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 University of California Berkeley 
 
 The Joseph M. Bransten 
 Coffee and Tea Collection 
 
A TREATISE ' / 
 
 OJT 
 
 ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD, 
 
 AND 
 
 UotoonOt 
 
 EXHIBITING 
 
 FRAUDULENT SOPHISTICATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 BREAD, BEER, WINE, SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS, TEA, COFFEE, 
 
 Cream, Confectionery, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, 
 AND OTHER ARTICLES EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMV. 
 
 of tretetting tfjenu 
 
 ERE IS 
 
 DEATH 
 
 IN THE 
 Kin6s C . IVTT. 
 
 77/E SECOND EDITION. 
 BY FREDRICK ACCUM, 
 
 Operative Chemist, Lecturer on Practical Chemistry, Mineralogy, and on Chemistry 
 
 applied to the Arts and Manufactures ; Member of the Royal Irish Academy ; 
 
 Fellow of the Linnaean Society; Member of the Royal Academy of 
 
 Sciences, and of the Royal Society of Arts of Berlin, &c. &c. 
 
 31 outs on : 
 
 OLD BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND 'BROWN, 
 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1820. 
 
TO 
 
 HIS GRACE 
 THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 
 
 MY LORD DUKE, 
 
 The interest your Grace takes-on 
 all occasions in promoting the application 
 of Chemical Philosophy to the useful pur- 
 poses of life, has emboldened me to lay 
 before you the present Treatise, which ori- 
 ginated in a suggestion of your Grace, 
 while cultivating the study of Experimental 
 Chemistry in my Laboratory., 
 
 Be pleased, My Lord Duke, to 
 accept this public testimony of profound 
 
11 DEDICATION. 
 
 respect and veneration for your Grace's 
 exalted moral virtues and high intellectual 
 endowments. 
 
 That your Grace may retain 9 
 through a long and happy life, the ardent 
 attachment to the pursuits of Philosophical 
 Chemistry, which has so greatly endeared 
 your renowned name to the votaries of that 
 important and useful branch of knowledge ^ 
 is the sincere wish oj} 
 
 MY LORD DUKE, 
 Your Grace's most devoted, 
 Humble Servant, 
 FREDRICK 
 
 Old Compton Street, Soho. 
 
 January the 19th, 
 
 1820. 
 
preface 
 
 TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 Old Compton Street, Sola. 
 
 THIS Treatise, as its title expresses, is intended 
 to exhibit easy methods of detecting the fraudu- 
 lent adulterations of food, and of other arti- 
 cles, classed either among the necessaries or 
 luxuries of the table ; and to put the unwary on 
 their guard against the use of such commodities 
 as are contaminated with substances deleterious 
 to health. 
 
 Every person is aware that bread, beer, wine, 
 
lr PREFACE. 
 
 and other substances employed in domestic econo- 
 my, are frequently met with in an adulterated 
 state : and the late convictions of numerous in- 
 dividuals for counterfeiting and adulterating tea, 
 coffee, bread, beer, pepper, and other articles of 
 diet, are still fresh in the memory of the public. 
 
 To such perfection of ingenuity has the system 
 of counterfeiting and adulterating various com- 
 modities of life arrived in this country, that spu- 
 rious articles are every where to be found in the 
 market, made up so skilfully, as to elude the dis- 
 crimination of the most experienced judges. 
 
 But of all possible nefarious traffic and decep- 
 tion, practised by mercenary dealers, that of adul- 
 terating the articles intended for human food with 
 ingredients deleterious to health, is the most cri- 
 minal, and, in the mind of every honet man, must 
 excite feelings of regret and disgust. Numerous 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 facts are on record, of human food, contaminated 
 with poisonous ingredients, having been vended 
 to the public ; and the annals of medicine record 
 tragical events ensuing from the use of such 
 food. 
 
 The eagar and insatiable thirst for gain, is proof 
 against prohibitions and penalties ; and the pos- 
 sible sacrifice of a fellow-creature's life, is a 
 secondary consideration among unprincipled 
 dealers. 
 
 However invidious the office may appear, and 
 however painful the duty may be of exposing 
 the names of individuals, who have been con- 
 victed of adulterating food ; yet it was necessary, 
 for the verification of my statement, that cases 
 should be adduced in their support : and I have 
 carefully avoided citing any, except those which 
 are authenticated in Parliamentary documents 
 and other public records. 
 
Tl PREFACE* 
 
 To render this Treatise still more useful, I 
 have also animadverted on certain material errors, 
 sometimes unconsciously committed through ac- 
 cident or ignorance, in private families, during 
 the preparation of various articles of food, and of 
 delicacies for the table. 
 
 In stating the experimental proceedings neces- 
 ary for the detection of the frauds which it has 
 been my object to expose, I have confined myself 
 to the task of pointing out such operations only 
 as may be performed by persons unacquainted 
 with chemical science; and it has been my 
 purpose to express all necessary rules and instruc- 
 tions in the plainest language, divested of those 
 recondite terms of science, which would be out 
 of place in a work intended for general peru- 
 sal. 
 
 The design of the Treatise will be fully an- 
 swered, if the views here given should induce a 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 single reader to pursue the object for which it 
 is published ; or if it should tend to impress on 
 the mind of the Public the magnitude of an evil, 
 which, in many cases, prevails to an extent so 
 alarming, that we may exclaim, with the sons of 
 the Prophet, 
 
 " TO&m to Heat?) m t&* pot/' 
 
 For the abolition of such nefarious practices, it 
 is the interest of all classes of the community to 
 co-operate. 
 
 FREDRICK ACCUM. 
 
 LONDON, 
 1820. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO 
 
 ISttitfoiu 
 
 THE sale of one thousand copies of the 
 Treatise on the Adulterations of Food, within 
 one month after its publication, has been a 
 sufficient inducement to reprint the work. 
 
 Several additions have been made to 
 the edition now presented to the reader; 
 among which will be noticed, the adultera- 
 tion of milk of cinnamon of isinglass of 
 Spanish liquorice juice, and of several other 
 articles employed in housekeeping, with the 
 A 5 
 
X ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 methods of detecting the frauds. Some 
 animadversions have also been made on the 
 disgusting practice of inflating butchers' 
 meat and fish ; and on the frauds committed 
 in the coal trade. 
 
 I embrace this opportunity of offering my 
 public expression of thanks for the flattering 
 compliments which I have received from 
 numerous individuals of high rank and dig- 
 nified station, and from other distinguished 
 persons, whose opinion and judgment I re- 
 spect. To those who have chosen anony- 
 mously to transmit to me their opinion 
 concerning this book, together with their 
 maledictions, I have little to say ; but they 
 may rest assured, that their menaces will 
 in no way prevent me from endeavour- 
 ing to put the unwary on their guard against 
 Ihe frauds of dishonest men, wherever they 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. XI 
 
 may originate ; and those assailants in am- 
 bush are hereby informed, that, in every 
 succeeding edition of the work, I shall con- 
 tinue to hand down to posterity the infamy 
 which justly attaches to the knaves and 
 dishonest dealers, who have been convicted 
 at the bar of Public Justice of rendering 
 human food deleterious to health. 
 
 FREDRICK ACCUM, 
 
 Compton-streetj Soho, 
 April 1820. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON 
 THE ADULTERATIONS OF 
 FOOD 1 
 
 ADULTERATIONS OF DRUGS 
 AND MEDICINES, and method 
 of detecting them 15 
 
 Adulteration of Peruvian Bark .... 16 
 Adulteration of Rhubard Powder, 
 
 Ipecacuanha, $c 17 
 
 Adulteration of Spirit of Hartshorn, 
 
 and method of detecting it 19 
 
 Adulteration of Magnesia, and me* 
 thod of detecting it 20 
 
 Adulteration of Calcined Magnesia, 
 and method of detecting it 21 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Adulteration of Calomel, and method 
 of detecting it , 22 
 
 Adulteration of Syrup of Buckthorn, 
 Worm-Seed, and Arrow Root Pow- 
 der ib. 
 
 Adulteration of Essential Oils, and 
 methods of detecting it 2 
 
 ADULTERATION OF PAINTERS' 
 COLOURS, and methods of detect- 
 ing it 26 
 
 Adulteration of Ultramarine, and 
 method of detecting it 27 
 
 Adulteration of Carmine, and method 
 
 of detecting it , . ib. 
 
 Adulteration of Madder and Carmine 
 Lake, and method of detecting it .. ib. 
 
 Adulteration of Antwerp Blue, and 
 method of detecting it ib. 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Page 
 
 Adulteration of Chrome Yellow, and 
 method of detecting it ib. 
 
 Adulteration of White Lead, and 
 method of detecting it ib. 
 
 Adulteration of Vermillion, and me- 
 thod of detecting it ib. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF VARIOUS 
 ARTICLES USED IN HOUSE- 
 KEEPING 29 
 
 Adulteration of Soap, $c ib. 
 
 FRAUDS PRACTISED IN THE 
 COAL TRADE 31 
 
 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF 
 RENDERING BUTCHERS' 
 MEAT, FISH, AND POULTRY, 
 UNWHOLESOME 36 
 
 General Remarks on the Adultera- 
 tion of Food 41 
 
XVI CONTENTS* 
 
 Page 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE PURITY 
 OF WATER EMPLOYED IN 
 DOMESTIC ECONOMY 43 
 
 Characters of Good Water 49 
 
 Easy method of curing Hard Water 5"2 
 Chemical Constitution of the Waters 
 used in Domestic Econony and the 
 
 Arts 53 
 
 Rain Water ib. 
 
 Snow Water.. 54 
 
 Spring Water , , 56 
 
 River Water 60 
 
 Thames Water 62 
 
 Substances usually contained in Com- 
 mon Water, and Tests by which 
 
 they are detected 66 
 
 Deleterious Effects of keeping Water 
 for Domestic Economy, in Leaden 
 
 Reservoirs r% ; 74 
 
 Method of detecting Lead in Water.. 86 
 
CONTENTS. XV11 
 
 Page 
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE 92 
 
 Crusting of Wine Bottles, and other 
 nefarious Artifices committed by 
 fraudulent Wine Merchants 96 
 
 Dangerous Adulteration of Wine with 
 poisonous Substances 102 
 
 Accidental Impregnation of Wine 
 with Lead. 105 
 
 Test for detecting the deleterious 
 Adulterations of Wine 108 
 
 Method of detecting extraneous Co- 
 lours in Red Wine.... Ill 
 
 Specific Differences of various kinds 
 of foreign Wines , 113 
 
 Chemical Constitution and Component 
 Parts of Wine. 115 
 
XVJii CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Method of ascertaining the Quantity 
 of Spirit contained in various sorts 
 
 of Wine , 117 
 
 Per Cent age of Alcohol contained in 
 various kinds of Wine, and other 
 
 fermented Liquors 120 
 
 Chemical Constitution of Home-made 
 
 Wines 122 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD 125 
 
 Adulteration of Bread with Alum. , 127 
 Adulteration of Bread with Potatoes 133 
 Method of detecting the presence of 
 
 Alum in Bread. 139 
 
 Method of judging of the Goodness 
 of Breads-Corn and Bread- Flour. . 142 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER 145 
 
 Early practice of adulterating Beer 
 with Substances noxious to Health, 
 tind rapid Progress of this Fraud. 148 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Druggists and Grocers prosecuted 
 and convictedfor supplying illegal 
 Ingredients to Brewers for adulte- 
 rating Beer 158 
 
 Remarks on Porter* 161 
 
 Strength and Specific Differences of 
 different kinds of Porter 166 
 
 List of Publicans prosecuted and 
 convicted for adulterating Beer 
 with illegal Ingredients, and for 
 mixing Table Beer with their 
 Strong Beer 171 
 
 Fraudulent Practice of adulterating 
 Beer with substances not deleteri- 
 ous to health 173 
 
 Illegal Ingredients seized at various 
 Breweries and Brewers' Druggists 9 181 
 
 Adulteration of Strong Beer with 
 Small Beer.. 185 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Pagt 
 
 List of Brewers prosecuted and con- 
 victed for adulterating Strong Beer 
 with Table Beer 189 
 
 Remarks with regard to the Origin of 
 
 the Beer catted Porter , 191 
 
 Composition of Old or EntireBeer. . 194 
 Fraudulent Practice of converting 
 New Beer into Old or Entire Beer 196 
 
 Fraudulent Practice of increasing 
 the intoxicating quality of Beer... 199 
 
 Brewers prosecuted and convicted 
 for receiving and using illegal In- 
 gredients in their Brewings 201 
 
 Method of detecting the Adulteration 
 of Beer 207 
 
 Method of ascertaining the Quantity 
 of Spirit contained in Porter, Ale, 
 or other kinds of Malt Liquors.... 209 
 
CONTENTS. XXi 
 
 Per Centage of Alcohol contained in 
 Porter, Ale, and other kinds of 
 Malt Liquors 211 
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA-LEAVES ... 213 
 
 List of Grocers prosecuted and con- 
 victed for adulterating Tea 230 
 
 Method of detecting the Adultera- 
 tions of Tea-Leaves 231 
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE 238 
 
 List of Grocers prosecuted by the 
 Solicitor of the Excise and con- 
 victed for adulterating Coffee 241 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BRANDY, 
 RUM, AND GIN 249 
 
 Method of detecting the Adultera- 
 tions of Brandy, Rum, and Malt 
 Spirit 261 
 
 Method of detecting the Presence of 
 Lead in Spirituous Liquors 272 
 
XXli CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Method of ascertaining the Quantity 
 of Alcohol in different kinds of 
 Spirituous Liquors 273 
 
 Per Centage of Alcohol contained in 
 various kinds of Spirituous Liquors 275 
 
 POISONOUS CHEESE, and method 
 of detecting it 276 
 
 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER, and me- 
 thod of detecting it 284 
 
 White Pepper^ and method of manu- 
 facturing it 290 
 
 POISONOUS CAYENNE PEPPER, 
 and method of detecting it 292 
 
 POISONOUS PICKLES, and me- 
 thod of detecting them 295 
 
 ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR, 
 
 and method of detecting it.... 299 
 
 Distilled Vinegar 300 
 
CONTENTS. XXlli 
 
 Page 
 
 ADULTERATION OF CREAM, 
 
 and method of detecting it 302 
 
 POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY, 
 
 and method of detecting it 305 
 
 POISONOUS CATSUP, and method 
 of detecting it 309 
 
 ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES, 
 
 and method of detecting it 314 
 
 POISONOUS OLIVE OIL, and me- 
 thod of detecting it 318 
 
 ADULTERATION OF LEMON 
 ACID, and method of detecting it 321 
 
 POISONOUS SODA WATER, and 
 method of detecting it..... 324 
 
 POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE, 
 and method of detecting it 325 
 
 POISONOUS CUSTARD.., 328 
 
xxir CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS 332 
 
 Mushroom Catsup 338 
 
 ADULTERATION OF MILK, and 
 
 method of detecting it 340 
 
 ADULTERATION OF ISINGLASS, 
 and method of detecting it 342 
 
 ADULTERATION OF CINNAMON, 
 and method of detecting it 344 
 
 ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD 346 
 
 ADULTERATION OF SPANISH 
 LIQUORICE 548 
 
 FOOD POISONED BY COPPER 
 
 VESSELS, and method of detect- 
 ing it 350 
 
 FOOD POISONED BY LEADEN 
 
 VESSELS, <ind method of detect- 
 ing it 357 
 

 A 
 
 TREATISE 
 
 ON 
 
 ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD, 
 
 AND 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS 
 
 ox 
 THE ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD. 
 
 OF all the frauds practised by mercenary 
 dealers, there is none more reprehensible, 
 and at the same time more prevalent, than 
 the sophistication of the various articles of 
 food. 
 
 This unprincipled and nefarious practice, 
 increasing in degree as it has been found 
 
2 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 difficult of detection, is now applied to al- 
 most every commodity which can be classed 
 among either the necessaries or the luxu- 
 ries of life, and is carried on to a most 
 alarming extent in every part of the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 It has been pursued by men, who, from 
 the magnitude and apparent respectability 
 of their concerns, would be the least ob- 
 noxious to public suspicion ; and their suc- 
 cessful example has called forth, from 
 among the retail dealers, a multitude of 
 competitors in the same iniquitous course. 
 
 To such perfection of ingenuity has this 
 system of adulterating food arrived, that 
 spurious articles of various kinds are every 
 where to be found, made up so skilfully as 
 to baffle the discrimination of the most ex- 
 perienced judges 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 3 
 
 Among the number of substances used in 
 domestic economy which are now very ge- 
 nerally found sophisticated, may be dis- 
 tinguished tea, coffee, bread, beer, wine, 
 spirituous liquors, salad oil, pepper, vine- 
 gar, mustard, cream, comfitures, catsup, and 
 other articles of diet and luxury. 
 
 Indeed, it would be difficult to mention a 
 single article of food which is not to be met 
 with in an adulterated state ; and there are 
 some substances which are scarcely ever to 
 be procured genuine. 
 
 Some of these spurious compounds are 
 comparatively harmless when used as food ; 
 and as in these cases merely substances of 
 inferior value are substituted for more costly 
 and genuine ingredients, the sophistication, 
 though it may affect our purse, does not 
 injure our health. Of this kind are the ma- 
 B 2 
 
4 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 nufacture of factitious pepper, the adulter- 
 ations of mustard, vinegar, cream, &c 
 Others, however, are highly deleterious ; 
 and to this class belong the adulterations of 
 beer, wines, spirituous liquors, pickles, sa- 
 lad oil, and many others. 
 
 There are particular chemists who make 
 it a regular trade to supply drugs or nefa- 
 rious preparations to the unprincipled brewer 
 of porter and ale ; others perform the same 
 office to the wine and spirit merchant ; and 
 others again to the grocer and the oilman. 
 The operators carry on their processes 
 chiefly in secrecy, and under some delusive 
 firm, with the ostensible denotements of a 
 fair and lawful establishment. 
 
 These illicit pursuits have assumed all 
 the order and method of a regular trade ; 
 thqy may severally claim to be distinguished 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 6 
 
 as an art and mystery ; for the workmen 
 employed in them are often wholly igno- 
 rant of the nature of the substances which 
 pass through their hands, and of the pur- 
 poses to which they are ultimately applied. 
 To elude the vigilance of the inquisitive, 
 to defeat the scrutiny of the revenue officer, 
 and to ensure the secrecy of these mys- 
 teries, the processes are very ingeniously 
 divided and subdivided among individual 
 operators, and the manufacture is purposely 
 carried on in separate establishments. The 
 task of proportioning the ingredients for use 
 is assigned to one individual, while the com- 
 position and preparation of them may be 
 said to form a distinct part of the business, 
 and is entrusted to another workman. Most 
 of the articles are transmitted to the con- 
 sumer in a disguised state, or in such a form 
 
O PRELIMINARY REMARKS* 
 
 that their real nature cannot possibly be 
 detected by the unwary. Thus the poison- 
 ous extract of cocculus indicus, employed 
 by fraudulent manufacturers of malt-liquors 
 to impart an intoxicating quality to porter 
 or ale, is known in the market by the name 
 of black extract; and another poisonous 
 substance, technically called multum, com- 
 posed of extract of gentian root, liquorice 
 juice, and extract of cocculus indicus, is 
 used by fraudulent brewers to economise 
 malt and hops. 
 
 The quantities of cocculus indicus berries, 
 as well as of black extract, imported into 
 this country for adulterating malt liquors, 
 ^re enormous. It forms a considerable 
 branch of commerce in the hands of a few 
 brokers : yet, singular as it may seem, no 
 inquiry appears to have been hitherto made 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 7 
 
 by the officers of the revenue respecting its 
 application. Many other substances em- 
 ployed in the adulteration of bread, wine, 
 beer, ale, and spirituous liquors, are in a 
 similar manner intentionally disguised ; and 
 of the persons by whom they are purchased, 
 reat number are unacquainted with their 
 k composition. 
 
 act, said to be innocent, sold at no 
 fay at a time than from half a cwt. 
 rt. by brewers' druggists, under the 
 name of bittern, is composed of calcined 
 sulphate of iron (copperas), extract of coc- 
 culus indicus berries, extract of gentian 
 root, and Spanish liquorice : and the article 
 called beer heading, is composed of alum 
 and green vitriol. 
 
 It would be very easy to adduce, in sup- 
 port of these remarks, the testimony of nu- 
 
8 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 merous individuals, by whom I have been 
 professionally engaged to examine certain 
 mixtures, said to be perfectly innocent, 
 which are used in very extensive manufac- 
 tories of the above description. Indeed, 
 during the long period devoted to the prac- 
 tice of my profession, I have had abundant 
 reason to be convinced that a vast number 
 of dealers, of the highest respectability, 
 have vended to their customers articles 
 absolutely poisonous, which they them- 
 selves considered as harmless, and which 
 they would not have offered for sale, had 
 they been apprised of the spurious and per- 
 nicious nature of the compounds, and of the 
 purposes to which they were destined. 
 
 For instance, I have known cases in which 
 brandy merchants were not aware that the 
 substance which they frequently pur- 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 9 
 
 chase under the delusie name of jtash, for 
 strengthening and clarifying spirituous li- 
 quors, and which is held out as consisting 
 of burnt sugar and isinglass only, in the 
 form of an extract, is in reality a compound 
 of sugar with extract of capsicum ; and that 
 to the acrid and pungent qualities of the 
 capsicum is to be ascribed the heightened 
 flavour of brandy and rum, when coloured 
 with the above-mentioned matter. 
 
 In other cases the ale-brewer has been 
 supplied with ground coriander-seeds, pre- 
 viously mixed with a portion of ground nux 
 vomica, under the delusive name of Faba 
 amara, to give a narcotic property to the 
 beverage. 
 
 It is a painful reflection, that the division 
 of labour which has been so instrumental in 
 bringing the manufactures of this country 
 to their present flourishing state, should 
 
10 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 have also tended to conceal and facilitate 
 the fraudulent practices in question; and 
 that from a correspondent ramification of 
 commerce into a multitude of distinct 
 branches, particularly in the metropolis and 
 the large towns of the empire, the traffic in 
 adulterated commodities should find its way 
 through so many circuitous channels, as to 
 defy the most scrutinizing endeavour to 
 trace it to its source. 
 
 It is not less lamentable that the exten- 
 sive application of chemistry to the useful 
 purposes of life, should have been perverted 
 into an auxiliary to this nefarious traffic. 
 But, happily for the science, it may, with- 
 out difficulty, be converted into a means of 
 detecting the abuse ; to effect which, very 
 little chemical skill is required; and the 
 course to be pursued forms the object of the 
 following pages. 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 11 
 
 The baker asserts that he does not put 
 alum into bread ; but he is well aware that, 
 in purchasing a certain quantity of half 
 spoiled flour, he must take a sack of sharp 
 ivhites (a term given to flour contaminated 
 with a quantity of alum), without which it 
 would be impossible for him to produce 
 light, white, and porous bread, from a half- 
 spoiled material. 
 
 The wholesale mealman frequently pur- 
 chases this spurious commodity, (which 
 forms a separate branch of business in the 
 hands of certain individuals,) in order to 
 enable himself to sell his decayed flour. 
 
 Other individuals furnish the baker with 
 alum mixed up with salt, under the obscure 
 denomination of stuff. There are wholesale 
 manufacturing chemists, whose sole busi- 
 ness is to crystallise alum, in such a form 
 as will adapt this salt to the purpose of be- 
 
 B6 
 
12 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 iug mixed in a crystalline state with the 
 crystals of common salt, to disguise the 
 character of the compound. The mixture 
 called stuff i is composed of one part of 
 alum, in minute crystals, and three of com- 
 mon salt. 
 
 In many other trades a similar mode of 
 proceeding prevails. The practice of so- 
 phisticating the necessaries of life, being 
 reduced to systematic regularity, is ranked 
 by public opinion among other mercantile 
 pursuits ; and is not only regarded with 
 less disgust than formerly, but is almost 
 generally esteemed as a justifiable way to 
 wealth. 
 
 It is really astonishing that the penal 
 law is not more effectually enforced against 
 practices so inimical to the public welfare* 
 The man who robs a fellow subject of a few 
 shillings on the high-way, is sentenced to 
 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 13 
 
 death, while he who distributes a slow 
 poison to a whole community, escapes un- 
 punished. 
 
 It has been urged by some, that, under 
 so vast a system of finance as that of Great 
 Britain, it is expedient that the revenue 
 should be collected in large amounts ; and 
 therefore that the severity of the law should 
 be relaxed in favour of all mercantile con- 
 cerns in proportion to their extent : encou- 
 ragement must be given to large capitalists ; 
 and where an extensive brewery or distil- 
 lery yields an important contribution to the 
 revenue, no strict scrutiny need be adopted 
 in regard to the quality of the article from 
 which such contribution is raised, provided 
 the excise and customs do not suffer by the 
 fraud. 
 
 But the principles of the constitution 
 
14 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 afford no sanction to this preference, and the 
 true interests of the country require that it 
 should be abolished ; for a tax dependant 
 upon deception must be at best precarious, 
 and must be, sooner or later, diminished by 
 the irresistible diffusion of knowledge. 
 Sound policy requires that the law should 
 be impartially enforced in all cases ; and if 
 its penalties were extended to abuses of 
 which it does not now take cognizance, 
 there is no doubt that the revenue would be 
 abundantly benefitted. 
 
 Thus devoted to disease by baker, brewer, 
 grocer, wine merchant, &c. the physician is 
 called to our assistance ; but here again, as I 
 s'hall state presently, the pernicious system 
 of fraud, as it has given the blow, steps in 
 to defeat the remedy. 
 
ADULTERATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 And Methods of detecting them. 
 
 THE species of fraud to which I shall 
 now but briefly advert, and which has in- 
 creased to so alarming an extent, that it 
 loudly calls for the interference of Go- 
 vernment, is the adulteration of drugs and 
 medicines. 
 
 Nine tenths of the most potent drugs and 
 chemical preparations used in pharmacy, are 
 vended in a sophisticated state by dealers 
 who would be the last to be suspected. 
 
16 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 ADULTERATION OF PERUVIAN BARK. 
 
 IT is well known, that of the article, of Pe- 
 ruvian bark there is a variety of species in- 
 ferior to the genuine ; that too little discri- 
 mination is exercised by the collectors of 
 this precious medicament ; that it is care- 
 lessly assorted, and is frequently packed in 
 green hides; that much of it arrives in 
 Spain in a half-decayed state, mixed with 
 fragments of other vegetables and various 
 extraneous substances ; and in this state is 
 distributed throughout Europe. 
 
 But, as if this were not a sufficient dete- 
 rioration, the public are often served with 
 a spurious compound of mahogany sawdust 
 and oak wood, ground into powder, mixed 
 with a proportion of good quinquina, and 
 sold as genuine bark powder. 
 
DRUGS AND MEDICINES. 17 
 
 Every chemist knows that there are mills 
 constantly at work in this metropolis, which 
 furnish bark powder at a much cheaper rate 
 than the substance can be procured for in 
 its natural state. The price of the best ge- 
 nuine bark, upon an average, is not lower 
 than twelve shillings the pound; but im- 
 mense quantities of powder bark are sup- 
 plied to the apothecaries at three or four 
 shillings a pound. There is no ready test 
 for detecting the fraud. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF RHUBARB POWDER, 
 IPECACUANHA, &C. 
 
 IT is also notorious that there are ma- 
 nufacturers of spurious rhubarb powder, 
 ipecacuanha powder*, James's powder, and 
 
 * Of this root, several varieties are imported. The 
 
18 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 other simple and compound medicines of 
 great potency, who carry on their diabolical 
 trade on an amazingly large scale. Indeed, 
 the quantity of medical preparations thus 
 sophisticated exceeds belief. Cheapness, 
 and not genuineness and excellence, is the 
 grand desideratum with the unprincipled 
 dealers in drugs and medicines. 
 
 Those who are familiar with chemistry 
 may easily convince themselves of the ex- 
 istence of the fraud, by subjecting to a che- 
 mical examination either spirits of hartshorn, 
 
 white sort, which has no wrinkles, and no perceptible 
 bitterness in taste, and which, though taken in a large 
 dose, has scarcely any effect at all, after being pul- 
 verised by fraudulent druggists, and mixed with a 
 portion of emetic tartar, is sold at a low price, for the 
 powder of genuine ipecacuanha root. There is no 
 ready method known to detect the fraud. 
 
DRUGS AND MEDICINES. 19 
 
 magnesia, calcined magnesia, calomel, or 
 any other chemical preparation in general 
 demand. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF SPIRIT OF 
 HARTSHORN, 
 
 And Method of detecting it. 
 
 SPIRIT of hartshorn is counterfeited by 
 mixing liquid caustic ammonia with the dis- 
 tilled spirit of hartshorn, to increase the 
 pungency of its odour, and to enable it to 
 bear an addition of water. 
 
 The fraud is detected by adding spirit of 
 wine to the sophisticated spirit ; for, if no 
 considerable coagulation ensues, the adul- 
 teration is proved. It may also be disco- 
 vered by the hartshorn spirit not producing 
 a brisk effervescence when mixed with mu- 
 riatic or nitric acid. 
 
20 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 ADULTERATION OF MAGNESIA, 
 
 And Method of detecting it. 
 
 MAGNESIA usually contains a portion of 
 lime, originating from hard water being used 
 instead of soft, in the preparation of this me- 
 dicine. 
 
 To ascertain the purity of magnesia, add 
 to a portion of it a little sulphuric acid, di- 
 luted with ten times its bulk of water. If 
 the magnesia be completely soluble, and 
 the solution remains transparent, it may be 
 pronounced pure; but not otherwise. Or, 
 dissolve a portion of the magnesia in muri- 
 atic acid, and add a solution of sub-carbo- 
 nate of ammonia. If any lime be present, 
 it will form a precipitate ; whereas pure 
 magnesia will remain in solution. 
 
DRUGS AND MEDICINES. 21 
 
 ADULTERATION OF CALCINED 
 MAGNESIA, 
 
 And Method of detecting it. 
 
 CALCINED magnesia is seldom met with 
 in a pure state. It may be assayed by the 
 same tests as the common magnesia. It 
 ought not to effervesce at all, with dilute 
 sulphuric acid ; and, if the magnesia and 
 acid be put together into one scale of a ba- 
 lance, no diminution of weight should ensue 
 on mixing them together. Calcined mag- 
 nesia, however, is very seldom so pure as 
 to be totally dissolved by diluted sulphuric 
 acid; for a small insoluble residue generally 
 remains, consisting chiefly of silicious earth, 
 derived from the alkali employed in the 
 preparation of it. The solution in sulphu- 
 ric acid, when largely diluted, ought not to 
 afford any precipitation by the addition of 
 oxalate of ammonia. 
 
22 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 ADULTERATION OF CALOMEL, 
 And Method of detecting it. 
 
 THE genuineness of calomel may be as- 
 certained by boiling, for a few minutes, one 
 part with ^ part of muriate of ammonia in 
 ten parts of distilled water. When carbo- 
 nate of potash is added to the filtered solu- 
 tion, no precipitation will ensue if the calo- 
 mel be pure. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF SYRUP OF BUCK- 
 THORN, WORM-SEED, AND ARROW- 
 ROOT POWDER. 
 
 SYRXJP of buckthorn, for example, instead 
 of being prepared from the juice of buck- 
 thorn berries,(V h amnus catharticns,) is made 
 from the fruit of the blackberry bearing 
 
DRUGS ANI} MEDICINES. 23 
 
 alder, and the dogberry tree, A mixture of 
 the berries of the buckthorn and blackberry 
 bearing" alder, and of the dogberry tree, 
 may be seen publicly exposed for sale by 
 some of the venders of medicinal herbs. 
 This abuse may be discovered by opening 
 the berries : those of buckthorn have almost 
 always four seeds; of the alder, two; and 
 of the dogberry, only one. Buckthorn ber- 
 ries, bruised on white paper, stain it of a 
 green colour, which the other do not. 
 There is no method of detecting the ge- 
 nuineness of the buckthorn syrup. 
 
 Instead of worm-seed [arlemisia san- 
 tonica~\ the seeds of tansey are frequently 
 offered for sale, or a mixture of both. 
 
 Most of the arrow-root, the fecula of the 
 maranta arudinacea, sold by druggists, is a 
 mixture of potatoe starch and arrow-root. 
 
24 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 ADULTERATION OF ESSENTIAL OILS, 
 
 And Methods of detecting them. 
 
