THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ?&*&*'*'

 
 A TREATISE 
 
 OK 
 
 ADULTERATIONS OF FOODj 
 
 EXHIBITING 
 
 THE 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. 
 
 AND 
 
 BY FREDRICK ACCUM, 
 
 Operative Chemist, Lecturer on Practical Chemistry, Mineralogy, and on Chemistr 
 
 applied to the Arts and Manufactures ; Member of the Royal Irish Academy ; 
 
 Fellow of the Linnsean Society ; Member of the Royal Academy of 
 
 Sciences, and of the Royal Society of Arts of Berlin, &c. &c. 
 
 llourjon : 
 
 Printed by 3. Mallett, 59, Wardour Street, Soho. 
 
 SOLD BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, 
 PATERNOSTER ROW.
 
 TO 
 
 HIS GRACE 
 THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 
 
 Mr 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, ivhich 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
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 respect and veneration for your Grace's 
 exalted moral virtues and high intellectual 
 endowments. 
 
 That your Grace may retain 
 through a lone; 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 of, 
 
 MY LORD DUKE, 
 
 Your Grace's most devoted, 
 Humble Servant, 
 
 FREDRICK ACCVM 
 
 Old Compton Street, Soko. 
 
 January the 19th, 
 
 1820.
 
 preface* 
 
 Old Compton Street, Soha. 
 
 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, 
 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 
 
 A2
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 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 
 discrimination of the most experienced judges. 
 
 But of all possible nefarious traffic and de- 
 ception, practised by mercenary dealers, that of 
 adulterating the articles intended for human food 
 with ingredients deleterious to health, is the most 
 criminal, and, in the mind of every honest man, 
 must excite feelings of regret and disgust. Nu- 
 merous facts are on record, of human food, con- 
 taminated 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 eager 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
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 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. 
 
 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- 
 sary for the detection of the frauds which it has 
 been my object to expose, I have confined my- 
 self to the task of pointing out such operations 
 only as may be performed by persons unac- 
 quainted with chemical science ; and it has been 
 my purpose to express all necessary rules and 
 instructions in the plainest language, divested 
 of those recondite terms of science, which would 
 be out of place in a work intended for general 
 perusal.
 
 VI PREPACK. 
 
 The design of the Treatise will be fully an- 
 swered, if the views here given should induce a 
 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, 
 
 te Deati) in ti)e 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.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 
 ON THE ADULTERATION OF 
 FOOD 1 
 
 EFFECT OF DIFFERENT KINDS 
 OF WATER EMPLOYED IN 
 DOMESTIC ECONOMY 31 
 
 Characters of Good Water 37 
 
 Chemical Constitution of the Waters 
 used in Domestic Economy and the 
 Arts . 42 
 
 A4
 
 Till CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Rain Water 42 
 
 Snow Water 43 
 
 Spring Water 44 
 
 River Water 48 
 
 Substances usually contained in Com- 
 mon Water y and Tests by which 
 they are detected 54 
 
 Method of ascertaining the Quantity 
 of each of the different Substances 
 usually contained in Common Water 64 
 
 Deleterious Effects of keeping Water 
 for Domestic Economy, in Leaden 
 Reservoirs 73 
 
 Method of detecting Lead, when con- 
 tained in common Water. , 87
 
 CONTENTS. >X 
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE... 95 
 
 i 
 Method of detecting the Deleterious 
 
 Adulterations of Wine 114 
 
 Specific Differences, and Component 
 parts of Wine 119 
 
 Easy process of ascertaining the 
 Quantity of Brandy contained in 
 various sorts of Wine 123 
 
 Tabular View, exhibiting the Per 
 Centage of Brandy or Alcohol 
 contained in various kinds of 
 Wine and other fermented Li' 
 quors, 126 
 
 Constitution of Home-made Wines ,. . 128 
 A5
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD 131 
 
 Method of detecting the Presence of 
 Alum in Bread 147 
 
 Easy Method of judging of the Good- 
 ness of Bread-Corn andBread-Flour. 150 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER 153 
 
 List of Druggists and Grocers, pro- 
 secuted and convicted for supply- 
 ing illegal Ingredients to Brewers 
 for Adulterating Beer 163 
 
 Porter 165 
 
 Strength and Specific Differences of 
 different kinds of Porter. . , 170
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 Page 
 
 List of Publicans prosecuted and 
 convicted for adulterating Beer 
 with illegal Ingredients, and for 
 mixing Table Beer with their 
 Strong Beer 176 
 
 Illegal Substances used for Adulte- 
 rating Beer 178 
 
 Ingredients seized at various Breweries 
 and Brewers' Druggists', for adul- 
 terating Beer 186 
 
 List of Brewers prosecuted and con- 
 victed for adulterating Strong Beer 
 with Table Beer 195 
 
 Old, or Entire Beer; and New, or 
 
 Mild Beer 197 
 
 A 6
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 List of Brewers prosecuted and con- 
 victed for receiving and using ille- 
 gal Ingredients in their Brewings... 306 
 
 Method of detecting the Adulteration 
 of Beer ..................................... 217 
 
 Method of ascertaining the Quan- 
 tity of Spirit contained in Porter, 
 
 Per Centage of Alcohol contained in 
 Porter t and other kinds of Malt 
 Liquors . ............... . ................... 221 
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA-LEAVES ...... 223 
 
 Methods of detecting the Adultera- 
 tions of Tea-Leaves ..................... 236
 
 eoNTEKfs. xiii 
 
 Page 
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE.. 243 
 
 ADULTERATION OF BRANDY, 
 RUTLAND GIN 261 
 
 Method of detecting the Adultera- 
 tions of Brandy, Rum, and Malt 
 Spirit 274 
 
 Method of detecting the Presence of 
 Lead in Spirituous Liquors 285 
 
 Method of ascertaining the Quantity 
 of Alcohol contained in different 
 kinds of Spirituous Liquors 286 
 
 Table exhibiting the Per Centage of 
 Alcohol contained in various kinds 
 of Spirituous Liquors , 288
 
 XIT CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 POISONOUS CHEESE, and method 
 of detecting it 290 
 
 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER, and me- 
 thod of detecting it 298 
 
 White Pepper, and method of manu- 
 facturing it 302 
 
 POISONOUS CAYENNE PEPPER, 
 and method of detecting it 304 
 
 POISONOUS PICKLES, and me- 
 thod of detecting them 306 
 
 ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR, 
 
 and method of detecting it 310 
 
 Distilled Vinegar 311
 
 CONTENTS. XT 
 
 Page 
 
 ADULTERATION OF CREAM, and 
 
 method of detecting it 313 
 
 POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY, 
 and method of detecting it 315 
 
 POISONOUS CATSUP, and method 
 of detecting it 319 
 
 POISONOUS CUSTARDS 324 
 
 POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE, 
 
 and method of detecting it 328 
 
 ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES, 
 and method of detecting them 330 
 
 POISONOUS OLIVE OIL, and me- 
 thod of detecting it 334 
 
 ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD 337
 
 XY1 CONTENTS. 
 
 ADULTERATION OF LEMON 
 
 ACID, and method of detecting it 339 
 
 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS ........... 343 
 
 MUSHROOM CATSUP .................. 350 
 
 POISONOUS SODA WATER, and 
 
 method of detecting it .................. 351 
 
 FOOD POISONED BY COPPER 
 VESSELS, and method of detect- 
 ing it ........................................ 352 
 
 FOOD POISONED BY LEADEN 
 
 VESSELS, and method of detect- 
 ing it .............. . ........................ 258 
 
 INDEX.. . 363
 
 A 
 
 TREATISE 
 
 ON 
 
 ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD. 
 
 AND 
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 OP 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.
 
 2 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This unprincipled and nefarious practice, 
 increasing in degree as it has been found 
 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
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 3 
 
 where to be found, made up so skilfully as 
 to baffle the discrimination of the most ex- 
 perienced judges. 
 
 Among 1 the number of substances used in 
 domestic economy which are now very ge- 
 nerally found sophisticated, may be dis- 
 tinguishedtea, coffee, bread, beer, wine, 
 spirituous liquors, salad oil, pepper, vine- 
 gar, mustard, cream, and other articles of 
 subsistence. 
 
 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 
 B 2
 
 4 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 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- 
 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 brew- 
 er of porter or 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
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 5 
 
 firm, with the ostensible denotements of a 
 fair and lawful establishment. 
 
 These illicit pursuits have assumed all 
 the order and method of a regular trade ; 
 they may severally claim to be distin- 
 guished as an art and mystery; for the 
 workmen employed in them are often wholly 
 ignorant of the nature of the substances 
 which pass through their hands, and of the 
 purposes to which they are ultimately ap- 
 plied. 
 
 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 
 B 3
 
 6 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 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 that their real nature cannot possibly 
 be detected by the unwary. Thus the ex- 
 tract of coculus indicus, employed by frau- 
 dulent manufacturers of malt-liquors to im- 
 part an intoxicating quality to porter or 
 ales, is known in the market by the name 
 of black extract, ostensibly destined for the 
 use of tanners and dyers. It is obtained 
 by boiling the berries of the coculus indicus 
 in water, and converting, by a subsequent 
 evaporation, this decoction into a stiff black
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 7 
 
 tenacious mass, possessing, in a high de- 
 gree, the narcotic and intoxicating quality 
 of the poisonous berry from which it is pre- 
 pared. Another substance, composed of 
 extract of quassia and liquorice juice, used 
 by fraudulent brewers to economise both 
 malt and hops, is technically called multum*. 
 
 The Times, May 18, 1818. The King v. Richard 
 Bowman. The defendant was a brewer, living in 
 Wapping-street, Wapping, and was charged with hav- 
 ing in his possession a drug called multum, and a 
 quantity of copperas. 
 
 The articles were produced by Thomas Gates, an 
 excise officer, who had, after a search, found them on 
 the defendant's premises. The Court sentenced the 
 defendant to pay a fine of 2001. 
 
 The King v. Luke Lyons. The defendant is a brewer, 
 and was brought up under an indictment charging him 
 with having made use of various deleterious drugs in 
 his brewery, among which were capsicum, copperas, 
 &c. The defendant was ordered to pay the fines of 
 B 4
 
 8 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The quantities of coculug indicus berries, 
 as well as of black extract, imported into this 
 country for adulterating malt liquors, are 
 enormous. It forms a considerable branch 
 of commerce in the hands of a few brokers : 
 yet, singular as it may seem, no inquiry 
 appears to have been hitherto made by the 
 officers of the revenue respecting its appli- 
 cation. Many other substances employed 
 
 20L upon the first count, 2001. upon the third, and 
 2001. upon the seventh count in the indictment 
 
 The King v. Thomas Evans. The charge against 
 this defendant was, that he had in his possession forty. 
 seven barrels of stale unpalatable beer. On the ilth 
 of March, John Wilson, an excise officer, went to the 
 storehouse, and found forty-seven casks containing 
 forty-three barrels and a half of sour unwholesome beer. 
 Several samples of the beer were produced, all of them 
 of a different colour, and filled with sediment A fine 
 of 301. was ordered to be paid hy the defendant
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 9 
 
 in the adulteration of beer, ale, and spiritu- 
 ous liquors, are in a similar manner inten- 
 tionally disguised ; and of the persons by 
 whom they are purchased, a great number 
 are totally unacquainted with their nature 
 or composition. 
 
 An extract, said to be innocent, sold in 
 casks, containing from half a cwt. to five 
 cwt. by the brewers' druggists, under the 
 name of bittern, is composed of calcined 
 sulphate of iron (copperas), extract of co- 
 culus indicus berries, extract of quassia, 
 and Spanish liquorice. 
 
 It would be very easy to adduce, in sup- 
 port of these remarks, the testimony of nu- 
 merous individuals, by whom I have been 
 professionally engaged to examine certain 
 mixtures, said to be perfectly innocent, 
 B 5
 
 10 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 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 harmlessj 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 purchase 
 under the delusive name of jftash, for 
 strengthening and clarifying spirituous li-
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 11 
 
 quors, and which is held out as consisting 
 of burnt sugar and isinglass only, in the 
 form of an extract, is in reality a com- 
 pound 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 ready-ground coriander seeds, 
 previously mixed with a portion of nux vo- 
 mica and quassia, to give a bitter taste 
 and narcotic property to the beverage. 
 
 The retail venders of mustard do not ap- 
 pear to be aware that mustard seed alone 
 cannot produce, when ground, a powder 
 of so intense and brilliant a colour as that 
 B 6
 
 12 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 of the common mustard of commerce. Nor 
 would the powder of real mustard, when 
 mixed with salt and water, without the ad- 
 dition of a portion of pulverised capsicum, 
 keep for so long a time as the mustard usu- 
 ally offered for sale. 
 
 Many other instances of unconscious de- 
 ceptions might be mentioned, which were 
 practised by persons of upright and honour- 
 able minds. 
 
 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 
 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
 
 . 
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 13 
 
 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. 
 
 The baker asserts that he does not put alum 
 into bread ; but he is well aware that, in pur-
 
 14 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 chasing a certain quantity of flour, he must 
 take a sack of sharp whites (a term given 
 to flour contaminated with a quantity of 
 alum), without which it would be impossible 
 for him to produce light, white, and porous 
 bread, from a half-spoiled material. 
 
 The wholesale mealman frequently 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 and 
 half-spoiled flour. 
 
 Other individuals furnish the baker with 
 alum mixed up with salt, under the obscure 
 denomination of stuff. There are wholesale 
 manufacturing chemists whose sole business 
 is to crystallise alum, in such a form as will 
 adapt this salt to the purpose of being
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 15 
 
 mixed in a crystalline state with the crys- 
 tals of common salt, to disguise the charac- 
 ter of the compound. The mixture called 
 stuff, is composed of one part of alum, in 
 minute crystals, and three of common salt. 
 In many other trades a similar mode of 
 proceeding- prevails. Potatoes are soaked 
 in water to augment their weight. 
 
 The practice of sophisticating the neces- 
 saries 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
 
 16 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 few shillings on the high-way, is sentenced 
 to death 4 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 do not suffer by the fraud. 
 
 But the principles of the constitution at-
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 17 
 
 ford 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 benefited. 
 
 Another species of fraud, to which I shall 
 at present but briefly advert, and which has 
 increased to so alarming an extent, that it 
 loudly calls for the interference of Govern- 
 ment, is the adulteration of drugs and me- 
 dicines.
 
 18 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 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 sus- 
 pected. It is well known, that of the article 
 Peruvian bark, there is a variety of species 
 inferior to the genuine ; that too little dis- 
 crimination 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 j 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 saw-
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 19 
 
 dust and oak wood, ground into powder 
 mixed with a proportion of good quinquina, 
 and sold as genuine bark powder. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 
 white sort, which has no wrinkles, and no perceptible
 
 20 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, 
 
 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, 
 magnesia, calcined magnesia, calomel, or 
 any other chemical preparation in general 
 demand. 
 
 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.
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 21 
 
 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. 
 
 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
 
 22 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 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. 
 
 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
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 23 
 
 oil 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. 
 
 The genuineness of calomel may be as- 
 certained by boiling, for a few minutes, one 
 part, with j$ 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. 
 
 Indeed, some of the most common and
 
 4 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 cheap drugs do not escape the adulterating 
 hand of the unprincipled druggist. Sy- 
 rup of buckthorn, for example, instead of 
 being prepared from the juice of buckthorn 
 berries, (rhamnvs catharticus,) is made from 
 the fruit of the blackberry bearing 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 others do not. 
 Instead of worm-seed (artemisia santo-
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, 25 
 
 ica), the seeds of tansy are frequently of- 
 fered for sale, or a mixture of both. 
 
 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 subtile artists, how- 
 ever, have contrived other methods of so- 
 c
 
 26 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 phisti cation, which elude all trials. And 
 as all volatile oils agree in the 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 
 witli 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- 
 tial oil of cinnamon. It is only from use
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, 27 
 
 and habit, or comparisons with specimens 
 of known quality, that we can judge of the 
 goodness, either of the drugs themselves, or 
 of their oils. 
 
 Most of the arrow-root, the fecula of the 
 Maranta arudinacea, sold by druggists, is a 
 mixture of potatoe starch and arrow-root. 
 
 The same system of adulteration extends 
 to articles used in various trades and ma- 
 nufactures. For instance, linen tape, and 
 various other household commodities of that 
 kind, instead of being manufactured of linen 
 thread only, are made up of linen and cotton. 
 Colours for painting, not only those used by 
 artists, such as ultramarine*, carminef, and 
 
 * Genuine ultramarine should become deprived of 
 its colour when thrown into concentrated nitric acid. 
 
 t Genuine carmine should be totally soluble in liquid 
 ammonia. c 2
 
 28 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 lake* ; Antwerp blue f, 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 sulphate 
 ofbarytes; vermilion IF with red lead. 
 
 * Genuine madder and carmine lakes should be to- 
 tally soluble by boiling in a concentrated solution of 
 soda or potash. 
 
 f Genuine Antwerp blue should not become de 
 prived of its colour when thrown into liquid chlorine. 
 
 J Genuine chrome yellow should not effervesce 
 with nitric acid. 
 
 The best Indian ink breaks, splintery, with a 
 smooth glossy fracture, and feels soft, and not gritty, 
 when rubbed against the teeth. 
 
 || Genuine white lead should be completely soluble 
 hi nitric acid, and the solution should remain transpa- 
 rent when mingled with a solution of sulphate of soda. 
 
 ^F Genuine vermilion should become totally volati- 
 liseu on being exposed to a red heat ; and it should not 
 impart a red colour to spirit of wine, when digested
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 29 
 
 Soap used in house-keeping is frequently 
 adulterated with a considerable portion of 
 fine white clay, brought from St. Stephens, 
 in Cornwall. In the manufacture of print- 
 ing paper, a large quantity of plaster of 
 Paris is added to the paper stuff, to increase 
 the weight of the manufactured article. The 
 selvage of cloth is often dyed with a perma- 
 nent 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. 
 
 The object of all unprincipled modern ma- 
 nufacturers seems to be the sparing of their 
 time and labour as much as possible, and to 
 increase the quantity of the articles they pro- 
 duce, without much regard to their quality. 
 c 3
 
 30 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The ingenuity and perseverance of self- 
 interest is proof against prohibitions, and 
 conttrives 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."
 
 REMARKS 
 
 N THE 
 
 Affect of Afferent Hinte of Platers 
 
 IN THEIR APPLICATION TO 
 
 DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS; 
 
 AND 
 METHODS OF ASCERTAINING THEIR PURITY. 
 
 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 ob- 
 vious 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, 
 c 4
 
 32 EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS 
 
 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 concerns 
 of life, on account of the abundant daily 
 use we make of them in the preparation of 
 food, is unquestionably an object of consi- 
 derable importance, and demands our at- 
 tention. 
 
 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
 
 IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 33 
 
 be denied, that such waters as are hard, or 
 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 pro- 
 cess 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.
 
 34 EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS 
 
 In the art of the dyer, hard water not 
 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,andlndianyellow, can- 
 not be prepared without perfectly pure water. 
 
 For the steeping or raiting of flax, sofr
 
 IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND THE ARTS. 35 
 
 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
 
 36 EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT WATERS 
 
 and soft water may be easily shown in the 
 following manner. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Let two separate portions of tea-leaves 
 be macerated, by precisely the same pro- 
 cesses, 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. 37 
 
 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 GOOp 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
 
 38 CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 
 
 matter. To judge of the perfect transpa- 
 rency of water, a quantity of it should be 
 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 
 i 
 
 degree of muddiness much better than if 
 the water be viewed through the glass 
 placed between the eye and the light. It 
 should be perfectly colourless, devoid of 
 odour, and its taste soft and agreeable. It 
 should send out air-bubbles when poured 
 from one vessel into another ; it should boil 
 pulse soft, and form with soap an uniform 
 opaline fluid, which does not separate after 
 standing for several hours. 
 
 It is to the presence of common air and 
 carbonic acid gas that common water owes
 
 CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 39 
 
 its taste, and many of the good effects 
 which it produces on animals and vege- 
 tables. Spring water, which contains more 
 air, has a more lively taste than river water. 
 
 Hence the insipid or 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. The water of the 
 river Thames contains rather a larger quan- 
 tity of common air, and a smaller portion of 
 carbonic acid. 
 
 If water not fully saturated with com- 
 mon air be agitated with this elastic fluid, 
 a portion of the air is absorbed ; but the
 
 40 CHARACTERS OF GOOD WATER. 
 
 two chief constituent gases of the atmos- 
 phere, the oxygen and nitrogen, are not 
 equally affected, the former being absorbed 
 in preference to the latter. 
 
 According to Mr. Dalton, in agitating* 
 water with atmospheric air, consisting of 79 
 of nitrogen, and 21 of oxygen, the water 
 absorbs fa of T Vo nitrogen gas = 1,234, and 
 ^V of T Vo oxygen gas = 778, amounting in 
 all to 2,012. 
 
 Water is freed from foreign matter by 
 distillation: and for any chemical process 
 in which accuracy is requisite, distilled 
 water must be used. 
 
 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-
 
 CHARACTERS OP GOOD WATER. 41 
 
 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 
 $ulphate 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 
 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. 
 
 * Dalton, Manchester Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 5$,
 
 42 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 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 
 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
 
 USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 43 
 
 is very soft, and admirably adapted for 
 many culinary purposes, and various pro- 
 cesses in different manufactures and the 
 arts. 
 
 Fresh-fallen snow, melted without the 
 contact of air, appears to be nearly free 
 from air. Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, how- 
 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 str unions 
 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, ancl
 
 44 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OP WATERS 
 
 is rendered still more improbable, if not 
 entirely overturned, by the frequency of 
 the disease in Sumatra*, where ice and 
 snow are never seen. 
 
 In high northern latitudes, thawed snow 
 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 
 
 * Marsden's History of Sumatra,
 
 USED frOR DOMESTIC PU&POSES. 45 
 
 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. 
 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
 
 46 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 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 
 into 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
 
 USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 47 
 
 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- / 
 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 of springs which overflow 
 the mouth of the well ; but there are some 
 exceptions to this rule. 
 
 The purest springs are those which occur 
 in primitive rocks, or beds of gravel, or 
 filter through sand or silicious strata. In 
 general, large springs are purer than small 
 ones ; and our old wells contain finer water 
 
 " Manchester Memoirs vol. x. 1819.
 
 48 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 than those that are new, as the soluble parts 
 through which the water filters in channels 
 under ground become gradually washed 
 away. 
 
 River Water 
 
 Is a term applied to every running stream 
 or rivulet exposed to the air, and always flow- 
 ing in an open channel. It is formed of spring 
 water, which, by exposure, becomes more 
 pure, and of running land or surface water, 
 which, although turbid from particles of 
 the aluvial soil suspended in it, is otherwise 
 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
 
 USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 49 
 
 carbonic acid gas ; for, by the agitation of a 
 long current, and exposed to the tempera- 
 ture of the atmosphere, part of its carbonic 
 acid gas is disengaged, and the lime held 
 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. 
 
 The water called in this metropolis New 
 River water, contains a minute portion of 
 muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, and mu- 
 riate of soda. 
 
 Some streams, however, that arise from 
 elean silicious beds, and flow in a sandy or 
 D
 
 50 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 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 moun- 
 tains, and give rise to the finest rivers in 
 Europe. 
 
 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-
 
 USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 51 
 
 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 
 pernicious, or impede any manufacture. 
 It is also excellently fitted for sea-store ; 
 but it then undergoes a remarkable sponta- 
 neous change, when preserved in wooden 
 casks. No water carried to sea becomes 
 putrid sooner than that of the Thames. But 
 the mode now adopted in the navy of sub- 
 stituting iron tanks for wooden casks, tends 
 greatly to obviate this disadvantage. 
 
