^mmmmrm 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 *B 17Q 76^ 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2007 
 
 http://archive.org/details/deadlyadulteratiOOIondrich 
 
September 1, 1832. 
 
 PRACTICAL BOOKS 
 
 ON 
 
 ^porting Sufyrct*, 
 
 BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF LIVE STOCK, 
 VETERINARY PRACTICE, AND ON RURAL AFFAIRS, 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 SHERWOOD, GILBERT, & PIPER, 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 JOHNSON'S SPORTSMAN'S DICTIONARY. 
 
 Just published, in One large Volume, Octavo, illustrated with numerous 
 highly -finished and emblematical Engravings, price £1:11:0, bound in cloth, 
 
 A NEW AND ORIGINAL WORK, 
 
 ENTITLED Till. 
 
 SPORTSMAN S CYCLOPAEDIA; 
 
 Being an Elucidation of the Science and Practice of the Field, tin 
 Turf, and the Sod ; or, in other Words, the Scientific Operations of the 
 Chase, the Course, and of all those Diversions and Amusements which 
 have uniformly marked the British Character ; and which are so ardently 
 cherished, and so extensively followed, by the present Generation: 
 comprehending the Natural History of all those Animals which are the 
 Objects of Pursuit, accompanied with illustrative Anecdotes. 
 
 BY T. B. JOHNSON, 
 
 Author of the Shooter's Companion, fyc. 8fC, 
 
 In offering the present work to the Sporting Would, the Publishers 
 do not deem any apology necessary, as there is no Book on sale profes- 
 sedly of a similar character, nor one that will furnish a Sportsman with 
 that information which he may desire on the various Field Sports of the 
 present day. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the Publishers conceive that a " Sportsman's 
 Cyclopcedia" will be not only acceptable to those who follow the Hounds, 
 pursue the Feathered Tribes, frequent the Lake, or the Stream, or attend 
 the Course, but also to the Public in general. • 
 
 They, therefore, honestly and fearlessly assert that the Author and 
 Compiler of it is a well-known Sportsman, who has made the various 
 subjects of the book the business of his life, and whose practical know - 
 
Practical and Useful Books published by 
 
 ledge of Field Amusements, in its various ramifications, is uniformly 
 acknowledged. Nor have they spared either pains or expense in the 
 Printing or the Embellishments which illustrate and adorn the Work ; 
 their object being to produce, not merely a Book of General Reference, 
 but a complete Sportsman's Library. 
 
 This Work is elegantly printed on Fine Paper, and illustrated with 
 numerous highly-finished and emblematical Engravings, executed in 
 the most characteristic Style of Excellence by those eminent Artists, 
 LANDSEER, BROOKE, WESTLEY, 
 
 COOPER, HERRING, ELMER, 
 
 LAPORTE, FIELDING, WEBB, 
 
 BARREN GER, SCOTT, ROBERTS, 
 
 CLENNEL, GREIG, &c. &c. 
 
 It is presumed that the alphabetical Arrangement of the Work will 
 afford every facility to the Reader, and that it will be found to contain — 
 
 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE, in all its Ramifica- 
 tions; the most approved System of Grooming (particularly of the 
 Hunter) and Stable Management, with copious Notices of the Diseases 
 to which he is liable, and the most judicious Mode of treating them. 
 
 THE WHOLE ART OF HORSEMANSHIP ; or, the SCIENCE 
 OF RIDING. 
 
 THE DOG, in all his Varieties, with his Diseases and Manner of 
 Cure, and Instructions for Breeding, Breaking, or Training Him for the 
 different Pursuits ; with Directions for entering Hounds. 
 
 HUNTING the Fox, Hare, Stag, &c. and the Nature of Scent, as 
 exemplified in their Pursuit ; also, particular Notices of various Packs 
 of Hounds. The various kinds of Pointers and Setters, and the Method 
 of Breeding those best calculated for the Sportsman. 
 
 THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF SHOOTING FLYING, 
 as well as every Information relative to the Use of the Fowling Piece. 
 
 COURSING, with Notices of celebrated Greyhounds; and the most 
 judicious Plan of Breeding these interesting Animals. 
 
 THE RACE COURSE, with its Operations, in all their Varities ; of 
 Breeding the Racer, of Training Him, &c.&c. with particular Notices of 
 the most distinguished Running Horses. 
 
 THE COCK PIT, and Management of Game Cocks. 
 
 THE WHOLE ART OF ANGLING AND FISHING in all their 
 different Forms, &c. &c. 
 
 * # * For the accommodation of the public, the Sportsman's Cyclopaedia 
 may be had in Twelve Parts, by one or more at a time, price 2*. 6d. 
 each. The whole Work forms One large Volume in Octavo, closely, 
 printed, and contains as much matter as five ordinary sized Volumes. 
 
 Coursing. 
 
 THE COURSER'S COMPANION ; or, a Practical Treatise 
 on the Laws of the Leash, with the defects of the old Laws considered ; 
 and a New Code proposed, with Explanatory Notes. By an Experienced 
 Courser. Price 5s. Boards. 
 
 " Though small in size, this book is great in value ; the author's name, 
 Mr. Thomas Thacker, of Derby, who is an old Courser, and which is a 
 passport to it, is too modestly kept back. To real sportsmen, who read 
 for solid information, the volume will exhibit unquestionable proofs of 
 being thoroughly practical on the subject of Coursing." Sporting Mag. 
 
Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. 
 
 Osmer on Horses. 
 
 A TREATISE ON THE DISEASES AND LAMENESS 
 OF HORSES; in which is laid down the proper MtTHoD of Shoeing 
 the different Kinds of Feet: whereunto are added, some ISew Observa- 
 tions on the Art of Farriery, chiefly as relate to Wounds, to Epidemic 
 Distemper, to Surgical Operations, to Debility, to Tumours, &c. Also, on 
 the Nature and Difference in the Breeds of Horses. 
 
 By William Osmer, Veterinary Surgeon and Shoeing Smith. 
 
 Fifth Edition, newly re-written, with considerable Additions, and a 
 Treatise on Debility, &c. &c. By John Hinds, V. S. Author of the 
 Groom's Oracle, Veterinary Surgery, and Practice of Medicine. 
 
 %* u Osmer's Treatise on the Horse, by J. Hinds, is among the most 
 valuable of our recent publications. This and Mr. Hind's ' Grooms' 
 Oracle' ought to be in the possession of every Gentleman, who either has 
 in possession, or has a chance of possessing, the noble animal to whose 
 proper treatment the Author has directed his enlightened researches." — 
 Taunton Courier. 
 
 Thompson on Riding. 
 
 RULES FOR BAD HORSEMEN; Hints to Inexpert 
 Travellers; and Maxims worth Remembering by the most experienced 
 Equestrians. By Charles Thompson, Esq. A new Edition, with 
 modern Additions, by John Hinds, V. S. Editor of Osmer's Treatise on 
 the Horse; Author of the Groom's Oracle, Sec. Price 3s. Cd. 
 
 Hinds' and White's Farriery Improved. 
 
 A COMPENDIOUS POCKET-MANUAL of the VETE- 
 RINARY ART; being a Practical Description of the true Symptoms 
 and most rational Treatment of all Diseases incident to the Horse ; 
 adapted to the ready comprehension of every class of Horsemen, viz. 
 Owners, Farriers, Farmers, Horsekeepers, Grooms, and Lads. Com- 
 prising all that has been usefully said by various Authors. Revised and 
 corrected, with considerable important modern Improvements, by John 
 Hinds, V. S. and Others. With illustrative Plates, price 5s. 
 
 *** The design of this multum in parvo volume has been to compress 
 into a small portable manual as large a quantity of really important useful 
 matter as usually occupies works of much greater magnitude, whilst 
 adding thereto all the new discoveries in the art. This has been accom- 
 plished by a strict economy in priming, by a singularly terse style of 
 writing, and the rigid rejection of numerous superfluities. By these 
 means several new modes of practice, and valuable Veterinary observa- 
 tions, have been introduced — principally as regards Constitutional 
 disorders — the Epidemic Distemper of 1832 — Inflammation of the organs 
 of life — Tumours — Liver complaints— Debility— Disorders of the Eyes — 
 Crib-biting — Lameness — Bleeding — Physicking — Blistering— Surfeits — 
 and the signs by which to ascertain what illness at any time impends 
 over the ailing Horse. 
 
 THE GAMEKEEPER'S DIRECTORY, AND COM- 
 PLETE VERMIN DESTROYER, containing easy, but efficacious, In- 
 structions for the Preservation of Game, as exemplified in the Mode of 
 Managing it, particularly during the Breeding Season. Of Hatching the 
 Eggs of Pheasants and Partridges which have been mown over, and the 
 best method of Rearing the Young. Also for taking or killing all kinds 
 of Vermin, as exemplified in the Mode of Trapping and Destroying them. 
 By T. B. JoHNsoN,'Author of the Sportsman's Cyclopaedia, Shooter's 
 Companion, &c. Price 5s. 6d. 
 
Practical and Useful Books published by 
 
 Brown on Horse- Racing. 
 
 THE TURF EXPOSITOR; containing the Origin of Horse- 
 Racing, Breeding for the Turf, Training, Trainers, Jockeys ; Cocktails,, 
 and the System of Cocktail Racing illustrated; the Turf and its Abuses; 
 the Science of betting Money, so as always to come off a Winner, eluci- 
 dated by a variety of Examples; the Rules and Laws of Horse-racing; 
 and every other Information connected with the Operations of the Turf. 
 By C. F. Brown. Price 6s. boards. 
 
 Brown s Anecdotes of Horses. 
 
 In a thick Volume, royal ISmo. containing Fourteen Portraits of celebrated 
 Horses, fyc. engraved on Steel, Price 10s. Gd. cloth. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND AUTHENTIC 
 ANECDOTES OF HORSES, and the Allied Species. 
 
 By Captain Thomas Brown, F.L.S. M.R.P.S. M.R.S. &c. &c. 
 
 " We have now before us the pleasing fruit of Captain Brown's labour 
 and investigation. Setting out with the early history of the horse, and 
 tracing it to the present period, the author next goes through the various 
 breeds, and finally enlivens the whole with the accounts of feats and 
 other memorabilia, which are well calculated to astonish and amuse." — 
 London Literary Gazette. 
 
 " Captain Brown's work is an entertaining and instructive miscellany. 
 Pleasanter gossip than that of horses we do not know, and richer food 
 for it cannot be found, than in this volume/' — Spectator. 
 
 u Those who have any relish for this noble animal — any wish to know 
 its history and habits— will find all they want in Captain Brown's book. 
 There are nine excellent plates, and nearly 600 pages of letter-press." — 
 New North Briton. 
 
 '* With Captain Brown's delightful volume of ' Anecdotes of Horses/ 
 just issued, every one who crosses a saddle ought to be intimate." — 
 Glasgow Free Press. 
 
 Conversations on Conditioning . 
 THE GROOM'S ORACLE, AND POCKET STABLE 
 
 DIRECTORY; in which the Management of Horses generally, as to 
 Health, Dieting, and Exercise are considered, in a Series of Familiar 
 Dialogues between two Grooms engaged in Training Horses to their 
 Work, as well for the Road as the Chase and Turf. With an Appendix, 
 including the Receipt-Book of John Hinds, V.S. Second Edition, 
 considerably improved, embellished with an elegant Frontispiece, painted 
 by S. Aiken, price 7s. cloth. 
 
 *** This enlarged edition of the u Groom's Oracle'* contains a good 
 number of new points connected with training prime horses; and the 
 owners of working cattle, also, will find their profit in consulting the prac- 
 tical remarks that are applicable to their teams ; on the principle that 
 health preserved is better than disease removed. 
 
 Blaine's Farriery. 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE VETERINARY ART; or, a TREA- 
 TISE on the ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, and CURATIVE TREAT- 
 MENT of the DISEASES of the HORSE, and, subordinate^, of those 
 of Neat Cattle and Sheep. Illustrated by Surgical and Anatomical 
 Plates. By Delaeere Blaine. 
 
 The Fourth Edition, considerably improved and increased by the in- 
 troduction of many new and important Subjects, both in the Foreign and 
 British practices of the art, and by the addition of some new Figures. 
 Price 1/. 4s. cloth, and lettered. 
 
Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. 
 
 Girard on the Age of the Horse. 
 A TREATISE ON THE TEETH OF THE HORSE; 
 
 showing its Age by the Changes the Teeth undergo, from a Foal up to 
 Twenty -Three Years Old, especially after the Eighth Year. Translated 
 from the French by M. Girard, Director of the Royal Veterinary School 
 at Alford, by T. J. Ganly, V.S. 11th Light Dragoons. Price 3s. 6d. or, 
 with the Plates coloured, 4*. 6d. boards. 
 
 * # * This work is strongly recommended by Professor Coleman, in his 
 Lectures to the attention of persons studying the Veterinary Profession; 
 and who may wish to be well acquainted with the Horse's Age. 
 
 " The above useful Treatise is calculated to be of considerable service, 
 in the present state of our knowledge. We recommend the work to the 
 Amateur, the Practitioner, and the Veterinary Student." — Lancet. 
 
 A Complete Manual for Sportsmen. 
 
 BRITISH FIELD SPORTS; embracing. Practical In- 
 structions in Shooting, Hunting, Coursing, Racing, Fishing, &c. ; 
 with Observations on the Breaking and Training of Dogs and Horses; 
 also, the Management of Fowling-pieces, and all other Sporting Imple- 
 ments. By William Henry Scott. 
 
 * # * This Work is beautifully printed, on fine paper, and illustrated 
 with upwards of Fifty highly finished Engravings, Thirty-lour on Copper, 
 executed in the most characteristic style of excellence, by those Eminent 
 Artists, Scott, Warken, Greig, Tookey, Davenport. Ranson, and 
 Wehb, from Paintings by Reinagle,Clennell, Elmer, and Barrenger ; 
 the remainder cut on Wood, by Clennell, Thompson, Austin, and 
 Bewick. The author's object has been, to present, in as compressed a 
 form as real utili:> would admit, Instructions in all the various Field 
 Sports in Modern Practice; thereby forming a Book of General Reference 
 on the subject, and including in one volume, what could not otherwise 
 be obtained without purchasing many and expensive ones. — In demy 8vo. 
 Price I/. 18s. or, in royal 8vo. 3/. 3.«. boards. 
 
 " It gives us pleasure to observe the respectability of the Work entitled 
 1 British Field Sports/ In this kingdom, the Sports of the Field are 
 highly characteristic and interesting: as gentlemanly diversions they 
 have been pursued with an avidity as keen, and a taste as universal, as 
 the relish of Nature's beauties: a corresponding value is set on them, 
 and an appropriate polish is added by time and practice: the various 
 minutiae in the knowledge of whic'. and the technical distribution of this 
 knowledge, together with Facts, Instructions, and Anecdotes, form the 
 basis of this valuable publication." — Farmers' Journal 
 
 Laportes Horse. 
 THE CONFORMATION AND PROPORTIONS OF A 
 
 HORSE, with the Terms generally made use of to denote his various 
 Parts, engraved from an Original Painting of G. H. LapuRTE, Esq. size 
 10 Inches by 8. Price Is. 6d. accurately coloured. 
 
 Johnson on Hunting. 
 THE HUNTING DIRECTORY; containing- a compendious 
 View of the Ancient and Modern Systems of the Chase ; the Method of 
 Breeding and Managing the various kinds ol Hounds, particularly Fox- 
 hounds; their Diseases, with a certain Cure for the Distemper. The 
 pursuit of the Fox, the Hare, the ^-tag, &c. The nature of Scent consi- 
 dered and elucidated. Also, Notices of the Wolf and Boar Hunting in 
 France; with a variety of illustrative observations. By T. B. Johnson, 
 Author of the Shooter's Companion. Printed in 8vo. price 9s. boards. 
 
Practical and Useful Boohs published by 
 
 JOHNSON'S SHOOTER'S ANNUAL PRESENT. 
 
 Just Published, Third Edition, very considerably Improved, and Illus- 
 trated with numerous Cuts. Price 9s. bound in Cloth. 
 
 THE SHOOTER'S COMPANION; or, a Description of 
 Pointers and Setters, &c. as well as of those Animals which constitute 
 the Objects of Pursuit; of the Breeding of Pointers and Setters, the 
 Diseases to which they are liable, and the Modes of Cure. Training 
 Dogs for the Gun. Of Scent, and the Reason why one Dog's Sense of 
 Smell is superior to another's. The Fowling Piece fully considered, 
 particularly as it relates to the use of Percussion Powder. Of Percus- 
 sion Powder, and the best Method of making it. Of Gunpowder. 
 Shooting Illustrated; and the Art of Shooting Flying or Running, sim- 
 plified and clearly laid down. Of Wild Fowl and Fen Shooting; as 
 well as every information connected with the use of the Fowling Piece. 
 The Game Laws familiarly explained and illustrated. By T. B. Johnson. 
 
 u This is a well -written and well-arranged production; containing 
 much interesting information, not only to the professed sportsman, but to 
 those who may occasionally seek this fascinating recreation. It is not the 
 production of any ordinary sportsman, but of one who can enjoy the plea- 
 sures of the library as well as those of the field." — Literary Chronicle. 
 
 u We now take leave of the work, recommending it, in comparison 
 with most others on the same subject, as luminous to a degree; and re- 
 flecting on the talents, experience, and feeling of the author, the highest 
 credit." — Sporting Magazine. 
 
 Blaine on the Diseases of Dogs, 
 
 CANINE PATHOLOGY; or, a Description of the DIS- 
 EASES of DOGS, Nosologically Arranged, with their Causes, Symp- 
 toms, and Curative Treatment; and a copious Detail of the Rabid Ma- 
 lady : preceded by a Sketch of the Natural History of the Dog, his 
 Varieties and Qualities; with practical Directions on the Breeding, 
 Rearing, and salutary Treatment of these Animals. Third Edition, Re- 
 vised, Corrected, and Improved. Price 9s. boards. By Delabere 
 Blaine. 
 
Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. 
 
 Stevenson s Cattle Doctor. 
 
 THE SPORTSMAN'S, FARMER'S, AND CATTLE- 
 DOCTOR'S VADE MECUM, containing Practical Hints and Receipts 
 for preventing and curing the most prevalent Diseases of BLACK OR 
 NEAT CATTLE, SHEEP, DOGS, HORSES, PIGS, &c. with a very 
 copious List of the most valuable Veterinary Medicines and the manner 
 of preparing them for Animals of every Description. By John Ste- 
 venson, Esq. Price 5*. 
 
 Lawrence on Live Stock. 
 
 A GENERAL TREATISE ON CATTLE— THE OX, 
 SHEEP, AND SWINE; comprehending their Breeding, Management, 
 
 Jmprovement, and Diseases; with Remedies for Cure. By John Law- 
 rence, Author of the "New Farmer's Calendar." Second Edition. In 
 one large vol. 8vo price 12s\ boards. 
 
 " If the Author hail not already recommended himself to the Public 
 by his ' New Fanner's Calendar,' and other works, the judicious obser- 
 vations and useful hints here offered would place him in the list of those 
 rural counsellors who are capable of giving advice, and to whose opinion 
 some deference is due. His sentiments on general subjects expand be- 
 yond the narrow boundaries of vulgar prejudice; and his good sense is 
 forcibly recommended to us by its acting in concert with a humane dis- 
 position." — Monthly Review. 
 
 Mr. James White, in his work on Veterinary Medicine, says, " Mr. 
 Lawrence's General Treatise on Cattle, the Go*, the Sheep, and the Sicine," 
 ought to be in every ones hands, who is interested in the subject. 
 
 LAWRENCE'S PHILOSOPHICAL AND PRACTICAL 
 
 TREATISE ON HORSES; comprehending the Choice, Management, 
 Purchase and Sale of every Description of the Horse, the Improved 
 Method of Shoeing, Medical Prescriptions, and Surgical Treatment in all 
 known Diseases. Third Edition; with large Additions on the Breeding 
 and Improvement of the Horse, the Dangers of our present Travelling 
 System, &c. In 2 vol. price £1:1:0, boards. 
 
 By the same Author, 
 
 1. THE NEW FARMER'S CALENDAR; or, MONTHLY 
 REMEMBRANCER OF ALL KINDS OF COUNTRY BUSINESS. 
 
 Fifth Edition, with Additions. In 1 vol. large 8vo. price 12s. boards. 
 
 2. THE MODERN LAND STEWARD; in which the 
 Duties and Functions of Stewardship are considered and explained, with 
 its several Relations to the Interest of the Landlord, Tenant, and the 
 Public. In 1 vol. price 10s. 6d. boards. 
 
 HINTS TO DAIRY FARMERS; being an Account of the 
 Food and extraordinary Produce of a Cow ; with economical and easy 
 Rules for rearing Calves. By W. Cramp. Second Edition. Price 2s. 
 
 THE GRAZIER'S READY RECKONER; or, A USE- 
 FUL GUIDE FOR BUYING AND SELLING CATTLE; being a 
 complete Set of Tables, distinctly pointing out the Weight of black Cat- 
 tle, Sheep, and Swine, from Three to One Hundred and Thirty Stones, 
 by Measurement ; with Directions showing the particular Parts where the 
 Cattle are to be measured. By George Kenton, Farmer. Eighth 
 Edition, r.nrrented. Price 2.«. 6d. 
 
Practical and Useful Books published by 
 
 SCOTT'S DELINEATIONS OF THE HORSE AND DOG. 
 
 ^St-^ 
 
 f^^^^"-* 
 
 Beautifully printed in 4to. embellished with Forty highly -finished Copper- 
 
 Plate Engravings, and numerous Wood-Cuts, 
 
 Part I. and II. price 5s. each, of 
 
 THE SPORTSMAN'S REPOSITORY, comprising a Series 
 of highly-finished Engravings, representing the Horse and the Dog, in all 
 their Varieties, accompanied with a Comprehensive Historical and Syste- 
 matic Description of the different Species of each, their appropriate uses, 
 Management, Improvement, &c ; interspers. d with interesting Anec- 
 dotes of the most celebrated Horses and Dogs, and their owners ; like- 
 wise a great Variety of Practical Information on Training, and the 
 Amusements of the Field. By the Author of " British Field-Sports. * 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine any selection from the great storehouse 
 of Nature more likely to merit general attention, or to excite general 
 interest, than the one to which we now invite Public Notice. Of all 
 the animals in Creation, (with the exception of those which minister to 
 our carnivorous appetites,) it would be impossible to name two which 
 are so intimately associated with our wants, our pleasures, and our at- 
 tachments, as the Horse and the Dog. To the former we are indebted 
 for the power of transporting ourselves from place to place, with speed 
 and comlbrt, and for the means of participating in the manly and health- 
 ful Sports of the Field ; while the labours of Agriculture, and the pur- 
 suits of Commerce, are no less indebted to it for increased activity and 
 productiveness. 
 
 But it is not on this ground alone that it aspires to patronage. It takes 
 a wider range, and, by including in its design, the history, the quali- 
 ties, and the different breeds of the Dog — that half-reasoning friend and 
 companion of man — it enlarges its claims to general reception. Who is 
 there that has not, at some period of his life, acknowledged the influence 
 of an attachment between himself and his dog? Who is there that does 
 not recognize in this faithful, vigilant, sagacious, humble, and silent 
 friend, the possessor of qualities, which are not always to be found in 
 the human and more talkative friend ? 
 
 It is only necessary further to observe, that the literary execution and 
 graphic embellishment of this work aie not unworthy of the subjects 
 delineated. With resner.t to the latter, the Pronrietors confidently 
 
Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. 
 
 anticipate that the names of the Artists employed are a sufficient guaran- 
 tee ; while the former is the production of an experienced Sportsman. 
 The following ^are the Subjects of the Plates which embellish the 
 Sportsman's Repository : — 
 
 Horses. 
 
 1. — Godolphin Arabian, the Property of Lord Godolphin. 
 
 2. — Arabian, the Property of the Right Hon. Henry Wellesley. 
 
 3. — Eclipse and Shakspkare, two celebrated Racers. 
 
 4. — King Herod and Flying Childers, the Property of the Duke of 
 Devonshire. 
 
 5.— Stallion, Jupiter, the Property of Lieut- CoL Thornton. 
 
 6. — Charger, the Property of Major-General Warde. 
 
 7. — Hunter, Duncombe, the Property of George Treacher, Esq. 
 
 8. — Racer, Eleanor, the Property of Sir Charles Banbury, Bart. 
 
 9. — Hackney, Roan Billy. 
 10. — Coach-Horse, the Property of Henry Villebois, Esq. 
 11.— Cart-Horse, Dumpling, the Property of Messrs. Home and Devey. 
 12. — Ponies, Shetland, Forester, and Welsh, the Property of Jacob 
 
 Wardell, Eftq. 
 13. — A Mule, the Property of Lord Holland — and an Ass. 
 
 Dogs. 
 
 11. Greyhound. 
 
 12. Irish Greyhound. 
 
 13. Italian Greyhound. 
 
 14. Blood Hound. 
 
 15. Southern Hound. 
 1G. Beagles'. 
 
 17. Harrier. 
 
 18. Terriers. 
 
 19. Lurcher. 
 
 20. Water Dog. 
 
 21. Bull Dog. 
 The Work complete comprehends Ten Parts, price 5s. each : or with 
 
 Proof Impressions of the Plates on India Paper, price 7s. (id. forming a 
 splendid Volume in Quarto— price £2 : 12 : 6, in Boards, or with the 
 Plates on India Paper, price £4, neatly Half-bound, Russia, the whole 
 illustrated with Forty Copper-plates, all engraved in the Line manner by 
 Mr. John Scott and Mr. Thomas Landseer, from Original Paintings by 
 those eminent Animal Painters, Marshall, Reinagle, Gilpin, Stubbs, 
 Cooper, and Edwin Landseer. They are executed in the very first 
 style of excellence, and may justly be considered as chefs d'ceuvres in 
 the Art. Every species of the Horse and Dog is comprised in the Col- 
 lection ; and the Proprietors do not hesitate to challenge a similar Ex- 
 hibition in the whole Sporting World. 
 
 For the accommodation of Admirers of the Fine Arts, and Gentlemen 
 forming a Cabinet Collection of Sporting Pictures, a limited number of 
 Impressions is taken off, for the purpose of Framing, or, for the Port- 
 folio ; any of which may be had separately. Price of the Proofs, on 
 India Paper, 4s. and Prints, 2s. each. 
 
 TEN MINUTED ADVICE TO EVERY. PERSON GOING 
 TO PURCHASE A HORSE. By John Bell. Price Is. 
 
 THE GENTLEMAN'S POCKET FARRIER; showing 
 how to use a Horse on a Journey. By John Bell. Price Is. 
 
 Shepherd's Dog. 
 Newfoundland 
 
 Dot. 
 Greenland Dog. 
 Pointer. 
 Spanish Pointer. 
 
 6. Setter. 
 
 7. ;>pringer. 
 
 8. Water Spaniel. 
 
 9. Stag Hound. 
 10. Fox Hounds. 
 
 3. 
 4. 
 5. 
 
 22. Mastiff. 
 
 23. Dalmatian. 
 
 24. Pugs. 
 
 25. Bloodhound's 
 
 Head. 
 
 26. Portraits of Five- 
 
 Stag Hounds, 
 of the Hatfield 
 Huot. 
 
