CONTENTS.

xxi

Page

Per Centage of Alcohol contained in Porter, Ale, and other kinds of Malt Liquors

211

COUNTERFEIT TEA-LEAVES ...

213

List of Grocers prosecuted and convicted for adulterating Tea...

230

Method of detecting the Adulterations of Tea-Leaves...

231

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE...

238

List of Grocers prosecuted by the Solicitor of the Excise and convicted for adulterating Coffee...

241

ADULTERATION OF BRANDY, RUM, AND GIN...

249

Method of detecting the Adulterations of Brandy, Rum, and Malt Spirit...

261

Method of detecting the Presence of Lead in Spirituous Liquors...

272

xxii

CONTENTS.

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>Page</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Method of ascertaining the Quantity of Alcohol in different kinds of Spirituous Liquors..................</td><td>273</td></tr><tr><td>Per Centage of Alcohol contained in various kinds of Spirituous Liquors</td><td>275</td></tr><tr><td>POISONOUS CHEESE, and method of detecting it..................................</td><td>276</td></tr><tr><td>COUNTERFEIT PEPPER, and method of detecting it..........................</td><td>284</td></tr><tr><td>White Pepper, and method of manufacturing it..........................</td><td>290</td></tr><tr><td>POISONOUS CAYENNE PEPPER, and method of detecting it............</td><td>292</td></tr><tr><td>POISONOUS PICKLES, and method of detecting them....................</td><td>295</td></tr><tr><td>ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR, and method of detecting it............</td><td>299</td></tr><tr><td>Distilled Vinegar..................</td><td>300</td></tr></tbody></table>

CONTENTS.

xxiii

Page

ADULTERATION OF CREAM,
*and method of detecting it.........* 302

POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY,
*and method of detecting it.........* 305

POISONOUS CATSUP, *and method*
*of detecting it..................* 309

ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES,
*and method of detecting it.........* 314

POISONOUS OLIVE OIL, *and me-
thod of detecting it................* 318

ADULTERATION OF LEMON
ACID, *and method of detecting it* 321

POISONOUS SODA WATER, *and*
*method of detecting it................* 324

POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE,
*and method of detecting it.........* 325

POISONOUS CUSTARD.................. 328

XXIV

CONTENTS.

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>Page</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>POISONOUS MUSHROOMS</td><td>332</td></tr><tr><td>Mushroom Catsup</td><td>338</td></tr><tr><td>ADULTERATION OF MILK, and<br>method of detecting it</td><td>340</td></tr><tr><td>ADULTERATION OF ISINGLASS,<br>and method of detecting it</td><td>342</td></tr><tr><td>ADULTERATION OF CINNAMON,<br>and method of detecting it</td><td>344</td></tr><tr><td>ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD</td><td>346</td></tr><tr><td>ADULTERATION OF SPANISH<br>LIQUORICE</td><td>348</td></tr><tr><td>FOOD POISONED BY COPPER<br>VESSELS, and method of detect-<br>ing it</td><td>350</td></tr><tr><td>FOOD POISONED BY LEADEN<br>VESSELS, and method of detect-<br>ing it</td><td>357</td></tr></tbody></table>

A
TREATISE
ON
ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD,
AND
Culinary Poisons.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS
ON
THE ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD.

Of all the frauds practised by mercenary
dealers, there is none more reprehensible,
and at the same time more prevalent, than
the sophistication of the various articles of
food.

This unprincipled and nefarious practice,
increasing in degree as it has been found

B

2 PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

difficult of detection, is now applied to al-
most every commodity which can be classed
among either the necessaries or the luxu-
ries of life, and is carried on to a most
alarming extent in every part of the United
Kingdom.

It has been pursued by men, who, from
the magnitude and apparent respectability
of their concerns, would be the least ob-
noxious to public suspicion; and their suc-
cessful example has called forth, from
among the retail dealers, a multitude of
competitors in the same iniquitous course.

To such perfection of ingenuity has this
system of adulterating food arrived, that
spurious articles of various kinds are every
where to be found, made up so skilfully as
to baffle the discrimination of the most ex-
perienced judges

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

3

Among the number of substances used in
domestic economy which are now very ge-
nerally found sophisticated, may be dis-
tinguished—tea, coffee, bread, beer, wine,
spirituous liquors, salad oil, pepper, vine-
gar, mustard, cream, comfitures, catsup, and
other articles of diet and luxury.

Indeed, it would be difficult to mention a
single article of food which is not to be met
with in an adulterated state; and there are
some substances which are scarcely ever to
be procured genuine.

Some of these spurious compounds are
comparatively harmless when used as food;
and as in these cases merely substances of
inferior value are substituted for more costly
and genuine ingredients, the sophistication,
though it may affect our purse, does not
injure our health. Of this kind are the ma-

B 2

4 PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

nufacture of factitious pepper, the adulterations of mustard, vinegar, cream, &c. Others, however, are highly deleterious; and to this class belong the adulterations of beer, wines, spirituous liquors, pickles, sausage oil, and many others.

There are particular chemists who make it a regular trade to supply drugs or nefarious preparations to the unprincipled brewer of porter and ale; others perform the same office to the wine and spirit merchant; and others again to the grocer and the oilman. The operators carry on their processes chiefly in secrecy, and under some delusive firm, with the ostensible denotements of a fair and lawful establishment.

These illicit pursuits have assumed all the order and method of a regular trade; they may severally claim to be distinguished

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

as an *art and mystery*; for the workmen employed in them are often wholly ignorant of the nature of the substances which pass through their hands, and of the purposes to which they are ultimately applied.

To elude the vigilance of the inquisitive, to defeat the scrutiny of the revenue officer, and to ensure the secrecy of these mysteries, the processes are very ingeniously divided and subdivided among individual operators, and the manufacture is purposely carried on in separate establishments. The task of proportioning the ingredients for use is assigned to one individual, while the composition and preparation of them may be said to form a distinct part of the business, and is entrusted to another workman. Most of the articles are transmitted to the consumer in a disguised state, or in such a form

6

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

that their real nature cannot possibly be
detected by the unwary. Thus the poison-
ous extract of cocculus indicus, employed
by fraudulent manufacturers of malt-liquors
to impart an intoxicating quality to porter
or ale, is known in the market by the name
of *black extract*; and another poisonous
substance, technically called *multum*, com-
posed of extract of gentian root, liquorice
juice, and extract of cocculus indicus, is
used by fraudulent brewers to economise
malt and hops.

The quantities of cocculus indicus berries,
as well as of black extract, imported into
this country for adulterating malt liquors,
are enormous. It forms a considerable
branch of commerce in the hands of a few
brokers: yet, singular as it may seem, no
inquiry appears to have been hitherto made

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

by the officers of the revenue respecting its
application. Many other substances em-
ployed in the adulteration of bread, wine,
beer, ale, and spirituous liquors, are in a
similar manner intentionally disguised; and
of the persons by whom they are purchased,
a great number are unacquainted with their
nature or composition.

An extract, said to be innocent, sold at no
less quantity at a time than from half a cwt.
to five cwt. by brewers' druggists, under the
name of *bittern*, is composed of calcined
sulphate of iron (copperas), extract of coc-
culus indicus berries, extract of gentian
root, and Spanish liquorice: and the article
called *beer heading*, is composed of alum
and green vitriol.

It would be very easy to adduce, in sup-
port of these remarks, the testimony of nu-

8

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

merous individuals, by whom I have been
professionally engaged to examine certain
mixtures, said to be perfectly innocent,
which are used in very extensive manufac-
tories of the above description. Indeed,
during the long period devoted to the prac-
tice of my profession, I have had abundant
reason to be convinced that a vast number
of dealers, of the highest respectability,
have vended to their customers articles
absolutely poisonous, which they them-
selves considered as harmless, and which
they would not have offered for sale, had
they been apprised of the spurious and per-
nicious nature of the compounds, and of the
purposes to which they were destined.

For instance, I have known cases in which
brandy merchants were not aware that the
substance which they frequently pur-

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

9

chase under the delusie name of *flash*, for
strengthening and clarifying spirituous li-
quors, and which is held out as consisting
of burnt sugar and isinglass only, in the
form of an extract, is in reality a compound
of sugar with extract of capsicum; and that
to the acrid and pungent qualities of the
capsicum is to be ascribed the heightened
flavour of brandy and rum, when coloured
with the above-mentioned matter.

In other cases the ale-brewer has been
supplied with ground coriander-seeds, pre-
viously mixed with a portion of ground *nux
vomica*, under the delusive name of *Faba
amara*, to give a narcotic property to the
beverage.

It is a painful reflection, that the division
of labour which has been so instrumental in
bringing the manufactures of this country
to their present flourishing state, should

10

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

have also tended to conceal and facilitate
the fraudulent practices in question; and
that from a correspondent ramification of
commerce into a multitude of distinct
branches, particularly in the metropolis and
the large towns of the empire, the traffic in
adulterated commodities should find its way
through so many circuitous channels, as to
defy the most scrutinizing endeavour to
trace it to its source.

It is not less lamentable that the exten-
sive application of chemistry to the useful
purposes of life, should have been perverted
into an auxiliary to this nefarious traffic.
But, happily for the science, it may, with-
out difficulty, be converted into a means of
detecting the abuse; to effect which, very
little chemical skill is required; and the
course to be pursued forms the object of the
following pages.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

11

The baker asserts that he does not put alum into bread; but he is well aware that, in purchasing a certain quantity of half spoiled flour, he must take a sack of *sharp whites* (a term given to flour contaminated with a quantity of alum), without which it would be impossible for him to produce light, white, and porous bread, from a half-spoiled material.

The wholesale mealman frequently purchases this spurious commodity, (which forms a separate branch of business in the hands of certain individuals,) in order to enable himself to sell his decayed flour.

Other individuals furnish the baker with alum mixed up with salt, under the obscure denomination of *stuff*. There are wholesale manufacturing chemists, whose sole business is to crystallise alum, in such a form as will adapt this salt to the purpose of be-

B 6

12

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

ing mixed in a crystalline state with the
crystals of common salt, to disguise the
character of the compound. The mixture
called *stuff*, is composed of one part of
alum, in minute crystals, and three of com-
mon salt.

In many other trades a similar mode of
proceeding prevails. The practice of so-
phisticating the necessaries of life, being
reduced to systematic regularity, is ranked
by public opinion among other mercantile
pursuits; and is not only regarded with
less disgust than formerly, but is almost
generally esteemed as a justifiable way to
wealth.

It is really astonishing that the penal
law is not more effectually enforced against
practices so inimical to the public welfare.
The man who robs a fellow subject of a few
shillings on the high-way, is sentenced to

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

death, while he who distributes a slow
poison to a whole community, escapes un-
punished.

It has been urged by some, that, under
so vast a system of finance as that of Great
Britain, it is expedient that the revenue
should be collected in large amounts; and
therefore that the severity of the law should
be relaxed in favour of all mercantile con-
cerns in proportion to their extent: encou-
ragement must be given to large capitalists;
and where an extensive brewery or distil-
lery yields an important contribution to the
revenue, no strict scrutiny need be adopted
in regard to the *quality* of the article from
which such contribution is raised, *provided
the excise and customs do not suffer by the
fraud*.

But the principles of the constitution

14

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

afford no sanction to this preference, and the
true interests of the country require that it
should be abolished; for a tax dependant
upon deception must be at best precarious,
and must be, sooner or later, diminished by
the irresistible diffusion of knowledge.
Sound policy requires that the law should
be impartially enforced in all cases; and if
its penalties were extended to abuses of
which it does not now take cognizance,
there is no doubt that the revenue would be
abundantly benefitted.

Thus devoted to disease by baker, brewer,
grocer, wine merchant, &c. the physician is
called to our assistance; but here again, as I
shall state presently, the pernicious system
of fraud, as it has given the blow, steps in
to defeat the remedy.

ADULTERATIONS

OF

Drugs and Medicines,

*And Methods of detecting them.*

THE species of fraud to which I shall
now but briefly advert, and which has in-
creased to so alarming an extent, that it
loudly calls for the interference of Go-
vernment, is the adulteration of drugs and
medicines.

Nine tenths of the most potent drugs and
chemical preparations used in pharmacy, are
vended in a sophisticated state by dealers
who would be the last to be suspected.

16

ADULTERATION OF

ADULTERATION OF PERUVIAN BARK.

IT is well known, that of the article of Peruvian bark there is a variety of species inferior to the genuine; that too little discrimination is exercised by the collectors of this precious medicament; that it is carelessly assorted, and is frequently packed in green hides; that much of it arrives in Spain in a half-decayed state, mixed with fragments of other vegetables and various extraneous substances; and in this state is distributed throughout Europe.

But, as if this were not a sufficient deterioration, the public are often served with a spurious compound of mahogany sawdust and oak wood, ground into powder, mixed with a proportion of good quinquina, and sold as genuine bark powder.

DRUGS AND MEDICINES.

17

Every chemist knows that there are mills constantly at work in this metropolis, which furnish bark powder at a much cheaper rate than the substance can be procured for in its natural state. The price of the best genuine bark, upon an average, is not lower than twelve shillings the pound; but immense quantities of powder bark are supplied to the apothecaries at three or four shillings a pound. There is no ready test for detecting the fraud.

## ADULTERATION OF RHUBARB POWDER, IPECACUANHA, &c.

It is also notorious that there are manufacturers of spurious rhubarb powder, ipecacuanha powder*, James's powder, and

* Of this root, several varieties are imported. The

18

ADULTERATION OF

other simple and compound medicines of great potency, who carry on their diabolical trade on an amazingly large scale. Indeed, the quantity of medical preparations thus sophisticated exceeds belief. Cheapness, and not genuineness and excellence, is the grand desideratum with the unprincipled dealers in drugs and medicines.

Those who are familiar with chemistry may easily convince themselves of the existence of the fraud, by subjecting to a chemical examination either spirits of hartshorn,

white sort, which has no wrinkles, and no perceptible bitterness in taste, and which, though taken in a large dose, has scarcely any effect at all, after being pulverised by fraudulent druggists, and mixed with a portion of emetic tartar, is sold at a low price, for the powder of genuine ipecacuanha root. There is no ready method known to detect the fraud.

DRUGS AND MEDICINES.

19

magnesia, calcined magnesia, calomel, or
any other chemical preparation in general
demand.

ADULTERATION OF SPIRIT OF
HARTSHORN,
*And Method of detecting it.*

SPIRIT of hartshorn is counterfeited by
mixing liquid caustic ammonia with the dis-
tilled spirit of hartshorn, to increase the
pungency of its odour, and to enable it to
bear an addition of water.

The fraud is detected by adding spirit of
wine to the sophisticated spirit; for, if no
considerable coagulation ensues, the adul-
teration is proved. It may also be disco-
vered by the hartshorn spirit not producing
a brisk effervescence when mixed with mu-
riatic or nitric acid.

20

ADULTERATION OF

ADULTERATION OF MAGNESIA,
*And Method of detecting it.*

MAGNESIA usually contains a portion of lime, originating from hard water being used instead of soft, in the preparation of this medicine.

To ascertain the purity of magnesia, add to a portion of it a little sulphuric acid, diluted with ten times its bulk of water. If the magnesia be completely soluble, and the solution remains transparent, it may be pronounced *pure*; but not otherwise. Or, dissolve a portion of the magnesia in muriatic acid, and add a solution of sub-carbonate of ammonia. If any lime be present, it will form a precipitate; whereas pure magnesia will remain in solution.

DRUGS AND MEDICINES.