 Whoever will consider the situation of 
 the Thames, and the immense population 
 along its banks for so many miles, must at 
 
 D2
 
 52 CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF WATERS 
 
 once perceive the prodigious accumulation 
 of animal matters of all kinds, which by means 
 of the common sewers constantly make their 
 way into it. These matters are, no doubt, in 
 part the cause of the putrefaction which it is 
 well known to undergo at sea, and of the car- 
 buretted and sulphuretted hydrogen gases 
 which are evolved from it. When a wooden 
 cask is opened, after being kept a month or 
 two, a quantity of carburetted and sulphuret- 
 ted 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 crystal, and remark- 
 ably sweet and palatable. 
 
 It might, at first sight, be expected that
 
 USED FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. 53 
 
 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- 
 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*, 
 
 * Observations on the Water with which Tunbridge 
 Wells is chiefly supplied for Domestic Purposes, by 
 Dr. Thomson ; forming an Appendix to an Analysis of 
 the Mineral Waters of Tunbridge Wells, by Dr. Scu- 
 damore. 
 
 D 3
 
 54 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER, 
 
 " 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." 
 
 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 THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 55 
 
 and muriates, of soda, lime, and magnesia ; 
 and sometimes a very minute portion of iron 
 may also be detected in them. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Fill a wine-glass with distilled water, 
 and add to it a few drops of a solution of 
 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 sepa- 
 rated, which speedily collects on the sur- 
 face of the fluid. Now, from the quantity 
 
 D4
 
 56 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER, 
 
 of flocculent matter produced, in equal 
 quantities of water submitted to the test, 
 a tolerable notion may be formed of the 
 degrees of hardness of different kinds of 
 water, at least so far as regards the fitness 
 of the water for the ordinary purposes 
 of domestic economy. This may be ren- 
 dered obvious in the following manner. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 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
 
 AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 57 
 
 quantity of flocculent matter will be in the 
 ratio of the quantity of earthy salts con- 
 tained 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 
 substances which occasion that quality in 
 water which is usually called hardness, and 
 which is always owing 1 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*. 
 
 * It is absolutely essential that the tests should be 
 pure. 
 
 D5
 
 58 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER, 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 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 
 carbonic acid; and if it continues to produce 
 a precipitate in the water which has been 
 concentrated by boiling, we then are sure 
 that the lime is combined with a fixed acid.
 
 AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 59 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 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. 
 
 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 
 does not disappear by the admixture of a 
 few drops of muriatic acid, the presence of 
 sulphuric acid is rendered obvioifs. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 If a few drops of a solution of nitrate of 
 silver occasions a milkiness with the water, 
 
 D6
 
 which vanishes again by the copious addi- 
 tion 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 ^ EXPERIMENT. 
 
 If a solution of phosphate of soda produces 
 a milkiness with the water, after a previous 
 addition to it of a similar quantity of neutral
 
 AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 61 
 
 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 ^ part of its bulk, and 
 drop into about half a wine-glassful, 
 about five grains of neutral carbonate of 
 ammonia. 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. 
 
 This test was first pointed out by Dr. 
 Wollaston. 
 
 The presence of oxygen gas loosely com- 
 bined in water may readily be discovered 
 in the following manner.
 
 62 SUBSTANCES CONTAINED IN WATER, 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 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 oxy- 
 gen, and a small portion of it, in this more 
 highly oxidated state, leaving the acid and 
 being precipitated. Or, according to a me- 
 thod pointed out by Driessen, the water is 
 to be boiled for two hours in a flask filled 
 with it, and immersed in a vessel of water 
 kept boiling, with the mouth of ,the flask 
 under the surface of the water : it is to be
 
 AND THE TESTS FOR DETECTING THEM. 63 
 
 inverted in quicksilver, taking care that no 
 air-bubble adheres to the side of the flask, 
 and being- tinged with infusion of litmus, a 
 little nitrous gas is to be introduced : if the 
 oxygen gas has been sufficiently expelled 
 from the water, the purple colour of the 
 1 i turns does not change ; while, if oxygen 
 be present, it immediately becomes red*. 
 
 If we examine the different waters which 
 are used for the ordinary purposes of life, 
 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 
 
 * Philosophical Magazine, vol. xv. p. 252.
 
 64 ANALYSIS OF WATER. 
 
 water exercises upon most substances. Wells 
 should never be lined with bricks, which 
 render soft water hard ; or, if bricks be em- 
 ployed, they should be bedded in and 
 covered with cement. 
 
 METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE RE- 
 LATIVE QUANTITY OF EACH OF THE 
 DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES USUALLY 
 CONTAINED IN COMMON WATER. 
 
 To ascertain the quantity of earthy and 
 saline matter contained in water, the follow- 
 ing is the most simple and easy method. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Put any measured quantity of the water 
 into a platina, or silver evaporating bason,
 
 ANALYSIS OF WATER. 65 
 
 the weight of which is known, and evapo- 
 rate the water upon a steam bath, at a tem- 
 perature of about 180, nearly to dryness ; 
 and, lastly, remove the bason to a sand bath, 
 and let the mass be evaporated to perfect 
 dryness. The weight of the platina ba- 
 son being already known, we have only 
 to weigh it carefully. When the solid sa- 
 line contents of the water is attached to it, 
 the increase of weight gives the quantity of 
 solid matter contained in a given quan- 
 tity of the water. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Pour upon the saline contents a quantity 
 of distilled water equal to that in which the 
 obtained salts were originally dissolved.
 
 66 ANALYSIS OP WATER. 
 
 If the whole saline matter become dissolved 
 in this water, there is reason to believe that 
 the saline matter has not been altered dur- 
 ing the evaporation of the water. But if a 
 portion remain undissolved, as is usually 
 the case, then we may conclude that some 
 of the salts have mutually decomposed 
 each other, when brought into a concen- 
 trated state by the evaporation, and that 
 salts have been formed which did not ori- 
 ginally exist in the water before its evapo- 
 ration. 
 
 We have already mentioned that almost 
 the only salts contamed in common waters, 
 are the carbonates, sulphates, and muriates, 
 of soda, lime, and magnesia ; and some- 
 times a very minute portion of iron. Hav- 
 ing determined the different acids and bases
 
 ANALYSIS OF WATER. 67 
 
 present, in the manner stated at p. 56, we 
 may easily ascertain the relative weight of 
 each. 
 
 The following formula suggested by Dr. 
 Murray*, is fully as accurate a means of 
 analysing waters as any other, and it is easy 
 of execution. The weight of the saline 
 ingredients of a given quantity of water be- 
 ing determined, we may proceed to the accu- 
 rate analysis of it in the following manner. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Measure out a determinate volume of the 
 water (as 500 or 1000 cubic inches), and eva- 
 porate it gradually, in an unglazed open 
 
 * Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
 vol. viii. p. 259.
 
 68 ANALYSIS OF WATER. 
 
 vessel defended from dust, to one third of 
 its original bulk; then divide this evapo- 
 rated liquid into three equal portions. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Drop into the first portion, muriate of ba- 
 rytes ; wash the precipitate, collect it, dry 
 it at a red heat upon platina foil, and 
 weigh it ; digest it in nitric acid, dry it, and 
 weigh it again. The loss of weight indi- 
 cates the quantity of carbonate of barytes 
 which the precipitate contained. The resi- 
 dual weight is sulphate of barytes; the 
 carbonic acid in the water is equivalent to 
 0,22 of the weight of the carbonate of ba- 
 rytes; the sulphuric acid to 0,339 of the 
 weight of the sulphate of barytes.
 
 ANALYSIS OF WATER. (i<) 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Precipitate the second portion of the con- 
 centrated water, by the addition of nitrate 
 of silver ; wash the precipitate, dry it, and 
 fuse it on a piece of foil platina, previously 
 weighed. By weighing the foil containing 
 the fused chloride of silver, the weight of 
 the precipitate may be ascertained. The 
 fourth part of this weight is equivalent to 
 the weight of the muriatic acid contained 
 in the portion of water precipitated. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Precipitate the third portion of the water 
 by the addition of oxalate of ammonia;
 
 70 ANALYSIS OP WATER. 
 
 wash and dry the precipitate ; expose it to 
 a red heat, on a platina foil, or in a capsule 
 of platina; pour on it some dilute sulphuric 
 acid ; digest for some time, then evaporate 
 to dryness, expose the capsule to a pretty 
 strong heat, and, lastly, weigh the sulphate 
 of lime thus produced : 0'453 of its weight 
 indicate the quantity of lime in the portion 
 of water precipitated. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Add to the same third portion of the water 
 thus freed from lime, a portion of a solution 
 of neutral carbonate of ammonia, and then 
 add phosphoric acid, drop by drop, as long 
 as any precipitate falls down. Wash the 
 precipitate, dry it, and expose it to a red
 
 ANALYSIS OP WATER. 71 
 
 heat in a platina capsule : it is phosphate of 
 magnesia. 0-357 of the weight of this salt 
 is equivalent to the weight of the magnesia 
 contained in the water. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 If the water contain a minute portion of 
 iron, a quantity of it equal to one of the 
 three preceding portions, must be taken and 
 mixed with a solution of benzoate of am- 
 monia. The precipitate being washed, dried, 
 and exposed to a red heat, and weighed, 
 nine-tenths of its weight indicate the weight 
 of protoxide of iron contained in the water. 
 
 In this manner the quantity of all the 
 substances contained in the water will be 
 ascertained, except there be any soda. To 
 know the amount of it, the following me-
 
 72 ANALYSTS OF WATER. 
 
 thod, pointed out by Dr. Murray, answers 
 very well. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Evaporate a portion of the water to one 
 third of its bulk. Precipitate the carbonic 
 and sulphuric acids by the addition of mu- 
 riate of barytes, taking care not to add any 
 excess of the tests. 
 
 Precipitate the lime by oxalate of ammo- 
 nia, and the magnesia by carbonate of am- 
 moniaand phosphoric acid. (Pages 60 & 70.) 
 Then evaporate the liquid thus treated to 
 dryness. A quantity of common salt will 
 remain : let this be exposed to a red heat ; 
 0*4 of its weight indicate the sodium con- 
 tained in the bulk of water employed ; and 
 0'4 sodium are equivalent to 0'53 of soda. 
 
 It seems hardly requisite to mention some
 
 ANALYSIS OF WATER. 73 
 
 other substances that occasionally make 
 their appearance in the waters used for do- 
 mestic purposes. A fine divided sand is 
 a common constituent, which is easily ob- 
 tained in a separate state. We have only 
 to evaporate a portion of the water to dry- 
 ness, and redissolve the saline residue in 
 distilled water. The silicious sand remains 
 undissolved, and betrays itself by its inso- 
 lubility in acids, and its easy fusibility into 
 a transparent glass, with soda, before the 
 blow-pipe. 
 
 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF KEEPING 
 WATER FOR DOMESTIC ECONOMY, 
 IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 
 
 THE deleterious effect of lead, when taken 
 into the stomach, is at present so univer- 
 E
 
 74 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OP WATER 
 
 sally known, that it is quite unnecessary to 
 adduce any argument in proof of its dan- 
 gerous 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 occa- 
 sionally carried to an unnecessary length* 
 This was the natural consequence of the 
 imperfect 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.
 
 KEPT IN LEADEN KESERVOIRS. 75 
 
 The moderns, on the other hand, in part, 
 perhaps, from an ill-founded confidence, 
 and inattention to a careful and continued 
 examination of its effects, have fallen into 
 an opposite error. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the mode of 
 preserving water intended for food or drink 
 in leaden reservoirs, is exceedingly impro- 
 per ; and although pure water exercises no 
 sensible 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 
 notice 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 carbonate 
 
 E 2
 
 76 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 oflead, formed at the expence of the metal. 
 This substance, when taken into the sto- 
 mach, is highly deleterious to health. This 
 was the reason which induced the antients 
 to condemn leaden pipes for the convey- 
 ance of water ; it having been remarked that 
 persons who swallowed the sediment of 
 such water, became affected with disorders 
 of the bowels*. 
 
 Leaden water reservoirs were condemned 
 in antient times by Hyppocrates, Galen, 
 and Vitruvius, as dangerous: in addition 
 to which, we may depend on the observa- 
 tions of Van Swieten, Tronchin, and others, 
 who have quoted numerous unhappy ex- 
 
 Sir G. Baker, Med. Trans, vol. i. p. 280.
 
 KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 77 
 
 amples of whole families poisoned by water 
 which had remained in reservoirs of lead. 
 Dr. Johnston, Dr. Percival, Sir George 
 Baker, and Dr. Lamb, have likewise re- 
 corded numerous instances where danger- 
 ous diseases ensued from the use of water 
 impregnated with lead. 
 
 Different potable waters have unequal 
 solvent powers on this metal. In some 
 places the use of leaden pumps has been 
 discontinued, from the expence entailed 
 upon the proprietors by the constant want 
 of repair. Dr. Lamb* states an instance 
 where the proprietor of a well, ordered his 
 plumber to make the lead of a pump of 
 double the thickness of the metal usually 
 
 * Lamb on Spring Water. 
 E 3
 
 78 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 employed for pumps, to save the charge of 
 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 numer- 
 ous 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 
 
 " Medical Trans, vol. i. p. 420.
 
 KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 97 
 
 long time, was subject to colics and bilious 
 obstructions. 
 
 " 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 
 E 4
 
 80 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 having experienced numerous similar in- 
 stances in the practice of his trade. 
 
 I have been frequently called upon to 
 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 
 plumber 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 contain- 
 ing a large quantity of common air and 
 carbonic acid gas, always acts very sensibly 
 on metallic lead. 
 
 Water which has no sensible action, in
 
 KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 81 
 
 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 
 vegetable matter,such as leaves, falling into 
 leaden cisterns filled with water, imparted 
 to the water a considerable solvent power 
 of action on the lead, which in its natural state 
 it did not possess. Hence the necessity of 
 keeping leaden cisterns clean ; and this is 
 the more necessary, as their situations ex- 
 pose 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 
 
 * Van Swieten ad Boerhaave, Aphorisms, 1060, 
 Comment. 
 
 E 5
 
 62 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 with the same complaint, from such a 
 cistern. And it is highly probable that 
 the case of disease recorded by Dr. Dun- 
 can*, 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, ex- 
 cept 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 
 
 * Medical Comment. Dec. 2, 1794.
 
 KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 83 
 
 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 
 slowness of its operation, and the minute- 
 ness of the dose taken, the effects of which 
 become modified by different causes and 
 different constitutions, and according to the 
 predisposition to diseases inherent in dif- 
 ferent individuals. The supposed security 
 of the multitude who use the water with 
 impunity, amounts to no more than pre- 
 sumption, in favour of any individual, which 
 may or may not be confirmed by experi- 
 ence. 
 
 Independent of the morbid susceptibility 
 E 6
 
 84 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 | 
 
 of impressions which distinguish certain 
 habits, there is, besides, much variety in 
 the original constitution of the human frame, 
 of which we are totally ignorant. 
 
 "The susceptibility orproneness to disease 
 of each individual, must be esteemed pecu- 
 liar to himself. Confiding to the expe- 
 rience of others is a ground of security 
 which may prove fallacious ; and the dan- 
 ger 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 impos- 
 sible 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
 
 KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 85 
 
 period, be eventually the occasion of dis- 
 ease 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 
 because we often see habitual drunkards 
 enjoy a state of good health, and arrive at 
 old age : and the same may be said of in- 
 dividuals who indulge in vices of all kinds, 
 evidently destructive to life; many of whom, 
 in spite of their bad habits, attain to a vi- 
 gorous old age*." 
 
 In confirmation of these remarks, we ad- 
 
 * Lambe on Spring Water,
 
 86 DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF WATER 
 
 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 supplied, from a 
 considerable distance, in leaden pipes. In 
 consequence, his Lordship's servants were 
 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.
 
 KEPT IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. 87 
 
 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, WHEN 
 CONTAINED IN WATER. 
 
 ONE of the most delicate tests for detect- 
 ing lead, is water impregnated with sulphu- 
 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
 
 88 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 tub, is effected by it. To shew the action 
 of this test, the following experiments will 
 
 serve. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Pour into a wine-glass containing dis- 
 tilled water, an equal quantity of water 
 impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen 
 gas : no change will take place ; but if a J 
 of a grain of acetate of lead (sugar of lead of 
 commerce), or any other preparation of lead, 
 be added, the mixture will instantly turn 
 brown and dark-coloured. 
 
 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
 
 LEAD IN WATER. 89 
 
 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 
 sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the 
 suspected water in the following manner. 
 
 EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Take a bottle* (a) or Florence flask, adapt 
 to the mouth of it a cork furnished with a 
 glass tube (6), bent at right angles ; let one 
 leg of the tube be immersed in the vial (c) 
 
 * See the figure, page 90.
 
 90 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 containing the water to be examined ; as 
 shewn in the following sketch. Then 
 b 
 
 take one part of 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 
 the minutest quantity of lead be present, the
 
 LEAD IN WATER. 91 
 
 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 means of it, in 
 20000 parts of water*. 
 
 Another test for readily detecting lead in 
 
 * 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 precautions in those cases where other 
 metals besides lead may be expected j because silver, 
 quicksilver, tin, copper, and several other metals, are 
 affected 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.
 
 92 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 water, is sulphuretted chyazate of potash, 
 first pointed out as such by Mr. Porret. A 
 few drops of this re-agent, added to water 
 containing lead, occasion a white precipi- 
 tate, consisting of small brilliant scales of 
 a considerable lustre. 
 
 Sulphate of potash, or sulphate of soda, 
 is likewise a very delicate test for detecting 
 minute portions of lead. Dr. Thomson* dis- 
 covered, by means of it, one part of lead in 
 100000 parts of water ; and this acute Philo- 
 sopher considers it as the most unequivocal 
 test of lead that we possess. Dr. Thomson 
 remarks that " no other precipitate can well 
 be confounded with it, except sulphate of 
 
 Analysis of Tunbridge Wells Water, by Dr. Scui 
 damore, p. 55.
 
 LEAD IN WATER. 93 
 
 bary tes ; and there is no probability of the pre- 
 sence of barytes existing in common water." 
 Carbonate of potash, or carbonate of soda, 
 may also be used as agents to detect the 
 presence of lead. By means of these salts 
 Dr. Thomson was enabled to detect the pre- 
 sence of a smaller quantity of lead in dis- 
 tilled water, than by the action of sulphu- 
 retted hydrogen. But the reader must 
 here be told, that the use of these tests can- 
 not be entrusted to an unskilful hand ; 
 because the alkaline carbonates throw down 
 also lime and magnesia, two substances 
 which are frequently found in common 
 water ; the former tests, namely, water im- 
 pregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, 
 and nascent sulphuretted hydrogen, are 
 therefore preferable.
 
 94 METHOD OF DETECTING LEAD IN WATER* 
 
 It is absolutely essential that the water 
 impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, 
 when employed as a test for detecting very 
 ramute quantities of lead, be fresh prepared; 
 and if sulphate of potash, or sulphate of 
 soda, be used as tests, they should be per- 
 fectly pure. Sulphate of potash is prefer- 
 able to sulphate of soda. It is likewise 
 adviseable to act with these tests upon wa- 
 ter concentrated by boiling. The water to 
 which the test has been added does some- 
 times appear not to undergo any change at 
 first ; it is therefore necessary to suffer the 
 mixture to stand for a few hours; after 
 which time the action of the test will be more 
 evident. Mr. Silvester* has proposed gallic 
 acid as a delicate test for detecting lead. 
 
 " Nicholson's Journal, p. 33, 310.
 
 af 
 
 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 em- 
 ployed to impart a deep rich purple tint to 
 
 * Dried bilberries are imported from Germany^ 
 under the fallacious name of berry-dye.
 
 96 ADULTERATION OP WINE. 
 
 red Port of a pale, faint colour; that gyp- 
 sum is used to render cloudy white wines 
 transparent* ; that an additional astringency 
 is imparted to immature red wines by means 
 of oak-wood sawdust f, and the husks of fil- 
 berts; and that a mixture of spoiled foreign 
 and home-made wines is converted into the 
 wretched compound frequently sold in this 
 town by the name of genuine old Port. 
 
 * "That gypsum had the property of clarifying wines, 
 was known to the antients. " The Greeks and Romans 
 put gypsum in their new wines, stirred it often round, 
 then let it stand for some time ; and when it had set- 
 tled, decanted the clear liquor. (Geopon, lib. vii. p. 483, 
 494.) They knew that the wine acquired, by this ad- 
 dition, a certain sharpness, which it afterwards lost ; 
 but that the good effects of the gypsum were lasting." 
 
 t Sawdust for this purpose is chiefly supplied by 
 the ship-builders, and forms a regular article of com- 
 merce of the brewers' druggists.
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 97 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 F
 
 98 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 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- 
 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-
 
 ADULTERATION OF WiNIi. 99 
 
 leys of France. They can squeeze Bour- 
 deaux out of the sloe, and draw Champagne 
 from an apple. Virgil, in that remarkable 
 prophecy, 
 
 Incultisque ruhens pendebit sentibus uva. 
 
 Virg. Eel. iv. 29. 
 The ripening grape shall hang on every thorn. 
 
 seems to have hinted at this art, which can 
 turn a plantation of northern hedges into a 
 vine yard. These adepts are known among 
 one another by the name of Wine-brewers ; 
 and, I am afraid, do great injury, not only 
 to Her Majesty's customs, but to the bodies 
 of many of her good subjects*." 
 
 The following are a few of the recipes 
 
 Tatler, vol. viii. p. 110, edit. 1797, 8vo. 
 F2
 
 100 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 employed in the manufacture of spurious 
 wine: 
 
 To make British Port Wine*." Take of British grape 
 wine, or good cyder, 4 gallons ; of the juice of red 
 beet root two quarts; brandy, two quarts; logwood 
 4 ounces ; rhatany root, bruised, half a pound: first, 
 infuse the logwood and rhatany root in brandy, and a 
 gallon of grape wine or cider for one week; then strain 
 off the liquor, and mix it with the other ingredients ; 
 keep it in a cask for a month, when it will be fit to 
 bottle." 
 
 "British Champagne. Take of white sugar, 8 pounds ; 
 the whitest brown sugar, 7lbs., crystalline lemon acid, 
 or tartaric acid, 1 ounce and a quarter, pure water, 
 8 gallons; white grape wine, two quarts, or perry, 4 
 quarts; of French brandy, 3 pints." 
 
 "Put the sugar in the water, skimming it occasionally 
 for two hours, then pour it into a tub and dissolve in 
 
 Dr. Recce's Gazette of Health, No. 7.
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 101 
 
 it the acid; before it is cold, add some yeast and fer- 
 ment Put it into a clean cask and add the other 
 ingredients. The cask is then to be well bunged, and 
 kept in a cool place for two or three months ; then 
 bottle it and keep it cool for a month longer, when it 
 will be fit for use. If it should not be perfectly clear 
 after standing in the cask two or three months, it 
 should be rendered so by the use of isinglass. By ad- 
 ding 1 Ib.of fresh or preserved strawberries, and2 ounces 
 of powdered cochineal, the PINK Champaigns may be 
 made." 
 
 Southampton Port.* " Take cyder, 36 gallons; elder 
 wine, 11 gallons; brandy, 5 gallons; damson wine, 
 11 gallons; mix." 
 
