See the Minutes, before quoted, p. 32.

[74] Ibid. p. 58.

[75] A partner in the brewery of Messrs. Whitbread and Co.

[76] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 104.

[77] Minutes, before quoted, p. 22.

[78] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 40.

[79] Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32

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

[81] Repository of Arts, No. 2, p. 74.—1816.

[82] Copied from Professor Brande's Paper in the Philosophical Transactions, 1811, p. 345.

[83] Result of our own Experiments, see p. 127.

[84] Professor Brande's Experiments.



Counterfeit Tea-Leaves.

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 manufactories were conducted, together with the numerous 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 the Courier) from March to July 1818; which show to what extent this nefarious traffic has been carried on; and they report also the prosecutions and convictions of numerous individuals who have been guilty of the fraud. The following are some of those prosecutions and convictions.

HATTON GARDEN.—On Saturday an information came to be heard at this office, before Thomas Leach, Esq. the sitting magistrate, against a man of the name of 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, contrary to the statute of the 17th of Geo. III.[85] whereby the said Edmund Rhodes had, for every pound of such leaves so manufactured, forfeited the sum of 5l. making the total of the penalties amount to 2,000l. The second count in the information charged the said Rhodes with having in his possession the above quantity of sloe, ash, elder, and other 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 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 defendant, who was absent, said that he was a very poor man, with a family of five children, 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 imitation tea, were then brought into the office, and a sample from each handed round. To the eye they seemed a good imitation of tea.

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

The Attorney-General against Palmer.—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 furnish them with leaves, which, after undergoing a certain process, were sold to and drank by the public as tea. The leaves, in order to be converted into an article resembling black tea, were first boiled, then baked upon an iron plate; and, when dry, rubbed with the hand, in order to produce that curl which the genuine tea had. This was the most wholesome part of the operation; for 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 constitution 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 alluded to verdigris, which was added to the Dutch pink in order to complete the operation. This was the case 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 produce of the hedges round the metropolis, prepared for the purposes of deception in the most noxious manner. He trusted he should be enabled to trace to the possession of the defendant eighty pounds weight of the commodity he had been describing.

Thomas 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 hundred and a half weight of these leaves; but he employed another person, of the name of John Bagster, to gather them. He had two-pence 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 verdigris put into the water (this applied to green tea only.) After the leaves were dried, they were sifted, to separate the thorns and stalks. After they were sifted, more verdigris and some Dutch pink were added. The verdigris 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 verdigris was put in the boiling, and to this was added a small quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus the manufacture was complete. The drying operation took place on sheets of iron. Witness knew the defendant, Edward Palmer; he took some of the mixture he had been describing, to his shop. The first time he took some was in May, 1817. In the course of that month, or the beginning of June, he took four or five seven-pound parcels; when he took it there, it was taken up to the top of the house. Witness afterwards carried some to Russell-street, which was taken to the top of the house, about one hundred weight and three quarters; from this quantity he carried fifty-three pounds weight to the house of the defendant's porter, by the desire of Mr. Malins; it was in paper parcels of seven pounds each.

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 Malins' 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.—Verdict for the Crown, 840l.

The Attorney-General against John Prentice.—This was an information similar to the last, in which the defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.

The Attorney-General against Lawson Holmes.—In this case the defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.

The Attorney-General against John Orkney.—Thomas Jones proved that the defendant was a grocer, and in the month of May last he carried to his shop seven pounds of imitation tea, by the order of John Malins, for which he received the money, viz. 15s. 9d. or 2s. 3d. per pound.

The jury found a verdict for the Crown.—Penalties 70l.

The Attorney-General against James Gray.—The defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.—Penalties 120l.

The Attorney-General against H. Gilbert, and Powel.—These defendants submitted to a verdict.—Penalties 140l.

The Attorney-General against William Clarke.—This defendant also submitted to a verdict for the Crown.

The Attorney-General against George David Bellis.—This defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.

The Attorney-General against John Horner.—The defendant in this case was a grocer; it was proved by Jones that he received twenty pounds of imitation tea.—Verdict for the Crown.—Penalties 210l.

The Attorney-General against William Dowling.—This was a grocer. Jones proved that he delivered seven pounds of imitation tea at Mr. Dowling's house, and received the money for it, namely 15s. 9d.—Penalties 70l.

METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA.

The adulteration 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 shewn in this sketch, the edges are deeply serrated, and the end or extremity is acutely pointed. The texture of the 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 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.

Spurious black tea,[86] 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 an hour. Genuine tea produces an amber-coloured infusion, which does not become reddened by sulphuric acid.

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 verdigris, or copperas.[87] 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 necessary to shake up in a stopped vial, for a few minutes, a tea-spoonful of the suspected leaves, with about two table-spoonsful of liquid 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 a time, into a platina, or porcelain-ware crucible, kept red-hot in a coal fire; the whole vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thus become destroyed, and the oxide 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[85] Also, 2 Geo. I, c. 30, Sec. 5; and 4 Geo. II, c. 14, Sec. 11.

[86] The examination of twenty-seven samples 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 marks of sophistications here detailed, as the most simple and expeditious.

[87] 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. 167 of this Treatise.



Counterfeit Coffee.

The fraud of counterfeiting ground coffee by means of pigeon's 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.

Alexander Brady, a grocer, (See p. 182) 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 inconscious 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 alleged or pretended by the possessor or vender 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 custody 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 hundred pounds."

The Attorney-General against William Malins.—This was an information filed by the Attorney-General against the defendant, charging 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 the 43d of the King, whereby he became liable to pay a fine of 100l.

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 different 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, 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 100l.

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 90l.

The King against Peether.—This was an information against Mr. Thomas Peether, tea and coffee dealer, charging him with having in his possession a quantity of imitation coffee (or vegetable powder) on the 25th of April last.

The case being proved by the evidence of several witnesses, the defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50l.

The King against Topping.—This was an information against Mr. John Lewis Topping, a dealer in tea and coffee, charging him with having thirty-seven pounds of vegetable powder in his possession. The article seized was produced to the commissioners of the Excise.

The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50l.

The King against Samuel Hallett.—The defendant, Hallett, a grocer and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having seven pounds of imitation coffee in his possession.

Charles Henry Lord, an officer of the Excise, being sworn, stated, that he and Spencer, an officer, went, on the 28th of February last, to the shop of the defendant, and asked for an ounce of coffee, at three halfpence per ounce. He received the same, and having paid for it, left the shop. He examined the article, and found it was part coffee, and part imitation coffee, or what the defendant called vegetable powder, which is nothing more nor less than burnt pease and beans ground in a mill.