 A GREAT many of the essential oils ob- 
 tained from the more expensive spices, are 
 frequently so much adulterated, that it is 
 not easy to meet with such as are at all fit 
 for use : nor are these adulterations easily 
 discoverable. The grosser abuses, indeed, 
 may be readily detected. Thus, if the oil 
 be adulterated with alcohol, it will turn 
 milky on the addition of water ; if with ex- 
 pressed oils, alcohol will dissolve the vola- 
 tile, and leave the other behind ; if with oil 
 of turpentine, on dipping a piece of paper 
 in the mixture, and drying it with a gentle 
 heat, the turpentine will be betrayed by 
 its smell. The more subtle artists* bow- 
 
DRUGS AND MEDICINES. 25 
 
 ever, have contrived other methods of so- 
 phistication, which elude all trials. And as 
 all volatile oils agree in their general pro- 
 perties of solubility in spirit of wine, and 
 volatility in the heat of boiling water, &c. 
 it is plain that they may be variously mixed 
 with each other, or the dearer sophisticated 
 with the cheaper, without any possibility of 
 discovering the abuse by any of the before- 
 mentioned trials. Perfumers assert that 
 the smell and taste are the only certain 
 tests of which the nature of the thing will 
 admit. For example, if a bark should have 
 in every respect the appearance of good 
 cinnamon, and should be proved indisput- 
 ably to be the genuine bark of the cinna- 
 mon tree ; yet if it want the cinnamon fla- 
 vour, or has it but in a low degree, we reject 
 it ; and the case is the same with the essen- 
 c 
 
26 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 tial oil of cinnamon. It is only from use 
 and habit, or comparisons with specimens 
 of known quality, that we can judg of the 
 goodness, either of the drugs themselves, or 
 of their oils. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF COLOURS 
 USED IN PAINTING, 
 
 Jlnd Methods of detecting them. 
 
 PAINTERS' colours, not only those used 
 by artists, such as ultramarine, carmine, 
 and lake, Antwerp blue, chrome yellow, and 
 Indian ink; but also the coarser colours used 
 by the common house-painter, are more or 
 less adulterated. Thus, of the latter kind, 
 white lead is mixed with carbonate or sul- 
 phate of barytes ; vermillion with red lead. 
 
PAINTERS' COLOURS. 27 
 
 
 
 The following hints may serve to detect 
 these frauds. 
 
 Ultramarine, if genuine, should speedily 
 become deprived of its colour when thrown 
 into concentrated nitric acid. 
 
 Carmine should be totally soluble in 
 liquid ammonia. It is often mixed with 
 vermillion. This substance is not acted on 
 by liquid. 
 
 Madder and carmine lakes should be 
 totally soluble by boiling in concentrated 
 solution of soda or potash. 
 
 Antwerp blue should not become de- 
 prived of its colour when thrown into liquid 
 chlorine. 
 
 Chrome yellow should not effervesce with 
 nitric acid. 
 
 Indian Ink ; the best kind breaks splin- 
 c2 
 
28 ADULTERATION OF PAINTERS 5 COLOURS. 
 
 tery, with a smooth glossy fracture, and 
 feels soft, and not gritty, when rubbed 
 against the teeth. 
 
 White lead should be completely soluble 
 in nitric acid, and the solution should re- 
 main transparent when mingled with a so- 
 lution of sulphate of soda, 
 
 Vermillion should become totally vola- 
 tilized on being exposed to a red heat ; and 
 it should impart a red colour to spirit of 
 wine, when digested with it. 
 
OP 
 
 VARIOUS ARTICLES 
 
 USED IN HOUSEKEEPING. 
 
 SOAP, POTATOES, BUTTER, PAPER, 
 
 &C. 
 
 THE fraud may be detected by pouring" 
 upon one part of the suspected soap, re- 
 duced to thin shavings, six parts, by weight, 
 of rectified spirit of wine; and, suffering 
 the mixture to stand in a slightly stopped 
 bottle in a warm place, the soap, if genuine, 
 c 3 
 
30 ADULTERATION OF VARIOUS ARTICLES 
 
 will become dissolved : but if adulterated 
 with clay, this substance will be left be- 
 hind. 
 
 Potatoes are soaked in water to augment 
 their weight., 
 
 The inferior sorts of butter are frequently 
 adulterated with hogs' lard. 
 
 In the manufacture of printing paper, a 
 large quantity of plaster of Paris is often 
 added to the paper stuff, to increase the 
 weight of the manufactured article. 
 
 The selvage of cloth is often dyed with a 
 permanent colour, and artfully stitched to 
 the edge of cloth dyed with a fugitive 
 dye. 
 
 The frauds committed in the tanning of 
 skins, and in the manufacture of cutlery 
 and jewellery, exceed belief, 
 
USED IN HOUSEKEEPING. 31 
 
 FRAUDS PRACTISED IN THE GOAL TRADE, 
 
 " IN coal sheds the measure as well as 
 the mixing one kind of coal with another is 
 often scandalous*; for the Act of Parliament 
 does not take the least notice of the small 
 measures. It is a known fact when a frau- 
 dulent dealer orders in a room of coals, for 
 every chaldron of 36 bushels, if he does not 
 send them out at the rate of 42 bushels 
 again, he will be dissatisfied with his mea- 
 sure. This is extremely hard upon the 
 lower class of people, who are only able to 
 purchase a peck, or half a peck, at a time : 
 and let the measure be ever so bad, they 
 have no means of redress. 
 
 * Eddington on the Coal Trade, p. 94. 
 c 4 
 
32 FRAUDS PRACTISED 
 
 " With regard to the measure of coal, as 
 offered in the market, it may be remarked 
 that many coal -merchants will promise to 
 give 68 sacks to a room : but here it should 
 be observed, that much depends on the size 
 and shape, or, as it is called, the roundness 
 of the coal, viz. any of the Wall's End, 
 Wellington, Benton,Heaton, Hebron, Percy, 
 Main, Cowper, Blyth, and Hartley, being all 
 put on board of ships in large masses and 
 blocks, round as out of the mine ; it is cer- 
 tain, that, in every room of five chaldron 
 and a half the ingrain, when the round are 
 broken, every room will measure out from 
 to 6 chaldron again." 
 
 Mr. Edington observes, that " the differ- 
 ence is so great between round coals, with 
 regard to absolute quantity, and small damp 
 and dry coals, that no means can be ob- 
 
IN THE COAL TRADE. 33 
 
 tained to correct and prevent abuse. Thus* 
 if a vat of Wall's End coals be measured 
 from the ship, such measure as the meter 
 gives, turn over the vat, and break the 
 round coals to the size the merchant sends 
 them out to his customers, then fill up the 
 vat again, and it will be found to over-run 
 a bushel, more or less according to the 
 roundness of the coal. Secondly, a score is 
 measured out of Wall's End coals in the 
 pool, into a barge having four rooms, each 
 containing five chaldrons and a half the in- 
 grain ; no sooner does the barge arrive at 
 the wharf, than the round coals are broken, 
 and, if very dry, the coals being wetted, will 
 increase in bulk; nor is the coal merchant 
 satisfied if he does not by this practice send 
 out from six to six and a quarter, or even 
 six and a half, chaldron from each room, 
 c 5 
 
34 FRAUDS PRACTISED 
 
 " The loss in the use of small coals is more 
 considerable to the poor, who cannot keep 
 large fires. When they want their break- 
 fast or dinner, the time they can spare is 
 limited; and to have their water sooner 
 boiling, or their meals quicker ready, they 
 must make use of the poker, and lose a 
 great deal of coal. Hence more bright coal 
 goes to the dust-hole of the poor man, than 
 to the dust-hole of a rich family, where, the 
 fire being large, the small coal has more 
 chance of burning. 
 
 " The loss is still greater to the poor, in 
 consequence of the inferior sorts of coal 
 which are sold to them. If it is the light 
 sort, it burns too quick, and they consume 
 double the quantity ; if the strong sort, 
 it burns too slow, and is nearly as waste- 
 ful ; great quantity of it then goes to 
 
IN THE COAL TRADE. 35 
 
 the dust-hole without being lighted at 
 all. 
 
 " An incorrect opinion is often enter- 
 tained, that the real quantity of coal con- 
 tained in a sack is lessened by separating 
 or screening the small from the round coals ; 
 but we must recollect, that any compact 
 body occupies less space than is required to 
 contain the same matter, reduced to smaller 
 irregular pieces, or to powder. Now the 
 screening only takes away the finest dusty 
 part of the coals, and admits more small 
 pieces of round coals to be filled into the 
 sack." 
 
 c6 
 
36 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDERING 
 
 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDER- 
 ING BUTCHER'S MEAT, FISH, AND 
 
 POULTRY, UNWHOLESOME. 
 
 THE abominable custom daily practised of 
 blowing, as it is technically called, or inflat- 
 ing butchers' meat, especially the joints of 
 veal and Iamb, with the breath respired 
 from the lungs, to make it appear white and 
 glistening, is a practice which claims the in- 
 terference of the Magistrates. 
 
 This detestable custom unquestionably 
 renders meat not only unfit for keeping, but 
 likewise unwholesome for human food. I 
 have the authority of a celebrated physiolo- 
 gist* to state, that the meat is capable of 
 communicating the most loathsome diseases ; 
 besides, it is such a dirty trick, that the very 
 idea of it is sufficient to disgust a person at 
 every thing which comes from a butchers' 
 
 * A. Carlisle, Esq. 
 
BUTCHERS' MEAT UNWHOLESOME. 37 
 
 shop for who can bear the notion of eating 
 meat, the cellular substance of which has 
 been filled with air of a dirty fellow, who 
 may at the same time be perhaps inflicted 
 with the very worst of diseases. 
 
 But not only butchers' meat, but sea fish, 
 especially cod, haddock, and whiting, are in 
 a similar manner often blown, to make them 
 appear large and plump ; a quill, or the stem 
 of a tobacco pipe, being inserted into the 
 orifice at the belly of the fih, and a hole 
 being made under the fin, which is next the 
 gill, the breath is blown in, to extend the 
 bulk of the fish. 
 
 This imposition is detected by placing the 
 thumb on each side of the orifice and press- 
 ing it hard, when the air will be perceived 
 to escape. Meat that has been inflated may 
 'at once be recognised by the cellular mem- 
 brane being distended. 
 
38 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDERING 
 
 Another pernicious custom of rendering- 
 meat unwholesome, is, to throw the beast, 
 previous to its being killed, into a state of 
 disease, by over-driving it ; for the fever into 
 which the furious animal is often thrown, by 
 the cruelty of the drover, is frequently 
 raised to madness. No person would chuse 
 to eat the flesh of an animal which died in a 
 high fever ; yet that is actually the case with 
 all over-drove cattle. The flesh of such 
 animals is at once distinguished at the 
 butchers' shambles, by the cellular mem- 
 brane being filled with blood, which makes 
 the meat appear of a more florid colour, and 
 adds to its weight. 
 
 Another highly blameable custom to ren- 
 der meat unwholesome, is, to keep animals 
 without food for four or five days together, 
 to save the butcher the trouble of clearing 
 the stomach and intestines more readily. 
 
BUTCHERS' MEAT UNWHOLESOME. 39 
 
 Oxen are usually kept without food for four 
 or five days before they are killed ; calves, 
 sheep and pigs, each of them two or three 
 days. Fasting so long renders the animals 
 unhealthy, and makes them restless, fever- 
 ish, and diseased. 
 
 It is also a common practice in some graz- 
 ing counties to bring to market the carcases 
 of such animals as die of themselves. Po- 
 verty may, indeed, oblige people to eat 
 such meat; but it would be better for them 
 to eat a smaller quantity of what is sound 
 and wholesome ; at least it would afford a 
 better nourishment, with less danger. 
 
 The injunction given to the Jews not to 
 eat of any creature which had died in conse- 
 quence of a disease, seems to have a strict 
 regard to health, and ought to be observed, 
 as a wholesome lesson, by Christians as 
 well as Jews. 
 
40 DISGUSTING PRACTICE OF RENDERING 
 
 The Editor of The Literary Miscellany, 
 states, that it is a practice among many but- 
 chers to suspend calves by the hind legs, with 
 the head downwards, for hours, and to bleed 
 them to death slowly. Such processes of 
 complicated and lengthened cruelty, too 
 horrid to relate, are only for the purpose 
 of whitening the flesh. And, with a similar 
 view, two calves are often tied together by 
 their hind legs, and thrown across ahorse 
 when brought to the butcher's shop, so that 
 they are suffered to be suspended for hours 
 together, with the head downwards, before 
 they are killed. 
 
 On the frequent cruelties committed by 
 butchers it is not my business to speak. 
 Every person resident in this town must have 
 noticed, that in drivinga number of sheep and 
 oxen, if any of them be untractable, the driver 
 often breaks one of the legs of the sheep, or 
 
BUTCHERS' MEAT UNWHOLESOME. 41 
 
 cuts the large tendon on the foot of the ox. 
 This is a cruelty at which the human mind 
 shudders. 
 
 By Heaven's high will the LOWER WORLD is thine ! 
 But art thou CRUEL TOO BY RIGHT DIVINE ? 
 Admit their lives devoted to thy need ; 
 Take the appointed forfeit let them bleed : 
 Yet add not to the hardships of their state, 
 Nor join to servitude oppression's weight ; 
 By no unmanly rigors swell distress, 
 But, where thou canst, exert thy power to bless, 
 Beyond thy wants 'tis barbarous to annoy, 
 And but from need 'tis baseness to destroy.* 
 
 PRATT'S Lower World, B. II. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ADULTERA- 
 TION OF FOOD. 
 
 THE object of all unprincipled modern 
 manufacturers seems to be the sparing of 
 their time and labour as much as possible, 
 
42 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 and to increase the quantity of the articles 
 they produce, without much regard to their 
 quality. The ingenuity and perseverance 
 of self-interest is proof against prohibitions, 
 and contrives to elude the vigilance of the 
 most active government. 
 
 The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, 
 which seems to be a leading characteristic 
 of the times, calls into action every human 
 faculty, and gives an irresistible impulse to 
 the power of invention ; and where lucre 
 becomes the reigning principle, the possi- 
 ble sacrifice of even a fellow creature's life 
 is a secondary consideration. In reference 
 to the deterioration of almost all the neces- 
 saries and comforts of existence, it may be 
 justly observed, in a civil as well as a re- 
 ligious sense, that " in the midst of life we 
 are in death." 
 
abater. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE PURITY OF WA- 
 TER EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECO- 
 NOMY AND THE ARTS. 
 
 IT requires not much reflection to become 
 convinced that the waters which issue from 
 the recesses of the earth, and form springs, 
 wells, rivers, or lakes, often materially differ 
 from each other in their taste and other 
 obvious properties. There are few people 
 who have not observed a difference in the 
 waters used for domestic purposes and in 
 the arts ; and the distinctions of hard and 
 soft water are familiar to every body. 
 
44 EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS USED 
 
 Water perfectly pure is scarcely ever 
 met with in nature. 
 
 It must also be obvious, that the health 
 and comfort of families, and the conve- 
 niences of domestic life, are materially 
 affected by the supply of good and whole- 
 some water. Hence a knowledge of the 
 quality and salubrity of the different kinds 
 of waters employed in the common con- 
 cerns of life, on account of the abundant 
 daily use we make of them in the prepara- 
 tion of food, is unquestionably an object of 
 considerable importance, and demands our 
 attention. 
 
 The effects produced by the foreign mat- 
 ters which water may contain, are more 
 considerable, and of greater importance, 
 than might at first be imagined. It cannot 
 be denied, that such waters as are hard, or 
 
IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 45 
 
 loaded with earthy matter, have a decided 
 effect upon some important functions of the 
 human body. They increase the distress- 
 ing symptoms under which those persons 
 labour who are afflicted with what is com- 
 monly called gravel complaints ; and many 
 other ailments might be named, that are 
 always aggravated by the use of waters 
 abounding in saline and earthy substances. 
 
 The purity of the waters employed in 
 some of the arts and manufactures, is an 
 object of not less consequence. In the 
 process of brewing malt liquors, soft water 
 is preferable to hard. Every brewer knows 
 that the largest possible quantity of the 
 extractive matter of the malt is obtained in 
 the least possible time, and at the smallest 
 cost, by means of soft water. 
 
 In the art of the dyer, hard water not 
 
46 EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS USI^D 
 
 only opposes the solution of several dye 
 stuffs, but it also alters the natural tints of 
 some'delicate colours ; whilst in others again, 
 it precipitates the earthy and saline matters 
 with which it is impregnated, into the deli- 
 cate fibres of the stuff, and thus impedes 
 the softness and brilliancy of the dye. 
 
 The bleacher cannot use with advantage 
 waters impregnated with earthy salts ; and 
 a minute portion of iron imparts to the cloth 
 a yellowish hue. 
 
 To the manufacturer of painters' colours, 
 water as pure as possible is absolutely es- 
 sential for the successful preparation of 
 several delicate pigments. Carmine, mad- 
 der lake, ultramarine, and Indian yellow, 
 cannot be prepared without perfectly pure 
 water. 
 
 For the steeping or raiting of flax, soft 
 
IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 47 
 
 water is absolutely necessary ; in hard water 
 the flax may be immersed for months, till its 
 texture be injured, and still the ligneous 
 matter will not be decomposed, and the 
 fibres properly separated. 
 
 In the culinary art, the effects of water 
 more or less pure are likewise obvious. 
 Good and pure water softens the fibres of 
 animal and vegetable matters more readily 
 than such as is called hard. Every cook 
 knows that dry or ripe pease, and other 
 farinaceous seeds, cannot readily be boiled 
 soft in hard water; because the farina of 
 the seed is not perfectly soluble in water 
 loaded with earthy salts. 
 
 Green esculent vegetable substances are 
 more tender when boiled in soft water than 
 in hard water ; although hard water imparts 
 to them a better colour. The effects of hard 
 
48 ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 and soft water may be easily shown in the ' 
 following manner. 
 
 Illustration. 
 
 Let two separate portions of tea-leaves be 
 macerated, by precisely the same processes, 
 in circumstances all alike, in similarly 
 and separate vessels, the one containing hard 
 and the other soft water, either hot or cold, 
 the infusion made with the soft water will 
 have by far the strongest taste, although 
 it possesses less colour than the infusion 
 made with the hard water. It will strike a 
 more intense black with a solution of sul- 
 phate of iron, and afford a more abundant 
 precipitate, with a solution of animal jelly, 
 which at once shews that soft water has 
 extracted more tanning matter, and more 
 
CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 49 
 
 gallic acid, from the tea-leaves, than could 
 be obtained from them under like circum- 
 stances by means of hard water. 
 
 Many animals which are accustomed to 
 drink soft water, refuse hard water; Horses 
 in particular prefer the former. Pigeons 
 refuse hard water when they have been ac- 
 customed to soft water. 
 
 CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 
 
 A GOOD criterion of the purity of water 
 fit for domestic purposes, is its softness. 
 This quality is at once obvious by the touch, 
 if we only wash our hands in it with soap. 
 Good water should be beautifully transpa- 
 rent: a slight opacity indicates extraneous 
 matter. To judge of the perfect transpa- 
 rency of water, a quantity of it should be 
 D 
 
50 CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 
 
 put into a deep glass vessel, the larger the 
 better, so that we can look down perpendi- 
 cularly into a considerable mass of the fluid ; 
 we may then readily discover the slightest 
 degree of muddiness much better than if 
 the water be viewed through the glass 
 placed between the eye and the light. It 
 should be perfectly colourless, devoid of 
 odour, and its taste soft and agreeable. It 
 should send out air-bubbles when poured 
 from one vessel into another ; it should boil 
 pulse soft, and form with soap am uniform 
 opaline fluid, which does not separate after 
 standing for several hours. 
 
 It is to the presence of common air and 
 carbonic acid gas that common water owes 
 ils taste, and many of the good effects 
 which it produces on animals and vege- 
 tables. Spring water, which contains more 
 
CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 51 
 
 air, has a more lively taste than river 
 water. 
 
 Hence the insipid and vapid taste of newly 
 boiled water, from which these gases are 
 expelled: fish cannot live in water deprived 
 of those elastic fluids. 
 
 100 cubic inches of the New River water, 
 with which part of this metropolis is sup* 
 plied, contains 2,25 of carbonic acid, and 
 1,25 of common air. It contains, beside a 
 minute portion of muriate of lime, carbonate 
 of lime, and muriate of soda. The water 
 of the river Thames contains rather a larger 
 quantity of common air, and a smaller por- 
 tion of carbonic acid. 
 
 Water is freed from foreign matter by 
 distillation: and for any chemical process 
 in which accuracy is requisite, distilled 
 
 water must be used. 
 
 D 2 
 
52 EASY METHOD OF CURING HARD .WATER. 
 
 EASY METHOD OF CURING HARD 
 WATER. 
 
 HARD waters may, in general, be cured in 
 part, by dropping into them a solution of 
 sub-carbonate of potash ; or, if the hardness 
 be owing only to the presence of super- 
 carbonate of lime, mere boiling will greatly 
 remedy the defect ; part of the carbonic 
 acid flies off, and a neutral carbonate of 
 lime falls down to the bottom : it may then 
 be used for washing, scarcely curdling soap. 
 But if the hardness be owing in part to 
 sulphate of lime, boiling does not soften it 
 at all. 
 
 When spring water is used for washing, 
 it is advantageous to leave it for some time 
 exposed to the open air in a reservoir with 
 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS. 53 
 
 a large surface. Part of the carbonic acid 
 becomes thus dissipated, and part of the 
 carbonate of lime falls to the bottom. Mr. 
 Dalton* has observed that the more any 
 spring is drawn from, the softer the water 
 becomes. 
 
 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 WATERS USED IN DOMESTIC ECO- 
 NOMY AND THE ARTS. 
 
 Rain Water, 
 
 COLLECTED with every precaution as it 
 descends from the clouds, and at a distance 
 from large towns, or any other object ca- 
 pable of impregnating the atmosphere with 
 
 * Dalton, Manchester Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 55. 
 D3 
 
54 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 foreign matters, approaches more nearly to 
 a state of purity than perhaps any other 
 natural water. Even collected under these 
 circumstances, however, it invariably con- 
 tains a portion of common air and carbonic 
 acid gas. The specific gravity of rain water 
 scarcely differs from that of distilled water ; 
 and from the minute portions of the foreign 
 ingredients which it generally contains, it 
 is very soft, and admirably adapted for 
 many culinary purposes, and various pro- 
 cesses in different manufactures and the 
 arts* 
 
 Snow Water. 
 
 Fresh-fallen snow, melted without the 
 contact of air, appears to be nearly free 
 from air. Gay-Lussacand Humboldt, how- 
 
USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 55 
 
 / 
 
 ever, affirm, that it contains nearly the usual 
 proportion of air. 
 
 Water from melted ice does not contain 
 so much air. Dew has been supposed to be 
 saturated with air. 
 
 Snow water has long lain under the im- 
 putation of occasioning those strumous 
 swellings in the neck which deform the 
 inhabitants of many of the .Alpine vallies ; 
 but this opinion is not supported by any 
 well-authenticated indisputable facts, and 
 is rendered still more improbable, if not 
 entirely overturned, by the frequency of 
 the disease in Sumatra*, where ice and 
 snow are never sefen. 
 
 In high northern latitudes, thawed snow 
 
 Marsden's History of Sumatra. 
 D4 
 
56 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 forms the constant drink of the inhabitants 
 during winter; and the vast masses of ice 
 which float on the polar seas, afford an 
 abundant supply of fresh water to the ma- 
 riner. 
 
 Spring Water 
 
 Includes well-water and all others that 
 arise from some depth below the surface of 
 the earth, and which are used at the foun- 
 tain-head, or at least before they have run 
 any considerable distance exposed to the 
 air. Indeed, springs may be considered as 
 rain water which has passed through the 
 fissures of the earth, and, having accumu- 
 lated at the bottom of declivities, rises again 
 to the surface, forming springs and wells. 
 
USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 57 
 
 As wells take their origin at some depth 
 from the surface, and below the influence 
 of the external atmosphere,, their tempera- 
 ture is in general pretty uniform during 
 every vicissitude of season, and always se- 
 veral degrees lower than the atmosphere.. 
 They differ from one another according to 
 the nature of the strata through which they 
 issue; for though the ingredients usually 
 existing in them are in such minute quan- 
 tities as to impart to the water no striking 
 properties, and do not render it unfit for 
 common purposes, yet they modify its na- 
 ture very considerably. Hence the water 
 of some springs is said to be hard, of others 
 soft, some sweet, others brackish, accord-, 
 ing to the nature and degree of the impreg- 
 nating ingredients. 
 
 Common springs are insensibly changed 
 
 D5 
 
58 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 in mineral or medicinal springs, as their 
 foreign contents become larger or more un- 
 usual ; or, in some instances, they derive 
 medicinal celebrity from the absence of 
 those ingredients usually occurring in 
 spring-water ; as, for example, is the case 
 with the Malvern spring, which is nearly 
 pure water. 
 
 Almost all spring-waters possess the pro- 
 perty termed hardness in a greater or less 
 degree ; a property which depends chiefly 
 upon the presence of super-carbonate, or 
 of sulphate of lime, or of both ; and the 
 quantity of these earthy salts varies very 
 considerably in different instances. Mr. 
 Dalton* has shewn that one grain of sul- 
 
 * Manchester Memoirs, vol. x. 1819. 
 
USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES* 59 
 
 phate of lime, contained in 2000 grains of 
 water, converts it into the hardest spring 
 water that is commonly met with. 
 
 The waters of deep wells are usually much 
 harder than those springs which overflow 
 the mouth of the well ; but there are some 
 exceptions to this rule. 
 
 The purest springs are those which occur 
 in primitive rocks, or beds of gravel, or 
 filter through sand or silicious strata. la 
 general, large springs are purer than small 
 ones ; and our old wells contain finer water 
 than those that are new, as the soluble parts 
 through which the water filters in channels 
 under ground become gradually washed 
 away. 
 
 D6 
 
60 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 River Water 
 
 Is a term applied to every running stream 
 or rivulet exposed to the air, and always 
 flowing in an open channel. It is formed of 
 spring water, which, by exposure, becomes 
 more pure, and of running land or surface 
 water, which, although turbid from particles 
 of the al u vial soil suspended in it, is other- 
 wise very pure. It is purest when it runs over 
 a gravelly or rocky bed, and when its course 
 is swift. It is generally soft, and more free 
 from earthy salts than spring water; but 
 it usually contains less common air and 
 carbonic acid gas ; for, by the agitation of a 
 long currant, and exposed to the tempera- 
 ture of the atmosphere, part of its carbonic 
 acid gas is disengaged, and the lime held 
 
USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 6l 
 
 in solution by it is in part precipitated, 
 the loss of which contributes to the softness 
 of the water. Its specific gravity thereby 
 becomes less, the taste not so harsh, but less 
 fresh and agreeable ; and out of a hard 
 spring is often made a stream of sufficient 
 purity for most of the purposes where a 
 soft water is required. 
 
 Some streams, however, that arise from 
 clean silicious beds, and flow in a sandy or 
 stony channel, are from the outset remarkably 
 pure ; such as the mountain lakes and rivu- 
 lets in the rocky districts of Wales, the 
 source of the beautiful waters of the Dee, 
 and numberless other rivers that flow 
 through the hollow of every valley. Swit- 
 zerland has long been celebrated for the 
 purity and excellence of its waters, which 
 pour in copious streams from the mouu- 
 
62 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 tains, and give rise to the finest rivers in 
 Europe. 
 
 Thames Water. 
 
 Some rivers, however, that do not take 
 their rise from a rocky soil, and are indeed 
 at first considerably charged with foreign 
 matter, during a long course, even over a 
 richly cultivated plain, become remarkably 
 pure as to saline contents ; but often fouled 
 with mud containing much animal and ve- 
 getable matter, which are rather suspended 
 than held in true solution. Such is the water 
 of the river Thames, which, taken up at Lon- 
 don at low water mark, is very soft, and 
 good ; and after rest, it contains but a very 
 small portion of any thing that could prove 
 
USE/) FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 63 
 
 pernicious or impede any manufacture. 
 It is also excellently fitted for sea-store; 
 but it then undergoes a remarkable sponta- 
 neous change, when preserved in wooden 
 casks. No water carried to sea becomes 
 putrid sooner than that of the Thames. But 
 the mode now adopted in the navy, of sub- 
 stituting 1 iron tanks for wooden casks, tends 
 greatly to obviate the disadvantage. 
 
 Whoever will consider the situation of 
 the Thames, and the immense population 
 along its banks for so many miles, must at 
 once perceive the prodigious accumulation 
 of animal matters of all kinds, which by 
 means of the commmon sewers constantly 
 make their way into it. These matters are, 
 no doubt, in part, the cause of the putrefac- 
 tion which it is well known to undergo at 
 sea; and of the carburetted and sulphuretted 
 
64 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 hydrogen gases which are evolved from it. 
 When a wooden cask is opened, after being 
 kept a month or two, a quantity of carbur etted 
 and sulphuretted hydrogen escapes, and the 
 water is so black and offensive as scarcely 
 to be borne. Upon racking it off, however, 
 into large earthen vessels, and exposing* it 
 to the air, it gradually deposits a quantity 
 of black slimy mud, becomes clear as crys- 
 tal, and remarkably sweet and palatable. 
 
 It might, at first sight, be expected that 
 the water of the Thames, after having re- 
 ceived all the contents of the sewers, drains, 
 and water courses of a large town, should 
 acquire thereby such impregnation with 
 foreign matters, as to become very impure ; 
 but it appears, from the most accurate ex- 
 periments that have been made, that those 
 kinds of impurities have no perceptible in- 
 
USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 65 
 
 fluence on the salubrious quality of a mass 
 of water so immense, and constantly kept in 
 motion by the action of the tides. 
 
 Some traces of animal matter may, how- 
 ever, be detected in the water of the Thames ; 
 for if nitrate of lead be dropped into it * ; 
 " you will find that it becomes milky, and 
 that a white powder falls to the bottom, 
 which dissolves without effervescence in 
 nitric acid. It is, therefore, (says Dr. Thom- 
 son) a combination of oxide of lead with 
 some animal matter." 
 
 * Observations on the Water with which Tun- 
 bridge Wells is chiefly supplied for Domestic Pur- 
 poses, by Dr. Thomson ; forming an Appendix to an 
 Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, 
 by Dr. Scudamore. 
 
66 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WAtER, 
 
 SUBSTANCES USUALLY CONTAINED IN 
 COMMON WATER, AND TESTS BY 
 WHICH THEY ARE DETECTED. 
 
 To acquire a knowledge of the general 
 nature of common water, it is only necessary 
 to add to it a few chemical tests, which will 
 quickly indicate the presence or absence of 
 the substances that may be expected. 
 
 Almost the only salts contained in com- 
 mon waters are the carbonates, sulphates, 
 and muriates of soda, lime, and magnesia: 
 and sometimes a very minute portion of iron 
 may also be detected in them. 
 
 EXPERIMENT I. 
 
 Fill a wine-glass with distilled water, 
 and add to it a few drops of the solution of 
 
ANI> f HE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 67 
 
 soap in alcohol, the water will remain tran* 
 sparent. 
 
 This test is employed for ascertaining the 
 presence of earthy salts in waters. Hence 
 it produces no change when mingled with 
 distilled or perfectly pure water ; but when 
 added to water containing earthy salts, a 
 white flocculent matter becomes separated, 
 which speedily collects on the surface of 
 the fluid. Now, from the quantity of floc- 
 culent matter produced, in equal quantities 
 of water submitted to the test, a tolerable 
 notion may be formed of the degrees of 
 hardness of different kinds of water, at 
 least 80 far as regards the fitness of the 
 water for the ordinary purposes of domestic 
 economy. This may be rendered obvious 
 in the following manner. 
 
68 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER, 
 EXPERIMENT II. 
 
 Fill a number of wine-glasses with dif- 
 ferent kinds of pump or well water, and let 
 fall into each glass a few drops of the solu- 
 tion of soap in alcohol. A turbidness will 
 instantly ensue, and a flocculent matter 
 collect on the surface of the fluid, if the 
 mixture be left undisturbed. The quantity 
 of flocculent matter will be in the ratio s>f 
 the quantity of earthy salts contained in the 
 water. // -^ 
 
 It is obvious that the action of this test is 
 not discriminative with regard to the che- 
 mical nature of the earthy salt present in 
 the water. It serves only to indicate the 
 presence or absence of those kinds of sub- 
 stances which occasion that quality in water 
 which is usually called hardness, and which 
 
AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 69 
 
 is always owing to salts with an earthy 
 base. 
 
 If we wish to know the nature of the 
 different acids and earths contained in the 
 water, the following tests may be em- 
 ployed. 
 
 EXPERIMENT III. 
 
 Add about twenty drops of a solution of 
 oxalate of ammonia, to half a wine-glass of 
 the water ; if a white precipitate ensues, we 
 conclude that the water contains lime. 
 
 By means of this test, one grain of lime 
 may be detected in 24,250 of water. 
 
 If this test occasion a white precipitate 
 in water taken fresh from the pump or 
 spring, and not after the water has been 
 boiled and suffered to grow cold, the lime 
 is dissolved in the water by an excess of 
 
70 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER, 
 
 carbonic acid ; and if it continues to pro- 
 duce a precipitate in the water which has 
 been concentrated by boiling, we then are 
 sure that the lime is combined with a fixed 
 acid. 
 
 EXPERIMENT IV. 
 