 27. Alpine Mastiff. 
 
Practical and Useful Books published by 
 
 SPORTING ANECDOTES, including; numerous Characteris- 
 tic portraits of Persons, in every \V alk of Life, who have acquired Noto- 
 riety from their Achievements on the Turf, at the Table, and in the 
 Diversions of the Field ; the whole forming a complete Delineation of 
 the Sporting World! By Pierce Ega.n. New Edition,- with coloured 
 Plates and Illustrations, price 12s. in boards. 
 
 THE SPORTSMAN'S PROGRESS ; a Poem ; Descriptive 
 of the Pleasures derived from Field Sports. Illustrated with Thirteen 
 appropriate Cuts. Price Is. 
 
 THE ANGLER; a Poem, in Ten Cantos; comprising Proper 
 Instructions in the Art, with Rules to choose Fishing-rods, Lines, Hooks, 
 Floats, Baits, and to make Artificial Flies, Receipts for Pastes, &c. By 
 T. P. Lathy, Esq. With upwards of Twenty Wood-cuts. Price 8s. 
 boards. 
 
 SONGS OF THECHACE; or, SPORTSMAN'S VOCAL 
 LIBRARY ; containing nearly Four Hundred of the best Songs relating 
 to Racing, Shooting, Angling, Hawking, Archery, &c. Handsomely 
 printed in foolscap 8vo. with appropriate Embellishments. Second Edi- 
 tion. Price 9s. boards. 
 
 Dobson on Training the Spaniel or Pointer, 
 
 KUNOPjEDIA ; being a Practical Essay on the Breaking and 
 Training the English Spaniel or Pointer. To which are added, Instruc- 
 tions for attaining the Art of Shooting Flying ; more immediately ad- 
 dressed to young' Sportsmen, but designed also to supply the best means 
 of correcting the errors of some older ones. By the late W. Doeson, Esq. 
 of Eden-Hall, Cumberland. In One Volume, 8vo. Price 12s. boards. 
 
 Curtis on Grasses, 
 
 PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE BRITISH 
 GRASSES, especially such as are best adapted to the laying down or 
 improving of Meadows and Pastures : likewise an Enumeration of the 
 British Grasses. By William Curtis, Author of the *' Flora Londi- 
 nensis," &c. Sixth Edition, with considerable Additions. In 8vo. illus- 
 trated with coloured Plates. Price 9s. in boards. 
 
 Skelletfs complete Cow-Doctor. 
 
 A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE BREEDING COW, 
 AND EXTRACTION OF THE CALF, BEFORE AND AT THE 
 TIME OF CALVING ; in which the question of difficult Parturition is 
 considered in all its bearings, with reference to facts and experience; in- 
 cluding Observations on the Disease of Neat Cattle generally. Contain- 
 ing profitable Instructions to the Breeding Farmer, Cowkeeper, and 
 Grazier, for attending to their own Cattle during Illness, according to 
 the most approved modern Methods of Treatment, and the Application 
 of long known and skilful Prescriptions and Remedies for every Disorder 
 incident to Horned Cattle. The whole adapted to the present improved 
 state of Veterinary Practice. Illustrated with Thirteen highly-finished 
 Engravings. By Edward Skellett, Professor of that part of the Vete- 
 rinary Art. Price 18s. plain, £1:7:0 coloured. 
 
 " We have now before us a work which will be found a very useful 
 addition to the Farmers' Library ; it is communicated in a plain and fami- 
 liar style, and is evidently the result of long experience and observation, 
 made by a practical man ; every person connected with Live Stock should 
 be acquainted with its contents, but to the Veterinary Practitioner it is 
 invaluable." — Farmers' Journal. 
 
Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 
 
 A Complete Farm-House Library. 
 In Two large Volumes, in Quarto, price Four Guineas in Boards, illustrated 
 with upwards of One Hundred Engravings, ( Thirty of which are coloured 
 from 'Nature,) representing improved Implements, the^various Grasses, and 
 the principal Breeds of Sheep and Cattle, from Original Drawings, 
 
 A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF PRACTICAL AGRICUL- 
 TURE ; including all the Modern Improvements and Discoveries, and 
 the Result of all the Attention and Inquiry which have been bestowed 
 on this important .Science during the last Fifty years : the whole com- 
 bining and explaining, fully and completely, the Principles and Prac- 
 tice of Modern Husbandry, in all its Branches and Relations. By 
 R. W. Dickson, M.D. Honorary Member of the Board of Agriculture, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 This Work includes the best Methods of Planting Timber of every De- 
 scription, and the improved Management of Live Stock, with a Description 
 of Implements and Buildings; the Theory of Soils and Manures; the 
 best Methods of Inclosing, Embanking, Roud-making, Draining, Fallow- 
 ing, Irrigating, Paring, and Burning; the improved Cultivation of Arable 
 Lands, and of all kinds of Grain, artificial Grasses, &c ; presenting the 
 most useful and comprehensive Body of Practical information ever ottered 
 to the Public on the interesting Science of Agriculture. 
 
 Extracted and abridged from the above Work, by the same Author, 
 in royal 8vo. 
 
 THE FARMER'S COMPANION, being a Complete Sys- 
 tem of Modern Husbandry : including the latest Improvements and 
 Discoveries, in Theory and Practice. 
 
 The leading feature of excellence by which this Work is distinguished, 
 is that minuteness of practical detail, which renders it singularly adapted 
 to the purposes of Agriculture. The whole scope of its contents has 
 a constant and immediate connexion with the daily pursuits of the 
 Farmer, the Implements of Husbandry he employs, the Modes of Agri- 
 culture he adopts, and the System of Pasture and Feeding he pursues. 
 These multifarious topics are all treated with simplicity and clearness ; 
 so that the Work presents an ample, but distinct display of every subject 
 connected with the practical objects of a Farm. It is illustrated with 
 upwards of One Hundred Engravings, representing improved Implements 
 for Farming, various Breeds of Cattle, Sheep, &x. Price 1/. 16s. boards. 
 
 Sir John Sinclair on Agriculture. 
 
 THE CODE OF AGRICULTURE ; including Observations 
 on Gardens, Orchards, Woods, and Plantations. By the Right Hon. 
 Sir John Sinclair, Bart. Fourth Edition, in one large vol. 8vo. price 
 1/. in boards. This Edition is considerably improved by a number of 
 valuable Remarks, communicated to the Author by some of the most in- 
 telligent Farmers in England and Scotland. 
 
 The Subjects particularly considered, are 
 
 1. The Preliminary Points which a Farmer ought to ascertain, before 
 he undertakes to occupy any extent of Land. 
 
 2. The Means of Cultivation which are essential to ensure its success. 
 
 3. The various Modes of improving Land. 
 
 4. The various Modes of occupying Land. 
 
 5. The Means of improving a Country. 
 
Books published by Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper. 
 MOUBRAY ON POULTRY, PIGS, AND COWS. 
 
 A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON BREEDING, REARING, 
 AND FATTENING ALL KINDS OF DOMESTIC POULTRY, 
 PHEASANTS, PIGEONS, AND RABBITS; including, also, an in- 
 teresting Account of the Egyptian Method of Hatching Eggs by Artificial 
 Heat, with some Modern Experiments thereon ; also, on Breeding, Feed- 
 ing, and Managing Swine, Milch Cows, and Bees. By Bonington 
 Moubray, Esq. A New Edition, being the Sixth, enlarged by a 
 Treatise on Brewing, making Cider, Butter, and Cheese, adapted to 
 the Use of Private Families. Price 7s. Crf. in boards. 
 
 %* M Mr. Moubray's little book on the breeding, rearing, and fattening 
 all kinds of domestic poultry and pigs, is unquestionably the most practical 
 work on the subject in our language. The author's aim seems to have 
 been to avoid scientific detail, and to convey his information in plain and 
 intelligible terms. The convenience of a small poultry-yard — two or three 
 pigs, with a breeding sow — and a cow for cream, milk, butter, and cheese 
 — in an English country-house, appears indispensable ; and to point out 
 how these may be obtained, at a reasonable expense, seems to have been 
 Mr. Moubray's object. By adopting the plan of his work, any family 
 may furnish their table with these luxuries at one-third of the price they 
 are obliged to pay at the markets ; and the farmer and breeder may render 
 it the source of considerable profit." — Farmer's Journal. 
 
 Bucknall on Fruit-Trees, and the Husbandry of Orchards. 
 
 THE ORCHARDIST; or, A SYSTEM OF CLOSE 
 PRUNING AND MEDICATION FOR ESTABLISHING THE 
 SCIENCE OF ORCHARDING; containing full Instructions as to 
 Manure, preventing Blight, Caterpillars, and Cure Canker, as patro- 
 nized by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and 
 Commerce. By the late T. S. D. Bucknall, Esq. M.P. In 8vo. price 
 5s. boards. 
 
 %* This Work obtained for the Author the Prize Medal and Thanks of 
 the above Society. Only very few copies remain on hand. 
 
DEADLY ADULTERATION 
 
 AND 
 
 SLOW POISONING UNMASKED ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 IN THE POT AND THE BOTTLE; 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 THE BLOOD-EMPOISONING AND LIFE-DESTROYING 
 ADULTERATIONS 
 
 OP 
 
 WINES, SPIRITS, BEER, BREAD, FLOUR,TEA, SUGAR, SPICES, CHEESE- 
 
 MONGERY, PASTRY, CONFECTIONARY MEDICINES, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 ARE LAID OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, 
 
 WITH 
 
 TESTS OR METHODS 
 
 FOR ASCERTAINING AND DETECTING THE 
 
 FRAUDULENT AND DELETERIOUS ADULTERATIONS 
 
 AND THE GOOD AND BAD QUALITIES 
 
 OF THOSE ARTICLES: 
 
 With an Expose of Medical Empiricism and Imposture, Quacks and 
 
 Quackery, Regular and Irregular, Legitimate and Illegitimate : and 
 The Frauds and Mal-practices of Pawnhrokers and Madhouse-keepers. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 BY AN ENEMY TO FRAUD AND VILLANY. 
 
 " The Workshop of the Distillery [and of the Wine and Spirit Compounder] is 
 the Elaboratory of Disease and of Premature Death."— Manual for Invalids. 
 
 Devoted to disease by baker, butcher, grocer, wine-merchant, spirit-dealer, 
 cheesemonger, pastry-cook, and confectioner; the physician is called to our as- 
 sistance ; but here again the pernicious system of fraud, as it has given the blow, 
 steps in to defeat the remedy j the unprincipled dealers in drugs and medicines 
 exert the most diabolical ingenuity in sophisticating the most potent and neces- 
 sary drugs, (viz. peruvian bark, rhubarb, ipecacuanha, magnesia, calomel, castor- 
 oil, spirits of hartshorn, and almost every other medical commodity in general 
 demand;) and chemical preparations usedin pharmacy. Literary Gazette. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PUBLISHED BY SHERWOOD, GILBERT AND PIPER, 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 MARCHANT, PRINTER, I NGR AM-COURT. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S ADDRESS 
 
 THE READER. 
 
 The catalogue of frauds and enormities exhibited in 
 the following pages will, no doubt, excite the abhorrence 
 and indignation of every honest heart. Its author is, 
 however, convinced that he will find that he has un- 
 dertaken a very unthankful office — that his book will 
 be the dread and abhorrence of wicked and unprin- 
 cipled dealers and impostors of all kinds ; and himsel 
 exposed to their utmost rancour and bitterest maledic- 
 tions. But the die is cast : he has discharged a public 
 duty, and sincerely hopes that the Public may be bene- 
 fited by his disclosures. 
 
 It has been justly said, that all attempts to meliorate 
 the condition of mankind have, in general, been coldly 
 
Mem. — I have stated at p. 11, on the authority of the 
 author of " The Oracle of Health and Long Life,*' 
 that the many sudden deaths that are daily happening in 
 and about the metropolis, are no doubt assignable to the 
 unprincipled and diabolical adulterations of food, spirits, 
 malt liquors, and the other necessaries of life. Since 
 that extract was printed in the pages of " Deadly Adul- 
 teration and Slow Poisoning Unmasked " I am sorry 
 to say, that I have observed numerous instances of the 
 sudden deaths of persons in apparently perfect health, 
 detailed in the London and country newspapers, and 
 even at the very moment that I am penning this remark, 
 I observe, in the columns of the Herald newspaper, 
 accounts of two persons in the prime of life and in good 
 health, whose deaths happened in a similar way. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction 3 
 
 Wines and Spirits, Adulteration of, 12 
 
 Tests of, 40 
 
 Beer and Ale 50 
 
 Bread and Flour * 68 
 
 Meat and Fish 78 
 
 Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, and Sugar 83 
 
 Spices 98 
 
 Pickles 1 04 
 
 Vinegar 1 05 
 
 Olive Oil 107 
 
 Salt and Mustard 1 08 
 
 Anchovy Sauce and Mushroom Catsup • 109 
 
 Isinglass 110 
 
 Blue and Soap Ill 
 
 Candles and Starch 113 
 
 Bees'Wax 114 
 
 Butter 115 
 
 Cheese Bacon, and Haras 116 
 
 Milk and Cream 118 
 
 Potatoes, Fruit, &c 119 
 
 Confectionary and Pastry • • • 122 
 
 Perfumery, Cosmetics, Hair Oils, Bear's Grease, &c 126 
 
 Medicines, Medical Empiricism, Quacks, and Quackery 133 
 
 Coals 170 
 
 Colours, Hats, Broad Cloths, Laces, Kerseymeres, Linens, Cam- 
 brics, Silks, Jewellery, Stationery, &c 176 
 
 Conclusion 181 
 
 Appendix • 183 
 
 Gin, «« Comfort" or " Blue Ruin" ib. 
 
 Fish ib. 
 
 Tea 184 
 
 . Some more Morning Water and Sir Reverence Doctors. . 186 
 
 Noodle Medical Book-wrights 1 87 
 
 The Frauds and Mal-practices of Pawnbrokers and Mad- 
 house Keepers • • • • i 1 90 
 
DEADLY ADULTERATION AND SLOW POISONING 
 UNMASKED; with Tests for Ascertaining and Detecting the 
 Fraudulent and Deleterious Adulterations, and the good and bad 
 qualities of Wines, Spirits, Beer, Bread, Flour, Tea, Sugar, 
 Spices, Cheesemongery, Pastry, Confectionary, Medicines, &e. &c. 
 Price 5s. bound in cloth. 
 
 Critical Opinions of the Work. 
 
 " We are always happy to meet with such true-hearted reformers as the enemies 
 to fraud and villany. Detesting the impositions of every form and variety to which 
 the simple inhabitants of this metropolis are daily made victims, our author in a 
 tone of ardent indignation, and disdaining to mince his expressions at a crisis so full 
 of perihdenounces in forcible language the scandalous practices of adulteration, from 
 which no material of food or luxury seems to be exempted. The style, however, 
 is occasionally diversified, and no sooner have we been roused into a sympathetic 
 feeling of anger with the author against this set of impostors, than we are called 
 on to unite with him in a hearty laugh at the ridiculous plight into which, by a 
 humourous and amusing term of expression, he puts another community of base 
 adulterators. We have not met, lately, with a volume of this compass, which 
 contains more useful information and amusing matter than the present one." — 
 Monthly Review for Nov. 1830. 
 
 " We honestly recommend this eventful volume." — New Monthly Magazine, 
 Jan. 1831. 
 
 " To go over all the subjects which this admirable volume embraces, would fill 
 many pages of our work j we must, therefore, refer our readers to the work 
 itself j and we shall be greatly astonished, if, after having perused it, they do not 
 thank us for the advice." — Monthly Gazette of Health, for Oct. 1830. 
 
 ** This is a volume of intense and surpassing interest j its use and excellence 
 should be known to every person who values health and life; it should form an 
 appendage to every family library." 
 
 " This interesting book is evidently the production of a man of considerable 
 talents."— Lance*, Jan. 1831. 
 
 " This is a work of great public utility, and its author, whose honesty and 
 public spirit have placed him in the foremost rank of benefactors to the public- 
 welfare, is richly entitled to the gratitude of the community." 
 
 See also Imp. Mag. for Dec. 1830; Home Missionary, for Oct. 1830; News, for 
 Jan. 1831 j Atlas, for Jan. 1831 ', United Kingdom, Jan. 1831, &c. &c. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S ADDRESS TO THE READER. 
 
 The catalogue of frauds and enormities exhibited in 
 the following pages will, no doubt, excite the abhorrence 
 and indignation of every honest heart. Its author is, 
 however, convinced that he will find that he has un- 
 dertaken a very unthankful office — that his book will be 
 the dread and abhorrence of wicked and unprincipled 
 dealers and imposters of all kinds ; and himself exposed 
 to their utmost rancour and bitterest maledictions. But 
 the die is cast : he has discharged a public duty, and 
 sincerely hopes that the Public may be benefited by his 
 disclosures. 
 
 It has been justly said that all attempts to meliorate 
 the condition of mankind have, in general, been coldly 
 received, while the artful flatterers of their passions and 
 appetites have met their eager embraces. And it is no 
 less true that it has always been the fate of those who 
 have attempted any great public good to be obnoxious 
 to such as have profited by the errors of mankind. 
 The divine Socrates, whose life was a continued exertion 
 to reprove and correct the overweening and the vicious, 
 died a victim to the Heathen Mythology, on account of 
 his maintaining the unity and perfections of the Deity, 
 and exposing the doctrines and pretensions of the hea- 
 then priesthood and the Sophists and their mercenary 
 views ; and, in later times, Gallileo would have met a 
 similar fate, had he not bowed to error, and renounced 
 a sublime truth, clear as the glorious orb that was the 
 object of it, and which, soon after, was universally 
 acknowledged. Even the Divine Founder of our Faith 
 and Religion was stigmatized as the broacher of false 
 opinions, and one who misled the people, by his igno- 
 rant and malicious accusers, whose frauds and delusions 
 it was the object of his mission to confound and over- 
 throw, as well as to free mankind from the bondage of 
 their errors. But without having the presumption or 
 impiety to compare himself with those benefactors of 
 
mankind, or to put his humble endeavours in compe- 
 tition with their godlike attempts, or to expect a similar 
 result from them, it will be a great consolation to the 
 author of this book, when life is departing the frail 
 tenement of his body, to reflect that he has brought 
 " deeds of darkness to light," — that he has been the 
 humble means of unmasking to public view the frauds 
 and villanies that are daily and hourly practiced on the 
 Public Health and Welfare; and, in that " trying hour," 
 his most grateful feeling and homage to English law 
 will be, that it secures to every man the liberty of ex- 
 pressing his honest indignation and abhorrence of pal- 
 pable and disgusting fraud and imposture. 
 
 " Hail to the Press !— 
 
 Vast artery of life, through which the stores 
 That feed the growth of Truth, Opinion pours; 
 The mighty lens through which she points the rays 
 That kindle Error's records into blaze. — 
 Gigantic engine! power that supersedes 
 The long prescriptive Use that Folly pleads. — 
 O happy England ! 
 
 Land of my fathers! may thy children keep, 
 E J en as they guard the empire of the deep, 
 The free, unshackled press, that best secures 
 Their rights, and liberty to truth assures/' 
 
 Mem.— I have stated at p. 11, on the authority of the author of 
 " The Oracle of Health and Long Life" that the many sudden 
 deaths that are daily happening in and about the metropolis, ^ are 
 no doubt assignable to the unprincipled and diabolical adulteratious 
 of food, spirits, malt liquors, and the other necessaries of life. Since 
 that extract was stereotyped in the pages of " Disease and Death in 
 the Pot and the Bottle," I am sorry to say, that 1 have observed 
 numerous instances of the. sudden deaths of persons in apparently 
 perfect health, detailed in the London and country newspapers, 
 and, even at the very moment that I am penning this remark, 
 1 observe in the columns of the Herald newspaper accounts of two 
 persons in the prime of life and in good health, whose deaths hap- 
 pened in a similar way. 
 
33caWij SUmittrattou, 
 
 AND 
 
 SLOW POISONING; 
 
 OR, 
 
 DISEASE AND DEATH 
 
 IN 
 
 THE POT AND THE BOTTLE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The able and patriotic Editor of the Literary Gazette, 
 No. 156, in the course of his review of Mr. Accum's 
 meritorious work on Culinary Poisons, makes the fol- 
 lowing just and striking remarks : 
 
 One has laughed at the whimsical description of the 
 cheats in Humphrey Clinker, but it is too serious for a 
 joke to see that, in almost every thing which we eat 
 or drink, we are condemned to swallow swindling, if 
 not poison — that all the items of metropolitan, and 
 many of country, consumption are deteriorated, de- 
 prived of nutritious properties, or rendered obnoxious 
 to humanity, by the vile arts and merciless sophistica- 
 tions of their sellers. So general seems the corruption, 
 and so fatal the tendency, of most of the corrupting 
 b2 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 materials, that we can no longer wonder at the preva- 
 lence of painful disorders and the briefness of existence 
 (on an average) in spite of the great increase of me- 
 dical knowledge, and the amazing improvement in the 
 healing science, which distinguish our era. No skill 
 can prevent the effects of daily poisoning ; and no man 
 can prolong his life beyond a short standard, where every 
 meal ought to have its counteracting medicine. 
 
 Devoted to disease by baker, brewer, grocer, wine- 
 merchant, spirit-dealer, cheesemonger, pastry-cook, con- 
 fectioner, &c. the physician is called to our assistance ; 
 but here again the pernicious system of fraud, as it has 
 given the blow, steps in to defeat the remedy: even the 
 physician's prescription is adulterated ! 
 
 Mr. Accum's account of water (i. e. the Companies' 
 water — the filthy and unwholesome water supplied from 
 the Thames, of which the delicate citizens of Westmin- 
 ster fill their tanks and stomachs, at the very spot 
 where one hundred thousand cloacinae, containing every 
 species of filth, and all unutterable things, and strongly 
 impregnated with gas, the refuse and drainings of 
 hospitals, slaughter houses, colour, lead, and soap 
 works, drug-mills, manufactories, and dung-hills, daily 
 disgorge their abominable contents) is so fearful, that 
 we see there is no wisdom in the well : and if we then 
 fly to wine, we find, from his analysis, that there is no 
 truth in that liquid ; bread turns out to be a crutch to 
 help us onward to the grave, instead of being the staff 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 of life ; in porter there is no support, in cordials no con- 
 solation ; in almost every thing poison, and in scarcely 
 any medicine, cure ! 
 
 That this denunciation of fraud and villany is not 
 mere assertion, the terrific disclosures that I am about 
 to make (some of which are to be found in Mr. Accum's 
 book, and in greater detail than the space I have pre- 
 scribed myself allows) will fully prove to the contrary, 
 and show that it is the duty of the government to protect 
 the public by some legislative provisions, and to prohibit 
 and render penal the nefarious practices in daily use for 
 the diabolical and deleterious adulteration of the neces- 
 saries of life, practices which are destructively inimical 
 to the public health and welfare. As Mr. Accum has 
 pointedly said in the preface to his work, " as the eager 
 and insatiable thirst for gain is proof against prohibi- 
 tions and penalties, and the possible sacrifice of a fellow 
 creature's life is a secondary consideration among un- 
 principled dealers," nothing short of subjecting the 
 offence to the operation of the criminal law seems 
 likely to suppress the wicked and diabolical practices, 
 and secure the public from the silent and unobserved 
 effects of being slowly poisoned: transportation ought 
 to be the mildest punishment of the iniquitous offender. 
 Is it not, as the same gentleman justly observes, a re- 
 flection on English law, that " a man who robs a fellow 
 subject of a few shillings on the highway should be 
 sentenced to death, while he who distributes a slow 
 poison to a whole community should escape unpu- 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nished," at most with only the infliction of a trifling- 
 fine, which proves to him the inefficiency of the law to 
 restrain him from a continuance in his iniquitous prac- 
 tices? The inefficacy of fines, however large, in deter- 
 ring offenders from a commission or repetition of the 
 crime is evident, from the inadequacy of the large 
 penalties to which the adultering brewer, grocer, coffee- 
 manufacturer, &c. are subject when detected. For, be-* 
 sides the difficulty of detecting this species of fraud and 
 iniquity, the large profits, which are often several hun- 
 dreds per cent, enable the culprits to meet the trivial 
 loss which attends a detection, and speedily reimburses 
 them the penalty of a conviction. 
 
 " Plures crapula quam gladius," says the old adage, 
 which, in a free translation, maybe paraphrased " Cook- 
 ery depopulates like a pestilence. " To those versed in 
 the business of disease it is well known that this is no 
 exaggeration. But, dismal as is the destruction of hu- 
 man life from this source, it is by no means equal to 
 that occasioned by the effects of the nefarious traffic in 
 the adulteration of the necessaries of life ; the pernL 
 cious and destructive mixtures and combinations to which 
 they are subject have produced greater ravages on health, 
 and given a greater empire to death than the united 
 scourges of famine and the sword in combination with 
 the refinements of cookery and the increase of gastro- 
 philism: — they occasion the loss of tens of thousands 
 of human lives every year in the metropolis alone 
 It has with truth been said that to so alarming an extent 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 have the illicit practices of poisonous adulteration ar- 
 rived, " that it would be difficult to mention a single 
 article of food which is not to be met with in an adulte- 
 rated state ; and there are some substances which are 
 scarcely ever to be procured genuine." 
 
 These spurious mixtures and counterfeit articles are 
 combined and manufactured with so much skill and in- 
 genuity, as to elude and baffle the discrimination of the 
 most experienced judges. And, for the purpose of en- 
 suring the secrecy of the nefarious traffic, " the pro- 
 cesses are distributed and subdivided among distinct 
 operators, and the manufactures are carried on in se- 
 parate establishments." The tasks of proportioning the 
 ingredients and that of their composition and prepa- 
 ration are assigned to distinct persons. In fact, " the 
 traffic in adulterated commodities finds its way through 
 so many circuitous channels as to defy the most scru- 
 tinizing endeavour of individual exertion to trace it to 
 its source." And the frequency of the act has ren- 
 dered the conscience of the offenders callous and in- 
 different to the consequences. The man who would 
 shudder at the idea of giving a dose of arsenic to a 
 single individual sleeps soundly in his bed, though he 
 knows that he administers as fatal, though a slower, 
 poison to thousands every day. And such a man is 
 the baker, the miller, the wine-merchant, the brewer, 
 the publican, the druggist, the tea-dealer, and every 
 dealer who adulterates an article of food. And yet, 
 those thoughtlessly wicked men suffer their consciences 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to be seared and bribed to silence through their self- 
 interest and craving appetite for unreasonable and un- 
 righteous gain ! 
 
 With respect to those " filthy nuisances" the gin- 
 shops and workshops of the wine and spirit dealers, 
 which have not inaptly been termed " the elaboratories 
 of disease and of premature death/' the following re- 
 marks, which appeared in the New Monthly Magazine 
 for February, 1 828, are dictated in the justest spirit 
 of criticism and of public duty. It is to be wished 
 that all journalists were disposed, in like manner, to de- 
 nounce fraud and imposture. 
 
 " While there is so much prating and preaching about 
 the morals of the people ; while the increase of crime 
 is grossly exaggerated, and the necessity of instruction 
 is loudly talked about ! when even the lotteries, which 
 of late years did no harm at all, have been given up to 
 the prevailing fashion of affected sanctity, it is quite 
 preposterous that such filthy nuisances as the numerous 
 gin-shops of London should not merely be tolerated, 
 but sanctioned and encouraged by the legislature. We 
 do not speak of regular public-houses, but of those 
 places which are devoted only to the sale of spirits by 
 retail. They cannot be necessary for the purpose of 
 refreshments, and can only, as they do in fact, serve 
 to produce evils of the most lamentable nature/' Who, 
 that has a spark of feeling and integrity in his nature, 
 does not coincide in opinion with the ingenious and 
 accomplished editor of the distinguished periodical, 
 
INTRODUCTION. | 
 
 from which this spirited and sensible passage is ex- 
 tracted ? 
 