21

ADULTERATION OF CALCINED
MAGNESIA,

*And Method of detecting it.*

CALCINED magnesia is seldom met with
in a pure state. It may be assayed by the
same tests as the common magnesia. It
ought not to effervesce at all, with dilute
sulphuric acid; and, if the magnesia and
acid be put together into one scale of a ba-
lance, no diminution of weight should ensue
on mixing them together. Calcined mag-
nesia, however, is very seldom so pure as
to be totally dissolved by diluted sulphuric
acid; for a small insoluble residue generally
remains, consisting chiefly of silicious earth,
derived from the alkali employed in the
preparation of it. The solution in sulphu-
ric acid, when largely diluted, ought not to
afford any precipitation by the addition of
oxalate of ammonia.

22

ADULTERATION OF

ADULTERATION OF CALOMEL,
*And Method of detecting it.*

THE genuineness of calomel may be ascertained by boiling, for a few minutes, one part with 1/32 part of muriate of ammonia in ten parts of distilled water. When carbonate of potash is added to the filtered solution, no precipitation will ensue if the calomel be pure.

ADULTERATION OF SYRUP OF BUCK-
THORN, WORM-SEED, AND ARROW-
ROOT POWDER.

SYRUP of buckthorn, for example, instead of being prepared from the juice of buckthorn berries, (rhamnus catharticus,) is made from the fruit of the blackberry bearing

DRUGS AND MEDICINES.

alder, and the dogberry tree. A mixture of the berries of the buckthorn and blackberry bearing alder, and of the dogberry tree, may be seen publicly exposed for sale by some of the venders of medicinal herbs. This abuse may be discovered by opening the berries: those of buckthorn have almost always four seeds; of the alder, two; and of the dogberry, only one. Buckthorn berries, bruised on white paper, stain it of a green colour, which the other do not. There is no method of detecting the genuineness of the buckthorn syrup.

Instead of worm-seed [artemisia san-
tonica] the seeds of tansey are frequently
offered for sale, or a mixture of both.

Most of the arrow-root, the fecula of the
maranta arudinacea, sold by druggists, is a
mixture of potatoe starch and arrow-root.

24

ADULTERATION OF

ADULTERATION OF ESSENTIAL OILS,
*And Methods of detecting them.*

A GREAT many of the essential oils obtained from the more expensive spices, are frequently so much adulterated, that it is not easy to meet with such as are at all fit for use: nor are these adulterations easily discoverable. The grosser abuses, indeed, may be readily detected. Thus, if the oil be adulterated with alcohol, it will turn milky on the addition of water; if with expressed oils, alcohol will dissolve the volatile, and leave the other behind; if with oil of turpentine, on dipping a piece of paper in the mixture, and drying it with a gentle heat, the turpentine will be betrayed by its smell. The more subtle artists, how-

DRUGS AND MEDICINES.

ever, have contrived other methods of so-
phistication, which elude all trials. And as
all volatile oils agree in their general pro-
perties of solubility in spirit of wine, and
volatility in the heat of boiling water, &c.
it is plain that they may be variously mixed
with each other, or the dearer sophisticated
with the cheaper, without any possibility of
discovering the abuse by any of the before-
mentioned trials. Perfumers assert that
the smell and taste are the only certain
tests of which the nature of the thing will
admit. For example, if a bark should have
in every respect the appearance of good
cinnamon, and should be proved indisput-
ably to be the genuine bark of the cinna-
mon tree; yet if it want the cinnamon fla-
vour, or has it but in a low degree, we reject
it; and the case is the same with the essen-

C

26

ADULTERATION OF

tial oil of cinnamon. It is only from use
and habit, or comparisons with specimens
of known quality, that we can judge of the
goodness, either of the drugs themselves, or
of their oils.

ADULTERATION OF COLOURS
USED IN PAINTING,

PAINTERS' colours, not only those used
by artists, such as ultramarine, carmine,
and lake, Antwerp blue, chrome yellow, and
Indian ink; but also the coarser colours used,
by the common house-painter, are more or
less adulterated. Thus, of the latter kind,
white lead is mixed with carbonate or sul-
phate of barytes; vermillion with red lead.

PAINTERS' COLOURS.

The following hints may serve to detect
these frauds.

*Ultramarine*, if genuine, should speedily
become deprived of its colour when thrown
into concentrated nitric acid.

*Carmine* should be totally soluble in
liquid ammonia. It is often mixed with
vermillion. This substance is not acted on
by liquid.

*Madder* and *carmine* lakes should be
totally soluble by boiling in concentrated
solution of soda or potash.

*Antwerp blue* should not become de-
prived of its colour when thrown into liquid
chlorine.

*Chrome yellow* should not effervesce with
nitric acid.

*Indian Ink*; the best kind breaks splin-

c 2

28 ADULTERATION OF PAINTERS' COLOURS.

tery, with a smooth glossy fracture, and
feels soft, and not gritty, when rubbed
against the teeth.

*White lead* should be completely soluble in nitric acid, and the solution should remain transparent when mingled with a solution of sulphate of soda.

*Vermillion* should become totally volatilized on being exposed to a red heat; and it should impart a red colour to spirit of wine, when digested with it.

Adulteration

OF

VARIOUS ARTICLES

USED IN HOUSEKEEPING.

SOAP, POTATOES, BUTTER, PAPER,
&c.

THE fraud may be detected by pouring
upon one part of the suspected soap, re-
duced to thin shavings, six parts, by weight,
of rectified spirit of wine; and, suffering
the mixture to stand in a slightly stopped
bottle in a warm place, the soap, if genuine,

c 3

30 ADULTERATION OF VARIOUS ARTICLES

will become dissolved: but if adulterated
with clay, this substance will be left be-
hind.

Potatoes are soaked in water to augment
their weight.

The inferior sorts of butter are frequently
adulterated with hogs' lard.

In the manufacture of printing paper, a
large quantity of plaster of Paris is often
added to the paper stuff, to increase the
weight of the manufactured article.

The selvage of cloth is often dyed with a
permanent colour, and artfully stitched to
the edge of cloth dyed with a fugitive
dye.

The frauds committed in the tanning of
skins, and in the manufacture of cutlery
and jewellery, exceed belief.

USED IN HOUSEKEEPING.

31

FRAUDS PRACTISED IN THE COAL TRADE,

" IN coal sheds the measure as well as the mixing one kind of coal with another is often scandalous*; for the Act of Parliament does not take the least notice of the small measures. It is a known fact when a fraudulent dealer orders in a room of coals, for every chaldron of 36 bushels, if he does not send them out at the rate of 42 bushels again, he will be dissatisfied with his measure. This is extremely hard upon the lower class of people, who are only able to purchase a peck, or half a peck, at a time: and let the measure be ever so bad, they have no means of redress.

* Eddington on the Coal Trade, p. 94.

c 4

32

FRAUDS PRACTISED

"With regard to the measure of coal, as offered in the market, it may be remarked that many coal-merchants will promise to give 68 sacks to a room: but here it should be observed, that much depends on the size and shape, or, as it is called, the roundness of the coal, viz. any of the Wall's End, Wellington, Benton, Heaton, Hebron, Percy, Main, Cowper, Blyth, and Hartley, being all put on board of ships in large masses and blocks, round as out of the mine; it is certain, that, in every room of five chaldron and a half the ingrain, when the round are broken, every room will measure out from 6 to 6 ½ chaldron again."

Mr. Edington observes, that "the difference is so great between round coals, with regard to absolute quantity, and small damp and dry coals, that no means can be ob-

IN THE COAL TRADE.

tained to correct and prevent abuse. Thus,
if a vat of Wall's End coals be measured
from the ship, such measure as the meter
gives,—turn over the vat, and break the
round coals to the size the merchant sends
them out to his customers, then fill up the
vat again, and it will be found to over-run
a bushel, more or less according to the
roundness of the coal. Secondly, a score is
measured out of Wall's End coals in the
pool, into a barge having four rooms, each
containing five chaldrons and a half the in-
grain; no sooner does the barge arrive at
the wharf, than the round coals are broken,
and, if very dry, the coals being wetted, will
increase in bulk; nor is the coal merchant
satisfied if he does not by this practice send
out from six to six and a quarter, or even
six and a half, chaldron from each room.

c 5

34

FRAUDS PRACTISED

“The loss in the use of small coals is more considerable to the poor, who cannot keep large fires. When they want their breakfast or dinner, the time they can spare is limited; and to have their water sooner boiling, or their meals quicker ready, they must make use of the poker, and lose a great deal of coal. Hence more bright coal goes to the dust-hole of the poor man, than to the dust-hole of a rich family, where, the fire being large, the small coal has more chance of burning.

“The loss is still greater to the poor, in consequence of the inferior sorts of coal which are sold to them. If it is the light sort, it burns too quick, and they consume double the quantity; if the strong sort, it burns too slow, and is nearly as wasteful; great quantity of it then goes to

IN THE COAL TRADE.

the dust-hole without being lighted at all.

"An incorrect opinion is often entertained, that the real quantity of coal contained in a sack is lessened by separating or screening the small from the round coals; but we must recollect, that any compact body occupies less space than is required to contain the same matter, reduced to smaller irregular pieces, or to powder. Now the screening only takes away the finest dusty part of the coals, and admits more small pieces of round coals to be filled into the sack."

c 6

36 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDERING

DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDER-
ING BUTCHER'S MEAT, FISH, AND
POULTRY, UNWHOLESOME.

THE abominable custom daily practised of
blowing, as it is technically called, or inflat-
ing butchers' meat, especially the joints of
veal and lamb, with the breath respired
from the lungs, to make it appear white and
glistening, is a practice which claims the in-
terference of the Magistrates.

This detestable custom unquestionably
renders meat not only unfit for keeping, but
likewise unwholesome for human food. I
have the authority of a celebrated physiolo-
gist* to state, that the meat is capable of
communicating the most loathsome diseases;
besides, it is such a dirty trick, that the very
idea of it is sufficient to disgust a person at
every thing which comes from a butchers'

* A. Carlisle, Esq.

BUTCHERS' MEAT UNWHOLESOME. 37

shop—for who can bear the notion of eating meat, the cellular substance of which has been filled with air of a dirty fellow, who may at the same time be perhaps inflicted with the very worst of diseases.

But not only butchers' meat, but sea fish, especially cod, haddock, and whiting, are in a similar manner often *blown*, to make them appear large and plump; a quill, or the stem of a tobacco pipe, being inserted into the orifice at the belly of the fish, and a hole being made under the fin, which is next the gill, the breath is blown in, to extend the bulk of the fish.

This imposition is detected by placing the thumb on each side of the orifice and pressing it hard, when the air will be perceived to escape. Meat that has been inflated may at once be recognised by the cellular membrane being distended.

38 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDERING

Another pernicious custom of rendering
meat unwholesome, is, to throw the beast,
previous to its being killed, into a state of
disease, by over-driving it; for the fever into
which the furious animal is often thrown, by
the cruelty of the drover, is frequently
raised to madness. No person would chuse
to eat the flesh of an animal which died in a
high fever; yet that is actually the case with
all over-drove cattle. The flesh of such
animals is at once distinguished at the
butchers' shambles, by the cellular mem-
brane being filled with blood, which makes
the meat appear of a more florid colour, and
adds to its weight.

Another highly blameable custom to ren-
der meat unwholesome, is, to keep animals
without food for four or five days together,
to save the butcher the trouble of clearing
the stomach and intestines more readily.

BUTCHERS' MEAT UNWHOLESOME.

Oxen are usually kept without food for four or five days before they are killed; calves, sheep and pigs, each of them two or three days. Fasting so long renders the animals unhealthy, and makes them restless, feverish, and diseased.

It is also a common practice in some grazing counties to bring to market the carcases of such animals as die of themselves. Poverty may, indeed, oblige people to eat such meat; but it would be better for them to eat a smaller quantity of what is sound and wholesome; at least it would afford a better nourishment, with less danger.

The injunction given to the Jews not to eat of any creature which had died in consequence of a disease, seems to have a strict regard to health, and ought to be observed, as a wholesome lesson, by Christians as well as Jews.

40 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDERING

The Editor of The Literary Miscellany,
states, that it is a practice among many but-
chers to suspend calves by the hind legs, with
the head downwards, for hours, and to bleed
them to death slowly. Such processes of
complicated and lengthened cruelty, too
horrid to relate, are only for the purpose
of whitening the flesh. And, with a similar
view, two calves are often tied together by
their hind legs, and thrown across a horse
when brought to the butcher's shop, so that
they are suffered to be suspended for hours
together, with the head downwards, before
they are killed.

On the frequent cruelties committed by
butchers it is not my business to speak.
Every person resident in this town must have
noticed, that in driving a number of sheep and
oxen, if any of them be untractable, the driver
often breaks one of the legs of the sheep, or

BUTCHERS' MEAT UNWHOLESOME. 41

cuts the large tendon on the foot of the ox.—
This is a cruelty at which the human mind
shudders.

By Heaven's high will the LOWER WORLD is thine!
But art thou CRUEL TOO BY RIGHT DIVINE?
Admit their lives devoted to thy need;
Take the appointed forfeit—let them bleed;
Yet add not to the hardships of their state,
Nor join to servitude oppression's weight;
By no unmanly rigors swell distress,
But, where thou canst, exert thy power to bless,
Beyond thy wants 'tis barbarous to annoy,
And but from need 'tis baseness to destroy.

PRATT'S *Lower World*, B. II.

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ADULTERA-
TION OF FOOD.

THE object of all unprincipled modern
manufacturers seems to be the sparing of
their time and labour as much as possible,

42

GENERAL REMARKS.

and to increase the quantity of the articles they produce, without much regard to their quality. The ingenuity and perseverance of self-interest is proof against prohibitions, and contrives to elude the vigilance of the most active government.

The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, which seems to be a leading characteristic of the times, calls into action every human faculty, and gives an irresistible impulse to the power of invention; and where lucre becomes the reigning principle, the possible sacrifice of even a fellow creature's life is a secondary consideration. In reference to the deterioration of almost all the necessities and comforts of existence, it may be justly observed, in a civil as well as a religious sense, that " in the midst of life we are in death."

Water.

IMPORTANCE OF THE PURITY OF WATER EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS.

IT requires not much reflection to become convinced that the waters which issue from the recesses of the earth, and form springs, wells, rivers, or lakes, often materially differ from each other in their taste and other obvious properties. There are few people who have not observed a difference in the waters used for domestic purposes and in the arts; and the distinctions of *hard* and *soft* water are familiar to every body.

44 EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS USED

Water perfectly pure is scarcely ever
met with in nature.

It must also be obvious, that the health
and comfort of families, and the conven-
iences of domestic life, are materially
affected by the supply of good and whole-
some water. Hence a knowledge of the
quality and salubrity of the different kinds
of waters employed in the common con-
cerns of life, on account of the abundant
daily use we make of them in the prepara-
tion of food, is unquestionably an object of
considerable importance, and demands our
attention.

The effects produced by the foreign mat-
ters which water may contain, are more
considerable, and of greater importance,
than might at first be imagined. It cannot
be denied, that such waters as are *hard*, or

IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 45

loaded with earthy matter, have a decided
effect upon some important functions of the
human body. They increase the distress-
ing symptoms under which those persons
labour who are afflicted with what is com-
monly called gravel complaints; and many
other ailments might be named, that are
always aggravated by the use of waters
abounding in saline and earthy substances.

The purity of the waters employed in
some of the arts and manufactures, is an
object of not less consequence. In the
process of brewing malt liquors, soft water
is preferable to hard. Every brewer knows
that the largest possible quantity of the
extractive matter of the malt is obtained in
the least possible time, and at the smallest
cost, by means of soft water.