 To detect the presence of iron, add to a 
 wine-glassful of the water a few drops of an 
 infusion of nut-galls ; or better, suffer a nut- 
 gall to be suspended in it for twenty-four 
 hours, which will cause the water to acquire 
 a blueish black colour, if iron be present. 
 
 EXPERIMENT V. 
 
 Add a few grains of muriate of barytes, 
 to half a wine-glass of the water to be ex- 
 amined ; if it produces a turbidness which 
 
AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 71 
 
 does not disappear by the admixture of a 
 few drops of muriatic acid, the presence of 
 sulphuric acid is rendered obvious. 
 
 EXPERIMENT VI. 
 
 If a few drops of a solution of nitrate of 
 silver occasion a milkiness with the water, 
 which vanishes again by the copious ad- 
 dition of liquid ammonia, we have reason to 
 believe that the water contains a salt, one 
 of the constituent parts of which is muriatic 
 acid. 
 
 EXPERIMENT VII. 
 
 If lime water or barytic water occasions a 
 precipitate which again vanishes by the 
 admixture of muriatic acid, then carbonic 
 acid is present in the water. 
 
72 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER, 
 EXPERIMENT VIII. 
 
 If a solution of phosphate of soda produce 
 a milkiness with the water, after a previous 
 addition to it of a similar quantity of neutral 
 carbonate of ammonia, we may then expect 
 magnesia. The application of this test is 
 best made in the following manner : 
 
 Concentrate a quantity of the water to be 
 examined to about -fa part of its bulk, and 
 drop into about half a wine-glassful, about 
 five grains of neutral carbonate of am- 
 monia. No magnesia becomes yet preci- 
 pitated if this earth be present; but on 
 adding a like quantity of phosphate of soda, 
 the magnesia falls down, as an insoluble 
 salt. It is essential that the carbonate of 
 ammonia be neutral. 
 
AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 73 
 
 The presence of oxygen gas loosely com- 
 bined in water may readily be discovered 
 in the following manner. 
 
 EXPERIMENT IX. 
 
 Fill a vial with water, and add to it a 
 small quantity of green sulphate of iron. 
 If the water be entirely free of oxygen, and 
 if the vessel be well stopped and completely 
 filled, the solution is transparent; but if 
 otherwise, it soon becomes slightly turbid, 
 from the oxide of iron attracting the oxygen, 
 and a small portion of it, in this more highly 
 oxidated state, leaving the acid and being 
 precipitated. 
 
 If we examine the different waters which 
 are used for the ordinary purposes of life, 
 
74 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 and judge of them by the above tests, we 
 shall find them to differ considerably from 
 each other. Some contain a large quantity 
 of saline and earthy matters, whilst others 
 are nearly pure. The differences are pro- 
 duced by the great solvent power which 
 water exercises upon most substances. 
 Hence wells should never be lined with 
 bricks, which render soft water hard ; or, if 
 bricks be employed, they should be bedded 
 in and covered with cement. 
 
 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF KEEPING 
 WATER IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 
 
 THE deleterious effect of lead, when taken 
 into the stomach, is at present so univer- 
 sally known, that it is quite unnecessary to 
 
KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 75 
 
 adduce any argument in proof of its dange- 
 rous tendency. 
 
 The antients were, upwards of 2000 years 
 ago, as well aware of the pernicious quality 
 of this metal as we are at the present day ; 
 and indeed they appeared to have been 
 much more apprehensive of its effects, and 
 scrupulous in the application of it to pur- 
 poses of domestic economy. 
 
 Their precautions may have been occasi- 
 onally carried to an unnecessary length. 
 This was the natural consequence of the im- 
 perfect state of experimental knowledge at 
 that period. When men were unable to 
 detect the poisonous matters to be over 
 
 scrupulous in the use of such water, was an 
 
 error on the right side. 
 
 The moderns, on the other hand, in part, 
 
 perhaps, from an ill-founded confidence, and 
 
 E2 
 
76 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 inattention to a careful and continued exa- 
 mination of its effects, have , fallen into an 
 opposite error. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the mode of pre- 
 serving water intended for food or drink in 
 leaden reservoirs, is exceedingly improper; 
 and although pure water exercises no sen- 
 sible action upon metallic lead, provided air 
 be excluded, the metal is certainly acted on 
 by the water when air is admitted : this effect 
 is so obvious, that it cannot escape the no- 
 tice of the least attentive observer. 
 
 The white line which may be seen at the 
 surface of the water preserved in leaden 
 cisterns, where the metal touches the water 
 and where the air is admitted, is a carbo- 
 nate of lead, formed at the expense of the 
 metal. This substance, when taken into the 
 stomach, is highly deleterious to health. 
 
KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 
 
 This was the reason which induced the an- 
 tients to condemn leaden pipes for the con- 
 veyance of water ; it having been remarked 
 that persons who swallowed the sediment of 
 such water, became affected with disorders 
 bowels*. 
 
 ferent potable waters have unequal 
 t powers on this metal. In some 
 
 s -"^i 
 
 places the use of leaden pumps has been 
 discontinued, from the expence entailed 
 upon the proprietors by the constant want 
 of repair. Dr. Lambf states an instance 
 where the proprietor of a well ordered his 
 plumber to make the lead of a pump of 
 double the thickness of the metal usually 
 employed for pumps, to save the charge of 
 
 * Sir G. Baker, Med. Trans, vol. i. p. 280. 
 t Lamb on Spring Water. 
 
 E 3 
 
78 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 repairs ; because he had observed that the 
 water was so hard, as he called it, that it 
 corroded the lead very soon. 
 
 The following instance is related by Sir 
 George Baker*: 
 
 " A gentleman was the father of a nume- 
 rous offspring, having had one-and-twenty 
 children, of whom eight died young, and 
 thirteen survived their parents. During 
 their infancy, and indeed until they had 
 quitted the place of their usual residence, 
 they were all remarkably unhealthy ; being 
 particularly subject to disorders of the sto- 
 mach and bowels. The father, during many 
 years, was paralytic ; the mother, for a long 
 time, was subject to colics and bilious ob- 
 structions* 
 
 * Medical Trans, vol. i. p. 420. 
 
KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 79 
 
 " After the death of the parents, the fa- 
 mily sold the house which they had so long 
 inhabited. The purchaser found it neces- 
 sary to repair the pump. This was made 
 of lead ; which, upon examination, was 
 found to be so corroded, that several perfo- 
 rations were observed in the cylinder in 
 which the bucket plays ; and the cistern in 
 the upper part was reduced to the thinness 
 of common brown paper, and was full of 
 holes, like a sieve." 
 
 I have myself seen numerous instances 
 where leaden cisterns have been completely 
 corroded by the action of water with which 
 they were in contact: and there is, perhaps, 
 not a plumber who cannot give testimony of 
 having experienced numerous similar in- 
 stances in the practices of his trade. 
 
 I have been frequently called upon to 
 E4 
 
80 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 examine leaden cisterns, which had become 
 leaky on account of the action of the water 
 which they contained ; and I could adduce 
 an instance of a legal controversy having 
 taken place to settle the disputes between 
 the proprietors of an estate and a plumber, 
 originating from a similar cause the plum- 
 ber being accused of having furnished a 
 faulty reservoir; whereas the case was 
 proved to be owing to the chemical action of 
 the water on the lead. Water containing a 
 large quantity of common air and carbonic 
 acid gas, always acts very sensibly on me- 
 tallic lead. 
 
 Water which has no sensible action, in 
 its natural state, upon lead, may acquire 
 the capability of acting on it by heteroge- 
 neous matter, which it may accidentally re- 
 ceive. Numerous instances have shewn that 
 
KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 81 
 
 vegetable matter, such as leaves, falling into 
 leaden cisterns filled with water, imparted 
 to the water a considerable solvent power 
 of action on the lead, which in its natural 
 state it did not possess. Hence the neces- 
 sity of keeping leaden cisterns clean ; and 
 this is the more necessary, as their situations 
 expose them to accidental impurities. The 
 noted saturnine colic of Amsterdam, des- 
 cribed by Tronchen, originated from such a 
 circumstance; as also the case related by 
 Van Swieten*, of a whole family afflicted 
 with the same complaint, from such a cis- 
 tern. And it is highly probable that the 
 case of disease recorded by Dr. Duncanf, 
 
 * Van Swieten ad Boerhaave, Aphorisms, 1060, 
 Comment. 
 
 t Medical Comment. Dec. 2, 1794. 
 E5 
 
82 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 proceeded more from some foulness in the 
 cistern, than from the solvent power of the 
 water. In this instance the officers of the 
 packet boat used water for their drink and 
 cooking out of a leaden cistern, whilst the 
 sailors used the water taken from the same 
 source, except that theirs was kept in 
 wooden vessels. The consequence was, 
 that all the officers were seized with the 
 colic, and all the men continued healthy. 
 
 The carelessness of the bulk of mankind, 
 Dr. Lambe very justly observes, to these 
 things, " is so great, that to repeat them 
 again and again cannot be wholly useless." 
 Although the great majority of persons 
 who daily use water kept in leaden cisterns 
 receive no sensible injury, yet the apparent 
 salubrity must be ascribed to the great slow- 
 
KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 83 
 
 ness of its operation, and the minuteness of 
 the dose taken, the effects of which become 
 modified by different causes and different 
 constitutions, and according to the predis- 
 positions to diseases inherent in different 
 individuals. The supposed security of the 
 multitude who use the water with impunity 
 amounts to no more than presumption, in 
 favour of any individual, which may or may 
 not be confirmed by experience. 
 
 Independent of the morbid susceptibility 
 of impressions which distinguish certain ha- 
 bits, there is, besides, much variety in the 
 original constitution of the human frame, of 
 which we are totally ignorant. 
 
 " The susceptibility or proneness to dis- 
 ease of each individual, must be esteemed 
 peculiar to himself. Confiding to the expe- 
 E 6 
 
84 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER. 
 
 rience of others is a ground of security 
 which may prove fallacious ; and the danger 
 can with certainty be obviated only by 
 avoiding its source. And ^considering the 
 various and complicated changes of the 
 human frame, under different circumstances 
 and at different ages, it is neither impossible 
 nor improbable that the substances taken 
 into the system at one period, and even for 
 a series of years, with apparent impunity, 
 may, notwithstanding, at another period, be 
 eventually the occasion of disease and of 
 death. 
 
 " The experience of a single person, or of 
 many persons, however numerous, is quite 
 incompetent to the decision of a question of 
 this nature. 
 
 " The pernicious effects of an intemperate 
 use of spirituous liquors is not less certain 
 
KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 85 
 
 because we often see habitual drunkards 
 enjoy a good state of health, and arrive at old 
 age : and the same may be said of individuals 
 who indulge in vices of all kinds, evidently 
 destructive to life ; many of whom, in spite 
 of their bad habits, attain to a vigorous old 
 age*." 
 
 In confirmation of these remarks, we ad- 
 duce the following account of the effect of 
 water contaminated by lead, given by Sir 
 G. Baker: 
 
 " The most remarkable case on the sub- 
 ject that now occurs to my memory, is that 
 of Lord Ashburnham's family, in Sussex; 
 to which spring water was applied, from a 
 considerable distance, in leaden pipes. In 
 consequence, his Lordship's servants were 
 
 * Lambe on Spring Water. 
 
86 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 every year tormented with colic, and some 
 of them died. An 'eminent physician, of 
 Battle, who corresponded with me on the 
 subject, sent up some gallons of that water, 
 which were analysed by Dr. Higgins, who 
 reported that the water had contained more 
 than the common quantity of carbonic acid ; 
 and that he found in it lead in solution, 
 which he attributed to the carbonic acid. 
 In consequence of this, Lord Ashburnham 
 substituted wooden for leaden pipes; and 
 from that time his family have had no par- 
 ticular complaints in their bowels," 
 Richmond, Sept. 27, 1802. 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING LEAD IN 
 WATER. 
 
 ONE of the most delicate tests for detect- 
 ing lead, is water impregnated with sulphu- 
 
LEAD IN WATER. 87 
 
 retted hydrogen gas, which instantly im- 
 parts to the fluid containing the minutest 
 quantity of lead, a brown or blackish tinge. 
 This test is so delicate that distilled water, 
 when condensed by a leaden pipe in a still 
 tub, is effected by it. To shew the action of 
 this test, the following experiments will 
 serve. 
 
 EXPERIMENT T. 
 
 Pour into a wine-glass containing distilled 
 water, an equal quantity of water impreg- 
 nated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas: no 
 change will take place ; but if a J of a grain 
 of aeetate of lead (sugar of lead of com- 
 merce,) be added, the mixture will instantly 
 turn brown and dark-coloured. 
 
88 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 To apply this test, one part of the sus- 
 pected water need merely to be mingled with 
 a like quantity of water impregnated with 
 sulphuretted hydrogen. Or better, a larger 
 quantity, a gallon for example, of the water 
 may be concentrated by evaporation to 
 about half a pint, and then submitted to the 
 action of the test. 
 
 Another and more efficient mode of ap- 
 plying this test, is, to pass a current of sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen gas through the sus- 
 pected water in the following manner. 
 
 EXPERIMENT II. 
 
 Take a bottle* (a) or Florence flask, 
 adapt to the mouth of it a cork furnished 
 
 * See the Figure, page 89. 
 
LEAD IN WATER. 
 
 with a glass tube (6) bent at right angles ; 
 let one leg of the tube be immersed in the 
 vial (c) containing the water to be examined ; 
 as shewn in the following sketch. Then 
 
 take one part of the sulphuret of antimony 
 of commerce, break it into pieces of half the 
 size of split pease, put it into the flask, and 
 pour upon it four parts of common concen- 
 trated muriatic acid (spirit of salt of com- 
 merce.) Sulphuretted hydrogen gas will 
 become disengaged from the materials in 
 abundance, and pass through the water in 
 the vial (c). Let the extrication of the gas 
 be continued for about five minutes ; and if 
 
90 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 the minutest quantity of lead be present, the 
 water will acquire a dark-brown or blackish 
 tinge. The extrication of the gas is facili- 
 tated by the application of a gentle heat. 
 
 The action of the sulphuretted hydrogen 
 test, when applied in this manner, is asto- 
 nishingly great ; for one part of acetate of 
 lead may be detected by it, in 20,000 parts 
 of water*. 
 
 Sulphate of potash, or sulphate of soda, is 
 likewise a very delicate test for detecting 1 
 
 * See An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Tun- 
 bridge Wells, by Dr. Scudamore, p. 55. 
 
 The application of the sulphuretted hydrogen test 
 requires some precaution in those cases where other 
 metals besides lead may be expected ; because silver, 
 quicksilver, tin, copper, and several other metals, are 
 effected by it, as well as lead ; but there is no chance 
 of these metals being met with in common water. See 
 Chemical Tests, third edition, p. 207. 
 
LEAD IN WATER. 91 
 
 minute portions of lead. Dr. Thomson* dis- 
 covered, by means of it, one part of lead in 
 in 100,000 parts of water ; and this acute 
 Philosopher considers it as the most une- 
 quivocal test of lead that we possess. Dr. 
 Thomson remarks that " no other precipi- 
 tate can well be confounded with it, except 
 sulphate of barytes ; and there is no proba- 
 bility of the presence of barytes existing in 
 common water." 
 
 Analysis of Tunbridge Wells Water, by Dr. Scu- 
 damore, p. 5$. 
 
8totUterattott of 
 
 IT is sufficiently obvious, that few of those 
 commodities, which are the objects of com- 
 merce, are adulterated to a greater extent 
 than wine. All persons moderately conver- 
 sant with the subject, are aware, that a por- 
 tion of alum is added to young and meagre 
 red wines, for the purpose of brightening 
 their colour; that Brazil wood, or the husks 
 of elderberries and bilberries*, are employed 
 to impart a deep rich purple tint to red 
 Port of a pale, faint colour ; that gypsum is 
 used to render cloudy white wines transpa- 
 rent ; that an additional astringency is im- 
 
 * Dried bilberries are imported from Germany, under 
 the fallacious name of berry 'dye. 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. 93 
 
 parted to immature red wines by means of 
 oak-wood sawdust*, and the busks of fil- 
 berts; and that a mixture of spoiled foreign 
 and home-made wines is converted into the 
 wretched compound frequently sold in this 
 town by the name of* genuine old Port.' 
 
 Various expedients are resorted to for the 
 purpose of communicating particular fla- 
 vours to insipid wines. Thus a nutty flavour 
 is produced by bitter almonds ; factitious 
 Port wine is flavoured with a tincture drawn 
 from the seeds of raisins ; and the ingre- 
 dients employed to form the bouquet of 
 high-flavoured wines, are sweet-brier, oris- 
 root, clary, cherry laurel water, and elder 
 flowers. 
 
 * Sawdust for this purpose is chiefly supplied by the 
 ship-builders, and forms a regular article of commerce 
 of the brewers' druggists. 
 
94 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 The flavouring ingredients used by ma- 
 nufacturers, may all be purchased by those 
 dealers in wine who are initiated in the 
 mysteries of the trade ; and even a manu- 
 script receipt book for preparing them, 
 and. the whole mystery of managing all 
 sorts of wines, may be obtained on payment 
 of a considerable fee. 
 
 The sophistication of wine with substances 
 not absolutely noxious to health, is carried 
 to an enormous extent in this metropolis. 
 Many thousand pipes of spoiled cyder are 
 annually brought hither from the country, 
 for the purpose of being converted into fac- 
 titious Port wine. The art of manufacturing 
 spurious wine is a regular trade of great 
 extent in this metropolis. 
 
 " There is, in this city, a certain frater- 
 nity of chemical operators, who work under- 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. 95 
 
 ground in holes, caverns, and dark retire- 
 ments, to conceal their mysteries from the 
 eyes and observation of mankind. These 
 subterraneous philosophers are daily em- 
 ployed in the transmutation of liquors, and 
 by the power of magical drugs and incan- 
 tations, raising under the streets of London 
 the choicest products of the hills and val- 
 leys of France. They can squeeze Bour- 
 deaux out of the sloe, and draw Champagne 
 from an apple. Virgil, in that remarkable 
 prophecy, 
 
 Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva. 
 
 Virg. Eel. iv. 29. 
 
 The ripening grape shall hang on every thorn. 
 seems to have hinted at this art, which ean 
 turn a plantation of northern hedges into a 
 vineyard. These adepts are known among 
 one another by the name of Wine-brewers ; 
 
96 ADULTERATION OF WINE* 
 
 and, I am afraid, do great injury, not only 
 to Her Majesty's customs, but to the bodies 
 of many of her good subjects*. " 
 
 Recipes for manufacturing spurious wines 
 may be seen in Dr. Reece's Gazette of 
 Health, No. 7, and in the Supplement to the 
 Pharmacopoeias, p. 245. 
 
 CRUSTING OF WINE BOTTLES, AND 
 OTHER NEFARIOUS ARTIFICES COM- 
 MITTED BY FRAUDULENT WINE 
 MERCHANTS. 
 
 THE particular and separate department 
 in this factitious wine trade, called crusting, 
 consists of lining the interior surface of 
 
 * Tatler, vol. viii. p. 110, edit. 1797, 8vo. 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. 97 
 
 fempty wine-bottles, in part, with a red crust 
 of super-tartrate of potash , by suffering a 
 saturated hot solution of this salt, coloured 
 red with a decoction of Rrazil-wood, to crys- 
 tallize within them ; and after this simula- 
 tion of maturity is perfected, they are filled 
 with the compound called Port Wine. 
 
 Other artisans are regularly employed in 
 staining the lower extremities of bottle-corks 
 with a fine red colour, to appear, on being 
 drawn, as if they had been long in contact 
 with the wine. 
 
 The preparation of an astringent extract, 
 to produce, from spoiled home-made and 
 foreign wines, a " genuine old Port," by 
 mere admixture ; or to impart to a weak 
 wine a rough austere taste, a fine colour, 
 and a peculiar flavour ; forms one branch of 
 the business of particular wine-coopers ; 
 
98 ADULTERATION OF WINE, 
 
 while the mellowing and restoring of spoiled 
 white wines, is the sole occupation of men 
 who are called refiners of wine. 
 
 We have stated that a crystalline crust 
 is formed on the interior surface of bottles, 
 for the purpose of misleading the unwary 
 into a belief that the wine contained in them 
 is of a certain age. A correspondent oper- 
 ation is performed on the wooden cask ; the 
 whole interior of which is stained artificially 
 with a crystalline crust of super-tartrate of 
 potash, artfully affixed in a manner pre- 
 cisely similar to that before stated. Thus 
 the wine-merchant, after bottling off a pipe 
 of wine, is enabled to impose on the under- 
 standing of his customers, by taking to 
 pieces the cask, and exhibiting the beautiful 
 dark coloured and fine crystalline crust, as 
 an indubitable proof of the age of the wine ; 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. 99 
 
 a practice by no means uncommon, to flatter 
 the vanity of those who pride themselves 
 in their acute discrimination of wines. 
 
 These and many other sophistications, 
 which have long been practised with impu- 
 nity, are considered as legitimate by those 
 who pride themselves for their skill in the 
 art of managing, or, according to the fa- 
 miliar phrase, doctoring wines. The plea 
 alledged in exculpation of them, is, that, 
 though deceptive, they are harmless : but 
 even admitting this as a palliation, yet they 
 form only one department of an art which 
 includes other processes of a tendency ab- 
 solutely criminal. 
 
 _ Several well-authenticated facts have con- 
 vinced me that the adulteration of wine 
 with substances deleterious to health, is cer- 
 tainly practised oftener than is, perhaps, 
 
 F2 
 
100 ADULTERATION OF WINE* 
 
 suspected ; and it would be easy to give 
 some instances of very serious effects hav- 
 ing arisen from wines contaminated with 
 deleterious substances, were this a subject 
 on which I meant to speak. The following 
 statement is copied from the Monthly Ma- 
 gazine for March 1811, p. 188. 
 
 " On the 17th of January, the passengers 
 by the Highflyer coach, from the north, 
 dined, as usual, at Newark. A bottle of 
 Port wine was ordered ; on tasting which, 
 one of the passengers observed that it had 
 an unpleasant flavour, and begged that it 
 might be changed. The waiter took away 
 the bottle, poured into a fresh decanter 
 half the wine which had been objected to, 
 and filled it up from another bottle. This 
 he took into the room, and the greater 
 part was drank by the passengers, who, 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. 101 
 
 after the coach had set out towards Grarv- 
 tham, were seized with extreme sickness ; 
 one gentleman in particular, who had taken 
 more of the wine than the others, it was 
 thought would have died, but has since re- 
 covered. The half of the bottle of wine sent 
 out of the passengers' room, was put aside 
 for the purpose of mixing negus. In the 
 evening, Mr. Bland, of Newark, went into 
 the hotel, and drank a glass or two of wine 
 $nd water. He returned home at his usual 
 hour, and went to bed; in the middle of the 
 night he was taken so ill, as to induce Mrs. 
 Bland to send for his brother, an apothecary 
 in the town ; but before that gentleman ar- 
 rived, he was dead. An inquest was held, 
 and the jury, after the fullest inquiry, and 
 the examination of the surgeons by whom 
 r3 
 
102 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 the body was opened, returned a verdict of 
 Died by Poison." 
 
 DANGEROUS ADULTERATION OF WINE 
 WITH POISONOUS SUBSTANCES. 
 
 THE most dangerous adulteration of wine 
 is by some preparations of lead, which pos- 
 sess the property of stopping the progress 
 of acescence of wine, and also of rendering 
 white wines, when muddy, transparent. I 
 have good reason to state that lead is cer- 
 tainly employed for this purpose. The 
 effect is very rapid ; and there appears to 
 be no other method known, of rapidly re- 
 covering ropy wines. Wine merchants per- 
 suade themselves that the miniate quantity 
 
ADULTERATION OP WINE. 103 
 
 of lead employed for that purpose is per- 
 fectly harmless, and that no atom of lead 
 remains in the wine* Chemical analysis 
 proves the contrary; and the practice of 
 clarifying spoiled white wines by means of 
 lead, must be pronounced as highly dele- 
 terious. 
 
 Lead* in whatever state it be taken into 
 the stomach, occasions terrible diseases ; 
 and wine, adulterated with the minutest 
 quantity of it, becomes a slow poison. The 
 merchant or dealer who practises this dan- 
 gerous sophistication, adds the crime of 
 murder to that of fraud, and deliberately 
 scatters the seeds of disease and death 
 among those consumers who contribute to 
 his emolument. If to debase the current 
 coin of the realm be denounced as a capital 
 offence, what punishment should be awarded 
 
104 ADULTERATION OF WINE* 
 
 against a practice which converts into poison 
 a liquor used for sacred purposes ? 
 
 Dr. Watson* relates, that the method of 
 adulterating wine with lead, was at one time 
 a common practice in Paris. 
 
 Dr. Warren f states an instance of thirty- 
 two persons having become severely ill, 
 after drinking white wine that had been 
 adulterated with lead. One of them died, 
 and one became paralytic. 
 
 In Graham's Treatise on Wine-Making J, 
 under the article of Secrets, belonging to 
 the mysteries of vintners, p. 31, lead is re- 
 
 * Chemical Essays, vol. viii. p. 369. 
 
 t Medical Trans, vol. ii. p. 80. 
 
 J This book, which has run through many editions, 
 may be supposed to have done some mischief. In the 
 Vintner's Guide, 4th edit. 1770, p. 67, a lump of sugar 
 of lead, of the size of a walnut, and a table-spoonful of 
 sal eni^um, are a*irected to be added to a tierce (forty- 
 $wo gallons) of muddy wine 3 to cure it of its muddiness* 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE, 105 
 
 commended to prevent wine from becoming 
 acid. The following lines are copied from 
 Mr. Graham's work : 
 
 " To hinder Wine from turning. 
 
 " Put a pound of melted lead, in fair 
 water, into your cask, pretty warm, and stop 
 it close," 
 
 " To soften Grey Wine. 
 
 " Put in a little vinegar wherein litharge 
 has been well steeped, and boil some honey, 
 to draw out the wax. Strain it through a 
 cloth, and put a quart of it into a tierce of 
 wine, and this will mend it." 
 
 ACCIDENTAL IMPREGNATION OF WINE 
 WITH LEAD. 
 
 IT is well known that bottles in which 
 wine has been kept, are usually cleaned 
 
 F5 
 
106 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 by means of shot, which by its rolling motion 
 detaches the super-tartrite of potash from 
 the sides of the bottles. This practice, which 
 is generally pursued by wine-merchants, 
 may give rise to serious consequences, as 
 will become evident from the following- 
 case*: 
 
 " A gentleman who had never in his life 
 experienced a day's illness, and who was 
 constantly in the habit of drinking half a 
 bottle of Madeira wine after his dinner, was 
 taken ill, three hours after dinner, with a se- 
 vere pain in the stomach and violent bowel 
 colic, which gradually yielded within twelve 
 hours to the remedies prescribed by his 
 medical adviser. The day following he 
 drank the remainder of the same bottle of 
 
 * Philosophical Magazine, 1819, No. 257/p. 229. 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. 107 
 
 wine which was left the preceding day, and 
 within two hours afterwards he was again 
 seized with the most violent colliquative 
 pains, headach, shiverings, and great pain 
 over the whole body. His apothecary be- 
 coming suspicious that the wine he had 
 drunk might be the cause of the disease, 
 ordered the bottle from which the wine had 
 been decanted, to be brought to him, with 
 a view that he might examine the dregs, if 
 any were left. The bottle happening to slip 
 out of the hand of the servant, disclosed a 
 row of shot wedged forcibly into the angu- 
 lar bent-up circumference of it. On ex- 
 amining the beads of shot, they crumbled 
 into dust, the outer crust (defended by a 
 coat of black lead with which the shot is 
 glazed) being alone left unacted on, whilst 
 the remainder of the metal was dissolved. 
 F 6 
 
108 ADULTERATION OF WINE, 
 
 The wine, therefore, had become contami- 
 nated with lead and arsenic, the shot being- 
 a compound of these metals, which no 
 doubt had produced the mischief." 
 
 TEST FOR DETECTING THE DELETE- 
 RIOUS ADULTERATIONS OF WINE. 
 
 A READY re-agent for detecting the pre- 
 sence of lead, or any other deleterious metal 
 in wine, is known by the name of the wine 
 test. It consists of water saturated with 
 sulphuretted hydrogen gas, acidulated with 
 muriatic acid. By adding one part of it, to 
 two of wine, or any other liquid suspected 
 to contain lead, a dark coloured or black 
 precipitate will fall down, which does not 
 disappear by an addition of muriatic acid 
 
ADULTERATION OP WINE. 109 
 
 and this precipitate, dried and fused before 
 the blowpipe on a piece of charcoal, yields a 
 globule of metallic lead. This test does not 
 precipitate iron ; the muriatic acid retains 
 iron in solution when combined with sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen; and any acid in the 
 wine has no effect in precipitating any of 
 the sulphur of the test liquor. Or a still 
 more efficacious method is, to pass a current 
 of sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the 
 wine, in the manner described, p. 89, having 
 previously acidulated the wine with muria- 
 tic acid. 
 
 The wine test sometimes employed is pre- 
 pared in the following manner : Mix equal 
 parts of finely powdered sulphur and of 
 slaked quick-lime, and expose it to a red 
 heat for twenty minutes. To thirty-six 
 grains of this sulphate of lime, add twenty- 
 
110 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 six grains of stiper-tartrate of potassa ; put 
 the mixture into an ounce bottle, and fill up 
 the bottle with water that has been previ- 
 ously boiled, and suffered to cool. The li- 
 quor, after having been repeatedly shaken, 
 and allowed to become clear, by the subsi- 
 dence of the undissolved matter, may then 
 be poured into another phial, into which 
 about twenty drops of muriatic acid have 
 been previously put. It is then ready for 
 use. This test, when mingled with wine 
 containing lead or copper, turns the wine of 
 a dark-brown or black colour. But the 
 mere application of sulphuretted hydrogen 
 gas to wine, acidulated by muriatic acid, is 
 a far more preferable mode of detecting lead 
 in wine. 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. Ill 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING EXTRANEOUS 
 COLOURS IN RED WINE. 
 
 M. VOGEL* has lately recommended ace- 
 tate of lead as a test for detecting extrane- 
 ous colours in red wine. He remarks, that 
 none of the substances that can be employed 
 for colouring wine, such as the berries of the 
 Vaccinium Martillus (bilberries,) elderber- 
 ries, and Campeach wood, produce with ge- 
 nuine red wine, a greenish grey precipitate, 
 which is the colour that is procured by this 
 
 test by means of genuine red wines. 
 
 / 
 
 Wine coloured with the juice of the bil- 
 berries, or elderberries, or Campeach wood, 
 
 * Journ. Pharm. iv. 56. (Feb. 1818,) and Thomson's 
 Annals, Sept. 1818, p. 232. 
 
112 ADULTERATION OF WINE, 
 
 produces, with acetate of lead, a deep blue 
 precipitate ; and Brazil-wood, red saunders, 
 and the red beet, produce a colour which is 
 precipitated red by acetate of lead. Wine 
 coloured by beet root is also rendered co- 
 lourless by lime water ; but the weakest 
 acid brings back the colour. As the colour- 
 ing matter of red wines resides in the skin 
 of the grape, M. Vogel prepared a quantity 
 of skins, and reduced them to powder. In 
 this state he found that they communicated 
 to alcohol a deep red colour : a paper stained 
 with this colour was rendered red by acids 
 and green by alkalies. 
 
 M. Vogel made a quantity of red wine 
 from black grapes, for the purpose of his ex- 
 periments ; and this produced the genuine 
 greyish green precipitate with acetate of 
 lead. He also found the same coloured 
 
ANALYSIS OF WINE. 113 
 
 precipitate in two specimens of red wine, the 
 genuineness of which could not be sus* 
 pected; the one from Chateau-Margeaux, 
 and the other from the neighbourhood of 
 Coblentz. 
 
 SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES OF VARIOUS 
 KINDS OF FOREIGN WINES. 
 
 EVERY body knows that no product of 
 the arts varies so much as wine ; that dif- 
 ferent countries, and sometimes the different 
 provinces of the same country, produce dif- 
 ferent wines. These differences, no doubt, 
 must be attributed chiefly to the climate in 
 which the vineyard is situated to its cul- 
 ture the quantity of sugar contained in the 
 grape juice the manufacture of the wine, 
 
114 ANALYSIS OP WINE. 
 
 or tbe mode of suffering its fermentation 
 to be accomplished. If the grapes be ga- 
 thered unripe, the wine abounds with acid ;\ 
 but if the fruit be gathered ripe, the wine 
 will be rich. When the proportion of sugar 
 in the grape is sufficient, and the fermenta- 
 tion complete, the wine is perfect and ge- 
 nerous. If the quantity of sugar be too 
 large, part of it remains undecomposed, as 
 the fermentation is languid, and the wine is 
 sweet and luscious ; if, on the contrary, it 
 contains, even when full ripe, only a small 
 portion of sugar, the wine is thin and weak ; 
 
 and if it be bottled before the fermentation 
 
 
 
 be completed, part of the sugar remains un- 
 decomposed, the fermentation will go on 
 slowly in the bottle, and on drawing the 
 cork, the wine sparkles in the glass ; as, for 
 example, Champagne. Such wines are not 
 
ANALYSIS OF WINE. 115 
 
 sufficiently mature. When the must is 
 separated from the husk of the red grape 
 before it is fermented, the wine has little or 
 no colour : these are called white wines. I 
 on the contrary, the husks are allowed to 
 remain in the must while the fermentation 
 is going on, the alcohol dissolves the colour- 
 ing matter of the husks, and the wine is co- 
 loured : such are called red wines. Hence 
 white wines are often prepared from red 
 grapes, the liquor being drawn off before it 
 has acquired the red colour; for the skin of 
 the grape only gives the colour. Besides 
 in these principal circumstances, wines 
 vary much in flavour. 
 
