The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1883-08-04
FOOD ADULTERATIoN.

The Chicago Inter Ocean, one among the many
able journals of the great West, writing recently
upon the above subject, very justly remarks that
sto bring the ten commandments down to date,
there should be added to the list of prohibitions,
Thou shalt not commit aduteration." Our
temporary is especially correct in this remark
There can be no question, whether chemically or
otherwise considered, that improper adulteratiOn,
physically, scientifically or morally is conducive
of harm. This particularly so in regard to what
we eat and drink or subsist upon. Hence, no
fault could really be found if "thou shalt not adul
terate" were added-in italics-to the ten com
mandments of the ancient law giver-Moses.
Used conscientiously the retort and the crucible
are Of great advantage to mankind and the world
generally, but when employed to show how things
can be compounded to pass for what they really
are not, a good is transformed into an evil and
chemistry thus perverted becomes a positive evil,
demonstrating that great danger turks in the APP
plicatiOn of what is proper in itself by turning it
to doubtful and sinister ends The Kater- Ocean
very properly remarks:
Chemistry has a vast field where its operations
can be carried on without doing any serious harm
and producing vast aggregate of good. If it
would only let the stomach alone it might range
at will the whole boundless universe besides. Ma
ture is the only safe compounder of food and drink
The adulteration of drinks has made delirium
tremens, and made kidney disease into frst-class
malady, while the almost universal dyspepsia of
the day is mainly due to adulterated food. Not
a bar in the land can boast absolutely pure liquors.
and if there is kitchen which escapes food adul-
tarafinu n must he ramnta from fha channals of
commerce. Every meal supplies its quota of poi
son, and that in the very teeth of the most deter
mined effort of the purveyor to be good provi-
DER There is escape for rich or poor, and the
daintier the food the greater the peril The coarse
diet of the laboring man is comparatively sure
His meat and potatoes are nature made them,
unless fried in refined lard in which case they
smell of the laboratory. The bread was probably
raised by compound which, instead of being the
result of natural fermentation, was manufactured
after recipe furnished by a chemist, and the but
ter was perhaps oleomargarine which might be
said to have been churnea in crucible. The
coffee may or may not be the genuine article. The
milk has nothing in it than chalk and water,
but the sugar, especially if it be the best in the
market, is probably largely made up of glucose.
The first sip Of the breakfast beverage is, in point
of adulteration, fair sample of what one must 60
on eating and drinking all day and every day
There is no escape from it. The millionaire is
very nearly as helpless as the poor man. Nearly
everything is something else"
1t is not only in the adulteraton of the legiti-
mate and absolute necessities of substance
articles of daily eonsumption-but it has entered
largely and dangerously into what may be termed
Injuries which, like the little brook that St. John
speaks of as having been sweet and inviting to
the taste when in the mouth, but when swallowed
it became "bitter in the belly" Such is particu-
larly the case with thousands of tons of tafy and
sweetmeats that are now consumed all over the
world by both children and those of maturer years
and growth. 1t is known and conceded fact
that much of this cheap confectionery is absolute
ly made of peculiar kind of clay or earth, sweet
ened with ordinary sugar and molasses so as to be
palatable to the taste, and Ornamented with
poisonous paints to attract the eye 1t is the in
discriminate eating of this adulteration that ruins
the stomachs Of children-also those of larger
growth-and makes them weak, scrawny, sickly
dyspeptics before fairly entered upon young man.
hood and womanhood. As in these articles so with
thousands of others, solids and liquids poisoned
and made deleterious to health by the instrument
tality Of chemical and other authorizations. We
would therefore advise all who can to use the pure
article, and those who cannot procure it to avoid
the spurious.