 But the truth is, as has been well observed by the 
 author of " The Manual for Invalids," that it would be 
 difficult to discover any thing in social life that is more 
 virtually neglected than Public Health, which ought to 
 be an object of the greatest concern to all wise and pater- 
 nal governments, as well as to every influential and 
 well-disposed individual in the nation. " The Public 
 Health and the Public Morals," as the same excellent 
 writer sagaciously observes, " should be the object of 
 the greatest solicitude on the part of every government, 
 instead of extracting a profit from deception and vil- 
 lany, ignorance and vice. Were the various descrip- 
 tions of liquors in which alcohol bears so predominant 
 a part taxed to prohibition, there would be less of felony, 
 less of moral degradation, less employment for police 
 magistrates and judges, and less occasion for the ex- 
 ecutioner. There would be a counterpoise in the re- 
 duction of the parochial burthens, and a greater value 
 given to the moral character of the people ; but, un- 
 fortunately, the produce to the revenue is such as — 
 while it does not prevent the injurious use of spirituous 
 liquors, it enriches the coffers of the nation ; and the 
 sacra auri fames has, as well in government matters 
 m in those of the quack, the adulterator, and the im- 
 postor, the power of making that appear relatively right 
 which is absolutely wrong." 
 
 Nor is the general and immoderate use of ardent spi- 
 b 3 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rits only destructive to the body, but it acts eminently 
 as powerful incentives to vice of every kind. Does the 
 robber pause in his vocation ? Does the murderer he- 
 sitate to deprive his fellow-creatures of life ? They are 
 presently wound up to a reckless sense of their crimes 
 at the gin-shop. — Has the seducer tried all his arts in 
 vain to despoil his unsuspecting victim of peace and in- 
 nocence ? The seductive liquor offers him an easy prey, 
 and leaves his immolated victim polluted, disgraced, 
 and lost to society. The brothel is more indebted to 
 this source than to all the lures of seduction. In fact, 
 the seductive productions of the distillery and the wine- 
 press impair the physical strength of the country, and 
 induce incorrigible habits of vice and intemperance. 
 
 A reflecting writer has expressed an opinion that the 
 life of man would generally be extended to a hundred 
 years were it not for his excesses and the adulteration 
 of his food ; and when we consider how many attain 
 even a greater age, under every disadvantage, we must 
 allow that there is probability in this opinion. When 
 we observe the early disfigurement of the human form, 
 the swollen or shrunk body, the bloated and self-cari- 
 catured face, with the signs of imbecility and decre- 
 pitude which we continually see, at an age when life 
 should be in its fullest vigour ; — when, at every turn 
 we meet the doctor's carriage ; in every street, behold 
 a rivalry of medical attraction ; it is impossible not to 
 feel a conviction that something must be essentially 
 wrong in our way of living. This is principally assign- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 able to our improper and unwholesome diet, but more 
 especially to the vile adulterations to which every article 
 of diet is now impudently and wickedly subjected. As 
 the author of the " Oracle of Health and Long Life" 
 observes, in a note to page 31, "it is no doubt to the 
 unprincipled adulterations of food, spirits, malt liquors, 
 <fcc. that a great number of the sudden deaths, which 
 are constantly happening in and about the metropolis, 
 is assignable. The adulteration, it is true, is not suf- 
 ficient to cause instant death, but it operates slowly, and 
 silently, and imperceptibly ; so as not to excite sufficient 
 suspicion and inquiry respecting the cause. This is not 
 an idle or a random remark, but one founded on much 
 observation and on very probable grounds. It is hoped 
 that it will awaken public attention and inquiry respect- 
 ing these nefarious transactions." Following this valu- 
 able advice, I will exert myself to the utmost to pro- 
 mote and call into action this necessary duty, and with 
 this intent the following pages were composed, for the 
 collection of the materials of which I have had singular 
 opportunities afforded me. 
 
PART I. 
 
 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 I shall divide this interesting portion of my work into two sections; 
 iirst, the Adulteration of Wines and Spirits, and the Tricks of Wine 
 and Spirit Dealers; and, secondly, the Tests or Methods of ascer- 
 taining the Good and Bad Qualities of Wines and Spirits. 
 
 Section I. — The Adulteration of Wines and Spirits, 
 and the Tricks of Wine and Spirit Dealers. 
 
 1. WINES. 
 
 The frauds and malpractices in use among the wine 
 and spirit brewers and compounders of the metropolis, 
 and the noxious and deleterious ingredients with which 
 those unprincipled men " make up" the poisonous com- 
 pounds, that they are daily vending to the public, under 
 the names of wines and spirits, exceed the devices, 
 and are, if possible, of a more deadly operation than 
 the sophistications and vitiated manufactures palmed 
 upon the public by the wicked and avaricious cozeners 
 of all other adulterating trades. 
 
 The art or mystery of manufacturing spurious and 
 counterfeit wines and liquors forms a regular trade 
 of great extent in this metropolis, and is carried on 
 with so much skill and ingenuity, and has attained so 
 great perfection, as to render the irony of the witty 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 13 
 
 author of the Tatler no longer figurative; namely, that 
 M the transmutation of liquors under the streets of Lon- 
 don was so perfect, that the operators by the power of 
 magical drugs could convert a plantation of northern 
 hedges into a vineyard ; could raise the choicest products 
 of the hills and valleys of France under the streets of 
 London ; could squeeze Bourdeaux out of the sloe, and 
 Champagne from the apple." 
 
 Nor has the reprobation of the contaminations of 
 wines and spirits with substances deleterious to health 
 been confined to former times ; they have been stigma- 
 tised on account of their alarming and deadly increase 
 in numerous recent publications. I quote the following- 
 artless lines, in which an honest country lad is repre- 
 sented as expressing his abhorrence of his relative, a 
 London wine-merchant's sophistications, not for the ele- 
 gance of the poetry, but as conveying an important 
 truth in a plain garb; perhaps its unaffected satire is not 
 ill adapted to awaken attention: 
 
 " So I buss'd Luke and mother, and, vastly concern *d, 
 
 Off I set, with my father's kind blessing, 
 To our cousin, the wine merchant, where I soon learn 'd 
 
 About mixing, and brewing, and pressing ; 
 But the sloe-juice and rat's bane, and all that fine joke, 
 
 Was soon in my stomach a-rising, 
 Why, dang it ! cried I, would you kill the poor folk ? 
 
 I thought you sold wine, and not poison !" 
 
 But the particular histories of the corruptions of wines 
 and spirits will be more acceptable to those who are 
 
14 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 desirous of preserving their health and enjoying their 
 existence comfortably, than quotation ; for, were wine 
 and spirit bibbers aware of the abominable and fraudu- 
 lent processes of adulteration in use among wine and 
 spirit dealers and gin-shop keepers, they would not only 
 heartily join in the exclamation of the " poet of Nature," 
 " Oh ! that men should put an enemy in their mouths 
 to steal away their brains !" but they would be convinced 
 that it is not only high time that the fraud and villany 
 of their selfish and secret poisoners should be unmasked, 
 but also punished and suppressed. For this purpose I 
 shall detail some of the noxious compositions of the 
 wine and spirit dealers of newspaper notoriety, and of 
 the placarding gin-shop keepers, whose gaudy premises, 
 as well as those of other puffers at cheap prices, are de- 
 signed to catch the eye and arrest the attention of the 
 heedless and unwary. And thus I am inclined to be- 
 lieve that my readers will heartily agree with one who 
 has materially and honourably contributed to expose the 
 villany of adulterators of all kinds, that, in the deterio- 
 ration and pernicious sophistication of the necessaries 
 and comforts of existence, it may with truth be said, in 
 a civil as well as in a religious sense, that " in the 
 midst of life we are in death. " 
 
 Factitious wines are generally, in the slang phrase- 
 ology of the adulteration trade, " doctored" or " cooked," 
 in order to give them particular flavours, and render 
 them similar to the wines they are intended to represent. 
 Thus bitter almonds (or the leaves of cherry laurel, 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 15 
 
 which are cheaper) are added to give a nutty flavour j 
 sweet briar, orris-root, clary, cherry-laurel-water, and 
 elder-flowers to form the bouquet of high-flavoured 
 wines ; alum to render young and meagre red wines 
 bright ; cake of pressed elder-berries and bilberries to 
 render pale faint coloured port [or red sumach, &c. to 
 tinge spoiled white wines red] of a deep rich purple 
 colour;* oak saw-dust, [sloes,] and the husks of fil- 
 berts, to give additional astringency to unripe red wines; 
 and a tincture of the seeds of raisins to flavour factitious 
 port wine ; [with a variety of other ingredients, such as 
 spice, &c. to render wine pungent] . (The Vintners and 
 Licensed Victuallers' Guide, pi 259.) And in the same 
 work, p. 225, among other deleterious ingredients, " su- 
 gar of lead"f is directed to be used for fining or clearing 
 
 * Mr. Accum, in his valuable book, enumerates, among the 
 ingredients for giving the deeper or purple colour to wine, brazil- 
 wood ; but that ingenious gentleman is in error in this respect; for 
 braiil-wood, as is well known to every practical chemist, has the 
 property of imparting a blue colour to port wine, which is not quite 
 the complexion that the wine-manufacturer wishes to give his spu- 
 rious commodity. 
 
 t The introduction of this deleterious ingredient into wines is to 
 stop the progress of their ascescency, or to recover ropy wines, or 
 to clarify and render transparent spoiled or muddy while wines. 
 As to the deleterious effects and dangerous consequences of this 
 and other adulterations of wines, &c. see The Oracle of Health 
 and Long Life; or, Plain Rules for the Attainment and Preservation 
 of Sound Health and Vigorous Old Age. By Medicus. 
 
16 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 cloudy white wines. That book and works of a similar 
 kind are the accredited repositories of the arcana of 
 sophistication for the publican and small wine and spirit 
 dealer, and gin-shop keeper; but, as Mr. Accum (Cu- 
 linary Poisons, p. 87) says, the more wholesale adulte- 
 rators and " large capitalists," whether wine and spirit 
 brewer or ale and beer brewer, obtain, on payment of a 
 considerable fee, a manuscript from the brewers' and 
 spirit-dealers' druggist, containing the whole mystery of 
 managing and drugging wines, spirits, beer, or ale ; or 
 they may be initiated in the respective crafts and myste- 
 ries, by oral instruction, and practical demonstration, 
 on payment of a handsome douceur. 
 
 The above is the general method of doctoring or 
 " cooking" wine and spirits. The following are the par- 
 ticular and more ingenious methods of sophistication in 
 use among the advertising and placarding venders of 
 " genuine old Port" and * amber-coloured" or w fine 
 pale Amontillado Sherry." Both sorts are generally 
 compounded of a small quantity of the real article either 
 in a good or a deteriorated state, according to the taste 
 or conscience of the compounder, with the necessary 
 proportions of Cape wine, cider, sal tartar, colouring- 
 matter, brandy or rum cowe, or other adulterating slops, 
 which are calculated to form a tolerable basis, and to 
 bear a resemblance in colour and flavour to the wine 
 desired to be imitated. As the communication of the 
 particular ingredients of which these factitious wines are 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 17 
 
 composed cannot but be acceptable to my readers, I shall 
 give a particular account of each of the processes. 
 
 Factitious, or fabricated port wine is usually made 
 by mingling or blending together in large vats Bene- 
 carlo, or black strap, which is a strong coarse Spanish 
 wine of inferior quality ; Red Cape ; a sufficient quan- 
 tity of Mountain to soften the mixture and give it the 
 appearance of richness ; a portion of sal tartar and gum 
 dragon (the object of the first ingredient is to cause the 
 wine to crust soon when bottled ; of the second, to impart 
 a fullness and roundness of flavour and consistence of 
 body) ; colouring matter, or berry-dye, which is an ex- 
 tract of German bilberries ; brandy or rum cowe, which 
 is the rinsings of casks containing those liquors, obtain- 
 ed by throwing in a few gallons of water into them after 
 the liquor is drawn off, and leaving it closely bunged up 
 till the cask has imparted the flavour of the liquor to the 
 water ; and a quantity of spoiled cider, of which many 
 thousand pipes are annually brought to the metropolis 
 for this purpose. Sometimes a small quantity of port is 
 made use of, with rectified spirits and coarse brandy, 
 and, instead of the colouring articles above mentioned, 
 red saunders wood, or the juice of elder-berries or of 
 sloes is employed. According to the Mechanics , Maga- 
 zine, the chemical analysis of a bottle of cheap port 
 wine was as follows : spirits of wine, three ounces ; 
 cider, fourteen ounces ; sugar, one and half ounce ; 
 alum, two scruples ; tartaric acid, one scruple ; strong 
 decoction of logwood, four ounces. And this is the 
 
18 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 " genuine old port/' of unrivalled flavour and quality, 
 of the London fabricators and compounders. " Amber- 
 coloured Sherry," or " the fine pale Amontillado 
 Sherry," of the advertising* wine -factor and placarding 
 gin-shop keepers is manufactured of coarse highly- 
 brandied brown Sherry, Cape wine, and brandy cowe ; to 
 which are added extract of almond-cake or gum benzoin, 
 to impart a nutty flavour ; cherry-laurel- water, to give a 
 roundness of flavour ; lamb's blood, to fine the mixture 
 and clear or decompose its colour; and oyster-shells and 
 chalk, for the purpose of binding and concentrating the 
 whole ; and this delectable composition the knavish adept 
 in the art of deleterious combination palms on the cre- 
 dulity of the public under the inviting title of " fine 
 pale Sherry, of peculiar delicacy and flavour." Had the 
 late Dr. Kitchiner been aware of these sophistications 
 he would not have said " that, of the white wines, 
 Sherry is the most easy to obtain genuine, and is the 
 least adulterated." 
 
 The " fine old East-India Madeira, at unprecedented 
 cheap prices, for ready money only,' , of these worthies 
 is a commixture of a portion of East-India Madeira 
 with Teneriffe, Vidonia, or Direct Madeira,* and East- 
 India Cape.f " The fine old soft-flavoured West-India 
 
 * Direct Madeira is that which has been shipped direct from the 
 island of Madeira, without having the benefit, as it is termed, of 
 a voyage to the East or West Indies. 
 
 t East-India or West-India Cape is that portion of Cape wines 
 which has had the benefit of a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 19 
 
 Madeira, of capital quality " and, of course, at ex- 
 ceedingly low prices, is manufactured from a portion of 
 genuine West-India Madeira and a sufficient modicum 
 of old thin Direct Madeira ; and should the precious 
 commixture be approaching to acidity the kindness of 
 the sophisticating compounder obliges the palate of his 
 poor gulled customer with the insertion of a few ounces 
 of carbonate of soda. The genuine colour of pure 
 Madeira (one of the best off-hand methods of forming 
 an opinion of the goodness of Madeira is, as the author 
 of The Private Gentleman and Importing Merchants 
 Wine and Spirit Cellar- Directory judiciously says, by 
 its colour) is much paler than that of Sherry. When 
 it has a pinkish hue it is a sign of its having been adul- 
 terated with Teneriffe. 
 
 " The Old London Particular," or any other imposing 
 and dainty appellation extracted from the adulterating 
 vocabulary of the artful sophisticator, is generally com- 
 posed of a combination of cheap Vidonia, common dry 
 Port, Mountain, and Cape wine, properly fined and re- 
 duced to the requisite colour by means of lamb's blood. 
 
 The Cape wine generally sold to the public is com- 
 
 to the East Indies, and thence back to London. Cape Sherry is that 
 portion of Cape wine which bears the greatest resemblance in flavour 
 to real Sherry. Cape Madeira is so denominated from its resem- 
 blance, in point of flavour, to Madeira. Cape Burgundy, Cape 
 Hock, Cape Sauteme, Cape Port, Cape Pontac, Cape Champagne, 
 Cape Barsac, &c. owe their appellations to their supposed resem- 
 blance, in point of flavour, to those wines. 
 
20 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 posed of the drippings of the cocks from the various 
 casks, the filterings of the lees of the different wines in 
 the adulterators' cellars, or from any description of bad 
 or spoiled white wines, with the addition of brandy or 
 rum cowe and spoiled cider. " The delicately pale Cape 
 Sherry, or Cape Madeira, at astonishingly low prices," 
 and, of course, for ready money , is composed of the 
 same delicious ingredients, with the addition of extract 
 of almond cake, and a little of that delectable liquor, 
 lamb's blood, to decompose its colour, or, in the cant 
 phraseology, to give it " complexion." 
 
 In fact, the impositions practised in regard to this 
 species of wine fully justifies the reprobation of the 
 writer in the 43d number of the Quarterly Review. 
 " The manufactured trash," says the judicious critic, 
 " which is selling in London under the names of Cape 
 Champagne, Burgundy, Barsac, Sauterne, &c. are so 
 many specious poisons, which the cheapness of the com- 
 mon and inferior wines of the Cape allows the venders 
 of them to use as the bases of the several compositions, 
 at the expense of the stomach and bowels of their cus- 
 tomers." By mixing these wines with the lees of other 
 kinds, and fining and compounding them with various 
 drugs, they endeavour to counterfeit the more costly 
 vintages of Spain and Portugal, and even France. 
 
 It is unnecessary to state that the " Old Vidonia 
 Wines," the " Fine old delicately-pale Bucellas," and 
 the ' * Unequalled and beneficial Tent," for the sick and 
 infirm, and the offices of our holy religion, " sold re- 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 21 
 
 markably cheap, for ready money," by those honest and 
 tender-conscienced gentry, are base substitutes for the 
 genuine articles. To say nothing worse, Tent, Moun- 
 tain, Calcavella, &c. is Port wine, transmuted by the 
 addition of capillaire, &c. And, from the report of a 
 late case w r hich came on before the Court of King's 
 Bench, it appears that the scarce and costly Tokay, the 
 Lachryma Christi, and La Creme Divine, are seldom any 
 other than identical Sicilian wines of an inferior descrip- 
 tion ; the current price of which in the market is about 
 twelve pounds sterling per hhd. Oh ! friend Bull, how 
 the sophisticating rogues trifle with thy dainty palate ! 
 Hadst thou not better rest contented with thy soul-stir- 
 ring, heart-cheering, viiium Britannicum, — thy home- 
 brewed ale, and Sir John Barleycorn, instead of filling 
 thy dear stomach with a medley of foreign slops. Oh, 
 John, when wilt thou learn wisdom and find a loyal 
 pleasure in paying thy quota of tax on articles of home 
 manufacture ! Alas ! Johnny, thou art a sadly way- 
 ward fellow ! there is more hope of " the w T ild ass's 
 colt" than of thee, when thy longings after foreign 
 luxuries seduce thy palate and blind thy understanding ! 
 Nor are the costly French wines less exempt from the 
 devices and sophistications of the imps of the " Father 
 of Deceit." The " super-excellent" or " genuine Claret 
 of exceedingly fine description and of the choicest qua- 
 lity" of the advertising and placarding dealers, is a 
 composition of inferior claret and a quantum sufficit of 
 Spanish red wine and rough cider, with the colouring 
 
22 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 berry-dye. The colouring process is sometimes per- 
 formed by the agency of " black sloes :" " a dozen new 
 pippins/' or " a handful of the oak of Jerusalem,'* are 
 often kindly introduced to improve its quality ; and to 
 tickle the taste of the consumer of this wine, or of Port, 
 " an ounce of cochineal" is considerately thrown into a 
 hogshead of liquor " to make it taste rough." 
 
 When one views this goodly enumeration of items, it 
 must be admitted that the burthen of the old song does 
 not appear overcharged : 
 
 " One glass of drink, I got by chance, 
 'Twas claret when it was in France, 
 
 But now from it moche wider; 
 I think a man might make as good 
 With green crabbes, boil'd in Brazil-wood, 
 
 And half a pinte of cyder." 
 
 And it gives us cause to be satisfied of the truth of 
 Milton's remark: — 
 
 " Of deaths, many are the ways that lead 
 To his grim cave— all dismal." 
 
 O ye gulled Jacky Bulls, who revel in bibbing 
 " costly French wines," how angry you will be with 
 me when I tell you that while you think you are sipping 
 " Genuine Sparkling Champagne," you are titillating 
 your exquisite gullets with merely plain home-made 
 English gooseberry wine ; or, what may be more alarm- 
 ing to you, with worthless Champagne wine of very 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 23 
 
 dangerous and deleterious quality and tendency ; whose 
 effervescence or sparkling is produced by disengaging 1 
 the carbonic acid of the wine by the agency of sugar. 
 To gain this end, the solid sugar is corked up in the 
 bottle, so that the disengaged gas is retained under the 
 pressure of the cork, ready to fly out whenever it is 
 removed. The agency of litharge of lead, in its worst 
 form, is often invoked in the manufacture of Champagne, 
 as well as of other white wines, in order to correct and 
 render bright such wines as have turned vapid, foul, or 
 ropy, or to prevent the progress of any ascescent quality 
 that they may have acquired. The least pernicious 
 mode of manufacture of this wine is by adding to the 
 spoiled Champagnes, a portion of the low, or " third 
 quality" wines from the indifferent vineyards, and occa- 
 sioning the admixture to undergo a fresh fermentation, 
 by the action of strong chemical agente ; and then it is 
 vended as " prime still Champagne." 
 
 Some estimate may be formed of the extent of the 
 adulteration of this costly wine by the following notice 
 in Dr. Reece's Monthly Gazette of Health for 1829.— 
 " A company of Frenchmen," says that honest abomi- 
 nator of roguery and quackery of all kinds, " have 
 contracted with some farmers in Herefordshire for a 
 considerable quantity of the fresh juice of certain pears, 
 which is to be sent to them in London, immediately 
 after it has been expressed, or before fermentation has 
 commenced. With the recently expressed juice they 
 made last year an excellent brisk wine resembling the 
 
24 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 finest sparkling Champagne ; and we are told that the 
 speculation was so productive, that they have resolved 
 to extend their manufactory." To this account I can, 
 from a knowledge of the concern, perfectly assent, ex- 
 cept that the Anglo-French manufacture does not 
 exactly represent the first quality of Champagne wine, 
 as it is quite impossible for any imitative preparation to 
 represent that quality of wine. 
 
 Many thousand dozens of wines are sold in the course 
 of the year in London as old wines, under names which 
 have scarcely any other title to the appellation of wine 
 than similarity of colour. " A particular friend of 
 mine," says a correspondent to the Monthly Gazette of 
 Health, " purchased at a public sale by the hammer, a 
 quantity of ' super-excellent' claret, at the rate of 50s. 
 per dozen, which, on delivery, his butler discovered to 
 be the same wine he had exchanged with a wine 
 merchant at the rate of 20s. per dozen, being what is 
 termed pricked. The worthy Baronet complained of 
 the imposition, but the auctioneer would not listen to 
 him. He had tasted it previously to bidding for it, and 
 that was enough for him." 
 
 Another source of great profit to the cheap dealers, 
 the gin-shop keepers, and the advertizing wine-men, 
 arises from the size of the bottles in which they vend 
 their compounds and mixtures, ycleped " wine." 
 
 In the bottle-trade six various sizes are sold, namely : 
 
 The full quart, of which twelve contain three gallons 
 of liquid, old measure. 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 25 
 
 The thir teens, of which there must be thirteen to 
 contain three gallons of liquid, old measure. 
 
 The fourteens, of which there must be fourteen to 
 contain three gallons of liquid, old measure. 
 
 The small fourteens, of which there must be fourteen 
 and a half, to contain three gallons of liquid, old 
 measure. 
 
 The fifteens, of which there must be fifteen, to con- 
 tain three gallons of liquid, old measure. 
 
 The sixteens, of which there must be sixteen, to con- 
 tain three gallons of liquid, old measure. 
 
 The two last sizes are those sold to the gin-shops and 
 cheap wine venders. 
 
 The above are the frauds practised by wine-dealers, by 
 vending bottles of inferior dimensions to the legal wine 
 quart, which contains thirty-two ounces ; but many of 
 the bottles imposed on unwary purchasers do not contain 
 more than twenty-four ounces, and few more than 
 twenty-six ounces. 
 
 The readiest way of detecting the fraud is by mea- 
 suring the suspected wine-bottle by Lyne's graduated 
 glass measure, which holds half a pint, and is divided 
 into ounces, &c. Or, if you have not a measure of the 
 Jkind by you, weigh the contents of the suspected bottle 
 and compare the weight ascertained with the following 
 corresponding weights : 
 
 1 legal wine quart = 32 ounces ; or, 256 drachms. 
 
 By subtracting the weight of the contents of the sus- 
 c 
 
26 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 pected bottle from this weight, you may precisely ascer- 
 tain the deficiency. 
 
 2. SPIRITS. 
 
 In the adulteration of spirituous liquors, the adver- 
 tising and placarding compounder exerts equal ingenuity 
 and fraud, and obtains an equally lucrative traffic as 
 from wines. The " Curious old soft flavoured Cogniac, 
 ten years old," of those nefarious dealers, is compound- 
 ed of Spanish or Bourdeaux brandy, neutral flavoured 
 rum, rectified spirits, British brandy, British brandy 
 bitters, cherry-laurel- water, extract of almond cake, 
 extract of capsicums, or of grains of paradise, burnt 
 sugar or colouring matter. But more generally that 
 " medicinal" compound British brandy is palmed on the 
 public, for real Cogniac brandy. This diabolical farrago 
 of mischievous ingredients, which was held forth to the 
 public by interested individuals concerned in the under- 
 taking, as calculated " entirely to supersede the use of 
 Cogniac brandy," and " likely to prove of great benefit 
 to the health and comfort of the poorer and middling 
 classes of society," is compounded of oil of vitriol, 
 vinegar, nitrum dulce, tincture of raisin stones, tinctura 
 japonica, cherry-laurel-water, extracts of capsicums or of 
 grains of paradise, orris-root, cassia- buds, bitter almond 
 meal, colouring matter, &c. from which enumeration of 
 " neat" articles it appears that this " almost superior 
 brandy to Cogniac," as its modest manufacturers term 
 it, is a slow poison, and equally deleterious in its effects, 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 27 
 
 if not more so, than that vile composition — " cheap gin." 
 That this is not an unfounded insinuation against " the 
 pure and unadulterated" article, sold, no doubt, " at asto- 
 nishingly low prices, and for ready money," will appear 
 from the clear statement of the process of each manufac- 
 ture given by the author of The Wine and Spirit Adul- 
 terators Unmasked, pages 179 and 198. " British 
 brandy," says the honest Unmasker, " is composed of 
 drugs, gin only flavoured by them. In the manufac- 
 ture of gin, the ingredients are put into the still, with a 
 spirit which has been previously rectified, and the con- 
 densed evaporation which is derived from the whole 
 constitutes the article gin. In the preparation, however, 
 of British brandy, the mixture is made without any 
 process through a still, being compounded more like a 
 quack doctor's nostrum. The only part of the manufac- 
 ture wherein distillation is concerned, consists merely in 
 rectifying either rum or malt whiskey, to deprive them 
 of their essential oils, so that they may be reduced to 
 a state as tasteless as possible, and thereby more 
 readily receive the spurious flavours intended to be im- 
 parted to them. 
 