 CHEMICAJL CONSTITUTION AND COM- 
 PONENT PARTS OF WINE. 
 
 ALL wines contain one common and iden- 
 tical principle, from which their similar 
 
116 ANALYSIS OF WINE. 
 
 effects are produced : namely, brandy or 
 alcohol. It is especially by the different 
 proportions of brandy contained in wines, 
 that they differ most from one another. 
 When wine is distilled, the alcohol readily 
 separates* The spirit thus obtained is well 
 known under the name of brandy. 
 
 All wines contain also a free acid; hence 
 they turn blue tincture of cabbage, red. 
 The acid found in the greatest abundance 
 in grape wines, is tartaric acid. Every 
 wine contains likewise a portion of super- 
 tartrate of potash, and extractive matter, de- 
 rived from the juice of the grape. These 
 substances deposit slowly in the vessel in 
 which they are kept. To this is owing the 
 improvement of wine from age. Those 
 wines which effervesce or froth, when 
 poured into a glass, contain also carbonic 
 acid, to which their briskness is owing. 
 
ANALYSIS OF WINE. 117 
 
 The peculiar flavour and odour of different 
 kinds of wine probably depend upon the 
 presence of a volatile oi7, so small in quan- 
 tity that it cannot be separated. 
 
 METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUAN- 
 TITY OF SPIRIT CONTAINED IN VA- 
 RIOUS SORTS OF WINE. 
 
 THE strength of all wines depends upon 
 the quantity of alcohol or brandy which they 
 contain, Mr. Brande, and Gay Lussac, 
 have proved, by very decisive experiments, 
 that all wines contain brandy or alcohol 
 ready formed. The following is the process 
 discovered by Mr. Brande, for ascertaining 
 the quantity of spirit, or brandy, contained 
 in different sorts of wine. 
 
118 ANALYSIS OF WINE. 
 
 Experiment. 
 
 Add to eight parts, by measure, of the 
 wine to be examined, one part of a concen- 
 trated solution of sub-acetate of lead: a 
 dense insoluble precipitate will ensue; 
 which is a combination of the test liquor with 
 the colouring, extractive, and acid matter of 
 the wine. Shake the mixture for a few mi- 
 nutes, pour the whole upon a filtre, and 
 collect the filtered fluid. It contains the 
 brandy or spirit, and water of the wine, 
 together with a portion of the sub-acetate of 
 lead. Add, in small quantities at a time, to 
 this fluid, warm, dry, and pure sub-carbo- 
 nate of potash (not salt of tartar, or sub- 
 carbonate of potash of commerce), which 
 has previously been freed from water by 
 heat, till the last portion added remains un- 
 
ANALYSIS OF WINE, 119 
 
 dissolved. The brandy or spirit contained 
 in the fluid will become separated ; for the 
 sub-carbonate of potash abstracts from it the 
 whole of the water with which it was com- 
 bined ; the brandy or spirit of wine forming 
 a distinct stratum, which floats upon the 
 aqueous solution of the alkaline salt. If the 
 experiment be made in a glass tube, from 
 one half inch to two inches in diameter, and 
 graduated into 100 equal parts, the per cen- 
 tage of spirit, in a given quantity of wine, 
 may be read off by mere inspection. In this 
 manner the strength of any wine may be 
 examined. 
 
120 
 
 QUANTITY OF BRANDY 
 
 Per Centage of Alcohol* contained in 
 various kinds of Wine and other fer- 
 mented Liquors'f. 
 
 Proportion of Spirit 
 per cent. 
 
 Proportion of Spirit 
 per cent. 
 
 by measure. 
 
 by measure* 
 
 Lissa 
 
 26,47 
 
 Port 
 
 .. 25,83 
 
 Ditto 
 
 24,35 
 
 Ditto 
 
 ,. 24,29 
 
 Average 
 
 25,41 
 
 Ditto 
 
 ,. 23,71 
 
 Raisin Wine 
 
 26,40 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . 23,39 
 
 Ditto , 
 
 25,77 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . 22,30 
 
 Ditto 
 
 23,30 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . 2^40 
 
 Average 
 
 25,12 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . 19,96 
 
 
 26,03 
 
 Average 
 
 ,. 22,96 
 
 Ditto 
 
 25,05 
 
 Sherry 
 
 . 19,81 
 
 Average 
 
 25,09 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . 19,83 
 
 Madeira 
 
 24,42 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . 18,79 
 
 Ditto 
 
 23,93 
 
 Ditto 
 
 . 18,25 
 
 Ditto (Sercial} 
 
 21,40 
 
 Average 
 
 . 19,17 
 
 Ditto 
 
 19,24 
 
 Teneriffe 
 
 . 19,79 
 
 Average 
 
 22,27 
 
 Golares 
 
 . 19,75 
 
 * Of a Specific Gravity, 825.^- 
 t Philosophical Trans. 1811, p. 345; 1813, p. 87; 
 Journal of Science and the Arts, No viii. p. 290. 
 
CONTAINED IN WINE. 
 
 121 
 
 Lachryma Christi... 
 
 19,70 
 
 Claret 
 
 16,32 
 
 Constantia (White) 
 
 19,75 
 
 Ditto , 
 
 14,08 
 
 Ditto (Red) 
 
 18,92 
 
 Ditto 
 
 12,91 
 
 Lisbon 
 
 18,94 
 
 Average 
 
 15,10 
 
 Malaga (1666) 
 
 18,94 
 
 Malmsey Madeira.. 
 
 16,40 
 
 Bucellas 
 
 18,49 
 
 Lunel 
 
 15,52 
 
 Red Madeira 
 
 22,30 
 
 Sheraaz 
 
 15,52 
 
 Ditto 
 
 18,40 
 
 Syracuse 
 
 15,28 
 
 Average 
 
 20,35 
 
 Sauterne 
 
 14,22 
 
 Cape Muschat 
 
 18,25 
 
 Burgundy 
 
 16,60 
 
 Cape Madeira 
 
 22,94 
 
 Ditto 
 
 15,22 
 
 Ditto 
 
 20,50 
 
 Ditto 
 
 14,53 
 
 Ditto 
 
 18,11 
 
 Ditto 
 
 11,95 
 
 Average 
 
 20,51 
 
 Average 
 
 14,57 
 
 Grape Wine 
 
 18,11 
 
 Hock. 
 
 14,37 
 
 Calcavella 
 
 19,20 
 
 Ditto 
 
 13,00 
 
 Ditto 
 
 18,10 
 
 Ditto (old iu cask). 
 
 8,68 
 
 Average 
 
 18,65 
 
 Average 
 
 12,08 
 
 Vidonia 
 
 19,25 
 
 Nice 
 
 14,62 
 
 Alba Flora 
 
 17,26 
 
 Barsac 
 
 13,86 
 
 Malaga 
 
 17,26 
 
 Tent 
 
 13,30 
 
 Hermitage (White) 
 
 17,43 
 
 Champagne (Still).. 
 
 13,80 
 
 Roussillon 
 
 19,00 
 
 Ditto (Sparkling)... 
 
 12,80 
 
 Ditto 
 
 17,20 
 
 Ditto (Red) 
 
 12,56 
 
 Average 
 
 18,13 
 
 Ditto (ditto) 
 
 11,30 
 
 Claret... 
 
 17,11 
 
 Average 
 
 12,61 
 
122 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 Red Hermitage 12,32 Mead 7,32 
 
 Vin de Grave 13,94 Ale (Burton) 8,88 
 
 Ditto 12,80 Ditto (Edinburgh). 6,20 
 
 Average 13,37 Ditto (Dorchester). 5,50 
 
 Frontignac 12,79 Average 6,87 
 
 Cote Rotie 12,32 Brown Stout 6,80 
 
 Gooseberry Wine... 11,84 LondonPorteraverage4,20 
 
 Currant Wine 20,55 Do. SmaUBeer, do. 1,28 
 
 Orange Wine average 11, 26 Brandy 53,39 
 
 Tokay 9,88 Rum 53,68 
 
 Elder Wine 9,87 Gin 51,60 
 
 Cyder highest average 9,87 Scotch Whiskey 54,32 
 
 Ditto lowest ditto... 5,21 Irish ditto 53,90 
 
 Perry average 7,26 
 
 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF HOME- 
 MADE WINES. 
 
 BESIDES grapes, the most valuable of the 
 articles of which wine is made, there are a 
 considerable number of fruits from which a 
 vinous liquor is obtained. Of such, we have 
 in this country the gooseberry, the currant, 
 
ADULTERATION OF WINE. 123 
 
 the elderberry, the cherry, &c. which fer- 
 ment well, and afford what are called home- 
 made wines. 
 
 They differ chiefly from foreign wines in 
 containing a much larger quantity of acid. 
 Dr. Macculloch* has remarked that the acid 
 in home-made wines is principally the malic 
 acid ; while in grape wines it is the tartaric 
 acid. 
 
 The great deficiency in these wines, inde- 
 pendent of the flavour, which chiefly origi- 
 nates, not from the juice, but from the seeds 
 and husks of the fruits, is the excess of acid, 
 Which is but imperfectly concealed by the 
 addition of sugar. This is owing, chiefly, as 
 Dr. Macculloch remarks, to the tartaric acid 
 
 * Macculloch on Wine. This is by far the best 
 Treatise published in this country on the Manufacture 
 of Home-made Wines. 
 
 G 2 
 
124 ADULTERATION OP WINE. 
 
 existing in the grape juice in the state of 
 super-tartrate of potash, which is in part de- 
 composed during the fermentation, and the 
 rest becomes gradually precipitated ; whilst 
 the malic acid exists in the currant and 
 gooseberry juice in the form of malate of 
 potash; which salt does not appear to suffer 
 a decomposition during the fermentation of 
 the wine ; and, by its greater solubility, is 
 retained in the wine. Hence Dr. Maccul- 
 loch recommends the addition of super-tar- 
 trate of potash, in the manufacture of Bri- 
 tish wines. They also contain a much 
 larger proportion of mucilage than wines 
 made from grapes. The juice of the goose- 
 berry contains some portion of the tartaric 
 acid ; hence it is better suited for the pro- 
 duction of what is called English Cham- 
 pagne, than any other fruit of this country. 
 
of 
 
 THIS is one of the sophistications of the 
 articles of food most commonly practised in 
 this metropolis, where the goodness of bread 
 is estimated entirely by its whiteness. It is 
 therefore usual to add a certain quantity of 
 alum to the dough ; this improves the look 
 of the bread very much, and renders it whiter 
 and firmer. Good, white, and porous bread 
 may certainly be manufactured from good 
 wheaten flour alone; but to produce the 
 degree of whiteness rendered indispensable 
 by the caprice of the consumers in London, 
 it is necessary (unless the very best flour is 
 employed,) that the dough should be 
 
 bleached; and no substance has hitherto 
 o 3 
 
126 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 been found to answer this purpose better 
 than alum. 
 
 Without this 'salt, it is impossible to make 
 bread, from the kind of flour usually em- 
 ployed by the London bakers, so white as 
 that which is commonly sold in the metro- 
 polis. 
 
 If the alum be omitted, the bread has a 
 slight yellowish grey hue as may be seen 
 in the instance of what is called home-made 
 bread, of private families. 
 
 The quantity of alum requisite to produce 
 the required whiteness and porosity, depends 
 entirely upon the genuineness of the flour, 
 and the quality of the grain from which the 
 flour is obtained. The mealman makes dif- 
 ferent sorts of flour from the same kind of 
 grain, The best flour is mostly used by the 
 biscuit bakers and pastry cooks, and the in- 
 
ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 127 
 
 ferior sorts in the making* of bread. The 
 bakers' flour is very often made of the worst 
 kinds of foreign damaged wheat, and other 
 cereal grains mixed with them in grinding* 
 the wheat into flour. In this capital, no 
 fewer than six distinct kinds of wheaten 
 flour are brought into market. They are 
 called line flour, seconds, middlings, fine 
 middlings, coarse middlings, and twenty- 
 penny flour. Common garden beans, and 
 pease, are also frequently ground up among 
 the London bread flour. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD WITH ALUM. 
 
 I have been assured by several bakers^on 
 whose testimony I can rely, that the small 
 profit attached to the bakers' trade, and the 
 o 4 
 
128 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 bad quality of the flour, induce the genera- 
 lity of the London bakers to use alum in the 
 making 1 of their bread. 
 
 The smallest quantity of alum that can be 
 employed with effect to produce awhite,1ight, 
 and porous bread, from an inferior kind of 
 flour,I have my own baker's authority to state, 
 is from three to four ounces to a sack of flour, 
 weighing 240 pounds. The alum is either 
 mixed well in the form of powder, with a 
 quantity of flour previously made into a 
 liquid paste with water, and then incorpo- 
 rated with the dough ; or the alum is dis- 
 solved in the water employed for mixing up 
 the whole quantity of the flour for making 
 the dough. 
 
 Let us suppose that the baker intends to 
 convert five bushels, or a sack of flour into 
 loaves with the least adulteration practised. 
 
ADULTERATION OP BREAD. 129 
 
 He pours the flour into the kneading trough, 
 and sifts it through a fine wire sieve, which 
 makes it lie very light, and serves to sepa- 
 rate any impurities with which the flour may 
 be mixed. Two ounces of alum are then 
 dissolved in about a quart of boiling water, 
 and the solution poured into the seasoning- 
 tub. Four or five pounds of salt are like- 
 wise put into the tub, and a pailful of hot-, 
 water. When this mixture has cooled down 
 to the temperature of about 84, three or four 
 pints of yeast are added ; the whole is mixed, 
 strained through the seasoning sieve, emp- 
 tied into a hole in the flour, and mixed up 
 with the requisite portion of it to the consis- 
 tence of a thick batter. Some dry flour is 
 then sprinkled over the top, and it is covered 
 up with cloths. 
 
 In this situation it is left about three 
 o 5 
 
130 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 hours. It gradually swells and breaks 
 through the dry flour scattered on its sur- 
 face. An additional quantity of warm water, 
 in which one ounce of alum is dissolved, is 
 now added, and the dough is made up into 
 a paste as before ; the whole is then covered 
 up. In this situation it is left for a few 
 hours. 
 
 The whole is then intimately kneaded with 
 more water for upwards of an hour. The 
 dough is cut into pieces with a knife, and 
 penned to one side of the trough ; some dry 
 flour is sprinkled over it, and it is left in 
 this state for about four hours. It is then 
 kneaded again for half an hour. The dough 
 is now cut into pieces and weighed, in order 
 to furnish the requisite quantity for each 
 loaf. The loaves are left in the oven about 
 two ours and a half. When taken out, they 
 
ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 131 
 
 are carefully covered up, to prevent as much 
 as possible the loss of weight. 
 
 The following account of making a sack, 
 or five bushels of flour, into bread, is taken 
 from Dr. P. Markhatn's Considerations ou 
 the Ingredients used in the Adulteration of 
 Bread Flour and Bread, p. 21 : 
 
 Five bushels of flour, eight ounces of 
 
 alum*, four pounds of salt, half a gallon of 
 yeast, mixed with about three gallons of 
 water. 
 
 The theory of the bleaching property of 
 alum, as manifested in the panification of an 
 
 * Whilst correcting this sheet for the press,, the prin- 
 ter transmits to me the following lines : 
 
 ec On Saturday last,, Mr. Wood, a baker, was con- 
 victed before T. Evance, Esq. Union Hall, of having in 
 his possession a quantity of alum for the adulteration 
 of bread, and fined in the penalty of 5. and costs, 
 under 55 Geo. III. c. 99." The Times, Oct. 1819, 
 
 G 6 
 
132 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 inferior kind of flour, is by no means well 
 understood ; and indeed it is really surpris- 
 ing that the effect should be produced by so 
 small a quantity of that substance ; two or 
 three ounces of alum being sufficient for a 
 sack of flour. 
 
 From experiments in which I have been 
 employed, with the assistance of skilful 
 bakers, I am authorised to state, that with- 
 out the addition of alum, it does not appear 
 possible to make white, light, and porous 
 bread, such as is used in this metropolis, 
 unless the flour be of the very best quality. 
 
 Another substance employed by fraudu- 
 lent bakers, is subcarbonate of ammonia. 
 With this salt, they realize the important 
 consideration of producing light and porous 
 bread, from spoiled, or what is technically 
 called sour flour. This salt, which becomes 
 
ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 133 
 
 wholly converted into a gaseous state dur- 
 ing the operation of baking, causes the 
 dough to swell up into air bubbles, which 
 carry before them the stiff dough, and thus 
 it renders the dough porous ; the salt itself 
 is, at the same time, totally volatilised dur- 
 ing the operation of baking. Thus not a 
 vestige of carbonate of ammonia remains in 
 the bread. This salt is also largely em- 
 ployed by the biscuit and ginger-bread 
 bakers. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD WITH 
 POTATOES. 
 
 POTATOES are likewise largely, and per- 
 haps constantly, used by fraudulent bakers, 
 as a cheap ingredient, to enhance their pro- 
 fit. The potatoes being boiled, are tritu- 
 
134 ADULTERATION OF BREAD, 
 
 rated, passed through a sieve, and incorpo- 
 rated with the dough by kneading. This 
 adulteration does not materially injure the 
 bread. The bakers assert, that the bad 
 quality of the flour renders the addition of 
 potatoes advantageous as well to the baker 
 as to the purchaser, and that without this 
 admixture in the manufacture of bread, it 
 would be impossible to carry on the trade 
 of a baker. But the grievance is, that the 
 same price is taken for a potatoe loaf, as for 
 a loaf of genuine bread, though it must cost 
 the baker less. 
 
 I have witnessed, that five bushels of flour, 
 three ounces of alum, six pounds of salt, one 
 bushel of potatoes boiled into a stiff paste, 
 and three quarts of yeast, with the requisite 
 quantity of water, produce a white, light, 
 and highly palatable bread. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 135 
 
 Such are the artifices practised in the 
 preparation of bread* ; and it must be al- 
 lowed, on contrasting them with those so- 
 phistications practised by manufacturers of 
 other articles of food, that they are compa- 
 ratively unimportant. However, some me- 
 dical men have no hesitation in attributing 
 many diseases incidental to children to the 
 use of eating adulterated bread ; others 
 again will not admit these allegations: they 
 persuade themselves that the small quantity 
 of alum added to the bread (perhaps, upon 
 an average, from eight to ten grains to a 
 quartern loaf,) is absolutely harmless. 
 
 * There are instances of convictions on record, of 
 bakers having used gypsum, chalk, and pipe clay, in 
 the manufacture of bread. 
 
136 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 Mr. Edmund Davy, Professor of Chemis- 
 try, at the Cork Institution, has communi- 
 cated the following important facts to the 
 public concerning the manufacture of 
 bread. 
 
 " The carbonate of magnesia of the shops, 
 when well mixed with flour, in the propor- 
 tion of from twenty to forty grains to a 
 pound of flour, materially improves it for the 
 purpose of making bread. 
 
 " Loaves made with the addition of car- 
 bonate of magnesia, rise well in the oven ; 
 and after being baked, the bread is light 
 and spongy, has a good taste, and keeps 
 well. In cases when the new flour is of an 
 indifferent quality, from twenty to thirty 
 grains of carbonate of magnesia to a pound 
 of the flour will considerably improve the 
 
ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 137 
 
 bread. When the flour is of the worst qua- 
 lity, forty grains to a pound of flour seem 
 necessary to produce the same effect. 
 
 " As the improvement in the bread from 
 new flour depends upon the carbonate of 
 magnesia, it is necessary that care should be 
 taken to mix it intimately with the flour, 
 previous to making the dough. 
 
 " Mr. Davy made a great number of com- 
 parative experiments with other substances, 
 mixed in different proportions with new 
 bread flour. The fixed alkalies, both in 
 their pure and carbonated state, when used 
 in small quantity, to a certain extent were 
 found to improve the bread made from new 
 flour ; but no substance was so efficacious in 
 this respect as carbonate of magnesia. 
 
 " The greater number of his experiments 
 were performed on the worst new seconds 
 
138 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 flour Mr. Davy could procure. He also 
 made some trials on seconds and firsts of 
 different quality. lu some cases the results 
 were more striking and satisfactory than in 
 others ; but in every instance the improve- 
 ment of the bread, by carbonate of magnesia, 
 was obvious. 
 
 " Mr. Davy observes, that a pound of 
 carbonate of magnesia would be sufficient 
 to mix with two hundred and fifty-six 
 pounds of new flour, or at the rate of thirty 
 grains to the pound. And supposing a 
 pound of carbonate of magnesia to cost 
 half-a-crown, the additional expence w r ould 
 be only half a farthing in the pound of 
 flour. 
 
 " Mr. Davy conceives that not the slight- 
 est danger can be apprehended from the 
 use of such an innocent substance as the 
 
METHOD OF DETECTING ALUM IN BREAD. 139 * 
 
 carbonate of magnesia, in such small propor- 
 tions as are necessary to improve bread from 
 new flour." 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRE- 
 SENCE OF ALUM IN BREAD. 
 
 POUR upon two ounces of the suspected 
 bread, half a pint of boiling distilled water ; 
 boil the mixture for a few minutes, and filter 
 it through unsized paper. Evaporate the 
 fluid to about one fourth of its original bulk, 
 and let gradually fall into the clear fluid 
 a solution of muriate of barytes. If a co+ 
 pious white precipitate ensue, which does 
 not disappear by the addition of pure nitrie 
 acid, the presence of alum may be suspected. 
 Bread, made without alum, produces, when 
 assayed in this manner, merely a very slight 
 
140 METHOD OP DETECTING ALUM IN BREAD. 
 
 precipitate, which originates from a minute 
 portion of sulphate of magnesia contained 
 in all common salt of commerce ; and bread 
 made with salt freed from sulphate of mag- 
 nesia, produces an infusion with water, 
 which does not become disturbed by the 
 barytic test. 
 
 Other means of detecting all the consti- 
 tuent parts of alum, namely, the alumine, 
 sulphuric acid, and potash, so as to render 
 the presence of the alum unequivocal, will 
 readily suggest itself to those who are fa- 
 miliar with analytical chemistry; namely: 
 one of the readiest means is, to decompose 
 the vegetable matter of the bread, by the 
 action of chlorate of potash, in a platina 
 crucible, at a red heat, and then to assay 
 the residuary mass, by means of muriate 
 of barytes for sulphuric acid ; by ammonia, 
 
METHOD OF DETECTING ALUM IN BREAD. 141 
 
 for alumine ; and by muriate of platina, for 
 potash*. The above method of detecting 
 the presence of alum, must therefore be 
 taken with some limitation. 
 
 There is no unequivocal test for detect- 
 ing in a ready manner the presence of alum 
 in bread, on account of the impurity of the 
 common salt used in the making of bread. 
 If we could, in the ordinary way of bread 
 making, employ common salt, absolutely 
 free from foreign saline substances, the 
 mode of detecting the presence of alum 
 would be very easy. Some conjecture 
 may, nevertheless, be formed of the pre- 
 sence, or absence, of alum, by assaying the 
 
 * See a Practical Treatise on the Use and Applica- 
 tion of Chemical Tests, illustrated by experiments, 3d 
 edition, p. 270, 231, 177, and 196. 
 
142 METHOD OF JUDGING OF THE GOODNESS 
 
 infusion of bread in the manner stated, 
 p. 139, and comparing the assay with the 
 results afforded by an infusion of home- 
 made or household bread, known to be 
 genuine, and actually assayed in a similar 
 manner. 
 
 METHOD OF JUDGING OF THE GOODNESS 
 OF BREAD-CORN AND BREAD-FLOUR. 
 
 MILLERS judge of the goodness of bread 
 corn by the quantity of bran which the 
 grain produces. 
 
 Such grains as are full and plump, that 
 have a bright and shining appearance, 
 without any shrivelling and shrinking in 
 the covering* of the skin, are the best; for 
 wrinkled grains have a greater quantity of 
 
OF BREAD-CORN AND FLOUR. 143 
 
 skin, or bran, than such as are sound or 
 plump. 
 
 Pastry-cooks and bakers judge of the 
 goodness of flour in the manner in which it 
 comports itself in kneading. The best kind 
 of wheaten flour assumes, at the instant 
 it is formed into paste by the addition 
 of water,* a very gluey, ductile, and elastic 
 paste, easy to be kneaded, and which may 
 be elongated, flattened, and drawn in every 
 direction, without breaking. 
 
 For the following fact we are indebted to 
 Mr. Hatchet : 
 
 " Grain, which has been heated or burnt 
 in the stack, may in the following man- 
 ner be rendered fit for being made into 
 bread. 
 
 " The wheat must be put into a vessel 
 capable of holding at l^ast three times the 
 
144 METHOD OF CURING MUSTY WHEAT. 
 
 quantity, and the vessel filled with boiling- 
 water; the grain should then be occa- 
 sionally stirred, and the hollow decayed 
 grains, which float, may be removed. When 
 the water has become cold, or in about half 
 an hour, it is drawn off. Then rince the 
 corn with cold water, and, having com- 
 pletely drained it, spread it thinly on the 
 floor of a kiln, and thus thoroughly dry it, 
 stirring and turning it frequently during 
 this part of the process.*" 
 
 Phil. Trans, for 1817, part 1. 
 

 ^alteration of 
 
 MALT LIQUORS, and particularly porter, 
 the favourite beverage of the inhabitants 
 of London, and of other large towns, is 
 amongst those articles, in the manufacture 
 of which the greatest frauds are frequently 
 committed. 
 
 The statute prohibits the brewer from 
 using any ingredients in his brewings, ex- 
 cept malt and hops ; but it too often happens 
 that those who suppose they are drinking a 
 nutritious beverage, made of these ingre- 
 dients only, are entirely deceived. The 
 beverage may, in fact, be neither more nor 
 H 
 
146 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 less than a compound of the most delete- 
 rious substances ; and it is also clear that 
 all ranks of society are alike exposed to the 
 nefarious fraud. The proofs of this state- 
 ment will be shown hereafter*. 
 
 The author f of a Practical Treatise on 
 Brewing, which has run through eleven 
 editions, after having stated the various 
 ingredients for brewing porter, observes, 
 " that however much they may surprise, 
 " however pernicious or disagreeable they 
 " may appear, he has always found them 
 " requisite in the brewing of porter, and 
 " he thinks they must invariably be used 
 " by those who wish to continue the taste, 
 
 * See pages 158, 171, 181. 
 
 t Child, on Brewing Porter,, p. 7. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 147 
 
 " flavour, and appearance of the beer*. 
 " And though several Acts of Parliament 
 " have been passed to prevent porter brew- 
 " ers from using many of them, yet the 
 " author can affirm, from experience, he 
 ** could never produce the present flavoured 
 " porter without them -f. The intoxicating 
 " qualities of porter are to be ascribed to 
 " the various drugs intermixed with it. It 
 u is evident some porter is more heady than 
 " other, and it arises from the grea(er or 
 i4 less quantity of stupifying ingredients. 
 " Malt, to produce intoxication, must be 
 " used in such large quantities as would 
 " very much diminish, if not totally ex- 
 " elude, the brewer's profit." 
 
 * Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 16. 
 t Ibid, p. 16. 
 
 H2 
 
148 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 EARLY PRACTICE OF ADULTERATING 
 BEER WITH SUBSTANCES NOXIOUS 
 TO HEALTH, AND RAPID PROGRESS 
 OF THIS FRAUD. 
 
 THE practice of adulterating beer appears 
 to be of early date. By an Act so long 
 ago as Queen Anne, the brewers are pro- 
 hibited from mixing cocculus indicus, or 
 any unwholesome ingredients, in their beer, 
 under severe penalties : but few instances of 
 convictions under this Act are to be met with 
 in the public records for nearly a century. 
 To shew that they have augmented in our 
 own days, we shall exhibit an abstract from 
 documents laid lately before Parliament*. 
 
 * " Minutes of the Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons, to whom the petition of several inhabitant* of 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 149 
 
 These will not only amply prove, that 
 unwholesome ingredients are used by frau- 
 dulent brewers, and that very deleterious 
 substances are also vended both to brewers 
 and publicans for adulterating beer, but 
 that the ingredients mixed up in the brew- 
 er's enchanting cauldron are placed above 
 all competition, even with the potent charms 
 of Macbeth's witches : 
 
 " Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark, 
 
 " For a charm of pow'rful trouble, 
 " Like a hell-broth boil and bubble." 
 
 London and its vicinity, complaining of the high price 
 and inferior quality of beer, was referred, to examine 
 the matter thereof, and to report the same, with their 
 observations thereupon, to the House. Printed by 
 order of the House of Commons, April 1819." 
 
 H3 
 
150 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 Mr. Morris* recommends the following 
 Receipt for brewing Porter : 
 
 Cwt. Qrs. Ib. 
 
 Malt, 25 Quarters. 
 
 Hops. 1 2 
 
 Cocculus Indicus Berry 6 
 
 Xeghorn Juice 30 
 
 Porter Extract 
 
 
 
 Cwt. Qrs. Ibs, 
 
 Malt, 20 Quarters. 
 
 Hops 2 
 
 Cocculus Indicus Berry 00 4 
 
 Sugar .0 28 
 
 Fabia Amara 6 
 
 To make up a Vat of 150 Barrels* 
 
 Use half a barrel of colouring, cwt 
 of cream of tarter, \ cwt. of ground alum, 
 
 * Morris on Brewing- Malt Liquors, p. 38, and H6. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 151 
 
 1 pound of salt of steel, and two barrels 
 of strong finings. Mix these well together, 
 and put them in a vat, rousing it thoroughly 
 at the same time. Let the vat remain open 
 three days ; then close it and sand it over* 
 
 In a fortnight it will be fit for use. Your 
 own good sense will inform you how, to 
 advantage. 
 
 The following are some of the Articles 
 used by fraudulent Brewers, and recom- 
 mended by Mr. Morris. 
 
 Colouring. " I should recommend to 
 every brewer to provide himself with a 
 sufficient quantity, as it gives a good face 
 to the beer, and enables you to gratify the 
 sight of your different customers. 
 
 Cocculus Indicus. " Cocculus Indicus is 
 used as a substitute for malt and hops, and 
 is a great preservative of malt liquor ; it 
 H 4 
 
152 ADULTERATION OF BEER, 
 
 prevents second fermentation in bottled beer,, 
 and consequently the bursting of the bottles 
 in warm climates. Its effect is of an inebri- 
 ating nature. 
 
 " Calamus Ar omaticus is used in the brew- 
 ery as a succedaneum for hops and strength, 
 by slicing it thin, and boiling it a short time 
 with the hops ; one pound of which is equal 
 to six pounds of hops. 
 
 " Quassia leaves so severe a bitter on the 
 palate, long after the liquor is drank, that 
 it requires much judgment in using it. 
 
 " Coriander is much used by brewers, to 
 give a flavour to ales. 
 
 " Capsicum, or guinea pepper, is used in 
 ales and amber. 
 
 " Caraway Seed is put into ales, for the 
 flavour ; and is used in the tun. 
 
 " Grams of Paradise are of a warm na- 
 ttire also, and are used in ales. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER, 153 
 
 ** Ginger. This article, when used in the 
 brewery, is always ground fine ; and made 
 use of in the tun at the time of cleansing, 
 
 " Beans tend to mellow malt liquor ; and, 
 from their properties, add much to its inebri- 
 ating qualities ; but they must not be used 
 in too large a quantity. 
 
 " Oyster Shells are very good to recover 
 sour beer : but when used, you must leave 
 the bung out. 
 
 " Alum is generally put into the vat, as it 
 gives the beer a smack of age." 
 
 Such are the articles recommended by 
 Mr. Morris. 
 
 The fraud of imparting to porter and ale 
 an intoxicating quality by narcotic sub- 
 stances, appears to have flourished during 
 the period of the late French war: for, if 
 ii 5 
 
154 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 we examine the importation lists of drugs, it 
 will be noticed that the quantities of coc- 
 culus indicus imported in a given time prior 
 to that period, will bear no comparison with 
 the quantity imported in the same space of 
 time during the war, although an additional 
 duty was laid upon this commodity. Such 
 has been the amount brought into this 
 country in five years, that it far exceeds the 
 quantity imported during twelve years an- 
 terior to the above epoch. The price of this 
 drug has risen within these ten years from 
 two shillings to seven shillings the pound. 
 
