly
effects than large doses accidentally
taken, whose results may be neutral
lied or affected by antidotes. A dis
tinguiShed physician lately made a
deliberate statement at an annual
meeting of the society of which he
was a member that there was no
question but hundreds of children
were slain every year by cheap con-
fectiOnery, without the real cause of
their death being known.
As we have ust stated, the article
which is most used by dishonest con-
fectioners is what is known to the
trade as terra alba 1t is principally
brought from Ireland, and was
brought into use l5 or 20 years ago.
Its first extensive use was during
the war, when cream of tartar, bicar-
Donate of soda, pepper, ground rice
and other articles of domestic use
rose to double heir ordinary prices.
Terra alba was hen worth about $40
or SIS ton. The demand has
brought it up to about double those
figures. This compound is nothing
more or less than actual dirt. In col
or it resembles dark flour or ground
chalk, and is just as injurious as if
one were to eat the same amount of
ordinary clay or dirt. 1t enters
mostly into the composition of
"mixed" candies, though this does
not imply that all candies of this
sort are adulterated with it, for
some of the choicest candies in relia
BILE confectioners' stores are called
"mixed," and are the most expens-
i've.
Many readers who have bought
the common fruit or nut candy will
remember that in letting the round
pieces containing the fruit melt i'll
their mouth the result was a thick,
tasteless paste without sweetness or
flavor. This was the "white earth"
which was only frosted on the out
side. The cheaper chocolate creams
of which children are so fond, are
made out of terra alba and glycer-
inc mixed together, the glycerine
keeping the earth soft and pasty,
making it adhere so it will not fall
apart, and then the balls are rolled
in tallow to cool them, with sufficient
grease to allow one pound of choco-
late to 60 as far as FIVE or six pound~
would if properly made.
The effects of terra alba are that
tile terrible diseases of stone and
gravel are caused by the introduc-
tiOn of the earth into the system,
and the large increase of patients
suffering from these diseases is at
tributed by high medical authori
ties to the introduction of this terri
ble ingredient into the confection-
cry and similar articles consumed i'll
this country.
Glucose, or 'tgrape-sugar" is the
name of another dangerous article
extensively used in the adulteration
of candies. 1t is not, as its name
would imply made from grapes,
but from potatoes, and its effect is
to produce paralysis of various por
tiOns of the system, especially the
kidneys, where the effect is not on
ly to paralyze them, but to turn
them into a sugary substance; in
other words, to produce Bright's
disease, malady for which physi-
clans have as yet found no remedy.
The reason for the glucose is the
same that is given for the use of ev-
cry other adulteration, cheapness.
Gum arabic, for which it is used as a
substitute, is worth fifty cents a
pound, while glucose sells for five or
six. Most of the cheap gum drops
are made from this compound.
More disgusting than any OF the
articles named, though perhaps not
so hurtful, are what confectioners
term the scrapings. When a sugar
ship comes into port and is emp
tied of her cargo, good deal of syr-
up has adhered to the sides of the
vessel, and run down into the bilge
water. The first is scraped off, and
the second pumped out, mixed
together, and boiled, and of this
compound candy is made.