 " The other articles are added in their raw state. — 
 Should it be inquired why the same process as is 
 adopted in the manufacture of gin, should not succeed 
 in making British brandy, the answer is, because, in 
 distilling the necessary drugs with the rectified spirit, 
 the flavour would neither retain the sufficient predo- 
 minancy, nor be sufficiently fixed to enable the article 
 c 2 
 
28 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 to sustain the desired likeness to brandy, besides that 
 the effect of several of the ingredients, such as the oil 
 of vitriol, and nitrum dulce, which are used to impart 
 a resemblance of the vinosity possessed by genuine 
 French brandy, would be completely destroyed." 
 
 " Fine old Jamaica rums of peculiar softness and 
 flavour" are manufactured of low-priced Leeward-island 
 rum, ale, porter, or shrub, extract of orris-root, cherry- 
 laurel- water, and extract of grains of paradise, or of 
 capsicums. Sometimes the composition consists of low- 
 priced Jamaica rums, rectified spirits of wine, and the 
 Leeward-island rums, with the necessary acid vegetable 
 substances, to give them false strength and pungency 
 and the requisite flavour; and thus the purchaser is 
 accommodated by " the caterers of comfort" with 
 a rum which " cannot" be adulterated, of exceedingly 
 fine and superior flavour," remarkably cheap and for 
 ready money only. The ripe taste which rum or brandy 
 that has been long kept in oaken casks obtains, is im- 
 parted to new brandy and rum, by means of a spirituous 
 tincture of raisin-stones and oak saw-dust. And the 
 water distilled from cherry-laurel-leaves is frequently 
 mixed with brandy and other spirituous liquors to im- 
 part to them the flavour of the cordial called Noyeau. 
 Sugar of lead not unfrequently forms part of the flavour- 
 ing ingredients of the retailers' rums. 
 
 But the perfection of adulteration is in gin, — cheap 
 gin — " the real comfort," — patronized by the poor for 
 its supposed genuineness! This infernal compound 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 29 
 
 of combustibles is distinguished from the other slow 
 poisons to which a large portion of the population of 
 " the queen of cities," — our " modern Carthage," 
 make themselves the willing victims, by the poisonous 
 nature of the ingredients of which it is composed.* 
 These are the oils of vitriol, turpentine, juniper, cassia, 
 carraways, and almonds, sulphuric ether or phosphorus, 
 extracts of orris-root, angelica-root, capsicums or grains 
 of paradise, sugar, and heading. The aid of lime-water 
 and of spirits of wine is also invoked in the course of 
 the operation. The purposes of these mischievous in- 
 gredients are as follow : The oil of vitriol is to impart 
 
 * The respectable author of " The Art of Brewing on Scientific 
 Principles" has the following note, " Spirits vended by retail are 
 ail adulterated, and some of them to a dreadful extent. Some 
 months since (his work was published in 1826,) a person having 
 writing to do that would occupy great part of the night, purchased, 
 at a liquor shop, in Newgate-street, half a pint of gin j and, during 
 the night, he drank a goblet-full of grog, which he had made from 
 it. He was seized with most excruciating agony, spasms of the 
 stomach, temporary paralysis, and loss of intellect. These he attri- 
 buted to some natural cause, and he gave the remainder of the liquor 
 to a person that called on him in the morning. In about an hour 
 that person was similarly affected. This induced inquiry ; and it 
 was ascertained that the woman who served the liquor had mistaken 
 the bottle, and had sold half a pint of the fluid intended to prepare 
 the adulterations for sale. The last-mentioned person who partook 
 of the infernal mixture died of its effects." Similar consequence* 
 have occurred from adulterated beer. Among a thousand otheT 
 instances, see the Coroner's inquest in the Times Newspaper of the 
 29th of June, 1829. 
 
30 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 pungency and the appearance of strength, when the 
 liquor is applied to the nose, while the extract of cap- 
 sicums or of grains of paradise is designed to perform 
 the same office for the taste. The extracts of orris and 
 angelica roots give a fulness of body and the coveted fla- 
 vour called cordial to the large proportion of the compound, 
 which consists only of water. The remaining oils are 
 to give strength, the sugar to sweeten the composition, 
 and the lime to uni'te the oils with the spirit ; while the 
 sulphuric ether, phosphorus, and heading are intended 
 to give the semblance of being highly spirituous from 
 the fiery taste, and the appearance of the light bead 
 which is caused to appear and remain for some time on 
 the surface of the noxious compound. The introduc- 
 tion of the white arsenic is intended to promote an 
 irritable and feverish thirst, so that the poor deluded 
 consumer may be compelled to have recourse to fresh 
 potations of the " liquid fire." The Hollands of the 
 , gin-shop keepers and advertising dealers is a commix- 
 ture of a small portion of the genuine article with rec- 
 tified spirits, peppermint, cloves, &c. The cordial, 
 called Shrub, says Mr. Accum, Culinary Poisons, 
 p. 257, frequently exhibits vestiges of copper, which 
 arise from the metallic vessels employed in the manu- 
 facture of the liquor. But, had that ingenious gentle- 
 man been thoroughly acquainted with the manufacture 
 of shrub in the cellars of spirit dealers, he would not 
 have been quite so moderate in his remarks respecting 
 this seductive " cordial" 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 31 
 
 Such is a list of the detestable articles palmed on the 
 public, by the avaricious and unprincipled dealers and 
 cozeners in the factitious wines and spirits on constant 
 and extensive sale throughout every quarter of the me- 
 tropolis. The credulity and infatuation of the public in 
 the consumption of the deadly draughts are truly asto- 
 nishing, and are a verification of the sarcasm that were 
 the vision of death to appear to the tippler in each glass 
 of liquor that he puts to his lips, yet he would still per- 
 severe in habits which are inevitably destructive of health 
 and comfort, and eventually productive of disease and 
 death. " Oh blindness to the future ! — " Surely old 
 Jeremy Taylor's observation respecting Apicius is equally 
 applicable to the inveterate consumer of wines and spi- 
 rits — " It would have been of no use," says that ortho- 
 dox old divine, " to talk to Apicius of the secrets of 
 the other world, and of immortality ; that the saints 
 and angels eat not ! The fat glutton would have stared 
 awhile and fallen a-sleep. But if you had discoursed 
 well and knowingly of a lamprey, a large mullet, or a 
 boar, animal propter convivium, and had sent him a 
 cook from Asia to make new sauces, he would have 
 attended carefully, and taken in your discourses gree- 
 dily." The same feeling I expect will be displayed 
 towards this book by the inveterate dram-drinker : he 
 or she will curse the author, as a busy-body, for his 
 intermeddling with, and abusing their " dear comfort." 
 People are apt to conclude that a practice sanctioned 
 by time and numbers must be right ; but there cannot 
 
32 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 be a conclusion more fallacious. The grossest possible 
 absurdities have been sanctioned for the same reasons. 
 No doubt some will defend their practice of dram- 
 drinking and immoderate potations of wines, and of 
 malt and spirituous liquors by the unsound plea that 
 they find no ill effect from their self immolation from 
 drinking the deadly draughts ; but reasoners so deluded 
 should recollect that, though there are persons who are 
 insensible to the immediate effects from strong liquors, 
 either spirituous or malt, yet to those who seldom or 
 ever use them, they act as quick poisons ; not waiting 
 their tedious operation in the form of fever, gout, stone 
 and gravel, dropsy, bile, rheumatism, head-ache, scurvy, 
 cancer, asthma, consumption, palsy, brain fever, apo- 
 plexy, mania, and a long list of other frightful and 
 loathsome diseases. In truth, as the author of " The 
 Oracle of Health and Long Life" forcibly observes, 
 " they paralyze the nervous system and the heart's 
 action ; and the tremulous hand, the palsied limbs, the 
 bloated and inflamed countenance, and the faltering 
 tongue, super-induced by their immoderate use, indi- 
 cate that premature death lays claim to his deluded and 
 self-destroying victim V* 
 
 Nor is this the worst consequence of the immoral 
 and unsocial act : for the unhappy wretch who is ad- 
 dicted to the habitual and vicious use of ardent spirits, 
 besides subjecting himself to the attack of " the whole 
 army of diseases " which assault the human frame from 
 intoxication, often exhibits a more awful demonstration 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 33 
 
 of the consequences of violating the laws of morality 
 and social decency : I allude to the extraordinary fact 
 of the spontaneous combustion of the body, which has 
 often terminated the existence of old and inveterate 
 drunkards. 
 
 This combustion is occasioned in such persons from 
 the whole fabric of the body being so changed, by the 
 constant practice of spirit-drinking, with inflammable 
 matter (probably hydrogen); or, chemically speaking, 
 it acquires so powerful an attraction for oxygen, that it 
 suddenly takes fire, (in some instances spontaneously, 
 in others from the flame of a candle or too powerful a 
 heat of the fire,) and the body is reduced to a cinder. 
 
 The persons in whom this dreadful visitation of ap- 
 parently supernatural punishment for the violation of 
 the laws of nature has occurred, have been chiefly wo- 
 men. In some cases the unhappy sufferers have been 
 found burning, " sometimes with an open flame flicker- 
 ing over the body, sometimes with a smothered heat or 
 fire, without any open flame whatever ; whilst the ap- 
 plication of water has occasionally seemed rather to 
 quicken than impede the combustion. 
 
 " In no instance has the fire or flame thereby excited 
 in the body been so powerful as essentially to injure the 
 most combustible substances immediately adjoining it, 
 as linen or woollen furniture. 
 
 " The event has usually taken place at night, when 
 the sufferer has been alone, and has commonly been 
 discovered by the foetid penetrating scent of sooty films, 
 c3 
 
34 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 which have spread to a considerable distance. The un- 
 happy subject has in every instance been found dead, 
 and more or less completely burnt up." 
 
 The above awful account is quoted from Dr. Mason 
 Good's " Study of Medicine;" but relations of numerous 
 cases of the above horrid termination of existence may 
 be found in the Philosophical Transactions, Vols. 63 and 
 64, in Dr. Young's " Medical Literature," and in a variety 
 of Foreign Journals, medical as well as general. 
 
 Let all those who are addicted to habitual intoxica- 
 tion and the consumption of the infernal compositions 
 of nefarious dealers in spirits, read and re-read the above 
 quotation, and may they take warning, and renounce 
 that unhappy propensity. 
 
 It is true that wine and malt liquors, and even occa- 
 sionally spirits, are far from prejudicial, when properly 
 made, and used with discretion; but as it is almost 
 impossible to find them in that state, except when 
 home-made or home-brewed, there is certainly much 
 risk in drinking them. Yet, strange to say, though the 
 stoutest among us has no predilection for the " King 
 of Terrors," inclination and habit are so strong and 
 seductive, that the greater part of mankind still per- 
 severe in habits with a perfect knowledge of their in- 
 evitable consequences,— that they are destructive of 
 health and inductive of death. For the purpose of 
 awakening the attention of those who are under this 
 unhappy delusion, is the design of the present publica- 
 tion. The most grateful sensation to a well disposed 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 35 
 
 heart is the salvation of a fellow creature from misery 
 and perdition. I beseech heaven that I may be suc- 
 cessful in my undertaking. 
 
 But the base and iniquitous adulterations of wines 
 and spirits are not the whole of the " illicit doings" of 
 the advertisers and placarders, and their worthy com- 
 peers, the commission-men, the wine-hawkers, and the 
 dock wine-merchants. " Among the deceptions prac- 
 tised by this class of dealers," says the author of Wine 
 and Spirit Adulterators Unmasked, p. 157, and he is no 
 indifferent authority on the subject, " may be reckoned 
 the delivering of a less quantity of wine than is charged 
 for in the invoice, the disposing of a wine with a false 
 description of its being of some particularly fine and noted 
 vintage ; the sending of another wine, of an inferior qua- 
 lity, as the one which had been tasted and sold; to- 
 gether with a variety of other peculations. The gin- 
 shop-keepers and advertising dealers in spirits not only 
 give short measure of their adulterated ingredients, but if 
 they sell any thing like the genuine article they dilute 
 it much below (often one hundred per cent.) the legal 
 strength, namely, seventeen per cent, below proof, ac- 
 cording to Sykes's hydrometer." 
 
 For the following valuable information respecting the 
 ingenious devices of the * gentlemen" wine-merchants, 
 I am indebted to the pages of " The Private Gentle- 
 man and Importing Merchant' s Wine and Spirit 
 Cellar Directory :" — A work replete with the most 
 useful information on the subject, as containing the 
 
36 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 best and most practical instructions on the selection , 
 purchase, management, medication, and preservation of fo- 
 reign wines, of any work extant in any language. It has 
 been well said by a judicious critic, " No book is more 
 wanted than a good, practical, and complete one on this 
 important subject: it would be worth its weight in gold, 
 and its author would be a public benefactor to his coun- 
 try. Mc^e than nine-tenths of the wine imported into 
 this country is either spoiled or impoverished by the 
 ignorance or mismanagement of the wine-dealer or the 
 purchaser; as at present conducted, the management of 
 a wine-cellar is, in most cases, all random, hap-hazard, 
 and guess-work. Ought we to be surprised at the result, 
 the consequent loss or injury of the wine ? It is, there- 
 fore, with considerable satisfaction we recommend this 
 little work as a valuable addition to our domestic eco- 
 nomy/' 
 
 " As many people place reliance on the genuineness 
 of wines purchased in the Docks, and think that such 
 purchases are more exempt from fraud and imposition 
 than if obtained from the dealer's shop or vaults, and 
 that they will have them ' neat as imported/ it is 
 necessary to caution them to be on their guard in re- 
 spect of the persons with whom they deal. Inferior 
 articles, false descriptions, substitutions for the one 
 selected, and various other peculations, take place there 
 as frequently as is the case when wines are purchased 
 at the dealer's shop, &c. Other impositions of as fla- 
 grant a nature consist in transferring wines of a most 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 37 
 
 inferior sort into pipes recently emptied, and originally 
 filled with wine of the best vintages and flavour; and as 
 the outside of the cask bears the marks of the foreign 
 houses of character, from whose vintages the wines con- 
 tained in the casks were furnished, this fraud is found 
 to turn to very good account. By delusions of this 
 kind, the most detestable trash ever vended under the 
 name of wine is frequently foisted on purchasers. But 
 if this statement is not sufficient to satisfy those who 
 fondly suppose that by making their purchases in the 
 1 Docks' that they will always have their expectations of 
 obtaining unadulterated wine fulfilled, they should recol- 
 lect that the owners of wines in the i Dock' are at liberty 
 to mix them in whatever manner and proportions they 
 please, provided they come under one denomination as 
 to colour and pay the same duty. These remarks will, 
 I trust, satisfy my readers that ■ an extensive range of 
 counting-houses/ * numerous clerks employed' and 
 professions of * the high character of the house/ should 
 not supersede the necessity of making a little inquiry 
 as to the fair dealing and integrity of the vender." 
 
 The foregoing st expose" of trickery and fraud, and 
 the shameful latitude and extensive means afforded de- 
 signing and iniquitous men, of practising their roguery 
 on the credulity and folly of the public, as well as to the 
 loss of the revenue, evidently shows that our present 
 system of excise-laws is defective and absurd : indeed, 
 it is disgraced by the most perfect anomalies ; for, while 
 the brewer and vender of spices, &c. are subjected to 
 
38 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 the strictest survey of the excise, and the frauds and 
 adulterations used in those trades are punished, (when de- 
 tected, though it must be acknowledged that that happy 
 consummation of justice is rather of rare occurrence even 
 with those sophisticators,) in the most prompt and effi- 
 cient manner, the venders and compounders of " seduc- 
 tive poison/' in the form of drams, are allowed to manu- 
 facture and sell their deleterious inventions to an enor- 
 mous extent, and with an effrontery disgraceful to civi- 
 lized society. But, perhaps, the old artful plea of the 
 " immense wealth," and " the great value of the property," 
 of " the large capitalists" engaged in the nefarious trade, 
 (the worst and most futile of all pretentions,) have en- 
 titled the * deputations" of wine and spirit dealers and 
 compounders and distillers that have, from time to time, 
 waited on the Chancellors of the Exchequer, to " un- 
 doubted consideration;"* and where the worthies have 
 
 * According to the testimony of the author of " Wine and Spirit 
 Adulterators Unmasked" the profits of the wine and spirit com- 
 pounders are so great, and the chance of the detection of their 
 frauds and impositions on the public and the revenue is almost so 
 impossible, that many of them are to be found " vieing with the no- 
 bility of the land in the splendour of their equipages and expen- 
 diture." He mentions one gin-shop-keeper (a worthy in the neigh- 
 bourhood of St. Luke's) who " drives his family to church, on a 
 Sunday, in h.s carriage and four." Another, who has a •* richly 
 ornamented state bed." A third, who is to be found lolling ,f on 
 an ottoman, in a French dressing-gown." And he adds, that it is 
 usual to give from four to six thousand guineas for the good will 
 of a gin-shop which has an unexpired lease of eighteen or twenty 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 39 
 
 been detected (a chance which but seldom happens) in 
 their iniquitous practices a prudent private compromise, 
 or sum-total-fine, for the offence and the expenses of the 
 Excise-solicitor, *' have shrouded the offenders and their 
 misdeeds in impenetrable secrecy from the public eye." 
 
 Another lame and false doctrine that prevails in 
 " government logic' is, that where extensive concerns, 
 whether brewery, distillery, wine-factories, or quack- 
 medicine-factories, yield an important contribution to 
 the revenue, no strict scrutiny needs to be adopted in 
 regard to the quality of the article from which such con- 
 tribution is raised, provided the excise and customs do 
 not suffer by the fraud. " But," as that intrepid advo- 
 cate of fair dealing, Mr. Accum, forcibly and justly ob- 
 serves, " the principles of the constitution afford no 
 sanction to this preference, and the true interests of the 
 country require that it should be abolished; for a tax 
 dependent on fraud must be at best precarious, and must 
 be, sooner or later, diminished by the irresistible diffu- 
 sion 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." 
 
 M O England ! model to thy inward greatness, 
 Like little body with a mighty heart, 
 What would'st thou do that honour would thee do, 
 Were all thy children kind and natural ?" 
 
 years, with the drawback of the purchaser being quite at the mercy 
 of the magistrates as to the renewal of his license. 
 
40 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 Were they all influenced by the same honest, bold, 
 and disinterested motives as the ill-fated Accum, who 
 has been offered a vindictive sacrifice on the altar of 
 trading cupidity and fraud. Every honest man must 
 allow that the expatriation of that gentleman is a 
 disgrace to the country which he has adorned and 
 benefited by his talents, and ought to be deplored as 
 a loss to the real interests of science and humanity. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 The Tests, or Methods of ascertaining the Good or 
 Bad Qualities of Wines and Spirits. 
 
 Though there are many tests in use for the dis- 
 covery of the presence of mineral poisons, such as li- 
 tharge and other preparations of lead, or pungent vege- 
 table nostrums, namely extract of capsicums, &c. in 
 wines and spirits, yet it must be admitted that there are 
 no efficient tests for detecting the presence of the foreign 
 agents above mentioned in either wines or spirits, except 
 by chemical analysis ; because, in the fraudulent combi- 
 nation which takes place, those articles bear the largest 
 proportions which possess the same chemical properties 
 as do the wines and spirits with which they are com- 
 pounded. The injurious tendency of the vegetable poi- 
 sons which form a component part of the spurious com- 
 positions which are vended under the denomination of 
 cheap wines and spirits, and their injurious and linger- 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 41 
 
 ing effects are so imperceptible on the human constitu- 
 tion, that, as the author of " The Oracle of Health and 
 Long Life" observes, they must be deadly indeed to 
 produce immediate injury, so as to give suspicion of 
 their presence. 
 
 The presence of sugar of lead, or any other deleteri- 
 ous metal in wine, may be detected by filling a glass 
 with wine, and adding a few drops of Harrowgate -water, 
 or melted brimstone, when the wine will with the last 
 mentioned ingredient becomes blackish, and with the 
 other it will immediately produce a black sediment ; but 
 if it be unadulterated it will only lose its clearness, taste, 
 and colour. Or the adulteration may be discovered by 
 adding one part of water saturated with sulphuretted 
 hydrogen gas, acidulated with a small portion of mu- 
 riatic acid, to two parts of wine, or any other liquid, 
 in which the presence of lead is suspected, when a 
 blackish coloured precipitate will settle at the bottom of 
 the vessel, which, being dried and fused by means of the 
 blow -pipe, will yield a globule of metallic lead. The 
 prussiate of potash is occasionally employed for the same 
 purpose : a drop or two being sufficient to show a white 
 or greyish precipitate in any fluid in which lead is con- 
 tained. When white wines have an unusual degree of 
 sweetness, are of a darker colour than their age and 
 body seem to warrant, and particularly when their use, 
 or that of the red wines, is followed by pains in the 
 stomach, it may be concluded that they have been 
 adulterated with lead. 
 
 The process to detect the presence of alum in wine, 
 
42 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 is to take some fresh prepared lime-water, and to mix 
 the suspected wine with it, in about equal proportions ; 
 if after the mixture has stood about a day, a number 
 of crystals is found deposited at the' bottom of the vessel, 
 the wine is genuine; but, if alum is present in the wine, 
 there will be no crystals, but a slimy and muddy preci- 
 pitate. Or the presence of alum may be detected, by 
 dropping some solution of sub-carbonate of potash into 
 the wine, when, if the alum be present, there will be a 
 violet coloured precipitate, or at least cloudiness, which 
 will vanish again if a few drops of caustic, potash, or of 
 muriatic acid are added to the mixture. 
 
 Where artificial colouring matter is suspected in wine, 
 put a quarter of a pint of the liquor into a phial, with 
 an ounce of fresh charcoal finely pulverized. Then 
 shake the mixture well for a few minutes, when, if the 
 wine is impregnated only with its own natural colouring, 
 that colour will be chemically destroyed, and the wine, 
 when filtered, will yield a clear limpid fluid; but, if the 
 wine is artificially coloured, such artificial colours will 
 not be acted on by the charcoal, and the mixture will 
 appear unchanged. 
 
 Extraneous colours in wines may also be detected by 
 means of acetate of lead. If this test produces, in red 
 wine, a greenish grey precipitate, it is a sign that the 
 wine is genuine. Wine coloured with the juice of bil- 
 berries, or elderberries, or Campeachy wood, produces, 
 with acetate of lead, a deep blue precipitate ; and fer- 
 nambouk wood, red saunders, and the red beet, produce 
 a red precipitate by the agency of the acetate of lead. 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 43 
 
 According to Cadet (Dictionnaire de Chimie, art. 
 Vin.) this species of adulteration may be detected by 
 pouring into the suspected wine a solution of sulphate of 
 alumine, and precipitating the alum by potash. If the 
 wine is pure, the precipitate will have a bottle green co- 
 lour, more or less dark, according to the natural hue of 
 the wine. But if the colour has been artificial the 
 following will be the results : — 
 
 Tournesol will give a precipitate of a bright yellow colour 
 
 Brazil wood a brownish red colour 
 
 Elderberries or privet a brownish violet colour. 
 
 Wortleberries the colour of dirty wine lees. 
 
 Logwood • a lake red colour. 
 
 But Dr. Henderson says, in his learned work, entitled 
 " The History of Ancient and Modern Wines," p. 342, 
 that the simple test pointed out to him by his friend 
 Dr. Prout is equally satisfactory, and may be applied 
 either to red or white wines. " On adding ammonia to 
 wines, which had the appearance of being genuine, he 
 observed that the precipitate was of an olive green co- 
 lour ; shewing the analogy between the colouring prin- 
 ciple and the vegetable blues, most of which are rendered 
 red by acids, and green by alkalis. This conjecture is, 
 in some measure, confirmed by the recent discovery of 
 M. Breton, professor of chemistry in Paris, with respect 
 to the cause of that disorder in wines known by the 
 name of tournure. Wine thus affected acquires a dis- 
 agreeable taste and smell, loses its red colour, and as- 
 sumes a dark violet hue, which changes are found to 
 
44 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 proceed from the presence of carbonate of potash, in 
 consequence of the decomposition of the tartar contained 
 in the liquor. To restore the natural colour and flavour, 
 if the disease be not of long standing, it is only neces- 
 sary to add a small quantity of tartaric acid, which, 
 combining with the potash, forms cream of tartar, as is 
 shown by the subsequent deposition of crystals. Revue 
 Encyclopedique, November, 1823. In genuine w T ines, 
 the colouring matter seems to partake of the character 
 of a lake, partly held in solution by the excess of acid 
 present, and partly combined w T ith the earthy phos- 
 phates ; for, in the precipitates obtained from these wines 
 by means of ammonia, it appears in union with the 
 triple phosphate of magnesia. Even the white wines 
 of Xeres, Madeira, and Teneriffe, exhibit this mixed 
 precipitate ; their colouring matter being probably derived 
 from the red grapes which enter into their composition. 
 In fictitious wines, on the other hand, such as those 
 procured from the black currant, gooseberry, orange, &c. 
 the last mentioned salt was thrown down by ammonia, 
 but more gradually, in less quantities, and without any 
 admixture/ ' 
 
 The method of ascertaining the strength, or quantity 
 of spirit or alcohol in wines is by the following process, 
 for the discovery of which the public is indebted to 
 Mr. Brande. 
 
 " Add to eight parts, by measure, of the wine to be 
 examined, one part of a concentrated solution of sub- 
 acetate of lead : a dense insoluble precipitate will ensue : 
 which is a combination of the test-liquor with the co- 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 45 
 
 louring, extractive and acid matter of the wine. Shake 
 the mixture for a few minutes, pour the whole upon a 
 filter and collect the filtered fluid. It contains the 
 brandy, or spirit, and water of the wine, together with 
 a portion of the subacetate of lead. Add, in small 
 quantities at a time to this fluid, warm, dry, and pure 
 subcarbonate of potash, (not salt of tartar, or the sub- 
 carbonate of potash of commerce) ; which has previously 
 been freed from water by heat, till the last portion 
 added remains undissolved. The brandy or spirit con- 
 tained in the fluid will become separated ; for the 
 subcarbonate of potash abstracts from it the whole of 
 the water, with which it was combined ; the brandy or 
 spirit of wine forms 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 a hundred 
 equal parts, the per centage of spirit, in a given 
 quantity of wine, may be read off by mere inspection. 
 In the same manner the strength of any wine may be 
 examined/ ■ 
 
 The following is the proportion, or per centage, of 
 alcohol or spirit in some of the most common wines and 
 spirituous liquors. But such of my readers as may wish 
 to gain more extensive information on the subject, I 
 refer them to the first volume of the Journal of Science 
 and the Arts, p. 290. 
 
 Madeira 24.42 to 19.24 average 22.77 
 
 Sherry 19.81 to 18.25 average 16.17 
 
46 WINES AND SPIRITS. 
 
 Claret 17.18 to 12.91 average 15.10 
 
 Port 25.83 to 19.96 average 22.99 
 
 Champagne.. 13.80 to 11.30 average 12.61 
 
 Cider, highest average •• 9.87 lowest do. 5.21 
 
 Brandy 53.39 Gin 54.32 
 
 Rum.- 53.68 Whiskey(Scotch) 54.32 
 Whiskey (Irish) 53.90 
 
 Ale (Burton) 8.88 
 
 (Edinburgh) 6.20 
 
 (Dorchester) 5.50 
 
 London Porter (average) • • 4.20 
 
 Small Beer (average) • • • • 1 .28 
 
 The above proportional quantities of alcohol contained 
 in the different kinds of wine are extracted from Mr. 
 Brande's experiments detailed in the work before men- 
 tioned; but as it appears that that gentleman made 
 his experiments on samples of wine into which adven- 
 titious alcohol had been introduced, he seems in some 
 instances to have assigned a greater degree of spiritu- 
 osity to some wines than the subsequent analysis of 
 Dr. Prout will justify, in the case of experiments made 
 on genuine wines. To those who are desirous of inform- 
 ing themselves accurately on the subject, a reference 
 to the Table at pages 363 and 364 of Dr. Henderson's 
 work on the History of Ancient and Modern Wines, 
 in which the results of the experiments of Mr. Brande, 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 47 
 
 Dr. Prout, and Mr. Zist, an able chemist residing at 
 Mentz, are detailed, is recommended. 
 