Spencer, the officer of the Excise, corroborated the above evidence, and stated, that the sham-coffee seized at the defendant's house was shown to Mr. Joseph Hubbard, grocer, and tea and coffee dealer, in High-street, in the Borough of Southwark.

Mr. Hubbard being sworn, stated, that he had examined the sham-coffee seized by the officers in the defendant's shop. The one ounce purchased by Lord, he knew to be nothing else than black pigeon's beans; there was no coffee amongst it.

The defendant was convicted in the penalty of 50l.

The King against Fox.—Mr. Edward Fox, grocer, and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having a large quantity of sham-coffee in his possession, and with selling the same for genuine coffee.

Henry Spencer, an officer of the Excise, stated, that on the 21st of February he and Lord, another officer, went to the defendant's shop and purchased an ounce of coffee, for which he paid three halfpence. They examined it, and he was satisfied it was not genuine coffee; they purchased another ounce (which he produced to the commissioners of the Excise, who examined it); they were convinced it consisted partly of coffee and beans and pease.

The defendant, in his defence said, that the poor people wanted a low-price article; and by mixing the vegetable powder and coffee together, he was able to sell it at three halfpence an ounce; he had sold it 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.—"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 50l.

The King against Brady.—The defendant, Mr. Alexander Brady, grocer, and dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with having, on the 28th of February last, in his possession eighteen pounds of sham-coffee, and selling the same for genuine coffee.

Lord and Pearson, Excise officers, stated, that they purchased an ounce of coffee of the defendant, on the 28th of February, and upon examining it they discovered that it was made up of pease and beans, ground with a small quantity of coffee. They also found eighteen pounds of vegetable powder mixed with coffee, in a state prepared for sale, wrapped in papers.

One of the commissioners tasted some of the eighteen pounds of sham-coffee produced by the officers, and declared 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 genuine coffee.—You are convicted in the penalty of 50l."

The King against Bowser.—The excise officers stated, that on the 28th of February they went to his shop: he was a grocer, dealer in tea and coffee; they seized seven pounds and a half of vegetable powder, which contained very little coffee, if any; and also a quarter of a pound of coffee mixed with vegetable powder.

The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, and prayed the court to mitigate the penalty. He was convicted in the penalty of 50l.

The King against Thomas Owen.—The defendant, an extensive dealer in tea and coffee, appeared to an information charging him with having in his possession, and selling, a quantity of deleterious ingredients, and mixing them with coffee.

Charles Henry Lord deposed, that on the 26th of February, he found, at the shop of the defendant, nineteen pounds of a composition consisting of beans and pease ground, and prepared so as to imitate coffee. He also discovered two pounds and a half of a mixture of coffee and vegetable powder. On the same day he proceeded to another shop of the defendant, and he there found five pounds more of the same stuff.

Samples of the composition, in its mixed and unmixed state, were produced.

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.

The Commissioners observed, that they had a double duty to perform, namely, to protect the revenue from fraud, and to prevent the public from being imposed upon and injured by ingredients served to them instead of the food they intended to purchase. The fraud upon the revenue was, in the estimation of the court, the least part of the offence. Under all the circumstances, however, the court was inclined to be lenient to the defendant.

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

Mr. Greely and Mr. William Dando were fined 20l. each; and Mr. Hirling and Mr. Terry were fined 90l. each for selling spurious coffee.

The adulteration of ground coffee, with pease and beans, is beyond the reach of 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, "purchase from a grocer any thing which passes through his mill. You know not what you get instead of the article you expect to receive—coffee, pepper, and all-spice, are all mixed with substances which detract 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, whiskey, and other spiritous 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 spiritous liquors of a supposed unknown strength. The great public importance of this subject in this country, where the consumption of spiritous liquors adds a vast 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,[88] which has now superseded the instrument called Clark's hydrometer, heretofore in use.

The specific gravity or strength of the legal standard spirit of the Excise, is technically 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 57 deg. Faht. weighs exactly 12/13th parts of an equal measure of distilled water;" and with this spirit the strength of all other spiritous liquors are compared according to law.

The strength of spirit stronger than proof or over proof, as it is termed by the revenue officers, is indicated by the bulk of water necessary to reduce a given volume of it, to the legal standard spirit, denominated proof—namely; if one gallon of water be required to bring twenty gallons of brandy, rum, or any other spirit, to proof, that spirit is said to be 1 to 20 over proof. If one gallon of water be required to bring 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor to proof, it is said to be 1 to 15, 1 to 10, 1 to 5, and 1 to 2, over proof.

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

Thus, if from twenty gallons of brandy one gallon of water must be abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 20 under proof. If from 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor, 1 gallon of water must be abstracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 15, 1 in 10, 1 in 5, and 1 in 2 under proof.

It is necessary to understand this absurd language, which is in use amongst the officers of Excise and dealers in spirit, in order to know what is meant in commerce by the strength of spiritous liquors of different denominations. And hence, for the business of the exciseman, a table has been constructed, expressing the strength or specific gravity of mixtures of different proportions of spirit and water, at different degrees of temperature; and according to this table the duty on spirit is now levied.

Brandy and rum is seizable, if sold by, or found in the possession of, the dealer, unless it possesses a certain strength.[89] The following are the words of the Act:

"No distiller, rectifier,[90] compounder or dealer, shall serve or send out any foreign spirits, of a lower strength than that of 1 in 6 under hydrometer proof,[91] nor have in his possession any foreign spirits mixed together, 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 spiritous liquors. If the spirit merchant engages to deliver a liquor of a certain 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 spiritous liquors, the hydrometer renders the greatest service. For it is by no means an uncommon occurrence to meet with brandy, rum, and other spiritous liquors, of a specific gravity very much below the pretended strength which the liquor ought to possess.

The following advice, given to his readers,[92] by the author of a Treatise on Brewing 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 directory, 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 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 rather 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 glasses 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 payment, you must take a considerably greater 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 compassionate as the cases require."

"All brandies, whether French, Spanish, or English; being proof goods, will admit of one point of liquor[93] 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.

The mode of judging by the taste of spiritous 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 sophisticated 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 molasses-spirit over wine lees;[94] but the spirit, prior to being distilled over wine lees, is previously deprived, in part, of its peculiar disagreeable flavour, by rectification over fresh burnt charcoal and quick-lime. Other brandy-merchants employ a spirit obtained from raisin wine, which is suffered to pass into an incipient ascescency. The spirit thus procured partakes strongly of the flavour which is characteristic to foreign brandy.