 The particular and separate department 
 in this factitious wine trade, called crusting, 
 consists in lining the interior surface of 
 empty wine-bottles, in part, with a red crust 
 
 Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, p. 245. 
 F3
 
 102 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 of super-tartrate of potash, by suffering a 
 saturated hot solution of this salt, coloured 
 red with a decoction of Brazil-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
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 103 
 
 the business of particular wine-coopers : 
 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 
 informed 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, ar! fully 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 
 F 4
 
 104 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 dark coloured and fine crystalline crust, as 
 an indubitable proof of the age of the wine; 
 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-
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 105 
 
 vinced me that the adulteration of wine 
 with substances deleterious to health, is cer- 
 tainly practised oftener than is, perhaps, 
 suspected ; and it would be easy to give 
 some instances of very serious effects 
 having arisen from wines contaminated with 
 deleterious substances, were this a subject 
 on which I meantto 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 decan- 
 
 F5
 
 106 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 ter 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, 
 after the coach had set out towards Gran- 
 t ham, 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 
 and water. He returned home at his usual 
 bour, and went to bed ; in the middle of the 
 uight he was taken so ill, as to induce Mrs. 
 Bland to send for his brother, an apothecary
 
 ADULTERATOR OF WINE. 107 
 
 in the town ; but before that gentleman ar- 
 rived, lie was dead. An inquest was held, 
 and the jury, after the fullest enquiry, and 
 the examination of the surgeons by whom 
 the body was opened, returned a verdict of 
 Died by Poison" 
 
 The most dangerous adulteration of 
 wine is by some preparations of lead, 
 which possess 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 certainly employ- 
 ed for this purpose. The effect is very 
 rapid; and there appears to be no other 
 method known, of rapidly recovering ropy 
 wines. Wine merchants persuade them- 
 selves that the minute quantity of lead em- 
 , F6
 
 108 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 ployed for that purpose is perfectly harm- 
 less, and ttiat no atom of lead remains in the 
 wine. Chemical analysis proves the con- 
 trary ; and the practice of clarifying spoiled 
 white wines by means of lead, must be pro- 
 nounced as highly deleterious. 
 
 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 
 oflfence,what punishment should be awarded
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 109 
 
 against a practice which converts into poison 
 a liquor used for sacred purposes. 
 
 Dr. Watson* relates, that the method of 
 adulterating \vine with lead, was at one time 
 a common practice in Paris. 
 
 Dr. Warrenf 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:}:, 
 
 * Chemical Essays, vol. viii. p. 369. * 
 
 t Medical Trans, vol. ii. p. 80. 
 
 | 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 enixum, are directed to be added to a tierce (forty- 
 two gallons) of muddy wine, to cure it of its muddiness.
 
 110 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 under the article of Secrets, belonging to 
 the mysteries of vintners, p. 31, lead is re- 
 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." 
 
 The antients knew that lead rendered 
 harsh wines milder, and preserved it from 
 acidity, without being aware that it was per-
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. Ill 
 
 nicious : it was therefore long used with 
 confidence ; and when its effects were dis- 
 covered, they were not ascribed to that 
 metal, but to some other cause*. When 
 the Greek and Roman wine merchants 
 wished to try whether their wine was 
 spoiled, they immersed in it a plate of leadf ; 
 if the colour of the lead were corroded, 
 they concluded that their wine was spoiled. 
 Wine may become accidentally impreg- 
 nated with lead. 
 
 It is well known that bottles in which 
 wine has been kept, are usually cleaned 
 by means of shot, which by its rolling motion 
 
 detaches the super-tartrite of potash from 
 
 . 
 the sides of the bottles. This practice, which 
 
 * Beckman's History of Inventions, vol. i. p. 398. 
 t Pliny, lib. xiv. cap. 20,
 
 1J2 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 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 
 wine which was left the preceding day, and 
 within two hours afterwards he was again 
 
 " Philosophical Magazine, 1819, No. 257, p. 229.
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 113 
 
 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. 
 The wine, therefore, had become contami-
 
 114 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 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 sus- 
 pected to contain lead, a dark coloured 
 or black precipitate will fall down, which 
 does not disappear by an addition of mu-
 
 ADULTERATION OP WINE. 115 
 
 riatic acid ; 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 sulphuretted hydrogen ; and 
 any acid in the wine has no effect in preci- 
 pitating 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 muriatic 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
 
 116 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 this sulphuretof lime, add twenty-six grains 
 of super-tartrate of potassa ; put the mixture 
 into an ounce bottle, and fill up the bottle 
 with water that has been previously boiled, 
 and suffered to cool. The liquor, after hav- 
 ing* been repeatedly shaken, and allowed to 
 become clear, by the subsidence of the un- 
 dissolved 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 cop- 
 per, turns the wine of a dark-brown or black 
 colour. But the mere application of sul- 
 phuretted hydrogen gas to wine, acidulated 
 by muriatic acid, is a far more preferable 
 mode of detecting lead in wine. 
 
 M. Vogel* has lately recommended ace-
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 117 
 
 tate of lead as a test for detecting- extraneous 
 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 Mirtillus (bilberries), elderber- 
 ries, and Campeach wood, produce with 
 g'enuine red wine, a greenish grey precipi- 
 tate, 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, 
 produces, with acetate of lead, a deep blue 
 precipitate; and Brazil-wood, red saun- 
 ders, and the red beet, produce a colour 
 
 * Journ. Pharm. iv. 56. (Feb. 1818.) and Thomson's 
 Annals, Sept. 1818, p. 232.
 
 118 ADULTERATION OP WINE. 
 
 which is precipitated red by acetate of lead. 
 Wine coloured by beet root is also rendered 
 colourless by lirne 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 experi- 
 ments ; and this produced the genuine grey- 
 ish green precipitate with acetate of lead. He 
 also found the same coloured precipitate in 
 two specimens of red wine, the genuineness 
 of which could not be suspected ; the one
 
 ADULTERATION OP WINE. 
 
 from Chateau-Marguaux, and the other 
 from the neighbourhood of Coblentz. 
 
 SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES, AND COMPO- 
 NENT PARTS OF WINE. 
 
 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; 
 or the mode of suffering its fermentation 
 to be accomplished. If the grapes be ga-
 
 120 ANALYSIS OF WINE. 
 
 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 sufficiently mature. When the must is
 
 ANALYSIS OP WINE. 121 
 
 separated from the husk of the red grape be- 
 fore it is fermented, the wine has little or no 
 colour : these are called white wines. If, on 
 the contrary, the husks are allowed to re- 
 main in the must while the fermentation is 
 going- on, the alcohol dissolves the colour- 
 ing matter of the husks, and the wine is 
 coloured : 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. 
 
 / 
 
 All wines contain one common and iden- 
 tical principle, from which their similar 
 effects are produced ; namely, brandy or 
 alcohol. It is especially by the different
 
 122 ANALYSIS OF WINE. 
 
 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 sub- 
 stances deposit slowly in the vessel in which 
 they are kept. To this is owing the im- 
 provement 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. The peculiar fla-
 
 ANALYSIS OF WINE. 123 
 
 vour and odour of different kinds of wines 
 probably depend upon the presence of a 
 volatile oil, so small in quantity that it can- 
 not be separated. 
 
 EASY METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE 
 QUANTITY OF BRANDY CONTAINED 
 IN VARIOUS SORTS OF WINE. 
 
 THE strength of all wines depends upon 
 the quantity of alcohol or brandy which 
 they contain. Mr. Brande, and GayLussac, 
 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
 
 124 ANALYSIS OF WINK. 
 
 the quantity of spirit, or brandy, contained 
 in different sorts 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 mat- 
 ter of the wine. Shake the mixture for a 
 few minutes, 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-
 
 ANALYSIS OP WINE. 125 
 
 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- 
 dissolved. The brandy or spirit contained 
 in the fluid will become separated ; for the 
 sab-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 
 centaye 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. 
 
 G 3
 
 126 
 
 QUANTITY OF BRANDY 
 
 Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage 
 of Brandy or Alcohol* contained in va- 
 rious kinds of Wines, and other fer- 
 mented Liquors^. 
 
 Proportion of Spirit 
 per cent. 
 
 Proportion of Spirit 
 per cent. 
 
 by measure. 
 
 by measure* 
 
 Lissa 
 
 26,47 
 
 Port 
 
 25,33 
 
 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 
 
 21,40 
 
 Average 
 
 25,12 
 
 Ditto 
 
 19,96 
 
 MarceUa 
 
 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 
 
 1CL.24 
 
 TenerifFe 
 
 19,79 
 
 Average 
 
 22,27 
 
 Colares 
 
 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 
 
 tNE. 
 
 127 
 
 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) 
 
 1-8,94 
 
 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 
 
 CapeMuschat 
 
 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 in cask). 
 
 8,68 
 
 Average 
 
 18,65 
 
 Average 
 
 12,08 
 
 Vidonia 
 
 19.25 
 
 Nice o 
 
 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
 
 128 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 Red Hermitage 12,32 Mead 7,32 
 
 Vin de Grave 13,94 Ale (Burton) 8>88 
 
 Ditto. 1 9,80 Ditto (Edinburgh) . 6,20 
 
 Average, 13,37 Ditto (Dorchester) . 5,50 
 
 Frontignac...... 12,79 Average 6,87 
 
 CoteRotie ....12,32 Brown Stout 6,80 
 
 Gooseberry Wine... 11,84 LondonPorter,average4,20 
 
 Currant Wine 20,55 Do. Small Beer, do. 1,28 
 
 OrangeWine averagel 1,26 Brandy ~ . 53,39 
 
 Tokay 9,88 Rum 53,68 
 
 Elder Wine 9,87 Gin 51,60 
 
 Cyder highest average 9,87 Scotch Whiskey ... 54,33 
 
 Ditto lowest ditto.. 5,21 Irish ditto 53,90 
 
 Perry, average 7,26 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF HOME-MADE WINES. 
 
 BESIDES grapes, the most valuable of the 
 articles of which wme 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, 
 the elderberry, the cherry, &c. which fer-
 
 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 129 
 
 ment well, and affords 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, in- 
 dependent of the flavour, which chiefly 
 originates, 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 
 
 * Macculloch on Wine. This is by far the best 
 Treatise published in this country on the Manufacture 
 of Home-made Wines. 
 
 G 5
 
 130 ADULTERATION OF WINE. 
 
 tartaric acid existing in the grape juice in 
 the state of super-tartrate of potash, which 
 is in part decomposed during the fermen- 
 tation, and the rest becomes gradually pre- 
 cipitated ; 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. Macculloch recommends the addition 
 of super-tartrate of potash, in the manufac- 
 ture of British wines. They also contain a 
 much larger proportion of mucilage than 
 wines made from grapes. The juice of the 
 gooseberry contains some portion of tar- 
 taric acid ; hence it is better suited for the 
 production of what is called English Cham- 
 payne, than any other fruit of this country.
 
 
 atmlttratfon 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 quan- 
 tity of alum to the dough ; this improves 
 the look of the bread very much, and ren- 
 ders it whiter and firmer. Good, white, and 
 porous bread, may certainly be manufac- 
 tured from good wheaten flour alone ; but 
 to produce the degree of whiteness rendered 
 indispensable by the caprice of the con- 
 sumers in London, it is necessary (unless 
 G 6
 
 132 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 the very best flour is employed), that the 
 dough should be bleached; and no sub- 
 stance has hitherto 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. Such bread re^ 
 mains longer moist than bread made with 
 a4um ; yet it is not so light, and full of eyes, 
 or porous, and it has also a different taste. 
 
 The quantity of alum requisite to produce 
 the required whiteness and porosity, depends
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 133 
 
 entirely upon the genuineness of the flour, 
 and the quality of the grain from which the 
 flour is obtained. The racalman 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- 
 ferior sorts in the making of bread. The 
 bakers' flour is very often made of the worst 
 kinds of damaged foreign wheat, and other 
 cereal grains mixed with them in grinding 
 the wheat into flower. In this capital, no fewer 
 than six distinct kinds of wheaten flour are 
 brought into market. They are called fine 
 flour, seconds, middlings, fine middlings, 
 coarse middlings, and twenty-penny flower. 
 Common garden beans, and pease, are also 
 frequently ground up among the London 
 bread flour. 
 
 G 6
 
 134 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 I have been assured by several bakers, 
 on whose testimony I can rely, that the small 
 profit attached to the bakers' trade, and the 
 bad quality of the flour, induces the gene- 
 rality of the London bakers to use alum in 
 the making of their bread. 
 
 The smallest quantity of alum that can 
 be employed with effect to produce a white, 
 light, and porous bread, from an inferior 
 kind of flour, I have my own baker's au- 
 thority 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 pow- 
 der, with a quantity of flour previously made 
 into a liquid paste with water, and then 
 incorporated with the dough; or the alum 
 is dissolved in the water employed for mix- 
 ing up the whole quantity of the flour for 
 making the dough.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 135 
 
 Let us suppose that the baker intends 
 to convert five bushels, or a sack of flour 
 into loaves with the least adulteration prac- 
 tised. 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 separate 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 likewise 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 sea- 
 soning sieve, emptied into a hole in the 
 flour, and mixed up with the requisite por-
 
 136 ADULTERATION OP BREAD. 
 
 tioii of it to the consistence 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 
 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
 
 ADULTERATION OP BREAD. 137 
 
 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 fur- 
 nish the requisite quantity for each loaf. The 
 loaves are left in the oven about two hours 
 and a half. When taken out, they are care- 
 fully covered up. to prevent as much as 
 possible the loss of weight*. 
 
 * The sack of marketable flour is by law obliged to 
 weigh 240 pounds, which is the produce of five bushels 
 of wheat, and is upon an average supposed to make 
 eighty quartern loaves of bread; and consequently 
 sixteen of such loaves are made from each bushel of 
 good wheat It is admitted, however, that two or 
 three loaves more than the above quantity can be made 
 from the sack of flour, when it is the genuine produce 
 of good wheat ; that is, in the proportion of about six- 
 teen and a half loaves from each bushel of sound grain, 
 and, it may be presumed, sixteen from a bushel of me- 
 dium corn. The expence, in London, of making the
 
 138 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 The following account of making a sack, 
 or five bushels of flour, into bread, is taken 
 
 sack of flour into bread, and disposing of it, is about 
 nine shillings. 
 
 A bushel of wheat, upon an average, weighs sixtjj- 
 one pounds ; when ground, the meal weighs 60| Ibs. ; 
 which, on being dressed, produces 46| Ibs. of flour, of 
 the sort called seconds, which alone is used for the 
 making of bread in London and throughout the greater 
 part of this country ; and of pollard and bran 12|lbs., 
 which quantity, when bolted, produces 3 Ibs. of fine flour, 
 this when sifted produces in good second flour ljlt>. 
 
 Ibs. 
 The whole quantity of bread-flour obtained I 
 
 from the bushel of wheat, weighs / 
 
 Ibs. 
 
 Fine pollard 4i 
 
 Coarse pollard 4 
 
 Bran 2f 
 
 11 
 
 The whole together 59 
 
 To which add the loss of weight in manu- 1 
 
 facturing the bushel of wheat / 
 
 Produces the original weight... 61
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 139 
 
 from Dr. P. Markham's Considerations on 
 the Ingredients used in the Adulteration of 
 Bread Flour, and Bread, p. 21 : 
 
 5 bushels of flour, 
 
 8 ounces of alum*, 
 
 4Ibs of salt, 
 
 ^ a gallon of yeast, mixed with about 
 
 3 gallons of water. 
 
 The theory of the bleaching property of 
 alum, as manifested in the panification of 
 an inferior kind of flour, is by no means 
 well understood; and indeed it is really 
 
 * Whilst correcting this sheet for the press, the 
 printer transmits to me the following lines : 
 
 "On Saturday last, George Wood, a baker, was con- 
 victed before T. Evance, Esq. Union Hall, of having 
 in. his possession a quantity of alum for the adultera- 
 tion of bread, and fined in the penalty of 5. and costs, 
 under 55 Geo. III. c. 99." The Times, Oct. 1819,
 
 140 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 surprising that the effect should be pro- 
 duced by so small a quantity of that sub- 
 stance, 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- 
 dulent 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 flouer. This salt which becomes 
 wholly converted into a gaseous state dur-
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 141 
 
 ing the operation of baking, causes the dough 
 to swell up into air bubbles, which carry be- 
 fore them the stiff dough, and thus it renders 
 the dough porous ; the salt itself is, at the 
 same time, totally volatilised during the 
 operation of baking. Thus not a vestige 
 of carbonate of ammonia remains in the 
 bread. This salt is also largely employed 
 by the biscuit and ginger-bread bakers. 
 
 Potatoes are likewise largely, and per- 
 haps constantly, used by fraudulent bakers, 
 as a cheap ingredient, to enhance their profit. 
 
 The potatoes being boiled, are triturated, 
 
 i 
 passed through a sieve, and incorporated 
 
 with the dough by kneading. This adul- 
 teration does not materially injure the 
 bread. The bakers assert, that the bad 
 quality of the flower renders the addition of
 
 142 ADULTERATION OP BREAD. 
 
 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 witness, 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. 
 
 Such are the artifices practised in the 
 preparation of bread*, and it must be allowed, 
 
 * There are instances of convictions on record, of 
 bakers having used gypsum, chalk, and pipe clay, in 
 the manufacture of bread.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 143 
 
 on contrasting them with those sophistica- 
 tions practised by manufacturers of other 
 articles of food, that they are comparatively 
 unimportant. However, some medical men 
 have no hesitation in attributing many dis- 
 eases 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 ave- 
 rage, from eight to ten grains to a quartern 
 loaf,) is absolutely harmless. 
 
 Mr. Edmund Davy, Professor of Che- 
 mistry, at the Cork Institution, has com- 
 municated the following important facts to 
 the public concerning the manufacture of 
 bread. 
 
 " The carbonate of magnesia of the shops,
 
 144 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 
 
 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 flower will considerably im- 
 prove* the bread. When the flour is of the 
 worst quality, 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
 
 ADULTERATION OF BREAD. 146 
 
 magnesia, it is necessary that care should 
 be taken to mix it intimately with the flour, 
 previous to the making of 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 
 flour Mr. Davy could procure. He also 
 made some trials on seconds and firsts of 
 different quality. In some cases the re- 
 sults were more striking and satisfactory 
 
 H
 
 146 ADULTERATION OP BREAD. 
 
 than in others ; but in every instance the 
 improvement 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 would 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 carbonate of magnesia, in such small 
 proportion as is necessary to improve bread 
 from new flour." 

 
 METHOD OF DETECTING ALUM IN BREAD. 147 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING THE PRE- 
 SENCE OF ALUM IN BREAD. 
 
 POUR upon two ounces of the suspected 
 bread, half a pint of boiling 1 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 copious white precipitate ensues, which 
 does not disappear by the addition of pure 
 nitric acid, the presence of alum may be 
 suspected. Bread, made without alum, pro- 
 duces, when assayed in this manner, merely 
 a very slight precipitate, which originates 
 
 H2
 
 148 METHOD OF DETECTING ALtJM IN BREAD. 
 
 from a minute portion of sulphate of mag- 
 nesia contained in all common salt of com- 
 merce ; and bread made with salt freed from 
 sulphate of magnesia, produces an infusion 
 with water, which does not become dis- 
 turbed 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 ren- 
 der the presence of the alum unequivocal, 
 will readily suggest itself to those who 
 are familiar 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
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING ALUM IN BREAD. 149 
 
 ammonia, for alumine; and by muriate of 
 platina, for potash*. The above method of 
 detecting the presence of alum, must there- 
 fore be taken with some limitation. 
 
 There is no unequivocal test for de- 
 tecting 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, abso- 
 lutely free from foreign saline substances, 
 the mode of detecting the presence of alum, 
 or at least one of its constituent parts, name- 
 ly, the sulphuric acid, would be very 
 
 See a Practical Treatise on the Use and Applica- 
 tion of Chemical Tests, illustrated by experiments, 3d 
 edition, p. 270, 231, 177, and 196. 
 
 H3
 
 150 METHOD OF JUDGING OF THE GOODNESS 
 
 easy. Some conjecture may, nevertheless, 
 be formed of the presence, or absence, of 
 alum, by assaying the infusion of bread in 
 the manner stated, p. 148, 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. 
 
 EASY 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, with-
 
 OF BREAD-CORN AND FLOUR. 151 
 
 out any shrivelling and shrinking in the 
 covering of the skin, are the best; for 
 wrinkled grains have a g'reater quantity of 
 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 vpheaten 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, Avhich has been heated or burnt 
 in the stack, may in the following manner 
 
 H4
 
 152 METHOD OF CURING MVSTY WHEAT. 
 
 be rendered fit for being made into 
 bread. 
 
 " The wheat must be put into a vessel 
 capable of holding at least three times the 
 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." 
 
 Ptol. Trans, for 1817, part i.
 
 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 commit- 
 ted, 
 
 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 
 
 H5
 
 154 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 beverage may, in fact, be neither more nor 
 less than a compound of the most deleteri- 
 ous substances ; and it is also clear that alt 
 ranks of society are alike exposed to the 
 nefarious fraud. The proofs of this state- 
 ment will be shown hereafter*. 
 
 Theauthorf of a Practical Treatise on Brew- 
 ing, which has run through eleven editions, 
 after having stated the various ingredients 
 for brewing porter, observes, " that however 
 " much they may surprise, however perni- 
 " cious 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 
 
 * See pages 163, 176, 186. 
 
 t Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 7.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 156 
 
 " continue the taste, flavour, and appear- 
 " ance of the beer*. And though several 
 "Acts of Parliament have been passed to pre- 
 " vent porter brewers from using many of 
 " them, yet the author can affirm, from expe- 
 " rience,he could never produce the present 
 " flavoured porter without themf. The in- 
 " toxicating qualities of porter are to be as- 
 " cribed to the various drugs intermixed with 
 " it. It is evident some porter is more heady 
 " than other, and it arises from the greater or 
 " less -quantity of stupifying ingredients. 
 " Malt, to produce intoxication, must be 
 ' " used in such large quantities as would 
 " very much diminish, if not totally exclude, 
 " the brewer's profit." 
 
 * Child, on Brewing Porter, p. 16. 
 t Ibid. p. 16. 
 
 H6
 
 156 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 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 inhabitants of 
 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."
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 157 
 
 These will not only amply prove, that un- 
 wholesome ingredients are used by fraudu- 
 lent brewers, and that very deleterious sub- 
 stances are also vended both to brewers and 
 publicans for adulterating beer, but that 
 the ingredients mixed up in the brewer's 
 enchanting cauldron are placed above all 
 competition, even with the potent charms 
 of Macbeth's. witches r 
 
 " Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the darkj, 
 + + + + + 
 
 + + 4- + + 
 
 " For a charm of pow'rful trouble, 
 " Like a hell-broth boil and bubble ; 
 " Double, double, toil and trouble, 
 " Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." 
 
 The fraud of imparting to porter and ale 
 an, intoxicating quality by narcotic sub-.
 
 158 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 stances, appears to have flourished during the 
 period of the late French war : for, if we 
 examine the importation lists of drugs, it will 
 be noticed that the quantities of cocculus 
 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 coun- 
 try 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
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 159 
 
 saleable commodity, in the price-currents of 
 brewers' -drug gists. It was at the same time, 
 also, that a Mr. Jackson, of notorious me- 
 mory, fell upon the idea of brewing beer 
 from various drugs, without any malt and 
 hops. This chemist did not turn brewer him- 
 self; but he struck out the more profitable 
 trade of teaching his mystery to the brewers 
 for a handsome fee. From that time for- 
 wards, written directions, and receipt-books 
 for using the chemical preparations to be 
 substituted for malt and hops, were res- 
 pectively sold ; and many adepts soon af- 
 terwards appeared every where, to instruct 
 brewers in the nefarious practice, first 
 pointed out by Mr. Jackson. From that 
 time, also, the fraternity of brewers'-che- 
 mists took its rise. They made it their chief
 
 160 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 business to send travellers all over the 
 country with lists and samples exhibiting 
 the price and quality of the articles manu- 
 factured by them for the use of brewers 
 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, 
 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 chemists, 
 grocers, and druggists, from supplying il- 
 legal ingredients to brewers under a heavy 
 penalty, as is obvious from the following 
 abstract of the Act. 
 