 The quantity of astringent matter, or tannin, con- 
 tained in wine, may readily be ascertained by dropping 
 a solution of isinglass into it, when a gelatinous preci- 
 pitate takes place in proportion to the tannin, whether 
 it be Port, Claret, or Burgundy. 
 
 The adulteration and false strength of spirituous 
 liquors, as brandy, rum, and malt spirit, are detected 
 by diluting the suspected liquor with water, when the 
 acrimony of the capsicum, or the grains of paradise, or 
 pepper, may be easily discovered by the taste. Or by 
 taking about a quart of the suspected liquor, and pouring 
 it into a retort, or small still, and boiling it gently, 
 until the whole of the spirituous part is evaporated, the 
 residuum, if capsicum, grains of paradise, &c. have been 
 present in the liquor, will retain a hot pungent taste. 
 A ready way of detecting aquafortis, or oil of vitriol, in 
 spirits, is, by dropping into a glass of the suspected 
 liquor, a bit of chalk about the size of a pea, when the 
 liquid, if spurious, will become like milk, but, if genuine, 
 the chalk will lie at the bottom. 
 
 The adulteration of brandy with British molasses or 
 sugar spirit, is ascertained by rubbing a portion of the 
 suspected liquor between the palms of the hands, when 
 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 por- 
 tion of it in a spoon over a candle till the vapour ceases 
 
48 WINES AND SPIRITS, 
 
 to catch fire on the approach of a lighted taper. The 
 residue thus obtained, if genuine brandy, possesses a 
 vinous odour, resembling the flavour of brandy, whilst 
 the residue produced from sophisticated brandy, has a 
 peculiarly disagreeable smell, resembling gin, or the 
 breath of habitual drunkards. The purity of spirits 
 may also be easily ascertained by setting fire to a little 
 of the suspected article in a spoon, when, if they be 
 unadulterated, they will all burn away, without leaving 
 any moisture behind. The presence of lead, or any of 
 its preparations, in spirituous liquors, may be detected 
 by the same method as has been stated in the case of 
 wine. Where gin has been highly sweetened with sugar, 
 by evaporating some of the suspected liquor in a spoon 
 over a candle, the sugar will appear in the form of a 
 gum-like substance when the spirit is volatilized. 
 
 The presence of lead as a component part of cider or 
 perry, whether happening accidentally from the leaden 
 bed of the press, or inserted intentionally for the purpose 
 of neutralizing the super-abundant acid of the liquor, 
 may be tested by putting a solution of molybdate of 
 potash into the suspected liquor ; when a white precipi- 
 tate will take place, even though the lead should exist 
 in the smallest possible quantity. It is needless here to 
 enumerate the various tricks of " the knowing ones" 
 for giving a factitious crust to wine bottles,* by means of 
 
 * The crusting of wine in the natural way generally takes place 
 in about nine months ; but, among the artizans of the factitious wine- 
 trade, it is accomplished in a much shorter time. Those ingenious 
 
WINES AND SPIRITS. 49 
 
 Brazil wood and potash ; or the colouring and eating* 
 away of wine corks,* to represent long residence in the 
 neck of the bottle, though perhaps only driven in yes- 
 terday. Nor is the crusting even of the wine-casks, 
 which is accomplished by means of crystals of the super- 
 tartrate of potash, to be trusted to. 
 
 gentry line the inside, of the bottles they intend to fill with their 
 compound called wine, by suffering a saturated hot solution of 
 super-tartrate of pot-ash, coloured red with a decoction of Brazil 
 wood, to crystallize within them. Others of that honest fraternity, 
 who dislike trouble, put a tea-spoon full of the powder of catechu 
 into each bottle, and by this artifice soon produce a fine crusted 
 appearance of '* aged wine." This simulation of maturity is often 
 accomplished by the humbler dealer by covering„the bottles with 
 snow, or by exposing them to the rays of the sun, or by keeping 
 them for a few days in hot water. Where the casks are to be 
 bottled off by the purchaser, or in his presence, they are stained 
 in the inside with the artificial crystalline crust of super-tartrate of 
 potash, as a proof of the age of the wine. 
 
 * To produce the dilapidations of u Father Time" on wine corks, 
 the dry rot, however injurious toothers, is of great advantage to 
 wine-dealers, as it soon covers the bottles with its mouldy appear- 
 ance, and consumes the external part of the cork ; so that with a 
 trifling operation on the bottles after they are filled, and then depo- 
 sited in cellars pretty strongly affected with the dry rot, they can 
 furnish the admirers of ■« aged wine" with liquor having the ap- 
 pearance of having been bottled seven or eight years, though it 
 has not in reality been there so many months. The staining of the 
 lower extremities of the corks with a fine red colour, produced 
 from a strong decoction of Brazil wood and alum, to make them 
 appear ■* aged," or as if they had been long in contact with the 
 wine, is another of the devices of the factitious wine-trade, and 
 forms a distinct branch of its operations. 
 
50 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 Those who wish to know the allowable secrets of the 
 adulteration trade will find them fully explained in 
 " The Private Gentleman or Importing Merchants 9 
 Wine and Spirit Cellar Directory " with many other 
 6 f Secrets Worth Knowing" by cozeners; but it may 
 be observed that the older port wine is, the less of the 
 tartar, or super-tartrate of potash is contained in it, 
 and the greater the deposition on the sides of the cask 
 or bottle. But new wine may be put into old casks or 
 old bottles. Therefore, to ascertain the quantity of the 
 salt, take a pint of wine, and boil it down to one-half, 
 into which drop a solution of muriate of platina, when 
 a precipitate will take place, greater or less, in pro- 
 portion to the quantity of salt contained in the wine. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Beer and Ale. 
 
 " The nutricious and strengthening* beverage " of 
 the English, " their own native old Sir John Barley- 
 
 * Among the numerous delusions with which the senses of the 
 U error ridden" nation of Englishmen— aye, and the " bonnie Scots," 
 and the " Sons of the Emerald Isle," are benighted, is the false and 
 erroneous opinion that strong stimulating liquors impart strength to 
 the body. As a very sensible writer observes on this subject, — 
 « To depend on spirituous liquors for the power to labour, is as wise 
 as it would be in a man, setting out for York, to get a friend to give 
 him a kick on the b to help him forward. His friend must con- 
 
BEER AND ALE. 51 
 
 corn," is not exempt from the sophistications and cor- 
 ruptions of the adulterator! Ye topers of "pure ex- 
 tract from malt and hops," do you hear this? That 
 your own sweet proper suction — your ancient and legi- 
 timate accompaniment of the sirloin and the plum- 
 pudding, is composed of every thing else than what it 
 ought to be, — in fact, that it is one of the slowest and 
 most fatal poisons with which your good friends " the 
 honest English brewers " are continually entertaining 
 you. Aye, John, it is the truth — and the whole truth. 
 But should you, with your usual " well-clothed stupi- 
 dity, and sneering ignorant scepticism," feel inclined to 
 doubt my assertion, a reference to the " Minutes of the 
 House of Commons, appointed for examining the price 
 and quality of beer," will furnish you with a goodly 
 list of nearly two hundred Excise prosecutions and con- 
 victions (between the years 1812 and 1819), of whole- 
 sale and retail brewers, publicans, and brewers' drug- 
 gists, for the nefarious adulterations of your favourite 
 beverage, or for having in their possession, or selling 
 
 tinue the same kind office all the way, or he would continually flag." 
 No work of the present age has contributed more effectually to re- 
 move these mistaken notions than " The Oracle of Health and Long 
 Life" May its well-intentioned and judicious author have the con- 
 solation of finding that his important instructions have contributed to 
 the health and welfare of the community ; and may the unqualified 
 approval of his little volume, by the respectable part of the pe- 
 riodical press of the country be a stimulus to fresh exertion to render 
 the work faultless. 
 
 D 2 
 
52 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 the poisonous ingredients for the purpose; in which 1 
 there are several instances of penalties of £500, with 
 costs having been inflicted on the offenders. Since that 
 time, seizures of illegal and poisojious articles have also 
 been often made by the Excise, and convictions have 
 taken place. During the latter end of the last year, 
 and at the commencement of the present year, seizures 
 have been made, and convictions have taken place, 
 nearly equal in number to those before stated : indeed, 
 as a writer on the subject truly observes, " scarcely a 
 week passes without witnessing the detection of some 
 wicked greedy wretch," who has been sporting with the 
 lives and health of his fellow-creatures. And, when 
 you have satisfied your incredulous, understanding of 
 your " honest" countrymen's dealings with you, you 
 may, perhaps, by reading the following extract from 
 Mr. Accum's book on Culinary Poisons, p. 189, be 
 satisfied that you are not exactly swallowing a " cordial 
 balsam," or " the elixir of life," when you are pouring 
 into your portly stomach that delectable mixture, in the 
 composition of whose combustible materials the brewer's 
 (or " gentleman") druggist, the brewer, and the pub- 
 lican have kindly and humanely exerted their honest 
 and patriotic skill. 
 
 " That a minute portion of an unwholesome ingre- 
 dient, daily taken in beer," (says the intrepid advocate 
 of offended justice, whose civil death to science and 
 suffering humanity is to be sincerely deplored,) " cannot 
 fail to be productive of mischief, admits of no doubt : 
 
BEER AND ALE. 53 
 
 and there is reason to believe that a small quantity of a 
 narcotic substance daily taken into the stomach, toge- 
 ther with an intoxicating liquor, is highly more effica- 
 cious 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 show its baneful effects 
 at last." 
 
 But, perhaps, friend John, you will say that this is 
 all talk, and a mere bug-a-boo of the u radicals" to 
 annoy you in your daily potations of your " favourite 
 beverage," — thy own native nutricious liquor. And 
 you will call for something like proofs, or an enume- 
 ration of the deleterious substances or ingredients which 
 have been found in the possession of brewers and pub- 
 licans, and for the admixture of which with their 
 " neat article" they have been subject to the Law's 
 angry visitations. This is a reasonable request, and it 
 shall be satisfied to the best of my power. 
 
 Know then, friend Bull, that the following harmless 
 and invigorating ingredients have been found in the 
 possession of thine honest fellow-countrymen, the 
 brewers, according to the list of the Excise prosecutions 
 detailed in the Minutes of the Committee of the House 
 of Commons, appointed for examining the price and qua- 
 lity of beer in the year 1819. 
 
 1. Cocculus Indicus, or, as it is vulgarly called, 
 occulus Indian berry. This is a powerfully narcotic. 
 
54 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 and most intoxicating and deleterious drug. In its 
 mildest form, it produces excruciating head- aches and 
 distressing sickness, when the beer is over- dosed. So 
 great was the demand for this poisonous drug, that it 
 rose, as Mr. Accum says, within the space of ten years, 
 from 2s. to Is. per lb. The extract or poisonous prin- 
 ciple obtained from the berries is so abundant as to be 
 easily separated from the substance, and is called by 
 the chemist picrotoxin, a term derived from two Greek 
 words, namely, Trtxpo?, bitter; and ro^xov, poison. What 
 thinkest thou of this, friend John ? In India, the ber- 
 ries are thrown on the surface of the water for the pur- 
 pose of intoxicating the fish, when they float on the 
 water, and are easily taken by the hand. 
 
 2. Black Extract, or, as it is called, in the slang 
 phrase of the Adulterating Vocabulary, Hard Multum, 
 which is also an extract of the poisonous Indian berry, 
 or a composition of opium and other ingredients. 
 
 3. Nux Vomica and St. Ignatius's Bean, which are 
 both poisonous ; but the first is so extremely deleterious 
 a drug, ten or twelve grains of it being sufficient to kill 
 a dog, that it is now expunged from the Pharmacopeias. 
 Yet, although no one ever hears of its application, 
 except for poisoning rats, it is imported in large quan- 
 tities, and tons of this deadly poison are ground every 
 year in the drug- mills of the metropolis. The bitter 
 bean, or, as it is more commonly termed by the tender- 
 conscienced gentry, who sport with the health and lives 
 of their fellow-creatures, St. Ignatius's bean, in order, 
 
BEER AND ALE. 55 
 
 no doubt, to appease the qualms of conscience under a 
 sanctified name, is no less injurious to health. 
 
 4. Opium, Tobacco, Extract of Poppies, Henbane, 
 Bohemian Rosemary, and Coriander seed, which are 
 all highly dangerous when improperly used. Chemical 
 experiment has proved that less than one pound of the 
 last-mentioned ingredient equals in strength and stupe- 
 factive quality one bushel of malt. 
 
 5. Essentia Bina, or Double Essence ; that is, sugar 
 boiled down to a black colour and an empyreumatic 
 flavour. But, instead of the concentrated essence, the 
 intent of which is to produce the requisite colour in 
 porter, the colouring matter now generally used by the 
 more respectable part of the trade is malt roasted in 
 iron cylinders until it is black like coal. In this state 
 it is called patent malt, and is not prohibited by the 
 Excise. 
 
 6. Heading Stuff, that is green copperas, or, as it 
 is vulgarly called, Salt of Steel. This poisonous in- 
 gredient is used for the purpose of giving the beer a 
 frothing head ; sometimes used alone ; sometimes it is 
 mixed with alum. — In the hands of one adulterator, 
 310 lbs. of copperas and 560 lbs. of hard multum were 
 found and condemned. • A sufficient dose for slowly 
 poisoning half a generation ! 
 
 7. Capsicum, grains of paradise, carraway seeds, 
 treacle or molasses, liquorice root, &c. 
 
 8. Wormwood, aloes, quassia, bitter oranges, &c. 
 
56 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 9. Lime, marble dust, powdered oyster shells, harts-* 
 horn shavings, jalap, spirit of maranta, &c. 
 
 These ingredients, nocuous and innocuous, are in- 
 tended to produce the following effects : 
 
 1 . To give a factitious strength and intoxicating qua-- 
 lity to the beer. 
 
 2. To increase the bitter principle, and consequently 
 to save hops. 
 
 3. To add a stimulating aromatic flavour. 
 
 4. To produce a fine mantling head to porter, and 
 strike a fine nut brown colour over the froth. 
 
 And, 5. To prevent acidity, or to diminish or destroy 
 it when formed. 
 
 "It is absolutely frightful, exclaims Mr. Donovan, 
 (Domestic Economy, p. 201,) to contemplate the list of 
 poisons and drugs with which malt liquors have been (as 
 it is technically and descriptively called) doctored. 
 Opium, henbane, cocculus indicus, and Bohemian rose- 
 mary, which is said to produce a quick and raving 
 intoxication, supplied the place of alcohol. Aloes, quassia, 
 gentian, sweet scented flag, wormwood, horehound, and 
 bitter oranges, fulfilled the duties of hops. Liquorice, 
 treacle, and mucilage of flax seed, stood for attenuated 
 malt sugar. Capsicum, ginger, and cinnamon, or ra- 
 ther cassia-buds, afforded to the exhausted drink the 
 pungency of a carbonic acid. Burnt flour, sugar, or 
 treacle, communicated a peculiar taste which porter drink- 
 ers generally fancy. Preparations of fish, assisted in 
 cases of obstinacy with oil of vitriol, procured trans- 
 
BEER AND ALE § 57 
 
 parency. Besides these, the brewer had to supply him- 
 self with potash, lime, salt, and a variety of other 
 substances, which are of no other harm than in serving 
 the office of more valuable materials, and defrauding 
 the customer." In this extract it is observable that that 
 ingenious gentleman has drawn up his account in the 
 past tense, as if there were no adulterations now ! ! ! The 
 author of " The Art of Brewing," in the Library of 
 Useful Knowledge, has adopted a juster and a more 
 honourable course ; besides giving a fuller list of poison- 
 ous articles, he has spoken boldly and truly, and tells 
 us that poisonous adulterations are " still used extensive- 
 ly^ by those who " sport with the lives of their fellow 
 creatures for the sake of gain," and that " the seizures 
 and convictions that have been so often made, and are 
 still making by the Excise," are proofs of the fact. It 
 is, however, with much satisfaction (for no other motive 
 influences me in making the horrific disclosures detailed 
 in this volume than a regard for the public welfare and 
 for public justice) that the statement made in that 
 publication ' respecting the introduction of gypsum into 
 the manufacture of Burton Ale has been disproved in 
 the recent application made to the Court of King's Bench 
 by the Burton Ale Brewers, who assert that the pecu- 
 liarity of flavour belonging to their liquor is occasioned 
 by the water from which it is made running over a rock 
 of gypsum, and thus impregnated with that substance. 
 
 In the year 1807, a paragraph appeared in almost all 
 the London daily papers, asserting that porter, brewed in 
 d 3 
 
58 BEEH AND ALE. 
 
 London, contained deleterious drugs. The London por- 
 ter brewers, indignant at the " unjust and causeless" , 
 accusation, had a meeting, and one and all agreed to 
 prosecute the offending journalists. They of course made 
 affidavits, and complied with all the requisites of the law 
 to establish their " innocence." They moved the Court 
 of King's Bench for criminal informations against three- 
 fourths of the daily press, and their Counsel made long 
 speeches on " the guilt and unfounded and malicious 
 libels of their accusers." All looked well for obtaining 
 a verdict of guilty against the denouncers of fraud and 
 villany, and establishing 1 the purity and justice of " the 
 brewing interests/' by the verdict " of an impartial and 
 intelligent jury," had not the late Lord Ellenborough de- 
 clared the affidavits of the swearing-brewers insufficient, 
 as the cunning varlets had only denied the introduction 
 of deleterious ingredients in brewing ; whereas, to ground 
 their application and entitle them to the rule, they 
 should have denied having used them after the beer 
 was brewed. But as the pillory might have stared the 
 honest gentry in the face had they made this " hard" 
 assertion in their affidavit, the knowing folks here broke 
 down; they could go no further. After making the 
 town echo with the cries of " the infamous press," they 
 prudently dropped all proceedings against the proscribed 
 journalists. The inference to be drawn is not difficult 
 to surmise; but the fact is, that the publicans, who have 
 of late been so sharply prosecuted by the Excise for 
 adulterating their beer, can best answer the question : 
 
BEER AND ALE. 59 
 
 From whom did they learn the respectable art of beer- 
 sophistication ? Was it not from their " betters," the 
 " beer-mongers ?" 
 
 If the foregoing statement of ingredients contained 
 in the above infernal list is not sufficient to induce thee, 
 friend Bull, to lay aside thy incredulity, and open thy 
 eyes to the frauds that are daily practised on thy un- 
 suspecting nature, I can only add that one of the 
 " craft" (see Child, on Brewing, p. 18) tells thee that 
 porter cannot be made of the necessary flavour and taste 
 to suit the Londoners appetite, and of the proper colour 
 to tickle his fancy by its appearance, of wholesome malt 
 and hops, and that those simple ingredients would not 
 furnish a profit sufficient to satisfy the modern brewers 
 cupidity. Well may the old ladies exclaim (and no 
 doubt, Mr. Bull, thou hast a penchant for displaying thy 
 Latinity) O trickery! O mouthes! 
 
 But supposing, dear Bull, that all the above " horrid 
 array" of poisoning and stupefying ingredients was 
 " mere fudge," and that you should have the fortune to 
 deal with a brewer and publican, who have the lt fear of 
 the Lord" before their eyes, and who " wax strong in 
 well doing," recollect that the present manufactured 
 " entire beer" of the most honest trading brewer alive 
 is a very heterogeneous mixture — a composition of all 
 the waste and spoiled beer of the publicans, the bottoms 
 of their butts — the leavings of their pots — the drippings 
 of their 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. 
 
50 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 So admits that " paragon of brewers," Mr. Barclay. 
 (See Parliamentary Minutes, p. 94.) Surely, John, it 
 is not courteous and loving treatment of thy " better 
 half" and her " dutiful daughters" to expect them to 
 sully their delicate throttles with the leavings and hawk- 
 ings of some bearish beast of a coal-heaver or a night- 
 man! This, friend John, is one of the " indicia" of 
 the necessity of thy cultivating the clean and wholesome 
 " home brewery" of thy forefathers; and in the promo- 
 tion of this laudable and necessary undertaking I hope 
 I shall be able to assist thee in my projected work, 
 " The Family Brewing Oracle," and that, by its 
 means, thou wilt be enabled to drink a wholesome and 
 nourishing beverage, either ale or porter, at the trifling 
 cost of from five farthings to three halfpence per pot, after 
 the tasting of which thou wilt never allow a drop of 
 brewers' or public-house porter, or intermediate beer, 
 or any other vile or new-fangled substitution for 
 the home-brewed liquor of thy ancestors, to enter thy 
 chaps. 
 
 But, in your honest sincerity and " usually naive 
 manner," you will exclaim " but we have methods and 
 tests for detecting the adulteration of our native liquor — 
 our vinum Britannicum— our own Sir John Barlycorn." 
 Aye, have you, Old Gentleman ! then I give you joy of 
 your discovery, and hope thou wilt put it into constant 
 practice every day of thy life before thou takest a sup 
 of the delectable and heart-cheering composition. But, 
 for my part, John, give me leave to say that I have 
 always understood that the detection of the adulteration 
 
BEER AND ALE. 61 
 
 of beer with vegetable substances deleterious to health 
 is extremely difficult, if not beyond the reach of chemi- 
 cal agency or analysis; and in most cases, particularly 
 where cocculus indicus, or its extract, has been used, 
 quite impossible. The tests for ascertaining the admix- 
 ture of sulphuric acid are more determinate, and are 
 ably detailed in Mr. Accum's work, p. 193. 
 
 Among the minor crimes of fraudulent brewers is 
 the art of converting new beer (that is beer that is just 
 brewed) into old or entire beer; and this operation 
 (which, in the cant phraseology of the trade, is called 
 bringing the beer forward, or making it hard) is per- 
 formed by an easy, expeditious, and economical method: 
 an imitation of the age cf eighteen months is produced 
 in an instant, ,^pr, as modern statesmen, versed in the 
 wonderful arcana of political science, would phrase it, 
 " As soon as you could say Jack Robinson." To put 
 into execution this rare feat of " brewers' art" you have 
 nothing more to do, in order to convert any wishy- 
 washy slop into an old entire beer, and, consequently, to 
 render it " rich, generous, of a full-bodied taste, with- 
 out being acid, and of a vinous odour," than to throw 
 in a quantum sufficit of sulphuric acid.* Stale, half 
 
 * Mr. Brewer Child's recipe (see Treatise on Brewing, p. 25) 
 for making new beer old, is to throw in a dash of vitriol. " A 
 smack of age," he likewise adds, at p. 18, ** is also given to beer, 
 by the addition of alum." Well done, brewer Child ; thou art an 
 expeditious chap ! Thou mightest have been of service in the Court 
 
62 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 spoiled, or sour beer, may as easily be converted into 
 mild beer, by the proper quantity of alkali, or alkaline 
 earth, oyster-shell-powder, subcarbonate of potash or 
 soda; which substances have the effect of neutralizing 
 the excess of acid. 
 
 Another of the less culpable adulterations by both 
 brewer and publican is the admixture of small with strong 
 beer. According to the evidence of the solicitor of the 
 Excise (Mr. Carr), given before the Committee of the 
 House of Commons, appointed for examining the price and 
 quality of beer, in the year 1819, (see Minutes of the 
 House of Commons, p. 32, &c.) the retailers of beer 
 in London and its neighbourhood, purchase stale table- 
 beer, or the bottoms of casks, from a set of men who 
 go about and sell such beer at table-beer price to mix in 
 the publicans' cellars with the new beer they receive 
 from the brewer. Among some of the trade it is the cus- 
 tom to mix the poor low-priced country ales with porter. 
 
 But, O John, thou lover of a " cauliflower head T 
 art thou aware how this object of thy admiration, and 
 indeed natural property of good beer is produced? No 
 doubt thou wilt be hard of belief in this respect ; but 
 I must be candid with thee, and tell thee that the " fine 
 frothy head," the ne plus ultra of thy admiration and 
 test of good porter, is produced by thy honest friend and 
 crony, the publican, by the simple admixture of the 
 delectable and harmless article " beer heading" with 
 
 of Chancery, in tempore Lord Chancellor Eldon, of doubting and 
 delaying memory. 
 
BEER AND ALE. 63 
 
 the " genuine stuff ' he receives from his worthy com- 
 peer, the brewer. When thy " gentle friend" observes 
 the frothy property of the beer to be lost by his admix- 
 ture of the legitimate modicum of small beer or " aqua 
 pura," molasses, extract of gentian-root and isinglass, 
 (all which ingredients, no doubt, good soul, he adds for 
 thy better health, and to save it from the injurious effects 
 of too strong potations,) he prudently throws in his 
 beer-heading, which is a composition of common green 
 vitriol, or copperas, alum, and salt. The publicans are 
 supplied with this article either by the regular and ac- 
 credited manufacturer, or they are instructed in its 
 manufacture by those vile and infamous publications in 
 circulation, known by the name of Publicans or Vintners' 
 Guides, Directors, Friends, &c. — I have carefully gone 
 through those pestiferous books, and examined their 
 farrago of mischievous receipts and instructions for the 
 adulteration and " making up" of wines, spirits, beer, 
 &c. and can safely say that more infernal ingenuity, 
 and a more reckless want of honesty and humanity have 
 never been displayed in the basest concoctions of fraud 
 and villany than is the case in those wretched publica- 
 tions. It is, however, but fair to exempt from this censure 
 a work which has recently appeared, entitled " Clarke's 
 Publican and Innkeeper s Guide, and Wine and Spirit 
 Dealers Assistant ; yt which, though not entirely exempt 
 from objection, is evidently the production of a skilful, 
 and, what is of greater importance to the public, of an 
 honest man, and possesses the great recommendation of 
 
64 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 instructing the trade in all the allowable secrets of the 
 craft, without endangering the health and lives of the 
 consumers ; while it enables its readers to obtain better 
 and more efficient results by its directions than can pos- 
 sibly be obtained by following the deadly and inefficient 
 receipts of its predecessors. 
 
 I have now, friend Bull, brought my disclosures re- 
 specting thy favourite beverage — thy fondly but mistakenly 
 imagined " pure extract from malt and hops/' to a 
 close ; but, shouldst thou still be hard of belief, I re- 
 commend thee to put thy tongue into the enchanting 
 cauldron of some brewer-friend of thine ; but, remember 
 that I cannot ensure thee that thou will redraw it quite 
 as unaffected or renovated as the tragic poet describes 
 iEson to have sprung from the cauldron of Medea. 
 