Oak saw-dust, and a spiritous 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 durable froth at its surface, when strongly agitated in a vial. The colouring substances are burnt sugar, or molasses; 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.

The following is the method of compounding or making up, as it is technically called, brandy[95] for retail:

Gallons "To ten puncheons of brandy 1081 Add flavoured raisin spirit 118 Tincture of grains of paradise 4 Cherry laurel water 2 Spirit of almond cakes 2 ———- 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 liquor with water; the acrimony of the capsicum, 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 palms of the hands; the spirit, as it evaporates, leaves the disagreeable flavour which is peculiar to all British spirits. Or the liquor 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 peculiarly disagreeable 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,[96] 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 characterised by the peculiar flavour of juniper berries, over which the raw spirit is distilled, 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 whiskey, which is made from barley and oats, is owing to the malted grain being dried with peat, the smoke of which gives it the characteristic taste.

The malt distiller is not allowed to furnish, 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 allowed, under a certain penalty, to sweeten the liquor with sugar or other substances; nor is he permitted to send out the spirit to his customers but of a certain strength, as is obvious from the following words of the Act:

"No rectifier or compounder shall sell or 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[97]: and if he shall sell and send out any such spirits of a greater strength than that of one in five under hydrometer proof, such spirits, with the casks or vessels containing the same, shall be forfeited, and may be seized by any officer of Excise; and he shall also forfeit treble the value of such spirit, or 50l. 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.[98]"

If we examine gin, as retailed, we shall soon be convinced that it is a custom, pretty prevalent amongst dealers, to weaken this liquor considerably with water, and to sweeten 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 genuine gin, as obtained from the wholesale manufactories, are usually made up by fraudulent 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 substances which the spirit holds in solution, become precipitated by virtue of the water, and thus cause the liquor to assume an opaline 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 produced the blue colour of the diluted liquor. Roach, or Roman alum, is also employed, without any other addition, for clarifying spiritous liquors.

"To reduce unsweetened Gin.[99]

"A tun of fine gin 252 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 1 lb. of alum be just covered 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."

"To prepare and sweeten British Gin.[100]

"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 rectifiers 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 gallon of rose water; mix the whole in either a pail, or cask, with a stick, till every particle shall be dissolved; then add to the foregoing, twenty-five pounds of sugar dissolved in about nine gallons of rain or Thames water, 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 out; and take great care never to shake your cask all the while it is drawing."

Another method of fining spiritous liquors, consists in adding to it, first, a solution of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solution of alum. This practice is highly dangerous, because part of the sulphate of lead produced, remains dissolved in the liquor, which it thus renders poisonous. Unfortunately, this method of clarifying spiritous liquors, I have good reason to believe, is more frequently practised than the preceding method, because its action is more rapid; and it imparts to the liquor a fine complexion, 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 the malt spirit, false strength is given to it with grains of paradise, Guinea pepper, capsicum, and other acrid and aromatic substances.

METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF LEAD IN SPIRITOUS LIQUORS.

The presence of lead may be detected in spiritous liquors, as stated on pages 70 and 86. The cordial called shrub frequently exhibits vestiges of copper. This contamination, I have been informed, is accidental, and originates from the metallic vessels employed in the manufacture of the liquor.

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

The quantity of real alcohol in any spiritous 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 approach of a lighted taper, when held in a spoon over a candle (see p. 160.) If the process be continued, the distilled product becomes milky, scarcely spiritous to the smell, and of an acidulous taste. The distilling operation may then be discontinued. If the first, fourth or third part of the distilled product has been set apart, it will be found a moderately strong alcohol, and the remainder one more diluted. If the whole distilled spirit be mixed with perfectly dry subcarbonate of potash, the alcohol will float at the top of the potash, as stated, p. 161; it will separate into two distinct fluids. If the decanted alcohol be redistilled 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 deg. of temperature. Its flavour will vary according to the kind of spiritous liquor from which it is obtained.

Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Alcohol (of 825 specific gravity) contained in various kinds of spiritous Liquors.[101]

Proportion of Alcohol per Cent. by Measure.

Brandy, Cogniac, average proportion of 4 samples 52,75 Ditto, Bourdeaux, ditto ditto 54,50 Ditto, Cette 53,00 Ditto, Naples, average of 3 samples 53,25 Ditto, Spanish average of 6 samples 52,28 Rum 53,68 Ditto, Leeward, average of 9 samples 53,00 Scotch Whiskey, average of 6 samples 53,50 Irish Ditto, average of 4 samples 54,25 Arrack, Batavia 49,50 Dutch Geneva 52,25 Gin (Hodges's,[102]) 3 samples, procured from retail dealers 48,25 Ditto (Ditto,)[102] procured from the manufacturer 52,35

FOOTNOTES:

[88] 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."

[89] Sixteen and a half per cent. proof, according to Sikes's hydrometer.

[90] 30 Geo. III c. 37, Sec. 31.

[91] According to Clarke's hydrometer.

[92] Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing and Distilling, p. 167; and Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 232, 233.

[93] Water.

[94] This operation forms part of the business of the so-called brewers' druggists. It forms the article in their Price Currents, called Spirit Flavour.

Wine lees are imported in this country for that purpose: they pay the same duty as foreign wines.

[95] Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, connected with Brewing and Distilling, p. 167.

[96] Apicius Redivivus, 2d edition, p. 480.

[97] Clark's hydrometer.

[98] 30 Geo. III. c. 37, Sec. 6.

[99] Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 198.

[100] Ibid. p. 199.

[101] Repository of Arts, p. 350, Dec. 1819.

[102] Own experiment.



Poisonous Cheese.

Several instances have come under my notice in which Gloucester cheese has been contaminated with red lead, and has produced 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 anotta, employed for colouring cheese. This substance was found to contain a portion of red lead; a method of sophistication which has lately been confirmed by the following fact, communicated to the public by Mr. J. W. Wright, of Cambridge.[103]

"As a striking example of the extent to which adulterated articles of food may be unconsciously diffused, and of the consequent difficulty of detecting the real fabricators of them, it may not be uninteresting to relate to your readers, the various steps by which the fraud of a poisonous adulteration of cheese was traced to its source.

