, 1879-02-09
Oil Of Vitriol in Vinegar-Flour Mixed
with Plaster Of Paris, CLAY,
Bone-Dust, Etc.
Glucose in Sugar---Terra-Alb Aer-
curry, Copper, and Lead in
Candy---Arsenic in
WALLPAPER.
Draft of an Anti-Adulteration Law
by the Leading Medical soc'e-
ties of New York.

heard clerk ASK lie mau3Eel "HeA4S' AL o
for large quantity Of ground colee cou'o oe
filled within certain time Before feply'ns'
the manager stepped to q speaA'ntooe,
whist!ed and then asked: 81 Has that cargo u
peanuts arrived yet?" Having received an an
swer apparently satisfactory, he told 1he ele'A
that the order could be filled in the time naei-
toned. A not unnatural curiosity TO learn WILL
connection existed between coffee and peanuts
failed to obtnin any very definite response 1fo'a
the manager, and 1t is only recently tha' liz
mystery has been solved to the wrltFr's sat'sIa:-
ton. Peanuts for long time were asea to
adultcra,e ground coffee. until the public oc
coming distrustful OF the "rouod article, ceaseo
brying auy coffee except that WHICH WAS
roasted whole and SO sold. This practice great
ly checked the adulteration OF coffee until
ycry lately; but so prodtab!y eau coffee De aou'"
terated that already there are several processes
in use for preparing cotice-oean OUT o.
variety Of foreign substances. For example. IN
England. application for patent has been madc
to7 pressing lncly-g-ound chiceoFy into mods
of the exact shape of co1lee beans.
DR.. William 4. hammond, formerly Surgeon
General Of the United States, told the writer
that, during the War, he found The coHec-
grounds in the large Government hospitals
werc regularly bought by certain dealers. Who
then sold them to coffee aud spice 1nllls- As
nearly IS he could remember, most OF the
coffee-grounds from the Washington hospitals
rent to Delaware. The trade was SO openly
carried on that the dealers thought best TO
account for It By saying that the grounds were
used not for making coffee second time. tut
for adultcrating pepper and spices; but Dr'
Hammond said that there we're SO many other
things equally available for those purposes tAal
h. felt confident The spent coffee was dried,
worked over, and, after beng mixed with Ger
tain proportion Of fresh ground coffee, offered
for sale.
In the course Of investigating this subject,
:.,e Ereai,tQ Posts representative happened to
meet an old acquaintance forn,erl; engaged IN q
cofIce and spice mill. On being asked about
some Of the tricks OF thr trade, lie eaid:
.tSo~, Look here, you think tlixt there's moth
Ing TOO bad to be done III one OF these mills.
hut can tell you Of trick that beats any 2dul-
teration they ever did clean out of sight,
Having obtaiueI promise that no names
should be used, hu said tint he had been asked
couple of years ago if he would like to under
.asc the manufacture OF art1ticlnl coi1ee. BE-
ing OF speculative turn oil mind land en
.4iSsdn!, none too scrupulous) be Tent into the
business.
ave used to buy very soft, fine blue clay,
gr;ad it thoroughly and ury out the water 1t
W.. then molstcned to 4 1uo!ding consistency
into coffee bean shape ;tlid mixed with certain
pru,prtton OF pure coffee When roasted it i,ad
all the appearance Of genuin. cotlce, with the
additional advantage to us ot Weighing more
Cs:og Is per ceuium uf clay beans, which
weighed about 25 per crutum more than the
real coffee, would ret III per ccntunl more
weight out Of given quantity by measure, anu
this additional weight was enough to pay for the
working OF the clay into shape, 80 ti4at opT cay
cctTee gave us clean n1ost Of 25 cents on the
l,,f1nr beside rroft fle Eeu1lluc C0tfce. !"
'.Dld you sell much OF i.!''
awe did a very large business. We coulu
uudersell any other house in the market, but VT
never ran down ou: prices SO IS to excite suspl-
cion. Bv keepins JUS: enough below marke.
rates tn SECURE sale for all we could handle We
kept up good profits and good reputation"
Where did your clay come froms''
'sThat cau't tell you. Five gone ou! OF tho
.'1hcre are others still engaged III it; is that
IT."
Swell, reckon I've told you enough FOR one
day. suppose YOU hunt up somebody else"
4 dili.cnt search through New York and
Hrpoklyn failed to discover any more trace OF
this business, a,n! j. i probably carried On ln
Boston, Phl!adelplia, or the West.
That caiccnry a.,si cereals (beans, wheat, or
rre) arc made to resemble the native coffee beau
is proven by tie anal ysis OF the samples bought
in different New Fork groceries The first c1ght
samples mentioned in DR.. Motifs report were
bought whole ard ground in the presence of the
buyer. Unfortunately nu SAMPLES ut the whole
beans were taken, but tile fact that chiccory was
found IN considerable quantities in Is oer cent
ot the samples shows that It must hare been
rrcssed into shane to resemble coffee. House
wlyes. therefore, who have heretofore depended
upon buying their coffee whole, to gct it pure.
will find that they have been leaning on broken
reed.
In roasting coffee its weight is diminished by
the evaporation Of its moisture, from II to y
per ccntum- Some dealers succeed in recovering
q part Of this loss. Just as the hot coffee is
Withdrawn from tue roasler, spray jet Of hot
water is turned upon it for an instant Iht
heat of the coffee evaporates most Of the waller
but about to Der ccntum OF weight Is re-
stored The objection to this trick IL that II
causes very noticeable loss OF aroma af''
therefore lowers the strength of thu coffee
Some dealers have processes Tor treating IN
fcrior kinds Of coffee so as to make them appeal
like the better qualities. For instance, San Do
minco. Mexican, Maracaibo, amt R!o are mads
to resemble Java bv kind OF sweating. A
Java sells at about twenty y-three cents a pound
Wholesale, and the others at about fifteen cent
pound, the profit will be seen TO DC enormous
BAKING. POWDER
There are certain constituents Of good baking
powder which may be regarded rs entirely 1Ec'
from danger. The consist Of pure grape cream
of tartur, bicarbonate OF soda, and carbonate o
a1umouia. Tile cream OF tartar un1tes with 1hs
other two ingredients, aud carbonic acao gas i
thrown oil, producing the same effect as yeas
in much shorter tme: nus neen 9E;th loon ~,
o;ltr TWO articles. and carbonic acid gas Will b'
produced. AS alum costs less than three cents
while cream of tartar costs more tAan ~ CENTS
pound it Is easy to see why alum is substituted
1.,r tho lattcr By SOME baking-powder nlatulac
,u1ers it's admitted W iii medical authori
1:cs :t,a; cream OF tartar leaves no injurious
substance IN Tie hreAd. alum. on the otne
,la,;t;, is :u itself an astTinscnr, aud there l.
vide aud deep-seated prejudice against IT'S use
fY3ssE