 In the above detail of adulterations in the public 
 brewery of this country, no personality is intended in 
 the tone of reprehension assumed on the subject; the 
 remarks are intended to be applied only to *' the most 
 worthless part of the trade, to such as disgrace the 
 name of brewer, by sporting with the lives of their fel- 
 low creatures for lucre's sake." Those odious and de- 
 testable wretches deserve the severest castigations, and 
 every member of the community should lend his hearty 
 co-operation to their -exposure and punishment. But 
 while it is the duty of every man whom nature has gifted 
 with a heart capable of feeling for his fellow creatures, 
 to expose the monsters who secretly poison the human 
 race, it must be admitted that the very heavy and inju- 
 
BEER AND ALE. 65 
 
 dicious taxation to which brewers are subject has com- 
 pelled even many of the more conscientious of the trade 
 to have recourse to measures which are not quite agree- 
 able to the dictates of honesty, and to draw immense 
 lengths of wort from the least possible quantity of malt, 
 so that the liquor is neither of a nutritive nor a relishing 
 quality. But the error in this case arises from the 
 same cause as it does in that of wines — the incompetency 
 of the persons (who were either the favourites, the de- 
 pendants, or the retainers of the existing ministry of 
 the day) appointed to frame the statutes regulating 
 those trades; and, laughable to say, those precious 
 legislators have prohibited the use of articles which are 
 not only innoxious, but occasionally advantageous.* In 
 
 • On this subject, Mr. J. D. Williams, the Editor of Sir William 
 Blackstone's Commentaries, has rendered no trifling service to 
 society, by his petition, presented to the House of Commons, by 
 the Marquess of Blandford, on June 17th, 1830; in which he 
 prayed the appointment of fit and competent persons for the digest- 
 ment and simplification of, or, in the emphatical language of Lord 
 Bacon, for ° the choice and tender business of reducing and har- 
 mouiziug," the hybrid and confused state of the law. As he justly 
 said, " no useful and beneficial amendment or amelioration can 
 reasonably be expected ; but the Statute Book will still continue to 
 be disgraced with enaotments which will be at variance with common 
 sense, the first principles of justice, and even nullify the intent 
 and purport of the enactments themselves, while the concoction of 
 laws is entrusted to others than persons endowed with a spirit of com- 
 prehensive knowledge, great enlightenment, enlarged and liberal 
 understandings, and who are acquainted with the nature of the 
 
66 BEER AND ALE. 
 
 the statute of Charles the Second, which regulates the 
 management of foreign wines, the blunder is singular ; 
 by that act several substances are forbidden to be mixed 
 with wine, which, in themselves, are not only innocu- 
 ous, but are highly conducive to its purity and right 
 preservation, and give it the necessary brightness and 
 perfection ! 
 
 Oh, Bull, when will thy law-makers and law-concoc- 
 ters learn a little of that old-fashioned and much ne- 
 glected commodity, — common sense. Were the same 
 good sense and knowledge of the subject, and of the con- 
 dition of society, indicated by them as are displayed 
 by the more unassuming bat efficient department of the 
 state machinery — the dispensers of our laws (of course I 
 cannot be mistaken to mean the justices of the peace !) 
 the country would not be put to the expense of making 
 laws one day which are to be repealed the next, and 
 there might appear some just pretension for the high- 
 sounding titles of " English Justinians," and " heaven- 
 born legislators," with which a portion of the periodical 
 press is idly and continually bespattering certain mem- 
 bers of the executive department of the government. 
 
 As my printer tells me that a few lines are wanting 
 
 subjects on which the3' presume to legislate." The instances 
 which that gentleman adduced in his well intended petition of 
 " the great and singular blunders" as to " erroneous conclusions in 
 the first principles of science," committed by some of our law- 
 makers are really amusing — if any honest man can derive amuse- 
 ment from his country's injury and degradation. 
 
BEER AND ALE. 67 
 
 to complete this page, and being desirous to give my 
 readers all I can afford for their money, a word or two 
 on the legislative mania which seems to have taken hold 
 of some honourable members "of the noblest assembly 
 of freemen in the world, " may not be misplaced. And 
 for the sake of brevity, I shall adduce, 'as an example, the 
 memorable attempt to modify the Quarantine Laws on 
 the advice, testimony, and experience of the renowned 
 Dr. M'Lean. When arguments being taken as facts, and 
 the absurdities of reasoning as the evidence of expe- 
 rience, the whims and reveries of that gentleman, who 
 was described by one (a member of St. Stephen's) of 
 the anti-contagionists as " one of those extraordinary 
 persons who will be pointed out by the finger of the 
 future historian," would have received the stamp and 
 authority of law, and we should have had the blessing 
 of plague being as common in our houses as measles, 
 coughs or colds, had not u the ignorance of those who 
 attempt to mislead the public, and the indiscretion of 
 those who are inclined to believe them," been exposed 
 and refuted by the late Dr. Gooch, in his invaluable 
 paper "Is the Plague a Contagious Disease?" which 
 appeared at the time (anno 1825), in The Quarterly 
 Review, and is now appended to his Account of Female 
 Diseases. 
 
68 
 
 PART II. 
 
 A Word or Two, by way of Introduction. 
 
 I have told thee, friend Bull, while discoursing of 
 the little slips and sleights of hand in use among thy 
 good and ancient friends, the wine and spirit dealer, the 
 gin-shop keeper, the brewer, and the publican, that thou 
 wouldst be satisfied that "Death was not only in the 
 Bottle," but that thou wouldst find that the complaint 
 of the sons of the prophet, " There is Death in the 
 Pot" ought not to have been confined to the narrow 
 limits of Gilgal, but that it extends in all its operations 
 to the illicit doings in thy own "dear native little island" 
 — the " land of the good and the wise" I shall 
 now proceed to unfold to thee this part of my duty, and 
 then I apprehend that thou wilt lay aside thy usual 
 scepticism and incredulity, and acknowledge that I have 
 made out to thy satisfaction the truth of my horrific 
 title " Deadly Adulteration and Slow Poison- 
 ing; or, Disease and Death in the Pot and 
 the Bottle." I shall begin with the " Staff of Life." 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Bread and Flour. 
 Good bread is light, porous, and spungy; of a sweet 
 nutty smell ; and when pressed with the finger is tough 
 
BREAD AND FLOUR. 69 
 
 and resists the pressure like sponge, recovering with a 
 spring its original texture as soon as the finger is re- 
 moved : if any fracture appears, it is a sign of adultera- 
 tion. The more numerous and large the cells or little 
 holes are in it, the more perfectly is the bread made, and 
 the better adapted for digestion. 
 
 Bread to be good, should be made of wheat flour; 
 but the adulteration trade in this prime article of human 
 consumption display no less ingenuity in the art of 
 fraud and deception than their rivals in iniquity do in 
 the wine and spirit and beer sophistications: convic- 
 tions are on record of bakers having used pulverised 
 gypsum or plaster of Paris, whiting, slacked lime, 
 chalk, finely powdered granite, pipe-clay, particularly 
 the white Cornwall clay, the flour of garden peas and 
 horse beans, potatoes, bone-ashes, alum, spirits of vi- 
 triol, ammonia, magnesia, &c. They allege that, as 
 they are often supplied by the mealmen with flour made 
 from the worst kinds of foreign damaged wheat, and 
 which is frequently mixed with a variety of other cereal 
 grains in the course of grinding, they cannot produce 
 bread of a sufficient degree of whiteness, lightness, 
 and porosity, to please the caprice of the London pa- 
 late, without having recourse to the conjoint aid of 
 alum, ammonia, and potatoes.* This is the allegation 
 
 * The addition of the farina or starch of the potatoe improves 
 the bread, by counteracting its constipating effects, and by minutely 
 dividing the particles of the flour during the fermentation; and for 
 this reason its introduction into home-made bread would, as the 
 
70 BREAD AND FLOUR. 
 
 made by the respectable part of the trade, and those who, 
 with sufficient disposition to wickedness, are deficient 
 in the knowledge of the art of slow and imperceptible 
 poisoning. What excuse the ir 'respectable part of the 
 trade can make for their nefarious traffic in the remain- 
 ing portion of the enumerated articles must be left to the 
 tender and honest consciences of those gentry. 
 
 " The baker," says Mr. Accum, in his Preliminary 
 Remarks, p. 11, " asserts that he does not put alum 
 into bread ; but he is well aware that, in purchasing a 
 certain quantity of half spoiled flour, he must take a 
 sack of sharp whites, (a term given to flour contami- 
 nated with a quantity of alum,) without which it would 
 be impossible for him to produce light, white, and 
 porous bread, from a half spoiled material. 
 
 " The wholesale mealman frequently purchases this 
 spurious commodity, (which forms a separate branch of 
 business in the hands of certain individuals,) in order 
 to enable himself to sell his decayed flour. 
 
 " Other individuals (namely, the "gentlemen" drug- 
 gists) 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 crystallize alum in such a form as will adapt this 
 salt to the purpose of being mixed with crystals of com- 
 mon salt, to disguise the character of the compound. 
 
 author of •* The Oracle of Health and Long Life/' says, be be- 
 neficial to health, as making it more nutricious and digestible. 
 
BREAD AND FLOUR. 71 
 
 The mixture called stuff is composed of one part of 
 alum, in minute crystals, and three of common salt." 
 
 I omit to object to the adulteration of flour produced 
 by the sand, which is unavoidably occasioned by the 
 rubbing of the mill-stones together. The author of the 
 " History of Inventions," vol. i. p. 98, estimates that 
 every person swallows 61bs. yearly, in the quantity of 
 flour and bread which he consumes. 
 
 The foregoing statement of artist ingenuity displayed 
 by the Messieurs " Crust," must be allowed to be liberal 
 treatment of poor Mr. John Bull, in comparison with the 
 acts of their rivals in the noble art of sophistication, the 
 gin-shop-keeper, the brewer, the publican, and the other 
 " trading interests of the nation." But it will be better 
 treatment to furnish the old gentleman with a test or 
 two to enable him to detect the frauds of his said good 
 friends, Messieurs les Crust and their compatriots, the 
 mealmen. 
 
 The ready tests or methods for ascertaining those 
 adulterations are: If an undue proportion (for bakers 
 contend that the bad quality of the flour sold to them 
 by the miller renders the addition of potatoes advan- 
 tageous to the purchaser as well as to the baker) of 
 ground or grated potatoes has been used, the bread 
 will be moist, have a sourish smell, and, when stale, if 
 a pressure be made upon it with the finger, a fracture 
 will appear in the bread, that is, it will not recover its 
 texture as sponge will do when compressed. Also, it 
 will not keep, but in a few days become mouldy. Where 
 
72 BREAD AND FLOUR. 
 
 bean-flour has been used, which bakers generally prefer, 
 on account of the great portion of gluten which it con- 
 tains, (and for this reason it bears a higher price in the 
 market than flour itself,) the bread will soon dry and 
 crack ; or the fraud may be discovered by the smell on 
 toasting a slice of the bread before the fire. The adul- 
 teration, by means of flour of peas is more common 
 among bakers, and more difficult of detection than that 
 of beans: the only means for ascertaining the fraud, 
 by inspection, that I am aware of, are those of its 
 drying and cracking soon, and being more heavy and 
 considerably less porous than bread made entirely of 
 wheaten flour. The admixture of clay, gypsum, chalk, 
 whiting, slacked lime, bone -ashes, &c. is to be ascer- 
 tained by the close texture, brittle or crumbly nature, 
 undue weight, smell, and taste of the article. But 
 analysis in each case is the truest test ; and this may be 
 performed in the following manner. 
 
 Cut the crust of the loaf into very thin slices, and, 
 breaking these into pieces, put them into a glass cu- 
 curbit, with a large quantity of water ; set this into a 
 sand furnace, and let it stand therein with a moderate 
 warmth for about the space of twenty- four hours. By 
 this time the foreign ingredients will have separated 
 from the genuine flour; the alum will have dissolved 
 in the water, and may be extracted from it in the usual 
 way. The jalap, if any have been used, (for it is not 
 all the fraternity or brotherhood that have the conside- 
 ration or humanity to introduce it into their life-destroy- 
 
BREAD AND FLOUR. 73 
 
 ing compositions,) will swim upon the top in the form 
 of a coarse film ; and the other ingredients, being heavy, 
 will sink quite to the bottom, while the genuine flour 
 will remain above them in the consistence of pap, which, 
 being drawn off, will leave the adulterated articles in the 
 form of a white powder at the bottom. 
 
 But as cucurbits and sand-furnaces are not " a part 
 and parcel " of every family's household chattels, if the 
 off-hand tests above mentioned are not satisfactory, slice 
 the loaf as before directed, and, putting the slices, with 
 a sufficient quantity of water, into a pipkin, over a gentle 
 fire, you will find in the course of a little time that the 
 bread will be reduced to a pap, and, on drawing that off, 
 the bone -ashes and other adulterating ingredients may 
 be found in the form of a white powder at the bottom. 
 
 The pernicious ingredients, alum and spirits of vitriol, 
 used by bakers in the manufacture of bread, are intended, 
 in the cant phrase of the trade, " as binders and whiten- 
 ers." Few persons will credit the fact that this last- 
 mentioned article is made use of in the manufacture of 
 bread ; but, if any person feels himself aggrieved by the 
 assertion, I am prepared to verify my information, and 
 point out the culprits. By the insertion of these ingre- 
 dients, tens of thousands of children, under three years 
 of age, are annually consigned to the grave in this 
 " happy" country; and to their cause, in conjunction 
 with the horrid articles before stated, are to be assigned 
 the number of sudden deaths that are daily occurring, 
 
 £ 
 
74 BREAD AND FLOUR. 
 
 and a large portion of the diseases under which mankind 
 are suffering. 
 
 The presence of alum may be detected by immersing 
 a small piece of the crumb of new baked bread in a 
 quantity of cold water sufficient to dissolve it; when, if 
 a pernicious quantity of alum be present in the compo- 
 sition the water will acquire a sweet astringency to the 
 taste; the more astringent of course the greater has 
 been the quantity of alum used. Or a heated knife may 
 be thrust into a loaf before it has grown cold ; if the 
 bread be free from alum, scarcely any alteration will be 
 visible on the blade ; but, should alum have been made 
 use of, as soon as the knife cools, a slight aluminous in- 
 crustation will appear upon it. But this last method is, 
 as Mr. Accum properly observes, but an equivocal test, 
 on account of the impurity of the common salt used in 
 making bread. When spirits of vitriol, diluted with 
 water, have been used, the only test to detect this most 
 pernicious and unprincipled adulteration is by chemically 
 analysing the suspected article. 
 
 But the adulteration-trade observing that the insertion 
 of the " horrid array" of pernicious articles, which 
 their diabolical ingenuity substituted in the stead of 
 wholesome meal or flour, had an astringent effect on the 
 human constitution, and, fearing the consequences of a 
 detection, have lately had recourse to the introduction of 
 jalap into their sponge, in order to give their mischievous 
 composition a laxative or purgative effect on the consti- 
 
BREAD AND FLOUlt 7.5 
 
 tution of their deluded customers. The best test of the 
 insertion of this drug is its effects. Others counteract 
 the constipating effects of the alum by the addition of 
 subcarbonate of potash, which neutralizes the excess of 
 the sulphuric acid of the alum, and promotes the disen- 
 gagement of the carbonic acid gas, whereby the particles 
 of the flour are more minutely divided, and the bread 
 rendered lighter. 
 
 Having stated the ready methods of ascertaining the 
 good or bad qualities of bread, it is a necessary conse- 
 quence that I should not be silent about those of flour. 
 
 The following are the usual tests for ascertaining the 
 quality of flour. Grasp a handful briskly, and squeeze 
 it for half a minute ; if pure and unadulterated, it pre- 
 serves the form of the cavity of the hand in one piece 
 when placed upon the table, although it may be roughly 
 set down. Adulterated flour, on the contrary, soon 
 falls down. That mixed with whiting, white clay, or 
 the like materials, is the most adhesive, though it soon 
 gives way; but if the adulteration be ground bones, 
 gypsum, or plaster of paris, it almost immediately falls. 
 Where there is the presence of much bran, the grasped 
 specimen will soon crumble, and this fraud may, also, 
 be discovered by the colour and feel. It may also be 
 observed that genuine flour will retain the impression of 
 even the grains of the skin longer than that which is 
 adulterated, the latter soon throwing off the fine marks. 
 Also, let a person, having a moist hand, rub flour briskly 
 between the palms of both hands ; if there be whiting 
 e2 
 
76 BREAD AND FLOUR. 
 
 in it, he will find resistance ; but none, if the flour is 
 pure. Or, partially dip the fore-finger and thumb into 
 a little sweet oil, and take up a small quantity of the flour 
 between them ; if it is pure it may be rubbed for any 
 length of time, and will not become sticky or adhesive, 
 and the substance will turn nearly black ; but if whit- 
 ing is present, it will soon be worked up into the 
 consistence of putty, and its colour but little altered. 
 Lemon juice, or vinegar, dropped upon flour, will also 
 show the presence of whiting or plaster of paris ; if 
 the flour is pure it will remain at rest ; but if it is adul- 
 terated an immediate commotion takes place. Where 
 there is time to try the unsoundness of flour, put a 
 table-spoonful into a basin and mix it with cold water, 
 until it is of the consistence of batter pudding ; then 
 set a small pan upon the fire containing half a gill of 
 water, and when the water is hot, pour in the batter just 
 before it boils, and let it boil for about the space of 
 three minutes. If sound, the flour will unite like a good 
 pudding does ; if unsound it breaks, curdles, and ap- 
 pears somewhat watery. By observing it while it is 
 warm, some judgement may be formed of its different 
 degrees of unsoundness. The usual test of people in 
 the flour-trade is to knead a small quantity of the 
 article ; if good, an adhesive, ductile, and elastic paste 
 is immediately formed, which may be elongated and 
 drawn in every direction, without being entirely sepa- 
 rated. The only ready test or the detection of sharp 
 whites and stuff is by the taste. 
 
BREAD AND FLOUR. 77 
 
 When the farina of potatoes, or, as it is commonly 
 termed, potatoe-starch, is mixed with flour, the fraud 
 may, according to M. Chevalier, a French chemist, be 
 discovered by sprinkling a little of the suspected article 
 on black paper, when through a powerful lens, or mi- 
 croscope, the farina or starch may be discovered by the 
 brilliancy of its particles. 
 
 To ascertain the presence of insects in flour, examine 
 it in a good light, and if your suspicion be correct, 
 you will observe the whole surface in motion, and on a 
 nicer inspection there will be found in it a great num- 
 ber of little animals of the colour of flour, and of an 
 oblong and a slender form. When they have once taken 
 possession of a parcel of this commodity, it is impossible 
 to drive them out ; and they increase so fast, that the 
 only method of preventing the total loss of the whole 
 parcel, is to make it into bread as soon as possible. 
 The only known way of preventing those insects from 
 breeding in flour is to preserve it from damp ; to effect 
 which it should be always carefully and thoroughly 
 dried before it is put up, and the barrels, also, should 
 be carefully dried before the flour is stored in them, and 
 placed in a room tolerably warm and dry. 
 
78 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Meat and Fish. 
 
 The Butcher has his arts and sophistications. To 
 make meat weigh as heavy as possible he checks the 
 full bleeding of the victim of his knife, and to make it 
 appear plump and white and glistening, particularly 
 joints of veal and lamb, he inflates the cellular mem- 
 brane, by blowing into it with all his might, the breath 
 respired from his lungs : by means of which practice, 
 should he be infected with any loathsome disease, his 
 customers stand a very good chance of being inoculated 
 with " the blessing.'' The distension of the cellular 
 membrane is the sign of meat having received the benefit 
 of this operation. 
 
 Among other deceits in use among the " knights of 
 the cleaver" is, the doctoring of joints of animals which 
 have died of disease, by the skilful introduction of slips 
 of fat into different parts of the joint, so as to give it 
 the appearance of meat which had been killed in a 
 healthy state. A recent occurrence at Guildhall has 
 proved this practice in all its enormity, and shown that 
 it is carried on to no trifling extent. From the same 
 transaction it came out in evidence that the art is suffi- 
 ciently extensive to employ a certain part of the " but- 
 chering craft" in its distinct mysteries. Probably by 
 
MEAT AND FISH. 79 
 
 " professors of the knife and cleaver" it is considered as 
 the ne plus ultra of butcher-skill, and has its appro- 
 priate honours and rewards. But this is known only to 
 the initiated in the " profession" 
 
 While discoursing of this feat of butcher-ingenuity, 
 it seems not misplaced to observe that the sausages in 
 London are often made out of the carcases of animals 
 that have died. This fact, also, was brought to Mr. 
 Bull's knowledge, in the course of the evidence in the 
 before-mentioned case. And I can assure my readers, 
 that even when they are not favoured with sausages 
 made of this savoury food, they do not often get meat 
 in sausages better than carrion ; and that more than one 
 half of all sausage-meat consists of bone, gristle, and 
 bread, reduced to almost an impalpable powder by 
 means of the machine, and then worked up with a due 
 modicum of water. Nor is this the least part of the 
 evil. From accidental causes and the frauds of the 
 vender, they are often poisonous. Dr. Paris has well 
 observed, in his useful work on diet, that the viscera and 
 intestines of animals, and also their livers, are often 
 poisonous, while the meat of the animal is perfectly 
 wholesome. This proves, as that gentleman well ob- 
 serves, that sausages are not deserving of that general 
 use in which they are held in London : for the integu- 
 ment which encloses the sausage is often highly injuri- 
 ous to health, while the meat possesses no deleterious 
 quality whatever. The poisonous nature of sausages 
 arising from fraud is partly occasioned by the careless- 
 
80 MEAT AND FISH. 
 
 ness of the manufacturer in regard of the vessels in 
 which he keeps his meat, hut more generally from the 
 quality of the meat which he uses. Some years ago a 
 German chemist discovered, on analysing German sau- 
 sages, that they contained a portion of prussic acid (the 
 most potent poison known) ; from the eating of which 
 several persons died. Could the exact cause have been 
 ascertained, it would probably have been found that they 
 were made from the meat of dead animals. 
 
 The goodness of meat depends much on the season of 
 the year. Thus the flesh of most full grown quadrupeds 
 is in the highest season during the first months of 
 winter. Beef and mutton are in the greatest perfection 
 in the months of November, December, and January. 
 Pork is only good in winter ; during the summer months 
 it is not wholesome. Venison is in the highest season 
 from the middle of June to the beginning of September. 
 Lamb and veal during the summer months. 
 
 The distinguishing sign of young and old meat is, 
 that in the latter the fat is chiefly collected in masses, 
 or layers external to the muscles ; while in the former 
 it is more interspersed among the muscular fibres, giving 
 the flesh a marbled appearance. 
 
 The quality of animal food is also considerably in- 
 fluenced by the sex ; that of the female (which sooner 
 attains perfection) being always more delicate and finer 
 grained than that of the male, whose fibres and flavour 
 are stronger and more rank. But this rule prevails 
 only during the early age of the female ; for, as it grows 
 
MEAT AND FISH. 81 
 
 older, it gets tougher, instead of mellowing by age as the 
 male does. 
 
 Over fat meat should not be chosen ; as sheep in the 
 first stage of the rot, or about four weeks after becoming 
 tainted, feed inordinately, and are much disposed to 
 fatten ; which propensity graziers and butchers omit no 
 opportunity to promote, in order to increase their profits. 
 Excessive fatness is, therefore, no bad sign for judging 
 of the unwholesomeness, or rather rottenness of mutton, 
 as it is generally produced artificially. 
 
 Meat that has been over driven, and killed, as the but- 
 chers term it, on the drift, should be always rejected 
 as unwholesome; besides, it weighs heavier than if the 
 animal had been killed while its blood was in a healthy 
 state; for, by the over-driving the blood has been so 
 diffused in the cellular membrane, that it cannot be 
 drawn off by bleeding ; and the meat is heavier to the 
 benefit of the butcher, but to the loss of the consumer. 
 The florid colour of meat is a sign of the blood not hav- 
 ing been properly drawn away. 
 
 The whiteness of the flesh of lamb and veal is often 
 produced by feeding the animal with milk in which 
 chalk is mingled, or by tying it up in a stall with a 
 pieee of chalk covered with salt constantly before it to 
 lick. Sometimes calves are suspended by their hind 
 legs with the head downwards for hours together, and 
 then bled to death slowly, for the purpose of whitening 
 the flesh. And, among the other complicated and 
 lengthened acts of cruelty, to which avarice resorts to 
 e3 
 
82 MEAT AND FISH. 
 
 extract the largest possible price from the sufferings of a* 
 poor harmless creature, is the tying of calves together 
 by the hind legs, and suffering them to remain sus- 
 pended across the back of a horse, with their heads 
 downwards, for hours together, in their way from mar- 
 ket ; a practice adopted by butchers for the purpose of 
 rendering the meat of the body as white as possible. 
 
 Nor are fishmongers less crafty and dishonest than 
 the other dealers in the necessaries of life. Sea-fish, 
 particularly cod, haddock, and whiting, are subject to the 
 operation of inflating the cellular membrane, in order to 
 make them look plump, and increase the bulk of the fish. 
 The imposition is detected by pressing each side of the 
 orifice at the belly of the fish between the thumb and 
 finger, when the air will be perceived to escape. 
 
 The signs that fish are fresh are the firmness or stiff- 
 ness of the fish, the redness of its gills, and the bright- 
 ness of the eyes. Whiteness of muscle and the absence 
 of oiliness and viscidity are also signs of wholesomeness 
 of this species of food. Flakiness and opaque appear- 
 ance, with a layer of white curdy matter interspersed 
 between the flakes, after the fish has been cooked, are 
 signs of the goodness of turbot, cod, whiting, haddock, 
 flounder, and sole. 
 
 The gills should also smell sweet, the fins be tight up, 
 and the eyes not sunk. The reverse of any of these 
 signs shows that it is stale. Thickness of flesh gene- 
 rally shows the good condition of fish. 
 
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 83 
 
 Fish out of season, that is after spawning, are un- 
 wholesome; and for this reason the legislature has 
 found it necessary to fix the periods at which the fish- 
 ing of salmon and the dredging of oysters shall be law- 
 ful. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, and Sugar. 
 
 TEA. 
 
 No article of consumption is more subject to adulte- 
 ration than the pleasant one which forms the principal 
 ingredient of the tea-table. It is not only adulterated 
 by the Chinese vender, but it undergoes sophistication 
 by the Chinese artist. By the former several vegetable 
 productions, particularly a kind of moss, are mixed 
 among genuine tea, and often sold by the antemundane 
 subjects of " the Brother of the Sun and Moon, and 
 The Light of Nations,'' in its stead. 
 
 Among the manufacturers and venders of tea in our 
 " fair isle" — " the land of the wise, the eloquent, the 
 free," — the dried leaves of the birch, ash, or elder tree, 
 and particularly those of the privet or white thorn, and 
 the black thorn or sloe, (both which last-metioned spe- 
 cimens possess more of the qualities of the tea leaf 
 than any other known vegetable,) are manufactured 
 
84 TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 
 
 and fabricated to represent this delicious article of 
 English female consumption: and the colouring, dye- 
 ing, and staining process is accomplished by the agency 
 of terra japonnica, logwood, verdigris, copperas, Prus- 
 sian blue, carbonate of copper, Dutch pink, &c. by the 
 English, and, it is said, even by the Chinese artist ; 
 which ingredients (namely, the five last-mentioned,) 
 are among the most potent poisons. According to Mr. 
 Accum's testimony (Culinary Poisons, p. 220, note,) 
 Mr. Twining, the eminent tea-dealer, asserts that 
 " the leaves of spurious tea are boiled in coppers with 
 copperas and sheep's dung." And it is a known fact 
 that tea-leaves are purchased, from the London coffee 
 houses and shops, by a regular set of men, who make 
 their weekly rounds for the purpose, to be re-dried and 
 coloured. 
 
 As it may be interesting to my readers to be informed 
 of the progress of the " march of intellect" in the 
 imitative process of preparing sham tea, and to have an 
 opportunity of admiring the ingenuity of fraud and 
 villany displayed in the fabrication, I shall endeavour 
 to gratify their reasonable curiosity. 
 