"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 anotta 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 circumstance 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 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 cholic 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 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 anotta of a mercantile traveller, who had supplied him and his neighbours for years with that commodity, without giving occasion to a single complaint. On subsequent inquiries, through a circuitous channel, unnecessary to be detailed here at length, on the part of the manufacturer of the cheese, it was found, that as the supplies of anotta had been defective and of inferior quality, recourse had been had to the expedient of colouring the commodity with vermilion. Even this admixture could not be considered deleterious. But on further application being made to the druggist who sold the article, the answer was, that the vermilion had been mixed with a portion of red lead; and the deception was held to be perfectly innocent, as frequently practised on the supposition, that the vermilion would be used only as a pigment for house-painting. Thus the druggist sold his vermilion in the regular way of trade, adulterated 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 anotta, presuming that the vermilion was genuine, had no hesitation in heightening the colour of his spurious anotta 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 successively passed."

This dangerous sophistication may be detected by macerating a portion of the suspected cheese in water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with muriatic acid; which will instantly cause the cheese to assume a brown or black colour, if the minutest portion of lead be present.

FOOTNOTES:

[103] Repository of Arts, vol. viii. No. 47, p. 262.



Counterfeit Pepper.

Black pepper is the fruit of a shrubby creeping plant, which grows wild in the East Indies, and is cultivated, with much advantage, 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.

This factitious pepper-corns have of late been detected mixed with genuine pepper, is a fact sufficiently known.[104] Such an adulteration may prove, in many instances of household economy, exceedingly vexatious 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 spurious pepper is made up of oil cakes (the residue of lintseed, from which the oil has been pressed,) common clay, and a portion of Cayenne pepper, formed in a mass, and granulated 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 suspected pepper into a bowl of water; the artificial pepper-corns fall to powder, whilst the true pepper remains whole.

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. denoting, dust (dirt) of pepper dust.

The adulteration of pepper, and the making and selling commodities in imitation of pepper, are prohibited, under a severe penalty. The following are the words of the Act:[105]

"And whereas commodities made in imitation of pepper have of late been sold and found in the possession of various dealers 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 the 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 same in his, her, or their custody or possession, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds."

WHITE PEPPER.

The common white pepper is factitious, being prepared from the black pepper in the following manner:—The pepper is first steeped in sea water and urine, and then 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 the 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[104] Thomson's Annals of Chemistry, 1816; also Repository of Arts, vol. i. 1816, p. 11.

[105] George III. c. 53, Sec. 21, 1819.



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-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 it 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 acid, and the solution assayed for lead by water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen.



Poisonous Pickles.

Vegetable substances, preserved in the state called pickles, by means of the antiseptic 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 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 formulae laid down in some modern cookery books, such as boiling the pickles with half-pence, or suffering them to stand for a considerable period in brazen vessels.

Dr. Percival[106] 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 pickles, death relieved her from her suffering."

Among many recipes which modern authors 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.[107]—"Boil the vinegar in a bell-metal or copper pot; pour it boiling hot on your cucumbers."

"To make greening.[108]—"Take a bit of verdigris, the bigness of a hazel-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 it stand till clear. Put a small tea-spoonful into codlings, or whatever you wish to green."

Mrs. E. Raffald[109] 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[106] Medical Transactions, vol. iv. p. 80.

[107] The Ladies' Library, vol. ii. p. 203.

[108] Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife—2d edition, p. 94.

[109] The English Housekeeper, p. 352, 354.



Adulteration of Vinegar.

Vinegar, as prepared in this country, from malt, should be of a pale brown colour, 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 exposure 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.

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 barytes, a white precipitate is formed, which is insoluble in nitric acid, after having been made red-hot in the fire. (See p. 159.) 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 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 69. 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 unpalatable, 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 perfectly cold, is mixed up with the cream. From 220 to 260 grains, (or three large tea-spoonfuls) 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 tea-spoonful of the sophisticated cream a few drops of a solution of iodine in spirit of wine, which instantly produces with it a dark blue colour. Genuine cream acquires, by the addition of this test, a faint yellow tinge.



Poisonous Confectionery.

In the preparation of sugar plums, comfits, and other kinds of confectionery, especially those sweetmeats of inferior quality, frequently exposed to sale in the open streets, for the allurement of children, the grossest abuses are committed. The white comfits, called sugar pease, are chiefly composed of a mixture of sugar, starch, and Cornish clay (a species of very white pipe-clay;) and the red sugar drops are usually coloured with the inferior kind of vermilion. The pigment is generally adulterated with red lead. Other kinds of sweetmeats are sometimes rendered poisonous by being coloured with preparations of copper. The following account of Mr. Miles[110] may be advanced in proof of this statement.

"Some time ago, while residing in the house of a confectioner, I noticed the colouring of the green fancy sweetmeats being done by dissolving sap-green in brandy. Now sap-green itself, as prepared from the juice of the buckthorn berries, is no doubt a harmless substance; but the manufacturers of this colour have for many years past produced various tints, some extremely bright, which there can be no doubt are effected by adding preparations of copper.

"The sweetmeats which accompany these lines you will find exhibit vestiges of being contaminated with copper.—The practice of colouring these articles of confectionery should, therefore, be banished: the proprietors of which are not aware of the deleterious quality of the substances employed by them."

The foreign conserves, such as small green limes, citrons, hop-tops, plums, angelica roots, &c. imported into this country, and usually sold in round chip boxes, are frequently impregnated with copper.

The adulteration of confitures by means of clay, may be detected by simply dissolving the comfits in a large quantity of boiling water. The clay, after suffering the mixture to stand undisturbed for a few days, will fall to the bottom of the vessel; and on decanting the clear fluid, and suffering the sediment to become dry gradually, it may be obtained in a separate state. If the adulteration has been effected by means of clay, the obtained precipitate, on exposure to a red heat in the bowl of a common tobacco-pipe, acquires a brick hardness.

The presence of copper may be detected by pouring over the comfits liquid ammonia, which speedily acquires a blue colour, if this metal be present. The presence of lead is rendered obvious by water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with muriatic acid (see p. 69,) which assumes a dark brown or black colour, if lead be present.

FOOTNOTES:

[110] Philosoph. Mag. No. 258, vol. 54. 1819, p. 317.



Poisonous Catsup.

This article is very often subjected to one of the most reprehensible modes of adulteration ever devised. Quantities are daily to be met with, which, on a chemical examination, are found to abound with copper. Indeed, this condiment is often nothing else than the residue left behind after the process employed for obtaining distilled vinegar, subsequently diluted with a decoction of the outer green husk of the walnut, and seasoned with all-spice, Cayenne pepper, pimento, onions, and common salt.