 56 Geo. III. c. a
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 161 
 
 " No drug-grist, vender of or dealer in 
 
 OO ' 
 
 " drugs, or chemist, or other person, shall 
 '< sell or deliver to any licenced brewer, 
 " dealer in or retailer of beer, knowing- him 
 " 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, coeculus In^ 
 ' dian, grains of paradise, Guinea pepper or 
 '* opium, or any extract or preparation of 
 " molasses, or any article or preparation
 
 162 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 " to be used in worts or beer for or as a 
 " substitute for malt or bops ; and if any 
 " druggist shall offend in any of these par- 
 " ticulars, such liquor preparation, molas- 
 " ses, &c. shall be forfeited and may be 
 " seized by 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.,
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 163 
 
 List of Druggists and Grocers, prose- 
 cuted and convicted from 1812 to 1819, 
 for supplying illegal Ingredients to 
 Brewers for adulterating beer*. 
 
 John Dunn and another, druggists, for selling adul- 
 terating ingredients to brewers, verdict 500/. 
 
 George Rugg and others, druggists, for selling adul- 
 terating ingredients to brewers, verdict 5001. 
 
 John Hodgkinson and others, for selling adulterating 
 ingredients to brewers, 100/. and costs. 
 
 William Hiscocks and others, for selling adulterat- 
 ing ingredients to a brewer, 200/. and costs. 
 
 G. Hornby, for selling adulterating ingredients to a 
 brewer, 200/. 
 
 W. Wilson, for selling adulterating ingredients to a 
 brewer, 200/. ' 
 
 George Andrews, grocer, for selling adulterating in- 
 gredients to a brewer, 25/. and costs. 
 
 Guy Knowles, for selling substitute for hops, costs. 
 
 Kernot and Alsop, for selling cocculus india, &c. 25/. 
 
 Brandram and Co. for selling various drugs, TOO/. 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the House 
 of Commons, appointed for examining the price and quality of 
 beer. See pages 18, 29, 30, 31, 36, 43.
 
 164 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 Joseph Moss, for selling various drugs, 300/. 
 
 Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, 
 druggists, for having liquor for darkening the colour of 
 beer, hid and concealed. 
 
 Isaac Hebbrd, for having liquor for darkening the 
 colour of beer, hid and concealed. 
 
 Ph. Whitcombe, John Dunn, and Arthur Waller, 
 druggists, for making liquor for darkening the colour 
 of Beer. 
 
 John Lord, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 201. and costs. 
 
 John Smith Carr, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, 20/. and costs. 
 
 Edward Fox, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 2o/. and costs. 
 
 John Cooper, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 40/. and costs. 
 
 Joseph Bickering, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, 40A and costs. 
 
 JohnHoward, grocer, forsellingmolassestoabrewer, 
 257. and costs. 
 
 James Reynolds, grocer, for selling molasses to a 
 brewer, costs. 
 
 Thomas Hammond, grocer, for selling molasses to 
 a brewer, 20/. and costs. 
 
 J. Mackway, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 20/.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 165 
 
 T. Renton, grocer, for seEing molasses to a brewer, 
 costs, and taking out a licence. 
 
 R. Adamson, grocer, for selling molasses to a brewer, 
 costs, and taking out a licence. 
 
 W. Weaver, for selling Spanish b'quorice to a 
 brewer, 200/. 
 
 J. Moss, for selling Spanish liquorice to a brewer. 
 
 Alex. Braden, for selling liquorice, 20/. 
 
 J. Draper, for selling molasses to a brewer, 20J. 
 
 PORTER. 
 
 THE method of brewing porter has not 
 been the same at all times as it is at present. 
 
 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.
 
 166 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 These, at some establishments, are mashed 
 separately, and the worts from each are 
 afterwards mixed together. Tha propor- 
 tion of pale and brown malt, used for brew- 
 ing porter, varies in different breweries ; 
 some employ nearly two parts of pale malt 
 and one part of brown malt; but each 
 brewer appears 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 
 the late war, was very high, the London 
 brewers discovered that a larger quantity 
 of wort of a given strength could be ob-
 
 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 167 
 
 tained from pale malt than from brown 
 malt. They therefore increased the quan- 
 tity 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 1 substance, prepared 
 by boiling brown sugar till it acquired a 
 very dark brown colour; a solution of which 
 was employed to darken the colour of the 
 beer. Some brewers made use of the infu- 
 sion of malt instead of sugar colouring. 
 To impart to the beer a bitter taste, the frau- 
 dulent brewer employed quassia wood and 
 wormwood 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-
 
 168 ADULTERATION OF BEER, 
 
 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. 
 
 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 considerable portion of
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 169 
 
 saccharine matter. The grain is by mere 
 torrefaction converted into a gum-like sub- 
 stance, wholly soluble in water, which ren- 
 ders the beer more liable to pass into the 
 acetous fermentation than the common 
 brown malt is capable of doing ; because 
 the latter, if prepared from good barley, 
 contains a portion of saccharine matter, of 
 which the patent malt is destitute. 
 
 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 
 i
 
 170 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 have assured me, that the use of this mode 
 of colouring 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 establish- 
 ments. 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. 
 
 STRENGTH AND SPECIFIC DIFFERENCES 
 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.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 171 
 
 The reader need scarcely be told, that of 
 no article there are more varieties than of 
 porter. This, no doubt, arises from the dif- 
 ferent mode of manufacturing the beer, 
 although 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 
 differences, both with respect to strength or 
 quantity of spirit, and solid extractive-mat- 
 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 
 publicans ; the solid matter, is from twenty- 
 one to twenty-three pounds per barrel of 
 thirty-six gallons. The country -brewed 
 i2
 
 172 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 porter is seldom well fermented, and sel- 
 dom contains so large a quantity of spirit ; 
 it usually abounds in mucilage ; hence it be- 
 comes 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 professional oc.- 
 ctipations have, during these twenty-eight 
 years, repeatedly obliged me to examine 
 the strength of London porter, brewed by 
 different brewers; and, from the minutes 
 made on that subject, I am authorized to 
 state, that the porter now brewed by the 
 eminent London brewers, is unquestionably 
 stronger than that which was brewed at
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 173 
 
 different periods daring the late French 
 war. Samples of brown stout with which 
 I have been obligingly favoured, whilst 
 writing this Treatise, by Messrs. Barclay, 
 Perkins, & Co. Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, 
 and Co. Messrs, Henry Meux and Co. 
 and other eminent brewers of this capi- 
 tal afforded, upon an average, 7,25 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* j this beer received 
 from the brewers was taken from the same 
 
 * The average specific gravity of different sampks 
 of brown stout, obtained direct from the breweries of 
 Messrs. Barclay, 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, 1,018. 
 i3
 
 174 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 store from which the publicans are sup- 
 plied. 
 
 It is nrevertheless singular to observe, that 
 from fifteen samples of beer of the same 
 denominations, procured from different re- 
 tailers, the proportions of spirit fell con- 
 siderably short of the above quantities. 
 Samples 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 fur- 
 nished by the brewer, and that retailed 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 pro- 
 secuted and convicted for mixing table beer 
 with their strong beer; this is prohibited
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 175 
 
 by law, as becomes obvious by the fol- 
 lowing 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 
 beer, ale, or worts, with table beer, worts, or 
 water, in any tub or measure, he shall for- 
 feit 50." The difference between strong 
 and table beer, is thus settled by Parliament. 
 
 " 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 payable in 
 respect thereof, shall be deemed strong beer 
 or ale ; and all beer of the price of eighteen 
 shillings the barrel or under, exclusive of 
 
 2 Geo. III. e. 14, 2 . t 59 Geo. III. c. 53, $ 25. 
 
 i4
 
 176 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 the duty payable (viz. two shillings per bar- 
 rel) 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 du- 
 ties thereon." 
 
 List of Publicans prosecuted and convicted, 
 from 1815 to 1818,/br adulterating Beer 
 with illegal Ingredients, and for mixing 
 Table Beer with their Strong Beer*, 
 
 William Atterbury, for using salt of steel, salt, mo- 
 lasses, &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 
 40/. 
 
 Richard Dean, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 501. 
 
 * 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.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 177 
 
 John Jay, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. 
 and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 50/. 
 
 James Atkinson, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 20/. 
 
 Samuel Langworth, for using salt of steel, salt, mo- 
 lasses, &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 601. 
 
 Hannah Spencer, for using salt of steel, salt, mo- 
 lasses, &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 
 15 01. 
 
 Hogg, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, &c. 
 
 and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 5/. 
 
 Richard Craddock, for using salt of steel, salt, mo- 
 lasses, &c. and for mixing table beer with strong beer, 
 100/. 
 
 James Harris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for receiving stale beer, and mixing it with 
 strong beer, 42/. and costs. 
 
 Thomas Scoons, for using salt of steel, salt, molas- 
 ses, &c. and for mixing stale beer with strong beer, 
 verdict 200Z. 
 
 Diones Geer and another, for using salt of steel, salt, 
 molasses, &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 
 verdict 400/. 
 
 Charles Coleman, for using salt of steel, salt, mo- 
 lasses, &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 35/. 
 and costs.
 
 178 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 Wflliam Orr, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 50/. 
 
 John Gardiner, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 100/. 
 
 John Morris, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses, 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 20/. 
 
 John Harbur, for using salt of steel, salt, molasses 
 &c. and for mixing strong and table beer, 50/. 
 
 John Corrie, for mixing strong beer with table beer. 
 
 John Cape, for mixing strong beer with table beer. 
 
 Joseph Gudge, for mixing strong beer with small 
 beer. 
 
 ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR 
 ADULTERATING BEER. 
 
 WE have stated already (p. 153) that no- 
 thing is allowed by law to enter into the 
 composition of beer, but malt and hops. 
 
 The substances used by fraudulent 
 brewers for adulterating beer, are chiefly 
 the following:
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 179 
 
 Quassia, which gives to beer a bitter 
 taste, is substituted for hops ; but hops pos- 
 sesses a more agreeable aromatic flavour, 
 and there is also reason to believe that they 
 render beer less liable to spoil by keep- 
 ing ; a property which does not belong to 
 quassia. It requires but little discrimina- 
 tion to distinguish very clearly the pecu- 
 liar bitterness of quassia in adulterated 
 porter. Vast quantities of the shavings of 
 this wood are sold in a half-torrefied and 
 ground state to disguise its obvious cha- 
 racter, and to prevent its being recognized 
 among the waste materials of the brewers. 
 Wormwood* has likewise been used by 
 fraudulent brewers. 
 
 * See Minutes of the Committee of the House of 
 Commons for Reporting on the Price and Quality of 
 
 Beer, 1819. p. 29. 
 
 16
 
 180 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 The adulterating of hops is prohibited by 
 the Legislature*. 
 
 " 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 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 
 atmosphere; and this is not well practica- 
 ble in large establishments. 
 
 7 Gteo. II. c. 19, 2.
 
 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 181 
 
 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 unde- 
 composed saccharine matter, and also to 
 separate, by virtue of the gallic acid and 
 tannin it contains,a portion of a peculiar ve- 
 getable mucilage somewhat resembling glu- 
 ten, which is still diffused through the beer. 
 The compound thus produced, separates in 
 small flakes like those of curdled soap; and 
 by these means the beer is rendered less 
 liable to spoil. For nothing contributes 
 more to the conversion 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 fermented, do not keep as
 
 182 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 perfect ale ought to do. Quassia is, there- 
 fore, unfit as a substitute for hops ; and even 
 English hops are preferable to those im- 
 ported from the Continent; for nitrate of 
 silver and acetate of lead produce a more 
 abundant precipitate from an infusion of 
 English hops, than can be obtained from a 
 like infusion by the same agents from fo- 
 reign hops. 
 
 One of the qualities of good porter, is, that 
 it should bear a fine frothy head, as it is 
 technically termed : because professed j udges 
 of this beverage, would not pronounce 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 an-
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 183 
 
 other, or to produce what is also termed a 
 cauliflower head, the mixture called beer- 
 heading, composed of common green vi* 
 triol (sulphate of iron), alum, and salt, is 
 added. This addition to the beer is gene- 
 rally made by the publicans*. It is unne- 
 cessary to genuine beer, which of itself 
 possesses the property of bearing a strong 
 white froth, without these additions; and it 
 is only in consequence of table beer being 
 mixed with strong beer, that the frothing 
 property of the porter is lost. From experi- 
 ments I have tried on this subject, I have 
 
 * See List of Publicans prosecuted and convjf ted 
 for mixing table beer with strong beer, &c. p. 176. 
 
 " Alum gives likewise a smack of age to beer, and is 
 penetrating to the palate." S. Child on Brewing, 
 P. 1.8.
 
 184 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 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 molasses and a small portion 
 of extract of gentian root, to keep up the 
 peculiar flavour of the porter; and it is to 
 the molasses chiefly, which gives a spissi- 
 tude to the beer, that the frothing property 
 must bo ascribed ; for, without it, the suU 
 phate of iron does not produce the pro- 
 perty of frothing in diluted beer. 
 
 Capsicum and grains of paradise, two 
 highly acrid substances, are employed to 
 give a pungent taste to weak insipid beer. 
 Of late, a concentrated tincture of these ar-
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 185 
 
 tides, 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 exhibits some of the 
 unlawful substances seized at different 
 breweries and at chemical laboratories.
 
 186 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 List of illegal Ingredients, seized from 
 1812 to 1818, at various Breweries and 
 Brewers' Druggists*. 
 
 1812, July. Josiah Nibbs, at Tooting, Surrey. 
 
 Multum 84lb. 
 
 Cocculus indicus... 12 
 
 Colouring 4 Galls. 
 
 Honey about 180 Ibs. 
 
 Hartshorn Shavings 14 
 
 Spanish Juice 46 
 
 Orange Powder 17 
 
 Ginger 56 
 
 Penalty 300. 
 
 1813, June 13. Sarah Willis, at West Ham., Essex. 
 
 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.
 
 ADULTERATION OF WEEK. 187 
 
 August 3. Cratcherode Whiffing, Limehowse. 
 
 Grains of Paradise. ... 44 Ibs. 
 
 Quassia 10 
 
 Liquorice 64 
 
 Ginger 80 
 
 Caraway Seeds 40 
 
 Orange Powder 14 
 
 Copperas 4 
 
 Penalty 200. 
 
 Nov. 25. Elizabeth Hasler, at Stratford. 
 
 Cocculus indicus 12lbs. 
 
 Multum 26 
 
 Grains of Paradise.... 12 
 
 Spanish Juice 30 
 
 Orange Powder 3 
 
 Penalty 200. 
 
 i 
 
 Dec. 14. John Abbott, at Canterbury, Kent. 
 
 Copperas, &c 14 Ibs. 
 
 Orange Powder 2 
 
 Penalty 500Z, and Crown's costs. 
 Proof of using drags at various times.
 
 188 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 1815, Feb. 15. Mantell and Cook, Castle-street, 
 Bloomsbury-square. 
 
 Proof of mixing strong with table beer, and using 
 colouring and other things. 
 
 Compromised for 300. 
 
 1817. From Peter Stevenson, an old Servant to Dunn 
 and Waller, St. John-street, brewers' drug- 
 gists. 
 
 Cocculuslndicus Extract Gibs. 
 
 Multum 560 
 
 Capsicum 8S 
 
 Copperas 310 
 
 Quassia 150 
 
 Colouring & Drugs 84> 
 
 Mixed Drugs 240 
 
 Spanish Liquorice . . . 420 
 Hartshorn Shavings 7.7, 
 Liquorice Powder... 175 
 
 Orange Powder 126 
 
 Caraway Seeds 100 
 
 Ginger 110 
 
 Ginger Root 176 
 
 Condemned, not being claimed.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 189 
 
 July 30. Luke Lyons, Shadwell. 
 
 Capsicum lib. 
 
 Liquorice Root Powder 2 
 
 Coriander Seed 2 
 
 Copperas 1 
 
 Orange Powder 8 
 
 Spanish Liquorice 
 
 Beer Colouring 24 galls, 
 
 Not tried. (7th May, 1818.) 
 
 Aug. 6. John Gray, at West Ham. 
 
 Multum .......... 4lbs. 
 
 Spanish Liquorice ... 21 
 
 Liquorice Root 7 , , 
 Powder $- 
 
 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 fit breweries, might be ad- 
 vanced, were it necessary to enlarge this 
 subject to a greater extent.
 
 190 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 Mr. James West, from the excise office, 
 being asked in the Committee of the House 
 of Commons, appointed, 1819, to examine 
 and report on the petition of several inhabi- 
 tants of London, complaining of the high 
 price and inferior quality of beer, produced 
 the following seized articles : " One blad- 
 der of honey, one bladder of extract of coc- 
 culus indicus, ground guinea pepper or 
 capsicum, vitriol or copperas, orange pow- 
 der, quassia, ground beer-heading, hard 
 multum, another kind of multum or beer 
 preparation, liquorice powder, and ground 
 grains of paradise." 
 
 Witness being asked " Where did you 
 seize these things ?" Answer, " Some of 
 them were seized from brewers, and some 
 of them from brewers' druggists, within 
 these two years past. (May 8, 1818.)
 
 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 191 
 
 Another fraud frequently committed, both 
 by brewers and publicans, (as is evident 
 from the Excise Report,) is the practice 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 ten 
 shillings a barrel ; and upon table beer it 
 is two shillings. The revenue suffers, be- 
 cause a larger quantity of beer is sold as 
 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 
 
 * See Mr. Carr's evidence in the Minutes of the 
 House of Commons, p. 32.
 
 192 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 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 
 suffer 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 
 guile or fermenting tun, he shall forfeit 
 200*." 
 
 With respect to the persons who commit 
 
 42 George III, c. 38, 12.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 193 
 
 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 mix- 
 ing one with the other ; and frauds of very 
 great extent have been detected, and the par- 
 ties 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 
 the trade is a victualling brewer, which is 
 different from the common brewer, he being 
 a person who sells only wholesale ; the vic- 
 
 * See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32. 
 K
 
 194 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 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 
 purpose ; and many of the prosecutions are 
 against retailers for that offence." The fol-
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 195 
 
 lowing may serve in proof of this state- 
 ment. 
 
 List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted 
 from 1813 to 1819, for adulterating 
 Strong Beer with Table Beer*. 
 
 Thomas Manton and another, brewers, for mixing 
 strong and table beer, verdict 300/. 
 
 Mark Morrell and another, brewers, for mixing 
 strong and table beer, 20/. and costs. 
 
 Robert Jones and another, brewers, for mixing strong 
 and table beer, verdict 125J. 
 
 Robert Stroad, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, 200/. and costs. 
 
 William Cobbett, brewer, mixing strong and table 
 beer, 100/. and costs. 
 
 Thomas Richard Withers, brewer, for mixing strong 
 and table beer, 751. and costs. 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the Houae 
 of Commons, appointed for examining the price and quality of 
 Beer, 1819, p. 29, 36, 43. 
 
 K2
 
 196 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 John Cowel, brewer, for mixing table beer with 
 strong, 50/. and costs. 
 
 John Mitchell, brewer, for mixing table beer with 
 strong, absconded. 
 
 George Lloyd and another, brewers, for mixing 
 table beer with strong, 25/. and costs. 
 
 James Edmunds and another, brewers, for mixing 
 table beer with strong, for a long period, verdict 600/. 
 
 John Hoffman, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, and using molasses, ISO/, and costs. 
 
 Samuel Langworth, brewer, for mixing strong with 
 stale table beer, Wl. and costs. 
 
 Hannah Spencer, brewer, for mixing strong with 
 stale table beer, verdict 150?. 
 
 Joseph Smith and others, brewers, for mixing strong 
 and table beer. 
 
 Philip George, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, verdict 200/. 
 
 Joshua Row, brewer, for mixing strong and table 
 beer, verdict 400/. 
 
 John Drew, jun. and another for mixing strong beer 
 with table, 50/. and costs. 
 
 John Cape, brewer, for mixing strong and table beer, 
 250/. and costs. 
 
 John Williams and another, brewers, for mixing 
 strong and table beer, verdict 200/.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 197 
 
 OLD, OR ENTIRE; AND NEW, OR MILD 
 
 BEER. 
 
 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 1 , 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 
 
 K3
 
 198 ADULTERATION OF BF.KII. 
 
 and half of beer, half of ale and half of 
 two-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 
 of 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, or 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 ob- 
 tained the name of porter." The system is
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 199 
 
 now altered, and porter is very generally 
 compounded of two kinds, or rather the 
 same liquor in two different states, the due 
 admixture 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 publi- 
 can adapts to the palates of his several cus- 
 tomers, 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, because 
 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 
 K4
 
 900 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 works either pump, and draws both kinds of 
 beer at the same spout. An indifferent ob- 
 server supposes, that since it all comes from 
 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. 
 
 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 frompub-v 
 
 " See the Parliamentary Minutes, p, 94.
 
 ADULTERATION OP BEER. .. 201 
 
 Hcans ; a portion of beer from the bottoms of 
 vats; the beer that is drawn off from the pipes, 
 which convey the beer from one vat to an- 
 other, and from one part of the premises 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 bottling beer, 
 which is ten shillings a barrel dearer* ; and 
 that all these beers, united, are put into 
 vats, and that it depends upon various cir- 
 cumstances, how long they may remain in 
 those vats before they become perfectly 
 
 * 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, 
 
 K5
 
 202 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 bright. When bright, this beer is sent out 
 to the publicans, for their entire beer, and 
 there is sometimes a small quantity 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. 
 
 The old or entire beer we have examined, 
 as obtained from Messrs. Bar clay's, and other 
 eminentLondonbrewers,is unquestionably a 
 good compound ; but it does no longer appear 
 to be necessary, among fraudulent brewers,
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 203 
 
 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 instant. This pro- 
 cess is technically called to bring beer for- 
 ward, or to make it hard. 
 
 The practice is a bad one. The genu- 
 ine, old, or entire beer, of the honest 
 brewer, is quite a different compound; it 
 has a rich, generous, full-bodied taste, 
 without being acid, and a vinous odour : 
 but it may, perhaps, not be generally known 
 that this kind of beer always affords a less 
 proportion of alcohol than is produced from 
 
 K6
 
 204 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 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 his Treatise on Brewing, p. 23, 
 directs, to make new beer older, use oil of vitriol.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 205 
 
 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 co- 
 lour,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. 
 
 To increase the intoxicating quality of 
 beer, the deleterious vegetable substance, 
 called cocculus indicus, and the extract of 
 this 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.
 
 206 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 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 prosecuted and convicted of this 
 crime; nor is it less deplorable to find 
 the names of druggists, eminent in trade, 
 implicated in the fraud, by selling the un- 
 lawful ingredients to brewers for fraudulent 
 purposes. 
 
 List of Brewers prosecuted and convicted 
 from 1813 to 1819, for receiving and 
 using illegal Ingredients in their Brew- 
 ings*. 
 
 Richard Gardner, brewer, for using adulterating 
 ingredients, 100/., judgment by default 
 
 * Copied from the Minutes of the Committee of the 
 House of Commons appointed for examining the price 
 and quality of beer, p. 29, 36.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 207 
 
 Stephen Webb and another, brewers, for using 
 adulterating ingredients, and mixing strong and table 
 beer, verdict 500/. 
 
 Henry Wyatt, brewer, for using adulterating in- 
 gredients, verdict 400/. 
 
 John Harbart, retailer, for receiving adulterating 
 ingredients, verdict 1501. 
 
 Philip Blake and others, brewers, for using adul- 
 terating ingredients, and mixing strong and table beer, 
 verdict 250/. 
 
 James Sneed, for receiving adulterating ingredients, 
 251. and costs. 
 
 John Rewell and another, brewers, ditto, verdict 1001. 
 
 John Swain and another, ditto, for using adulterating 
 ingredients, verdict 200/. 
 
 John Ing, brewer, ditto, stayed on defendant's death. 
 
 John Hall, ditto, for receiving adulterating ingre- 
 dients, 5/. and costs. 
 
 John Webb, retailer, for using adulterating ingre- 
 dients. 
 
 Ralph Fogg and another, brewers, for receiving and 
 using adulterating ingredients 
 
 John Gray, brewer, for using adulterating ingre- 
 dients, 300/. and costs. 
 
 Richard Bowman, for using liquid in bladder, sup- 
 posed to be extract of cocculus, 100/.
 