 It was at the period to which we have 
 alluded, that the preparation of an extract 
 of cocculus indicus first appeared, as a new 
 saleable commodity* in the price-currents 
 of br eivers* -drug gist s* It was at the same 
 time, also, that a Mr. Jackson, of notorious 
 
ADULTERATlbN OF BEER. 155 
 
 memory, fell upon the idea of brewing beer 
 from various drugs, without any malt and 
 hops. This chemist did not turn brewer 
 himself; but he struck out the more pro- 
 fitable trade of teaching his mystery to the 
 brewers for a handsome fee. From that 
 time forwards, written directions, and re- 
 ceipt-books for using the chemical prepa- 
 rations to be substituted for malt and hops, 
 were respectively sold; and many adepts 
 soon afterwards appeared every where, to 
 instruct brewers in the nefarious practice, 
 first pointed out by Mr. Jackson. From 
 that time, also, the fraternity of brewers' 
 chemists took its rise. They made it their 
 chief business to send travellers a!! over the 
 country with lists and samples exhibiting 
 the price and quality of the articles manu- 
 factured by them for the use of brewers 
 
 H6 
 
156 ADULTERATION Of BEER* 
 
 only. Their trade spread far and wide, but 
 it was amongst the country brewers chiefly 
 that they found the most customers; and 
 it is amongst them, up to the present day y 
 as I am assured by some of these opera- 
 tors, on whose veracity I can rely, that the 
 greatest quantities of unlawful ingredients 
 are sold. 
 
 The Act of Parliament* prohibits che- 
 mists, grocers, and druggists, from supply- 
 ing illegal ingredients to brewers under a 
 heavy penalty, as is obvious from the fol- 
 lowing abstract of the Act. 
 
 " No druggist, vender of or dealer in 
 " drugs, or chemist, or other person, shall 
 " sell or deliver to any licensed brewer, 
 " dealer in or retailer of beer, knowing him 
 
 * 56 Geo. III. c. 2. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 157 
 
 " to be such, or shall sell or deliver to any 
 " person on account of or in trust for any 
 * such brewer, dealer or retailer, any liquor 
 " called by the name of or sold as colouring, 
 " from whatever material the same may be 
 " made, or any material or preparation other 
 " than unground brown malt for darkening 
 " the colour of worts, or beer, or any liquor 
 " or preparation made use of for darkening 
 " the colour of worts or beer, or any mo- 
 " lasses, honey, vitriol, quassia, cocculus 
 " Indian, grains of paradise, Guinea pepper 
 " or opium, or any extract or preparation of 
 " molasses, or any article or preparation to 
 " be used in worts or beer for or as a sub- 
 " stitute for malt or hops ; and if any drug- 
 " gist shall offend in any of these particu- 
 " lars, such liquor preparation, molasses, &c. 
 " shall be forfeited and may be seized by 
 
158 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 " any officer of Excise, and the person so 
 ' offending shall for each offence forfeit 
 " 500." 
 
 The following is a list of druggists and 
 grocers, prosecuted by the Court of Excise, 
 and convicted of supplying unlawful ingre- 
 dients to brewers. 
 
 Druggists and Grocers prosecuted and 
 convicted from 1812 to 1819, for sup- 
 plying illegal Ingredients to Brewers 
 for adulterating Seer*, 
 
 Messrs. Dunn and Co, druggists, for selling aduk 
 terating ingredients to brewers, verdict 500/. 
 
 Messrs. Rugg and others, druggists, for selling adul- 
 terating ingredients to brewers, verdict 500/. 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the 
 House of Commons, appointed for examining the price 
 and quality of beer. See page 18, 29, 30, 31, 36, 43. 
 
ADULTERATION OP BEER. 159 
 
 Messrs. Hodgkinson and others, for selling" adulterat- 
 ing ingredients to brewers, 1001. and costs. 
 
 Messrs. Hiscocks and others, for selling adulterating 
 ingredients to a brewer, 200/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Hornby, for selling adulterating ingredients to 
 a brewer, 2001. 
 
 Mr. Wilson, for selling adulterating ingredients to a 
 brewer, 2001. 
 
 Mr. Andrews, grocer, for selling adulterating ingre- 
 dients to a brewer, 25/. and costs. 
 
 Air. Knowles, for selling substitute for hops, costs. 
 
 Messrs. Kernot and Alsop, for selling cocculus india, 
 c. 25/. 
 
 Messrs. Brandram and Co.* for selling various drugs, 
 WOL 
 
 Mr. Moss, for selling various drugs, 300/. 
 
 Mr. Whitcombe, Mr. Dunn, and Mr. Waller, drug- 
 gists, for having liquor for darkening the colour of beer, 
 hid and concealed. 
 
 Mr. Hebberd, for having liquor for darkening the 
 colour of beer, hid and concealed. 
 
 Mr. Whitcombe, Mr. Dunn, and Mr. Waller, drug- 
 gists, for making liquor for darkening the colour of 
 Beer. 
 
 * Not Messrs. Brandram, of Size-lane, Cannon-st. 
 
160 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 Mr. Lord, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 20/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Smith Carr, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, 20/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Fox, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 %bL and costs. 
 
 Mr. Cooper, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 40/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Bickering, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, 40/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Howard, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 2l. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, costs. 
 
 Mr. Hammond, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, 20/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Mackway, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, 20/. 
 
 Mr. Renton, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 costs, and taking out a licence. 
 
 Mr. Adam son, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, costs, and taking out a licence. 
 
 Mr. Weaver, for selling Spanish liquorice to a 
 brewer, 200/. 
 
 Mr. Moss, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer. 
 
 Mr. Braden, for selling liquorice, 20/. 
 
 Mr, Draper, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20/. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 161 
 
 REMARKS ON PORTER. 
 
 THE method of brewing- porter has not 
 been the same at all times as it is at pre- 
 sent. 
 
 At first, the only essential difference in 
 the methods of brewing this liquor and that 
 of other kinds of beer, was, that porter was 
 brewed from brown malt only ; and this gave 
 to it both the colour and flavour required. 
 Of late years it has been brewed from mix- 
 tures of pale and brown malt. 
 
 These, at some establishments, are mashed 
 separately, and the worts from each are af- 
 terwards mixed together. The proportion of 
 pale and brown malt, used for brewing por- 
 ter, varies in different breweries ; some em- 
 ploy nearly two parts of pale malt and one 
 part of brown malt ; but each brewer ap- 
 
162 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 pears to have his own proportion ; which the 
 intelligent manufacturer varies, according 
 to the nature and qualities of the malt. 
 Three pounds of hops are, upon an average, 
 allowed to every barrel (thirty-six gallons) 
 of porter. 
 
 When the price of malt, on account of the 
 great increase in the price of barley during 1 
 the late war, was very high, the London 
 brewers discovered that a larger quantity of 
 wort of a given strength could be obtained 
 from pale malt than from brown malt. They 
 therefore increased the quantity of the 
 former, and diminished that of the latter. 
 This produced beer of a paler colour, and 
 of a less bitter flavour. To remedy these 
 disadvantages, they invented an artificial 
 colouring substance, prepared by boiling- 
 brown sugar till it acquired a very dark 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 163 
 
 brown colour ; a solution of which was em- 
 ployed to darken the colour of the beer. 
 Some brewers made use of the infusion of 
 malt instead of sugar colouring*. To impart 
 to the beer a bitter taste, the fraudulent 
 brewer employed quassia wood and worm- 
 wood as a substitute for hops. 
 
 But as the colouring of beer by means of 
 sugar became in many instances a pretext 
 for using illegal ingredients, the Legisla- 
 ture, apprehensive from the mischief that 
 might, and actually did, result from it, 
 passed an Act prohibiting the use of burnt 
 sugar in July 1817; and nothing but malt 
 and hops is now allowed to enter into the 
 composition of beer : even the use of isin- 
 glass for clarifying beer, is contrary to 
 law. 
 
164 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 No sooner had the beer-colouring Act 
 been repealed, than other persons obtained 
 a patent for effecting' the purpose of impart- 
 ing an artificial colour to porter, by means 
 of brown malt, specifically prepared for that 
 purpose only. The beer, coloured by the 
 new method, is more liable to become spoiled, 
 than when coloured by the process formerly 
 practised. The colouring malt does not 
 contain any saccharine matter. The grain 
 is by mere torrefaction converted into a 
 gum-like substance, wholly soluble in water, 
 which renders the beer more liable to pass 
 into the acetous fermentation than the com- 
 mon brown malt is capable of doing ; be- 
 cause the latter, if prepared from good bar- 
 ley, contains a portion of saccharine matter, 
 of which the patent malt is destitute. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 165 
 
 But as brown malt is generally prepared 
 from the worst kind of barley, and as the 
 patent malt can only be made from good 
 grain, it may become, on that account, an 
 useful article to the brewer (at least, it gives 
 colour and body to the beer) ; but it cannot 
 materially economise the quantity of malt 
 necessary to produce good porter. Some 
 brewers of eminence in this town have as- 
 sured me, that the vise of this mode of co- 
 louring beer is wholly unnecessary; and 
 that porter of the requisite colour may be 
 brewed better without it ; hence this kind of 
 malt is not used in their establishments. 
 The quantity of gum-like matter which it 
 contains, gives too much ferment to the 
 beer, and render it liable to spoil. Repeated 
 experiments, made on a large scale, have 
 settled this fact, 
 
166 ADULTERATION OF BEEfc. 
 
 STRENGTH AND SPECIFIC DIFFERED CE& 
 OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF PORTER. 
 
 \ THE strength of all kinds of beer, like 
 that of wine, depends on the quantity of 
 spirit contained in a given bulk of the li- 
 quor. 
 
 The reader need scarcely be told, that of 
 no article there are more varities than of 
 porter. This, no doubt, arises from the dif- 
 ferent mode of manufacturing the beer, al- 
 though the ingredients are the same. This 
 difference is more striking in the porter 
 manufactured among country brewers, than 
 it is in the beer brewed by the eminent 
 London porter brewers. The totality of the 
 London porter exhibits but very slight dif- 
 ferences, both with respect to strength or the 
 quantity of spirit, and solid extractive mat- 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 167 
 
 ter, contained in a given bulk of it. The 
 spirit may be stated, upon an average, to be 
 4,50 per cent, in porter retailed at the pub- 
 licans : the solid matter is from twenty-one 
 to twenty-three pounds per barrel of thirty- 
 six gallons. The country-brewed porter is 
 seldom well fermented, and seldom con- 
 tains so large a quantity of spirit ; it usually 
 abounds in mucilage; hence it becomes 
 turbid when mixed with alcohol. Such 
 beer cannot keep, without becoming sour. 
 It has been matter of frequent complaint, 
 that ALL the porter now brewed, is not 
 what porter was formerly. This idea may 
 be true, with some exceptions. My profes- 
 sional occupations have, during these 
 twenty-eight years, repeatedly obliged 
 me to examine the strength of London por- 
 ter, brewed by different brewers ; and, from 
 the minutes made on that subject, I am au- 
 
168 4^ULTERATION OF BEEU. 
 
 thorized to state, that the porter now brewed 
 by the eminent London brewers, is unques- 
 tionably stronger than that which was 
 brewed at different periods during the late 
 French war. Samples of brown stout with 
 which I have been obligingly favoured, 
 whilst writing this Treatise, by Messrs. 
 Barclay, Perkins,and Co. Messrs. Truman, 
 Hanbury, and Co. Messrs. Henry Meux 
 and Co. and other eminent brewers of this 
 capital afforded, upon an average, 725 per 
 cent. of alcohol, of 0,833 specific gravity; 
 and porter, from the same houses, yielded 
 upon an average 5,25 per cent, of alcohol, 
 of the same specific gravity*; this beer re- 
 
 * The average specific gravity of different samples 
 of brown stout, obtained direct from the breweries of 
 Messrs. Barcley, Perkins, and Co. Messrs. Truman, 
 Hanbury, and Co. Messrs. Henry Meux and Co. and 
 from several other eminent London brewers, amounted 
 to 1,022; and the average specific gravity of porter, 
 from the same breweries, 1,01 8. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 169 
 
 ceived from the brewers was taken from the 
 same store from which the publicans are 
 supplied. 
 
 It is nevertheless singular to observe, that 
 from fifteen samples of beer of the same 
 denominations, procured from different re- 
 tailers, the proportions of spirit fell conside- 
 rably short of the above quantities. Sam- 
 ples of brown stout, procured from the 
 retailers, afforded, upon an average,* 6,50 
 per cent, of alcohol; and the average 
 strength of the porter was 4,50 per cent. 
 Whence can this difference between the 
 beer furnished by the brewer, and that re- 
 tailed by the publican, arise ? We shall 
 not be at a loss to answer this question, when 
 we find that so many retailers of porter have 
 been prosecuted and convicted for mixing 
 table beer with their strong beer ; this is 
 
170 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 prohibited by law, as becomes obvious by 
 the following words of the Act*. 
 
 " If any common or other brewer, inn- 
 keeper, victualler, or retailer of beer or ale, 
 shall mix or suffer to be mixed any strong 1 
 beer, ale, or worts, with table beer, worts, 
 or water, in any tub or measure, he shall 
 forfeit 50." The difference between strong 
 and table beer, is thus settled by Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 " All beer or ale f above the price of 
 eighteen shillings per barrel, exclusive of 
 ale duties now payable (viz. ten shillings 
 per barrel,) or that may be hereafter paya- 
 ble in respect thereof, shall be deemed 
 strong beer or ale ; and all beer of the price 
 
 * 2 Geo. III. c. 11, sec. 2. 1 59 Geo. III. c. 53, sec. 25. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BKER. 171 
 
 of eighteen shillings the barrel or under, 
 exclusive of the duty payable (viz. two 
 shillings per barrel) in respect thereof, shall 
 be deemed table beer within the meaning 
 of this and all other Acts now in force, or that 
 may hereafter be passed in relation to beer 
 or ale or any duties thereon." 
 
 Publicans prosecuted and convicted from 
 1815 to 1818, for adulterating Beer with 
 illegal Ingredients, andfor mixing Table 
 Beer with their Strong Beer*. 
 
 Mr. Atterbury, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 401. 
 
 Mr. Dean, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. 
 and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 50/. 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the 
 House of Commons, appointed for examining the price 
 and quality of beer, p. 19, 29, 36, 37, 43. 
 
 i2 
 
172 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 Mr. Jay, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. 
 and for mixing table beer with strong beer 50/. 
 
 Mr. Atkinson, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 201. 
 
 Mr. Langworth, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 50/. 
 
 Mrs. Spencer, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 1 50/. 
 
 Mr. Hogg, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. 
 and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 51. 
 
 Mr. Craddock, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 1001. 
 
 Mr. Harris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. 
 and for receiving stale beer, and mixing it with strong 
 beer, 42/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Scoons, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing stale beer with strong beer, verdict 
 200/. 
 
 Mr. Geer and another, for using salt of steel, salt, 
 molasses, &c. and for mixing strong and .table beer, 
 verdict 400/. 
 
 Mr. Coleman, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 33/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Orr, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. 
 and for mixing strong and table beer, 50/. 
 
 Mr. Gardiner, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 10Q/. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 173 
 
 Mr. Morris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 201. 
 
 Mr. Harbur, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 501. 
 
 Mr. Corrie, for mixing strong beer with table beer. 
 
 Mr. Cape, for mixing strong beer with table beer. 
 
 Mr. Gudge, for mixing strong beer with small beer. 
 
 FRAUDULENT PRACTICE OF ADULTE- 
 RATING BEER WITH SUBSTANCES 
 NOT DELETERIOUS TO HEALTH. 
 
 WE have stated already (p. 145) that no- 
 thing is allowed by law to enter into the 
 composition of beer, but malt and hops. 
 
 The substances used by fraudulent brew- 
 ers for adulterating beer, are chiefly the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Quassia, which gives to beer a bitter taste, 
 is substituted for hops ; but hops possess a 
 i 3 
 
174 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 more agreeable aromatic flavour, and there 
 is also reason to believe that they render 
 beer less liable to spoil by keeping ; a pro- 
 perty which does not belong to quassia. It 
 requires but little discrimination to distin- 
 guish very clearly the peculiar bitterness of 
 quassia in adulterated porter. Vast quan- 
 tities of the shavings of this wood are sold 
 in 3 half-torrefied and ground state to dis- 
 guise its obvious character, and to prevent 
 its being recognized among the waste mate- 
 rials of the brewers. Wormwood* has like- 
 wise been used by fraudulent brewers. 
 
 The adulterating of hops is prohibited by 
 the Legislature f. 
 
 * See Minutes of the Committee of the House of 
 Commons for Reporting on the Price and Quality of 
 1819. p. 29. 
 
 7 Geo. II. c. 19, sec. 2- 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 175 
 
 " If any person shall put any drug or in- 
 gredient whatever into hops to alter the 
 colour or scent thereof, every person so of- 
 fending, convicted by the oath of one wit- 
 ness before one justice of the peace for the 
 county or place where the offence was com- 
 mitted, shall forfeit 5 for every hundred 
 weight." 
 
 Beer rendered bitter by quassia never 
 keeps well, unless it be kept in a place pos- 
 sessing a temperature considerably lower 
 than the temperature of the surrounding at- 
 mosphere : and this is not well practicable 
 in large establishments. 
 
 The use of boiling the wort of beer with 
 hops, is partly to communicate a peculiar 
 aromatic flavour which the hop contains, 
 partly to cover the sweetness of undecom- 
 posed saccharine matter, and also to separate, 
 i 4 
 
176 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 by virtue of the gallic acid and tannin it 
 contains, a portion of peculiar vegetable mu- 
 cilage somewhat resembling gluten, which 
 is still diffused through the beer. The com- 
 pound thus produced, separates in small flakes 
 like those of curdled soap ; and by these 
 means the beer is rendered less liable to spoiK 
 For nothing contributes more to the conver- 
 sion of beer, or any other vinous fluid, into 
 vinegar, than mucilage. Hence, also, all 
 full-bodied and clammy ales, abounding in 
 mucilage, and which are generally ill fer- 
 mented, do not keep as perfect ale ought to 
 do. Quassia is, therefore, unfit as a substi- 
 tute for hops ; and even English hops are 
 preferable to those imported from the Conti- 
 nent ; for nitrate of silver and acetate of lead 
 produce a more abundant precipitate from 
 an infusion of English hops, that can be oh- 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 177 
 
 tained from a like infusion by the same 
 agents from foreign hops. 
 
 One of the qualities of good porter, is, 
 that it should bear a fine frothy head, as it 
 is technically termed : because professed 
 judges of this beverage would not pro- 
 nounce the liquor excellent, although it 
 possessed all other good qualities of porter, 
 without this requisite. 
 
 To impart to porter this property of froth- 
 ing when poured from one vessel into ano- 
 ther, or to produce what is also termed a 
 cauliflower head, the mixture called beer- 
 heading, composed of common green vitriol 
 (sulphate of iron), alum, and salt, is added. 
 This addition to the beer is generally made 
 by the publicans*. It is unnecessary to ge- 
 
 * See List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted 
 for mixing table beer with strong beer, &c. p. 171. 
 
 " Alum gives likewise a smack of age to beer, and is 
 penetrating to the palate." S. Child,on Breiving,p.lS. 
 i 5 
 
178 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 nuine beer, which of itself possesses the pro- 
 perty of bearing a strong white froth, witis- 
 out these additions ; and it is only in conse- 
 quence of table beer being mixed with strong 
 beer that the frothing property of the porter 
 is lost. From experiments I have tried on 
 this subject, I have reason to believe that the 
 sulphate of iron, added for that purpose, 
 does not possess the power ascribed to it. 
 But the publicans frequently, when they 
 fine a butt of beer, by means of isinglass, 
 adulterate the porter at the same time with 
 table beer, together with a quantity of mo- 
 lasses and a small portion of extract of gen- 
 tian root, to keep up the peculiar flavour of 
 the porter ; and it is to the molasses chiefly, 
 which gives a spissitude to the beer, that the 
 frothing property must be ascribed; for, 
 without it, the sulphate of iron does not pro- 
 duce the property of frothing in diluted beer. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 179 
 
 The following lines on the application of 
 Beer Heading, are copied from Morris's 
 Treatise on brewing Malt Liquors, p. 108. 
 
 Heading. " On this part of our subject it 
 may be necessary to observe, that here are 
 various modes of making it. Some make 
 use of ground copperas and ground alum, 
 in about equal proportions ; some resort to 
 salt of steel, of which as much as will lie 
 on a shilling is sufficient for a barrel of beer. 
 But, as the duties of a brewhouse sufficiently 
 employ every person engaged in it, I recom- 
 mend it to be purchased of those who make 
 it their business to have it ready prepared. 
 
 " Observe, that porter should not be sent 
 out without it, as it causes the head so 
 much admired in that liquor, and is agree- 
 able to its flavour." 
 
 Capsicum and grains of paradise, two 
 i 6 
 
180 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 highly acrid substances, are employed to 
 give a pungent taste to weak insipid beer. 
 Of late, a concentrated tincture of these ar- 
 ticles, to be used for a similar purpose, and 
 possessing a powerful effect, has appeared 
 in the price-currents of brewers' druggists. 
 Ginger root, coriander seed, and orange 
 peels, are employed as flavouring substances 
 chiefly by the ale brewers. 
 
 From these statements, and the seizures 
 that have been made of illegal ingredients 
 at various breweries, it is obvious that the 
 adulterations of beer are not imaginary. It 
 will be noticed, however, that some of the 
 sophistications are comparatively harmless, 
 whilst others are effected by substances de- 
 leterious to health. The following list exhi- 
 bits some of the unlawful substances seized 
 at different breweries and at chemical labo- 
 ratories* 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 181 
 
 Illegal Ingredients, seized from 1812 to 
 1818, at various Breweries and Brewers 9 
 Druggists*. 
 
 1812, July. Mr. Nibbs. 
 
 Multum 84lb. 
 
 Cocculus indicus 12 
 
 Colouring 4 Galls. 
 
 Honey 180 Ibs. 
 
 Hartshorn Shavings... 14 
 
 Spanish Juice 46 
 
 Orange Powder 17 
 
 Ginger 56 
 
 Penalty 300, 
 
 1813, June 13. Mrs. Willis. 
 
 Cocculus indicus lib. 
 
 Spanish Juice 12 
 
 Hartshorn Shavings... 6 
 
 Orange Powder 1 
 
 Penalty 200. 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the 
 House of Commons, appointed for examining the price 
 and! quality of beer, p. 38. 
 
182 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 August 3. Mr. Whiffing. 
 
 Grains of Paradise ... 441 b . 
 
 Quassia 10 
 
 Liquorice 64 
 
 Ginger 80 
 
 Caraway Seeds 40 
 
 Orange Powder 14 
 
 Copperas 4 
 
 Penalty 200. 
 
 Nov. 25. Mrs. Hasler. 
 
 Cocculus indicus 12lbs. 
 
 Multum 26 
 
 Grains of Paradise ... 12 
 
 Spanish Juice 30 
 
 Orange Powder 3 
 
 Penalty 200. 
 
 Dec. 14. Mr. Abbott. 
 
 Copperas, &c 14lbs. 
 
 Orange Powder ..... 2 
 Penalty 500. and Crown's costs. 
 Proof of using drugs at various times. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 1815, Feb. 15. Messrs. Mantell and Cook. 
 
 Proof of mixing strong beer with table beer, and 
 using colouring with other things. 
 
 Compromised for 300. 
 
 1817. From Mr. Stevenson, an old Servant to Dunn 
 and Waller, brewers' druggists. 
 
 Cocculus indicus Extract 6lbs. 
 
 Multum 560 
 
 Capsicum >... 88 
 
 Copperas 310 
 
 Quassia 150 
 
 Colouring & Drugs 84 
 
 Mixed Drugs 240 
 
 Spanish Liquorice ... 420 
 Hartshorn Shavings... 77 
 Liquorice Powder ... 177 
 
 Orange Powder 126 
 
 Caraway Seeds 100 
 
 Ginger , 110 
 
 Ginger Root 176 
 
 Condemned, not being claimed. 
 
184 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 July 30. Mr. Lyons. 
 
 Capsicum lib. 
 
 Liquorice Root Powder 2 
 
 Coriander Seed 2 
 
 Copperas 1 
 
 Orange Powder 8 
 
 Spanish Liquorice \ 
 
 Beer C olouring 24 galls. 
 
 Not tried (7th May, 1818.) 
 
 Aug. 6. Mr. Gray. 
 
 Multum 4lbs. 
 
 Spanish Liquorice 21 
 
 Liquorice Root Powder 113 
 
 Ginger 116 
 
 Honey , 11 
 
 Penalty, ^300, and costs ; including mixing strong 
 beer with table, and paying table-beer duty for strong 
 beer, &c. 
 
 Numerous other seizures of illegal sub- 
 stances, made at breweries, might be ad- 
 vanced, were it necessary to enlarge this 
 subject to a greater extent. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 185 
 
 ADULTERATION OF STRONG BEER 
 WITH SMALL BEER. 
 
 ANOTHER fraud frequently committed, 
 both by brewers and publicans, (as is evi- 
 dent from the Excise Report,) is the prac- 
 tice of adulterating strong beer with small 
 beer. This fraud is prohibited by law ; 
 since both the revenue and the public suffer 
 by it*, "The duty upon strong beer is tea 
 shillings a barrel ; and upon table beer it 
 is two shillings. The revenue suffers, be- 
 cause a larger quantity of beer is sold as 
 
 * See Mr. Marr's evidence in the Minutes of the 
 House of Commons, p. 32. 
 
186 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 strong beer ; that is, at a price exceeding 
 the price of table beer, without the strong 
 beer duty being paid. In the next place, 
 the brewer suffers, because the retailer gets 
 table or mild beer, and retails it as strong 
 beer." The following are the words of the 
 Act, prohibiting the brewers mixing table 
 beer with strong beer : 
 
 " If any common brewer shall mix or suf- 
 fer to be mixed any strong beer, or strong* 
 worts with table beer or table worts, or 
 with water in any guile or fermenting 
 tun after the declaration of the quantity of 
 such guile shall have been made ; or if he 
 shall at any time mix or suffer to be mixed 
 strong beer or strong worts with table beer 
 worts or with water, in any vat, cask, tub, 
 measures or utensil, not being an entered 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 187 
 
 guile or fermented tun, he shall forfeit 
 200/V 
 
 With respect to the persons who commit 
 this offence, Mr. Carr*, the Solicitor of the 
 Excise, observes, that " they are generally 
 brewers who carry on the double trade of 
 brewing both strong and table beer. It is 
 almost impossible to prevent them from 
 mixing one with the other ; and frauds of 
 very great extent have been detected, and 
 the parties punished for that offence. One 
 brewer at Plymouth evaded duties to the 
 amount of 32,000/ ; and other brewers, who 
 brew party guiles of beer carrying on the two 
 trades of ale and table beer brewers, where 
 
 * 42 George III, c. 38, section 12. 
 
 t See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32. 
 
188 ADULTERATION OF BEER* 
 
 the trade is a victualling brewer, which is 
 different from the common brewer, he being 
 a person who sells only wholesale ; the vic- 
 tualling brewer being a brewer and also a 
 seller by retail. 
 
 " In the neighbourhood of London," Mr. 
 Carr continues," more particularly, I speak 
 from having had great experience, from the 
 informations and evidence which I have re- 
 ceived, that the retailers carry on a most 
 extensive fraud upon the public, in pur- 
 chasing stale table beer, or the bottoms of 
 casks. There are a class of men who go 
 about and sell such beer at table-beer 
 price to public victuallers, who mix it in 
 their cellars. If they receive beer from 
 their brewers which is mild, they purchase 
 stale beer; and if they receive stale beer, 
 they purchase common table beer for that 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 189 
 
 purpose; and many of the prosecutions are 
 against retailers for that offence." The fol- 
 lowing may serve in proof of this state- 
 ment. 
 
 Brewers prosecuted and convicted from 
 1813 to 1819, for adulterating Strong 
 Beer with Table Beer*. 
 
 Mr. Manton and another, brewers, for mixing strong 
 and table beer, verdict 300/. 
 
 Mr. Morrell and another, brewers., for mixing strong 
 and table beer, 20/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Jones and another, brewers, for mixing strong 
 and table beer, verdict 125/. 
 
 Mr. Stroad, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, 200/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Cobbett, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, 100?. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Withers, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, 7o/. and costs. 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the 
 House of Commons, appointed for examining the price 
 and quality of Beer, 1819, p. 29, 36, 43. 
 
190 ADULTERATION OF BEER* 
 
 Mr. Cowel, brewer, for mixing table beer with 
 strong 1 , 50/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell, brewer, for mixing table beer with 
 strong, absconded. 
 
 Messrs. Lloyd and another, brewers, for mixing 
 table beer with strong, 25/. and costs. 
 
 Messrs. Edmunds and another, brewers,? for mixing 
 table beer with strong, for a long period, verdict 600Z. 
 
 Mr. Hoffman, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, and using molasses, 130/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Langworth, brewer, for mixing strong with 
 stale table beer, 10/. and costs. 
 
 Mrs. Spencer, brewer, for mixing strong with stale 
 table beer, verdict 150/. 
 
 Messrs. Smith and others, brewers, for mixing strong 
 and table beer. 
 
 Mr. George, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, verdict 200/. 
 
 Mr. Row, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, verdict 400/. 
 
 Messrs. Drew, jun. and another, for mixing strong 
 beer with table, 50/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Cape, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 
 250Z. and costs. 
 
 Messrs. Williams and another, brewers, for mixing 
 strong and table beer, verdict 200/. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 191 
 
 REMARKS WITH REGARD TO THE ORI- 
 GIN OF THE BEER CALLED PORTER. 
 
 IT is necessary to state, that every pub- 
 lican has two sorts of beer sent to him from 
 the brewer ; the one is called mild, which 
 is beer sent out fresh as it is brewed ; 
 the other is called old ; that is, such as is 
 brewed on purpose for keeping, and which 
 has been kept in store a twelve-month or 
 eighteen months. The origin of the beer 
 called entire, is thus related by the editor 
 of the Picture of London: "Before the 
 year 1730, the malt liquors in general use 
 in London were ale beer and two-penny; 
 and it was customary to call for a pint, or 
 tankard, of half-and-half, i. e. half of ale 
 and half of beer, half of ale and half of 
 
192 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 t\vo-penny. In course of time it also be- 
 came the practice to call for a pint or tankard 
 of three-threads, meaning a third of ale, 
 beer, and two-penny ; and thus the publican 
 had the trouble to go to three casks, and 
 turn three cocks, for a pint of liquor. To 
 avoid this inconvenience and waste, a brewer 
 the name of Harwood conceived the idea 
 of making a liquor, which should partake 
 of the same united flavours of ale, beer, and 
 two-penny ; he did so, and succeeded, call- 
 ing it entire, OY entire butt, meaning that it 
 was drawn entirely from one cask or butt ; 
 and as it was a very hearty and nourishing* 
 liquor, and supposed to be very suitable for 
 porters and other working people, it obtained 
 the name of porter*" The system is now 
 altered, and porter is very generally com- 
 pounded of two kinds, or rather the same 
 
ADVLTERATIOH OF BEER. 193 
 
 liquor in two different states, the due ad- 
 mixture of which is palatable, though nei- 
 ther is good alone. One is mild porter, and 
 the other stale porter ; the former is that 
 which has a slightly bitter flavour; the latter 
 has been kept longer. This mixture the 
 publican adapts to the palates of his several 
 customers, and effects the mixture very 
 readily, by means of a machine, containing 
 small pumps worked by handles. In these 
 are four pumps, but only three spouts, be- 
 cause two of the pumps throw out at the 
 same spout : one of these two pumps draws 
 the mild, and the other the stale porter, from 
 the casks down in the cellar ; and the pub- 
 lican, by dexterously changing his hold 
 works either pump, and draws both kinds of 
 beer at the same spout. An indifferent ob- 
 server supposes, that since it all comes from 
 K 
 
194 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 one spout, it is entire butt beer, as the pub- 
 lican professes over his door, and which has 
 been decided by vulgar prejudice to be 
 only good porter, though the difference 
 is not easily distinguished. I have been 
 informed by several eminent brewers, that, 
 of late, a far greater quantity is consumed 
 of mild than of stale beer. 
 
 COPMOSITION OF OLD OR ENTIRE 
 BEER. 
 