In the art of the dyer, hard water not

46 EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS USED

only opposes the solution of several dye
stuffs, but it also alters the natural tints of
some delicate colours; whilst in others again,
it precipitates the earthy and saline matters
with which it is impregnated, into the delicate
fibres of the stuff, and thus impedes
the softness and brilliancy of the dye.

The bleacher cannot use with advantage
waters impregnated with earthy salts; and
a minute portion of iron imparts to the cloth
a yellowish hue.

To the manufacturer of painters' colours,
water as pure as possible is absolutely essential for the successful preparation of
several delicate pigments. Carmine, madder lake, ultramarine, and Indian yellow,
cannot be prepared without perfectly pure
water.

For the steeping or raiting of flax, soft

IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 47

water is absolutely necessary; in hard water
the flax may be immersed for months, till its
texture be injured, and still the ligneous
matter will not be decomposed, and the
fibres properly separated.

In the culinary art, the effects of water
more or less pure are likewise obvious.
Good and pure water softens the fibres of
animal and vegetable matters more readily
than such as is called *hard*. Every cook
knows that dry or ripe pease, and other
farinaceous seeds, cannot *readily* be boiled
soft in hard water; because the farina of
the seed is not perfectly soluble in water
loaded with earthy salts.

Green esculent vegetable substances are
more tender when boiled in soft water than
in hard water; although hard water imparts
to them a better colour. The effects of hard

48

ILLUSTRATION.

and soft water may be easily shown in the
following manner.

*Illustration.*

Let two separate portions of tea-leaves be
macerated, by precisely the same processes,
in circumstances all alike, in similarly
and separate vessels, the one containing hard
and the other soft water, either hot or cold,
the infusion made with the soft water will
have by far the strongest taste, although
it possesses less colour than the infusion
made with the hard water. It will strike a
more intense black with a solution of sul-
phate of iron, and afford a more abundant
precipitate, with a solution of animal jelly,
which at once shews that soft water has
extracted more tanning matter, and more

CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 49

gallic acid, from the tea-leaves, than could
be obtained from them under like circum-
stances by means of hard water.

Many animals which are accustomed to
drink soft water, refuse hard water. Horses
in particular prefer the former. Pigeons
refuse hard water when they have been ac-
customed to soft water.

CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER.

A good criterion of the purity of water
fit for domestic purposes, is its softness.
This quality is at once obvious by the touch,
if we only wash our hands in it with soap.
Good water should be beautifully transpa-
rent: a slight opacity indicates extraneous
matter. To judge of the perfect transpa-
rency of water, a quantity of it should be

D

50

CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER.

put into a deep glass vessel, the larger the better, so that we can look down perpendicularly into a considerable mass of the fluid; we may then readily discover the slightest degree of muddiness much better than if the water be viewed through the glass placed between the eye and the light. It should be perfectly colourless, devoid of odour, and its taste soft and agreeable. It should send out air-bubbles when poured from one vessel into another; it should boil pulse soft, and form with soap an uniform opaline fluid, which does not separate after standing for several hours.

It is to the presence of common air and carbonic acid gas that common water owes its taste, and many of the good effects which it produces on animals and vegetables. Spring water, which contains more

CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 51

air, has a more lively taste than river water.

Hence the insipid and vapid taste of newly boiled water, from which these gases are expelled: fish cannot live in water deprived of those elastic fluids.

100 cubic inches of the New River water, with which part of this metropolis is supplied, contains 2,25 of carbonic acid, and 1,25 of common air. It contains, beside a minute portion of muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, and muriate of soda. The water of the river Thames contains rather a larger quantity of common air, and a smaller portion of carbonic acid.

Water is freed from foreign matter by distillation; and for any chemical process in which accuracy is requisite, distilled water must be used.

D 2

52 EASY METHOD OF CURING HARD WATER.

HARD waters may, in general, be cured in part, by dropping into them a solution of sub-carbonate of potash; or, if the hardness be owing only to the presence of super-carbonate of lime, mere boiling will greatly remedy the defect; part of the carbonic acid flies off, and a neutral carbonate of lime falls down to the bottom: it may then be used for washing, scarcely curdling soap. But if the hardness be owing in part to sulphate of lime, boiling does not soften it at all.

When spring water is used for washing,
it is advantageous to leave it for some time
exposed to the open air in a reservoir with

CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS. 53

a large surface. Part of the carbonic acid becomes thus dissipated, and part of the carbonate of lime falls to the bottom. Mr. Dalton* has observed that the more any spring is drawn from, the softer the water becomes.

CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE WATERS USED IN DOMESTIC ECO-NOMY AND THE ARTS.

Rain Water,

COLLECTED with every precaution as it descends from the clouds, and at a distance from large towns, or any other object capable of impregnating the atmosphere with

* Dalton, Manchester Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 55.

D 3

54 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS

foreign matters, approaches more nearly to a state of purity than perhaps any other natural water. Even collected under these circumstances, however, it invariably contains a portion of common air and carbonic acid gas. The specific gravity of rain water scarcely differs from that of distilled water; and from the minute portions of the foreign ingredients which it generally contains, it is very soft, and admirably adapted for many culinary purposes, and various processes in different manufactures and the arts.

### Snow Water.

Fresh-fallen snow, melted without the contact of air, appears to be nearly free from air. Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, how-

USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 55

ever, affirm, that it contains nearly the usual
proportion of air.

Water from melted *ice* does not contain
so much air. *Dew* has been supposed to be
saturated with air.

Snow water has long lain under the im-
putation of occasioning those strumous
swellings in the neck which deform the
inhabitants of many of the Alpine vallies;
but this opinion is not supported by any
well-authenticated indisputable facts, and
is rendered still more improbable, if not
entirely overturned, by the frequency of
the disease in Sumatra*, where ice and
snow are never seen.

In high northern latitudes, thawed snow

* Marsden's History of Sumatra.

D 4

56 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS

forms the constant drink of the inhabitants
during winter; and the vast masses of ice
which float on the polar seas, afford an
abundant supply of fresh water to the ma-
riner.

Spring Water

Includes well-water and all others that
arise from some depth below the surface of
the earth, and which are used at the foun-
tain-head, or at least before they have run
any considerable distance exposed to the
air. Indeed, springs may be considered as
rain water which has passed through the
fissures of the earth, and, having accumu-
lated at the bottom of declivities, rises again
to the surface, forming springs and wells.

USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 57

As wells take their origin at some depth
from the surface, and below the influence
of the external atmosphere, their tempera-
ture is in general pretty uniform during
every vicissitude of season, and always se-
veral degrees lower than the atmosphere.
They differ from one another according to
the nature of the strata through which they
issue; for though the ingredients usually
existing in them are in such minute quan-
tities as to impart to the water no striking
properties, and do not render it unfit for
common purposes, yet they modify its na-
ture very considerably. Hence the water
of some springs is said to be *hard*, of others
*soft*, some *sweet*, others *brackish*, accord-
ing to the nature and degree of the impreg-
nating ingredients.

Common springs are insensibly changed

D 5

58 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS

in mineral or medicinal springs, as their
foreign contents become larger or more un-
usual; or, in some instances, they derive
medicinal celebrity from the absence of
those ingredients usually occurring in
spring-water; as, for example, is the case
with the Malvern spring, which is nearly
pure water.

Almost all spring-waters possess the pro-
perty termed *hardness* in a greater or less
degree; a property which depends chiefly
upon the presence of super-carbonate, or
of sulphate of lime, or of both; and the
quantity of these earthy salts varies very
considerably in different instances. Mr.
Dalton* has shewn that one grain of sul-

* Manchester Memoirs, vol. x. 1819.

USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.

phate of lime, contained in 2000 grains of water, converts it into the hardest spring water that is commonly met with.

The waters of deep wells are usually much harder than those springs which overflow the mouth of the well; but there are some exceptions to this rule.

The purest springs are those which occur in primitive rocks, or beds of gravel, or filter through sand or silicious strata. In general, large springs are purer than small ones; and our old wells contain finer water than those that are new, as the soluble parts through which the water filters in channels under ground become gradually washed away.

D 6

60 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS

River Water

Is a term applied to every running stream
or rivulet exposed to the air, and always
flowing in an open channel. It is formed of
spring water, which, by exposure, becomes
more pure, and of running land or surface
water, which, although turbid from particles
of the aluvial soil suspended in it, is other-
wise very pure. It is purest when it runs over
a gravelly or rocky bed, and when its course
is swift. It is generally soft, and more free
from earthy salts than spring water; but
it usually contains less common air and
carbonic acid gas; for, by the agitation of a
long currant, and exposed to the tempera-
ture of the atmosphere, part of its carbonic
acid gas is disengaged, and the lime held

USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 61

in solution by it is in part precipitated, the loss of which contributes to the softness of the water. Its specific gravity thereby becomes less, the taste not so harsh, but less fresh and agreeable; and out of a hard spring is often made a stream of sufficient purity for most of the purposes where a soft water is required.

Some streams, however, that arise from clean silicious beds, and flow in a sandy or stony channel, are from the outset remarkably pure; such as the mountain lakes and rivulets in the rocky districts of Wales, the source of the beautiful waters of the Dee, and numberless other rivers that flow through the hollow of every valley. Switzerland has long been celebrated for the purity and excellence of its waters, which pour in copious streams from the moun-

62 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS

tains, and give rise to the finest rivers in
Europe.

Thames Water.

Some rivers, however, that do not take
their rise from a rocky soil, and are indeed
at first considerably charged with foreign
matter, during a long course, even over a
richly cultivated plain, become remarkably
pure as to saline contents; but often fouled
with mud containing much animal and ve-
getable matter, which are rather suspended
than held in true solution. Such is the water
of the river Thames, which, taken up at Lon-
don at low water mark, is very soft, and
good; and after rest, it contains but a very
small portion of any thing that could prove

USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.

pernicious or impede any manufacture.
It is also excellently fitted for sea-store;
but it then undergoes a remarkable sponta-
neous change, when preserved in wooden
casks. No water carried to sea becomes
putrid sooner than that of the Thames. But
the mode now adopted in the navy, of sub-
stituting iron tanks for wooden casks, tends
greatly to obviate the disadvantage.

Whoever will consider the situation of
the Thames, and the immense population
along its banks for so many miles, must at
once perceive the prodigious accumulation
of animal matters of all kinds, which by
means of the common sewers constantly
make their way into it. These matters are,
no doubt, in part, the cause of the putrefac-
tion which it is well known to undergo at
sea; and of the carburetted and sulphuretted

64 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS

hydrogen gases which are evolved from it.
When a wooden cask is opened, after being
kept a month or two, a quantity of carburetted
and sulphuretted hydrogen escapes, and the
water is so black and offensive as scarcely
to be borne. Upon racking it off, however,
into large earthen vessels, and exposing it
to the air, it gradually deposits a quantity
of black slimy mud, becomes clear as crys-
tal, and remarkably sweet and palatable.

It might, at first sight, be expected that
the water of the Thames, after having re-
ceived all the contents of the sewers, drains,
and water courses of a large town, should
acquire thereby such impregnation with
foreign matters, as to become very impure;
but it appears, from the most accurate ex-
periments that have been made, that those
kinds of impurities have no perceptible in-

USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.

fluence on the salubrious quality of a mass of water so immense, and constantly kept in motion by the action of the tides.

Some traces of animal matter may, however, be detected in the water of the Thames; for if nitrate of lead be dropped into it * ; " you will find that it becomes milky, and that a white powder falls to the bottom, which dissolves without effervescence in nitric acid. It is, therefore, (says Dr. Thomson) a combination of oxide of lead with some animal matter."

* Observations on the Water with which Tunbridge Wells is chiefly supplied for Domestic Purposes, by Dr. Thomson; forming an Appendix to an Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. Scudamore.

66 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER,

SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN
COMMON WATER, AND TESTS BY
WHICH THEY ARE DETECTED.

To acquire a knowledge of the general
nature of common water, it is only necessary
to add to it a few chemical tests, which will
quickly indicate the presence or absence of
the substances that may be expected.

Almost the only salts contained in com-
mon waters are the carbonates, sulphates,
and muriates of soda, lime, and magnesia :
and sometimes a very minute portion of iron
may also be detected in them.

EXPERIMENT I.

Fill a wine-glass with distilled water,
and add to it a few drops of the solution of

AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 67

soap in alcohol, the water will remain tran-
sparent.

This test is employed for ascertaining the
presence of earthy salts in waters. Hence
it produces no change when mingled with
distilled or perfectly pure water; but when
added to water containing earthy salts, a
white flocculent matter becomes separated,
which speedily collects on the surface of
the fluid. Now, from the quantity of floc-
culent matter produced, in equal quantities
of water submitted to the test, a tolerable
notion may be formed of the degrees of
hardness of different kinds of water, at
least so far as regards the fitness of the
water for the ordinary purposes of domestic
economy. This may be rendered obvious
in the following manner.

68 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER,

EXPERIMENT II.

Fill a number of wine-glasses with different kinds of pump or well water, and let fall into each glass a few drops of the solution of soap in alcohol. A turbidness will instantly ensue, and a flocculent matter collect on the surface of the fluid, if the mixture be left undisturbed. The quantity of flocculent matter will be in the ratio of the quantity of earthy salts contained in the water.

It is obvious that the action of this test is not discriminative with regard to the chemical nature of the earthy salt present in the water. It serves only to indicate the *presence* or *absence* of those kinds of substances which occasion that quality in water which is usually called *hardness*, and which

AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 69

is always owing to salts with an earthy
base.

If we wish to know the nature of the
different acids and earths contained in the
water, the following tests may be em-
ployed.

EXPERIMENT III.

Add about twenty drops of a solution of oxalate of ammonia, to half a wine-glass of the water; if a white precipitate ensues, we conclude that the water contains lime.

By means of this test, one grain of lime
may be detected in 24,250 of water.

If this test occasion a white precipitate
in water taken fresh from the pump or
spring, and not after the water has been
boiled and suffered to grow cold, the lime
is dissolved in the water by an excess of

70 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER,

carbonic acid; and if it continues to pro-
duce a precipitate in the water which has
been concentrated by boiling, we then are
sure that the lime is combined with a fixed
acid.

EXPERIMENT IV.

To detect the presence of iron, add to a
wine-glassful of the water a few drops of an
infusion of nut-galls; or better, suffer a nut-
gall to be suspended in it for twenty-four
hours, which will cause the water to acquire
a blueish black colour, if iron be present.

EXPERIMENT V.

Add a few grains of muriate of barytes,
to half a wine-glass of the water to be ex-
amined; if it produces a turbidness which

AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 7]

does not disappear by the admixture of a
few drops of muriatic acid, the presence of
sulphuric acid is rendered obvious.

EXPERIMENT VI.

If a few drops of a solution of nitrate of
silver occasion a milkiness with the water,
which vanishes again by the copious ad-
dition of liquid ammonia, we have reason to
believe that the water contains a salt, one
of the constituent parts of which is muriatic
acid.

EXPERIMENT VII.

If lime water or barytic water occasions a
precipitate which again vanishes by the
admixture of muriatic acid, then carbonic
acid is present in the water.

72 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER,

EXPERIMENT VIII.

If a solution of phosphate of soda produce
a milkiness with the water, after a previous
addition to it of a similar quantity of neutral
carbonate of ammonia, we may then expect
magnesia. The application of this test is
best made in the following manner:

Concentrate a quantity of the water to be
examined to about 2/30 part of its bulk, and
drop into about half a wine-glassful, about
five grains of neutral carbonate of am-
monia. No magnesia becomes yet preci-
pitated if this earth be present; but on
adding a like quantity of phosphate of soda,
the magnesia falls down, as an insoluble
salt. It is essential that the carbonate of
ammonia be neutral.

AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 73

The presence of oxygen gas loosely com-
bined in water may readily be discovered
in the following manner.