The quantity of copper which we have, more than once, detected in this sauce, used for seasoning, and which, on account of its cheapness, is much resorted to by people in the lower walks of life, has exceeded the proportion of lead to be met with in other articles employed in domestic economy.

The following account of Mr. Lewis[111] on this subject, will be sufficient to cause the public to be on their guard.

"Being in the habit of frequently purchasing large quantities of pickles and other culinary sauces, for the use of my establishment, and also for foreign trade, it fell lately to my lot to purchase from a manufacturer of those commodities a quantity of walnut catsup, apparently of an excellent quality; but, to my great surprise, I had reason to believe that the article might be contaminated with some deleterious substance, from circumstances which happened in my business as a tavern keeper, but which are unnecessary to be detailed here; and it was this that induced me to make inquiry concerning the compounding of the suspected articles.

"The catsup being prepared by boiling in a copper, as is usually practised, the outer green shell of walnuts, after having been suffered to turn black on exposure to air, in combination with common salt, with a portion of pimento and pepper-dust, in common vinegar, strengthened with some vinegar extract, left behind as residue in the still of vinegar manufacturers; I therefore suspected that the catsup might be impregnated with some copper. To convince myself of this opinion. I boiled down to dryness a quart of it in a stone pipkin, which yielded to me a dark brown mass. I put this mass into a crucible, and kept it in a coal fire, red-hot, till it became reduced to a porous black charcoal; on urging the heat with a pair of bellows, and stirring the mass in the crucible with the stem of a tobacco-pipe, it became, after two hours' exposure to an intense heat, converted into a greyish-white ash; but no metal could be discriminated amongst it. I now poured upon it some aqua fortis, which dissolved nearly the whole of it, with an effervescence; and produced, after having been suffered to stand, to let the insoluble portion subside, a bright grass-green solution, of a strong metallic taste; after immersing into this solution the blade of a knife, it became instantly covered with a bright coat of copper.

"The walnut catsup was therefore evidently strongly impregnated with copper. On informing the manufacturer of this fact, he assured me that the same method of preparing the liquor was generally pursued, and that he had manufactured the article in a like manner for upwards of twenty years.

"Such is the statement I wish to communicate; and if you will allow it a place in your Literary Chronicle, it may perhaps tend to put the unwary on their guard against the practice of preparing this sauce by boiling it in a copper, which certainly may contaminate the liquor, and render it poisonous."

FOOTNOTES:

[111] Literary Chronicle, No. 24, p. 379.



Poisonous Custard.

The leaves of the cherry laurel, prunus lauro-cerasus, a poisonous plant, have a nutty flavour, resembling that of the kernels of peach-stones, or of bitter almonds, which to most palates is grateful. These leaves have for many years been in use among cooks, to communicate an almond or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams, blanc-mange, and other delicacies of the table.

It has been asserted, that the laurel poison in custards and other articles of cookery is, on account of its being used in very small quantities, quite harmless. To refute this assertion, numerous instances might be cited; and, among them, a recent one, in which four children suffered most severely from partaking of custard flavoured with the leaves of this poisonous plant.

"Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Richmond, having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves of the cherry laurel, as is frequently practised by cooks, four of the poor innocents were taken severely ill in consequence. Two of them, a girl six years of age, and a boy of five years old, fell into a profound sleep, out of which they could not be roused.

"Notwithstanding the various medical exertions used, the boy remained in a stupor ten hours; and the girl nine hours; the other two, one of which was six years old, a girl, and a girl of seven years, complained of severe pains in the epigastric region. They all recovered, after three days' illness. I am anxious to communicate to you this fact, being convinced that your publication is read at all the scholastic establishments in this part of the country. I hope you will allow these lines a corner in your Literary Chronicle, where they may contribute to put the unwary on their guard, against the deleterious effects of flavouring culinary dishes with that baneful herb, the Cherry Laurel.

"I am, with respect, your's, Sir, "THOMAS LIDIARD."[112]

What person of sense or prudence, then, would trust to the discretion of an ignorant cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingredient in his puddings and creams? Who but a maniac would choose to season his victuals with poison?

The water distilled from cherry laurel leaves is frequently mixed with brandy and other spiritous liquors, to impart to them the flavour of the cordial called noyeau, (see also page 195.)

This fluid, though long in frequent use as a flavouring substance, was not known to be poisonous until the year 1728; when the sudden death of two women, in Dublin, after drinking some of the common distilled cherry laurel water, demonstrated its deleterious nature.

FOOTNOTES:

[112] Literary Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348.—1819.



Poisonous Anchovy Sauce.

Several samples which we have examined of this fish sauce have been found contaminated with lead.

The mode of preparation of this fish sauce, consists in rubbing down the broken anchovy in a mortar: and this triturated mass, being of a dark brown colour, receives, without much risk of detection, a certain quantity of Venetian red, added for the purpose of colouring it, which, if genuine, is an innocent colouring substance; but instances have occurred of this pigment having been adulterated with orange lead, which is nothing else than a better kind of minium, or red oxide of lead. The fraud may be detected, as stated p. 229.

The conscientious oilmen, less anxious with respect to colour, substitute for this poison the more harmless pigment, called Armenian bole.

The following recipe for making this fish sauce is copied from Gray's Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, p. 241.

"Anchovies, 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. and a half; pulp through a fine hair sieve; boil the bones with common salt, 7 oz. in water 6 lbs.; strain; add flour 7 oz. and the pulp of the fish; boil; pass the whole through the sieve; colour with Venetian red to your fancy. It should produce one gallon."



Adulteration of Lozenges.