 THE entire beer of the modern brewer, ac- 
 cording to the statement of C. Barclay*, 
 Esq. consists of some beer brewed ex- 
 pressly for the purpose of keeping : it like- 
 wise contains a portion of returns from pub- 
 
 * See the Parliamentary Minutes* p. 94>. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 195 
 
 I leans ; a portion of beer from the bottoms 
 of vats ; the beer that is drawn of from the 
 pipes, which convey the beer from one vat 
 to another, and from one part of the pre- 
 mises to another. This beer is collected 
 and put into vats. Mr. Barclay also states 
 that it contains a certain portion of brown 
 stout, which is twenty shillings a barrel 
 dearer than common beer ; and some bot- 
 tling beer which is ten shillings a barrel 
 dearer* ; and that all these beers, united, 
 are put into vats, and that it depends upon 
 various circumstances, how long they may 
 remain in those vats before they become per- 
 fectly bright. When bright, this beer ig 
 
 * Mr. Barclay has not specified the relative propor- 
 tions of brown stout and of bottling beer, which are 
 introduced at such an augmentation of expence. 
 
 K2 
 
196 ADULTERATION OF BEER* 
 
 sent out to the publicans, for their entire 
 beer, and there is sometimes a small quan- 
 tity of mild beer mixed with it." 
 
 The present entire beer, therefore, is a 
 very heterogeneous mixture, composed of 
 all the waste and spoiled beer of the pub* 
 licans the bottoms of butts the leavings 
 of the pots the drippings of the machines 
 for drawing the beer the remnants of beer 
 that lay in the leaden pipes of the brewery, 
 with a portion of brown stout, bottling beer, 
 and mild beer. 
 
 FRAUDULENT PRACTICE OF CONVERT- 
 ING NEW BEER INTO OLD OR EN- 
 TIRE BEER. 
 
 THE old or entire beer we have examined, 
 as obtained from Messrs. Barclay's, and 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 197 
 
 other eminent London brewers, is unques- 
 tionably a good compound ; but it does no 
 longer appear to be necessary, among frau- 
 dulent brewers, to brew beer on purpose 
 for keeping, or to keep it twelve or eighteen 
 months. A more easy, expeditious, and 
 economical method has been discovered to 
 convert any sort of beer into entire beer, 
 merely by the admixture of a portion of 
 sulphuric acid. An imitation of the age of 
 eighteen months is thus produced in an in- 
 stant. This process is technically called to 
 bring beer forward, or to make it hard. 
 
 The practice is a bad one. The genuine, 
 old, or entire beer, of the honest brewer, is 
 quite a different compound ; it has a rich, 
 generous, fullrbodied taste, without being 
 acid, and a vinous odour: but it may, per- 
 haps, not be generally known that this kind 
 
 K3 
 
198 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 of beer always affords a less proportion of 
 alcohol than is produced from mild beer. 
 The practice of bringing beer forward, it 
 is to be understood, is resorted to only by 
 fraudulent brewers*. 
 
 If, on the contrary, the brewer has too 
 large a stock of old beer on his hands, 
 recourse is had to an opposite practice 
 of converting stale, half-spoiled, or sour 
 beer, into mild beer, by the simple ad>- 
 mixture of an alkali, or an alkaline earth. 
 Oyster-shell powder and subcarbonate of 
 potash, or soda, are usually employed for 
 that purpose. These substances neutralise 
 the excess of acid, and render sour beer 
 somewhat palatable. By this process the 
 beer becomes very liable to spoil. 
 
 * Mr. Child, in Ms Treatise on Brewing, p. 23, 
 directs, to make neiv faer older, use oil of vitriol. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER, 199 
 
 It is the worst expedient that the brewer 
 can practise : the beer thus rendered mild, 
 soon loses its vinous taste; it becomes va- 
 pid; and speedily assumes a muddy grey 
 colour, and an exceedingly disagreeable 
 taste. 
 
 These sophistications may be considered, 
 at first, as minor crimes practised by fraudu- 
 lent brewers, when compared with the me- 
 thods employed by them for rendering beer 
 noxious to health by substances absolutely 
 injurious* 
 
 FRAUDULENT PRACTICE OF INCREAS- 
 ING THE INTOXICATING QUALITY 
 OF BEER. 
 
 To increase the intoxicating quality of 
 beer, the deleterious vegetable substance, 
 
 K4 
 
200 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 called cocculus indicus, and the extract of 
 thifc poisonous berry, technically called 
 black extract, or, by some, hard multum, 
 are employed. Opium, tobacco, nux vomica, 
 and extract of poppies, have also been 
 used. 
 
 This fraud constitutes by far the most 
 censurable offence committed by unprinci- 
 pled brewers; and it is a lamentable re- 
 flection to behold so great a number of 
 brewers prosecufed and convicted of this 
 crime ; nor is it less deplorable to find the 
 names of drug-gists, eminent in trade, im- 
 plicated in the fraud, by selling the unlaw- 
 ful ingredients to brewers for fraudulent 
 purposes. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 201 
 
 prosecuted and convicted from 
 1813 to 1819,. ybr receiving and using 
 illegal Ingredients in their Brewings*. 
 
 Mr. Gardner, brewer, for using adulterating ingre- 
 dients, 100/., judgment by default. 
 
 Messrs. Webb and another, brewers, for using 
 adulterating ingredients, and mixing strong and table 
 beer, verdict 500^. 
 
 Mr. Wyatt, brewer, . for using adulterating ingre- 
 dients, verdict 40 O/. 
 
 Mr. Harbart, retailer, for receiving adulterating 
 ingredients, verdict 150/. 
 
 Messrs. Blake and others, brewers, for using adul- 
 terating ingredients, and mixing strong and table beer, 
 verdict 250k 
 
 Mr. Sneed, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 
 25/. and costs. 
 
 Messrs. Rewell and another, brewers, ditto, verdict 
 1DO/. 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the 
 House of Commons appointed for examining the price 
 and quality of beer, p. 29, 36. 
 
 K5 
 
202 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 Messrs. Swain and another, brewers, for using adul- 
 terating ingredients, verdict 200/. 
 
 Mr. Ing, brewer, ditto, stayed on defendant's death. 
 
 Mr. Hall, ditto, for receiving adulterating ingre- 
 dients^ 5/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Webb, retailer, for vising adulterating ingre- 
 dients. 
 
 Messrs. Fogg and another, brewers, for receiving 
 and using adulterating ingredients. 
 
 Mr. Gray, brewer, for using adulterating ingre- 
 dients, 300/. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Bowman, for using liquid in bladder, supposed 
 to be extract of cocculus, 100/. 
 
 Mr. Bowman, brewer, for ditto, 100Z. and costs. 
 
 Mr. Stephens, brewer, for ditto, verdict 50/. 
 
 Messrs. Rogers and another, brewers, for ditto, 220 /, 
 and costs. 
 
 Mr. Moore, brewer, for using colouring, 300/. and 
 costs. 
 
 Mr. Morris, for using adulterating ingredients. 
 
 Messrs. Webb and Ball, for using ginger, Guinea 
 pepper, and brown powder (name unknown), 1st. 
 100/. 2nd. 500/. 
 
 Mr. Clarke, for using molasses, 150Z. 
 
 Messrs. Kewell and Burrows, for using cocculus 
 india, multum, &c. 100/. 
 
 Messrs. Allatson and Abraham, for using eocculus 
 india, multum, and porter flavour, 630/. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 203 
 
 Messrs. Swain and Sewell, for using cocculus india, 
 Guinea opium. &c. 200/. 
 
 Mr. Ing, for using cocculus india, hard colouring, 
 and honey, dead. 
 
 Mr. Dean, for using molasses, 50/. 
 
 Mr. Cowell, for using Spanish liquorice, and mixing 
 table beer *vith strong beer, 50/^ 
 
 Mr. Mitchell, for using cocculus india, vitriol, and 
 Guinea pepper, left the country. 
 
 Messrs. Lloyd and Man, for using extract of coc- 
 culus, 251. 
 
 Mr. Gray, for using ginger, hartshorn shavings, 
 and molasses, 300/. 
 
 Mr. Hoffman, for using molasses, Spanish juice, 
 and mixing table with strong beer, ISO/. 
 
 Messrs. Rogers and Boon, for using extract of coc- 
 culus, multum, porter flavour, &c. 220/. 
 
 Mr. Betteley, for using wormwood, coriander seed, 
 and Spanish juice, 200/. 
 
 Mr. Lane, brewer, for using wormwood instead of 
 hops, 5/. and costs. 
 
 That a minute portion of an unwholesome 
 ingredient, daily taken in beer, cannot fail 
 to be productive of mischief, admits of no 
 doubt ; and there is reason to believe that 
 
 K6 
 
204 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 a small quantity of a narcotic substance (and 
 cocculus indicus is a powerful narcotic*), 
 daily taken into the stomach, together with 
 an intoxicating liquor, is highly more effi- 
 cacious than it would be without the liquor. 
 The effect may be gradual; and a strong 
 constitution, especially if it be assisted with 
 constant and hard labour, may counteract 
 the destructive consequences perhaps for 
 many years ; but it never fails to shew its 
 baneful effects at last. Independent of this, 
 it is a well-established fact, that porter 
 drinkers are very liable to apoplexy and 
 palsy, without taking this narcotic poison. 
 
 * The deleterious effect of Cocculus Indicus (the 
 fruit of the memispermum cocculus} is owing to a pe- 
 culiar bitter principle contained in it; which, when, 
 swallowed in minute quantities, intoxicates and acts as 
 poison. It may be obtained from cocculus indicus ber- 
 ries in a detached state : chemists call it picrotoxin^ 
 from 7r*x/?ofc bitter ; and TO&KOV, poison. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 205 
 
 If we judge from the preceding lists of 
 prosecutions and convictions furnished by 
 the Solicitor of the Excise*, it will be evident 
 that many wholesale brewers, as well as 
 retail dealers, stand very conspicuous among 
 those offenders. But the reader will like- 
 wise notice, that there are no convictions, 
 in any instance, against either of the eleven 
 great London porter brewersf for any illegal 
 practice. 
 
 It has been asserted, that it is more dif- 
 ficult J for the officers of the Excise to detect 
 
 * See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 28, 36. 
 
 t Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co. Truman, Han- 
 bury and Co. Reid arid Co. Whitbread and Co. 
 Combe, Delafield, and Co. Henry Meux and Co. 
 Calvert and Co. Goodwin and Co. Elliot and Co.-<- 
 Taylor and Co. Cox, and Camble and Co. 
 
 See the Minutes, before quoted, p. 32* 
 
 t Ibid. p. 22. 
 
206 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 fraudulent practices in large breweries than 
 in small ones; this may be true to a certain 
 extent: but what eminent London porter 
 brewer would stake his reputation on the 
 chance of so paltry a gain, in which he 
 would inevitably be at the mercy of his own 
 man? The eleven great brewers of this 
 metropolis are persons of such high respecta- 
 bility, that there is no ground for the slight- 
 est suspicion that they would attempt any 
 illegal practices, which they were aware 
 could not possibly escape detection in their 
 extensive establishments. And let it be 
 remembered, that none of them have been 
 detected in any unlawful practice* in the 
 processes of their manufacture, or in the 
 adulteration of their beer. 
 
 * Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER, 207 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADUL- 
 TERATION OF BEER. 
 
 THE detection of the adulteration of beer 
 with deleterious vegetable substances is 
 beyond the reach of chemical analysis. 
 The presence of sulphate of iron may 
 be detected by evaporating the beer to 
 perfect dryness, and burning away the ve- 
 getable matter obtained, by the action of 
 chlorate of potash, in a red-hot crucible. 
 The sulphate of iron will be left behind 
 among the residue in the crucible, which, 
 when dissolved in water, may be assayed, 
 for the constituent parts of the salt, namely, 
 iron and sulphuric acid : for the former, by 
 tincture of galls, ammonia, and prussiate of 
 
208 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 potash ; and for the latter, by muriate of 
 barytes*. 
 
 Beer, which has been rendered fraudu- 
 lently hard or stale, by the admixture of 
 sulphuric acid, affords a white precipitate 
 (sulphate of barytes), by dropping into it a 
 solution of acetate or muriate of barytes; 
 and this precipitate, when collected by fil- 
 tering the mass, and after having been dried, 
 and heated red-hot for a few minutes in a 
 platina crucible, does not disappear by the 
 addition of nitric or muriatic acid. Ge- 
 nuine old beer may produce a precipitate ; 
 but the precipitate which it affords, after 
 having been made red-hot in a platina cru- 
 cible, instantly becomes re-dissolved with 
 
 * See a Treatise on the Use and Application of Che- 
 mical Tests, 3d edition ; Tests for Sulphuric Acid^ &c<. 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 209 
 
 effervescence by pouring on it some pure 
 nitric or muriatic acid ; in that case the pre- 
 cipitate is malate (not sulphate) ofbarytes, 
 and is owing to a portion of malic acid 
 having been formed in the beer. 
 
 But with regard to the vegetable mate- 
 rials deleterious to health, it is extremely 
 difficult, in any instance, to detect them by 
 chemical agencies ; and in most cases it is 
 quite impossible, as in that of coeculus in- 
 dicus in beer. 
 
 METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUAN- 
 TITY OF SPIRIT CONTAINED IN 
 PORTER, ALE, OP^ OTHER KINDS OF 
 MALT LIQUORS. 
 
 TAKE any quantity of the beer, put it into 
 a glass retort, furnished with a receiver, 
 
210 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 and distil, with a gentle heat, as long as any 
 spirit passes over into the receiver ; which 
 may be known by heating from time to time 
 a small quantity of the obtained fluid in a 
 tea-spoon over a candle, and bringing into 
 contact with the vapour of it, the flame of 
 a piece of paper. If the vapour of the dis- 
 tilled fluid catches fire, the distillation must 
 be continued until the vapour ceases to be 
 set on fire by the contact of a flaming body* 
 To the distilled liquid thus obtained, which 
 is the spirit of the beer, combined with 
 water, add, in small quantities at a time, 
 pure subcarbonate of potash (previously 
 freed from water by having been exposed 
 to a red heat), till the last portion of this salt 
 added, remahis iiddissolved in the fluid. 
 The spirit will thus become separated from 
 the water, because the subcarbonate of pot- 
 
ADULTERATION OF BEER. 211 
 
 ash abstracts from it the whole of the water 
 which it contained; and this combination 
 sinks to the bottom, and the spirit alone 
 floats on the top. If this experiment be 
 made in a glass tube, about half or three- 
 quarters of an inch in diameter, and gra- 
 duated into 50 or 100 equal parts, the rela- 
 tive per centage of spirit in a given quantity 
 of beer may be seen by mere inspection. 
 
 Quantity of Alcohol contained in Porter, 
 Ale, and other kinds of Malt Liquors*. 
 
 One hundred parts, by Measure, Parts of Alcohol^ 'by 
 
 contained Measure. 
 
 Ale, home-brewed 8,30 
 
 Ale, Burton, three samples -. 6,25 
 
 * Repository of Arts, No. 2, p. 74. 1316. 
 
212 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 One hundred parts, by Measure, Parts of Alcohol, 
 
 contained by Measure. 
 
 Ale, Burton* 8,88 
 
 i Ale, Edinburgh* 6,20 
 
 Ale, Dorchester* , 5,50 
 
 Ale, common London-brewed^ six samples.... 5,82 
 
 Ale, Scotch, three samples ..... ....5,75 
 
 Porter, London, eight samples 4,00 
 
 Ditto, Dittot 4,20 
 
 Ditto, Dittot 4,45 
 
 Ditto, Ditto, bottled V& 
 
 Brown Stout, 4 samples.... 5 
 
 Ditto, Dittot 6,80 
 
 Small Beer, six samples 0,75 
 
 Ditto, DittoJ 1,28 
 
 * Copied from Professor Branded Paper in the Phi- 
 losophical Transactions, 1811, p. 345. 
 
 t Result of our own Experiments, see p. 16D, 
 $ Professor Brande's Experiments. 
 
Counterfeit 
 
 f CHINA and PORTO, now farewell; 
 ** Let others buy what you've to sell. 
 
 " Your Port, and your Bohea ; 
 " For we've our native Sloe divine, 
 " Whose fruit yields all our Porto Wine, 
 
 " Whose leaves make all our Tea." 
 
 Literary Journal, vol. i. p. 14?. 
 
 THE heavy duties payable to Government 
 upon tea, hold out a strong- temptation to 
 those who scruple not to enrich themselves 
 by fraud, although at the expence of the 
 health, and even the lives of the community. 
 
 The application of leaves poisonous to 
 health for the purpose of imitating tea, is not 
 
214 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 a new invention, detected for the first time 
 within these few years : as is obvious from 
 the Acts of Parliament passed at differ- 
 ent periods to prevent and punish the of- 
 fence. The first legislative enactment on 
 the subject is in 2d. Geo. I. cap. 30, sec. 4, 
 whereby it is declared " That the dealer in 
 tea, or manufacturer or dyer thereof, who 
 shall counterfeit or adulterate tea, or shall 
 alter, fabricate, or manufacture it with terra 
 japonic a, or with any other drug or drugs 
 whatsoever, or shall mix with tea any leaves 
 other than leaves of tea, or other ingredients 
 whatsoever, shall forfeit the sum of one 
 hundred pounds." 
 
 The 4th Geo. II. cap. 14, sec. 11, recites, 
 " That several persons do frequently dye, 
 fabricate, or manufacture very great quanti- 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 215 
 
 ties of sloe-leaves, and the leaves of tea that 
 have been before used, or the leaves of other 
 trees, shrubs, or plants, in imitation of tea, 
 and do likewise mix, colour, stain, and dye 
 such leaves with terra japonica, logwood, 
 and other ingredients, and do sell and vend 
 the same as true and real tea, to the preju- 
 dice of the health of his Majesty's subjects, 
 the diminution of the revenue, and to the 
 ruin of the fair trader." The Act then de- 
 clares, that the dealer in or seller of such 
 " sophisticated" teas, shall forfeit the sum 
 of ten pounds for every pound weight. 
 
 The latest statute on this subject is 17th 
 Geo. III. cap. 29, which states, that this 
 trade had increased to a very great degree, 
 and by the same Act, the seller or manufac- 
 turer of such tea is to forfeit five pounds 
 per pound weight of tea; or, upon non pay- 
 
216 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 ment of that sum, be committed to prison 
 for any time not exceeding twelve months; 
 and, if the party so selling is a tea-dealer, 
 he is subject to the provisions of the Act 
 of Geo. II. and the penalty is ten pounds 
 sterling, per pound weight. 
 
 The extent to which this most iniquitous 
 traffic has been carried, appears to have 
 been as great formerly as now, and there- 
 fore it is necessary for the public to be al- 
 ways on their guard, and not to suppose that 
 the late convictions will deter others from 
 continuing the practice. In 1778 there was 
 a printed circular, signed by the headsman 
 and secretary of a company of grocers in 
 Norwich, stating, that they had been shown 
 a small quantity of green tea, one-fourth 
 part of which was avowedly sloe-leaves, 
 yet so well manufactured as almost to pre- 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 217 
 
 vent detection ; and there is another coun- 
 terfeit of hyson tea, which is a strong decep- 
 tion. So much for the closeness of the imi- 
 tation. 
 
 Of the extent to which this illicit traffic of 
 defrauding the revenue was carried, we have 
 very satisfactory evidence. In a report of 
 the Committee of the House of Commons, 
 dated December 24, 1783, wherein it is 
 stated, that " the quantity of fictitious tea, 
 which is annually manufactured from sloe 
 and ash-tree leaves, in different parts of 
 England, to be mixed with genuine teas, is 
 computed at more than FOUR MILLIONS 
 OF POUNDS:" and this too at a time when 
 the whole quantity of genuine teas sold by 
 the East India Company did not amount to 
 more than six millions of pounds annually. 
 
 In Scotland, and in Ireland, the fraud of 
 L 
 
218 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 counterfeiting tea* has been carried on to an 
 equal extent, and with greater ingenuity ; in 
 the latter country, the penalties imposed for 
 this offence, have, during a few months, 
 amounted to more than 15,000 ! 
 
 In the defence set up by some fraudulent 
 grocers convicted of adulterating tea, it is 
 stated that the spurious leaves made use of 
 were perfectly harmless ; and that they were 
 only mixed with tea to cheapen it to the 
 lower classes of the community, who could 
 not afford to pay the high price at which 
 genuine tea was sold. But sloe-leaves are 
 rendered poisonous by the process they un- 
 dergo in being manufactured as a substitute 
 for tea. We have the authority of the most 
 eminent botanist of his day, to prove this 
 
 * The History of the Tea Plant, p. 4,9. 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 219 
 
 statement. The following is from the twelfth 
 volume of English Botany, page 842; by 
 Sir James Smith, M.D. President of the 
 Linnoean Society. 
 
 " The recent fruit of the sloe* is one of 
 the many articles used to adulterate Port 
 wine in England. The dried leaves are said 
 to be a substitute for tea ; and are, perhaps, 
 often mixed with it in this country. They 
 may be one cause of its proving sometimes 
 pernicious ; for the green parts of the plumf 
 and cherry tribe are highly poisonous ; and 
 it is fortunate if they act merely as a purga- 
 tive." 
 
 * Prunos Spinosa, sloe or blackthorn, 
 t The genus, Primus, or plum, includes the sloe, 
 plum, cherry, peach, bay, laurel, &c. 
 
 L 2 
 
220 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 It is not to be expected that the recent 
 convictions will suppress a crime which has 
 existed for a century, and to the committal 
 of which the temptation is stronger than 
 ever; while the duties remain unrepealed, 
 the opinion may be fairly hazarded, that im- 
 position will still continue to be practised 
 on the public. This opinion must be 
 strengthened when it is stated that a profit 
 of from 300 to 600 per cent, can be ob- 
 tained by this species of fraud ; and though 
 some of our punishments are represented to 
 be too severe, yet there are many more 
 much too mild, and wholly inadequate to 
 the purpose of deterring offenders from a 
 repetition of the crime. It is probable, that 
 not a single individual, of those lately fined, 
 will desist from his nefarious practices ; the 
 profits of which have long since enabled him 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 221 
 
 to meet the trivial loss which attends a 
 conviction, and will speedily reimburse 
 him the penalty in which he has been 
 convicted. 
 
 The late detections that have been made 
 respecting the illicit establishments for the 
 manufacture of imitation tea leaves, arrested, 
 not long ago, the attention of the public ; 
 and the parties by whom these manufacto- 
 ries were conducted, together with the nu- 
 merous venders of the factitious tea, did not 
 escape the hand of justice. In proof of this 
 statement, it is only necessary to consult the 
 London newspapers (the Times and Courier) 
 from March to July 1818; which show to 
 what extent this nefarious traffic has been 
 carried on in this metropolis ; and they re- 
 port the prosecutions and convictions of 
 numerous individuals who have been guilty 
 L 3 
 
222 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 of the fraud. The following are some of 
 those prosecutions and convictions. 
 
 HATTON GARDEN*. On Saturday an in- 
 formation came to be heard at this office, 
 before Thomas Leach, Esq. the sitting- ma- 
 gistrate, against Edmund Rhodes, charged 
 with having, on the 12th of August last, 
 dyed, fabricated, and manufactured, divers 
 large quantities, viz. one hundred weight of 
 sloe leaves, one hundred weight of ash 
 leaves, oiie hundred weight of elder leaves, 
 and one hundred weight of the leaves of a 
 certain other tree, in imitation of tea, con- 
 trary to the statute of the 17th of Geo. Ill, 
 also, 2 Geo. I. c. 30, sec. 5 ; and 4 Geo. II. 
 c. 14, sec. 11. whereby the said Edmund 
 Rhodes had, for every pound of such leaves 
 so manufactured, forfeited the sum of 5/. 
 
 * Courier, Jime 22, 1818, 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 223 
 
 making the total of the penalties amount to 
 2,0007. The second count in the informa- 
 tion charged the said Rhodes with having 
 in his possession the above quantity of leaves, 
 under the like penalty of 2,000/. The third 
 count charged him with having, on the said 
 12th of August last, in his possession, divers 
 quantities, exceeding six pounds weight; of 
 each respective kind of leaves ; viz. fifty 
 pounds weight of green sloe leaves, fifty 
 pounds weight of green leaves of ash, fifty 
 pounds weight of green leaves of elder, and 
 fifty pounds weight of the green leaves of a 
 certain other tree ; not having proved that 
 such leaves were gathered with the consent 
 of the owners of the trees and shrubs from 
 which they were taken, and that such leaves 
 were gathered for some other use, and not 
 for the purpose of manufacturing the same 
 L 4 
 
224 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 in imitation of tea; whereby he had forfeited 
 for each pound weight, the sum of 5/. 
 amounting in the whole to 1,000/,; and, in 
 default of payment, in each case, subjected 
 himself to be committed to the House of 
 Correction for not more than twelve months, 
 nor less than six months* 
 
 Mr. Denton, who appeared for the defen- 
 dant, who was absent, said, that he was a 
 very poor man, with a family of five chil- 
 dren, and was only the servant of the real 
 manufacturer, and an ignorant man from the 
 country, put into the premises to carry on 
 the business, without knowing what the 
 leaves were intended for. By direction of 
 Mr. Mayo, who conducted the prosecution, 
 several barrels and bags, filled with the imi- 
 tation tea, were then brought into the office, 
 and a sample from each handed round. To 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 225 
 
 the eye they seemed a good imitation of 
 tea. 
 
 The defendant was convicted in the pe- 
 nalty of 500 on the second count. 
 
 The Attorney-General against Palmer. 
 (The Times, May 18, 1818.) This was an 
 action by the Attorney-General against the 
 defendant Palmer, charging him with hav- 
 ing 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 regu- 
 lar manufactory was established in Gold- 
 stone-street. The parties by whom the 
 manufactory was conducted, was a person 
 of the name of Proctor, and another person 
 named J. Malins. They engaged others to 
 L 5 
 
226 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 furnish them with leaves. The leaves, in 
 order to be converted into an article resem- 
 bling black tea, were first boiled, then 
 baked upon an iron plate; and, when dry, 
 rubbed with the hand, to produce that curl 
 which the genuine tea had : the colour, which 
 was yet to be given to it, was produced by 
 logwood. The green tea was manufactured 
 in a manner more destructive to the consti- 
 tution of those by whom it was drank. The 
 leaves, being pressed and dried, were laid 
 upon sheets of copper, where they received 
 their colour from an article known by the 
 name of Dutch pink. The article used in 
 producing the appearance of the fine green 
 bloom, observable on the China tea, was, 
 however, decidedly a dead poison ! He al- 
 luded to verdigrise, which was added to 
 complete the operation. This was the case 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 227 
 
 which he had to bring before the jury; and 
 hence it would appear, that, at the moment 
 they were supposing they were drinking a 
 pleasant and nutritious beverage, they were, 
 in fact, in all probability, drinking the pro* 
 duce of the hedges round the metropolis, 
 prepared for the purposes of deception in the 
 most noxious manner. 
 
 T. Jones deposed, that he knew Proctor, 
 and was employed by him at the latter end 
 of April, 1817, to gather black and white 
 thorn leaves. Sloe leaves were the black 
 thorn. Witness also knew John Malins, the 
 son of William Malins, a coffee-roaster; he 
 did not at first know the purpose for which 
 the leaves were gathered, but afterwards 
 learnt they were to make imitation tea. 
 Witness did not gather more than one hun- 
 dred and a half weight of these leaves ; but 
 
 L6 
 
228 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 he employed another person, of the name of 
 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 verdiyrise put into 
 the water (this applied to green tea only). 
 After the leaves were dried, they were 
 sifted, to separate the thorns and stalks. 
 More verdigrise and some Dutch pink were 
 then added . The verdigrise gave the leaves 
 that green bloom observable on genuine 
 tea. 
 
 The black tea went through a similar 
 course as the green, except the application 
 of Dutch pink: a little verdigrise was put in 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 229 
 
 the boiling-, and to this was added a small 
 quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus the 
 manufacture was complete. 
 
 John Bagster proved that he had been 
 employed by Malins and Proctor to gather 
 sloe and white-thorn leaves : they were taken 
 to Jones's house, and from thence to Malin's 
 coffee-roasting premises* witness received 
 two-pence per pound for them; he saw the 
 manufacturing going on, but did not know 
 much about it: witness saw the leaves on 
 sheets of copper, in Goldstone-street. 
 
 This was the case for the Crown. Ver- 
 dict for the Crown, 840. 
 
230 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 List of Grocers prosecuted and convicted in 
 the year 1818, for adulterating Tea. 
 
 Mr. Rhodes the defendant was convicted in 
 the penalty of 600. 
 
 Mr. Palmer the defendant was convicted in 
 the penalty of 840. 
 
 Mr. Prentice the defendant submitted to a 
 verdict for the Crown. 
 
 Mr. Holmes the defendant submitted to a 
 verdict for the Crown. 
 
 Mr. Orkney verdict for the Crown. 
 
 Mr. Grey verdict for the Crown Penalties 
 120. 
 
 Messrs. Gilbert and Powel verdict for the 
 Crown Penalties 140. 
 
 Mr. Clarke verdict for the Crown. 
 
 Mr. Horner verdict for the Crown Penal- 
 ties 210. 
 
 Mr. Dowling verdict for the Crown. Penal- 
 ties 70. 
 
 Mr. Bellis verdict for the Crown Penalties 
 70. 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 231 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADUL- 
 TERATIONS OF TEA. 
 
 THE adulterations of tea may be evinced 
 by comparing the botanical characters of the 
 leaves of the two respective trees, arid by 
 submitting- them to the action of a few che- 
 mical tests. 
 
 The shape of the tea-Jeaf is slender and 
 narrow, as shown in this sketch, the edges 
 
 arc deeply serrated, and the end or extre- 
 mity is acutely pointed. The texture of the 
 
232 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 leaf is very delicate, its surface smooth and 
 glossy, and its colour is a lively pale green. 
 The sloe-leaf (and also the white-thorn 
 leaf,) as shewn in this sketch, is more 
 rounded, and the leaf is obtusely pointed. 
 The serratures or jags on the edges are not 
 
 so deep, the surface of the leaf is more un- 
 even, the texture not so delicate, and the 
 colour is a dark olive green. 
 
 These characters of course can be ob- 
 served only after the dried leaves have been 
 suffered to macerate in water for about 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 The leaves of some sorts of tea may differ 
 in size, but the shape is the same in all of 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 233 
 
 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, de- 
 pends chiefly upon the climate, soil, culture, 
 age, and mode of drying the leaves. 
 
 Our ladies are our tea-makers ; let them 
 study the leaf as well as the liquor ; let them 
 become familiar with both vegetables, with 
 their forms, colours, flavours, and scents; let 
 us drink our tea upon the responsibility of 
 our wives, daughters, and sisters, and not 
 upon that of our grocers. Let every female 
 distinguish tea-leaves from sloe-leaves, as 
 well as if she had served an apprenticeship 
 in the ware-house in Leadenhall-street. 
 Let them wet and spread out the leaves 
 which come from their grocers, and let 
 them be compared with our figures. 
 
234 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 The examination of twenty-seven sam- 
 ples of imitation tea of different qualities, 
 from the most costly, to the most common, 
 which it fell to my lot to undertake, induces 
 me to point out the following chemical marks 
 of sophistications, as the most simple and 
 expeditious. Spurious black tea, slightly 
 moistened, when rubbed on a sheet of white 
 paper, immediately produces ablueish-black 
 stain; and speedily affords, when thrown 
 into cold water, a blueish black tincture, 
 which instantly becomes reddened by letting 
 fall into it a drop or two of sulphuric acid. 
 
 Two ounces of the suspected leaves should 
 be infused in half-a-pint of cold, soft water, 
 and suffered to stand for about three hours. 
 Genuine tea produces an amber-coloured in- 
 fusion, which does not become reddened by 
 sulphuric acid. 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA, 235 
 
 All the samples of spurious green tea 
 (nineteen in number) which I have examined, 
 were coloured with carbonate of copper (a 
 poisonous substance), and not by means of 
 verdigrise or copperas*. The latter sub- 
 stances 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 ge- 
 nuine or spurious, and convert the infusion 
 
 into ink. 
 
 Tea, rendered poisonous by carbonate of 
 
 copper, speedily imparts to liquid ammonia 
 a fine sapphire blue tinge. It is only ne- 
 
 * Mr. Twining, an eminent tea-merchant, asserts, that 
 " the leaves of spurious tea are boiled in a copper,, with 
 copperas and sheep's dung." See Encyclop. Britan. 
 vol. xviii. p. 331, 1797. See alo the History of the Tea 
 Plant, p. 48. ; and p. 22 and 228 of this Treatise. 
 
236 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 cessary to shake up in a stopped vial, for a 
 few minutes, a tea-spoonful of the suspected 
 leaves, with about two table-spoonsful of li- 
 quid ammonia, diluted with half its bulk of 
 water. The supernatant liquid will exhibit 
 a fine blue colour, if the minutest quantity 
 of copper be present. 
 
 Green tea, coloured with carbonate of cop- 
 per, when thrown into water impregnated 
 with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, immedi- 
 ately 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 a,t 
 
COUNTERFEIT TEA. 2-37 
 
 a time, into a platina, or porcelain-ware cru- 
 cible, kept red-hot in a coal fire ; the whole 
 vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thus 
 become destroyed, and the oxid of copper 
 left behind, in combination with the potash, 
 of the nitrate of potash (or salt petre), or 
 with the muriate of potash, if chlorate of 
 potash has been employed. 
 