EXPERIMENT IX.

Fill a vial with water, and add to it a
small quantity of green sulphate of iron.
If the water be entirely free of oxygen, and
if the vessel be well stopped and completely
filled, the solution is transparent; but if
otherwise, it soon becomes slightly turbid,
from the oxide of iron attracting the oxygen,
and a small portion of it, in this more highly
oxidated state, leaving the acid and being
precipitated.

If we examine the different waters which
are used for the ordinary purposes of life,

E

74

DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER

and judge of them by the above tests, we
shall find them to differ considerably from
each other. Some contain a large quantity
of saline and earthy matters, whilst others
are nearly pure. The differences are pro-
duced by the great solvent power which
water exercises upon most substances.—
Hence wells should never be lined with
bricks, which render soft water hard; or, if
bricks be employed, they should be bedded
in and covered with cement.

DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF KEEPING
WATER IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS.

THE deleterious effect of lead, when taken
into the stomach, is at present so univer-
sally known, that it is quite unnecessary to

KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS.

adduce any argument in proof of its dange-
rous tendency.

The antients were, upwards of 2000 years
ago, as well aware of the pernicious quality
of this metal as we are at the present day;
and indeed they appeared to have been
much more apprehensive of its effects, and
scrupulous in the application of it to pur-
poses of domestic economy.

Their precautions may have been occasi-
onally carried to an unnecessary length.
This was the natural consequence of the im-
perfect state of experimental knowledge at
that period. When men were unable to
detect the poisonous matters—to be over
scrupulous in the use of such water, was an
error on the right side.

The moderns, on the other hand, in part,
perhaps, from an ill-founded confidence, and

E 2

76 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER

inattention to a careful and continued exa-
mination of its effects, have fallen into an
opposite error.

There can be no doubt that the mode of pre-
serving water intended for food or drink in
leaden reservoirs, is exceedingly improper;
and although pure water exercises no sen-
sible action upon metallic lead, provided air
be excluded, the metal is certainly acted on
by the water when air is admitted: this effect
is so obvious, that it cannot escape the no-
tice of the least attentive observer.

The white line which may be seen at the
surface of the water preserved in leaden
cisterns, where the metal touches the water
and where the air is admitted, is a carbo-
nate of lead, formed at the expense of the
metal. This substance, when taken into the
stomach, is highly deleterious to health.

KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS.

77

This was the reason which induced the antients to condemn leaden pipes for the conveyance of water; it having been remarked that persons who swallowed the sediment of such water, became affected with disorders of the bowels*.

Different potable waters have unequal solvent powers on this metal. In some places the use of leaden pumps has been discontinued, from the expence entailed upon the proprietors by the constant want of repair. Dr. Lamb† states an instance where the proprietor of a well ordered his plumber to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the metal usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of

* Sir G. Baker, Med. Trans. vol. i. p. 280.

† Lamb on Spring Water.

E 3

78

DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER

repairs; because he had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it corroded the lead very soon.

The following instance is related by Sir George Baker*:

> "A gentleman was the father of a numerous offspring, having had one-and-twenty children, of whom eight died young, and thirteen survived their parents. During their infancy, and indeed until they had quitted the place of their usual residence, they were all remarkably unhealthy; being particularly subject to disorders of the stomach and bowels. The father, during many years, was paralytic; the mother, for a long time, was subject to colics and bilious obstructions.

* Medical Trans. vol. i. p. 420.

KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS.

“After the death of the parents, the family sold the house which they had so long inhabited. The purchaser found it necessary to repair the pump. This was made of lead; which, upon examination, was found to be so corroded, that several perforations were observed in the cylinder in which the bucket plays; and the cistern in the upper part was reduced to the thinness of common brown paper, and was full of holes, like a sieve.”

I have myself seen numerous instances where leaden cisterns have been completely corroded by the action of water with which they were in contact: and there is, perhaps, not a plumber who cannot give testimony of having experienced numerous similar instances in the practices of his trade.

I have been frequently called upon to

E 4

80

DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER

examine leaden cisterns, which had become
leaky on account of the action of the water
which they contained; and I could adduce
an instance of a legal controversy having
taken place to settle the disputes between
the proprietors of an estate and a plumber,
originating from a similar cause—the plum-
ber being accused of having furnished a
faulty reservoir; whereas the case was
proved to be owing to the chemical action of
the water on the lead. Water containing a
large quantity of common air and carbonic
acid gas, always acts very sensibly on me-
tallic lead.

Water which has no sensible action, in
its natural state, upon lead, may acquire
the capability of acting on it by heteroge-
neous matter, which it may accidentally re-
ceive. Numerous instances have shewn that

KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS.

vegetable matter, such as leaves, falling into leaden cisterns filled with water, imparted to the water a considerable solvent power of action on the lead, which in its natural state it did not possess. Hence the necessity of keeping leaden cisterns clean; and this is the more necessary, as their situations expose them to accidental impurities. The noted saturnine colic of Amsterdam, described by Tronchen, originated from such a circumstance; as also the case related by Van Swieten*, of a whole family afflicted with the same complaint, from such a cistern. And it is highly probable that the case of disease recorded by Dr. Duncan†,

* Van Swieten ad Boerhaave, Aphorisms, 1060, Comment.

† Medical Comment. Dec. 2, 1794.

E 5

82

DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER

proceeded more from some foulness in the
cistern, than from the solvent power of the
water. In this instance the officers of the
packet boat used water for their drink and
cooking out of a leaden cistern, whilst the
sailors used the water taken from the same
source, except that theirs was kept in
wooden vessels. The consequence was,
that all the officers were seized with the
colic, and all the men continued healthy.

The carelessness of the bulk of mankind,
Dr. Lambe very justly observes, to these
things, " is so great, that to repeat them
again and again cannot be wholly useless."

Although the great majority of persons
who daily use water kept in leaden cisterns
receive no sensible injury, yet the apparent
salubrity must be ascribed to the great slow-

KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS.

ness of its operation, and the minuteness of
the dose taken, the effects of which become
modified by different causes and different
constitutions, and according to the predis-
positions to diseases inherent in different
individuals. The supposed security of the
multitude who use the water with impunity
amounts to no more than presumption, in
favour of any individual, which may or may
not be confirmed by experience.

Independent of the morbid susceptibility
of impressions which distinguish certain ha-
bits, there is, besides, much variety in the
original constitution of the human frame, of
which we are totally ignorant.

" The susceptibility or proneness to disease of each individual, must be esteemed peculiar to himself. Confiding to the expe-

E 6

84 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER

rience of others is a ground of security which may prove fallacious; and the danger can with certainty be obviated only by avoiding its source. And considering the various and complicated changes of the human frame, under different circumstances and at different ages, it is neither impossible nor improbable that the substances taken into the system at one period, and even for a series of years, with apparent impunity, may, notwithstanding, at another period, be eventually the occasion of disease and of death.

“The experience of a single person, or of many persons, however numerous, is quite incompetent to the decision of a question of this nature.

“The pernicious effects of an intemperate use of spirituous liquors is not less certain

KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS.

because we often see habitual drunkards enjoy a good state of health, and arrive at old age: and the same may be said of individuals who indulge in vices of all kinds, evidently destructive to life; many of whom, in spite of their bad habits, attain to a vigorous old age*.”

In confirmation of these remarks, we adduce the following account of the effect of water contaminated by lead, given by Sir G. Baker:

> "The most remarkable case on the subject that now occurs to my memory, is that of Lord Ashburnham's family, in Sussex; to which spring water was applied, from a considerable distance, in leaden pipes. In consequence, his Lordship's servants were

* Lambe on Spring Water.

86

METHOD OF DETECTING

every year tormented with colic, and some
of them died. An eminent physician, of
Battle, who corresponded with me on the
subject, sent up some gallons of that water,
which were analysed by Dr. Higgins, who
reported that the water had contained more
than the common quantity of carbonic acid;
and that he found in it lead in solution,
which he attributed to the carbonic acid.—
In consequence of this, Lord Ashburnham
substituted wooden for leaden pipes; and
from that time his family have had no par-
ticular complaints in their bowels.”

Richmond, Sept. 27, 1802.

METHOD OF DETECTING LEAD IN
WATER.

ONE of the most delicate tests for detect-
ing lead, is water impregnated with sulphu-

LEAD IN WATER.

retted hydrogen gas, which instantly im-
parts to the fluid containing the minutest
quantity of lead, a brown or blackish tinge.

This test is so delicate that distilled water,
when condensed by a leaden pipe in a still
tub, is effected by it. To shew the action of
this test, the following experiments will
serve.

EXPERIMENT I.

Pour into a wine-glass containing distilled
water, an equal quantity of water impreg-
nated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas: no
change will take place; but if a ¼ of a grain
of acetate of lead (sugar of lead of com-
merce,) be added, the mixture will instantly
turn brown and dark-coloured.

88

METHOD OF DETECTING

To apply this test, one part of the suspected water need merely to be mingled with a like quantity of water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. Or better, a larger quantity, a gallon for example, of the water may be concentrated by evaporation to about half a pint, and then submitted to the action of the test.

Another and more efficient mode of applying this test, is, to pass a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the suspected water in the following manner.

## EXPERIMENT II.

Take a bottle* (a) or Florence flask, adapt to the mouth of it a cork furnished

* See the Figure, page 89.

LEAD IN WATER.

with a glass tube (b) bent at right angles;
let one leg of the tube be immersed in the
vial (c) containing the water to be examined;
as shewn in the following sketch. Then

take one part of the sulphuret of antimony
of commerce, break it into pieces of half the
size of split pease, put it into the flask, and
pour upon it four parts of common concentrated muriatic acid (spirit of salt of commerce.) Sulphuretted hydrogen gas will
become disengaged from the materials in
abundance, and pass through the water in
the vial (c). Let the extrication of the gas
be continued for about five minutes; and if

90

METHOD OF DETECTING

the minutest quantity of lead be present, the
water will acquire a dark-brown or blackish
tinge. The extrication of the gas is facili-
tated by the application of a gentle heat.

The action of the sulphuretted hydrogen
test, when applied in this manner, is asto-
nishingly great; for one part of acetate of
lead may be detected by it, in 20,000 parts
of water*.

Sulphate of potash, or sulphate of soda, is
likewise a very delicate test for detecting

* See An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. Scudamore, p. 55.

The application of the sulphuretted hydrogen test requires some precaution in those cases where other metals besides lead may be expected; because silver, quicksilver, tin, copper, and several other metals, are effected by it, as well as lead; but there is no chance of these metals being met with in common water. See *Chemical Tests*, third edition, p. 207.

LEAD IN WATER.

minute portions of lead. Dr. Thomson* discovered, by means of it, one part of lead in 100,000 parts of water; and this acute Philosopher considers it as the most unequivocal test of lead that we possess. Dr. Thomson remarks that "no other precipitate can well be confounded with it, except sulphate of barytes; and there is no probability of the presence of barytes existing in common water."

* Analysis of Tunbridge Wells Water, by Dr. Scudamore, p. 55.

Adulteration of Wine.

IT is sufficiently obvious, that few of those
commodities, which are the objects of com-
merce, are adulterated to a greater extent
than wine. All persons moderately conver-
sant with the subject, are aware, that a por-
tion of alum is added to young and meagre
red wines, for the purpose of brightening
their colour; that Brazil wood, or the husks
of elderberries and bilberries*, are employed
to impart a deep rich purple tint to red
Port of a pale, faint colour; that gypsum is
used to render cloudy white wines transpa-
rent; that an additional astringency is im-

* Dried bilberries are imported from Germany, under
the fallacious name of *berry-dye*.

ADULTERATION OF WINE.

parted to immature red wines by means of
oak-wood sawdust*, and the husks of fil-
berts; and that a mixture of spoiled foreign
and home-made wines is converted into the
wretched compound frequently sold in this
town by the name of ' genuine old Port.'

Various expedients are resorted to for the
purpose of communicating particular fla-
vours to insipid wines. Thus a *nutty* flavour
is produced by bitter almonds; factitious
Port wine is flavoured with a tincture drawn
from the seeds of raisins; and the ingre-
dients employed to form the *bouquet* of
high-flavoured wines, are sweet-brier, oris-
root, clary, cherry laurel water, and elder
flowers.

* Sawdust for this purpose is chiefly supplied by the
ship-builders, and forms a regular article of commerce
of the brewers' druggists.

94

ADULTERATION OF WINE.

The flavouring ingredients used by manufacturers, may all be purchased by those dealers in wine who are initiated in the mysteries of the trade; and even a manuscript receipt book for preparing them, and the whole mystery of managing all sorts of wines, may be obtained on payment of a considerable fee.

The sophistication of wine with substances not absolutely noxious to health, is carried to an enormous extent in this metropolis. Many thousand pipes of spoiled cyder are annually brought hither from the country, for the purpose of being converted into factitious Port wine. The art of manufacturing spurious wine is a regular trade of great extent in this metropolis.

" There is, in this city, a certain fraternity of chemical operators, who work under-

ADULTERATION OF WINE.

ground in holes, caverns, and dark retire-
ments, to conceal their mysteries from the
eyes and observation of mankind. These
subterraneous philosophers are daily em-
ployed in the transmutation of liquors, and
by the power of magical drugs and incan-
tations, raising under the streets of London
the choicest products of the hills and val-
leys of France. They can squeeze Bour-
deaux out of the sloe, and draw Champagne
from an apple. Virgil, in that remarkable
prophecy,

*Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva.*

Virg. Ecl. iv. 29.

The ripening grape shall hang on every thorn.

seems to have hinted at this art, which can
turn a plantation of northern hedges into a
vineyard. These adepts are known among
one another by the name of *Wine-brewers*;

96

ADULTERATION OF WINE.

and, I am afraid, do great injury, not only
to Her Majesty's customs, but to the bodies
of many of her good subjects*.”

Recipes for manufacturing spurious wines
may be seen in Dr. Reece's Gazette of
Health, No. 7, and in the Supplement to the
Pharmacopœias, p. 245.

CRUSTING OF WINE BOTTLES, AND
OTHER NEFARIOUS ARTIFICES COM-
MITTED BY FRAUDULENT WINE
MERCHANTS.

THE particular and separate department
in this factitious wine trade, called *crusting*,
consists of lining the interior surface of

* Tatler, vol. viii. p. 110, edit. 1797, 8vo.

204 ADULTERATION OF BEER.

a small quantity of a narcotic substance (and
cocculus indicus is a powerful narcotic*),
daily taken into the stomach, together with
an intoxicating liquor, is highly more effi-
cacious than it would be without the liquor.
The effect may be gradual; and a strong
constitution, especially if it be assisted with
constant and hard labour, may counteract
the destructive consequences perhaps for
many years; but it never fails to shew its
baneful effects at last. Independent of this,
it is a well-established fact, that porter
drinkers are very liable to apoplexy and
palsy, without taking this narcotic poison.

* The deleterious effect of Cocculus Indicus (the fruit of the memispermum cocculus) is owing to a peculiar bitter principle contained in it; which, when swallowed in minute quantities, intoxicates and acts as poison. It may be obtained from cocculus indicus berries in a detached state:—chemists call it picrotoxin, from πικρος, bitter; and τοξικον, poison.

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

If we judge from the preceding lists of
prosecutions and convictions furnished by
the Solicitor of the Excise*, it will be evident
that many wholesale brewers, as well as
retail dealers, stand very conspicuous among
those offenders. But the reader will like-
wise notice, that there are no convictions,
in any instance, against either of the eleven
great London porter brewers† for any illegal
practice.

It has been asserted, that it is more dif-
ficult‡ for the officers of the Excise to detect

* See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 28, 36.

† Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co.—Truman, Han-
bury and Co.—Reid and Co.—Whitbread and Co.—
Combe, Delafield, and Co.—Henry Meux and Co.—
Calvert and Co.—Goodwin and Co.—Elliot and Co.—
Taylor and Co.—Cox, and Camble and Co.

See the Minutes, before quoted, p. 32.

‡ *Ibid.* p. 22.

206

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

fraudulent practices in large breweries than
in small ones; this may be true to a certain
extent: but what eminent London porter
brewer would stake his reputation on the
chance of so paltry a gain, in which he
would inevitably be at the mercy of his own
man? The eleven great brewers of this
metropolis are persons of such high respecta-
bility, that there is no ground for the slight-
est suspicion that they would attempt any
illegal practices, which they were aware
could not possibly escape detection in their
extensive establishments. And let it be
remembered, that none of them have been
detected in any unlawful practice* in the
processes of their manufacture, or in the
adulteration of their beer.

* Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32.

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATION OF BEER.

THE detection of the adulteration of beer
with deleterious vegetable substances is
beyond the reach of chemical analysis.
The presence of sulphate of iron may
be detected by evaporating the beer to
perfect dryness, and burning away the ve-
getable matter obtained, by the action of
chlorate of potash, in a red-hot crucible.
The sulphate of iron will be left behind
among the residue in the crucible, which,
when dissolved in water, may be assayed,
for the constituent parts of the salt, namely,
iron and sulphuric acid: for the former, by
tincture of galls, ammonia, and prussiate of

208

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

potash; and for the latter, by muriate of barytes*.

Beer, which has been rendered fraudu-
lently *hard* or *stale*, by the admixture of
sulphuric acid, affords a white precipitate
(sulphate of barytes), by dropping into it a
solution of acetate or muriate of barytes;
and this precipitate, when collected by fil-
tering the mass, and after having been dried,
and heated red-hot for a few minutes in a
platina crucible, does not disappear by the
addition of nitric or muriatic acid. Ge-
nuine old beer may produce a precipitate;
but the precipitate which it affords, after
having been made red-hot in a platina cru-
cible, instantly becomes re-dissolved with

* See a Treatise on the Use and Application of Chemical Tests, 3d edition; Tests for Sulphuric Acid, &c.

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

effervescence by pouring on it some pure
nitric or muriatic acid; in that case the pre-
cipitate is malate (not sulphate) of barytes,
and is owing to a portion of malic acid
having been formed in the beer.

But with regard to the vegetable mate-
rials deleterious to health, it is extremely
difficult, in any instance, to detect them by
chemical agencies; and in most cases it is
quite impossible, as in that of cocculus in-
dicus in beer.

METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUAN-\TZITY OF SPIRIT CONTAINED IN
PORTER, ALE, OR OTHER KINDS OF
MALT LIQUORS.

TAKE any quantity of the beer, put it into
a glass retort, furnished with a receiver,

210

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

and distil, with a gentle heat, as long as any
spirit passes over into the receiver; which
may be known by heating from time to time
a small quantity of the obtained fluid in a
tea-spoon over a candle, and bringing into
contact with the vapour of it, the flame of
a piece of paper. If the vapour of the dis-
tilled fluid catches fire, the distillation must
be continued until the vapour ceases to be
set on fire by the contact of a flaming body.
To the distilled liquid thus obtained, which
is the spirit of the beer, combined with
water, add, in small quantities at a time,
pure subcarbonate of potash (previously
freed from water by having been exposed
to a red heat), till the last portion of this salt
added, remains undissolved in the fluid.
The spirit will thus become separated from
the water, because the subcarbonate of pot-

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

211

ash abstracts from it the whole of the water which it contained; and this combination sinks to the bottom, and the spirit alone floats on the top. If this experiment be made in a glass tube, about half or three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and graduated into 50 or 100 equal parts, the relative per centage of spirit in a given quantity of beer may be seen by mere inspection.

*Quantity of Alcohol contained in Porter, Ale, and other kinds of Malt Liquors*.

<table><thead><tr><th>One hundred parts, by Measure, contained</th><th>Parts of Alcohol, by Measure.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Ale, home-brewed..................</td><td>8,30</td></tr><tr><td>Ale, Burton, three samples ........</td><td>6,25</td></tr></tbody></table>

* Repository of Arts, No. 2, p. 74.—1816.

["212", "ADULTERATION OF BEER.", "One hundred parts, by Measure,\ncontained\nParts of Alcohol,\nby Measure.", "<table><tr><td>Ale, Burton*</td><td>8,88</td></tr><tr><td>Ale, Edinburgh*. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Counterfeit Tea=Leaves.

“ CHINA and PORTO, now farewell;

“ Let others buy what you’ve to sell.

“ Your Port, and your Bohea ;

“ For we’ve our native Sloe divine,

“ Whose fruit yields all our Porto Wine,

“ Whose leaves make all our Tea.”

*Literary Journal, vol. i. p. 14.*

THE heavy duties payable to Government
upon tea, hold out a strong temptation to
those who scruple not to enrich themselves
by fraud, although at the expence of the
health, and even the lives of the community.

The application of leaves poisonous to
health for the purpose of imitating tea, is not

214

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

a new invention, detected for the first time
within these few years: as is obvious from
the Acts of Parliament passed at differ-
ent periods to prevent and punish the of-
fence. The first legislative enactment on
the subject is in 2d. Geo. I. cap. 30, sec. 4,
whereby it is declared—" That the dealer in
tea, or manufacturer or dyer thereof, who
shall counterfeit or adulterate tea, or shall
alter, fabricate, or manufacture it with terra
japonica, or with any other drug or drugs
whatsoever, or shall mix with tea any leaves
other than leaves of tea, or other ingredients
whatsoever, shall forfeit the sum of one
hundred pounds."

The 4th Geo. II. cap. 14, sec. 11, recites,
" That several persons do frequently dye,
fabricate, or manufacture very great quanti-

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

ties of sloe-leaves, and the leaves of tea that
have been before used, or the leaves of other
trees, shrubs, or plants, in imitation of tea,
and do likewise mix, colour, stain, and dye
such leaves with terra japonica, logwood,
and other ingredients, and do sell and vend
the same as true and real tea, to the preju-
dice of the health of his Majesty's subjects,
the diminution of the revenue, and to the
ruin of the fair trader." The Act then de-
clares, that the dealer in or seller of such
" sophisticated" teas, shall forfeit the sum
of ten pounds for every pound weight.

The latest statute on this subject is 17th
Geo. III. cap. 29, which states, that this
trade had increased to a very great degree,
and by the same Act, the seller or manufac-
turer of such tea is to forfeit five pounds
per pound weight of tea; or, upon non pay-

216

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

ment of that sum, be committed to prison
for any time not exceeding twelve months;
and, if the party so selling is a tea-dealer,
he is subject to the provisions of the Act
of Geo. II. and the penalty is ten pounds
sterling, per pound weight.

The extent to which this most iniquitous
traffic has been carried, appears to have
been as great formerly as now, and there-
fore it is necessary for the public to be al-
ways on their guard, and not to suppose that
the late convictions will deter others from
continuing the practice. In 1778 there was
a printed circular, signed by the headsman
and secretary of a company of grocers in
Norwich, stating, that they had been shown
a small quantity of green tea, one-fourth
part of which was avowedly sloe-leaves,
yet so well manufactured as almost to pre-

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

vent detection; and there is another counterfeit of hyson tea, which is a strong deception.—So much for the closeness of the imitation.

Of the extent to which this illicit traffic of defrauding the revenue was carried, we have very satisfactory evidence. In a report of the Committee of the House of Commons, dated December 24, 1783, wherein it is stated, that “the quantity of fictitious tea, which is annually manufactured from sloe and ash-tree leaves, in different parts of England, to be mixed with genuine teas, is computed at more than FOUR MILLIONS OF POUNDS:” and this too at a time when the whole quantity of genuine teas sold by the East India Company did not amount to more than six millions of pounds annually.

In Scotland, and in Ireland, the fraud of

L

218

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

counterfeiting tea* has been carried on to an
equal extent, and with greater ingenuity; in
the latter country, the penalties imposed for
this offence, have, during a few months,
amounted to more than 15,000!

In the defence set up by some fraudulent
grocers convicted of adulterating tea, it is
stated that the spurious leaves made use of
were perfectly harmless; and that they were
only mixed with tea to cheapen it to the
lower classes of the community, who could
not afford to pay the high price at which
genuine tea was sold. But sloe-leaves are
rendered poisonous by the process they un-
dergo in being manufactured as a substitute
for tea. We have the authority of the most
eminent botanist of his day, to prove this

* The History of the Tea Plant, p. 49.

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

statement. The following is from the twelfth
volume of English Botany, page 842; by
Sir James Smith, M.D. President of the
Linnæan Society.

" The recent fruit of the sloe* is one of the many articles used to adulterate Port wine in England. The dried leaves are said to be a substitute for tea; and are, perhaps, often mixed with it in this country. They may be one cause of its proving sometimes pernicious; for the green parts of the plum† and cherry tribe are highly poisonous; and it is fortunate if they act merely as a purgative."

* Prunos Spinosa, sloe or blackthorn.

† The genus, Prunus, or plum, includes the sloe, plum, cherry, peach, bay, laurel, &c.

L 2

220

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

It is not to be expected that the recent convictions will suppress a crime which has existed for a century, and to the committal of which the temptation is stronger than ever; while the duties remain unrepealed, the opinion may be fairly hazarded, that imposition will still continue to be practised on the public. This opinion must be strengthened when it is stated that a profit of from £300 to £600 per cent. can be obtained by this species of fraud; and though some of our punishments are represented to be too severe, yet there are many more much too mild, and wholly inadequate to the purpose of deterring offenders from a repetition of the crime. It is probable, that not a single individual, of those lately fined, will desist from his nefarious practices; the profits of which have long since enabled him

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

to meet the trivial loss which attends a
conviction, and will speedily reimburse
him the penalty in which he has been
convicted.

The late detections that have been made
respecting the illicit establishments for the
manufacture of imitation tea leaves, arrested,
not long ago, the attention of the public;
and the parties by whom these manufacto-
ries were conducted, together with the nu-
merous venders of the factitious tea, did not
escape the hand of justice. In proof of this
statement, it is only necessary to consult the
London newspapers (the Times and Courier)
from March to July 1818; which show to
what extent this nefarious traffic has been
carried on in this metropolis; and they re-
port the prosecutions and convictions of
numerous individuals who have been guilty

L 3

222

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

of the fraud. The following are some of
those prosecutions and convictions.

HATTON GARDEN*.—On Saturday an in-
formation came to be heard at this office,
before Thomas Leach, Esq. the sitting ma-
gistrate, against Edmund Rhodes, charged
with having, on the 12th of August last,
dyed, fabricated, and manufactured, divers
large quantities, viz. one hundred weight of
sloe leaves, one hundred weight of ash
leaves, one hundred weight of elder leaves,
and one hundred weight of the leaves of a
certain other tree, in imitation of tea, con-
trary to the statute of the 17th of Geo. III,
also, 2 Geo. I. c. 30, sec. 5; and 4 Geo. II.
c. 14, sec. 11. whereby the said Edmund
Rhodes had, for every pound of such leaves
so manufactured, forfeited the sum of 5l.

* Courier, June 22, 1818.

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

making the total of the penalties amount to
2,000l. The second count in the informa-
tion charged the said Rhodes with having
in his possession the above quantity of leaves,
under the like penalty of 2,000l. The third
count charged him with having, on the said
12th of August last, in his possession, divers
quantities, exceeding six pounds weight of
each respective kind of leaves; viz. fifty
pounds weight of green sloe leaves, fifty
pounds weight of green leaves of ash, fifty
pounds weight of green leaves of elder, and
fifty pounds weight of the green leaves of a
certain other tree; not having proved that
such leaves were gathered with the consent
of the owners of the trees and shrubs from
which they were taken, and that such leaves
were gathered for some other use, and not
for the purpose of manufacturing the same

L 4

224

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

in imitation of tea; whereby he had forfeited
for each pound weight, the sum of 5l.
amounting in the whole to 1,000l.; and, in
default of payment, in each case, subjected
himself to be committed to the House of
Correction for not more than twelve months,
nor less than six months.

Mr. Denton, who appeared for the defen-
dant, who was absent, said, that he was a
very poor man, with a family of five chil-
dren, and was only the servant of the real
manufacturer, and an ignorant man from the
country, put into the premises to carry on
the business, without knowing what the
leaves were intended for. By direction of
Mr. Mayo, who conducted the prosecution,
several barrels and bags, filled with the imi-
tation tea, were then brought into the office,
and a sample from each handed round. To

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

the eye they seemed a good imitation of tea.

The defendant was convicted in the penalty of £500 on the second count.

*The Attorney-General against Palmer.*
*(The Times, May 18, 1818.)*—This was an action by the Attorney-General against the defendant Palmer, charging him with having in his possession a quantity of sloe-leaves and white-thorn leaves, fabricated into an imitation of tea.

Mr. Dauncey stated the case to the Jury, and observed that the defendant, Mr. Palmer, was a grocer. It would appear that a regular manufactory was established in Goldstone-street. The parties by whom the manufactory was conducted, was a person of the name of Proctor, and another person named J. Malins. They engaged others to

L 5

226

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

furnish them with leaves. The leaves, in
order to be converted into an article resem-
bling black tea, were first boiled, then
baked upon an iron plate; and, when dry,
rubbed with the hand, to produce that curl
which the genuine tea had: the colour, which
was yet to be given to it, was produced by
logwood. The green tea was manufactured
in a manner more destructive to the consti-
tution of those by whom it was drank. The
leaves, being pressed and dried, were laid
upon sheets of copper, where they received
their colour from an article known by the
name of Dutch pink. The article used in
producing the appearance of the fine green
bloom, observable on the China tea, was,
however, decidedly a dead poison! He al-
luded to verdigrise, which was added to
complete the operation. This was the case

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

which he had to bring before the jury; and
hence it would appear, that, at the moment
they were supposing they were drinking a
pleasant and nutritious beverage, they were,
in fact, in all probability, drinking the pro-
duce of the hedges round the metropolis,
prepared for the purposes of deception in the
most noxious manner.

T. Jones deposed, that he knew Proctor,
and was employed by him at the latter end
of April, 1817, to gather black and white
thorn leaves. Sloe leaves were the black
thorn. Witness also knew John Malins, the
son of William Malins, a coffee-roaster; he
did not at first know the purpose for which
the leaves were gathered, but afterwards
learnt they were to make imitation tea.
Witness did not gather more than one hun-
dred and a half weight of these leaves; but

L 6

228

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

he employed another person, of the name of Bagster, to gather them. He had twopence per pound for them. They were first boiled, and the water squeezed from them in a press. They were afterwards placed over a slow fire upon sheets of copper to dry; while on the copper they were rubbed with the hand to curl them. At the time of boiling there was a little verdigrise put into the water (this applied to green tea only). After the leaves were dried, they were sifted, to separate the thorns and stalks. More verdigrise and some Dutch pink were then added. The verdigrise gave the leaves that green bloom observable on genuine tea.

The black tea went through a similar course as the green, except the application of Dutch pink: a little verdigrise was put in

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

the boiling, and to this was added a small
quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus the
manufacture was complete.

John Bagster proved that he had been
employed by Malins and Proctor to gather
sloe and white-thorn leaves: they were taken
to Jones's house, and from thence to Malin's
coffee-roasting premises; witness received
two-pence per pound for them; he saw the
manufacturing going on, but did not know
much about it: witness saw the leaves on
sheets of copper, in Goldstone-street.

