, 1881-06-18

2N 49, ~
heavily charged with poison as7to be pre-
judicial to- the health of those who use it /;
and such being the case the Government
ought at. once to take stepsto prohibit its
further use, in the same way that the
Imperial Government acted 10 the case Of
one of Scoferns defecators. which was
found to contain lead. Perhaps, however,
it would be better to give an extract from
Mr.. Russers letter where the analysis is
given at length ~ *.'2'.'
It was described to me as-1st Innoxi-
Gus End Neutral f; 3rd Contained no
acid and therefore had no effect in invert-
ing the sugar. / naturally put my finger
into the mixtures and certainlyit did not
give any busning sensation. In smell it
gave q decided odour of Chlorine ; to the
tongue it was acid in the extreme, with a
decided aIter-taste indicating a metal soiu-
ton similar to sub-sulphate of allumnia'
A drop applied to litmus turned the
blue into white in an instant, proving it to
be q powerful mordant Of some kind |
procured a small sample to make further
tests before I applied to have my name
recorded as wishtul of using the ingredient,
as there could be no doubt it produced a
colour in the sugar which was perfect.
On making q rough test to spot the acid,
/ tried q slip OF galvanized iron dipped
into the solutioD, and in an instant the
zinc was in a state of effervescence and was
completely removed from the iron. This
at once indicated muriatic acid. Could
it be asolution of chloride of zlnc-Bur-
netts Dlsintecting Fluid That is q
strong a~ntise7tic; but sucha decided poi
con. surely ,could not be used by the gros-
est charlatan in an article OF food like
sugar. I next referred to my copy of
"Miller's Inorganic Chemistry" and search
ed for the various preparations OF chlorine
with metals. At5p 632 came. upon the
article OF which | was in search, and
which is nothing more nor less than stan.
nures chloride Sn, CT. 9. Miller describes
its action upon sulphurcus acid as depriv-
ing 1T OF its oxygen, producing a yellow
precipitate OF stannlc sulphife. 1t is
extensively employed rs a mordaot by the
dyer and calico printer sc,
Granted, Mr.. RusselPs analysis is cor
rect aud that the ''blocmer" is what he
describes it to be, and its effect what he
asks the public to believe it is, his expo
sure OF the article was a duty q man OF his
prominence in plating circles owed, not
only to his contreres, but to the communl-
ty at large. We pass over the TACT we'll
known to ls all here, that no good feeling
exists between him and ColoLel True,
owing to some understanding which
concerns only themselves, for it the anaIy-
sic is correct, it matters little to the pub
lie what the feelings of the gentlemen
referred to are towards each other. OF
course the publication ofthe letter did not
include the whole Of the task Mr.. Russell
had set himself, it was only the begi' ming OF
it and we understand he has called upon the
Government to take steps to verify the
correctness of his analysis. This is as it
should be. Having gone SO far in the
newspaper, it was necessary that Mr..
Russell should proceed further so as to
bring matters TO a satisfactory issue one
way or other, for so long as his charges
against the ."bloomel" remained unsub-
Stimulated by collateral official testimony,
he remained open to be called in question
as a deiamer. If things prove to be as he
says they are, the ''bloomei'e" days are
probably numbered. II on the contrary,
it should be shown hat the ".bloomer" Is
innoxi0us and that not a trace OF poison can
be found in the sugar made with ii, Mr,
Russellwi have to anaweilfo the owners OF