 The white thorn and the sloe, or black thorn, as I 
 have already said, are the principal leaves employed in 
 the fabrication of the sham or imitative teas, on account 
 of their possessing more of the qualities of the tea-leaf 
 than any other ' known vegetable. From the white 
 thorn is manufactured the green tea; and from the 
 
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 85 
 
 black thorn, or sloe, the black variety. These leaves 
 are gathered and collected from the hedges around the 
 metropolis, by a number of agents hired by the fabri- 
 cators ; and these sub-imps in the " black art" are re- 
 warded for their honest labours with a remuneration of 
 from one penny to twopence a pound. I have been told 
 by one of those worthies that he is able to make be- 
 tween two and three pounds a week by his " vocation," 
 and has not " hard labour too;" for he likes, as he says, 
 " to play oft at times a bit of the gentleman." And, 
 by a tea-leaf collector, I was once informed that his 
 usual returns, or rather clear gains, were between six 
 and seven pounds per week, and this " for only morn- 
 ings* work." Of course, I suppose, like other large 
 44 capitalists" and " the moneyed interests," he put on his 
 silk stockings in the evenings, and exhibited his " sweet 
 person" at " Almacks," or some of the fashionable 
 " Hells," or " Evening," or " Musical parties" at the 
 " West End." But, as to the indisputable reality of 
 this " transmogrification" your deponent knoweth 
 not. 
 
 But to the subject in hand. The sloe, or blackthorn, 
 leaves are first boiled ; then, when the water is squeezed 
 from them in a press, they are baked on a flat iron plate ; 
 and, when dry, rubbed between the hands to produce 
 the curl of the genuine tea. The colour is then pro- 
 duced by the application of Dutch pink, and a small 
 quantity of logwood; when, " mirabile dictuT "good, 
 
86 TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 
 
 wholesome, nutritious black tea" is produced equal to, 
 and probably surpassing the specimens of the monopo- 
 lists of Leadenhall-street. 
 
 The process is equally rapid and efficacious in the 
 fabrication of green tea ; the leaves being boiled, 
 pressed, and dried in the same manner as I have de- 
 scribed, takes place with the black imitation-tea, only 
 that the drying process is performed on plates of copper. 
 The blueish hue or bloom observable on genuine tea is 
 produced by mixing with the leaves Prussian blue or 
 Dutch pink, in fine powder, while the leaves are heat- 
 ing upon the plates, and verdigris is added to complete 
 the operation. The leaves are then sifted, to separate 
 them from the thorns and stalks ; and should there not 
 be a " quantum sufficit" of the fine green bloom (the in- 
 dubitable criterion of genuineness in the estimation of 
 bur " fair countrywomen," — the ancient, as well as 
 u the bewitching ;") the operator kindly and generously 
 adds, more verdigris and Dutch pink or Prussian blue. 
 And again " pure, genuine, exhilirating" green tea is 
 produced as quick as thought, and that even in the dark- 
 ness of a town cellar, some few feet under ground. 
 
 The profits on these transmutations are enormous ; 
 Mr. Accum, at p. 205 of his useful book, says that it 
 has been stated to be from £300 to £600 per cent. 
 And the extent to which the nefarious traffic is carried 
 is still more surprising. According to a report of the 
 Committee of the House of Commons in the year 1783, 
 
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 87 
 
 it is stated that " the quantity of fictitious tea which 
 was annually manufactured from sloe and ash-tree leaves, 
 in different parts of England, to be mixed with genuine 
 teas, was computed at more than Four Millions of 
 Pounds" This computation was made when the ge- 
 nuineteas, sold by the East-India Company, at their 
 sales, amounted to only six millions of pounds annually. 
 What then must be the amount of the illicit traffic 
 now, when the Company's sales are about thirty millions 
 of pounds annually ! This proves that the ingenious 
 author of the following lines, which appeared in the 
 Literary Journal, vol. 1, p. 14, cannot be supposed to be 
 " much out in his reckoning :" 
 
 " China and Porto, now farewell ; 
 Let others buy what you've to sell, 
 
 Your Port and your Boheaj 
 For we've our native sloe divine, 
 Whose fruit yields all our Porto wine, 
 Whose leaves make all our 7ea." 
 
 But John, " with all his easy gullability," will, no 
 doubt say, " this is all stuff; show me proofs." Well, 
 John, thou art a good creature, thou wilt never believe 
 " aught against thy enemy," until he hath robbed 
 thee of thy senses, and what is dearer to thee, thy 
 " stuff." But to prevent a too frequent repetition of 
 thy misfortune, I will open the budget to thy admiring 
 eyes. Look, John, over thy files of the London News- 
 
88 TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 
 
 papers, particularly the " Times" and " Courier," from 
 March to July, in the year 1818, and there thou may est 
 entertain thy optics and cerebral nerves with a goodly 
 array of prosecutions and convictions of manufacturers 
 and venders of factitious tea. In one instance, thou 
 wilt read of £840 damages being given against one 
 culprit. Nor is this all of the illicit doings, John. 
 There have been many prosecutions and convictions 
 since the time specified, with which I recommend thee 
 to recreate ** thy often infirmity" of incredulity. Mr. 
 Accum, at page 203 of his work, says that, in Scotland 
 and Ireland, the penalties imposed for this offence 
 " amounted, during a few months, to more than fifteen 
 thousand pounds !" 
 
 With respect to the medicinal or deleterious effects 
 of tea on the animal economy, it would be misplaced to 
 occupy the pages of a work of this nature with their 
 discussion. To such of my readers as may wish to 
 inform themselves on this subject, I recommended the 
 perusal of " The Oracle of Health and Long Life ; or, 
 Plain Rules for the Preservation and Attainment of 
 Sound Health and Vigorous Old Age. By Medicus ;" 
 as the intelligent author of that publication has discussed 
 the matter with great ingenuity, and furnished a variety 
 of hints and information calculated to be of essential 
 service to the consumers of this most important article 
 of Asiatic imports. Here it will be more useful to de- 
 tail the ready tests or methods of detecting its adultera- 
 
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 89 
 
 tion. For it is an undoubted fact, as " Medicus" ob- 
 serves, that many of the noxious qualities attributed to 
 tea, arise from the two-fold sophistication which it is 
 frequently doomed to undergo both from the Chinese 
 and English adulterator before it reaches the hands of 
 the consumer. 
 
 Where it is suspected that tea is adulterated with the 
 leaves of other shrubs, the fraud, if not discoverable by 
 the appearance and fragrant odour of the article, may 
 be detected by putting a grain and a half of blue vitriol 
 into a cupful of the infusion, when, if it be genuine 
 green tea, and set in a good light, it will appear of a 
 fine light blue. If it be genuine bohea, it will turn to a 
 deep blue, next to black ; but when an adulteration has 
 been made in either case, a variety of colours, as green, 
 black, yellow, &c. will be seen in the samples submitted 
 to the experiment. 
 
 Where the damaged and ordinary green teas or tea 
 leaves have been prepared with japan earth, or other 
 adulterating ingredients, for the purpose of giving the 
 leaves the colour, and the infusion the tincture of bohea 
 tea, the fraud may be detected by either of the follow- 
 ing tests or methods : 1 . A less quantity of this dyed 
 tea will give a deeper colour to the same proportion of 
 water than if the experimented articles were genuine. 
 2. The colour it gives the water will also be of a reddish 
 brown, whereas, if the article be genuine, it should be 
 dark. 3. When the leaves have been washed, by standr 
 
90 TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 
 
 ing a little, they will look greener than good bohea. 
 4. This dyed tea is generally much larger than the 
 genuine specimens ; it is, therefore, always advisable to 
 buy the small leaved bohea ; remembering to examine 
 whether the ingenuity of the artist has not been at work 
 to break or crumble it into pieces, so as to disguise the 
 size of the leaves : for the adulterator's wits are always 
 at work in " the black art." 5. The liquor drawn off, 
 which should be smooth and balsamic to the palate, 
 tastes rougher and harsher than the genuine tea does. 
 6. If milk is poured into it, it will rise of a reddish co- 
 lour, instead of a dark or blackish brown. 7. A little 
 copperas put into this last-mentioned liquor will turn 
 it to a light blue, instead of a deep blue inclining to 
 black. 8. Spirits of hartshorn make good tea of a deep 
 brownish colour, after it has stood awhile, similar to new 
 drawn tincture of saffron ; but the same effect does not 
 appear when the tea is bad. 
 
 When green tea is counterfeited by dyeing bad bohea 
 with green vitriol the cheat may be detected by the fol- 
 lowing means : 1 . By putting a piece of gall into the 
 infusion it will turn it to a deep blackish colour,- which 
 would not be the case were vitriol or copperas not pre- 
 sent. 2. If the infusion made of this tea be of a pale 
 green, and incline to a blueish dye, it is bad. 3. Spirit 
 of hartshorn will give it a slight purple tinge, and pre- 
 cipitate a small sediment, instead of a deep greenish 
 yellow after it has stood about half a dozen minutes. 
 
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 91 
 
 4. Where the adulteration has been made with carbo- 
 nate of copper, the fraud is detected, by shaking up a 
 tea-spoonful of the suspected article in a phial with two 
 tea-spoonsful of liquid ammonia, diluted with half its 
 bulk of water ; when the liquor, if copper be present, 
 will exhibit a fine blue colour. Mr. Accum in his work, 
 p. 219 — 221, gives other methods for testing adulte- 
 rated tea. 
 
 As a general and ready test to distinguish genuine 
 tea from the sloe, or black thorn, and the white thorn 
 leaf, make an infusion of it in the common way, and 
 then spread out some of the largest leaves to dry ; when, 
 if the tea be genuine, the leaf will appear to be narrow 
 in proportion to its length, and deeply notched or ser- 
 rated at the edges, and the end or extremity acutely 
 pointed ; while the sloe, or black thorn leaf is notched 
 or jagged at the edges very slightly, and is obtusely 
 pointed. Another distinction also is, that the genuine 
 leaf is of a lively pale green colour, its surface smooth 
 and glossy, and its texture very delicate ; while the 
 adulterated leaf is of a dark olive green colour, its 
 texture much coarser and surface more uneven. The 
 leaves of the white thorn, when moistened and spread, 
 have a less resemblance to the genuine tea-leaf than is 
 the case with the sloe-leaf. The leaves of the other imi- 
 tative or sham teas have still a less resemblance, and for 
 this reason they are but seldom used. With respect to 
 the different kinds of tea imported from China the 
 shape of the leaf is the same in all of them, though its 
 
92 TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 
 
 size varies ; for all the varieties are the produce of the 
 same plant; the difference of quality and properties 
 depend chiefly on the difference of climate, soil, culture, 
 age, time of gathering, and mode of drying the leaves. 
 The difference of the size of the leaf is occasioned in a 
 great measure by the different seasons at which it is 
 gathered. 
 
 COFFEE. 
 
 Several substitutes are vended by the grocers and 
 coffee -dealers, instead of the coffee-berry, when pur- 
 chased in a ground state, or allowed to pass through 
 the vender's mill. Among many others may be men- 
 tioned ground dried acorns, horse-chestnuts, horse-beans, 
 pigeon-beans, peas, nuts, barley, rice, wheat, parsnips, 
 carrots, &c. but the best imitation of the real berry is 
 obtained by roasting blue succory, or rye, with the addi- 
 tion of a few almonds. As all these articles, however, 
 have but little resemblance in flavour to real coffee, except 
 what they acquire from the torrefaction, and their empy- 
 reumatic oil, they are seldom vended solely by them- 
 selves, except to the coffee-shops of London, or those 
 whom the dealers consider as "a plucked pigeon," but 
 are ingeniously mixed with a portion of the genuine berry. 
 
 Friend John will, no doubt, as usual, call to his as- 
 sistance his native incredulity, and ask for proof against 
 his " pals," the grocer and coffee-dealer. To satisfy 
 his just curiosity let him look to the same file of papers 
 to which he was referred respecting tea, and there he 
 
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 93 
 
 will have no reason to be longer hard of belief. He 
 will there find that one H gentleman grocer," disliking 
 the trouble of grinding horse-beans, pigeon's beans, &c. 
 proceeded by short hand, and threw in a dash (not a 
 pinch) of gravel or sand ; for which act of kindness to- 
 wards his customers he was convicted in the penalty 
 of £50. See the case of The King against Chaloner, 
 a tea and coffee dealer. 
 
 But, probably, John, when he finds himself no longer 
 able to cling to t his strong hold — incredulity — will ex- 
 claim, shew us, then, your chemical test and analysis. — 
 Ah ! John, the coffee sophisticator is too much for us ; 
 his art is beyond the reach of short or long tests, or of 
 hard or easy ones : he may do as he likes, unless thou 
 canst put thy hoof upon some of his nicely packed-up 
 parcels ; and to accomplish this purpose thou, or thy 
 representative, the poor, badly-paid, half-starved, ill- 
 requited Excise-officer, must detect him in his machi- 
 nations on his own proper " dominium" or " natale 
 solum:" scarcely any other detection will satisfy that 
 old lady's scrupulosity and exactness — that " golden 
 calf" of thy idolatry — that " all perfect and superhuman 
 mass of incongruity and intricacy" — the law. 
 Thou, therefore, seest plainly that the only certain way 
 to have a drop of the " pure stuff" is to purchase the 
 berry in its raw state and roast it, and what is still more 
 important, to grind it thyself. But, if thou dost not 
 understand all these processes to a-t — , thou mayst find 
 them, with some other very interesting arcana of the 
 
94 TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 
 
 science, detailed in a work which I shall shortly publish 
 for the instruction and guidance of housekeepers of all 
 kinds and descriptions, and which I shall entitle " The 
 Housekeepers' Guide to Domestic Comfort, Household 
 Management, and Practical Economy " This, John, 
 I intend shall be a rare work — quite a tit-bit for thy 
 fancy; and the price a mere " four-penny matter." It 
 shall not be a u marrowless collection of shreds and 
 patches, and cuttings and pastings," selected or stolen 
 out of old useless books, but a collection of practical 
 facts, conducing to domestic comfort and real eco T 
 nomy. 
 
 As I must, friend John, have, by the foregoing par- 
 ticulars, alarmed thy coffee-drinking propensities, it is 
 but fair to let thee into the secret of ascertaining good 
 coffee. 
 
 Know then, friend Bull, and all ye little Bulls, who 
 may have the satisfaction of deriving your paternity 
 from that ancient and honourable stock, that coffee, 
 commercially considered, is of three sorts : the Arabian, 
 or Mocha coffee, the East-Indian coffee, and the West- 
 Indian coffee. Of these, the Mocha, or Turkey, coffee 
 is generally esteemed the best, and is so stated by all 
 the writers on the subject ; but this is not the case : for 
 the Java coffee is considered, by all competent judges, 
 to be superior, as it contains a considerably larger pro- 
 portion of oil. Among the East-Indian species, that of 
 Bourbon is preferred. Of the West-Indian produce, 
 the growth of the French colonies is most esteemed, 
 
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 95 
 
 particularly that of Martinique. The coffee of Surinam, 
 Berbice, Demerara, and Cayenne, is the least valued. 
 The inferiority of the coffee of the British colonies is 
 supposed to be occasioned by its being put to dry in 
 houses where sugar and rum are kept, or by being set 
 in vessels freighted with those commodities, or other 
 substances of a strong scent, from which the coffee im- 
 bibes the flavour. 
 
 Mocha, or Turkey, coffee (namely, in a raw or un- 
 roasted state) should be chosen of a greenish olive hue, 
 fresh and new, free from any musty smell, the berries of 
 a middling size, and clean and plump. Good West- 
 Indian coffee should also be of a greenish cast, fresh, 
 free from mouldy smells, and the berry small. East- 
 Indian coffee is of a pale, and partly of a deep yellow 
 colour. Java coffee is distinguished by its being a 
 large, light, yellow berry. 
 
 These are the general tests or methods for ascer- 
 taining the quality of raw coffee ; those for roasted are 
 similar as to the size of the berry : the other criteria 
 are that it should not be too much roasted, but of a 
 bright chestnut colour, and of a fresh fragrant smell. 
 
 I cannot, I apprehend, close this article more appro- 
 priately and serviceably, than by exhorting my readers 
 to recollect that the presence of any of the adulterating 
 ingredients in coffee is of the greatest prejudice to 
 health, and is apt to cause a distressing weight on the 
 stomach if the adulterated coffee be used daily for some 
 time. The detail of the beneficial and injurious effects 
 
96 TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, AND SUGAR. 
 
 is ably stated in " The Oracle of Health and Long 
 Life." 
 
 CHOCOLATE. 
 
 Chocolate is frequently adulterated with noxious in- 
 gredients, particularly vanilla and castile soap; the 
 first article is used for giving it a fragrant odour, and 
 the second for causing it to froth when it is dissolved 
 in the water : a large proportion of flour, also, instead 
 of the kernel of the cocoa-nut, makes up the compo- 
 sition. 
 
 Chocolate, to be good, should be of a brown colour, 
 inclining to red ; when broken, it should appear of a 
 smooth and uniform consistence in the fracture, without 
 any granulated particles, and should melt easily in the 
 mouth, leaving no roughness or astringency, but rather 
 a cooling sensation upon the tongue ; which last qua- 
 lity is the most decisive criterion of its genuineness. 
 
 SUGAR. 
 
 Considerable ingenuity is exerted in the adulteration 
 of sugar. The moist sugars are mixed up with sand, 
 salt, flour, and a variety of other ingredients of little or 
 no cost. The loaf, or lump sugar receives the addition 
 of lime, chalk, gypsum, plaster of paris, or any white 
 material which will save expense to the " refiner" 
 
 Lump, or loaf sugar, to be good, should be close, 
 heavy, and shining : though, by the bye, some of the craft 
 have lately contrived to introduce some sparkling par- 
 
SUGAR. 97 
 
 tides of marble, to produce the shining appearance. 
 That which easily breaks, and appears porous or spongy 
 and of a dull cast, has not been properly manufactured, 
 and has an undue proportion of lime, &c. in its com- 
 position. Of the moist kind, chuse that which is dis- 
 tinguished by the sharpness, brightness, and lose texture 
 of the grain, and which, when rubbed between the 
 finger and the thumb, is not easily pulverized : those 
 kinds are to be preferred which have a peculiar grey 
 hue, in conjunction with the brightness and other 
 criteria just mentioned. The soft and close grained 
 sugars, though of a good colour, should be rejected as 
 saturated with too much earthy matter. The East 
 India varieties do not contain so much saccharine 
 matter as the produce of the West India colonies. 
 Neither is the crush-lump, which is manufactured from 
 treacle and employed by grocers for mixing with the 
 common sorts of brown sugar, equal to the West India 
 produce in sweetening power. Adulterated sugar is 
 readily discovered by the taste and sediment left at the 
 bottom of the vessel in which it is dissolved. The pre- 
 sence of crush- lump may be recognized by the uni- 
 formity of the appearance of moist sugar. 
 
 Rules for the choice of currants, raisins, rice, and 
 other articles of grocery, are detailed in " Domestic 
 Comforts and Economy," a work containing a 
 store of information for the economizing and skilful 
 management of household expenditure. 
 
98 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 Spices. 
 PEPPER. 
 Pepper is subject to adulteration, like most other 
 articles of consumption. The spurious pepper consists 
 of chalk, flour, ground mustard-seed, &c. mingled with 
 a certain portion of the genuine berry, a quantity of 
 pepper dust, or the sweepings of the pepper warehouses, 
 mixed with a little Cayenne pepper ; the whole being- 
 made into a cohesive mass by means of mucilage. Even 
 the whole berry has not been able to escape the in- 
 genuity of sophistication. The adulterated berry is 
 manufactured of the hulls of mustard-seed, or oil-cakes 
 composed of the residue of lint-seed, from which the 
 oil has been pressed, glue, common clay or chalk, and a 
 certain quantity of stuff known and purchased in the 
 market under the name and cabalistical abbreviations 
 of P. D. or D. P. D., the first mentioned of which de- 
 lectable ingredients is the dust which falls from the 
 pepper-corns by their rubbing against each other in 
 their voyage from the place of their growth to that of 
 their importation ; the other is the sweepings or refuse 
 of the pepper warehouses. The first abbreviation sig- 
 nifies pepper dust ; the second, dirt of pepper dust. 
 The mode of manufacturing these inviting ingredients 
 
SPICES. 99 
 
 is to granulate the mass by pressing it through a sieve, 
 and then to roll the grains about in a cask until they 
 take a globular form. f 4 Artists" are then employed 
 to stick into each pepper-corn little sprigs, in order to 
 simulate the appearance of the genuine berry. This 
 practice was long carried on in London, without the 
 least interruption or suspicion of the fraud on the public 
 and the revenue, until the collection of the duties was, 
 in the year 1819, transferred from the Customs to the 
 Excise ; when, on that occasion, several convictions of 
 the offenders took place, which may be seen in the news- 
 papers published about that period. 
 
 Pepper is of two kinds, the black and the white. 
 Black pepper should be chosen large, heavy, firm, and 
 not much shrivelled. White pepper is either factitious 
 or genuine : the former is the ripe and perfect berry, 
 prepared by steeping in sea- water and urine the best 
 and soundest grains of black pepper for about the space 
 of a week, when the skin or rind bursting, they are 
 taken out and exposed to the heat of the sun until 
 the skin or outer bark loosens, when they are rubbed 
 with the hand till the rind falls off. The internal ker- 
 nels are next perfectly dried in the sun, and then they 
 are fit to be ground or manufactured into white pepper, 
 together with such foreign ingredients as the conscience 
 or ingenuity of the adulterator may suggest. The 
 genuine white pepper consists of the blighted or im- 
 perfect berries of the same plant as produces the black 
 pepper ; but as it does not possess a strength and pun- 
 f 2 
 
100 SPICES. 
 
 gency, even when not adulterated, equal to the common 
 black pepper, it is by no means preferable to that variety 
 for domestic purposes, except where appearance is con- 
 sulted, as in the case of its being brought to table. In 
 fact, white pepper is always, whether genuine or fac- 
 titious, inferior in flavour and quality to black pepper ; 
 and where it is factitious, its peculiar flavour and pungency 
 are nearly lost. 
 
 Where the berries are supposed to be factitious, the 
 readiest way of detecting the fraud, (independent of the 
 deterioration of quality and flavour, which must be evi- 
 dent to every judge of the genuine article,) is to throw 
 a few of the pepper-corns into a little water ; when the 
 artificial produce will swell up and soon become soft and 
 sticky, and on the least degree of agitation will dissolve 
 or fall to powder, while the genuine corns will remain 
 whole and unaffected. 
 
 The same precaution that I have said should ob- 
 served by the purchasers of coffee — namely, never to 
 let it pass through the mill of the grocer or vender, 
 should also be observed in the purchase of pepper. 
 When the cunning varlets have none of the adulterated 
 pepper-corns by them, they will be sure of exerting 
 some sleight-of-hand in slipping into the mill some of 
 the before-mentioned sophisticating articles, or flour, 
 or powdered hemp-seed or rape-seed cake, or ivory black, 
 or the hieroglyphical P. D. or D. P. D. (if they are not 
 already patiently waiting in the mill to lend their 
 services as make-weights ;) notwithstanding the poor 
 
SPICES. 101 
 
 purchaser may suppose himself lynx-eyed, and proof 
 against imposition. 
 
 Another article of the pepper kind, friend John, with 
 which thou art fond of tickling thy delicate appetite, 
 and of exhibiting on " gaudy days," as the sons of 
 Alma Mater phrase it, in thy well polished castors, 
 to thy admiring guests, like a sparkling star to be 
 found only in the remotest part of the heavens, is 
 the subject of sophisticating roguery. What thinkest 
 thou, John, of the " dear bought," " far fetched," 
 " long sought," "gentleman-like" Cayenne pepper, 
 which thou often wrappest up in as many folds of paper 
 as an onion hath coats, that it should not lose its virtue, 
 being adulterated with " red lead," to prevent the de- 
 lectable mass of which it is composed from becoming 
 bleached on exposure to the light. I was thinking, friend 
 Bull, to furnish thee with a test for discovering the 
 fraud, but as I know of no one better than that given 
 by thy expatriated countryman, the much injured 
 Accum, I must refer thee to his book, 4th edition, 
 p. 247. Perhaps the following extract from that ex- 
 cellent work, (the only book on cookery extant, that can 
 be safely trusted to ; for the genius of cookery is, 
 believe me, John, in colleague with the spirit of sophis- 
 tication against thy health ; and for a confirmation of 
 this assertion thou needest only look to the formulae 
 given in cookery books for imparting a fresh and lively 
 green colour or hue to pickles — not to mention the con- 
 
102 SPICES. 
 
 sequences of the concentration of the virtues of certain 
 articles, which, though harmless, while used in their 
 original and simple state, are, as the author of the 
 " Oracle of Health and Long Life" observes, 
 in their concentrated state, potent poisons;) the Cook's 
 Oracle, by the late Dr. Kitchener, will be better adapted 
 to thy wants and taste. 
 
 " We advise those who are fond of Cayenne not to 
 think it too much trouble to make it of English chillies — 
 there is no other way of being sure it is genuine, — 
 They will obtain a pepper of much finer flavour without 
 half the heat of the foreign ; and a hundred chillies 
 will produce two ounces. The flavour of the chillies is 
 very superior to that of the capsicums. Put them in a 
 warm place to dry, then rub them in a mortar, as fine 
 as possible, and keep them in a well stopped bottle." 
 
 Wholesome and economical receipts for making most 
 of the other articles vended in oil shops will be found 
 in the same useful work. Buy the work, John, thou 
 wilt have no reason to begrudge the price ; it is equally 
 valuable to the man of " high" or " low estate ;" — to 
 him to whom dinner is the chief business of the day, 
 who merely lives to eat, than eats to live — who seeth 
 the sun rise with no other hope than that he should fill 
 his belly, before it sets, who is not satisfied till he is 
 surfeited ; as well as to the man who lives according to 
 old English hospitality, and eateth merely to satisfy 
 nature and his better health. 
 
SPICES. 103 
 
 CLOVES. 
 
 Great fraud is often practised by the vender in the 
 sale of this commodity, either by depriving the cloves 
 of their oil, which is easily drawn from them either by 
 distillation or by simple pressure, or by causing them to 
 imbibe or absorb a quantity of water a short time pre- 
 vious to their sale. When the oil has been extracted, 
 the fraud may be discovered by the cloves appearing 
 shrivelled, light, of a paler colour than their usual dark 
 brown hue when perfect, without the ball or knob at 
 the top, and with little taste or smell. When they have 
 been forced to imbibe water for the purpose of increasing 
 their weight, the adulteration may be detected by 
 pressure between the fingers, and by the flavour and 
 fragrance of the exudation. When good and bad cloves 
 have remained long intermingled, the bad gradually 
 absorb oil from the good, in which case the fraud be- 
 comes difficult of detection. 
 
 The clove to be in perfection should be large sized, 
 plump, heavy, of a fine fragrant smell, and a hot aro- 
 matic taste, not easily disappearing off the tongue ; 
 easily broken, and when pressed between the thumb and 
 finger should leave an oily moisture upon them, produc- 
 ing a slight sensation of smarting. 
 
 CINNAMON. 
 
 Cinnamon is adulterated by either mixing cassia bark 
 with it, or a portion of the genuine article, which has 
 been deprived of its essential oil by distillation. 
 