 208 ADULTERATION OP BEER. 
 
 Richard Bowman, brewer, for ditto, 100/. and costs, 
 
 Septimus Stephens, brewer, for ditto, verdict 50f. 
 
 James Rogers and another, brewer, for ditto,220/. 
 and costs. 
 
 George Moore, brewer, for using colouring, 300/. 
 and costs. 
 
 John Morris, for using adulterating ingredients. 
 
 Webb and Ball, for using ginger, Guinea pepper, 
 and brown powder, (name unknown), 1st. 100/. 2nd500/. 
 
 Henry Clarke, for using molasses, 150/, 
 
 Kewell and Burrowi, for using cocculus india, mul- 
 tum, &c. lOOl. 
 
 AUatson and Abraham, for using coccidus india, 
 multum, and porter flavour, 630/. 
 
 Swain and Sewell, for using cocculus india, Guinea- 
 opium, &c. 200/. 
 
 John Ing, for using cocculus india, hard colouring, 
 and honey, dead. 
 
 William Dean, for using molasses, &0l. 
 
 John Cowell, for using Spanish-liquorice, and mix- 
 ing table beer with strong beer, 50/. 
 
 John Mitchell, for using cocculus india, vitriol, and 
 Guinea-pepper, left the country. 
 
 Lloyd and Man, for using extract of cocculus, 25/. 
 
 John Gray, for using ginger, heartshorn shavings, 
 and molasses, 300/.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 209 
 
 John Hoffman, for using molasses, Spanish juice, 
 and mixing table with strong beer, 130/. 
 
 Rogers and Boon, for using extract of cocculus, mul- 
 tum, porter flavour, &c. 220/. 
 
 Betteley, for using wormwood, coriander seed, 
 
 and Spanish juice, 200Z. 
 
 William Lane, brewer, for using wormwood instead 
 of hops, 51. 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 
 a small quantity of a narcotic substance (and 
 cocculus indicus is a powerful narcotic*), 
 daily taken into the stomach, together with 
 
 * The deleterious effect of Cocculus Iridicus (the 
 fruit of the memispermum cocculus) is owing to a pe- 
 culiar bitter principle contained in it ; which, when 
 swallowed in minute quantities, intoxicates anil acts as 
 poison. It may be obtained nom cocculus indicus ber- 
 ries in a detached state : chemists call it picrotoxin, 
 from irnifoto bitter ; and Tofaw, poison.
 
 210 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 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. 
 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 
 
 * See Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 26, 36.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 211 
 
 those offenders. But the reader will like- 
 wise notice, that there are no convictions, in 
 any instance, against any of the eleven great 
 London porter brewers* for any illegal prac- 
 tice. The great London brewers, it appears, 
 believe that the publicans alone adulterate 
 the beer. That many of the latter have been 
 convicted of this fraud, the Report of the 
 Board of Excise amply shews. See p. 176. 
 
 The following statement relating to this 
 subject, we transcribe from a Parliamentary 
 document f : 
 
 Mr. Perkins being asked, whether he 
 
 * Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co. Truman, Han- 
 bury and Co. Reid and Co. Whitbread and Co. 
 Combe, Delafield, and Co. -Henry Meux, and Co. 
 Calvert and Co. Goodwin and Co. Elliot and Co. 
 Taylor and Co. Cox, and Camble and Co. 
 
 See the Minutes, before quoted, p. 32. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 58.
 
 212 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 believed that any of the inferior brewers 
 adulterated beer, answered, " I am satisfied 
 there are some instances of that." 
 
 Question. " I5o you believe publicans 
 do ?" Answer. " I believe they do." 
 Q.__To a great extent?" A. " Yes." 
 Q. " Do you believe they adulterate the 
 beer you sell them?" A. " I am satisfied 
 there are some instances of that." Mr. J. 
 Martiueau* being asked the following 
 
 Question-f. " In your judgment is any of 
 the beer of the metropolis, as retailed to the 
 publican, mixed with any deleterious in- 
 gredients?" 
 
 Answer. " In retailing beer, in some 
 instances, it has been." 
 
 A partner in the brewery of Messrs. Whitbread 
 and Co. 
 t Minutes of the House of Common*, p. 104.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 213 
 
 Question. " By whom, in your opinion, 
 has that been done ?" 
 
 Answer. " In that case by the publicans 
 who vend it." 
 
 On this point, it is but fair, to the minor 
 brewers, to record also the answers of some 
 officers of the revenue, when they were 
 asked whether they considered it more dif- 
 ficult to detect nefarious practices in large 
 breweries than in small ones. 
 
 Mr. J. Rogers being thus questioned in 
 the Committee of the House of Commons*, 
 " Supposing the large brewers to use dele- 
 terious or any illegal ingredients to such an 
 amount as could be of any importance to 
 
 Minutes, before quoted, p. 22.
 
 214 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 their concern, do you think it would, or 
 would not, be more easy to detect it in those 
 large breweries, than in small ones ?" his 
 answer was, " more difficult to detect it 
 in the large ones:" and witness being 
 asked to state the reason why, answered, 
 " Their premises are so much larger, and 
 there is so much more strength, that a cart 
 load or two is got rid of in a minute or two." 
 Witness " had known, in five minutes, 
 twenty barrels of molasses got rid of as soon 
 as the door was shut." 
 
 Another witness, W. Wells, an excise offi- 
 cer*, in describing the contrivances used to 
 prevent detection, stated, that at a brewer's, 
 at Westham, the adulterating substances 
 
 * Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 40.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 215 
 
 " was not kept on the premises, but in the 
 brewer's house ; not the principal, but the 
 working brewer's ; it not being considered, 
 when there, as liable to seizure : the 
 brewer had a very large jacket made ex- 
 pressly for that purpose, with very large 
 pockets; and, on brewing mornings, he 
 would take his pockets full of the different 
 ingredients. Witness supposed that such 
 a man's jacket, similar to what he had 
 described, would convey quite sufficient for 
 any brewery in England, as to cocculus in- 
 dicus." 
 
 That it may be more difficult for the of- 
 ficers of the Excise to detect fraudulent 
 practices in large breweries than in small 
 ones, may be true to a certain extent : but 
 what elninent London porter brewer would
 
 216 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 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 porter brewers of this metropolis are 
 persons of so high respectability, that there 
 is no ground for the slightest suspicion that 
 they would attempt any illegal practices, 
 which they were aware could not possibly 
 escape detection in their extensive esta- 
 blishments. And let it be remembered, that 
 none of them have been detected for any 
 unlawful practices*, with regard to the 
 processes of their manufacture, or the 
 adulteration of their beer. 
 
 * Minutes of the House of Commons, p. 32.
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 217 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADUL- 
 TERATION OF BEER. 
 
 THE detection of the adulteration of beer 
 with deleterious vegetable substances is 
 
 o 
 
 beyond the reach of chemical analysis. The 
 presence of sulphate of iron (p. 1S3) 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 
 I
 
 218 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 potash; and for the latter, by muriate of 
 barytes*. 
 
 Beer, which has been rendered fraudu- 
 lently hard (see p. 203) 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. '219 
 
 effervescence by pouring on it some pure 
 nitric or muriatic acid; in that case the pre- 
 cipitate is malate (not sulphate) of barytes, 
 and is owing to a portion of malic acid 
 having been formed in the beer. 
 
 But with regard to the vegetable mate- 
 rials deleterious to health, it is extremely 
 difficult, in any instance, to detect them by 
 chemical agencies ; and in most cases it is 
 quite impossible, as in that of cocculus indi- 
 cus in beer. 
 
 METHOD OF ASCERTAINING THE QUAN- 
 TITY OF SPIRIT CONTAINED IN 
 PORTER, ALE, OR OTHER KINDS OF 
 MALT LIQUORS. 
 TAKE any quantity of the beer, put it into 
 
 a glass retort, furnished with a receiver, 
 
 L2
 
 220 ADULTERATION OF BELH. 
 
 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 thissalr 
 added,, remains undissolved in the fluid. 
 The spirit will thus become separated from
 
 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 221 
 
 the water, because the subcarbonate of pot- 
 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 
 pf 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, Farts of Alcohol, by 
 
 contained Measure. 
 
 Ale, home-brewed 8,30 
 
 Ale, Burton, three samples 6,25 
 
 " Repository of Arts, No. 2, p. 74. 1816. 
 L3
 
 222 ADULTERATION OF BEER. 
 
 One hundred parts, by Measure, . Parts of Alcohol, 
 
 contained by Measure. 
 
 Ale, Burton* 8,88 
 
 Ale, Edinburgh* 4 6,20 
 
 Ale, Dorchester* 5,50 
 
 Ale, common London-brewed,' 
 
 six samples 
 
 Ale, Scotch, three samples 5,75 
 
 Porter, London, eight samples 4,00 
 
 Ditto, Dittof 4,20 
 
 Ditto, Dittof 4,45 
 
 Ditto, Ditto, bottled 4,75 
 
 Brown Stout, 4 samples.... 5 
 
 Ditto, Ditto f 6,80 
 
 Small Beer, six samples 0,75 
 
 Ditto, Ditto $ 1,28 
 
 * Copied from Professor Brande's Paper in the Phi- 
 losophical Transactions, 1811, p. 345. 
 
 t Result of our own Experiments, see p. 174, 
 $ Professor Brande's Experiment?.
 
 
 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 manufac- 
 tories 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 con- 
 sult the London newspapers (the Times and 
 the Courier) from March to July 1818; 
 which show to what extent this nefarious 
 
 L4
 
 224 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 traffic has been carried on ; and they report 
 also the prosecutions and convictions of nu- 
 merous individuals who have been guilty 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 a man of the name of Ed- 
 mund 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 hun- 
 dred weight of ash leaves, one hundred 
 weight of elder leaves, and one hundred 
 weight of the leaves of a certain other tree, 
 
 * Courier, June 22, 1818,
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 225 
 
 in imitation of tea, contrary to the statute of 
 the 17th of Geo. III.* whereby the said 
 Edmund Rhodes had, for every pound of 
 such leaves so manufactured, forfeited the 
 sum of 5^. making the total of the penalties 
 amount to 2,0007. The second count in the 
 information charged the said Rhodes with 
 having in his possession the above quan- 
 tity of sloe, ash, elder, and other leaves, 
 under the like penalty of 2,000/. The third 
 count charged him with having, on the sard 
 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 
 
 Also, 2 Geo. I, c. 30, 5 ; and 4 Geo. II, c. U, 11,
 
 226 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 pounds weight of green leaves of elder, and 
 fifty pounds weight of the green leaves of a 
 Certain other tree ; not having proved that 
 such leaves were gathered with the consent 
 of the owners of the trees and shrubs from 
 which they were taken, and that such leaves 
 were gathered for some other use, and not 
 for the purpose of manufacturing the same 
 in imitation of tea; whereby he had for- 
 feited for each pound weight, the sum of 
 57. amounting in the whole to 1,000/. ; and, 
 in default of payment, in each case, sub- 
 jected 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 de- 
 fendant, who was absent, said that he was 
 a very poor man, with a family of five chil-
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 227 
 
 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 
 imitation tea, were then brought into the 
 office, and a sample from each handed 
 round. To the eye they seemed a good 
 imitation of tea. 
 
 The defendant was convicted in the pe- 
 nalty of 500 on the second count. 
 
 The Attorney-General against Palmer*. 
 THIS was an action by the Attorney- 
 General against the defendant, Palmer, 
 
 I 7 " : " ~ ~ ' 
 
 " The Times, May 18, 1818. 
 L6
 
 228 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 charging him with having in his possession 
 a quantity of sloe-leaves and white-thorn 
 leaves, fabricated into an imitation of tea. 
 
 Mr. Dauncey stated the case to the jury, 
 and observed that the defendant, Mr. Pal- 
 mer, was a grocer. It would appear that 
 a regular manufactory was established in 
 Goldstone-street. The parties by whom 
 the manufactory was conducted, was a per- 
 son of the name of Proctor, and another per- 
 son named J. Malins. They engaged others 
 to furnish them with leaves, which, after un- 
 dergoing a certain process, were sold to 
 and drank by the public as tea. The leaves, 
 in order to be converted into an article re- 
 sembling black tea, were first boiled, then 
 baked upon an iron plate ; and, when dry, 
 rubbed with the hand, in order to produce
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 that curl which the genuine tea had. This 
 was the most wholesome part of the opera- 
 tion; for the colour, which was yet to be 
 given to it, was produced by logwood. The 
 green tea was manufactured in a manner 
 more destructive to the constitution of those 
 by whom it was drank. The leaves, being 
 pressed and dried, were laid upon sheets of 
 copper, where they received their colour 
 from an article known by the name of Dutch 
 pink. The article used in producing the 
 appearance of the fine green bloom, ob- 
 servable on the China tea, was, however, 
 decidedly a dead poison ! He alluded to 
 verdigrise, which was added to the Dutch 
 pink in order to complete the opera tion* 
 This was the case which he had to bring 
 before the jury ; and hence it would appear*
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 that, at the moment they were supposing 
 they were drinking- a pleasant and nutri- 
 tious beverage, they were, in fact, in all 
 probability, drinking the produce of the 
 hedges round the metropolis, prepared for 
 the purposes of deception in the most 
 noxious manner. He trusted he should be 
 enabled to trace to the possession of the 
 defendant eighty pounds weight of the 
 commodity he had been describing. 
 
 Thomas Jones deposed, that he knew 
 Proctor, and was employed by him at the 
 latter end of April, 1817, to gather black 
 and white thorn leaves. Sloe leaves were 
 the black thorn. Witness also knew John 
 Malms, the son of William Malins, a coffee- 
 roaster; he did not at first know the pur- 
 pose for which the leaves were gathered,
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 231 
 
 but afterwards learnt they were to make 
 imitation tea. Witness did not gather more 
 than one hundred and a half weight of these 
 leaves; but he employed another person, 
 of the name of John Bagster, to gather them. 
 He had two-pence per pound for them. They 
 were first boiled, and the water squeezed 
 from them in a press. They were afterwards 
 placed over a slow fire upon sheets of cop- 
 per to dry ; while on the copper they were 
 rubbed with the hand to curl them. At the 
 time of boiling there was a little verdigrise 
 put into the water (this applied to green tea 
 only). After the leaves were dried, they 
 were sifted, to separate the thorns and 
 stalks. After they were sifted, more ver- 
 digrise and some Dutch pink were added.
 
 232 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 The verdigrise gave the leaves that greea 
 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 the boiling, and to this was added a small 
 quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus the 
 manufacture was complete. The drying ope- 
 ration took place on sheets of iron. Witness 
 knew the defendant, Edward Palmer ; he 
 took some of the mixture he had been de- 
 scribing to his shop. The first time he took 
 Some was in May, 1817. In the course of 
 that month, or the beginning of June, he 
 took four or five seven-pound parcels ; when 
 he took it there, it was taken up to the 
 top of the house. Witness afterwards car-
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 233 
 
 ried some to Russell-street, which was taken 
 to the top of the house, about one hundred 
 weight and three quarters; from this quan- 
 tity he carried fifty-three pounds weight to 
 the house of the defendant's porter, by the 
 desire of Mr. Malins ; it was in paper par- 
 cels of seven pounds each. 
 
 John Bagster proved that he had been 
 employed by Malins and Proctor, to gather 
 sloe and white-thorn leaves: they were 
 taken to Jones's house, and from thence to 
 Malin's coffee-roasting premises ; witness re- 
 ceived 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-. 
 for the Crown, 840,
 
 234 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 
 
 The Attorney - General against John 
 Prentice*. This was an information similar 
 to the last, in which the defendant submit- 
 ted to a verdict for the Crown. 
 
 The Attorney-General against Lawson 
 Holmes. In this case the defendant sub- 
 mitted to a verdict for the Crown. 
 
 The Attorney -General against John 
 Orkney^. Thomas Jones proved that the 
 defendant was a grocer, and in the month of 
 May last he carried to his shop seven pounds 
 of imitation tea, by the order of John Mai ins, 
 for which he received the money, viz. 
 15s. 9d. or 2s. 3d. per pound. 
 
 The Times, May 18, 1818. 
 t Ibid.
 
 COUNTERFEIT TEA. 235 
 
 The jury found a verdict for the Crown 
 Penalties 70. 
 
 The Attorney-General against James 
 Gray*. The defendant submitted to a ver- 
 dict for the Crown. Penalties 120. 
 
 The Attorney-General against H. Gil- 
 bert, and Powel-f. These defendants sub- 
 mitted to a verdict. Penalties 140. 
 
 The Attorney-General against William 
 Clarke +. This defendant also submitted 
 to a verdict for the Crown. 
 
 The Attorney-General against George 
 David Bellis. This defendant submitted 
 to a verdict for the Crown. 
 
 The Attorney - General against John 
 Homer \\. The defendant in this case was 
 
 * The Times, May 18, 1818. t Ibid. J Ibid. 
 Ibid. II Ibid.
 
 236 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 a grocer ; ft was proved by Jones that he 
 received twenty pounds of imitation tea. 
 Verdict for the Crown. Penalties 210. 
 
 The Attorney-General against William 
 Dowling*. This was a grocer. Jones 
 proved that he delivered seven pounds of 
 imitation tea at Mr. Bowling's house, and 
 received the money for it, namely 15s. 9d. 
 Penalties 70. 
 
 METHOD OF DETECTING THE ADUL- 
 TERATIONS OF TEA. 
 
 THE adulteration of tea may be evinced 
 tty comparing the botanical characters of the 
 
 * The .Times, May 18, 1818.
 
 237 
 
 leaves of the two respective trees, and by 
 submitting 1 themto the action of a few che- 
 mical tests. 
 
 The shape of the tea-leaf is slender and 
 narrow, as shown in this sketch, the 
 
 edges are deeply serrated, and the end or ex- 
 tremity is acutely pointed. The texture of 
 the leaf is very delicate, its surface smooth 
 and glossy, and its colour is a lively pale 
 green.
 
 238 METHOD OF DETECTING 
 
 The sloe-leaf (and also the white-thoVn 
 leaf), as shewn in this sketch, is more 
 rounded, and the leaf is obtusely pointed. 
 The sevratures 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 
 them ; because all the different kinds of tea
 
 THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA. 239 
 
 imported from China, are the produce of one 
 species of plant, and the difference between 
 the g-reen and souchong, or black tea, de- 
 pends chiefly upon the climate, soil, culture, 
 age, and mode of drying the leaves. 
 
 Spurious black tea*, slightly moistened, 
 when rubbed on a sheet of white paper, im- 
 mediately produces a blueish-black stain ; 
 and speedily affords, when thrown into cold 
 water, a blueish-black tincture, which in- 
 stantly 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, 
 
 * The examination of twenty-seven samples of imi- 
 tation tea of different qualities, from the most costly, 
 to the most common, which it fell to my lot to under- 
 take, induces me to point out the marks of sophisti- 
 cations here detailed, as the most simple and expedi- 
 tious.
 
 240 METHOD OP DETECTING 
 
 soft water, and suffered to stand for about 
 an hour. Genuine tea produces an amber- 
 coloured infusion, which does not become 
 reddened by sulphuric acid. 
 
 All the samples of spurious green tea (nine- 
 teen in number) which T have examined, 
 were coloured with carbonate of copper 
 (a poisonous substance), and not by mean* 
 of verdigrise, or copperas*. The latter 
 substances would instantly turn the tea 
 black; because both these metallic salts 
 being soluble in water, are acted on by the 
 astringent matter of the leaves, whether ge- 
 nuine or spurious, and convert the infusion 
 into ink. 
 
 * Mr.T wining, 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 231 of this Treatise.
 
 THE ADULTERATIONS OF TEA. 241 
 
 Tea, rendered poisonous by carbonate of 
 copper, speedily imparts to liquid ammonia 
 a fine sapphire blue tinge. It is only ne- 
 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 
 M
 
 242 THE ADULTERATION OF TEA. 
 
 suspected tea-leaves, reduced to powder, 
 with two or three parts of nitrate of potash, 
 (or with two parts of chlorate of potash,) and 
 projecting- this mixture by small portions at 
 a time, into a platina, or porcelain-ware cru- 
 cible, kept red-hot in a coal fire; the whole 
 vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thua 
 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 k solution, 
 liquid ammonia, in such quantity that the 
 pungent odour of it predominates.
 
 ounttrfeit 
 
 THE fraud of counterfeiting ground cof- 
 fee by means of pigeon's 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 
 
 M2
 
 244 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 the fraud of manufacturing spurious, and 
 adulterating genuine, coffee. 
 Alexander Brady, a grocer, ($66^.255), pro- 
 secuted and convicted of selling sham-cof- 
 fee, said, " I have sold it for twenty years." 
 Some of the persons prosecuted by the solici- 
 tor of the Excise for this fraud, we might, at 
 first sight, be inclined to believe, were incon- 
 scious that the adulterating of genuine cof- 
 fee with spurious substances was illegal ; 
 but this ignorance affords no excuse, as the 
 Act of the 43 Geo. III. cap. 129, explicitly 
 states: " If after the first day of September, 
 1803, any burnt, scorched, or roasted pease, 
 beans, or other grain, or vegetable substance 
 or substances prepared or manufactured for 
 the purpose of being in imitation of or in 
 any respect to resemble coffee or cocoa, or to
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 245 
 
 serve as a substitute for coffee or cocoa, or al- 
 ledged or pretended by the possessor or 
 vender thereof so to be, shall be made or 
 kept for sale, or shall be offered or exposed 
 to sale, or shall be found in the custody or 
 possession of any dealer or dealers in or 
 seller or sellers of coffee, or if any burnt, 
 scorched, or roasted pease, beans, or other 
 grain, or vegetable substance or substances 
 not being coffee, shall be called by the 
 preparer, manufacturer, possessor, or ven- 
 der thereof, by the name of English or 
 British coffee, or any other name of coffee, 
 or by the name of American cocoa, or En- 
 glish or British cocoa, or any other name 
 of cocoa, the same respectively shall be for- 
 feited, together with the packages contain- 
 ing the same, and shall and may be seized 
 M 3
 
 246 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 by any officer or officers of Excise ; and the 
 person or persons preparing, manufacturing, 
 or selling the same, or having the same in 
 his, her, or their custody or possession, or 
 the dealer or dealers in or seller or sellers 
 of coffee or cocoa, in whose custody the 
 same shall be found, shall forfeit and lose 
 the sum of one hundred pounds." 
 
 The Attorney-General against William 
 Malins*. This was an information filed by 
 the Attorney-General against the defendant, 
 charging him, he being a dealer in coffee, 
 with having in his possession a large quan- 
 tity of imitation coffee, made from scorched 
 pease and beans, resembling coffee, and in- 
 tended to be sold as such, contrary to the 
 
 The Times, May 18, 1818.
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 247 
 
 statute of 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 different 
 parts of the town. 
 
 Thomas Jones lived with the defendant. 
 His occupation was roasting and grinding 
 peaseand 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. 
 M4
 
 248 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 J. Richardson, an excise-officer, deposed, 
 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. Malms' em- 
 ployment.
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 249 
 
 The jury found a verdict for the Crown. 
 Penalty 100. 
 
 The King 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 ot 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 Times, June 27, 1818. 
 M 5
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 The defendant was convicted in the pe- 
 nalty of 90. 
 
 The King against Peether*. This was 
 an information against Mr. Thomas Peether, 
 tea and coffee dealer, charging- him with 
 having in his possession a quantity of imi- 
 tation coffee (or vegetable powder), on the 
 25th of April last. 
 
 The case being proved by the evidence 
 of several witnesses, the defendant was 
 convicted in the penalty of 50. 
 
 The King against Topping f. This was 
 an information against Mr. John Lewis Top- 
 ping, a dealer in tea and coffee, charging 
 him with having thirty-seven pounds of ve- 
 
 The Times, June 27, 1818. t Ibid.
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 251 
 
 getable powder in his possession. The ar- 
 ticle seized was produced to the commis- 
 sioners of the Excise. 
 
