Connecticut western news., 1878-09-12
ADuLTERATIoN OF LIQUORS.

:
 And this is upon the supposition that the liq
 uors are pure but not over one per cent. of the
 wines and liquors sold is even moderately pure.
 Wine is & mocker, and Q deceiver. The in | finite distance between the statements on the labels and the contents of the packages IS on ly surpassed by the distance of the souls of the tratfickers from God. The natural results and | legitimate fruits of alcoholic wines are sutfi- | ciently appalling to amaze the very depths of perdition, but the worst remains to be told. | Tue deadly adodterations are too fearful for | description
 The chief poisons used are strychnine, stra-
 monium, beladonna, and opium. These do | the work. One bushel of the best corn will
 only make three gallons of whisky. But lit
 tie strychnino easily raises the average to four. | Twenty-Five per cent. of pure alcoholic strength is strychnine-three or four cents worth adds this extra gallon. One drug house
 in London sold ill 1867 more strychnine to ono l liquor-house, than all the city could use mod- | icinally. Stramonium is made from the Jamestown weed. It is very common. It may cramp the stomach. This is corrected by opi- um. The taste of that is killed by potash. It produces dizziness, dimness of vision, and de- llrium. Belladonna is deadly nightshade--is all poisonous, roots, leaves, stalk, and all. Its symptoms are intoxication, violent gestures, laughter, followed by stupidity. It is cheap, only two cents per gallon. Now mark the pro- gress in evil. distiller adds one fourth by strychnine. That strychnine gallon is sold to wholesaler. He makes two of it by adding three cents worth of stramonium and opium. The retailer doubles 1t into four gallons by ad- ding belladonna. This decoction sells for ten cents glass. And this is the practice all over the landl Dr. Cox, the celebrated chemist, was appointed Inspector for Cincinnati, by the Legislature of Ohio in 1855, and in two years inspection, he found more than ninety-nine per cent. of the liquors adulterated by the vilest poisons.
 Let me enumerate some of the stuffs used everywhere. Receipts for counterfeiting are in common use among manufacturers and wholesale men. They are well known to the trade,
 Here are somo ingredients for giving the right heat and fire to the liquors Pepper, capsi- tartaric acid, citric acid, butyric acid, cream of tartar, Anitric acid or aquafortis, sulphuric acid prussic acid, sulphuric ether, nitric ether, spirits of nter oil of vitriol, oil of turpentine, extract of Japonica, juniper berries, aloes, | cochineal, black ants, and Spanish juice.
 Here are some of the ingredients used to give taste and astringency: Bruised raisins, orange peel, coriander seed, white oak bark, tannic acid, kino, rhatany, catechu, worm wood, alum, copperas, sulphate of iron, and sulphate of copper.
 Unnatural tastes are corrected by lime wa ter, caustic potash, sugar of lead, and lith- arge.
 The right or desired color is secured by using burnt sugar, beet juice, treacle, red | haywood, and sulphuric acid | This is the stuff you are taking when you ven ture to take Q dram.
 Only 30,000 barrels of wine are produced on | the island of Madeira. We buy 50,000 here, ana all the rest of the world has enongh be- | sides. There must be some fraud. Take | port wine as another illustration. little | creels Tn Portugal waters the Douro Valley, | only sixty miles long. Yet all the world | trinks the juice from that bunch of grapes. 4