 If water, acidulated with nitric acid, be 
 then poured into the crucible to dissolve the 
 mass, the presence of the copper may be 
 rendered manifest by adding to the solution, 
 liquid ammonia, in such quantity that the 
 pungent odour of it predominates- 
 
<0ttttterfett Coffee. 
 
 THE fraud of counterfeiting ground cof- 
 fee by means of pigeons' beans and pease, 
 is another subject which, ^not long ago, ar- 
 rested the attention of the public : and 
 from the numerous convictions of grocers 
 prosecuted for the offence, it is evident that 
 this practice has been carried on for a long 
 time, and to a considerable extent. 
 
 The following statement exhibits some of 
 the prosecutions, instituted by the Solicitor 
 of the Excise, against persons convicted of 
 the fraud of manufacturing spurious, and 
 adulterating genuine, coffee* 
 
COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 239 
 
 Alexander Brady, a grocer, prosecuted 
 and convicted of selling sham-coffee, 
 said, " I have sold it for twenty years." 
 Some of the persons prosecuted by the 
 solicitor of the Excise for this fraud, we 
 might, at first sight, be inclined to be- 
 lieve, were inconscious that the adulterating 
 of genuine coffee with spurious substances 
 w r as illegal ; but this ignorance affords no 
 excuse, as the Act of the 43 Geo. III. 
 cap. 129, explicitly states : " If after the 
 first day of September, 1803, any burnt, 
 scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other 
 grain, or vegetable substance or substances 
 prepared or manufactured for the purpose 
 of being in imitation of or in any respect to 
 resemble coffee or cocoa, or to serve as a 
 substitute for coffee or cocoa, or alledged 
 or pretended by the possessor or vender 
 
240 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 thereof so to be, shall be made or kept for 
 sale, or shall be offered or expesed to sale, 
 or shall be found in the custody or posses- 
 sion 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 pre- 
 paring, manufacturing, or selling the same* 
 or having the same in his, her, or their cus* 
 
COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 241 
 
 tody or possession, or the dealer or dealers 
 in or seller or sellers of coffee or cocoa, in 
 whose custody the same shall be found, 
 shall forfeit and lose the sum of one hun- 
 dred pounds." 
 
 List of Grocers prosecuted and convicted 
 by the Solicitor of the Excise (I8l8) t for 
 adulterating Coffee. 
 
 The Jlttorney-General against Malins, 
 This was an information filed by the At- 
 torney-General against the defendant, charg- 
 ing him, he being a dealer in coffee, with 
 having in his possession a large quantity of 
 imitation coffee, made from scorched pease 
 and beans, resembling coffee, and intended 
 to be sold as such, contrary to the statute of 
 
 31 
 
242 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE, 
 
 the 43d of the King, whereby he became 
 liable to pay a fine of 100. 
 
 J.Lawes deposed that he had lived servant 
 with the defendant; he constantly roasted 
 pease and beans, and ground them into 
 powder. When so ground, the powder 
 very much resembled coffee. Sometimes 
 the sweepings of the coffee were thrown in 
 among the pease and beans. Witness carried 
 out this powder to several grocers in differ- 
 ent parts of the town. 
 
 Thomas Jones lived with the defendant. 
 His occupation was roasting and grinding 
 pease and beans. They looked, when ground, 
 the same as coffee. Witness had seen Mr. 
 John Malins sweep up the refuse coffee, and 
 mix it with the pease and beans. He had 
 taken out this mixture to grocers. 
 
 J. Richardson, an excise-officer, deposed, 
 
COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 243 
 
 that, in December 1817, he went to the pre- 
 mises 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 com- 
 mon 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 arti- 
 cles seized. 
 
 John Lawes deposed, that the articles 
 exhibited were such as he was in the habit 
 of manufacturing while in Mr. Mai ins' em- 
 ployment. 
 
 The jury found a verdict for the Crown. 
 Penalty 100. 
 
 M2 
 
244 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 The Kiny against Chaloner. -Mr. Cha- 
 loner, 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 pe- 
 nalty of 90. 
 
 The Kiny against Peether. This was an 
 action similar to the last.- Verdict for the 
 Crown, penalty of 50. 
 
 The Kiny ayainst Toppiny. Verdict for 
 the Crown, penalty of 50. 
 
COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 245 
 
 The King against Hallett. Verdict for 
 the Crown, penalty of 50. 
 
 The King against Pox. This defendant, 
 in his defence, said, he had sold sham coffee 
 for years ; he did it as a matter of accom- 
 modation to the poor, who could not give 
 
 a higher price \ he did not sell it for ge- 
 
 
 nuine coffee. 
 
 
 
 Commissioner of the Excise. " Then 
 you have been defrauding the public for 
 .many years, and injuring the revenue by 
 your illicit practices : the poor have an equal 
 right to be supplied with as genuine an ar- 
 ticle as the rich," 
 
 He -wag convicted in the penalty of 50. 
 
 The King against Brady. One of the 
 commissioners tasted some of the sham 
 coffee produced by the officers, and declared 
 M 3 
 
246 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 tLat 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 aggra- 
 vates your case ; you have for twenty years 
 been selling burnt beans and pease for ge- 
 nuine coffee. You are convicted in the pe- 
 nalty of 50." 
 
 ' \ 
 
 The King against Bowser. This de- 
 fendant pleaded guilty to the charge, and 
 prayed the court to mitigate the penalty. 
 He was convicted in the penalty of 50* 
 
COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 247 
 
 The King against Owen*. Mr. Lawes 
 addressed the commissioners on behalf of 
 the defendant, in mitigation of punishment ; 
 for he did not mean to deny the offence. 
 His client was a very young man, and had 
 been most unfortunate in business. He was 
 not aware until lately of the existence of 
 any law by which it could be punished. 
 
 He was convicted in the penalty of 50 
 for each quantity of sham coffee. 
 . Mr. Greely and Mr. Dando were fined 
 20 each ; and Mr. Hirling and Mr. Terry 
 were fined 90 each, for selling spurious 
 coffee f. 
 
 The adulteration of ground coffee, with 
 pease and beans, is beyond the reach of 
 
 * Times, July 10, 1818. t Times, June 6, 1818. 
 M4 
 
248 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 chemical analysis ; but it may, perhaps, not 
 be amiss on this occasion to give to our 
 readers a piece of advice given by a retired 
 grocer to a friend, at no distant period : 
 " Never, my good fellow," he said, " pur- 
 chase from a grocer any thing which passes 
 through his mill. You know not what 
 you g*et instead of the article yon expect 
 to receive coffee, pepper, and all-spice, 
 are all mixed with substances which de- 
 tract from their own natural qualities." 
 Persons keeping mills of their own can at 
 all times prevent these impositions. 
 
ADULTERATION 
 
 , ana 
 
 BY the Excise laws at present existing 
 in this country, the various degrees of 
 strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, whis- 
 key, and other spirituous liquors, chiefly 
 composed of little else than spirit of wine, 
 are determined by the quantity of alcohol 
 of a given specific gravity contained in the 
 spirituous liquor of a supposed unknown 
 strength. The great public importance of 
 this subject in this country, where the con- 
 sumption of spirituous liquors adds a vast 
 
 M 5 
 
250 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 sum to the public revenue, has been the 
 means of instituting 1 many very interesting- 
 series of experiments on this subject. The 
 instrument used for that purpose by the 
 Customs and officers of Excise, is called 
 Sikes' s hydrometer*, which has now su- 
 perseded the instrument called Clark's 
 hydrometer, heretofore in use. 
 
 The specific gravity or strength of the 
 legal standard spirit of the Excise, is tech- 
 nically called proof, or proof spirit. " This 
 liquor (not being spirit sweetened, or having 
 any ingredient dissolved in it, to defeat 
 the strength thereof), at the temperature of 
 
 * George III. c. xxviii, May 1818. " An Act for 
 establishing the use of Sikes's hydrometer in ascer- 
 taining the strength of spirit, instead of Clark's hy- 
 drometer/' first established by 56 Geo. III. c. 3, 110, 
 and amended by Geo, III. c. 28. 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 251 
 
 51 Faht. weighs exactly fth parts of an 
 equal measure of distilled water ;" and with 
 this spirit the strength of all other spiritu- 
 ous liquors are compared according to law. 
 
 The strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin, 
 or other spirituous liquors, weaker than 
 proof, or below proof, is estimated by the 
 quantity of water which would be necessary 
 to bring the spirit up to proof. 
 
 The hydrometer is calculated to shew the 
 percentage of strength above or below proof, 
 as the case may be, of the spirit submitted 
 to trial. The stern of the instrument is 
 graduated, and so sub-divided, as to meet 
 every variety in the strength of the liquor 
 to be examined, which may fall between the 
 weights (nine in number), used with the in- 
 strument; the divisions and sub-divisions on 
 the hydrometer, which remain above the sur- 
 M 6 
 
252 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 face of the liquor in which the instrument 
 is made to swim, being added to the number 
 upon the weight used, and together forming 
 the indication. 
 
 But as the difference of temperature af- 
 fects materially the specific gravity of spi- 
 rituous liquors, a thermometer, and tables 
 of the concentration of strength as denoted 
 by the hydrometer, are used in the appli- 
 cation of the instrument. The officer of 
 the Excise has therefore only to turn to the 
 tables opposite the indication, and imme- 
 diately under the temperature he finds the 
 percentage of the strength of the liquor. 
 
 The quantity of proof spirit in any quan- 
 tity of spirituous liquor of any other strength, 
 is found by multiplying the quantity of spirit 
 by its percentage of strength, the decimal 
 point in the percentage being first renloved 
 two places to the left hand, and deducting 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 253 
 
 the product, if the spirit be below proof, 
 from ; or adding it, if above proof, to the 
 cjuantity of liquor. 
 
 For Example, 125 gallons. 
 
 Weight used.. 50. 
 
 Subdivision shewn by the hydrometer... 1.2 
 
 51.2 
 
 Temperature by the thermometer 68 
 
 Opposite 51.2 on the column of indica- 
 tions, and under the 68th degree of tem- 
 perature, is 8.4 per cent, above proof; had 
 it been below proof, the 10.500 must have 
 been deducted, and would have left 1142 
 of proof spirit, contained in the 125 gallons 
 of the liquor. 
 
 Brandy and rum is seizable^if sold by> or 
 found in the possession of, the dealer, un- 
 less it possesses a certain strength*. The 
 following are the words of the Act : 
 
 * Seventeen per cent below proof, according to 
 Sikes's hydrometer* 
 
254 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 " No distiller, rectifier*, compounder or 
 dealer, shall serve or send out any foreign 
 spirits, of a lower strength than that of 1 
 in 6 under hydrometer prooff, nor have in 
 his possession any foreign spirits mixed to- 
 gether, except shrub, cherry or raspberry 
 brandy, of lower strength than as aforesaid, 
 upon pain of such spirits being forfeited ; 
 and such spirits, with the casks and vessels 
 containing the same, may be seized by any 
 officer of Excise.' 5 
 
 We have, therefore, a ready check against 
 the frauds of the dishonest dealers in spi- 
 rituous liquors. If the spirit merchant 
 engage to deliver a liquor of a certain 
 
 * 30 Geo. III. c. 37, sec. 31. 
 
 t According to Clarke's hydrometer, or 17 per cent, 
 below proof, according to Sikes's hydrometer. 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 255 
 
 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 1 large quantities of brandy, rum, 
 or other spirituous liquors, the hydrometer 
 renders the greatest service. For it is by 
 no means an uncommon occurren^, to meet 
 with brandy, rum, and other spirituous li- 
 quors, of a specific gravity very much below 
 the pretended strength which the liquor 
 ought to possess. 
 
 The following advice given to his read- 
 ers*, by the author of a Treatise on Brewing 
 
 * The Distillers' Guide, by P. Jonas, 1818, p. 3; 
 also Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, 
 connected with Brewing and Distilling, p. 167 ; and 
 Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 232, 233. 
 
256 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 and Distilling-, may serve to put the unwary 
 on their guard against some of the frauds 
 practised by mercenary dealers. 
 
 " It is a custom among retailing- distillers, 
 which I have not taken notice of in this di- 
 rectory, to put one third or one fourth part 
 of proof molasses brandy, proportionably, to 
 what rum they dispose of; which cannot 
 be distinguished, but by an extraordinary 
 palate, and does not at all lessen the body or 
 proof of the goods ; but makes them about 
 two shillings a gallon cheaper; and must 
 be well mixed and incorporated together in 
 your retailing- cask ; but you should keep 
 some of the best rum, not adulterated, to 
 please some customers, whose judgment 
 and palate must be humoured. 
 
 " When you are to draw a sample of goods 
 to shew a person that has judgment in the 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 257 
 
 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 exceed- 
 ingly strong; but draw the pattern of goods 
 either into a p;lass from the cock, to run 
 very small, or rather draw off a small 
 quantity into a little pewter pot and pour 
 it into your glass, extending your pot as 
 high above the glass as you can without 
 wasting it, which makes the goods carry a 
 better head abundantly, than if the same 
 goods were to be put and tried in a phial. 
 
 " You must be so prudent as to make a 
 distinction of the persons you have to deal 
 with ; what goods you sell to gentlemen for 
 their own use who require a great deal of 
 attendance, and as much for time of pay- 
 ment, you must take a considerably greater 
 
258 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 price than of others ; what goods you sell 
 to persons where you believe there is a 
 manifest, or at least some hazard of your 
 money, you may safely sell for more than 
 common profit ; what goods you sell to the 
 poor, especially medicinally, (as many of 
 your goods are sanative), be as compas- 
 sionate as the cases require. 
 
 " All brandies, whether French, Spanish, 
 or English, being proof goods, will admit of 
 one pint of liquor (water) to each gallon, 
 to be made up and incorporated therewith 
 in your cask, for retail, or selling smaller 
 quantities ; and all persons that insist upon 
 having proof goods, which not one in twenty 
 understands, you must supply out of what 
 goods are not so reduced, though at a 
 higher price." 
 
 Such is the advice given by Mr. Shannon. 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 259 
 
 The mode of judging by the taste of spi- 
 rituous liquors is deceitful. A false strength 
 is given to a weak liquor, by infusing in it 
 acrid vegetable substances, or by adding 
 to it a tincture of grains of paradise and 
 Guinea pepper. These substances impart 
 to weak brandy or rum, an extremely hot 
 and pungent taste. 
 
 Brandy and rum is also frequently so- 
 phisticated with British molasses, or sugar- 
 spirit, coloured with burnt sugar. 
 
 The flavour which characterises French 
 brandy, and which is owing to a small 
 portion of a peculiar essential oil contained 
 in k, is imitated by distilling- British mo- 
 lasses spirit over wine lees ; but the spirit, 
 prior to being distilled over wine lees, is 
 previously deprived, in part, of its peculiar 
 disagi-eeable flavour, by rectification over 
 
260 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 fresh-burnt charcoal and quicklime. Other 
 brandy-merchants employ a spirit obtained 
 from raisin wine, which is suffered to pass 
 into an incipient acescency. The spirit 
 thus procured partakes strongly of the 
 flavour which is characteristic of foreign 
 brandy. 
 
 Oak saw-dust, and a spirituous tincture 
 of raisin stones, are likewise used to impart 
 to new brandy and rum a ripe taste, resem- 
 bling brandy or rum long kept in oaken 
 casks, and a somewhat oily consistence, 
 so as to form a double froth at its surface, 
 when strongly agitated in a vial. The co- 
 louring substances are burnt sugar, or mo- 
 lasses; the latter gives to imitative brandy 
 a luscious taste, and fulness in the mouth. 
 These properties are said to render it parti- 
 cularly fit for the retail London customers. 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUOflS. 261 
 
 The following- is the method of com- 
 pounding or making up 9 as it is technically 
 called, brandy* 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 ADUL- 
 TERATIONS OF BRANDY, RUM, AND 
 MALT SPIRIT. 
 
 THE false strength of brandy or rum is 
 rendered obvious by diluting the suspected 
 
 * Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, con- 
 nected with Brewing and Distilling-, p, 167. 
 
262 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 liquor with water ; the acrimony of the cap- 
 sicum, and grains of paradise, or pepper, 
 may then be readily discovered by the 
 taste. 
 
 The adulteration of brandy with British 
 molasses, or sugar-spirit, becomes evident 
 by rubbing a portion of the suspectetl 
 brandy between the palm of the hands; the 
 spirit, as it evaporates, leaves the disagree- 
 able flavour which is peculiar to all British 
 spirits. Or the liqour may be deprived of 
 its alcohol, by heating a portion in a spoon 
 over a candle, till the vapour ceases to catch 
 fire on the approach of a lighted taper. The 
 residue thus obtained, of genuine French 
 brandy, possesses a vinous odour, still 
 resembling* the original flavour of the 
 brandy, whilst the residue, produced from 
 sophisticated brandy, has a peculiar disa- 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS, 263 
 
 greeable smell, resembling gin, or the breath 
 of habitual drunkards. 
 
 Arrack is coarsely imitated by adding to 
 rum a small quantity of 'pyroligneous acid 
 and some flowers (acid) of benzoe. The 
 compound thus produced, however, must 
 be pronounced a bad one. The author of a 
 very popular Cookery Book, (the Cook's 
 Oracle, 2d edition, p. 480,) directs two scru- 
 ples 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 cha- 
 racterized by the peculiar flavour of juniper 
 berries, over which the raw spirit is distilled, 
 
204 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 is usually obtained from a mixture of malt 
 and barley : sometimes both molasses and 
 corn are employed, particularly if there be 
 a scarcity of grain. But the flavour of whis- 
 key, which is made from barley and oats, is 
 owing to the malted grain being dried with 
 peat, the smoke of which gives it the charac- 
 teristic taste. 
 
 The malt distiller is not allowed to fur- 
 nish, under a heavy penalty, any crude or 
 raw spirit to the rectiiier or manufacturer 
 of gin, of a greater strength than seven per 
 cent over proof. The rectifier who receives 
 the spirit from the inalt distiller is not al- 
 lowed, under a certain penalty, to send out 
 the spirit to his customers greater than of a 
 certain strength, as is obvious from the fol- 
 lowing words of the Act : 
 
 " No rectifier or compounder shall sell or 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 265 
 
 send out any British brandy, British rectified 
 spirits, British compounds, or other British 
 spirits, of greater strength than that of one 
 in five under hydrometer proof (Clark's hy- 
 drometer, equal to 22 per cent, below proof 
 by Sikes's hydrometer) : and if he shall sell 
 and send out any such spirits of a greater 
 strength than that of one in five under hy- 
 drometer proof, such spirits, with the casks 
 or vessels containing the same, shall be for- 
 feited, and may be seized by any officer of 
 Excise ; and he shall forfeit treble the value 
 of such spirit, or 50 at the election of the 
 King's Attorney-General, or the person who 
 shall sue for the same ; the single value of 
 such spirits to be estimated at the highest 
 London price." (30 Geo. III. c. 37, sec. 6.) 
 If we examine gin, as retailed, we shall 
 soon be convinced that it is a custom, pretty 
 
 N 
 
266 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 prevalent amongst dealers, to weaken this li- 
 quor considerably with water, and to sweet- 
 en it with sugar. This fraud may readily 
 be detected by evaporating a quantity of the 
 liquor in a table-spoon over a candle, to 
 dryness ; the sugar will thus be rendered 
 obvious, in the form of a gum-like substance, 
 when the spirit is volatilised. 
 
 One hundred and twenty gallons of ge- 
 nuine gin, as obtained from the wholesale 
 manufactories, are usually made up by frau- 
 dulent retailers into a saleable commodity, 
 with fourteen gallons of water and twenty- 
 six pounds of sugar. Now this dilution of 
 the liquor produces a turbidness; because 
 the oil of juniper and other flavouring sub- 
 stances which the spirit holds in solution, 
 become precipitated by virtue of the water, 
 and thus cause the liquor to assume an opa- 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS, 267 
 
 line colour: and the spirit thus weakened 
 cannot readily be rendered clear again by 
 subsidence. Several expedients are had 
 recourse to, to clarify the liquor in an expe- 
 ditious manner ; some of which are hatm- 
 less; others are criminal, because they ren- 
 der the liquor poisonous. 
 
 One of the methods, which is innocent, 
 consists in adding to the weakened liquor, 
 first, a port ion of alum dissolved in water, 
 and then a solution of sub-carbonate of pot- 
 ash. The whole is stirred together, and left 
 undisturbed for twenty-four hours. The 
 precipitated alumine thus produced from the 
 alum, by virtue of the sub-carbonate of 
 potash, acts as a strainer upon the milky 
 liquor, and carries down with it the finely 
 divided oily matter which produces the blue 
 colour of the diluted liquor. Roach, or Ro- 
 
 N2 
 
268 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 man alum, is also employed, without any 
 other addition for clarifying- spirituous li- 
 quors. 
 
 " To reduce unsweetened Gin*. 
 
 " A tun of fine gin 352 gallons 
 
 " Water... 36 
 
 <f Which, added together, make... 288 gallons 
 ec The doctor is now put on, and it 
 is further reduced with water... 19 
 
 " Which gives Total 307 gallons 
 
 of gin. 
 
 " This done, let lib. of alum be just co- 
 vered with water, and dissolved by boiling ; 
 rummage the whole well together, and pour 
 in the alum, and the whole will be fine in a 
 few hours." 
 
 * Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 198, and 
 P. Jonas's Distillers' Guide, 1818, p. 42. 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 269 
 
 " To prepare and sweeten British Gin*. 
 
 " Get from your distiller an empty pun- 
 cheon or cask, which will contain about 133 
 gallons. Then take a cask of clear rectified 
 spirits, 120 gallons, of the usual strength 
 as rectify ers 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 su- 
 gar. Beat or rub the above in a mortar. 
 When well rubbed together, have ready 
 prepared half a gallon of lime water, one 
 
 * Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, n ; 19S. aiiu tne 
 Distillers' Guide, by P. Jonas, p. 44. 
 
 N3 
 
270 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 gallon of rose water; mix the whole in either 
 a pail, or cask, with a stick, till every parti- 
 cle shall be dissolved ; then add to the fore- 
 going, twenty five pounds of sugar dissolved 
 in about nine gallons of rain or Thames wa- 
 ter, or water that has been boiled ; mix the 
 whole well together, and stir them carefully 
 with a stick in the 133 gallons cask. 
 
 " To force down the same, take and boil 
 eight ounces of alum in three quarts of water, 
 for three quarters of an hour ; take it from 
 the fire, and dissolve by degrees six or seVn 
 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 
 
SPJRITUOUS LIQUORS. 271 
 
 out; and take great care never to shake 
 your cask all the while it is drawing." 
 
 Another method of fining spirituous li- 
 quors, consists in adding to it, first, a solu- 
 tion of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solu- 
 tion of alum. This practice is highly dan- 
 gerous, because part of the sulphate of lead 
 produced, remains dissolved in the liquor, 
 which it thus renders poisonous. Unfortu- 
 nately, this method of clarifying spirituous 
 liquors, I have good reason to uelie V, i 
 more frequently practised than the preced- 
 ing method, because its action is more ra- 
 pid; and it imparts to the liquor a fine com- 
 plexion, or great refractive power; hence 
 some vestiges of lead may often be detected 
 in malt spirit. 
 
 The weakened spirit is then sweetened 
 with sugar, and, to cover the raw taste of 
 N 4 
 
272 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 the malt spirit, a false strength is given to 
 it with grains of paradise, Guinea pepper, 
 capsicum, and other acrid and aromatic sub- 
 stances. 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRE- 
 SENCE OF LEAD IN SPIRITUOUS 
 LIQUORS. 
 
 nrpspnrp nf loarl imaty K Asi+^^+^A :~ 
 
 --- ^ j,~ ~~~ -- . ~ ~xst~v* **xc.j WO ClC/l/CJ^tCCl iAl 
 
 spirituous liquors, as stated pages 90 and 
 114. The cordial called shrub frequently 
 exhibits vestiges of copper. This contami- 
 nation, I have been informed, is accidental, 
 and originates from the metallic vessels em- 
 ployed in the manufacture of the liquor, 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 273 
 
 METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUAN- 
 TITY OF ALCOHOL IN DIFFERENT 
 KINDS OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS, 
 
 THE quantity of real alcohol in any spiri- 
 tuous liquors may readily be ascertained by 
 simple distillation, which process separates 
 the alcohol from the water and foreign mat- 
 ters contained in the liquor. Put any quan- 
 tity of brandy, ruin, 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 de- 
 creases, till at last it contains so much water 
 as no longer to be inflammable by the ap- 
 N 5 
 
274 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 proach of a lighted taper, when held in a 
 spoon over a caudle (see p. 210). If the 
 process be continued, the distilled product 
 becomes milky, scarcely spirituous to the 
 smell, and of an acidulous taste* The dis- 
 tilling operation may then be discontinued. 
 If the first, fourth, or third part, of the dis- 
 tilled product has been set a part, it will be 
 found a moderately strong alcohol, and the 
 remainder one more diluted. If the whole 
 distilled spirit be mixed with perfectly dry 
 subcarbonate of potash, the alcohol will float 
 at the top of the potash, as stated p. 211 ; it 
 will separate in two distinct fluids. If the 
 decanted alcohol be re-distilled carefully 
 with a very gentle heat, over a small portion 
 of dry quick lime, or muriate of lime, it will 
 be obtained extremely pure, and of a specific 
 gravity of about 825, at 60 of temperature. 
 
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 275 
 
 Its flavour will vary according to the kind 
 of spirituous liquor from which it is ob- 
 tained. 
 
 Per Centage of Alcohol contained in va- 
 rious kinds of Spirituous Liquors*. 
 
 Proportion of 
 
 Alcohol per Cent. 
 
 by Measure. 
 
 Brandy, Cogniac, average proportion of ) 
 
 4 samples j 52 > 
 
 Ditto, Bourdeaux, ditto ditto 54,50 
 
 Ditto, Cette 53,00 
 
 Ditto, Naples, average of three 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 (own experiment), 3 sam- 7 
 
 pies, procured from retail dealers S 
 
 Ditto, (ditto) procured from the maim- j 
 
 facturer ? 
 
 * Repository of Arts, p. 350, Dec. 1819. 
 N 6 
 
SEVERAL instances have come under my 
 notice in which Gloucester cheese has been 
 contaminated with red lead, and has pro- 
 duced serious consequences on being taken 
 into the stomach* In one poisonous sample 
 which it fell to my lot to investigate, the 
 evil had been caused by the sophistication 
 of the anotto, employed for colouring cheese. 
 This substance was found to contain a por- 
 tion of red lead ; a method of sophistication 
 which has lately been confirmed by the fol- 
 lowing fact, communicated to the public by 
 Mr. J. W. Wright> of Cambridge, and co- 
 
POISONOUS CHEESE. 277 
 
 pied from the Repository of Arts, vol. viiu 
 No. 47, p. 262. 
 
 " Your readers ought here to be told, that 
 several instances are on record, that Glou- 
 cester and other cheeses have been found 
 contaminated with red lead, and that this 
 contamination has produced serious conse- 
 quences. In the instance now alluded to, 
 rnd probably in all other cases, the delete- 
 rious mixture had been caused ignorantly, 
 by the adulteration of the anotto employed 
 for colouring- the cheese. This substance, 
 in the instance I shall relate, was found to 
 contain a portion of red lead ; a species of 
 adulteration which subsequent experiments 
 have shewn to be by no means uncommon. 
 Before I proceed further to trace this fraud 
 to its source, I shall briefly relate the cir- 
 
278 POISONOUS CHEESE. 
 
 cumstknce which gave rise to its detec- 
 tion. 
 
 " A gentleman, who had occasion to re- 
 side for some time in a city in the West of 
 England, was one night seized with a dis- 
 tressing butindescribeable pain in the region 
 of the abdomen and of the stomach, accom- 
 panied with a feeling of tension, which oc- 
 casioned much restlessness, anxiety, and re- 
 pugnance 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 ex- 
 perienced an attack precisely similar i and 
 he then recollected* that having, on both oc- 
 casions, arrived from the country late in the 
 evening, he had ordered a plate of toasted 
 Gloucester cheese, of which he had partaken 
 
POISONOUS CHEESE. 279 
 
 heartily ; a dish which, when at home, re- 
 gularly served him for supper. He attri- 
 buted his illness to the cheese. The cir- 
 cumstance was mentioned to the mistress of 
 the inn, who expressed great surprise, as 
 the cheese in question was not purchased 
 from a country dealer, but from a highly 
 respectable shop in London. He, therefore, 
 ascribed the before-mentioned effects to 
 some peculiarity in his constitution, A few 
 days afterwards he partook of the same 
 cheese ; and he had scarcely retired to rest, 
 when a most violent colic seized him, which 
 lasted the whole night and part of the en- 
 suing day. The cook was now directed 
 henceforth not to serve up any toasted 
 cheese, and he never again experienced 
 these distressing symptoms. Whilst this 
 
POISONOUS CHEESE. 
 
 matter was a subject of conversation in the 
 house, a servant-maid mentioned that a 
 kitten had been violently sick after having 
 eaten the rind cut off from the cheese pre- 
 pared 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 ar- 
 rested general attention, and more particu- 
 larly as the suspected cheese had been 
 served up for several other customers. 
 
 " Application was therefore made by the 
 London dealer to the farmer who manufac- 
 tured the cheese : he declared that he had 
 bought the anotto of a mercantile traveller, 
 who had supplied him and his neighbours 
 
POISONOUS CHEESE. 281 
 
 for years with that commodity, without giv- 
 ing occasion to a single complaint. On sub- 
 sequent inquiries, through a circuitous chan- 
 nel, unnecessary to be detailed here at 
 length, on the part of the manufacturer of 
 the cheese, it was found, that as the sup- 
 plies of anotto had been defective and of 
 inferior quality, recourse had been had to 
 the expedient of colouring the commodity 
 with vermillion. Even this admixture could 
 
 **~t be Considered dlt^ r * nn - s - But on fur* 
 
 ther application being made to the druggist 
 who sold the article, the answer was, that 
 the vermillion had been mixed with a por- 
 tion of red lead; and the deception was held 
 to be perfectly innocent, as frequently prac- 
 tised on the supposition, that the vermillion 
 would be used only as a pigment for house-* 
 
282 POISONOUS CHEESE. 
 
 painting. Thus the druggist sold his ver- 
 rnillion, in the regular way of trade, adulte- 
 rated with red lead, to increase his profit, 
 without any suspicion of the use to which it 
 would be applied ; and the purchaser who 
 adulterated the anotto, presuming that the 
 vermillion was genuine, had no hesitation in 
 heightening the colour of his spurious anotto 
 with so harmless an adjunct. Thus, through 
 the circuitous and diversified operations of 
 Commerce, a portion of deadly poison ma^ 
 find admission into the necessaries of life, in 
 a way which can attach no criminality to 
 the parties through whose hands it has suc- 
 cessively passed." 
 
 This dangerous sophistication may be de- 
 tected by macerating a portion of the sus- 
 pected cheese in water impregnated with 
 
POISONOUS CHEESE, 283 
 
 sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with 
 muriatic acid ; which will instantly cause 
 the cheese to assume a brown or black co- 
 lour, if the minutest portion of lead be pre- 
 sent. 
 
Counterfeit 
 
 BLACK PEPPER is the fruit of a shrubby, 
 creeping plant, which grows wild in the East 
 Indies, and is cultivated, with much advan- 
 tage, for the sake of its berries, in Java and 
 Malabar. The berries are gathered before 
 they are ripe, and are dried in the sun. 
 They becoire black and corrugated on the 
 surface. 
 
 That factitious pepper-corns have of late 
 been detected mixed with genuine pepper, 
 is a fact sufficiently known*. Such an 
 
 * Thompson's Annals of Chemistry, 1816 ; a^o Re- 
 pository of Arts, vol. i.1816, p. 11. 
 
COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 285 
 
 adulteration may prove, in many instances 
 of household economy, exceedingly vexa- 
 tious and prejudicial to those who ignorantly 
 make use of the spurious article. I have 
 examined large packages of both black and 
 white pepper, by order of the Excise, and 
 have found them to contain about 16 per 
 cent, of this artificial compound. The spu- 
 rious pepper is made of oil cakes (the resi- 
 due of lintseed, from which the oil has been 
 pressed), common clay, and a portion of 
 Cayenne pepper, formed in a mass, and gra- 
 nulated by being first pressed through a 
 sieve, and then rolled in a cask. The mode 
 of detecting the fraud is easy. It is only 
 necessary to throw a sample of the sus- 
 pected pepper into a bowl of water ; the ar- 
 tificial pepper- corns fall to powder, whilst 
 the true pepper remains whole. 
 