Lozenges, particularly those into the composition of which substances enter that are not soluble in water, as ginger, cremor tartar, magnesia, &c., are often sophisticated. The adulterating ingredient is usually pipe-clay, of which a liberal portion is substituted for sugar. The following detection of this fraud was lately made by Dr. T. Lloyd.[113]

"Some ginger lozenges having lately fallen into my hands, I was not a little surprised to observe, accidentally, that when thrown into a coal fire, they suffered but little change. If one of the lozenges was laid on a shovel, previously made red-hot, it speedily took fire; but, instead of burning with a blaze and becoming converted into a charcoal, it took fire, and burnt with a feeble flame for scarcely half a minute, and there remained behind a stony hard substance, retaining the form of the lozenge. This unexpected result led me to examine these lozenges, which were bought at a respectable chemist's shop in the city; and I soon became convinced, that, in the preparation of them, a considerable quantity of common pipe-clay had been substituted for sugar. On making a complaint about this fraud at the shop where the article was sold, I was informed that there were two kinds of ginger lozenges kept for sale, the one at three-pence the ounce, and the other at six-pence per ounce; and that the article furnished to me by mistake was the cheaper commodity: the latter were distinguished by the epithet verum, they being composed of sugar and ginger only; but the former were manufactured partly of white Cornish clay, with a portion of sugar only, with ginger and Guinea pepper. I was likewise informed, that of Tolu lozenges, peppermint lozenges and ginger pearls, and several other sorts of lozenges, two kinds were kept; that the reduced articles, as they were called, were manufactured for those very clever persons in their own conceit, who are fond of haggling, and insist on buying better bargains than other people, shutting their eyes to the defects of an article, so that they can enjoy the delight of getting it cheap; and, secondly for those persons, who being but bad paymasters, yet, as the manufacturer, for his own credit's sake, cannot charge more than the usual price of the articles, he thinks himself therefore authorised to adulterate it in value, to make up for the risk he runs, and the long credit he must give."

The comfits called ginger pearls, are frequently adulterated with clay. These frauds may be detected in the manner stated, page 225.

FOOTNOTES:

[113] Literary Gazette, No. 146.



Poisonous Olive Oil.

This commodity is sometimes contaminated with lead, because the fruit which yields the oil is submitted to the action of the press between leaden plates; and it is, moreover, a practice (particularly in Spain) to suffer the oil to become clear in leaden cisterns, before it is brought to market for sale. The French and Italian olive oil is usually free from this impregnation.

Olive oil is sometimes mixed with oil of poppy seeds: but, by exposing the mixture to the freezing temperature, the olive oil freezes, while that of the poppy seeds remains fluid; and as oils which freeze with most difficulty are most apt to become rancid, olive oil is deteriorated by the mixture of poppy oil.

Good olive oil should have a pale yellow colour, somewhat inclining to green; a bland taste, without smell; and should congeal at 38 deg. Fahrenheit. In this country, it is frequently met with rancid.

The presence of lead is detected by shaking, in a stopped vial, one part of the suspected oil, with two or three parts of water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. This agent will render the oil of a dark brown or black colour, if any metal, deleterious to health, be present. The practice of keeping this oil in pewter or leaden cisterns, as is often the case, is objectionable; because the oil acts upon the metal. The dealers in this commodity assert, that it prevents the oil from becoming rancid: and hence some retailers often suffer a pewter measure to remain immersed in the oil.



Adulteration of Mustard.

Genuine mustard, either in powder, or in the state of a paste ready for use, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops. The article sold under the name of genuine Durham mustard, is usually a mixture of mustard and common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cayenne pepper, and a large quantity of bay salt, made with water into a paste, ready for use. Some manufacturers adulterate their mustard with radish-seed and pease flour.

It has often been stated, that a fine yellow colour is given to mustard by means of turmeric. We doubt the truth of this assertion. The presence of the minutest quantity of turmeric may instantly be detected, by adding to the mustard a few drops of a solution of potash, or any other alkali, which changes the bright yellow colour, to a brown or deep orange tint.

Two ounces and a half of Cayenne pepper, 1-1/2 lbs. of bay salt, 8 lbs. of mustard flour, and 1-1/2 lbs. of wheaten flour, made into a stiff paste, with the requisite quantity of water, in which the bay-salt is previously dissolved, forms the so-called genuine Durham mustard, sold in pots. The salt and Cayenne pepper contribute materially to the keeping of ready-made mustard.

There is therefore nothing deleterious in the usual practice of adulterating this commodity of the table. The fraud only tends to deteriorate the quality and flavour of the genuine article itself.



Adulteration of Lemon Acid.

It is well known to every one, that the expressed juice of lemons is extremely apt to spoil, on account of the sugar, mucilage, and extractive matter which it contains; and hence various means have been practised, with the intention of rendering it less perishable, and less bulky. The juice has been evaporated to the consistence of rob; but this always gives an unpleasant empyreumatic taste, and does not separate the foreign matters, so that it is still apt to spoil when agitated on board of ship in tropical climates. It has been exposed to frost, and part of the water removed under the form of ice; but this is liable to all the former objections; and, besides, where lemons are produced in sufficient quantity, there is not a sufficient degree of cold. The addition of a portion of spirit to the inspissated juice, separates the mucilage, but not the extractive matter and the sugar. By means, however, of separating the foreign matters associated with it, in the juice, by chemical processes unnecessary to be detailed here, citric acid is now manufactured, perfectly pure, and in a crystallised form, and is sold under the name of concrete lemon acid. In this state it is extremely convenient, both for domestic and medicinal purposes. One drachm, when dissolved in one ounce of water, is equal in strength to a like bulk of fresh lemon juice. To communicate the lemon flavour, it is only necessary to rub a lump of sugar on the rind of a lemon to become impregnated with a portion of the essential oil of the fruit, and to add the sugar to the lemonade, negus, punch, shrub, jellies or culinary sauces, prepared with the pure citric acid.

Fraudulent dealers often substitute the cheaper tartareous acid, for citric acid. The negus and lemonade made by the pastry-cooks, and the liquor called punch, sold at taverns in this metropolis, is usually made with tartareous acid.

To discriminate citric acid from tartareous acid, it is only necessary to add a concentrated solution of the suspected acid, to a concentrated solution of muriate of potash, taking care that the solution of the acid is in excess. If a precipitate ensues, the fraud is obvious, because citric acid does not produce a precipitate with a solution of muriate or potash.

Or, by adding to a saturated solution of tartrate of potash, a saturated solution of the suspected acid, in excess, which produces with it an almost insoluble precipitate in minute granular crystals. Pure citric acid produces no such effect when added in excess to tartrate of potash.



Poisonous Mushrooms.

Mushrooms have been long used in sauces and other culinary preparations; yet there are numerous instances on record of the deleterious effects of some species of these fungi, almost all of which are fraught with poison.[114] Pliny already exclaims against the luxury of his countrymen in this article, and wonders what extraordinary pleasure there can be in eating such dangerous food.[115]

But if the palate must be indulged with these treacherous luxuries, or, as Seneca calls them, "voluptuous poison,"[116] it is highly necessary that the mild eatable mushrooms, should be gathered by persons skilful enough to distinguish the good from the false, or poisonous, which is not always the case; nor are the characters which distinguish them strongly marked.