 The defendant was convicted in the 
 penalty of 50. 
 
 The King against Samuel Hallett*. The 
 defendant, Hallett, a grocer and dealer in 
 tea and coffee, was charged with having 
 seven pounds of imitation coffee in his 
 possession. 
 
 Charles Henry Lord, an officer of the 
 Excise, being sworn, stated, that he and 
 Spencer, an officer, went, on the 28th of 
 February last, to the shop of the defendant, 
 and asked for an ounce of coffee, at three 
 halfpence per ounce. He received the same, 
 
 * The Times, May 28, 1818. 
 
 M 6
 
 252 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 and having paid for it, left the shop. He 
 examined the article, and found it was part 
 
 coffee, and part imitation coffee, or what 
 
 i 
 the defendant called vegetable powder, 
 
 which is nothing more nor less than burnt 
 pease and beans ground in a mill. 
 
 Spencer, the officer of the Excise, corro- 
 borated the above evidence, and stated, that 
 the sham-coffee seized at the defendant's 
 house was shown to Mr. Joseph Hubbard, 
 grocer, and tea and coffee dealer, in High- 
 itreet, in the Borough of Southwark. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard being sworn, stated, that 
 he had examined the sham-coffee seized by 
 the officers in the defendant's shop. The one 
 ounce purchased by Lord, he knew to be 
 nothing else than black pigeon's beans ; 
 there wa,s no coffee amongst it.
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 253 
 
 The defendant was convicted in the pe- 
 nalty of 50. 
 
 The King against Fox*. Mr. Edward 
 Fox, grocer, and dealer in tea and coffee, 
 was charged with having a large quantity 
 of sham-coffee in his possession, and with 
 selling the same for genuine coffee. 
 
 Henry Spencer, an officer of the Excise, 
 stated, that on the 21st of February he and 
 Lord, another officer, went to the defendant's 
 shop and purchased an ounce of coffee, for 
 which he paid three halfpence. They ex- 
 amined it, and he was satisfied it was not 
 genuine coffee; they purchased another 
 ounce (which he produced to the commis- 
 
 The Times, May 28, 1818.
 
 254 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 sioners of the Excise, who examined it); 
 they were convinced it consisted partly of 
 coffee and beans and pease. 
 
 The defendant, in his defence, said, that 
 the poor people wanted a low-price arti- 
 cle ; and by mixing the vegetable powder 
 and coffee together, he was able to sell it 
 at three halfpence an ounce; he had sold it 
 for years ; he did it as a matter of accom- 
 modation to the poor, who could not give 
 a higher price; he did not sell it for ge- 
 nuine coffee. 
 
 Commissioner. " Then you have been 
 defrauding the public for many years, and 
 injuring the revenue by your illicit practices : 
 the poor have an equal right to be supplied 
 with as genuine an article as the rich." 
 
 He was convicted in the penalty of 50.
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 255 
 
 The King afjainst Brady*. The de- 
 fendant, Mr. Alexander Brady, grocer, and 
 dealer in tea and coffee, was charged with 
 having, on the 2th of February last, in his 
 possession eighteen pounds of sham-cof- 
 fee, and selling the same for genuine 
 coffee. 
 
 Lord and Pearson, Excise officers, stated, 
 that they purchased an ounce of coffee of 
 the defendant, on the 28th of February, and 
 upon examining it they discovered that it 
 was made up of pease and beans, ground 
 with a small quantity of coffee. They also 
 found eighteen pounds of vegetable powder 
 mixed with coffee, in a state prepared for 
 sale, wrapped in papers. 
 
 * The Times, May 28, 1818.
 
 256 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 One of the commissioners tasted some of 
 theeighteen pounds of sham-coffee produced 
 by the officers, and declared that it was a most 
 infamous stuff, and unfit for human food. 
 
 Defendant. " Why, I have sold it for 
 twenty years." 
 
 Commissioner. " Then you have been 
 for twenty years acting most dishonestly, de- 
 frauding 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 coffe. You are convicted in the pe- 
 nalty of 50." 
 
 The King against Bowser. The excise 
 officers stated, that on the 28th of February
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 257 
 
 they went to his shop: he was a grocer, 
 and dealer in tea and coffee ; they seized 
 seven pounds and a half of vegetable pow- 
 der, which contained very little coffee, if 
 any ; and also a quarter of a pound of coffee 
 mixed with vegetable powder. 
 
 The defendant pleaded guilty to the 
 charge, and prayed the court to mitigate 
 the penalty. He was convicted in the pe- 
 nalty of 50. 
 
 The King against Thomas Owen*. 
 The defendant, an extensive dealer in tea 
 and coffee, appeared to an information 
 charging him with having in his possession, 
 and selling, a quantity of deleterious ingre- 
 dients, and mixing them with coffee. 
 
 The Times, July 10, 1818.
 
 258 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 Charles Henry Lord deposed, that on 
 the 26th of February, he found, at the shop 
 of the defendant, nineteen pounds of a 
 composition consisting of beans and pease 
 ground, and prepared so as to imitate coffee. 
 He also discovered two pounds and a half 
 of a mixture of coffee and vegetable pow- 
 der. On the same day he proceeded to 
 another shop of the defendant, and he 
 there found five pounds more of the same 
 stuff. 
 
 Samples of the composition, in its mixed 
 and unmixed state, were produced. 
 
 Mr. Lawes addressed the commissioners 
 on behalf of the defendant, in mitigation of 
 punishment; for he did not mean to deny 
 the offence. His client was a very young 
 man, and had been most unfortunate in
 
 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 259 
 
 business. He was not aware until lately of 
 the existence of any law by which it could 
 be punished. 
 
 The commissioners observed, that they 
 had a double duty to perform, namely, 
 to protect the revenue from fraud, and 
 to prevent the public from being imposed 
 upon and injured by ingredients served to 
 them instead of the food they intended to 
 purchase. The fraud upon the revenue 
 was, in the estimation of the court, the least 
 part of the offence. Under all the circum- 
 stances, however, the court Avas inclined to 
 be lenient to the defendant. 
 
 He was convicted in the penalty of 50 
 for each quantity of sham-coffee. 
 
 Mr. Greely and Mr. William Dando 
 were fined 20 each; and Mr. Hirling and
 
 260 COUNTERFEIT COFFEE. 
 
 Mr. Terry were fined 90 each for selling 
 spurious coffee*. 
 
 The adulteration of ground coffee, with 
 pease and beans, is beyond the reach of 
 chemical analysis ; but it may, perhaps, not 
 be amiss on this occasion to give to our 
 readers a piece of advice given by a retired 
 grocer to a friend, at no distant period : 
 " Never, my good fellow," he said, " pur- 
 chase from a grocer any thing which pas- 
 ses through his mill. You know not what 
 you get instead of the article you expect 
 to receive coffee, pepper, and all -spice, 
 are all mixed with substances which de- 
 tract from their own natural qualities." 
 Persons keeping mills of their own can at 
 all times prevent these impositions. 
 
 The Times, June 6, 1818.
 
 ADULTERATION 
 
 , antr <tm 
 
 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 liquors 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
 
 262 ADULTERATIONS OF 
 
 sum to the public revenue, has been the 
 means of instituting many very interesting 
 series of experiments on this subject. 
 The instrument used for that purpose 
 by the Customs and officers of Excise, 
 is called Sikes's hydrometer*, which has now 
 superseded 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."
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 263 
 
 67 Faht. weighs exactly ^|th 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 spirit stronger than proof, 
 or over proof, as it is termed by the reve- 
 nue officers, is indicated by the bulk of 
 water necessary to reduce a given volume 
 of it, to the legal standard spirit, denomi- 
 nated proof namely; if one gallon of 
 water be required to bring twenty gallons 
 of brandy, rum, or any other spirit, to proof, 
 that spirit is said to be 1 to 20 over proof. 
 If one gallon of water be required to bring 
 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons of the liquor to proof, 
 it is said to be 1 to 15, 1 to 10, 1 to 5, and 
 1 to 2, over proof. 
 
 The strength of brandy, rum, arrack, gin,
 
 264 ADULTERATIONS OF 
 
 or other spirituous liquors, weaker than 
 proof, or under proof', is estimated by the 
 quantity of water which would be necessary 
 to abstract or bring the spirit up to proof. 
 
 Thus, if from twenty gallons of brandy 
 one gallon of water must be abstacted to 
 bring it to proof, it is said to be 1 in 20 
 under proof. If from 15, 10, 5, or 2 gallons 
 of the liquor, 1 gallon of water must be ab- 
 stracted to bring it to proof, it is said to be 
 1 in 15, 1 in 10, 1 in 5, and 1 in 2 under 
 proof. 
 
 It is necessary to understand this absurd 
 language, which is in use amongst the 
 officers of Excise and dealers in spirit, in 
 or der to know what is ifleant in commerce 
 by the strength of spirituous liquors of dif- 
 ferent denominations. And hence, for the
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 265 
 
 business of the exciseman, a table has been 
 constructed, expressing the strength or 
 specific gravity of mixtures of different pro- 
 portions of spirit and water, at different de-* 
 grees of temperature ; and according to this 
 table the duty on spirit is now levied. 
 
 Brandy and rum is seizable, if sold by, or 
 found in the possession of, the dealer, un- 
 less it possesses a certain strength*. The 
 following are the words of the Act : 
 
 " No distiller, rectifier f, compounder or 
 dealer, shall serve or send out any foreign 
 spirits, of a lower strength than that of 1 
 in 6 under hydrometer proof J, nor have in 
 his possession any foreig'n spirits mixed to- 
 
 * Sixteen and a half per cent, proof, according 
 to Sikes's hydrometer. 
 
 t SOGeo. III. c. 37, 31. 
 
 * According to Clarke's hydrometer. 
 
 N
 
 266 ADULTERATIONS OF 
 
 g-ether, except shrub) cherry or raspberry 
 brandy, of lower strength than as aforesaid, 
 upon pain of such spirits being forfeited ; 
 and such spirits, with the casks and vessels 
 containing the same, may be seized by any 
 officer of Excise." 
 
 We have, therefore, a ready check against 
 the frauds of the dishonest dealers in spi- 
 rituous liquors. If the spirit merchant en- 
 gages to deliver a liquor of a certain 
 strength, the hydrometer is by far the most 
 easy and expeditious check that can be 
 adopted to guard against frauds of receiving 
 a weaker liquor for a stronger one ; and to 
 those individuals who are in the habit of 
 purchasing large quantities of brandy, rum, 
 or other spirituous liquors, the hydrometer 
 renders the greatest service. For it is by
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 267 
 
 no means an uncommon occurrence, to meet 
 with brandy, rum, and other spirituous li- 
 quors, of a specific gravity very much below 
 the pretended strength which the liquor 
 ought to possess. 
 
 The following advise given to his 
 readers*, by the author of a Treatise on 
 Brewing and Distilling, may serve to put 
 the unwary on their guard against some 
 of the frauds practised by mercenary 
 dealers. 
 
 " It is a custom among retailing distillers, 
 which I have not taken notice of in this di- 
 rectory, to put one third or one fourth part 
 of proof molasses brandy, proportionably, to 
 
 * Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, con- 
 nected with Brewing and Distilling, p. 167 ; and 
 Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 232, 233. 
 N2
 
 268 ADULTERATION OP 
 
 what rum they dispose of; which cannot 
 be distinguished, but by an extraordinary 
 palate, and does not at all lessen the body or 
 proof of the goods ; but makes them about 
 two shillings a gallon cheaper ; and must be 
 well mixed and incorporated together in 
 your retailing cask ; but you should keep 
 some of the best rum, not adulterated, to 
 please some customers, whose judgment 
 and palate must be humoured." 
 
 " When you are to draw a sample of goods 
 to shew a person that has judgment in the 
 proof, do not draw your goods into a phial to 
 be tasted, or make experimentof the strength 
 thereof that way, because the proof will not 
 hold except the goods be exceedingly strong ; 
 but draw the pattern of goods either into a 
 glass from the cock, to run very small, or
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 260 
 
 rather draw off a small quantity into a little 
 pewter pot and pour it into your glass, ex- 
 tending 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 
 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 
 
 N3
 
 270 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 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* to each gallon, to be made 
 up and incorporated therewith in your cask, 
 for retail, or selling smaller quantities ; and 
 all persons that insist upon having proof 
 goods, which not one in twenty understands, 
 you must supply out of what goods are not 
 so reduced, though at a higher price." 
 
 Such is the advice given by Mr. Shannon. 
 
 The mode of judging by the taste of spiri- 
 tuous liquors is deceitful. A false strength 
 is given to a weak liquor, by infusing in it 
 . " 'i 
 
 " Water.
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 271 
 
 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 pun- 
 gent 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 con- 
 tained in it, is imitated by distilling British 
 molasses spirit over wine lees* ; but 
 
 " This operation forms part of the business of the so- 
 called brewers' druggists. It forms the article in their 
 Price-Currents, called Spirit Flavour. 
 
 Wine lees are imported in this country for that 
 purpose : they pay the same duty as foreign wines. 
 
 N4
 
 272 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 the spirit, prior to being distilled over 
 wine lees, is previously deprived, in part, 
 of its peculiar disagreeable flavour, by rec- 
 tification over fresh-burnt charcoal and 
 quicklime. Other brandy-merchants em- 
 ploy a spirit obtained from raisin wine, 
 which is suffered to pass into an incipient 
 ascescency. The spirit thus procured par- 
 takes strongly of the flavour which is cha- 
 racteristic to 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 durable froth at its surface, 
 when strongly agitated in a vial. The colour- 
 ing substances are burnt sugar, or molasses :
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 
 
 the latter gives to imitative brandy a lusci- 
 ous taste, and fulness in the mouth. These 
 properties are said to render it particularly 
 fit for the retail London customers. 
 
 The following is the method of com- 
 pounding or making up, as it is technically 
 called, brandy * for retail : 
 
 Gallons 
 
 " To ten puncheons of brandy. . 1081 
 
 Add flavoured raisin spirit 1 18 
 
 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." 
 
 \ 
 
 * Observations on Malted and Unmalted Corn, con- 
 nected with Brewing and Distilling, p. 167. 
 
 N5
 
 274 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 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 
 liquor with water ; the acrimony of the cap- 
 sicum, and grains of paradise, or pepper, may 
 then be readily discovered by the taste. 
 
 The adulteration of brandy with British 
 molasses, or sugar-spirit, becomes evident 
 by rubbing a portion of the suspected 
 brandy between the palm of the hands ; 
 the spirit, as it evaporates, leaves the 
 disagreeable flavour which is peculiar to 
 all British spirits. Or the liquor may be 
 deprived of its alcohol, by heating a portion
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS 275 
 
 in a spoon over a candle, till the vapour 
 ceases to catch fire on the approach of a 
 lighted taper. The residue thus obtain- 
 ed, 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 disagreeable smell, resembling 
 gin, or the breath of habitual drunk- 
 ards. 
 
 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*, directs two 
 
 * Apicius RedivivuSj 2d edition, p. 480. 
 N6
 
 276 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 scruples of benzoic acid to be dissolved in 
 one quart of rum, to make "mock ttrrr/r." 
 
 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 dis- 
 tilled, is usually obtained from a mixture of 
 malt and barley : sometimes both molasses 
 and corn are employed, particularly if there 
 be a scarcity of grain. But the flavour of 
 whiskey, which is made from barley and 
 oats, is owing- to the malted grain being 
 dried with peat, the smoke of which gives 
 it the characteristic taste. 
 
 The malt distiller is not allowed to fur- 
 nish, under a heavy penalty, any crude or
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 277 
 
 raw spirit to therectifier or manufacturer of 
 gin, of a greater strength than seven per 
 cent, over proof. The rectifier who receives 
 the spirit from the malt distiller is not 
 allowed, under a certain penalty, to sweeten 
 the liquor with sugar or other substances ; 
 nor is he permitted to send out the spirit to 
 his customers but of a certain strength, as is 
 obvious from the following words of the Act : 
 " No rectifier or compounder shall sell 
 or send out any British brandy, British rec- 
 tified spirits, British compounds, or other 
 British spirits, of greater strength than that 
 of one in five under hydrometer proof* : and 
 if he shall sell and send out any such spirits 
 of a greater strength than that of one in 
 
 * Clark's hydrometer.
 
 278 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 five under hydrometer proof, such spi- 
 rits, with th,e casks or vessels containing 
 the same, shall be forfeited^ and may be 
 seized by any officer of Excise; and he 
 shall also forfeit treble the value of such 
 spirit, or 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 Lon- 
 don price*.'* 
 
 If we examine gin, as retailed, we shall 
 soon be convinced that it is a custom, 
 pretty prevalent amongst dealers, to weaken 
 this liquor considerably with water, and 
 to sweeten it with sugar. This fraud may 
 readily be detected by evaporating a qnan- 
 
 " 30 Geo. Ill, c. 37, 6.
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 279 
 
 tity of the liquor in a table-spoon over a 
 candle, to dryness ; the sugar will thus be 
 rendered obvious, in the form of a gum-like 
 substance, when the spirit is volatilised. 
 
 One hundred and twenty gallons of 
 genuine gin, as obtained from the whole- 
 sale manufactories, are usually made up 
 by fraudulent retailers, into a saleable com- 
 modity, with fourteen gallons of water and 
 twenty-six pounds of sugar. Now this di- 
 lution of the liquor produces a turbidness; 
 because the oil of juniper and other flavour- 
 ing substances which the spirit holds in so- 
 lution, become precipitated by virtue of 
 the water, and thus cause the liquor to as- 
 sume an opaline colour : and the spirit thus 
 weakened, cannot readily be rendered clear 
 again by subsidence. Several expedients
 
 280 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 are had recourse to, to clarify the liquor 
 in an expeditious manner ; some of which 
 are harmless; others are criminal, because 
 they render the liquor poisonous. 
 
 One of the methods, which is innocent, 
 consists in adding to the weakened liquor, 
 first, a portion of alum dissolved in water, 
 and then a solution of sub-carbonate of 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 produced the blue 
 colour of the diluted liquor. Roach, or Ro- 
 man alum, is also employed, without any other 
 addition, for clarifying spirituous liquors.
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 281 
 
 " To reduce unsweetened Gin*. 
 
 " A tun of fine gin 252gallons 
 
 "Water 36 
 
 " Which added together make 288 gallons 
 
 " The doctor is now put on, 
 and it is further reduced 
 with water 19 
 
 " Which gives Total . . . 307 gallons 
 
 of gin. 
 
 " This done, let 1 Ib of alum be just 
 covered with water, and dissolved by boil- 
 ing ; 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.
 
 282 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 5 
 
 " To prepare and sweeten British Gin.* 
 
 u 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 
 sugar. Beat or rub the above iu a mortar. 
 When well rubbed together, have ready 
 prepared half a gallon of lime water, one 
 gallon of rose water; mix the whole in either 
 
 * Shannon on Brewing and Distilling, p. 199.
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 963 
 
 a pail, or cask, with a stick, till every par- 
 ticle shall be dissolved; then add to the 
 foregoing, twenty-five pounds of sugar dis- 
 solved in about nine gallons of rain or 
 Thames water, or water that has been boiled, 
 mix the whole well together, and stir them 
 carefully with a stick in the 133 gallons 
 cask." 
 
 " To force, down the same, take and boil 
 eight ounces of alum in three quarts of 
 water, for three quarters of an hour ; take it 
 from the fire, and dissolve by degrees six or 
 seven ounces of salt of tartar. When the 
 same is milk-warm pour it into your gin, 
 and stir it well together, as before, for five 
 minutes, the same as you would a butt of 
 beer newly fined. Let your cask stand as 
 you mean to draw it. At every time you
 
 284 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 purpose to sweeten again, that cask must 
 be well washed out ; and take great care 
 never to shake your cask all the while it is 
 drawing." 
 
 Another method of fining spirituous li- 
 quors, consists in adding to it, first, a solution 
 of sub-acetate of lead, and then a solution of 
 alum. This practice is highly dangerous, 
 because part of the sulphate of lead produced, 
 remains dissolved in the liquor, which it thus 
 renders poisonous. Unfortunately, this me- 
 thod of clarifying spirituous liquors, I have 
 good reason to believe, is more frequently 
 practised than the preceding method, be- 
 cause its action is more rapid ; and it im- 
 parts to the liquor a fine complexion, or 
 great refractive power; hence some vestiges 
 of lead may often be detected in malt spirit.
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 285 
 
 The weakened spirit is then sweetened 
 with sugar, and, to cover the raw taste 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. 
 
 THE presence of lead may be detected in 
 spirituous liquors, as stated pages 90 and 
 114. The cordial called shrub frequently ex- 
 hibits vestiges of copper. This contamina- 
 tion, I have been informed, is accidental, 
 and originates from the metallic vessels 
 employed in the manufacture of the liquor.
 
 286 ADULTERATION OP 
 
 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 
 matters contained in the liquor. Put any 
 quantity of brandy, rum, or malt spirit di- 
 luted with about one-fourth its bulk of water, 
 into a retort fitted to a dapacious receiver, 
 and distil with a gentle heat. The strongest 
 spirit distils over first into the receiver,and the 
 strength of the obtained products decreases, 
 till at last it contains so much water as no 
 longer to be inflammable by the approach
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 287 
 
 of a lighted taper, when held in a spoon 
 over a candle (see p. 220). If the process 
 be continued, the distilled product becomes 
 milky, scarcely spirituous to the smell, and of 
 an acidulous taste. The distilling- operation 
 may then be discontinued. If the first, fourth, 
 or third part of the distilled product has 
 been set apart, it will be found a moderately 
 strong alcohol, and the remainder one more 
 diluted. If the whole distilled spirit be 
 mixed with perfectly dry subcarbonate of 
 potash, the alcohol will float at the top of the 
 potash, as stated, p. 221; it will separate 
 into two distinct fluids. If the decanted 
 alcohol be redistilled carefully with a very 
 gentle heat, over a small portion of dry quick 
 lime, or muriate of lime, it will be obtained 
 extremely pure, and of a specific gravity of
 
 ADULTERATION OF 
 
 about 825, at 60 of temperature. Ite fla- 
 vour will vary according to the kind of spi- 
 rituous liquor from which it is obtained. 
 
 Table exhibiting the Per Centage of Al- 
 cohol (of 825 specific gravity) con- 
 tained in various kinds of Spirituous 
 Liquors.* 
 
 Proportion of 
 
 Alcohol per Cent. 
 
 by Measure. 
 
 Brandy, Cogniac, average'* 
 proportion of 4 samples . . $ 
 
 Ditto, Bourdeaux, ditto ditto... 54,50 
 
 Ditto, Cette 53,00 
 
 Ditto, Naples, average of 3 J 
 
 samples > 53j25 
 
 * Repository of Arts, p. 350, Dec. 1819.
 
 SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 289 
 
 Proportion of 
 
 Alcohol per Cent. 
 
 by Measure. 
 
 Ditto, Spanish, average of 6) 
 samples 
 
 Rum 53,68 
 
 Ditto, Leeward, average ofi 
 
 > 53,00 
 9 samples j 
 
 Scotch Whiskey, average of 
 
 6 samples 
 
 Irish Ditto, average of 
 
 ) 
 
 4 53,50 
 
 ) 
 
 , 54,25 
 
 samples ... ........... j 
 
 Arrack, Batavia ........ .... 49,50 
 
 Dutch Geneva .............. 52,25 
 
 Gin (Hodges's),* 3 samples, ) 
 procured from retail dealers j 
 Ditto (Ditto),* procured from ) -o OR 
 the manufacturer 
 
 * Own Experiment.
 
 poisonous 
 
 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 anolto, employed for colouring cheese. 
 This substance was found to contain a por- 
 tion of red lead ; a method of sophistication 
 wliich has lately been confirmed by the fol-
 
 POISONOUS CHEESE. 291 
 
 lowing fact, communicated to the public by 
 Mr. J. W. Wright, of Cambridge*. 
 