286 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 
 
 Ground pepper is very often sophisticated 
 by adding to a portion of genuine pepper 
 a quantity of pepper dust, or the sweepings 
 from the pepper warehouses, mixed with a 
 little Cayenne pepper. The sweepings are 
 known, and purchased in the market, under 
 the name of P. D. signifying pepper dust. 
 An inferior sort of this vile refuse, or the 
 sweepings of P. D. is distinguished among 
 venders by the abbreviation of D. P. D. de- 
 noting, dust (dirt) of pepper dust. 
 
 This adulteration of pepper, and the mak- 
 ing and selling commodities in imitation of 
 pepper, are prohibited, under a severe pe- 
 nalty. The following are the words of the 
 Act. (Geo. III. c. 53, sec. 21, 1819.) 
 
 " And whereas commodities made in imi- 
 tation of pepper have of late been sold and 
 found in the possession of various dealers 
 
COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 287 
 
 in pepper, and other persons in Great Bri- 
 tain ; 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 deli- 
 vered, or shall be offered or exposed to sale, 
 or shall be in custody or possession of any 
 dealer or seller of pepper, the same, toge- 
 ther with all pepper with which the same 
 shall be mixed, shall be forfeited, with the 
 packages containing the same, and shall 
 and may be seized by any officer of excise ; 
 and the person preparing, manufacturing, 
 mixing as aforesaid, selling, exposing to 
 sale, or delivering the same, or having the 
 
288 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER- 
 
 same in his, her, or their custody or posses- 
 sion, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred 
 pounds." 
 
 The following prosecutions and convic- 
 tions have lately come before the public : 
 
 Mr, Baker* was charged with selling an 
 injurious mixture of rape and mustard seed, 
 called P. D. for pepper. 
 
 The defendant pleaded ignorance, and he 
 was ordered to pay a fine of 40s. 
 
 James Hemmett, a grocer, in Kent-street, 
 in the Borough, was charged with a similar 
 offence. 
 
 Skinner, an officer, deposed, that on the 
 13th of July last he bought a quarter of a 
 pound of pepper at the shop of the defen- 
 dant ; he afterwards examined it, and found 
 it to contain an injurious mixture. 
 
 * Morning Chronicle, January 6th and 19th, 1820. 
 
COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 289 
 
 James Story, the Examining Officer, said, 
 that there might be a little pepper in it, but 
 the greatest part was P. D. and that of the 
 most deleterious quality. 
 
 The defendant pleaded ignorance of hav- 
 ing it in his possession, but did not produce 
 any witnesses. 
 
 He was sentenced to pay a fine of 45s. 
 
 Mr. Bowling, a grocer, was charged with 
 a similar offence. 
 
 The defendant pleaded that he had before 
 been convicted by the Court, and trusted 
 that would be a sufficient punishment. 
 
 The Court thought this rather an aggra- 
 vation, and again convicted him in the sum 
 of 10. 
 
 Mr. Powey* was charged with selling 
 
 * Times, January 5th, 1820. 
 O 
 
290 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 
 
 pepper, containing an injurious mixture, with 
 intent to defraud the revenue. As this ap- 
 peared to be part of an oiien^e for which the 
 defendant had been fined 5, the penalty 
 was mitigated to 10s, 
 
 James Beard w,as charged with selling" 
 pepper containing a mixture called, in 
 the trade, P. D which was nothing more 
 than mustard and rape seed ground to- 
 gether, and sold for peppejr dust. The 
 Court expressed its determination to pro- 
 tect the public from such frauds, and fined 
 the defendant .5. 
 
 WHITE PEPPER. 
 
 THE common white pepper is factitious, 
 being prepared from the black pepper in 
 the following manner : - -The pepper is first 
 
COUNTERFEIT PEPPER 291 
 
 steeped in sea water and urine, and ex- 
 posed 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 al- 
 ways inferior in flavour and quality to 
 black pepper. 
 
 However, there is a sort of native white 
 pepper, produced on a species of the pepper 
 plant, which is much better than the facti- 
 tious, and indeed little inferior to the com- 
 mon black, pepper. 
 
 
 o 2 
 
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 Ame- 
 rica, is cultivated in large quantities in our 
 West India islands, and even frequently in 
 our gardenSj for the beauty of its pods, which 
 are long, pointed and pendulous, at first of 
 a green colour, and, when ripe, of a bright 
 orange red. They are filled with a dry loose 
 pulp, and contain many small, flat, kidney- 
 
COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 293 
 
 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 de- 
 pends, is soluble in water and in alcohol. 
 
 It is sometimes adulterated with red lead, 
 to prevent its becoming bleached on expo- 
 sure to light. This fraud may be readily de- 
 tected by shaking up part of it in a stopped 
 vial containing water impregnated with sul- 
 phuretted 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 
 o 3 
 
294 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 
 
 acid, and the solution assayed for lead by 
 water impregnated with sulphuretted hy- 
 drogen. 
 
 " We advise those who are fond of Cay- 
 enne not to think it too much trouble to 
 make it of English Chillies there is no 
 other way of being sure it is genuine. 
 They will obtain a pepper of much finer fla- 
 vour, without half the heat of the foreign ; 
 and a hundred chillies will produce two 
 6unces. The flavour of the chillies is very 
 superior to that of the capsicums. Put 
 them in a warm place to dry; then rub 
 them in a mortar, as fin as possible, and 
 keep them in a well stopped bottle*." 
 
 * The Cook's Oracle, 12mo. 1S19. 
 
poisonous 
 
 VEGETABLE substances, preserved in tlfe 
 state called pickles, by means of the anti- 
 septic power of vinegar, whose sale fre- 
 quently depends greatly upon a fine lively 
 green colour] knd the consumption of 
 ^vhich, 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 vege- 
 table substances, oftener than is perhaps 
 expected, are met with impregnated with 
 this metal* Numerous fatal consequences 
 o 4 
 
296 POISONOUS PICKLES. 
 
 are known to have ensued from the use of 
 these stimulants of the palate, to which the 
 fresh and pleasing hue has been imparted 
 according to the deadly formula laid down 
 in some modern cookery books ; such as 
 boiling the pickles with half-pence, or suf- 
 fering them to stand for a considerable 
 period in brazen vessels. 
 
 Dr. Percival [Medical Transactions, vol. 
 iv. p. 80] has given an account of " a 
 young lady who amused herself, while her 
 hair was dressing, with eating samphire 
 pickles impregnated with copper. She soon 
 complained of pain in the stomach; and, in 
 five days, vomiting commenced, which was 
 incessant for two days. After this, her sto- 
 mach became prodigiously distended ; and, 
 in nine days after eating the pickle, death 
 relieved her from her suffering." 
 
POISONOUS PICKLES. 297 
 
 Among many recipes which modern au- 
 thors of cookery books have given for 
 imparting a green colour to pickles, the 
 following are particularly deserving of 
 censure; and it is to be Loped that they 
 will be suppressed in future editions of the 
 works. 
 
 " To Pickle Gerkins.* Boil the vinegar 
 in a bell-metal or copper pot ; pour it boil- 
 ing hot on your cucumbers." 
 
 " To make greening '[.-'Take a bit of 
 verdigrise, the bigness of ahazle-nut, finely 
 powdered; half-a-pint of distilled vinegar, 
 and a bit of alum powder, with a little bay 
 salt. Put all in a bottle, shake it, and let 
 
 * The Ladies' Library, vol. ii. p. 203. 
 
 t Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife^ 2d 
 edition, p. 94. 
 
 OQ 
 
298 POISONOUS PICKLES* 
 
 it stand till clear. Put a small tea-spoon- 
 ful into codlings, or whatever you wish to 
 green." 
 
 Mr. E. Raffeld* directs, " to render 
 pickles green, boil them with halfpence, or 
 allow them to stand for twenty-four hours 
 in copper or brass pans." 
 
 To detect the presence of copper, it 
 is only necessary to mince the pickles, 
 and to pour liquid ammonia, diluted with 
 an equal bulk of water, over them in a 
 stopped phial : if the pickles contain the 
 minutest quantity of copper, the ammonia 
 assumes a blue colour. 
 
 * The English Housekeeper, p. 352, 354-. This 
 book has run through 18 editions. 
 
gGrotttvatfdtt of 
 
 VINEGAR, as prepared in this country, 
 from malt, should be of a pale brown co- 
 lour, perfectly transparent, of a pleasant, 
 somewhat pungent, acid taste, and fragrant 
 odour, but without any acrimony. From 
 the mucilaginous impurities which malt 
 vinegar always contains, it is apt, on ex- 
 posure to air, to become turbid arid ropy, 
 and at last vapid. The inconvenience is 
 best obviated by keeping the vinegar; in 
 bottles completely filled arid well corked ; 
 and it is of advantage to boil it in the bottles 
 a few minutes before they are corked. 
 06 
 
300 ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR. 
 
 Vinegar is sometimes largely adulterated 
 with sulphuric acid, to give it more acidity. 
 The presence of this acid is detected, if, on 
 the addition of a solution of acetate of ba- 
 ry tes, a white precipitate is formed, which is 
 insoluble in nitric acid, after having been 
 made red-hot in the fire. (See p. 208.) With 
 the same intention, of making the vinegar 
 appear stronger, different acrid vegetable- 
 substances are infused in it. This fraud is 
 difficult of detection ; but when tasted with 
 attention, the pungency of such vinegar will 
 be found to depend rather on acrimony than 
 acidity. 
 
 Distilled vinegar, which is employed for 
 various purposes of domestic economy, 
 is frequently distilled, not in glass, as it 
 ought to be, but in common stills with a 
 
ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR. 301 
 
 pewter pipe, whence it cannot fail to ac- 
 quire 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 ren- 
 dered obvious by sulphuretted hydrogen, in 
 the manner stated, page 87. The distilled 
 vinegar of commerce usually contains tin, 
 and not lead, as has been asserted* 
 
fttoutterotion of 
 
 CREAM is often adulterated with rice pow- 
 der or arrow-root. The former is frequently 
 employed for that purpose by pastry-cooks, 
 in fabricating creams and custards, for tarts, 
 and other kinds of pastry. The latter is 
 often used in the London dairies. Arrow- 
 root is preferable to rice powder ; for, when 
 converted with milk into a thick mucilage 
 by a gentle ebullition, it imparts to cream, 
 previously diluted with milk, a consistence 
 and apparent richness, by no means unpa- 
 
ADULTERATION OF CREAM. 303 
 
 latable, without materially impairing the 
 taste of the cream. 
 
 The arrow-root powder is mixed up with 
 a small quantity of cold skimmed milk into 
 a perfect, smooth, uniform mixture ; more 
 milk is then added, and the whole boiled 
 for a few minutes, to effect the solution of 
 the arrow-root : this compound, when per- 
 fectly cold, is mixed up with the cream. 
 From 220 to 230 grains (or three large tea- 
 spoonsful) of arrow-root are added to one 
 pint of milk ; and one part of this solution 
 is mixed with three of cream. It is scarcely 
 necessary to state, that this sophistication 
 is innocuous. 
 
 The fraud may be detected by adding to 
 a teaspoonful of the sophisticated cream 
 a few drops of a solution of jodine in spirit 
 
304 ADULTERATION OP CREAM. 
 
 of wine, which instantly produces with it a 
 dark blue colour. Genuine cream acquires^ 
 by the addition of this test, a faint yellow 
 tinge. 
 
 The common notion, of milk being adul- 
 terated with chalk, or whiting, is unfounded. 
 Such an adulteration is not practicable, 
 without being immediately detected ; be- 
 cause the smallest quantity of whiting, or 
 chalk, speedily separates, and falls to the 
 bottom. 
 
 I have been frequently called upon to 
 examine samples of milk, supposed to be 
 sophisticated with whiting-, but a chemical 
 examination of the milk always proved the 
 contrary. That a liberal quantity of water 
 is often added to the London milk, admits 
 of no doubt. 
 
' 
 
 IN the preparation of sugar plums, com- 
 fits, and other kinds of confectionery, espe- 
 cially those sweetmeats of inferior qua- 
 lity 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 
 vermillion. This pigment is generally adul- 
 terated with red lead. Other kinds of sweet- 
 
306 POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY. 
 
 meats are sometimes rendered poisonous by 
 being coloured with preparations of copper. 
 The following account of Mr. Miles* may be 
 advanced in proof of this statement: 
 
 " Some time ago, while residing in the 
 house of a confectioner, I noticed the co- 
 louring 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 manufactu- 
 rers 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 
 
 * Philosoph. Mag. No. 25$, vol. M. 1819. p. 317. 
 
POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY. 307 
 
 of being contaminated with copper. The 
 practice of colouring these articles of con- 
 fectionery 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, an* 
 gelica 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 dis- 
 solving 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 suffer- 
 ing the sediment to become dry gradually, it 
 
308 POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY. 
 
 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 impreg- 
 nated with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidu- 
 lated with muriatic acid (see p. 87), which 
 assumes a dark brown or black colour, if 
 lead be present. 
 
, 
 
 <atsttj)* 
 
 THIS article is very often subjected to 
 one of the most reprehensible modes of adul- 
 teration ever devised. Quantities are daily 
 to be met with, which, on a chemical exa- 
 mination, 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 sea- 
 soned with all-spice, Cayenne pepper, pi- 
 mento. garlick, and common salt*. 
 
 * The best method of making Mushroom Catsup is 
 detailed in receipt No. 439, of the Cook's Oracle. It 
 is too long to insert here. 
 
310 POISONOUS CATSUP. 
 
 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, (Li- 
 terary Chronicle, No. 24, p. 379,) on this 
 subject, will be sufficient to cause the public 
 to be on their guard. 
 
 " Being in the habit of frequently pur- 
 chasing large quantities of pickles and other 
 culinary sauces, for the use of my establish- 
 ment^ 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 
 
POISONOUS CATSUP. 311 
 
 believe that the article might be contami- 
 nated with some deleterious substance, from 
 circumstances which happened in my busi- 
 ness as a tavern keeper, but which are un- 
 necessary to be detailed here; and it was 
 this that induced me to make inquiry con- 
 cerning 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 by exposure to 
 auyia combination with common salt, with a 
 portion of pimento and pepper dust, in com- 
 mon vinegar, strengthened with some vine- 
 gar extract, left behind as residue in the still 
 of vinegar manufacturers; I therefore Sus- 
 pected that the catsup might be impregnated 
 
312 POISONOUS CATSUP. 
 
 with some copper. To convince myself of 
 this opinion, I boiled down to dry ness a 
 quart of it in a stone pipkin, which yielded 
 tome a dark brown mass. I put this mass 
 into a crucible, and kept it on 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 in- 
 tense 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; 
 
POISONOUS CATSUP. 313 
 
 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 evi- 
 dently strongly impregnated with copper. 
 On informing the manufacturer of this fact, 
 he assured me, that the same method of pre- 
 paring 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 commu- 
 nicate; 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 contami- 
 nate the liquor, and render it poisonous." 
 
of 
 
 LOZENGES, particularly those into the 
 composition of which substances enter that 
 are not soluble in water, as ginger, cream of 
 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 tin's 
 fraud was lately made by Dr. T. Lloyd. 
 (Literary Gazette, No. 146.) 
 
 " Some ginger lozenges having lately 
 fallen into my hands, I was not a little sur- 
 prised to observe, accidentally, that when 
 thrown into a coal fire, they suffered but 
 
ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES. 3l5 
 
 little change. If one of the lozenges were 
 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 fee- 
 ble flame for scarcely half a minute, and 
 there remained behind a stony hard sub- 
 stance, retaining the form of the lozenge. 
 This unexpected result led me to examine 
 these lozenges, which were bought at a re- 
 spectable chemist's shop in the city ; and I 
 soon became convinced, that, in the prepa- 
 ration 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- 
 P2 
 
316 ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES. 
 
 pence per ounce ; and that the article fur- 
 nished 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 gin- 
 ger and Guinea pepper. I was likewise in- 
 formed, 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 bar- 
 gains 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 
 
ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES. 317 
 
 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 authorized to adul- 
 terate it in value, to make up for the risk he 
 runs, and the long credit he gives." 
 
 The comfits, called ginger pearls, are fre? 
 quently adulterated with clay. Thesefrauds 
 may be detected in the manner stated, page 
 307, 
 
 p 3 
 
THIS commodity is sometimes contami- 
 nated 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 
 
POISONOUS OLIVE OIL. 319 
 
 freezes, while that of the poppy seeds re- 
 mains 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 con- 
 geal at 38 Fahrenheit. In this country, it 
 is frequently met with rancid. 
 
 The presence of lead is detected by shak- 
 ing, in a stopped vial, one part of the sus- 
 pected 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, delete- 
 rious to health, be present. The practice of 
 keeping this oil in pewter or leaden cisterns, 
 
320 POISONOUS OLIVE OIL. 
 
 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. 
 
of 3*mott 8tfou 
 
 IT is well known to every one, that the 
 expressed juice of lemons is extremely apt 
 to spoil, on account of the saccharine muci- 
 lagenous matter which it contains ; and 
 hence various means have been practised, 
 with the intention of rendering" it less perish- 
 able, and less bulky. The juice has been 
 evaporated to the consistence of rob; but 
 this always gives an unpleasant empyreu- 
 matic 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 
 p 5 
 
322 ADULTERATION OF LEMON ACID. 
 
 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 sepa- 
 rating the foreign matters associated with it 
 in the juice, by chemical processes unneces- 
 sary to be detailed here, citric acid is now 
 manufactured, perfectly pure, and in a crys- 
 tallised form, and is sold under the name of 
 concrete lemon acid. In this state it is ex- 
 tremely convenient, both for domestic and 
 medicinal purposes. One drachm, when dis- 
 solved in one ounce of water, is as acid as a 
 like bulk of fresh lemon juice. To commu- 
 nicate the flavour of the lemon, 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 add this to the lemonade^ 
 negus, punch, shrub, jellies, or culinary 
 sauces, prepared with the pure citric acid. 
 
ADULTERATION OF LEMON ACID. 323 
 
 Fraudulent dealers often substitute the 
 cheaper tartareous acid for citric acid. The 
 neg'iis and lemonade made by the pastry- 
 cooks, and the punch sold at taverns in this 
 metropolis, is made with tartareous acid. 
 
 To discriminate citric acid from tartare- 
 ous acid, it is only necessary to add a con- 
 centrated 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 ensue, 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 m 
 excess to tartrate of potash. 
 
poisonous 
 
 THE beverage called soda water is fre- 
 
 quently contaminated both with copper and 
 
 lead ; these metals being largely employed 
 
 in the construction of the apparatus for pre- 
 
 paring the carbonated water*, and the great 
 
 excess of carbonic acid which the water con- 
 
 tains, particularly enables it to act strongly 
 
 oft 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. 89.) 
 
 * 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. 
 
SEVERAL samples which we have ex- 
 amined 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, re- 
 ceives, without much risk of detection, a 
 certain quantity of Venetian red, added for 
 the purpose of colouring it, which, if ge- 
 nuine, 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 
 
326 POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE. 
 
 minium, or red oxid of lead. The fraud 
 may be detected as stated p. 312. 
 
 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 Ibs. to 4 Ibs. and a half; 
 pulp through a fine hair sieve; boil the 
 bones with common salt, 7 oz. in water 
 6 Ibs.; 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 1 gallon." 
 
 As this fish sauce is so often in request, 
 we give the following receipt of the best 
 way of making it : 
 
POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE. 327 
 
 " Put 10 or 12 anchovies into a mortar, 
 and pound them to a pulp ; put this into a 
 very clean iron, or well tinned copper sauce- 
 pan ; then put a table spoonful of cold spring 
 \vater into the mortar; shake it round, and 
 pour it to the anchovies; set them over, 
 or by the side of a gentle fire, and stir them 
 very frequently till they are melted ; then 
 add a quarter of a drachm (avoirdupois) 
 of Cayenne; let it remain by the fire a few 
 minutes longer; then while warm rub it 
 through a hair sieve with the back of a 
 wooden spoon*." 
 
 From the Cook's Oracle, 2nd edit. 1819, receipt 
 433. 
 
fttuftartu 
 
 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 oilier 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 
 
POISONOUS CUSTARD. 329 
 
 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 par- 
 taking of custard flavoured with the leaves 
 of this poisonous plant. 
 
 " Several children at a boarding-school, 
 in the vicinity of Richmond, having par- 
 taken of some custard flavoured with the 
 leaves of the cherry laurel, as is frequently 
 practised by cooks, one of the poor inno- 
 cents 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 
 
330 POISONOUS CUSTARD. 
 
 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*." 
 
 * Literary Chronicle, No. 2% p. 348. 1819, 
 
POISONOUS CUSTARD. 331 
 
 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 spirituous liquors, to impart to them 
 the flavour of the cordial called noyeau 
 (see also page 261). 
 
 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 de- 
 leterious nature. 
 
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*. Pliny already exclaims 
 against the luxury of his countrymen in thia 
 article, and wonders what extraordinary 
 pleasure there can be in eating such danger- 
 ous foodf. 
 
 But if the palate must be indulged with 
 
 these lethal luxuries, or, as Seneca calls 
 them, " voluptuous poison J," it is highly ne- 
 
 * Fungi plerique veneno turgent. Linn. Amsen. Acid. 
 
 t Quae voluptas tanta ancipitks cibi? Plin. Nat. 
 Hist. xxii. 23. 
 
 J Sen. Ep. 96. 
 
POISONOUS MUSHROOM*. 333 
 
 cessary 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 distin- 
 guish 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 inten- 
 tion of gathering some mushrooms. He col- 
 lected 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 Lead, 
 
 *t~ 
 with a general trembling and sudden loss of 
 
334 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 
 
 power ; so much so, that he nearly fell off 
 the chair; to this succeeded, loss of recol- 
 lection ; 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 assist- 
 ance 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 ac- 
 quainted 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, 
 
POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 335 
 
 that vomiting did not take place for nearly 
 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 distress- 
 ing pains in the calves of his legs. Full w>- 
 miting was at length produced. After the 
 operation of the emetic, he expressed him- 
 self generally better, but still continued 
 drowsy. In the evening Mr. Glen found 
 him doing well." 
 
 The following case is recorded in the Me- 
 dical 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 
 
POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 
 
 were put into the liquor. Within five mi- 
 nutes 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 sto- 
 mach ; 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 dis- 
 order. 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, 
 
POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 337 
 
 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; how- 
 ever, 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 $11 which she had ever before been a 
 stranger, 
 
 " The child tMf some convulsive agita- 
 tions of his arms, but was otherwise little 
 Q 
 
338 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 
 
 affected. He was capable of taking half a 
 scruple of ipecacuanha, with which he vo- 
 mited, and was soon perfectly recovered." 
 
 MUSHROOM CATSUP. 
 
 THE edible mushroom is the basis of the 
 sauce called mushroom catsup ; a great pro- 
 portion of which is prepared by gardeners 
 who grow the fungi. The mushrooms em- 
 ployed for preparing this sauce are gene- 
 rally those which have not found a ready 
 sale in the market, and are in a putrified 
 state ; for no vegetable substance is liable to 
 so rapid a spontaneous decomposition as 
 mushrooms. In a few days after they have 
 been gathered from the dung-bed on which 
 they grow, they become the habitation of 
 myriads of in&rcts ; and, if even the fresh 
 mushroom be attentively examined, it will 
 frequently be found to swarm with life. 
 
of 
 
 ALTHOUGH we have already made some 
 remarks on the sophistication of milk (page 
 302), the following additional statement may 
 not be deemed superfluous. 
 
 The most correct method of ascertaining 
 the different qualities of milk, or the rela- 
 tive richness of different kinds of milk, is 
 by means of a simple instrument, lately 
 constructed at the suggestions of Sir Joseph 
 Banks. 
 
 It consists of any number of cylindrical 
 glass tubes of the same internal diameter, 
 which is generally about half an inch, or J 
 Q2 
 
340 ADULTERATION OF MILK. 
 
 of an inch ; and about 10 or 12 inches long. 
 They are closed at one end, and open, and 
 a little flanched at the other, like the test 
 tubes used by chemists, and are mounted on 
 a stand in the same manner. At the distance 
 of about 10 inches from the bottom of each 
 tube is a line or mark, with 0, or zero, placed 
 opposite it, and from this point the tube is 
 graduated into tenths of an inch, and num- 
 bered downwards for 2 or 3 inches, so that 
 each division is iJo^ 1 of the capacity of the 
 tube. 
 
 If several of the tubes are filled with milk 
 at the same time, and placed at the same 
 temperature, the cake of cream will form at 
 the top, and its quantity or percentage will 
 be read off by mere inspection. 
 
 In this way experiments may be made on 
 the relative quantities of cream produced 
 
ADULTERATION OP MILK. 341 
 
 by different systems of feeding, or by dif- 
 ferent animals' feed, and placed under dif- 
 ferent circumstances. A standard milk, 
 with which all other samples are to be 
 compared, may readily be fixed by saying 
 what lactometer strength it shall possess. 
 From experiments we have made with 
 several samples of genuine skimmed coun- 
 try milk, we are authorised to state, that 
 the London milk was found by no means 
 to be so very much inferior to the country 
 skimmed milk, as might perhaps be ex- 
 pected. The tests by the lactometer never 
 indicate more than from 8 to 10 per cent, 
 of water. 
 
of 
 
 ISINGLASS may be considered as an ali- 
 mentary substance employed in dometie 
 economy. By boiling isinglass in water, it 
 becomes dissolved, and furnishes a mild 
 tremulous jelly, which, when seasoned with 
 cream, bitter almonds, and sugar, is called 
 blanc-mange; and when seasoned with 
 lemon juice, sugar, and aromatics, forms 
 the basis of many delicacies for the table. 
 It is also employed in domestic use in the 
 clarification of various liquors ; and if small 
 shreds are thrown into boiling coffee, it 
 renders it clear in a few minutes. 
 
ADULTERATION OF ISINGLASS. 343 
 
 This substance is frequently adulterated 
 with shreds of the skins of the dried blad- 
 der of horses, and with other animal mem- 
 branes. This fraud may be detected by the 
 shreds not dissolving when boiled in water. 
 Genuine isinglass should be totally soluble 
 without leaving any filaments. 
 
 The best isinglass is perfectly transpa- 
 rent ; it occurs in commerce twisted in the 
 form of a lyre or a heart ; and the worst is 
 formed into the shape of pancakes. 
 
 Q4 
 
<tnttamom 
 
 CINNAMON is often adulterated with cassia 
 bark, or by mixing 1 with the genuine cinna- 
 mon, a portion of cinnamon bark which 
 has been deprived of its essential oil by 
 distillation. 
 
 The best cinnamon is rather pliable, and 
 ought not much to exceed stout writing 
 paper in thickness. It is of a light yellow- 
 ish colour; it possesses a sweet taste, not 
 so hot as to occasion pain, and not suc- 
 ceeded by any aftertaste. The inferior 
 kind is distinguished by being thicker, of 
 a darker and brownish colour, hot and pun- 
 
ADULTERATION OF CINNAMON. 345 
 
 gent when chewed, and succeeded by a 
 disagreeable bitter after-taste. The cassia 
 bark, which greatly resembles the true cin- 
 namon, is thicker, and of a coarser texture, 
 and breaks short and smooth, whilst true 
 cinnamon breaks fibrous and splintery. 
 Cassia has a slimy mucilagenous taste, and 
 without any of the roughness of the true 
 cinnamon bark. 
 
 Q5 
 
gftmtttratfon of 
 
 GENUINE mustard, either in powder, or in 
 the state of a paste ready for vise, is perhaps 
 rarely to be met with in the shops. The 
 article sold under the name of patent mus- 
 tard, is usually a mixture of mustard and 
 common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cay- 
 enne pepper, and a large quantity of bay 
 salt, made with water into a paste, ready for 
 use. Some manufacturers adulterate their 
 mustard with raddish-seed and pease flour. 
 
 It has often been stated, that a fine yellow 
 colour is given to mustard by means of tur- 
 meric. We doubt the truth of this assertion* 
 The presence of the minutest quantity of 
 
ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD. 347 
 
 turmeric may instantly be detected, by add- 
 ing to the mustard a few drops of a solution 
 of potash, or any other alcali, which changes 
 the bright yellow colour, to a brown or deep 
 orange tint. 
 
 Two ounces and a half of Cayenne pep- 
 per, l|lb of bay salt, 81b of mustard flour, 
 and ltb of wheaten flour, made into a stiff 
 paste, with the requisite quantity of water 
 in which the bay-salt is previously dissolved, 
 forms the patent 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 com- 
 modity of the table. The fraud only tends 
 to deteriorate the quality and flavour of the 
 genuine article itself. 
 
 Q 6 
 
amttterattott of 
 
 THIS article is frequently nothing else 
 than a mixture of the worst kind of gum 
 arabic, called Indian or Barbary gum, im- 
 ported chiefly for the use of making shoe- 
 blacking. A solution of the genuine Spa- 
 nish liquorice juice is mixed with a solution 
 of Barbary gum; and the mixture, after being 
 inspissated to a proper consistence, is again 
 made up into cylindrical rolls, which, whilst 
 still moist, are covered with bay-leaves, and 
 re-packed in chests, to resemble in every re- 
 spect the genuine Spanish liquorice juice, 
 imported from Catalonia. It is difficult to 
 
ADULTERATION OF SPANISH LIQUORICE. 349 
 
 detect this fraud. Genuine Spanish liquo- 
 rice should be perfectly black, brittle when 
 cold, and break with a smooth and glassy 
 fracture ; it should not become sensibly 
 clammy or damp, on exposure in a dry 
 place ; it should have a sweet taste, without 
 empyreuma; and be soluble in water, with- 
 out leaving any residue. 
 
bg Copper 
 
 MANY kinds of viands are frequently im- 
 pregtiated 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 
 
POISONOUS FOOD. 351 
 
 vessels not well cleaned from the oxid 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 ter- 
 rible, as they have exerted their action 
 on a great number of persons at once. 
 The annals of medicine farnish 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 ill copper vessels. The 
 sugar-baker employs copper pans; the 
 
352 FOOD POISONED 
 
 pastry-cook bakes our tarts in copper 
 moulds ; the confectioner uses copper ves- 
 sels; the oilman boils his pickles in copper 
 or brass vessels, and verdigrise is plenti- 
 fully formed by the action of the vinegar 
 upon the metal. 
 
 " Though, after all, a single dose be nojt 
 mortal, yet a quantity of poison, however 
 small, when taken at every meal, must pro- 
 duce 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 nu- 
 merous and frightful train of diseases is 
 occasioned by the poisonous effects of per- 
 
BY COPPER VESSELS. 353 
 
 nicious matter received into the stomach 
 insensibly with our victuals. 
 
 Dr. Johnston* 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 Cy- 
 clops frigate; and, besides these, thirty- 
 three men became ill from the same cause. 
 
 The following casef 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 
 
 * Johnston's Essay on Poison, p. 102. 
 
 t Medical Transactions, vol. i. p. 213. See also 
 Serious Reflections on the Dangers attending the Use 
 of Copper Vessels, p. 15. 
 
354 FOOD POISONED 
 
 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 in- 
 curable 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 
 
BY COPPER VESSELS. 355 
 
 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 
 the excellent cookery book* we have be- 
 fore quoted. 
 
 " 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 in- 
 side, 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 
 
 * The Cook's Oracle, p. 91. 
 
356 POISONOUS FOOD, 
 
 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 em- 
 ployer 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. 
 
fUatfen 
 
 VARIOUS kinds of food used in domestic 
 economy, are liable to become impregnated 
 with lead. 
 
 The glazing- of the common cream-co- 
 loured earthen ware, which is composed of 
 an oxid of lead, readily yields to the action 
 of vinegar and saline compounds ; and there- 
 fore the 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 
 
358 FOOD POISONED 
 
 parts of this country of keeping milk in lea- 
 den vessels for the use of the dairy, is very 
 improper. 
 
 " In Lancashire* 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 ve- 
 getable 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 revo- 
 lution of the ponderous instrument. In the 
 
 * Parks's Chemical Essays, vol. v. p. 193. 
 
BY LEADEN VESSELS. 359 
 
 \ 
 
 same county^ it is a common practice to have 
 brewing-coppers constructed with the bot- 
 tom of copper and the whole sides of lead." 
 
 The baking of fruit tarts in cream-co- 
 loured 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 pre- 
 parations, 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 incalcula- 
 ble 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 unsus- 
 pected means by which the poisons of lead 
 
300 POISONOUS FOOD* 
 
 and copper gain admittance into the human 
 body, a very common but dangerous in- 
 stance presents itself: namely, the practice 
 of painting toys, made for the amusement 
 of children, with poisonous substances, viz. 
 red lead, verdigrise, &c. Children are apt 
 to put every thing, especially what gives 
 them pleasure, into their mouths ; the paint- 
 ing of toys with colouring substances that 
 are poisonous, ought therefore to be abo- 
 lished; a practice which lies the more open 
 to censure, as it is of no real utility. 
 
 FINIS* 
 
 Joseph Mallett, Printer, 59, Wardour-street, Soho, London. 
 

 
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