The following statement is published by Mr. Glen, surgeon, of Knightsbridge:

"A poor man, residing in Knightsbridge, took a walk in Hyde Park, with the intention of gathering some mushrooms. He collected a considerable number, and, after stewing them, began to eat them. He had finished the whole, with the exception of about six or eight, when, about eight or ten minutes from the commencement of his meal, he was suddenly seized with a dimness, or mist before his eyes, a giddiness of the head, with a general trembling and sudden loss of power;—so much so, that he nearly fell off the chair; to this succeeded loss of recollection: he forgot where he was, and all the circumstances of his case. This deprivation soon went off, and he so far rallied as to be able, though with difficulty, to get up, with the intention of going to Mr. Glen for assistance—a distance of about five hundred yards: he had not proceeded more than half way, when his memory again failed him; he lost his road, although previously well acquainted with it. He was met by a friend, who with difficulty learned his state, and conducted him to Mr. Glen's house. His countenance betrayed great anxiety: he reeled about, like a drunken man, and was greatly inclined to sleep; his pulse was low and feeble. Mr. Glen immediately gave him an emetic draught. The poison had so diminished the sensibility of the stomach, that vomiting did not take place for near twenty minutes, although another draught had been exhibited. During this interval his drowsiness increased to such a degree, that he was only kept awake by obliging him to walk round the room with assistance; he also, at this time, complained of distressing pains in the calves of his legs.—Full vomiting was at length produced. After the operation of the emetic, he expressed himself generally better, but still continued drowsy. In the evening Mr. Glen found him doing well."

The following case is recorded in the Medical Transactions, vol. ii.

"A middle-aged man having gathered what he called champignons, they were stewed, and eaten by himself and his wife; their child also, about four years old, ate a little of them, and the sippets of bread which were put into the liquor. Within five minutes after eating them, the man began to stare in an unusual manner, and was unable to shut his eyes. All objects appeared to him coloured with a variety of colours. He felt a palpitation in what he called his stomach; and was so giddy, that he could hardly stand. He seemed to himself swelled all over his body. He hardly knew what he did or said; and sometimes was unable to speak at all. These symptoms continued in a greater or less degree for twenty-four hours; after which, he felt little or no disorder. Soon after he perceived himself ill, one scruple of white vitriol was given him, and repeated two or three times, with which he vomited plentifully.

"The woman, aged thirty-nine, felt all the same symptoms, but in a higher degree. She totally lost her voice and her senses, and was either stupid, or so furious that it was necessary she should be held. The white vitriol was offered to her, of which she was capable of taking but very little; however, after four or five hours, she was much recovered: but she continued many days far from being well, and from enjoying her former health and strength. She frequently fainted for the first week after; and there was, during a month longer, an uneasy sense of heat and weight in her breast, stomach, and bowels, with great flatulence. Her head was, at first waking, much confused; and she often experienced palpitations, tremblings, and other hysteric affections, to all which she had ever before been a stranger.

"The child had some convulsive agitations of his arms, but was otherwise little affected. He was capable of taking half a scruple of ipecacuanha, with which he vomited, and was soon perfectly recovered."

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

The edible mushroom is the basis of the sauce called mushroom catsup; a great proportion of which is prepared by gardeners who grow the fungi. The mushrooms employed for preparing this sauce are generally those which are in a putrefactive state, and not having found a ready sale in the market; for no vegetable substance is liable to so rapid a spontaneous decomposition as mushrooms. In a few days after the fungus has been removed from the dung-bed on which it grows, it becomes the habitation of myriads of insects; and, if even the saleable mushroom be attentively examined, it will frequently be found to swarm with life.

FOOTNOTES:

[114] Fungi plerique veneno turgent. Linn. Amaen. Acad.

[115] Quae voluptas tanta ancipitis cibi?—Plin. Nat. Hist. xxii. 23.

[116] Sen. Ep. 95.



Poisonous Soda Water.

The beverage called soda water is frequently contaminated both with copper and lead; these metals being largely employed in the construction of the apparatus for preparing the carbonated water,[117] and the great excess of carbonic acid which the water contains, particularly enables it to act strongly on the metallic substances of the apparatus; a truth, of which the reader will find no difficulty in convincing himself, by suffering a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas to pass through the water.—See p. 70.

FOOTNOTES:

[117] Some manufacturers have been hence induced to construct the apparatus for manufacturing soda water wholly either of earthenware or of glass. Mr. Johnston, of Greek Street, Soho, was the first who pointed out to the public the absolute necessity of this precaution.



Food poisoned by Copper Vessels.

Many kinds of viands are frequently impregnated with copper, in consequence of the employment of cooking utensils made of that metal. By the use of such vessels in dressing food, we are daily liable to be poisoned; as almost all acid vegetables, as well as sebaceous or pinguid substances, employed in culinary preparations, act upon copper, and dissolve a portion of it; and too many examples are met with of fatal consequences having ensued from eating food which had been dressed in copper vessels not well cleaned from the oxide of copper which they had contracted by being exposed to the action of air and moisture.

The inexcusable negligence of persons who make use of copper vessels has been productive of mortality, so much more terrible, as they have exerted their action on a great number of persons at once. The annals of medicine furnish too many examples in support of this assertion, to render it necessary to insist more upon it here.

Mr. Thiery, who wrote a thesis on the noxious quality of copper, observes, that "our food receives its quantity of poison in the kitchen by the use of copper pans and dishes. The brewer mingles poison in our beer, by boiling it in copper vessels. The sugar-baker employs copper pans; the pastry-cook bakes our tarts in copper moulds; the confectioner uses copper vessels: the oilman boils his pickles in copper or brass vessels, and verdigris is plentifully formed by the action of the vinegar upon the metal.

"Though, after all, a single dose be not mortal, yet a quantity of poison, however small, when taken at every meal, must produce more fatal effects than are generally apprehended; and different constitutions are differently affected by minute quantities of substances that act powerfully on the system."

The author of a tract, entitled, "Serious Reflections on the Dangers attending the Use of Copper Vessels," asserts that a numerous and frightful train of diseases is occasioned by the poisonous effects of pernicious matter received into the stomach insensibly with our victuals.

Dr. Johnston[118] gives an account of the melancholy catastrophe of three men being poisoned, after excruciating sufferings, in consequence of eating food cooked in an unclean copper vessel, on board the Cyclops frigate; and, besides these, thirty-three men became ill from the same cause.