 " As a striking example of the extent to 
 which adulterated articles of food may be 
 unconsciously diffused, and of the conse- 
 quent difficulty of detecting the real fabri- 
 cators of them, it may not be uninteresting 
 to relate to your readers the various steps 
 by which the fraud of a poisonous adulte- 
 ration of cheese was traced to its source." 
 
 " Your readers ought here to be told, 
 that several instances are on record, that 
 Gloucester and other cheeses have been 
 found contaminated with red lead, and that 
 this contamination has produced serious 
 
 * Repository of Arts, vol. viii. No. 47, p. 262. 
 
 o2
 
 292 POISONOUS CHEESE. 
 
 consequences. In the instance now alluded 
 to, and probably in all other cases, the de- 
 leterious mixture had been caused igno- 
 rantly, 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 circumstance which gave rise to 
 its detection." 
 
 " A gentleman, who had occasion to reside 
 for some time in a city in the West of Eng- 
 land, was one night seized with a distressing 
 butindiscribable pain in the region of the ab- 
 domen and of the stomach, accompanied with
 
 POISONOUS CHEESE. 293 
 
 a feeling of tension, which occasioned much 
 restlessness, anxiety, and repugnance to 
 food. He began to apprehend the access of 
 an inflammatory disorder; but in twenty- 
 four hours the symptoms entirely subsided. 
 In four days afterwards he experienced an 
 attack precisely similar; and he then re- 
 collected, that having, on both occasions, 
 arrived from the country late in the even- 
 ing, he had ordered a plate of toasted 
 Gloucester cheese, of which he had partaken 
 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 
 o3
 
 294 POISONOUS CHEESE. 
 
 respectable shop in London. He, there- 
 fore, ascribed the before-mentioned effects 
 to some peculiarity in his constitution. A 
 few days afterwards he partook of the same 
 cheese; and he had scarcely retired to rest, 
 when a most violent colic seized him, 
 which lasted the whole night and part of 
 the ensuing day. The cook was now di- 
 rected henceforth not to serve up any toasted 
 cheese, and he never again experienced 
 these distressing symptoms. Whilst this 
 matter was a subject of conversation in the 
 house, a servant-maid mentioned that a 
 kitten had been violently sick after having 
 eaten the rind cut off from the cheese pre- 
 pared for the gentleman's supper. The 
 landlady, in consequence of this statement, 
 ordered the cheese to be examined by a
 
 POISONOUS CHEESE. 295 
 
 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 manu- 
 factured the cheese : he declared that he 
 had bought the anotto of a mercantile tra- 
 veller, who had supplied him and his neigh- 
 bours for years with that commodity, without 
 giving occasion to a single complaint. On 
 subsequent inquiries, through a circuitous 
 channel, unnecessary to be detailed here at 
 length, on the part of the manufacturer of 
 the cheese, it was found, that as the sup- 
 plies of anotto had been defective and of 
 o4
 
 296 POISONOUS CHEESE. 
 
 inferior quality, recourse had been had to 
 the expedient of colouring the commodity 
 with vermilion. Even this admixture could 
 not be considered deleterious. But on fur- 
 ther application being made to the druggist 
 who sold the article, the answer was, that 
 the vermilion 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 vermilion 
 would be used only as a pigment for house- 
 painting. Thus the druggist sold his ver- 
 milion in the regular way of trade, adulte- 
 rated with red lead to increase his pron% 
 without any suspicion of the use to which it 
 would be applied ; and the purchaser who 
 adulterated the anotto, presuming that the 
 vermilion was genuine, had no hesitation in
 
 POISONOUS CHEESE. 297 
 
 heightening- the colour of his spurious 
 anotto with so harmless an adjunct. Thus, 
 through the circuitous and diversified ope- 
 rations of commerce, a portion of deadly 
 poison may find admission into the necessa- 
 ries of life, in a way which can attach no 
 criminality to the parties through whose 
 hands it has successively passed." 
 
 This dangerous sophistication may be 
 detected by macerating a portion of the 
 suspected cheese in water impregnated 
 with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with 
 muriatic acid; which will instantly cause 
 the cheese to assume a brown or black 
 colour, if the minutest portion of lead be 
 present. 
 
 o 5
 
 BLACK PEPPER is the fruit of a shrubby 
 creeping plant, which grows wild in the 
 East Indies, and is cultivated, with much 
 advantage, for the sake of its berries, in Java 
 and Malabar. The berries are gathered 
 before they are ripe, and are dried in the 
 sun. They become black and corrugated 
 on the surface. 
 
 That factitious pepper-corns have of late 
 been detected mixed with genuine pepper, 
 is a fact sufficiently known*. Such an adul- 
 teration may prove, in many instances of 
 
 * Thomson's Annals of Chemistry, 1816 ; also Re- 
 pository of Arts, vol.i. 1816, p. 11.
 
 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 299 
 
 household economy, exceedingly vexatious 
 and prejudicial to those who ignorantly 
 make use of the spurious article. I have 
 examined large packages of both black and 
 white pepper, by order of the Excise, and 
 have found them to contain about 16 per 
 cent, of this artificial compound. The spu- 
 rious pepper is made up of oil cakes (the 
 residue of lintseed, from which the oil has 
 been pressed), common clay, and a por- 
 tion of Cayenne pepper, formed in a mass, 
 and granulated by being first pressed 
 through a sieve, and then rolled in a cask. 
 The mode of detecting the fraud is easy. 
 It is only necessary to throw a sample of 
 the suspected pepper into a bowl of water ; 
 the artificial pepper-corns fall to powder, 
 whilst the true pepper remains whole. 
 06
 
 300 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. denoting, dust (dirt) of pepper 
 dust. 
 
 The 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 tb* 
 Act*: 
 
 George III. c. &3, 91, 1819.
 
 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 301 
 
 " And whereas commodities made in 
 imitation of pepper have of late been sold 
 and found in the possession of various deal- 
 ers in pepper, and other persons in Great 
 Britain ; be it therefore enacted, that from 
 and after the said 5th day of July 1819, if 
 any commodity or substance shall be pre- 
 pared by any person in imitation of pepper, 
 shall be mixed with pepper, or sold or de- 
 livered as and for, or as a substitute for, 
 pepper, or if any such commodity or sub- 
 stance, alone or mixed, shall be kept for 
 sale, sold, or delivered, or shall be offered 
 or exposed to sale, or shall be in the custody 
 or possession of any dealer or seller of pep- 
 per, the same, together with all pepper with 
 which the same shall be mixed, shall be 
 forfeited, with the packages containing th
 
 302 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 
 
 same, and shall and may be seized by any 
 officer of excise; and the person preparing, 
 manufacturing-, mixing- as aforesaid, selling, 
 exposing to sale, or delivering the same, or 
 having the same in his, her, or their custody 
 or possession, shall forfeit the sum of one 
 hundred pounds." 
 
 WHITE PEPPER. 
 
 THE common white pepper is factitious, 
 being prepared from the black pepper in 
 the following manner : The pepper is first 
 steeped in sea water and urine, and then 
 exposed to the heat of the sun for several 
 days, till the rind or outer bark loosens ; it 
 is then taken out of the steep, and, when 
 dry, it is rubbed with the hand till the rind
 
 COUNTERFEIT PEPPER. 303 
 
 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 the 
 black pepper. 
 
 However, there is a sort of native white 
 pepper, produced on a species of the pepper 
 plant, which is much better than the facti- 
 tious, and indeed little inferior to the com- 
 mon black pepper.
 
 CAYENNE PEPPER is an indiscriminate 
 mixture of the powder of the dried pods of 
 many species of capsicum, but especially of 
 the capsicum frutescens, or bird pepper, 
 which is the hottest of all. 
 
 This annual plant, a native of South Ame- 
 rica, is cultivated in large quantities in our 
 West-India islands, and even frequently in 
 our gardens, for the beauty of its pods, which 
 are long, pointed, and pendulous, at first of 
 a green colour, and, when ripe, of a bright 
 orange red. They are tilled with a dry 
 loose pulp, and contain many small, flat, 
 kidney-shaped seeds. The taste of capsi- 
 cum is extremely pungent and acrimonious, 
 setting the mouth, as it were, on fire.
 
 POISONOUS CAYENNE PEPPER. 305 
 
 The principle on which its pungency de- 
 pends, is soluble in water and in alcohol. 
 
 It is sometimes adulterated with red -lead, 
 to prevent it becoming bleached on exposure 
 to light. This fraud may be readily detected 
 by shaking up part of it in a stopped vial 
 containing water impregnated with sulphu- 
 retted hydrogen gas, which will cause it 
 speedily to assume a dark muddy black co- 
 lour. Or the vegetable matter of the pepper 
 may be destroyed, by throwing a mixture 
 of one part of the suspected pepper and 
 three of nitrate of potash (or two of chlorate 
 of potash) into a red-hot crucible, in small 
 quantities at a time. The mass left behind 
 may then be digested in weak nitric acid, 
 and the solution assayed for lead by water 
 impregnated with sulphuretted hyhrogen.
 
 VEGETABLE substances, preserved in the 
 state called pickles, by means of the anti- 
 septic power of vinegar, whose sale fre- 
 quently depends greatly upon a fine lively 
 green colour; and the consumption of 
 which, by sea-faring people in particular, 
 is prodigious, are sometimes intentionally 
 coloured by means of copper. Gerkins, 
 French beans, samphires, the green pod* 
 of capsicum, and many other pickled vege- 
 table substances, oftener than is perhaps 
 expected, are met with impregnated with
 
 POISONOUS PICKLES. 307 
 
 this metal. Numerous fatal consequences 
 are known to have ensued from the use of 
 these stimulants of the palate, to which the 
 fresh and pleasing hue has been imparted 
 according to the deadly 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 braaen vessels, 
 
 Dr. Percival* 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- 
 
 " Medical Transactions, vol. iv. p. 80.
 
 308 POISONOUS PICKLES. 
 
 inach became prodigiously distended ; and, 
 in nine days after eating- the pickle, death 
 relieved her from her suffering." 
 
 Among many recipes which modern au- 
 thors of cookery books have given for 
 imparting a green colour to pickles, the 
 following are particularly deserving of 
 censure; and it is to be hoped that they 
 will be suppressed in future editions of the 
 works. 
 
 "To Pickle Gerkins.* "Boil the vinegar 
 in a bell-metal or copper pot ; pour it boil- 
 ing hot on your cucumbers." 
 
 " To make greening-f. " Take a bit of 
 verdigrise, the bigness of a hazle-nut, finely 
 
 The Ladies' Library, vol. ii. p. 203. 
 
 t Modern Cookery, or the English Housewife 3d 
 edition,, p. 94.
 
 POISONOUS PICKLES. 309 
 
 powdered ; half-a-pint of distilled vinegar, 
 and a bit of alum powder, with a little bay 
 salt. Put all in a bottle, shake it, and let 
 it stand till clear. Put a small tea-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 
 i 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.
 
 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 vine- 
 gar always contains, it is apt, on exposure 
 to air, to become turbid and ropy, and at 
 last vapid. The inconvenience is best ob- 
 yiated by keeping the vinegar in bottles 
 completely filled and well corked ; and it is
 
 ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR. 311 
 
 of advantage to boil it in the bottles a few 
 minutes before they are corked. 
 
 Vinegar is sometimes largely adulterated 
 with sulphuric acid, to give it more acidity. 
 The presence of this acid is detected, if, on 
 the addition of a solution of acetate of ba- 
 rytes, a white precipitate is formed, which is 
 insoluble in nitric acid, after having been 
 made red-hot in the fire. (See p. 218). With 
 the same intention, of making the vinegar ap- 
 pear stronger, different acrid vegetable sub- 
 stances are infused in it. This fraud is dif- 
 ficult 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,
 
 312 ADULTERATION OF VINEGAR. 
 
 is frequently distilled, not in glass, as it 
 ought to be, but in common stills with 
 a 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 ba- 
 rytes, or of water saturated with sulphu- 
 retted hydrogen. The former circumstance 
 shews, that it is adulterated with sulphuric 
 acid ; and the latter indicates a metal. 
 
 The metallic impregnation isbestrendered 
 obvious by sulphuretted hydrogen, in the 
 manner stated, page 88. The distilled vi- 
 negar of commerce usually contains tin, 
 and not lead, as has been asserted.
 
 of ttmm* 
 
 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 con- 
 verted with milk into a thick mucilage by a 
 gentle ebullition, it imparts to cream, pre- 
 viously diluted with milk, a consistence and 
 apparent richness, by no means unpalatable, 
 without materially impairing the taste of the 
 cream. 
 
 The arrow-root powder is mixed up with 
 p
 
 314 ADULTERATION OF CREAM. 
 
 a small quantity of cold skimmed milk into a 
 perfect, smooth, uniform mixture; more milk 
 is then added, and the whole boiled for a few 
 minutes, to effect the solution of the arrow- 
 root : this compound, when perfectly cold, 
 is mixed up with the cream. From 220 to 
 230 grains, (or three large teaspoonsful) 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 
 of wine, which instantly produces with it a 
 dark blue colour. Genuine cream acquires, 
 by the addition of this test, a faint yellow 
 tinge.
 
 Confectionery 
 
 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 usu- 
 ally coloured with the inferior kind of ver- 
 milion. This pigment is generally adul-
 
 316 POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY. 
 
 terated with red lead. Other kinds of sweet- 
 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. 
 
 * Philosoph. Mag. No. 258, vol. 54. 1819. p. 317.
 
 POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY. 317 
 
 " The sweetmeats which accompany 
 these lines you will find exhibit vestiges 
 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 
 dissolving the comfits in a large quantity 
 of boiling water. The clay, after suffering 
 the mixture to stand undisturbed for a few 
 p'3
 
 31$ POISONOUS CONFECTIONERY. 
 
 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 
 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. 88), which 
 assumes a dark brown or black colour, if 
 lead be present.
 
 THIS article is very often subjected to 
 one of the most reprehensible modes of 
 adulteration ever devised. Quantities are 
 daily to be met with, which, on a chemical 
 examination, are found to abound with cop- 
 per. Indeed, this condiment is often no- 
 thing else than the residue left behind after 
 the process employed for obtaining' distilled 
 vinegar, subsequently diluted with a de- 
 coction of the outer green husk of the wal- 
 nut, and seasoned with all-spice, Cayenne 
 pepper, pimento, onions, and common salt.
 
 320 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* on this 
 subject, will be sufficient to cause the public 
 to be on their g-uard. 
 
 " Being 1 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 ; 
 
 * Literary Chronicle, No. 24,, p. 379.
 
 POISONOUS CATSUP. 821 
 
 but, to my great surprise, I had reason to 
 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 on exposure to 
 air, in combination with common salt, with 
 a portion of pimento and pepper-dust, in 
 common vinegar, strengthened with some 
 vinegar extract, left behind as residue in 
 the still of vinegar manufacturers ; I there- 
 p5
 
 322 POISONOUS CATSUP. 
 
 fore suspected that the catsup might be im- 
 pregnated with some copper. To convince 
 myself of this opinion, I boiled down to 
 dryness a quart of it in a stone pipkin, 
 which yielded to me a dark brown mass. 
 I put this mass into a crucible, and kept it 
 in a coal fire, red-hot, till it became reduced 
 to a porous black charcoal ; on urging the 
 heat with a pair of bellows, and stirring the 
 mass in the crucible with the stem of a to- 
 bacco-pipe, it became, after two hours' ex- 
 posure to an intense heat, converted into a 
 greyish-white ash ; but no metal could be 
 discriminated amongst it. I now poured 
 upon it some aqua fortis, which dissolved 
 nearly the whole of it, with an efferves- 
 cence; and produced, after having been 
 suffered to stand, to let the insoluble portion 
 gubside, a bright grass-green solution, of a
 
 POISONOUS CATSUP. 323 
 
 strong metallic taste ; after immersing into 
 this solution the blade of a knife, it became in- 
 stantly 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 
 preparing the liquor was generally pursued, 
 and that he had manufactured the article in 
 a like manner for upwards of twenty years. 
 
 " Such is the statement I wish to 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 contaminate the liquor, and render it 
 poisonous." 
 
 P6 

 
 THE leaves of the cherry laurel, prunus 
 lauro-cerasus, a poisonous plant, have a 
 nutty flavour, resembling that of the kernels 
 of peach-stones, or of bitter almonds, which 
 to most palates is grateful. These leaves 
 have for many years been in use among 
 cooks, to communicate an almond or kernel- 
 like flavour to custards, puddings, creams^ 
 blanc-mange, -and other delicacies of the 
 table. 
 
 It has been asserted, that the laurel poison 
 in custards and other articles of cookery >
 
 POISONOUS CUSTARD. 325 
 
 is, on account of its being used in very small 
 quantities, quite harmless. To refute this 
 assertion, numerous instances might be cited; 
 and, among them, a recent one, in which four 
 children suffered most severely from 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, four 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
 
 3*26 POISONOUS CUSTARD. 
 
 ten hours ; and the girl nine hours ; the 
 other two, one of which was six years old, 
 a girl, and a girl of seven years, complained 
 of severe pains in the epigastric region. 
 They all recovered, after three days' illness. 
 I am anxious to communicate to you this 
 fact, being convinced that your publication 
 is read at all the scholastic establishments 
 in this part of the country. I hope you will 
 allow these lines a corner in your Literary 
 Chronicle, where they may contribute to 
 put the unwary on their guard, against the 
 deleterious effects of flavouring culinary 
 dishes with that baneful herb, the Cherry 
 Laurel." 
 
 " I am, with respect, your's, Sir, 
 
 " THOMAS LIDIARD*." 
 
 Literary Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348. 1819.
 
 POISONOUS CUSTARD. 3*27 
 
 What person of sense or prudence, then, 
 would trust to the discretion of an ignorant 
 cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingredient 
 in bis 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 noi/eau 
 (see also page 273). 
 
 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. 

 
 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
 
 POISONOUS ANCHOVY SAUCE. 329 
 
 having- been adulterated with orange lead, 
 which is nothing else than a better kind of 
 minium, or red oxid of lead. The fraud 
 may be detected, as stated p. 322. 
 
 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."
 
 adulteration of 
 
 LOZENGES, particularly those into the 
 composition of which substances enter that 
 are not soluble in water, as ginger, cremor 
 tartar, magnesia, &c., are often sophisti- 
 cated. The adulterating ingredient is usu- 
 ally pipe-clay, of which a liberal portion 
 is substituted for sugar. The following 
 detection of this fraud was lately made by 
 Dr. T.Lloyd*. 
 
 * Literary Gazette, No. 146.
 
 ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES. 331 
 
 " 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 
 little change. If one of the lozenges was 
 laid on a shovel, previously made red-hot, 
 it speedily took fire ; but, instead of burn- 
 ing 1 with a blaze and becoming converted 
 into a charcoal, it took fire, and burnt with 
 a feeble flame for scarcely half a minute, 
 and there remained behind a stony hard 
 substance, retaining the form of the lozeng'e. 
 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
 
 332 ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES. 
 
 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 sixpence per ounce ; and that the article 
 furnished to me by mistake was the cheaper 
 commodity: the latter were distinguished 
 by the epithet verum, they being composed 
 of sugar and ginger only ; but the former 
 were manufactured partly of white Cornish 
 clay, with a portion of sugar only, with gin- 
 ger and Guinea pepper. I was likewise 
 informed, that of Tolu lozenges, peppermint 
 lozenges and ginger pearls, and several 
 other sorts of lozenges, two kinds were 
 kept ; that the reduced articles, as they 
 were called, were manufactured for those
 
 ADULTERATION OF LOZENGES. 333 
 
 very clever persons in their own conceit, 
 who are fond of haggling, and insist on 
 buying better bargains than other people, 
 shutting their eyes to the defects of an ar- 
 ticle, so that they can enjoy the delight of 
 getting it cheap ; and, secondly, for those 
 persons, who being but bad paymasters, 
 yet, as the manufacturer, for his own cre- 
 dit's sake, cannot charge more than the 
 usual price of the articles, he thinks himself 
 therefore authorized to adulterate it in va- 
 lue, to make up for the risk he runs, and 
 the long credit he must give." 
 
 The comfits, called ginger pearls, are 
 frequently adulterated with clay. These 
 frauds may be detected in the manner 
 stated, page 317.
 
 THIS commodity is sometimes contamina- 
 ted 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. 335 
 
 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 mix- 
 ture of poppy oil. 
 
 Good olive oil should have a pale yellow 
 colour, somewhat inclining to green ; a 
 bland taste, without smell ; and should 
 congeal at 38 Fahrenheit. In this country, 
 it it frequently met with rancid. 
 
 The presence of lead is detected by 
 shaking, in a stopped vial, one parl of the 
 suspected oil, with two or three parts of 
 water, impregnated with sulphuretted hy- 
 drogen. This agent will render the oil of a 
 dark brown or black colour, if any metal, 
 deleterious to health, be present. The 
 practice of keeping this oil in pewter or
 
 336 POISONOUS OLIVE OIL. 
 
 leaden cisterns, as is often the case, is ob- 
 jectionable ; because the oil acts upon the 
 metal. The dealers in this eommodity as- 
 sert, that it prevents the oil from becoming 
 rancid: and hence some retailers often 
 suffer a pewter measure to remain im- 
 mersed in the oil.
 
 of 
 
 GENUINE mustard, either in powder, or 
 in the state of a paste ready for use, is per- 
 haps rarely to be met with in the shops. 
 The article sold under the name of genuine 
 Durham mustard, is usually a mixture of 
 mustard and common wheaten flour, with 
 a portion of Cayenne pepper, and a large 
 quantity of bay salt, made with water into 
 a paste, ready for use. Some manufacturers 
 adulterate their mustard with raddish-seed 
 and pease flour. 
 
 It has often been stated, that a fine yel- 
 low colour is given to mustard by means of 
 turmeric. We doubt the truth of this as- 
 sertion. The presence of the minutest 
 quantity of turmeric may instantly be de-r 
 Q
 
 ADULTERATION OF MUSTARD. 
 
 tected, by adding 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, lIbs. of bay salt, 81bs. of mustard flour, 
 and lj Ibs. of wheaten flour, made into a stiff 
 paste, with the requisite quantity of water, 
 in which the bay-salt is previously dissolved, 
 forms the so-called genuine Durham mus- 
 tard, sold in pots. The salt and Cayenne 
 pepper contribute materially to the keep- 
 ing 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. ,
 
 adulteration of 3Umon 
 
 IT is well known to every one, that the 
 expressed juice of lemons is extremely apt 
 to spoil, on account of the sugar, mucilage, 
 and extractive matter which it contains; 
 and hence various means have been prac- 
 tised, with the intention of rendering it less 
 perishable, and less bulky. The juice has 
 been evaporated to the consistence of rob; 
 but this always gives an unpleasant empy- 
 reumatic taste, and does not separate the 
 foreign matters, so that it is still apt to spoil 
 when agitated on board of ship in tropical 
 Q2
 
 340 ADULTERATION OF LEMON ACID. 
 
 climates. It has been exposed to frost, and 
 part of the water removed under the form 
 of ice ; but this is liable to all the former 
 objections ; and, besides, where lemons are 
 produced in sufficient quantity, there is not 
 a sufficient degree of cold. The addition of 
 a portion of spirit to the inspissated juice, 
 separates the mucilage, but not the ex- 
 tractive matter and the sugar. By means, 
 however, of separating the foreign matters 
 associated with it, in the juice, by che- 
 mical processes unnecessary to be detailed 
 here, citric acid is now manufactured, 
 perfectly pure, and in a crystallised form, 
 and is sold under the name of concrete 
 lemon acid. In this state it is extremely 
 convenient, both for domestic and medicinal 
 purposes. One drachm, when dissolved in
 
 ADULTERATION OF LEMON ACID. 341 
 
 one ounce of water, is equal in strength to 
 a like bulk of fresh lemon-juice. To com- 
 municate the lemon flavour, it is only ne- 
 cessary to rub a lump of sugar on the 
 rind of a lemon to become impregnated with 
 a portion of the essential oil of the fruit, 
 and to add the sugar to the lemonade, ne- 
 gus, punch, shrub, jellies, or culinary 
 sauces, prepared with the pure citric acid. 
 