This was the case for the Crown.—Ver-
dict for the Crown, £840.

230

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

*List of Grocers prosecuted and convicted in the year 1818, for adulterating Tea.*

Mr. Rhodes—the defendant was convicted in the penalty of £500.

Mr. Palmer—the defendant was convicted in the penalty of £840.

Mr. Prentice—the defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.

Mr. Holmes—the defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.

Mr. Orkney—verdict for the Crown.

Mr. Grey—verdict for the Crown—Penalties £120.

Messrs. Gilbert and Powel—verdict for the Crown—Penalties £140.

Mr. Clarke—verdict for the Crown.

Mr. Horner—verdict for the Crown—Penalties £210.

Mr. Dowling—verdict for the Crown.—Penalties £70.

Mr. Bellis—verdict for the Crown—Penalties £70.

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA.

THE adulterations of tea may be evinced by comparing the botanical characters of the leaves of the two respective trees, and by submitting them to the action of a few chemical tests.

The shape of the tea-leaf is slender and narrow, as shown in this sketch, the edges

are deeply serrated, and the end or extremity is acutely pointed. The texture of the

232

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

leaf is very delicate, its surface smooth and glossy, and its colour is a lively pale green.

The sloe-leaf (and also the white-thorn leaf,) as shewn in this sketch, is more rounded, and the leaf is obtusely pointed. The serratures or jags on the edges are not

so deep, the surface of the leaf is more uneven, the texture not so delicate, and the colour is a dark olive green.

These characters of course can be observed only after the dried leaves have been suffered to macerate in water for about twenty-four hours.

The leaves of some sorts of tea may differ in size, but the shape is the same in all of

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

them; because all the different kinds of tea
imported from China are the produce of one
species of plant, and the difference between
the green and souchong, or black tea, depends chiefly upon the climate, soil, culture,
age, and mode of drying the leaves.

Our ladies are our tea-makers; let them
study the leaf as well as the liquor; let them
become familiar with both vegetables, with
their forms, colours, flavours, and scents; let
us drink our tea upon the responsibility of
our wives, daughters, and sisters, and not
upon that of our grocers. Let every female
distinguish tea-leaves from sloe-leaves, as
well as if she had served an apprenticeship
in the ware-house in Leadenhall-street.—
Let them wet and spread out the leaves
which come from their grocers, and let
them be compared with our figures.

234 COUNTERFEIT TEA.

The examination of twenty-seven sam-
ples of imitation tea of different qualities,
from the most costly, to the most common,
which it fell to my lot to undertake, induces
me to point out the following chemical marks
of sophistications, as the most simple and
expeditious. Spurious black tea, slightly
moistened, when rubbed on a sheet of white
paper, immediately produces a blueish-black
stain; and speedily affords, when thrown
into cold water, a blueish black tincture,
which instantly becomes reddened by letting
fall into it a drop or two of sulphuric acid.

Two ounces of the suspected leaves should
be infused in half-a-pint of cold, soft water,
and suffered to stand for about three hours.
Genuine tea produces an amber-coloured in-
fusion, which does not become reddened by
sulphuric acid.

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

All the samples of spurious green tea (nineteen in number) which I have examined, were coloured with carbonate of copper (a poisonous substance), and not by means of verdigrise or copperas*. The latter substances would instantly turn the tea black; because both these metallic salts being soluble in water, are acted on by the astringent matter of the leaves, whether genuine or spurious, and convert the infusion into ink.

Tea, rendered poisonous by carbonate of copper, speedily imparts to liquid ammonia a fine sapphire blue tinge. It is only ne-

* Mr. Twining, an eminent tea-merchant, asserts, that "the leaves of spurious tea are boiled in a copper, with copperas and sheep's dung."—See Encyclop. Britan. vol. xviii. p. 331, 1797. See also the History of the Tea Plant, p. 48.; and p. 22 and 228 of this Treatise.

236

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

cessary to shake up in a stopped vial, for a
few minutes, a tea-spoonful of the suspected
leaves, with about two table-spoonsful of li-
quid ammonia, diluted with half its bulk of
water. The supernatant liquid will exhibit
a fine blue colour, if the minutest quantity
of copper be present.

Green tea, coloured with carbonate of copper, when thrown into water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, immediately acquires a black colour. Genuine green tea suffers no change from the action of these tests.

The presence of copper may be further
rendered obvious, by mixing one part of the
suspected tea-leaves, reduced to powder,
with two or three parts of nitrate of potash,
(or with two parts of chlorate of potash,) and
projecting this mixture by small portions at

COUNTERFEIT TEA.

a time, into a platina, or porcelain-ware cru-
cible, kept red-hot in a coal fire; the whole
vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thus
become destroyed, and the oxid of copper
left behind, in combination with the potash,
of the nitrate of potash (or salt petre), or
with the muriate of potash, if chlorate of
potash has been employed.

If water, acidulated with nitric acid, be
then poured into the crucible to dissolve the
mass, the presence of the copper may be
rendered manifest by adding to the solution,
liquid ammonia, in such quantity that the
pungent odour of it predominates.

Counterfeit Coffee.

THE fraud of counterfeiting ground coffee by means of pigeons' beans and pease, is another subject which, not long ago, arrested the attention of the public: and from the numerous convictions of grocers prosecuted for the offence, it is evident that this practice has been carried on for a long time, and to a considerable extent.

The following statement exhibits some of the prosecutions, instituted by the Solicitor of the Excise, against persons convicted of the fraud of manufacturing spurious, and adulterating genuine, coffee.

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

Alexander Brady, a grocer, prosecuted and convicted of selling *sham-coffee*, said, "I have sold it for twenty years." Some of the persons prosecuted by the solicitor of the Excise for this fraud, we might, at first sight, be inclined to believe, were unconscious that the adulterating of genuine coffee with spurious substances was illegal; but this ignorance affords no excuse, as the Act of the 43 Geo. III. cap. 129, explicitly states: "If after the first day of September, 1803, any burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other grain, or vegetable substance or substances prepared or manufactured for the purpose of being in imitation of or in any respect to resemble coffee or cocoa, or to serve as a substitute for coffee or cocoa, or alledged or pretended by the possessor or vender

240

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

thereof so to be, *shall be made* or kept for sale, or shall be *offered or exposed to sale*, or *shall be found* in the custody or possession *of any dealer* or dealers in or *seller or sellers of coffee*, or if any burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other grain, or vegetable substance or substances, not being coffee, shall be called by the preparer, manufacturer, possessor, or vender thereof, by the name of *English or British coffee*, or *any other name of coffee*, or by the name of *American cocoa*, or *English or British cocoa*, or any other name of cocoa, the same respectively shall be forfeited, together with the packages containing the same, and shall and may be seized by any officer or officers of Excise; and the person or persons preparing, manufacturing, or selling the same, or having the same in his, her, or their cus-

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

241

tody or possession, or the dealer or dealers
in or seller or sellers of coffee or cocoa, in
whose custody the same shall be found,
shall forfeit and lose the sum of one hun-
dred pounds."

List of Grocers prosecuted and convicted
by the Solicitor of the Excise (1818) for
adulterating Coffee.

The Attorney-General against Malins.

—This was an information filed by the At-
torney-General against the defendant, charg-
ing him, he being a dealer in coffee, with
having in his possession a large quantity of
imitation coffee, made from scorched pease
and beans, resembling coffee, and intended
to be sold as such, contrary to the statute of

M

242 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

the 43d of the King, whereby he became
liable to pay a fine of £100.

J. Lawes deposed that he had lived servant
with the defendant; he constantly roasted
pease and beans, and ground them into
powder. When so ground, the powder
very much resembled coffee. Sometimes
the sweepings of the coffee were thrown in
among the pease and beans. Witness carried
out this powder to several grocers in differ-
ent parts of the town.

Thomas Jones lived with the defendant.
His occupation was roasting and grinding
pease and beans. They looked, when ground,
the same as coffee. Witness had seen Mr.
John Malins sweep up the refuse coffee, and
mix it with the pease and beans. He had
taken out this mixture to grocers.

J. Richardson, an excise-officer, deposed,

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

that, in December 1817, he went to the premises of the defendant, and there seized four sacks, five tubs, and nine pounds in paper, of a powder made to resemble coffee. The quantity ground was 1,567 pounds; it had all the appearance of coffee; and a little coffee being mixed with it, any common person might be deceived. He also seized two sacks containing 279 pounds of whole pease and beans roasted. Among the latter were some grains of coffee. The witness here produced samples of the articles seized.

John Lawes deposed, that the articles exhibited were such as he was in the habit of manufacturing while in Mr. Malins' employment.

The jury found a verdict for the Crown.—Penalty £100.

M 2

244 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

The King against Chaloner.

The King against Chaloner.—Mr. Chaloner, a dealer in tea and coffee, was charged on the oaths of Charles Henry Lord and John Pearson, both Excise officers, with having in his possession, on the 17th of March, nine pounds of spurious coffee, consisting of burnt pease, beans, and gravel or sand, and a portion of coffee, and with selling some of the same; also with having in his possession seventeen pounds of vegetable powder, and an article imitating coffee, which contained not a particle of genuine coffee.

The defendant was convicted in the penalty of £90.

The King against Peether.—This was an action similar to the last.—Verdict for the Crown, penalty of £50.

The King against Topping.—Verdict for the Crown, penalty of £50.

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

*The King against Hallett.*—Verdict for the Crown, penalty of £50.

*The King against Fox.*—This defendant, in his defence, said, he had sold sham coffee for years; he did it as a matter of accommodation to the poor, who could not give a higher price; he did not sell it for genuine coffee.

*Commissioner of the Excise.*—“ Then you have been defrauding the public for many years, and injuring the revenue by your illicit practices: the poor have an equal right to be supplied with as genuine an article as the rich.”

He was convicted in the penalty of £50.

*The King against Brady.*—One of the commissioners tasted some of the sham coffee produced by the officers, and declared

M 3

246 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

that it was a most infamous stuff, and unfit
for human food.

*Defendant*.—“Why, I have sold it for twenty years.”

*Commissioner*.—“Then you have been for twenty years acting most dishonestly, defrauding the revenue; and the health of the poor must have suffered very much by taking such an unwholesome article. Your having dealt in this article so long aggravates your case; you have for twenty years been selling burnt beans and pease for ge-nuine coffee.—You are convicted in the pe-nalty of £50.”

*The King against Bowser*.—This de-fendant pleaded guilty to the charge, and prayed the court to mitigate the penalty. He was convicted in the penalty of £50.

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

247

*The King against Owen*.—Mr. Lawes addressed the commissioners on behalf of the defendant, in mitigation of punishment; for he did not mean to deny the offence. His client was a very young man, and had been most unfortunate in business. He was not aware until lately of the existence of any law by which it could be punished.

He was convicted in the penalty of £50 for each quantity of sham coffee.

Mr. Greely and Mr. Dando were fined £20 each; and Mr. Hirling and Mr. Terry were fined £90 each, for selling spurious coffee†.

The adulteration of ground coffee, with pease and beans, is beyond the reach of

* Times, July 10, 1818.

† Times, June 6, 1818.

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248

COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.

chemical analysis; but it may, perhaps, not
be amiss on this occasion to give to our
readers a piece of advice given by a retired
grocer to a friend, at no distant period:—
"Never, my good fellow," he said, "pur-
chase from a grocer any thing which passes
through his mill. You know not what
you get instead of the article yon expect
to receive—coffee, pepper, and all-spice,
are all mixed with substances which de-
tract from their own natural qualities."—
Persons keeping mills of their own can at
all times prevent these impositions.

ADULTERATION

OF

Brandy, Rum, and Gin.

By the Excise laws at present existing
in this country, the various degrees of
strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, whis-
key, and other spirituous liquors, chiefly
composed of little else than spirit of wine,
are determined by the quantity of alcohol
of a given specific gravity contained in the
spirituous liquor of a supposed unknown
strength. The great public importance of
this subject in this country, where the con-
sumption of spirituous liquors adds a vast

M 5

250

ADULTERATION OF

sum to the public revenue, has been the
means of instituting many very interesting
series of experiments on this subject. The
instrument used for that purpose by the
Customs and officers of Excise, is called
*Sikes's* hydrometer*, which has now su-
perseded the instrument called *Clark's*
hydrometer, heretofore in use.

The specific gravity or strength of the
legal standard spirit of the Excise, is tech-
nically called *proof*, or *proof spirit*. "This
liquor (not being spirit sweetened, or having
any ingredient dissolved in it, to defeat
the strength thereof), at the temperature of

* George III. c. xxviii, May 1818.—“ An Act for establishing the use of Sikes’s hydrometer in ascertaining the strength of spirit, instead of Clark’s hydrometer,” first established by 56 Geo. III. c. 3, 140, and amended by Geo. III. c. 28.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

251

51° Faht. weighs exactly ⅓th parts of an equal measure of distilled water;" and with this spirit the strength of all other spirituous liquors are compared according to law.

The strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, or other spirituous liquors, weaker than *proof*, or below *proof*, is estimated by the quantity of water which would be necessary to bring the spirit up to proof.

The hydrometer is calculated to shew the percentage of strength *above* or *below* proof, as the case may be, of the spirit submitted to trial. The stem of the instrument is graduated, and so sub-divided, as to meet every variety in the strength of the liquor to be examined, which may fall between the weights (nine in number), used with the instrument; the divisions and sub-divisions on the hydrometer, which remain above the sur-

M 6

252

ADULTERATION OF

face of the liquor in which the instrument
is made to swim, being added to the number
upon the weight used, and together forming
the indication.

But as the difference of temperature affects materially the specific gravity of spirituous liquors, a thermometer, and tables of the concentration of strength as denoted by the hydrometer, are used in the application of the instrument. The officer of the Excise has therefore only to turn to the tables opposite the indication, and immediately under the temperature he finds the percentage of the strength of the liquor.

The quantity of proof spirit in any quantity of spirituous liquor of any other strength, is found by multiplying the quantity of spirit by its percentage of strength, the decimal point in the percentage being first removed two places to the left hand, and deducting

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

253

the product, if the spirit be below proof,
from; or adding it, if above proof, to the
quantity of liquor.

For Example, 125 gallons.

Weight used....................50.
Subdivision shewn by the hydrometer... 1.2
— 51.2
Temperature by the thermometer............ 68°

Opposite 51.2 on the column of indications, and under the 68th degree of temperature, is 8.4 per cent. above proof; had it been below proof, the 10.500 must have been deducted, and would have left 1142 of proof spirit, contained in the 125 gallons of the liquor.

Brandy and rum is seizable, if sold by, or
found in the possession of, the dealer, un-
less it possesses a certain strength*. The
following are the words of the Act:

* Seventeen per cent. below proof, according to Sikes's hydrometer.

254

ADULTERATION OF

"No distiller, rectifier*, compounder or
dealer, shall serve or send out any foreign
spirits, of a lower strength than that of 1
in 6 under hydrometer proof†, nor have in
his possession any foreign spirits mixed to-
gether, except shrub, cherry or raspberry
brandy, of lower strength than as aforesaid,
upon pain of such spirits being forfeited;
and such spirits, with the casks and vessels
containing the same, may be seized by any
officer of Excise."

We have, therefore, a ready check against
the frauds of the dishonest dealers in spi-
rituous liquors. If the spirit merchant
engage to deliver a liquor of a certain

* 30 Geo. III. c. 37, sec. 31.

† According to Clarke's hydrometer, or 17 per cent.
below proof, according to Sikes's hydrometer.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

strength, the hydrometer is by far the most
easy and expeditious check that can be
adopted to guard against frauds of receiving
a weaker liquor for a stronger one; and to
those individuals who are in the habit of
purchasing large quantities of brandy, rum,
or other spirituous liquors, the hydrometer
renders the greatest service. For it is by
no means an uncommon occurrence, to meet
with brandy, rum, and other spirituous li-
quors, of a specific gravity very much below
the pretended strength which the liquor
ought to possess.