The following case[119] is related by Sir George Baker, M. D.

"Some cyder, which had been made in a gentleman's family, being thought too sour, was boiled with honey in a brewing vessel, the rim of which was capped with lead. All who drank this liquor were seized with a bowel colic, more or less violently. One of the servants died very soon in convulsions; several others were cruelly tortured a long time. The master of the family, in particular, notwithstanding all the assistance which art could give him, never recovered his health; but died miserably, after having almost three years languished under a most tedious and incurable malady."

Too much care and attention cannot be taken in preserving all culinary utensils of copper, in a state unexceptionably fit for their destined purpose. They should be frequently tinned, and kept thoroughly clean, nor should any food ever be suffered to remain in them for a longer time than is absolutely necessary to their preparation for the table. But the sure preventive of its pernicious effect, is, to banish copper utensils from the kitchen altogether.

The following wholesome advice on this subject is given to cooks by the author of an excellent cookery book.[120]

"Stew-pans and soup-kettles should be examined every time they are used; these, and their covers, must be kept perfectly clean and well tinned, not only on the inside, but about a couple of inches on the outside; so much mischief arises from their getting out of repair; and, if not kept nicely tinned, all your work will be in vain; the broths and soups will look green and dirty, and taste bitter and poisonous, and will be spoiled both for the eye and palate, and your credit will be lost; and as the health, and even the life, of the family depends upon this; the cook may be sure her employer had rather pay the tin-man's bill than the doctor's."

The senate of Sweden, in the year 1753, prohibited copper vessels, and ordered that none but such as were made of iron should be used in their fleet and armies.

FOOTNOTES:

[118] Johnston's Essay on Poison, p. 102.

[119] Medical Transactions, vol. i. p. 213.

[120] Apicius Redivivus, p. 91.



Food Poisoned by Leaden Vessels.

Various kinds of food used in domestic economy, are liable to become impregnated with lead.

The glazing of the common cream-coloured earthen ware, which is composed of an oxide of lead, readily yields to the action of vinegar and saline compounds; and therefore jars and pots of this kind of stone ware, are wholly unfit to contain jellies of fruits, marmalade, and similar conserves. Pickles should in no case be deposited in cream-coloured glazed earthenware.

The custom which still prevails in some parts of this country of keeping milk in leaden vessels for the use of the dairy, is very improper.

"In Lancashire[121] the dairies are furnished with milk-pans made of lead: and when Mr. Parks expostulated with some individuals on the danger of this practice, he was told that leaden milk-pans throw up the cream much better than vessels of any other kind.

"In some parts of the north of England it is customary for the inn-keepers to prepare mint-salad by bruising and grinding the vegetable in a large wooden bowl with a ball of lead of twelve or fourteen pounds weight. In this operation the mint is cut, and portions of the lead are ground off at every revolution of the ponderous instrument. In the same county, it is a common practice to have brewing-coppers constructed with the bottom of copper and the whole sides of lead."

The baking of fruit tarts in cream-coloured earthenware, and the salting and preserving of meat in leaden pans, are no less objectionable. All kinds of food which contain free vegetable acids, or saline preparations, attack utensils covered with a glaze, in the composition of which lead enters as a component part. The leaden beds of presses for squeezing the fruit in cyder countries, have produced incalculable mischief. These consequences never follow, when the lead is combined with tin; because this metal, being more eager for oxidation, prevents the solution of the lead.

When we consider the various unsuspected means by which the poisons of lead and copper gain admittance into the human body, a very common but dangerous instance presents itself: namely, the practice of painting toys, made for the amusement of children, with poisonous substances, viz. red lead, verdigris, &c. Children are apt to put every thing, especially what gives them pleasure, into their mouths; the painting of toys with colouring substances that are poisonous, ought therefore to be abolished; a practice which lies the more open to censure, as it is of no real utility.

FOOTNOTES:

[121] Park's Chemical Essays, vol. v. p. 193.



INDEX.

A

Adulteration of anchovy sauce, 234 beer, 113 brandy, 187 bread, 98 catsup, 227 cayenne pepper, 215 cheese, 206 coffee, 176 confectionery, 224 cream, 222 custard, 231 gin, 187 lemon acid, 243 lozenges, 236 malt spirits, 197 mustard, 241 olive oil, 239 pepper, 211 pickles, 217 porter, 113 rum, 187 soda water, 251 tea, black, 173 green, 173 vinegar, 173 distilled, 221 wine, 74

Age of beer, how fraudulently imitated, 148

Alcohol, quantity contained in different kinds of wine, 94 malt liquors, 126 spiritous liquors, 205

Ale, Burton, quantity of spirit which it contains, 162 Dorchester, ditto ditto, 162 Edinburgh, ditto ditto, 162 Home-brewed ditto ditto, 162

Alum, bleaching property in the panification of bread flour, 104 method of detecting it in bread, 108 for brightening muddy wines, 74 clarifying spiritous liquors, 200 adulterating beer, 134

Arrack, imitation of, 196 Batavia, quantity of alcohol contained in it, 205

Arrow root, sophistication of, 29

B

Bakers, their methods of judging of the goodness of bread flour, 111

Beer, adulteration of, 113 act prohibiting it, 114 method of detecting it, 158 with narcotic substances, 150 with opium, tobacco, &c., 150 colouring of, act prohibiting it, 123 heading, composition and use of, 134 hard, what is meant by it, 148 fraudulent method of producing it, 148 half-spoiled, fraudulent practice of recovering it, 149 illegal substances used for adulterating it, 131 old, what is meant by it, 144 quantity of spirit contained in different kinds, 160 strong, adulteration of with small beer, 140 act prohibiting it, 140 how defined by law, 128 strength of different kinds, 125

Bilberries, employed for colouring port wine, 74

Bittern, for adulterating beer, 18

Black Extract, for adulterating beer, 150

Bland, Mr. tragical catastrophe of, 81

Bouquet of high-flavoured wines, how produced, 75

Brandy, adulteration of, 187 and method of detecting it, 195 complexion of, what is meant by it, 195

Brandy flavour of, how imitated, 193 imitative, manufacture of, 194 method of compounding for retail trade, 195 quantity contained in different sorts of wine, 94 of alcohol contained in different kinds of, 205 legal strength, 190 how discovered by the Excise, 188 false strength, 195 flavour, imitative, how produced, 193