 Fraudulent dealers often substitute the 
 cheaper tartareous acid, for citric acid. The 
 negus and lemonade made by the pastry- 
 cooks, and the liquor called punch sold at 
 taverns in this metropolis, is usually made 
 with tartareous acid. 
 
 To discriminate citric acid from tartare- 
 ous acid, it is only necessary to add a con- 
 centrated solution of the suspected acid, to 
 Q3
 
 342 ADULTERATION OF LEMON ACID. 
 
 a concentrated solution of muriate of potash, 
 taking care that the solution of the acid is 
 in excess. If a precipitate ensues, the 
 fraud is obvious, because citric acid does 
 not produce a precipitate with a solution of 
 muriate or potash. 
 
 Or, by adding to a saturated solution of 
 tartrate of potash, a saturated solution of 
 the suspected acid, in excess, which pro- 
 duces with it an almost insoluble precipi- 
 tate in minute granular crystals. Pure 
 citric acid produces no such effect when 
 added in excess to tartrate of potash.
 
 ^poisonous jWusfn'ooms, 
 
 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 
 this article, and wonders what extraordi- 
 nary pleasure there can be in eating such 
 dangerous food f. 
 
 * Fungi plerique veneno turgent. Linn. Amaen. 
 Acad. 
 
 t Quae voluptas tanta ancipitis cibi? Plin. Nat. 
 Hist. xxii. 38. 
 
 4
 
 .344 POfsONOUS MUSHROOMS. 
 
 But if the palate must be indulged with 
 these treacherous luxuries, or, as Seneca 
 calls them, " voluptuous poison*," it is 
 highly necessary that the' mild Datable 
 mushrooms, should be gathered by persons 
 skilful enough to distinguish the good from 
 the false, or poisonous, which is not al- 
 ways the case ; nor are the characters wtich 
 distinguish them strongly marked. 
 
 The following statement is published by 
 Mr. Glen, surgeon, of Knightsbridge : 
 
 " A poor man, residing in Knightsbridge, 
 took a walk in Hyde Park, with the inten- 
 tion of gathering some mushrooms. He 
 collected a considerable number, and, after 
 stewing them, began to eat them. He had 
 
 * Sen. Ep. 95.
 
 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 345 
 
 finished the whole, with the exception of 
 about six or eight, Avhen, about eight or ten 
 minutes from the commencement of hismeal, 
 he was suddenly seized with a dimness, or 
 mist before his eyes, a giddiness of the 
 head, with a general trembling and sudden 
 loss of power ; so much so, that he nearly 
 fell off the chair ; to this succeeded, loss of 
 recollection : he forgot where he was, and 
 all the circumstances of his case. This de- 
 privation soon went off, and he so far rallied 
 as to be able, though with difficulty, to get 
 up, with the intention of going to Mr. Glen 
 for assistance .a distance of about five 
 hundred yards : he had not proceeded more 
 than half way, when his memory again 
 failed him ; be lost his road, although pre- 
 viously well acquainted with it. He was 
 Q5
 
 346 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 
 
 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 im- 
 mediately gave him an emetic draught. The 
 poison had so diminished the sensibility of 
 the stomach, that vomiting did not take 
 place for near twenty minutes, although 
 another draught had been exhibited. Dur- 
 
 O 
 
 ing 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, com- 
 plained of distressing pains in the calves of 
 his legs. Full vomiting was at length pro- 
 duced. After the operation of the emetic,
 
 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 347 
 
 he expressed himself generally better, but 
 still continued drowsy. In the evening 
 Mr. Glen found him doing well." 
 
 The following case is recorded in the 
 Medical Transactions, vol. ii. 
 
 " A middle-aged man having gathered 
 what he called champignons, they were 
 stewed, and eaten by himself and his wife ; 
 their child also, about four years old, ate 
 a little of them, and the sippets of bread 
 which were put into the liquor. Within 
 five minutes after eating them, the man be- 
 gan to stare in an unusual manner, and was 
 unable to shut his eyes. AH objects ap- 
 peared to him coloured with a variety of 
 colours. He felt a palpitation in what he 
 called his stomach ; and was so giddy, that 
 he could hardly stand. He seemed to him- 
 Q6
 
 348 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 
 
 self swelled all over his body. He hardly 
 knew what he did or said ; and sometimes 
 was unable to speak at all. These symp- 
 toms continued in a greater or less degree 
 for twenty-four hours ; after which, he felt 
 little or no disorder. Soon after he per- 
 ceived himself ill, one scruple of white 
 vitriol was given him, and repeated two or 
 three times, with which he vomited plenti- 
 fully." 
 
 " The woman, aged thirty-nine, felt all the 
 same symptoms, but -in a higher degree. 
 She totally lost her voice and her senses, 
 and was either stupid, or so furious that 
 it was necessary she should be held. The 
 white vitriol was offered to her, of which she 
 was capable of taking but very little; how- 
 ever, after four or five hours, she was much
 
 
 POISONOUS MUSHROOMS. 349 
 
 recovered : but she continued many days far 
 from being well, and from enjoying 1 her 
 former health and strength. She frequently 
 fainted for the first week after ; and there 
 was, during a month longer, an uneasy sense 
 of heat and weight in her breast, stomach, 
 and bowels, with great flatulence. Her 
 head was, at first waking, much confused ; 
 and she often experienced palpitations, 
 tremblings, and other hysteric affections, to 
 all which she had ever before been a 
 stranger." 
 
 "The child had some convulsive agitations 
 of his arms, but was otherwise little affected. 
 He was capable of taking half a scruple of 
 ipecacuanha, with which he vomited, and 
 was soon perfectly recovered."
 
 350 MUSHROOM CATSUP. 
 
 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 are in a putrefactive state, 
 and not having found a ready sale in the 
 market; for no vegetable subslance is li- 
 able to so rapid a spontaneous decomposi- 
 tion as mushrooms. In a few days after 
 the fungus has been removed from the 
 dung-bed on which it grows, it becomes the 
 habitation of myriads of insects ; and, if 
 even the saleable mushroom be attentively 
 examined, it will frequently be found to 
 swarrn with life.
 
 
 IJoisonouo 
 
 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 
 contains, particularly enables it to act strong- 
 ly on the metallic substances of the appa- 
 ratus ; 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.
 
 Copper 
 
 MANY kinds of viands are frequently im- 
 pregnated 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. 353 
 
 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 furnish too many 
 examples in support of this assertion, to 
 render it necessary to insist more upon it 
 here. 
 
 Mr. Thiery, who wrote a thesis on the 
 noxious quality of copper, observes, that 
 " our food receives its quantity of poison in 
 the kitchen by the use of copper pans and 
 dishes. The brewer mingles poison in our 
 beer, by boiling it in copper vessels. The
 
 364 FOOD POISONED 
 
 sugar-baker employs copper pans; the 
 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 not 
 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-
 
 BY COPPER VESSELS. 355 
 
 merous and frightful train of diseases is 
 occasioned by the poisonous effects of per- 
 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, 
 
 * Johnston's Essay on Poison, p. 102. 
 t Medical Transactions, vol. i. p. 213.
 
 356 FOOD POISONED 
 
 was boiled with honey in a brewing vessel, 
 the rim of which was capped with lead. All 
 who drank this liquor were seized with a 
 bowel colic, more or less violently. One of 
 the servants died very soon in convulsions ; 
 several others were cruelly tortured a long 
 time. The master of the family, in parti- 
 cular, notwithstanding all the assistance 
 which art could give him, never recovered 
 his health, but died miserably, after having 
 almost three years languished under a most 
 tedious and incurable malady." 
 
 Too much care and attention cannot be 
 taken in preserving all culinary utensils of 
 copper, in a state unexceptionably fit for 
 their destined purpose. They should be 
 frequently tinned, and kept thoroughly 
 clean, nor should any food ever be suffered
 
 BY COPPER VESSELS. 357 
 
 to remain in them for a longer time than is 
 absolutely necessary to their preparation 
 for the table. But the sure preventive of 
 its pernicious effect, is, to banish copper 
 utensils from the kitchen altogether. 
 
 The following wholesome advice on this 
 subject is given to cooks by the author of 
 an excellent cookery book*. 
 
 " 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 
 
 * Apiciug Redivivus, p. 91. ,
 
 358 POISONOUS FOOD. 
 
 broths and soups will look green and dirty, 
 and taste bitter and poisonous, and will be 
 spoiled both for the eye and palate, and 
 your credit will be lost ; and as the health, 
 and even the life, of the family depends 
 upon this, the cook may be sure her 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.
 
 frg Eeaten 
 
 ^-- 
 
 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 
 therefore jars and pots of this kind of stone 
 ware, are wholly unfit to contain jellies of 
 fruits, marmalade, and similar conserves. 
 Pickles should in no case be deposited in 
 cream-coloured glazed earthenware.
 
 360 FOOD POISONED 
 
 The custom which still prevails in some 
 parts of this country of keeping milk in 
 leaden vessels for the use of the dairy, is 
 very improper. 
 
 " Jn Lancashire* the dairies are furnished 
 with inilk-pans made of lead : and when Mr. 
 Parks expostulated with some individuals on 
 the danger of this practice, he was told that 
 leaden inilk-pans throw up the cream much 
 better than vessels of any other kind." 
 
 " In some parts of the north of England it 
 is customary for the inn-keepers to prepare 
 mint-salad by bruising and grinding the 
 vegetable in a large wooden bowl with a 
 ball of lead of twelve or fourteen pounds 
 weight. In this operation the mint is cut, 
 and portions of the lead are ground off at 
 
 * Parks's Chemical Essays, vol. v. p. 193.
 
 BY LEADEN VESSELS. 361 
 
 every revolution of the ponderous instru- 
 ment. In the same county, it is a com- 
 mon practice to have brewing-coppers 
 constructed with the bottom 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 
 R
 
 362 POISONOUS FOOD. 
 
 oxidation, prevents the solution of the 
 lead. 
 
 When we consider the various unsus- 
 pected means by which the poisons of lead 
 and copper gain admittance into the human 
 body, a very common but dangerous in- 
 stance presents itself: namely, the prac- 
 tice of painting toys, made for the amuse- 
 ment 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 painting of toys with colouring sub- 
 stances that are poisonous, ought there- 
 fore to be abolished ; a practice which lies 
 the more open to censure, as it is of no real 
 utility.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ADULTERATION of anchovy sauce 
 ___ beer 
 
 i brandy 
 
 - _ bread 
 
 ___^__^ - catsup 
 _____ - cayenne pepper 
 ______ cheese 
 - _ - coffee 
 
 ' confectionery 
 
 ____ cream 
 
 - . custard 
 
 . gin 
 
 __ lemon acid 
 .. lozenges 
 
 malt spirits 
 
 mustard 
 
 __ olive oil 
 
 ______ pepper 
 
 _______ ^ pickles 
 
 _____ porter 
 
 ____ rum 
 
 ___ . soda water 
 
 tea, black 
 
 . , green 
 
 vinegar 
 distilled 
 
 Age of beer, how fraudulently imitated 
 Alcohol, quantity contained in different kinds of wine 
 .. -malt liquors 
 
 _____________-_ spirituous liquors 
 
 Ale, Burton, quantity of spirit which it contains 
 
 Dorchester, ditto ditto 
 
 R2
 
 364 INDEX. 
 
 Pag, 
 
 Ale, Edinburgh, quantity of spirit which it contain* 222 
 
 Home-brewed ditto ditto 228 
 
 Alum, bleaching property in the panification of bread flour 139 
 
 . method of detecting it in bread 147 
 
 for brightening muddy wines 95 
 
 clarifying spirituous liquors 280, 281 
 
 adulterating beer 183 
 
 Arrac, imitation of 275 
 
 Batavia, quantity of alcohol contained in it 289 
 
 Arrow root, sophistication of 27 
 
 B 
 
 BAKERS, their methods of judging of the goodness of 
 
 bread flour 151 
 
 Beer, adulteration of 153 
 
 t act prohibiting it 154 
 
 '. method of detecting it 217 
 
 with narcotic substances 205 
 
 with opium, tobacco, &c. 205 
 
 colouring of, act prohibiting it 168 
 
 heading, composition^and use of 183 
 
 hard, what is meant by it 203 
 
 fraudulent method of producing it 203 
 
 half-spoiled, fraudulent practice of recovering it 204 
 
 illegal substances used for adulterating it 178 
 
 old, : what is meant by it 197 
 
 quantity of spirit contained in different kinds 219 
 
 strong, adulteration of with small beer 191 
 
 act prohibiting it 192 
 
 how denned by law 175 
 
 strength of different kinds 17o 
 
 Bilberries, employed for colouring port wine 95 
 
 Bittern, for adulterating beer 9 
 
 Black Extract, for adulterating beer 205 
 
 Bland, Mr. tragical catastrophe of 106 
 
 Bouquet of high-flavoured wines, bow produced 97 
 
 Brandy, adulteration of 261
 
 INDEX. 365 
 
 Brandy, adulteration of, and method of detecting it 
 
 complexion of, what is meant by it 
 
 flavour, how imitated 
 
 imitative, manufacture of 
 
 method of compounding for retail trade 
 
 quantity contained in different sorts of wine 
 of alcohol contained in different kinds of 
 
 legal strength 
 
 how discovered by the Excise 
 
 false strength 
 
 flavour, imitative, how produced 
 
 Brazil wood, application of for colouring wine 
 Bread, adulteration of with alum * 
 
 methods of detecting it 
 
 with potatoes 
 
 goodness of, how estimated in this metropolis 
 
 how rendered white and firm 132 
 
 corn, method of judging of its goodness 150 
 
 flour, different sorts of from the same kind of grain 133 
 
 adulteration of with bean flour 133 
 
 process of making five bushels into bread 138 
 
 made from new corn, improvement of 145 
 
 method of judging of its goodness 150 
 
 Brewers, list of, prosecuted for using illegal substances in 
 
 their brewings 206 
 convicted of adulterating their strong beer with 
 
 table beer 195 
 
 Druggists 163 
 prosecuted for supplying illegal in- 
 
 gredients to brewers for adulterating beer 163 
 
 Breweries, illegal substances seized at various 186 
 
 Brown Stout, quantity of spirit contained in it 173 
 
 Calcavella, quantity of brandy which it contains 127 
 
 Carbonate of ammonia, used by fraudulent bakers 141 
 
 R3
 
 3G6 INDEX. 
 
 Catsup, adulteration of 319 
 
 Claret, quantity of brandy which it contains 126 
 Clary, used for flavouring wine 
 
 Cheese, poisonous, and method of detecting it 291 
 Chemists, are not permitted to sell illegal ingredients to 
 
 brewers for adulterating beer 160 
 
 - list of, convicted of this fraud 163 
 Cherry-laurel water, dangerous application of for flavour- 
 
 ing creams, &c. . 325 
 --- used in the manufacture of spu- 
 
 rious wines 96 
 
 . . in the manufacture of brandy 273 
 
 Citric Acid, adulteration of 
 
 . - method of detecting 341 
 
 Cocculus indicus, nefarious application of in the brew- 
 
 ing of beer 
 
 i. early law prohibiting its application 156 
 
 brewers prosecuted for using it 208 
 
 . seizures made of at different breweries 186 
 
 - narcotic property of, to what owing 209 
 
 - extract of, application in brewing 186 
 Coffee, adulteration of 243 
 -- law in force against it 244 
 . grocers lately convicted of selling spurious 244 
 Confectionery, adulteration of 315 
 
 - methods of detecting it 31 7 
 Conserves, contamination of with copper 317 
 
 - should never be deposited in vessels glazed 
 
 * with lead 359 
 
 Constantia, quantity of spirit which it contains 127 
 Copperas, or salt of steel, publicans convicted of mixing 
 
 it with their beer 176 
 
 .1 seizures of, at various breweries 187 
 Cream, adulteration of, and mode of detecting it 313 
 Custards, flavoured with cherry laurel leaves, dangerous 
 
 effects from it 325 
 
 Cyder, melancholy catastrophe of persons drinking such . 
 
 a* wag contaminated with lead 355
 
 INDEX. 3fi7 
 
 E 
 
 Page 
 
 Elder-berries are used for colouring port wine 1 95 
 
 flowers are used for flavouring insipid white wines 97 
 
 Entire beer, origin of its name 197 
 
 composition of 200 
 
 Extract of cbcculus indicus is used by fraudulent brewers 186 
 
 False strength, how given to wire and spirituous liquors 1 1 , 270 
 
 to vinegar 310 
 
 Flavour of French brandy, how imitated 272. 
 Flour, new, of an indifferent quality, how rendered 
 
 fit for being made into good and wholesome bread 145 
 
 different sorts, from the same kind of grain 133 
 
 sour, practice of converting it into bread 141 
 
 Food, rendered poisonous by topper vessels 352 
 
 by leaden vessels 359 
 
 Frothy head of porter, how artificially produced 182 
 
 G 
 
 Geneva, Dutch, quantity of alcohol which it contains 289 
 
 Gin, adulteration of 261 
 
 quantity of alcohol contained in different sorts 289 
 
 dangerous method of clarifying 284 
 
 legal exactment of its saleable strength 2-77 
 
 proof, what is meant by this term 262 
 
 strength of, how ascertained by the Excise 263 
 
 sweetened, fraudulent practice of composing it for 
 
 sale 282 
 
 i unsweetened, ditto ditto 281 
 
 false strength, how given 285 
 
 H 
 
 Hermitage, quantity of brandy which it contains 12(5 
 Hyson tea, spurious. See Tea leaves 
 R4
 
 368 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Hops, adulteration of, prohibited by law 180 
 
 its chemical action upon beer 181 
 
 Hydrometer, legal, now in use for ascertaining the strength 
 
 of spirituous liquors 262 
 
 I 
 
 Imitation arrac 27S 
 
 tea. See Tea leaves 
 
 coffee. See Coffee 
 
 Leaden pumps and water reservoirs, dangerous effects to 
 
 be appreheded from them 77, 78 
 
 Lisbon, quantity of spirit which it contains 127 
 Lozenges, adulteration of 
 
 Lemon acid, adulteration of 339 
 method of detecting it 341 
 
 M 
 
 Madeira, quantity of brandy which it contains 126 
 
 Mallaga, quantity of brandy contained in it 126 
 
 Malt, patent, for colouring porter 168 
 
 disadvantages of 169 
 
 liquors, dangerous adulteration of 156 
 strength of different kinds. See Porter 172 
 
 spirits, adulterations of 276 
 
 characteristic flavour, to what owing 276 
 
 nefarious practices of compounding them 
 
 for sale 279 
 
 false strength, how given 285 
 
 . act restricting the strength of it 277 
 
 Meat, salted, should not be preserved in leaden vessels 361 
 Milk, improper practice of keeping it in leaden vessels 360 
 Mint salad, pernicious custom of preparing it 360
 
 INDEX. 369 
 
 Mustard, adulteration of 337 
 
 Multum, a substance employed for adulterating beer 7 
 
 i seizures of, at various breweries 186 
 
 Mushroom, poisonous 343 
 
 - Catsup 350 
 
 o 
 
 Oak-wood saw-dust, is used in the manufacture of spu- 
 
 rious port wine 96 
 
 . i in the manufacture of spu- 
 
 rious brandy 272 
 
 Orris-root, is used for flavouring insipid wines 97 
 
 Olive oil, contamination of, with lead, and method of 
 
 detecting it 334 
 
 Pickles, contamination of with copper 307 
 
 improper vessels for keeping them 359 
 
 Pepper, black, adulteration of 298 
 
 law in force against it 301 
 
 Poisonous Cheese 290 
 
 Cayenne pepper 305 
 
 . catsup 319 
 
 custard 324 
 
 olive oil 334 
 
 mushroom 343 
 
 pickles 306 
 
 ^ soda water 351 
 
 Porter, origin of its name 165 
 
 adulteration of with wormwood 179 
 
 act prohibiting it 153 
 
 average strength of, as furnished to the publican 173 
 
 ditto, as sent out by the re- 
 tailers 173 
 j illegal substances for adulterating it 179 
 
 brewers, convicted of adulterating their porter with 
 
 illegal ingredients 206
 
 370 INDEX. 
 
 pg 
 
 Porter, frothy head of, how produced 182 
 
 .. method of ascertaining the strength of different 
 
 kinds 219 
 
 quantity of alcohol contained in London porter 95, 
 
 Port wine, adulteration of 222 
 
 Publicans, prosecuted for adulterating their strong beer 
 
 with table beer 176 
 
 Q 
 
 Quassia, fraudulent substitution of, for hop* 179 
 
 disadvantages of its application 181 
 
 seizures of, at various breweries 187 
 
 R 
 
 Raisin wine, quantity of brandy which it contains 126 
 
 Rum, adulteration of 261 
 i. false strength, how given to it 
 
 is seizable, if sold, unless of a certain strength 265 
 
 - quantity of alcohol contained in it 289 
 
 S 
 
 Soda Water, poisonous, and method of detecting it 351 
 
 Spirituous Liquors, adulteration of 261 
 dangerous practice of fining them 
 
 with noxious ingredients 284 
 
 quantity of alcohol contained in different kinds 288 
 
 Sweetmeats, adulteration of 315 
 
 Sweet brier, use of it for flavouring wines 97 
 
 Tarts of fruits, should not be baked hi earthenware vessels 366 
 
 glazed with lead 
 
 Tea leaves, adulteration of 236 
 method of detecting it 237
 
 INDEX. 371 
 
 Page 
 
 Tea leaves, adulteration of, law in force against it 223 
 
 poisonous sophistication of 224, 240 
 
 method of detecting it 24O 
 
 colouring of, with verdigrise 231 
 
 black, spurious, process of manufacturing it 232 
 
 green, imitation of 231 
 
 Tea dealers, convicted for selling adulterated tea 233 
 
 Toys, improper practice of painting them with poisonous 
 colours 362 
 
 Vidonia, quantity of brandy contained in it 126 
 Vin de Grave, ditto ditto 126 
 Vinegar, adulteration of, and method of detecting it 310 
 ^ distilled, and method of ascer- 
 taining its strength 312 
 
 W 
 
 Water, characters of good 37 
 
 chemical constitution of those used in domestic 
 
 economy and the arts 31 
 
 danger of keeping it in leaden reservoirs 73 
 
 hard, how softened and rendered fit for washing 40 
 
 New River, constitution of 31, 43 
 
 substances usually contained in potable 54 
 
 how de- 
 tected 58 
 
 substances usually contained in spring 44 
 
 taste and salubrious quality, to what owing 39 
 
 Thames, constitution of 42, 48 
 
 Wine, adulteration of with alum 95 
 
 British port ' 100 
 
 , champaigne 109 
 
 bottles, improper practice of cleaning them 111 
 
 . bottle corks, practice of staining them red 101
 
 372 INDEX. 
 
 Pag 
 
 Wine doctors 104 
 
 quantity of alcohol contained in various kind* 126 
 
 dangerous practice of fining them 109 
 
 ^ ^ to prevent them turning sour 110 
 
 art of flavouring them 97 
 
 home-made, chemical constitution of 128 
 
 improvement from age, to what owing 122 
 
 Southampton port 101" 
 
 strength of, on what it depends 123 
 
 specific differences of different kinds, to what 
 
 owing 119 
 
 white, manufacture of, from red grapes 121 
 
 test 114 
 
 Whiskey, Irish, flavour, to what owing 276 
 strength of 280 
 
 Scotch, ditto 289 
 
 Wormwood, substitution of, for hops 17* 
 
 UNJS. 
 
 JOSEPH MALLETT, Printer, 59, Wardour Street, Soho.
 
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