The following advice given to his read-
ers*, by the author of a Treatise on Brewing

* The Distillers' Guide, by P. Jonas, 1818, p. 3; also Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing and Distilling, p. 167; and Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 232, 233.

256

ADULTERATION OF

and Distilling, may serve to put the unwary
on their guard against some of the frauds
practised by mercenary dealers.

“ It is a custom among retailing distillers,
which I have not taken notice of in this di-
rectory, to put one third or one fourth part
of proof molasses brandy, proportionably, to
what rum they dispose of; which cannot
be distinguished, but by an extraordinary
palate, and does not at all lessen the body or
proof of the goods; but makes them about
two shillings a gallon cheaper; and must
be well mixed and incorporated together in
your retailing cask; but you should keep
some of the best rum, not adulterated, to
please some customers, whose judgment
and palate must be humoured.

“ When you are to draw a sample of goods
to shew a person that has judgment in the

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

proof, do not draw your goods into a phial
to be tasted, or make experiment of the
strength thereof that way, because the proof
will not hold except the goods be exceedingly
strong; but draw the pattern of goods
either into a glass from the cock, to run
very small, or rather draw off a small
quantity into a little pewter pot and pour
it into your glass, extending your pot as
high above the glass as you can without
wasting it, which makes the goods carry a
better head abundantly, than if the same
goods were to be put and tried in a phial.

"You must be so prudent as to make a
distinction of the persons you have to deal
with; what goods you sell to gentlemen for
their own use who require a great deal of
attendance, and as much for time of pay-
ment, you must take a considerably greater

258

ADULTERATION OF

price than of others; what goods you sell
to persons where you believe there is a
manifest, or at least some hazard of your
money, you may safely sell for more than
common profit; what goods you sell to the
poor, especially medicinally, (as many of
your goods are sanative), be as compas-
sionate as the cases require.

" All brandies, whether French, Spanish,
or English, being proof goods, will admit of
one pint of *liquor* (*water*) to each gallon,
to be made up and incorporated therewith
in your cask, for retail, or selling smaller
quantities; and all persons that insist upon
having proof goods, which not one in twenty
understands, you must supply out of what
goods are not so reduced, though at a
higher price."

Such is the advice given by Mr. Shannon.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

259

The mode of judging by the taste of spi-
rituous liquors is deceitful. A false strength
is given to a weak liquor, by infusing in it
acrid vegetable substances, or by adding
to it a tincture of grains of paradise and
Guinea pepper. These substances impart
to weak brandy or rum, an extremely hot
and pungent taste.

Brandy and rum is also frequently so-
phisticated with British molasses, or sugar-
spirit, coloured with burnt sugar.

The flavour which characterises French
brandy, and which is owing to a small
portion of a peculiar essential oil contained
in it, is imitated by distilling British mo-
lasses spirit over wine lees; but the spirit,
prior to being distilled over wine lees, is
previously deprived, in part, of its peculiar
disagreeable flavour, by rectification over

260

ADULTERATION OF

fresh-burnt charcoal and quicklime. Other brandy-merchants employ a spirit obtained from raisin wine, which is suffered to pass into an incipient acescency. The spirit thus procured partakes strongly of the flavour which is characteristic of foreign brandy.

Oak saw-dust, and a spirituous tincture of raisin stones, are likewise used to impart to new brandy and rum a *ripe taste*, resembling brandy or rum long kept in oaken casks, and a somewhat oily consistence, so as to form a double froth at its surface, when strongly agitated in a vial. The colouring substances are burnt sugar, or mo!asses; the latter gives to imitative brandy a luscious taste, and fulness in the mouth. These properties are said to render it particularly fit for the retail London customers.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

261

The following is the method of compounding or *making up*, as it is technically called, *brandy*\* for retail:

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>Gallons.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>“ To ten puncheons of brandy..................</td><td>1081</td></tr><tr><td>Add flavoured raisin spirit....................</td><td>118</td></tr><tr><td>Tincture of grains of paradise...............</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Cherry laurel water............................</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Spirit of Almond cakes......................</td><td>2</td></tr></tbody></table>

1207

" Add also 10 handfuls of oak saw-dust; and give it *complexion* with burnt sugar."

## METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF BRANDY, RUM, AND MALT SPIRIT.

THE false strength of brandy or rum is rendered obvious by diluting the suspected

\* Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing and Distilling, p. 167.

262

ADULTERATION OF

liquor with water; the acrimony of the cap-
sicum, and grains of paradise, or pepper,
may then be readily discovered by the
taste.

The adulteration of brandy with British
molasses, or sugar-spirit, becomes evident
by rubbing a portion of the suspected
brandy between the palm of the hands; the
spirit, as it evaporates, leaves the disagree-
able flavour which is peculiar to all British
spirits. Or the liqour may be deprived of
its alcohol, by heating a portion in a spoon
over a candle, till the vapour ceases to catch
fire on the approach of a lighted taper. The
residue thus obtained, of genuine French
brandy, possesses a vinous odour, still
resembling the original flavour of the
brandy, whilst the residue, produced from
sophisticated brandy, has a peculiar disa-

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

greeable smell, resembling gin, or the breath of habitual drunkards.

Arrack is coarsely imitated by adding to rum a small quantity of pyroligneous acid and some flowers (acid) of benzoe. The compound thus produced, however, must be pronounced a bad one. The author of a very popular Cookery Book, (the Cook's Oracle, 2d edition, p. 480,) directs two scruples of benzoic acid to be dissolved in one quart of rum, to make " mock arrack."

## MALT SPIRIT.

MALT spirit, or gin, the favourite liquor of the lower order of people, which is characterized by the peculiar flavour of juniper berries, over which the raw spirit is distilled,

264

ADULTERATION OF

is usually obtained from a mixture of malt
and barley: sometimes both molasses and
corn are employed, particularly if there be
a scarcity of grain. But the flavour of whis-
key, which is made from barley and oats, is
owing to the malted grain being dried with
peat, the smoke of which gives it the charac-
teristic taste.

The malt distiller is not allowed to fur-
nish, under a heavy penalty, any crude or
raw spirit to the rectifier or manufacturer
of gin, of a greater strength than seven per
cent over proof. The rectifier who receives
the spirit from the malt distiller is not al-
lowed, under a certain penalty, to send out
the spirit to his customers greater than of a
certain strength, as is obvious from the fol-
lowing words of the Act :

“ No rectifier or compounder shall sell or

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

send out any British brandy, British rectified
spirits, British compounds, or other British
spirits, of greater strength than that of one
in five under hydrometer proof (Clark's hy-
drometer, equal to 22 per cent. below proof
by Sikes's hydrometer); and if he shall sell
and send out any such spirits of a greater
strength than that of one in five under hy-
drometer proof, such spirits, with the casks
or vessels containing the same, shall be for-
feited, and may be seized by any officer of
Excise; and he shall forfeit treble the value
of such spirit, or £50 at the election of the
King's Attorney-General, or the person who
shall sue for the same; the single value of
such spirits to be estimated at the highest
London price."—(30 Geo. III. c. 37, sec. 6.)

If we examine gin, as retailed, we shall
soon be convinced that it is a custom, pretty

N

ADULTERATION OF

prevalent amongst dealers, to weaken this li-
quor considerably with water, and to sweet-
en it with sugar. This fraud may readily
be detected by evaporating a quantity of the
liquor in a table-spoon over a candle, to
dryness; the sugar will thus be rendered
obvious, in the form of a gum-like substance,
when the spirit is volatilised.

One hundred and twenty gallons of ge-
nuine gin, as obtained from the wholesale
manufactories, are usually *made up* by fraud-
dulent retailers into a saleable commodity,
with fourteen gallons of water and twenty-
six pounds of sugar. Now this dilution of
the liquor produces a turbidness; because
the oil of juniper and other flavouring sub-
stances which the spirit holds in solution,
become precipitated by virtue of the water,
and thus cause the liquor to assume an opa-

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

line colour: and the spirit thus weakened cannot readily be rendered clear again by subsidence. Several expedients are had recourse to, to clarify the liquor in an expeditious manner; some of which are harmless; others are criminal, because they render the liquor poisonous.

One of the methods, which is innocent, consists in adding to the weakened liquor, first, a portion of alum dissolved in water, and then a solution of sub-carbonate of potash. The whole is stirred together, and left undisturbed for twenty-four hours. The precipitated alumine thus produced from the alum, by virtue of the sub-carbonate of potash, acts as a strainer upon the milky liquor, and carries down with it the finely divided oily matter which produces the blue colour of the diluted liquor. Roach, or Ro-

N 2

268

ADULTERATION OF

man alum, is also employed, without any
other addition for clarifying spirituous li-
quors.

" To reduce unsweetened Gin*.

“ A tun of fine gin.................. 352 gallons
“ Water.................................. 36

“ Which, added together, make... 288 gallons

“ The doctor is now put on, and it
is further reduced with water... 19

“ Which gives...........Total ...... 307 gallons
of gin.

“ This done, let 1lb. of alum be just co-
vered with water, and dissolved by boiling;
rummage the whole well together, and pour
in the alum, and the whole will be fine in a
few hours.”

* Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 198, and P. Jonas's Distillers' Guide, 1818, p. 42.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

269

" To prepare and sweeten British Gin*.

" Get from your distiller an empty puncheon or cask, which will contain about 133 gallons. Then take a cask of clear rectified spirits, 120 gallons, of the usual strength as rectifyers sell their goods at; put the 120 gallons of spirits into your empty cask.

" Then take a quarter of an ounce of oil of vitriol, half an ounce of oil of almonds, a quarter of an ounce of oil of turpentine, one ounce of oil of juniper berries, half a pint of spirit of wine, and half a pound of lump sugar. Beat or rub the above in a mortar. When well rubbed together, have ready prepared half a gallon of lime water, one

* Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 199. and the Distillers' Guide, by P. Jonas, p. 44.

N 3

270

ADULTERATION OF

gallon of rose water; mix the whole in either
a pail, or cask, with a stick, till every parti-
cle shall be dissolved; then add to the fore-
going, twenty five pounds of sugar dissolved
in about nine gallons of rain or Thames wa-
ter, or water that has been boiled; mix the
whole well together, and stir them carefully
with a stick in the 133 gallons cask.

" To *force down* the same, take and boil
eight ounces of alum in three quarts of water,
for three quarters of an hour; take it from
the fire, and dissolve by degrees six or seven
ounces of salt of tartar. When the same is
milk-warm, pour it into your gin, and stir it
well together, as before, for five minutes, the
same as you would a butt of beer newly
fined. Let your cask stand as you mean to
draw it. At every time you purpose to
sweeten again, that cask must be well washed

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

271

out; and take great care never to shake
your cask all the while it is drawing.”

Another method of fining spirituous li-
quors, consists in adding to it, first, a solu-
tion of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solu-
tion of alum. This practice is highly dan-
gerous, because part of the sulphate of lead
produced, remains dissolved in the liquor,
which it thus renders poisonous. Unfortu-
nately, this method of clarifying spirituous
liquors, I have good reason to believe, is
more frequently practised than the preced-
ing method, because its action is more ra-
pid; and it imparts to the liquor a fine com-
plexion, or great refractive power; hence
some vestiges of lead may often be detected
in malt spirit.

The weakened spirit is then sweetened
with sugar, and, to cover the raw taste of

N 4

272

ADULTERATION OF

the malt spirit, a *false strength* is given to
it with grains of paradise, Guinea pepper,
capsicum, and other acrid and aromatic sub-
stances.

METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF LEAD IN SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

THE presence of lead may be detected in
spirituous liquors, as stated pages 90 and
114. The cordial called shrub frequently
exhibits vestiges of copper. This contami-
nation, I have been informed, is accidental,
and originates from the metallic vessels em-
ployed in the manufacture of the liquor.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

273

METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUANTITY OF ALCOHOL IN DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

THE quantity of real alcohol in any spirituous liquors may readily be ascertained by simple distillation, which process separates the alcohol from the water and foreign matters contained in the liquor. Put any quantity of brandy, rum, or malt spirit, diluted with about one-fourth its bulk of water, into a retort fitted to a capacious receiver, and distil with a gentle heat. The strongest spirit distils over first into the receiver, and the strength of the obtained products decreases, till at last it contains so much water as no longer to be inflammable by the ap-

N 5

274

ADULTERATION OF

proach of a lighted taper, when held in a
spoon over a candle (see p. 210). If the
process be continued, the distilled product
becomes milky, scarcely spirituous to the
smell, and of an acidulous taste. The dis-
tilling operation may then be discontinued.
If the first, fourth, or third part, of the dis-
tilled product has been set a part, it will be
found a moderately strong alcohol, and the
remainder one more diluted. If the whol
distilled spirit be mixed with perfectly dry
subcarbonate of potash, the alcohol will float
at the top of the potash, as stated p. 211; it
will separate in two distinct fluids. If the
decanted alcohol be re-distilled carefully
with a very gentle heat, over a small portion
of dry quick lime, or muriate of lime, it will
be obtained extremely pure, and of a specific
gravity of about 825, at 60° of temperature.

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

275

Its flavour will vary according to the kind of spirituous liquor from which it is obtained.

*Per Centage of Alcohol contained in various kinds of Spirituous Liquors*.

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>Proportion of Alcohol per Cent. by Measure.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Brandy, Cogniac, average proportion of 4 samples</td><td>52,75</td></tr><tr><td>Ditto, Bourdeaux, ditto ditto</td><td>54,50</td></tr><tr><td>Ditto, Cette</td><td>53,00</td></tr><tr><td>Ditto, Naples, average of three samples...</td><td>53,25</td></tr><tr><td>Ditto, Spanish, average of 6 samples...</td><td>52,28</td></tr><tr><td>Rum</td><td>53,68</td></tr><tr><td>Ditto, Leeward, average of 9 samples</td><td>53,00</td></tr><tr><td>Scotch Whiskey, average of 6 samples...</td><td>53,50</td></tr><tr><td>Irish Ditto, average of 4 samples...</td><td>54,25</td></tr><tr><td>Arrack, Batavia</td><td>49,50</td></tr><tr><td>Dutch Geneva</td><td>52,25</td></tr><tr><td>Gin, Hodges's (own experiment), 3 samples, procured from retail dealers</td><td>48,25</td></tr><tr><td>Ditto, (ditto) procured from the manufacturer</td><td>52,35</td></tr></tbody></table>

* Repository of Arts, p. 350, Dec. 1819.

N 6

Poisonous Cheese.

SEVERAL instances have come under my
notice in which Gloucester cheese has been
contaminated with red lead, and has pro-
duced serious consequences on being taken
into the stomach. In one poisonous sample
which it fell to my lot to investigate, the
evil had been caused by the sophistication
of the anotto, employed for colouring cheese.
This substance was found to contain a por-
tion of red lead; a method of sophistication
which has lately been confirmed by the fol-
lowing fact, communicated to the public by
Mr. J. W. Wright, of Cambridge, and co-

POISONOUS CHEESE.

pied from the Repository of Arts, vol. viii.
No. 47, p. 262.

"Your readers ought here to be told, that several instances are on record, that Gloucester and other cheeses have been found contaminated with red lead, and that this contamination has produced serious consequences. In the instance now alluded to, and probably in all other cases, the deleterious mixture had been caused ignorantly, by the adulteration of the anotto employed for colouring the cheese. This substance, in the instance I shall relate, was found to contain a portion of red lead; a species of adulteration which subsequent experiments have shewn to be by no means uncommon. Before I proceed further to trace this fraud to its source, I shall briefly relate the cir-

278 POISONOUS CHEESE.

cumstance which gave rise to its detection.

" A gentleman, who had occasion to reside for some time in a city in the West of England, was one night seized with a distressing but indescribable pain in the region of the abdomen and of the stomach, accompanied with a feeling of tension, which occasioned much restlessness, anxiety, and repugnance to food. He began to apprehend the access of an inflammatory disorder; but in twenty-four hours the symptoms entirely subsided. In four days afterwards he experienced an attack precisely similar; and he then recollected, that having, on both occasions, arrived from the country late in the evening, he had ordered a plate of toasted Gloucester cheese, of which he had partaken.

POISONOUS CHEESE.

heartily; a dish which, when at home, regularly served him for supper. He attributed his illness to the cheese. The circumstance was mentioned to the mistress of the inn, who expressed great surprise, as the cheese in question was not purchased from a country dealer, but from a highly respectable shop in London. He, therefore, ascribed the before-mentioned effects to some peculiarity in his constitution. A few days afterwards he partook of the same cheese; and he had scarcely retired to rest, when a most violent colic seized him, which lasted the whole night and part of the ensuing day. The cook was now directed henceforth not to serve up any toasted cheese, and he never again experienced these distressing symptoms. Whilst this

280

POISONOUS CHEESE.

matter was a subject of conversation in the house, a servant-maid mentioned that a kitten had been violently sick after having eaten the rind cut off from the cheese prepared for the gentleman's supper. The landlady, in consequence of this statement, ordered the cheese to be examined by a chemist in the vicinity, who returned for answer, that the cheese was contaminated with lead! So unexpected an answer arrested general attention, and more particularly as the suspected cheese had been served up for several other customers.

"Application was therefore made by the London dealer to the farmer who manufactured the cheese: he declared that he had bought the anotto of a mercantile traveller, who had supplied him and his neighbours

POISONOUS CHEESE.

281

for years with that commodity, without giv-
ing occasion to a single complaint. On sub-
sequent inquiries, through a circuitous chan-
nel, unnecessary to be detailed here at
length, on the part of the manufacturer of
the cheese, it was found, that as the sup-
plies of anotto had been defective and of
inferior quality, recourse had been had to
the expedient of colouring the commodity
with vermillion. Even this admixture could
not be considered deleterious. But on fur-
ther application being made to the druggist
who sold the article, the answer was, that
the vermillion had been mixed with a por-
tion of red lead; and the deception was held
to be perfectly innocent, as frequently prac-
tised on the supposition, that the vermillion
would be used only as a pigment for house-

282

POISONOUS CHEESE.

painting. Thus the druggist sold his ver-
million, in the regular way of trade, adulte-
rated with red lead, to increase his profit,
without any suspicion of the use to which it
would be applied; and the purchaser who
adulterated the anotto, presuming that the
vermillion was genuine, had no hesitation in
heightening the colour of his spurious anotto
with so harmless an adjunct. Thus, through
the circuitous and diversified operations of
commerce, a portion of deadly poison may
find admission into the necessaries of life, in
a way which can attach no criminality to
the parties through whose hands it has suc-
cessively passed."

This dangerous sophistication may be de-
tected by macerating a portion of the sus-
pected cheese in water impregnated with

Counterfeit Pepper.

BLACK PEPPER is the fruit of a shrubby,
creeping plant, which grows wild in the East
Indies, and is cultivated, with much advan-
tage, for the sake of its berries, in Java and
Malabar. The berries are gathered before
they are ripe, and are dried in the sun.—
They become black and corrugated on the
surface.

That factitious pepper-corns have of late
been detected mixed with genuine pepper,
is a fact sufficiently known*. Such an

* Thompson's Annals of Chemistry, 1816; also Repository of Arts, vol. i. 1816, p. 11.

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER.

adulteration may prove, in many instances
of household economy, exceedingly vexa-
tious and prejudicial to those who ignorantly
make use of the spurious article. I have
examined large packages of both black and
white pepper, by order of the Excise, and
have found them to contain about 16 per
cent. of this artificial compound. The spu-
rious pepper is made of oil cakes (the resi-
due of lintseed, from which the oil has been
pressed), common clay, and a portion of
Cayenne pepper, formed in a mass, and gra-
nulated by being first pressed through a
sieve, and then rolled in a cask. The mode
of detecting the fraud is easy. It is only
necessary to throw a sample of the sus-
pected pepper into a bowl of water; the ar-
tificial pepper-corns fall to powder, whilst
the true pepper remains whole.

286

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER.

Ground pepper is very often sophisticated
by adding to a portion of genuine pepper
a quantity of pepper dust, or the sweepings
from the pepper warehouses, mixed with a
little Cayenne pepper. The sweepings are
known, and purchased in the market, under
the name of P. D. signifying pepper dust.
An inferior sort of this vile refuse, or the
sweepings of P. D. is distinguished among
venders by the abbreviation of D. P. D. de-
noting, dust (dirt) of pepper dust.

This adulteration of pepper, and the mak-
ing and selling commodities in imitation of
pepper, are prohibited, under a severe pe-
nalty. The following are the words of the
Act.—(Geo. III. c. 53, sec. 21, 1819.)

" And whereas commodities made in imi-
tation of pepper have of late been sold and
found in the possession of various dealers

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER.

in pepper, and other persons in Great Britain; be it therefore enacted, that from and after the said 5th day of July 1819, if any commodity or substance shall be prepared by any person in imitation of pepper, shall be mixed with pepper, or sold or delivered as and for, or as a substitute for pepper, or if any such commodity or substance alone or mixed, shall be kept for sale, sold, or delivered, or shall be offered or exposed to sale, or shall be in custody or possession of any dealer or seller of pepper, the same, together with all pepper with which the same shall be mixed, shall be forfeited, with the packages containing the same, and shall and may be seized by any officer of excise; and the person preparing, manufacturing, mixing as aforesaid, selling, exposing to sale, or delivering the same, or having the

288

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER.

same in his, her, or their custody or possession, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds.”

The following prosecutions and convictions have lately come before the public:

Mr. Baker* was charged with selling an injurious mixture of rape and mustard seed, called P. D. for pepper.

The defendant pleaded ignorance, and he was ordered to pay a fine of 40s.

James Hemmett, a grocer, in Kent-street, in the Borough, was charged with a similar offence.

Skinner, an officer, deposed, that on the 13th of July last he bought a quarter of a pound of pepper at the shop of the defendant; he afterwards examined it, and found it to contain an injurious mixture.

* Morning Chronicle, January 6th and 19th, 1820.

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER.

James Story, the Examining Officer, said, that there might be a little pepper in it, but the greatest part was P. D. and that of the most deleterious quality.

The defendant pleaded ignorance of having it in his possession, but did not produce any witnesses.

He was sentenced to pay a fine of 45s.

Mr. Dowling, a grocer, was charged with a similar offence.

The defendant pleaded that he had before been convicted by the Court, and trusted that would be a sufficient punishment.

The Court thought this rather an aggravation, and again convicted him in the sum of £10.

Mr. Powey* was charged with selling

* Times, January 5th, 1820.

0

290 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER,

pepper, containing an injurious mixture, with intent to defraud the revenue. As this appeared to be part of an offence for which the defendant had been fined £5, the penalty was mitigated to 10s.

James Beard was charged with selling pepper containing a mixture called, in the trade, P. D. which was nothing more than mustard and rape seed ground together, and sold for pepper dust. The Court expressed its determination to protect the public from such frauds, and fined the defendant £5.

WHITE PEPPER.

THE common white pepper is factitious, being prepared from the black pepper in the following manner:—The pepper is first

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER

291

steeped in sea water and urine, and exposed to the heat of the sun for several days, till the rind or outer bark loosens; it is then taken out of the steep, and, when dry, it is rubbed with the hand till the rind falls off. The white fruit is then dried, and the remains of the rind blown away like chaff. A great deal of the peculiar flavour and pungent hot taste of the pepper is taken off by this process. White pepper is always inferior in flavour and quality to black pepper.

However, there is a sort of native white pepper, produced on a species of the pepper plant, which is much better than the factitious, and indeed little inferior to the common black pepper.

02

Poisonous Cayenne Pepper.

CAYENNE PEPPER is an indiscriminate
mixture of the powder of the dried pods of
many species of capsicum, but especially of
the capsicum frutescens, or bird pepper,
which is the hottest of all.

This annual plant, a native of South America, is cultivated in large quantities in our West India islands, and even frequently in our gardens, for the beauty of its pods, which are long, pointed and pendulous, at first of a green colour, and, when ripe, of a bright orange red. They are filled with a dry loose pulp, and contain many small, flat, kidney-

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER.

shaped seeds. The taste of capsicum is extremely pungent and acrimonious, setting the mouth, as it were, on fire.

The principle on which its pungency depends, is soluble in water and in alcohol.

It is sometimes adulterated with red lead, to prevent its becoming bleached on exposure to light. This fraud may be readily detected by shaking up part of it in a stopped vial containing water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which will cause it speedily to assume a dark muddy black colour. Or the vegetable matter of the pepper may be destroyed, by throwing a mixture of one part of the suspected pepper and three of nitrate of potash (or two of chlorate of potash) into a red-hot crucible, in small quantities at a time. The mass left behind may then be digested in weak nitric

03

294

COUNTERFEIT PEPPER.

acid, and the solution assayed for lead by
water impregnated with sulphuretted hy-
drogen.

" We advise those who are fond of Cay-
enne not to think it too much trouble to
make it of English Chillies—there is no
other way of being sure it is genuine.—
They will obtain a pepper of much finer fla-
vour, without half the heat of the foreign;
and a hundred chillies will produce two
ounces. The flavour of the chillies is very
superior to that of the capsicums. Put
them in a warm place to dry; then rub
them in a mortar, as fine as possible, and
keep them in a well stopped bottle*."

* The Cook's Oracle, 12mo. 1819.

Poisonous Pickles.

VEGETABLE substances, preserved in the state called pickles, by means of the anti-septic power of vinegar, whose sale frequently depends greatly upon a fine lively green colour; and the consumption of which, by sea-faring people in particular, is prodigious, are sometimes intentionally coloured by means of copper. Gerkins, French beans, samphires, the green pods of capsicum, and many other pickled vegetable substances, oftener than is perhaps expected, are met with impregnated with this metal. Numerous fatal consequences

o 4

296

POISONOUS PICKLES.

are known to have ensued from the use of
these stimulants of the palate, to which the
fresh and pleasing hue has been imparted
according to the deadly *formulæ* laid down
in some modern cookery books; such as
boiling the pickles with half-pence, or suf-
fering them to stand for a considerable
period in brazen vessels.

Dr. Percival [Medical Transactions, vol. iv. p. 80] has given an account of " a young lady who amused herself, while her hair was dressing, with eating samphire pickles impregnated with copper. She soon complained of pain in the stomach; and, in five days, vomiting commenced, which was incessant for two days. After this, her stomach became prodigiously distended; and, in nine days after eating the pickle, death relieved her from her suffering."

POISONOUS PICKLES.

297

Among many recipes which modern au-
thors of cookery books have given for
imparting a green colour to pickles, the
following are particularly deserving of
censure; and it is to be hoped that they
will be suppressed in future editions of the
works.

"*To Pickle Gerkins.*"—Boil the vinegar in a bell-metal or copper pot; pour it boiling hot on your cucumbers."

"*To make greening†.*—Take a bit of verdigrise, the bigness of a hazle-nut, finely powdered; half-a-pint of distilled vinegar, and a bit of alum powder, with a little bay salt. Put all in a bottle, shake it, and let

* The Ladies' Library, vol. ii. p. 203.

† Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife—2d edition, p. 94.

05

298

POISONOUS PICKLES.

it stand till clear. Put a small tea-spoonful into codlings, or whatever you wish to green."

Mr. E. Raffeld* directs, " to render pickles green, boil them with halfpence, or allow them to stand for twenty-four hours in copper or brass pans."

To detect the presence of copper, it is only necessary to mince the pickles, and to pour liquid ammonia, diluted with an equal bulk of water, over them in a stopped phial: if the pickles contain the minutest quantity of copper, the ammonia assumes a blue colour.

* The English Housekeeper, p. 352, 354. This book has run through 18 editions.

Adulteration of Vinegar.

VINEGAR, as prepared in this country,
from malt, should be of a pale brown co-
lour, perfectly transparent, of a pleasant,
somewhat pungent, acid taste, and fragrant
odour, but without any acrimony. From
the mucilaginous impurities which malt
vinegar always contains, it is apt, on ex-
posure to air, to become turbid and ropy,
and at last vapid. The inconvenience is
best obviated by keeping the vinegar in
bottles completely filled and well corked;
and it is of advantage to boil it in the bottles
a few minutes before they are corked.

06

300 ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR.

Vinegar is sometimes largely adulterated
with sulphuric acid, to give it more acidity.
The presence of this acid is detected, if, on
the addition of a solution of acetate of ba-
rytes, a white precipitate is formed, which is
insoluble in nitric acid, after having been
made red-hot in the fire. (See p. 208.) With
the same intention, of making the vinegar
appear stronger, different acrid vegetable
substances are infused in it. This fraud is
difficult of detection; but when tasted with
attention, the pungency of such vinegar will
be found to depend rather on acrimony than
acidity.

Distilled vinegar, which is employed for
various purposes of domestic economy,
is frequently distilled, not in glass, as it
ought to be, but in common stills with a

ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR.

pewter pipe, whence it cannot fail to acquire a metallic impregnation.

One ounce, by measure, should dissolve at least thirteen grains of white marble.

It should not form a precipitate on the addition of a solution of acetate of barytes, or of water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen. The former circumstance shews that it is adulterated with sulphuric acid; and the latter indicates a metal.

The metallic impregnation is best rendered obvious by sulphuretted hydrogen, in the manner stated, page 87. The distilled vinegar of commerce usually contains tin, and not lead, as has been asserted.

Adulteration of Cream.

CREAM is often adulterated with rice powder or arrow-root. The former is frequently employed for that purpose by pastry-cooks, in fabricating creams and custards, for tarts, and other kinds of pastry. The latter is often used in the London dairies. Arrow-root is preferable to rice powder; for, when converted with milk into a thick mucilage by a gentle ebullition, it imparts to cream, previously diluted with milk, a consistence and apparent richness, by no means unpa-

ADULTERATION OF CREAM.

la table, without materially impairing the
taste of the cream.

The arrow-root powder is mixed up with
a small quantity of cold skimmed milk into
a perfect, smooth, uniform mixture; more
milk is then added, and the whole boiled
for a few minutes, to effect the solution of
the arrow-root: this compound, when per-
fectly cold, is mixed up with the cream.
From 220 to 230 grains (or three large tea-
spoonsful) of arrow-root are added to one
pint of milk; and one part of this solution
is mixed with three of cream. It is scarcely
necessary to state, that this sophistication
is innocuous.

The fraud may be detected by adding to
a teaspoonful of the sophisticated cream
a few drops of a solution of jodine in spirit

304 ADULTERATION OF CREAM.

of wine, which instantly produces with it a dark blue colour. Genuine cream acquires, by the addition of this test, a faint yellow tinge.

The common notion, of milk being adulterated with chalk, or whiting, is unfounded. Such an adulteration is not practicable, without being immediately detected; because the smallest quantity of whiting, or chalk, speedily separates, and falls to the bottom.

I have been frequently called upon to examine samples of milk, supposed to be sophisticated with whiting, but a chemical examination of the milk always proved the contrary. That a liberal quantity of water is often added to the London milk, admits of no doubt.