304 PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 
 
 Good cinnamon is smooth and thin, not much thicker 
 than royal or stout writing- paper, and rather pliable ; of 
 a light yellowish cast, inclining to red, a fragrant aro- 
 matic smell, and an agreeable sweetish taste. Thick, 
 hard, brownish coloured specimens, of hot, pungent, or 
 a bitter taste, should be rejected. 
 
 The cassia bark, which bears a great resemblance to 
 cinnamon, is thicker, of a coarser texture, breaks short 
 and smooth; whereas cinnamon breaks fibrous and 
 splintery. The best method, however, of distinguishing- 
 cinnamon from cassia is by the taste. Thus, when cassia 
 is taken into the mouth, it forms a sweet mucilage, and 
 seems, when good, to dissolve almost entirely, whereas 
 cinnamon has a bitter taste, and produces a bitter dryness 
 in the mouth. 
 
 Criteria for judging of nutmegs, ginger, mace, &c. 
 will be found in " Domestic Comforts and Economy." 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Pickles, Vinegar, Oil, Mustard, Anchovies, Catsup, 
 Isinglass, Soap, Candles, Blue or Indigo, Starch, 
 Bees Wax, Sfc. 
 
 PICKLES. 
 Among the poisonous articles daily vended to the 
 public, none are of more potent effect than the pickles 
 sold by unprincipled oilmen. For the purpose of giving 
 a fresh and lively green colour or hue to those stimulants 
 of the palate, they are intentionally coloured by means of 
 
 V 
 
PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 105 
 
 copper or verdigris, or at least placed for a considerable 
 time in copper or brazen vessels for the purpose of allow- 
 ing the articles to be impregnated by the joint action of 
 the metal and the vinegar. The cookery books (save and 
 except " The Cook's Oracle") in vogue also direct the 
 " lovers of good cheer" to boil their pickles in bell metal 
 or copper pots, or to boil halfpence or a bit of verdigris 
 with them, in order to impart a green colour! Ought 
 not the authors, whose gender seems " doubtful" and 
 Messieurs les Bibliopoles, of those pests, to be indited for 
 a nuisance and malice prepense to the loving subjects of 
 our late " good old king ?" . 
 
 The ready way to detect the presence of copper in 
 these articles is to pour a little liquid ammonia, diluted 
 with an equal quantity of water, over a small quantity of 
 the suspected pickle reduced into small pieces, and 
 placed in an enclosed phial or vessel ; when, if the 
 pickles contain the minutest quantity of copper, the 
 ammonia will assume a blue colour. 
 
 VINEGAR. 
 
 Vinegar is adulterated with sulphuric acid, muriatic 
 acid, nitric acid, oil of vitriol, a variety of acrid vegetable 
 substances, and frequently contains metallic impregna- 
 tions of lead, tin, pewter, iron, and copper, from the stills 
 or vessels in which it is made. Its more harmless adul- 
 teration is a considerable dilution with water. 
 
 Vinegar is prepared from a variety of substances ; but 
 its common preparations are from wine, fruits, malt, 
 f 3 
 
106 PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 
 
 sugar, and wood. The vinegar made from wood is the 
 strongest, containing at least eight times the strength 
 of the common preparations. It is perfectly colourless, 
 and its taste is very pungent and grateful. But the 
 vinegar generally prepared for sale in this country is 
 made from malt ; which to be good should be of a pale 
 brown colour, perfectly transparent, of a pleasant and 
 rather pungent acid taste, but without acrimony, and a 
 fragrant grateful odour. These are the readiest and 
 best tests of good vinegar. But as a false strength is 
 frequently given to it by adding oil of vitriol, sulphuric 
 acid, or the extract of some acrid vegetable, as pellitory 
 of Spain, capsicum, &c. or metallic extracts, the tests 
 for ascertaining these foreign substances are as follow : 
 I f it is suspected that vinegar is adulterated with oil of 
 vitriol, put three or four drops of acetate of barytes into 
 a glass of vinegar ; filtrate the white precipitate thereby 
 produced through paper, and heat the powder or resi- 
 duum remaining in a tobacco-pipe until it is red hot. 
 Then put -it into spirit of salt or diluted aqua-fortis ; if 
 the precipitate dissolves, the vinegar is genuine ; if not, 
 it is adulterated. But if metallic adulteration is sus- 
 pected, add liquid ammonia to the vinegar, until the 
 odour of the ammonia predominates; if the mixture 
 assumes a blackish tint, it is a sign that copper is present 
 in the article. If the presence of lead be suspected, add 
 water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen to the 
 suspected vinegar ; if the mixture becomes black or yields 
 a black precipitate, your suspicion is well founded. 
 
PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 107 
 
 OLIVE, or FLORENCE OIL. 
 Olive oil is frequently adulterated by mixing* with it 
 the oil of poppy seeds or a decoction of cucumbers, 
 which latter ingredients easily unite with the oleaginous 
 substances. It is frequently impregnated with lead, 
 from the circumstance of the fruit which yields the oil 
 being compressed between leaden plates, and the oil being 
 suffered to remain in pewter or leaden cisterns in order 
 to become clear before it is offered for sale. This last 
 injurious quality is communicated afresh to the commo- 
 dity by the retail venders, who frequently keep a pewter 
 vessel immersed in the oil, for the purpose, as they assert, 
 of preserving the liquid jfrom becoming rancid. It is 
 however proper to state that the metallic contamination 
 by the wholesale manufacturer chiefly belongs to the 
 Spanish produce : the French and Italian manufacture is 
 usually free from the impregnation. 
 
 The presence of lead or any metal deleterious to 
 health is detected, by shaking in a stopped phial some of 
 the suspected oil with a quantity of water impregnated 
 w T ith sulphuretted hydrogen, in the proportion of one 
 part of the former to two parts of the latter ingredient ; 
 when the oil, if adulterated, will become of a dark brown 
 or black colour. When the oil of poppy seed, or the 
 decoction of cucumber, is supposed to have been made 
 use of in the adulteration, their presence may be ascer- 
 tained by exposing the mixture to a freezing temperature, 
 when the olive oil will become frozen, while the adul- 
 terating ingredient will remain fluid. 
 
108 PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 
 
 The best olive oil is of a bright pale amber colour, 
 somewhat inclining to a greenish cast ; free from sedi- 
 ment, bland to the taste, and without smell. 
 
 SALT. 
 
 Salt is frequently adulterated with sulphate of lime, 
 for the purpose of making it weigh heavier, appear 
 lighter, and less liable to become moist. 
 
 MUSTARD. 
 " Genuine mustard," says Mr. Accum. (Culinary 
 Poisons, p. 330) u either in powder, or in a state of paste 
 ready made, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the 
 shops." "Whether " patent/ 7 " best Durham" or of 
 any other pretty and imposing name, it generally consists 
 of a composition of mustard flour and wheaten flour ; 
 only for the additional cost of the " patent mustard" of 
 the respective manufacturers, the purchaser is treated 
 with a little cayenne pepper, a large quantity of bay salt, 
 and a quantum sufficit of •* aqua pura." Turmeric is the 
 grand adulterant of the merchant for giving the yellow 
 colour to factitious mustard. The flour of mustard of 
 the shops generally consists of the produce of mustard 
 seed, cayenne pepper, wheat flour, and turmeric ; and 
 the essence of mustard of the fashionable oilmen is com- 
 posed of camphor and oil of rosemary, dissolved in oil of 
 turpentine, with the addition of a little of the flour of 
 mustard ! 
 
PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 109 
 
 ANCHOVY SAUCE. 
 
 Anchovy sauce is frequently contaminated with the 
 pigments denominated Venetian red or Armenian bole, 
 which are rubbed into the mass, while the operator is 
 triturating the anchovy in his mortar. The Venetian 
 red, which is frequently adulterated with red lead, affords 
 the deepest and finest colour, and is accordingly used by 
 the fashionable oilman ; the aid of the Armenian bole is 
 invoked by his more conscientious and less aspiring 
 brethren. 
 
 But the anchovy itself is not exempt from the sophis- 
 ticating ingenuity of the trade ; for sprats are frequently 
 prepared and sold for anchovies. The best way of dis- 
 covering the fraud is by the appearance of the back bone, 
 which in the anchovy is triangular for some space from 
 the head, while that of the sprat is flat. 
 
 The test for detecting the fraud practised in the ma- 
 nufacture of anchovy sauce is the same as that which 
 will be presently stated for discovering the adulteration of 
 mushroom catsup. 
 
 MUSHROOM CATSUP. 
 
 This common article of consumption is frequently con- 
 taminated by copper. This deleterious quality it obtains 
 from the mode of its manufacture, as well as from the 
 articles from which it is manufactured. 
 
 The usual way in which it is prepared is by boiling" 
 in a copper the residue left in the still of the vinegar 
 manufacturer, with a decoction of the outer green shell 
 
110 PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 
 
 of the walnut (previously prepared also by having been 
 boiled in a copper, in combination with common salt;) 
 together with a portion of allspice or pimento, pepper 
 dust, (or cayenne pepper, should the manufacturer be a 
 man of taste;) and garlic. 
 
 The method of detecting the fraud is detailed at page 
 294 of Mr. Accum's book: it is too long for insertion 
 here. 
 
 ISINGLASS. 
 
 Isinglass, which is prepared from the air-bladders of 
 the sturgeons, is the subject of sophistication. The dried 
 bladders of horses, the skins of soles, and the intestinal 
 membranes of calves and sheep are frequently sold for it. 
 The fraud may be detected by boiling the shreds in 
 water; when, if the article is adulterated, the spurious 
 ingredients will obtain only an imperfect insolubility, 
 whereas genuine isinglass is almost perfectly soluble in 
 water. 
 
 Isinglass to be good, should be white, perfectly trans- 
 parent, dry, fibrous, and of a faint odour and insipid 
 taste. The best variety occurs in the form of a lyre or 
 horse-shoe; the worst, flat, in the form of a pancake. 
 The saltish taste of fictitious isinglass is also another of 
 the criteria forjudging of its goodness. 
 
 BLUE or INDIGO. 
 This article is subject to great adulteration by the intro- 
 duction of foreign ingredients into its manufacture. The 
 
PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. Ill 
 
 easiest and speediest test of its genuineness is by dissolv- 
 ing or cutting it. By the first method, if good, it dissolves 
 easily, while that of a coarse or an adulterated kind dis- 
 solves with difficulty, and settles at the bottom of the ves- 
 sel. By the second method, (and which is the best criteri- 
 on of its goodness,) when cut with a knife, it exhibits a 
 red copper-like appearance. Where this shade is absent 
 or only very slight, the indigo is of an inferior quality. — 
 Other signs of its goodness are that it should be light, 
 of a close texture, break easily, float on water, be free 
 from white specks or sand, and from white adhesive 
 mould externally, and when rubbed with the nail, it 
 should have a shining copper-like hue. 
 
 SOAP. 
 
 Soap is subject to great adulteration, as every person 
 is aware who has had an opportunity of witnessing the 
 specimens made twenty years ago, before " Messieurs 
 les Artistes" had made their prodigious advances, as our 
 " Yankee" brethren across the Atlantic phrase it, 
 " in the progressing knowledge of the age." 
 
 Good mottled soap is hard, but not brittle, well mot- 
 tled, and without any rancid, tallowy, or unpleasant 
 acrid smell. If any of this smell should be present, 
 there has been an undue -portion of soda or potash 
 used in the manufacture. A quantity of fuller's earth 
 is often used to conceal the imperfections and add to the 
 weight of the article, by enabling it to imbibe a large 
 quantity of water. Rancid tallow also is often used in 
 
112 PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, kc> 
 
 soap and candle-making, which has had a portion of its 
 substance quite destroyed by putrefaction. Of course 
 the articles from which it is made are of a very inferior 
 quality. Those specimens which have a disagreeable 
 odour are made of horns of animals, woollen rags, &c. 
 instead of oil, clay often supplies the place of tallow. 
 
 There are several methods for proving the quality 
 of soap. The author of " The Maidservant's Com- 
 panion and Directory" informs us that there are 
 " some people who can ascertain it by the taste." But 
 as the same gentleman observes, as it is not likely that 
 many persons will feel a pleasure in making the experi- 
 ment, a more pleasant method is to slice an ounce or two 
 of the soap very thin into a basin, and having poured 
 boiling water upon the slices, to stir them well till they 
 are quite dissolved; then place the basin and contents 
 before the fire for the space of about twelve hours. 
 When the mixture is quite cold, turn it out of the ba- 
 sin; if no sediment appears at the bottom, it is a sign 
 of the goodness of the soap. Or the adulteration of 
 the soap may be detected, by pouring upon a little of the 
 suspected article, thinly sliced into a bottle, rectified spirit 
 of wine, in the proportion of one part of soap to six 
 parts of spirit : then, when the bottle, being slightly 
 stopped, has remained a short time in a warm place, the 
 adulterated parts of the soap will appear unacted upon 
 by the agent; but if the soap be genuine, it will have 
 become wholly dissolved. 
 
 To those who are desirous of economizing the con- 
 
PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 113 
 
 sumption of soap, many useful hints may be found in 
 " The Maidservant's Companion and Direc- 
 tory ;" a work which every sensible master and mistress 
 should cause to be carefully and attentively perused by 
 their domestics. 
 
 CANDLES. 
 
 Nor are candles exempt from the sophisticator's art. 
 Tallow candles, to be good, should be made of equal 
 parts of bullock's and sheep's fat; which is discoverable 
 by their being of a firm texture, a good white colour, 
 and not an obnoxious smell. When made of hog's fat, 
 they gutter, emit an ill smell, and a thick black smoke. 
 If alum or pulverized marble has been mingled with 
 the tallow, for the purpose of giving a white appear- 
 ance and a hard consistence, the wicks burn with a 
 dead light, and the alum spits or emits slight explo- 
 sions from the wick as it burns. 
 
 Some useful directions respecting the management and 
 the economizing. of the consumption of candles, whether 
 wax, mould, or dips, are to be found in " Domestic 
 Comforts and Economy." 
 
 STARCH. 
 
 This commodity is subject to much adulteration by 
 the manufacturer. When good, it is dry, easily re- 
 ducible to powder, tasteless, and without odour. In 
 its use in the laundry, there is no good housewife but 
 can distinguish, by its effects on her " lavatory occu- 
 
114 PICKLES, VINEGAR, OIL, &c. 
 
 pations," the difference between good and bad starch : it 
 is therefore unnecessary to detail tests. 
 
 BEES' WAX. 
 
 Bees' wax is frequently adulterated with rosin, tallow, 
 pease-meal, potatoe -starch, and a mixture of oil and 
 litharge. The introduction of rosin into it may be dis- 
 covered by its hardness, brittleness, and want of te- 
 nacity. When adulterated with tallow, the fraud may 
 be detected by scratching the finger over the surface ; 
 when its clamminess and adhesiveness to the fingers will 
 indicate the presence of that ingredient. In the purchase 
 of cakes of bees' wax the cake should be broke, in order 
 to ascertain whether the impurities called foot, are not 
 ingeniously encased in a shell of pure wax. White wax 
 is adulterated with carbonate of lead and white tallow, to 
 increase its weight. 
 
 Bees' wax, when good, is of a compact substance, some- 
 what unctuous to the touch, but not adhering to the 
 fingers or to the teeth when it is kneaded or chewed: and 
 when scratched by the finger-nail, no obstruction is met 
 with, and but little indentation or fissure made ; it also 
 has an agreeable smell partaking of a slight odour of 
 honey, and a clear fresh yellow colour. Its texture is 
 also granular. 
 
115 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 Butter, Cheese, Milk, Cream, and Potatoes. 
 BUTTER. 
 
 Butter is not exempt from adulteration: the inferior 
 kinds are frequently mixed up with hogs-lard which has 
 lost its flavour and appearance ; and not unfrequently 
 kitchen-stuff forms a portion of the bulk. 
 
 Good butter is hard and firm ; therefore that butter 
 which is often sold in the shops in London, that adheres 
 to the knife when applied to, or stuck into it, is factitious, 
 that is, manufactured in a machine, of the following 
 materials — viz. rancid fresh butter, the cheap unsaleable 
 Scotch butters of various hues and dyes, and a quantity 
 of salt, well rummaged and pomelled together. This 
 spurious commodity is of a white cast, and generally sold 
 under the denomination of " Dorset." It should be 
 recollected that the cheesemongers never beat the good 
 butters, as the beating injures the flavour ; they bestow 
 their friendly castigations only on the worthless commo- 
 dity for the purpose of extracting a portion of its ran- 
 cidity and obnoxious smell. 
 
 Butter should be bought by the taste and smell. 
 Both fresh and salt butter should smell sweet, and be of 
 
116 BUTTER, CHEESE, MILK, CREAM, &c. 
 
 an equal colour throughout ; if veiny and open, it has 
 been mixed with a staler or an inferior sort. The quality 
 of tub butter is ascertained by putting a knife into the 
 butter ; and if, on drawing it out, any rancid or unplea- 
 sant smell should attach to the knife, the butter is not 
 good; but, perhaps, the best criterion is to taste the 
 butter near the sides of the tub, for the middle is often 
 sweet when the parts near the sides of the tub are quite 
 rank. 
 
 Hogs-lard is adulterated with the skimmings of the 
 liquor in which pork or bacon has been boiled. Lard 
 thus adulterated has a grey colour, a soft consistence, and 
 a salt taste ; whereas lard, when pure, is white, granular, 
 and rather firm in texture. 
 
 CHEESE, BACON, AND HAMS. 
 
 When annatto is dear, or of inferior quality in appear- 
 ance, it is customary with the venders of the article to 
 adulterate it with vermilion or red lead. This contamination 
 has chiefly been confined to the Gloucester cheese ; and 
 may be detected by macerating a small quantity of the 
 suspected article in water impregnated with sulphuretted 
 hydrogen, acidulated with muriatic acid ; which will im- 
 mediately cause the cheese to assume a brown or black 
 colour, if the minutest portion of lead be present. I am 
 informed by a respectable dealer, that cheese, especially 
 old Stilton cheese, is frequently greened in particular 
 
BUTTER, CHEESE, MILK, CREAM, &c. 117 
 
 parts with verdigris, in order to assume the appearance 
 of age. 
 
 The best cheese is that which is of a dry compact 
 texture, without holes in it; of a whitish colour, and 
 which, on being rubbed between the finger and thumb, 
 almost immediately becomes a soft and somewhat greasy 
 mass. Nor is a moist smooth coat a bad criterion of its 
 quality. It should also be of a moderate age ; for neither 
 very decayed, nor decaying cheese, is wholesome ; nor 
 is that which is new, adhesive, and ropy, when heated by 
 the fire, of a good kind. Cheshire cheese which crumbles 
 and tastes bitterish has been made of bad milk. Though 
 cheese is generally chosen by the taste, this is by no 
 means a criterion of its nutritive qualities ; as the flavour 
 generally depends on the nature of the food which 
 the cows eat, and often on the mode of management in 
 the manufacture of the cheese. 
 
 In the purchase of bacon and hams, pray bear in 
 mind, friend John, that many more thousands of tons 
 of those articles are sold annually in the metropolis of 
 this land of " just and equal dealing" as " fine, new 
 Hampshire bacon and fine Yorkshire hams," than are 
 received from those counties altogether ; and that though 
 the bacon merchants are supplied with bacon from Ire- 
 land, none sell Irish bacon. The large Irish hams are 
 also dried and sold for " fine fresh" Yorkshire or West- 
 moreland varieties, to tickle the fancy of the " Bull 
 Family" for rarities and expensive purchases. 
 
118 BUTTER, CHEESE, MILK, CREAM, &c. 
 
 MILK AND CREAM. 
 
 The usual sophistication of milk is a liberal quantity 
 of warm water, and to give consistence to the mixture, 
 and correct the colour, a composition of flour and yolks 
 of eggs is added ; but should there not have been suffi- 
 cient time for the operation, the immediate aid of the 
 cock or the pump is invoked. But some of the more 
 skilfully initiated " artistes au lait" dissolve the com- 
 mon cheese dye, annatto, which occasions a mixture of 
 milk and water to assume the colour, and nearly the con- 
 sistence of cream. Among some of the less expert a 
 composition of treacle and salt supplies the place of the 
 annatto ; but this mixture does not combine so well as 
 the annatto with the milk. Pure milk is of a dull white 
 colour, and a soft sweetish taste ; adulterated milk is of 
 a bluish appearance and thin consistence. 
 
 Cream receives a copious addition of skimmed milk, 
 flour, starch, rice-powder, or arrow-root boiled together, 
 to increase the " milk -merchant's" profits. But arrow- 
 root is the substance which is best adapted, and most 
 employed for the purpose. The generally received opinion 
 that milk is adulterated with chalk and whitening is, as 
 Mr. Accum observes, erroneous ; for neither of those 
 ingredients could be held in solution in the milk, and 
 would therefore be useless to the adulterator, as they 
 
FRUIT, &c. 119 
 
 would sink to the bottom of the pail while the manufac- 
 turer was doling out his composition to his customers. 
 But the practice of putting the milk into leaden pans, or 
 vessels made of that metal, to occasion the milk to throw 
 up a larger portion of cream, is sufficiently authenticated, 
 and deserves exposure, from the liability of having the 
 milk impregnated with particles of lead. 
 
 Perhaps some of my readers may be lovers of curds 
 and whey ; if so, I recommend them to endeavour to get a 
 sight of the calf's maw, from which the rennet is made 
 before it is boiled. I have had the fortune of being 
 " blessed" with " the captivating sight" more than once; 
 and in each instance I absolutely saw the bladder moving 
 alive with maggots. 
 
 POTATOES, FRUIT, &c. 
 
 Even the humble green-grocer exerts his ingenuity 
 and " tact" in the art of sophistication : to augment the 
 weight of his " murphies," and " make them tell* 1 he 
 soaks " the dear cratures" in water during the night 
 previous to their sale. 
 
 While discoursing of the little peccadilloes of the 
 honest tradesmen of " this land of Chris! ianity," I 
 never apprehended that it was possible to sophisticate 
 fruit. But at the very moment I was about to consum- 
 mate my bold, and I hope it will prove, patriotic under- 
 
120 FRUIT, &c. 
 
 taking, by affixing the important and consolatory, 
 though little word, " Finis," a new discovery presented 
 itself to my astonished optics ! Can you believe me, John ? 
 I happened to pop in rather inopportunely, that is to 
 say, a-la-mode Paul Pry, on a fruit-artist, who was 
 preparing some stale plums for sale, and giving them 
 all the bloom and fragrance of having been just plucked 
 from the tree. This recondite feat of fruitis ^-ingenuity 
 consists in anointing certain parts of the fruit with 
 gum water, and then shaking a muslin bag containing 
 finely powdered blue upon the prepared parts of the 
 fruit, which are laid uppermost upon a board, to receive 
 the precious unction. — From the honest tradesman whom s 
 I thus found patriotically engaged in furthering " the 
 trading and commercial interests of his dear native 
 land/' I also learned that some of the more skilful and 
 enterprizing artists soak plums in water, when they 
 have become shrivelled, in order to plump them out, and 
 make them, as it is fashionably phrased, en-bon-point. 
 
 What an age of intellect do we live in ! Could our 
 good old Druidical ancestors have supposed that their 
 puny and degenerate offspring would be endowed with 
 the extraordinary gift of being able to rejuvenize old 
 worm-eaten nuts ? Rare and sublime discovery ! What, 
 John, may we not next expect? Surely, we have 
 reached the millenium of the march of intellect and the 
 perfection of sophistication. But I must not keep the 
 reader longer in suspense. 
 
FRUIT, &c. 121 
 
 The rejuvenization of Old Nuts ! Just as I had 
 finished writing the above article, an old and almost 
 forgotten friend called on me, one who has long and 
 scientifically been patriotically engaged, " in this age 
 of intellect," in rejuvenizing old, rotten, worm-eaten 
 walnuts and almonds, of each last year's growth, and 
 giving their " externals" all the whiteness and beauty of 
 the lily-white hand of a " fine lady," and their " inter- 
 nals" all the plumpness and enbon-point admired by 
 his " most moral majesty," our late " gracious and be- 
 loved sovereign," in his " fair defects of nature." By 
 this scion of " the trading interests" I am informed 
 that old nuts of all kinds are first soaked in water in 
 order to plump them out, and then they are fumigated 
 with sulphur for the purpose of rendering the shells 
 white and clean. 
 
122 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 Confectionary, Pastry, and Perfumery. 
 
 The confectionary-artist is not behind his compeers 
 in trade in the honourable vocation of sophistication. 
 There are few articles which owe their paternity to his 
 handy- work, that partake wholly of the ingredients to 
 which they bear resemblance in name and appearance : 
 all, almost all, here is the work of " the black art." 
 
 But this is not the worst part of the business. Were 
 any person to be admitted into the " elaboratorical 
 pandemonium" of a pastry-cook or a confectioner — 
 were he to see the disgusting appearance of the vessels 
 in which they manufacture their articles — many of them 
 containing the ingredients with perfect rims of cupreous 
 matter surrounding them — were he to regale his eyes 
 with the sight of the most rancid butter bleaching for the 
 purpose of making pastry, as I have seen, I am sure that 
 he would hold the productions of the confectioner and 
 pastry-cook's shop in abhorrence, and would not con- 
 sider Dr. Paris's denunciation of them, in his useful 
 work on Diet, p. 247, as " an abomination." A lady 
 with whom I am acquainted, and who lodged at different 
 times in the houses of confectioners and pastry-cooks, 
 had so good an opportunity of witnessing the cleanliness 
 and wholesomeness of their operations, that for many 
 
CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 123 
 
 years she has not tasted any commodity that comes out 
 of their manufactories; and I verily believe that she 
 would die of hunger before she could induce herself to 
 allow a scrap of their delicacies to enter her mouth. 
 
 But these f* artists" not only endanger the health and 
 lives of their customers by the carelessness and nasti- 
 ness of their conduct in their compositions, but they 
 employ preparations of copper, and also of red lead in 
 colouring their fancy sweet-meats. In the preparations 
 of sugar- plumbs, comfits, and other kinds of confec- 
 tionary, especially those sweat-meats of inferior quality, 
 frequently exposed to sale in the open-streets, for the 
 allurement of children, Mr. Accum, p. 288, informs us, 
 that the greatest abuses are committed by means of 
 powerful poisons. The white comfits, called sugar- 
 peas, are chiefly composed of a mixture of sugar, starch 
 and Cornish clay (a species of very white pipe-clay) ; 
 and the red sugar drops are usually coloured with the 
 inferior kinds of vermillion or sap green, and often, in- 
 stead of those pigments, with red lead and copper. 
 As a yellow colour, cromate of lead is used, and prus- 
 siate of iron as a blue. The stuff called " hard rock," 
 " hard bake" white lolly pop" and other baby at- 
 tracting names, is of an equally deleterious quality. 
 Nor are the ginger-bread or sweet cakes of the ginger- 
 baker less injurious to the health of children, especially 
 the W gilt ginger-bread" as it is termed, which is covered 
 with Dutch leaf,— a composition consisting of an alloy 
 of copper and zinc, or brass and copper. Indeed, all pa- 
 g2 
 
124 CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 
 
 rents should, as the author of "The Oracle of Health 
 and Long Life" observes, anxiously instruct their 
 children never to buy any thing offered for sale in the 
 streets : among my acquaintance more instances than 
 one have occurred in which lamentable results would 
 have been the consequence had not timely aid been af- 
 forded the little sufferers. And for the same reason it 
 seems necessary to caution parents never to give paint- 
 ed toys (which are always coloured with red lead, ver- 
 digris, and other potent poisons,) to children, who are 
 apt to put every thing, especially if it gives them plea- 
 sure, into their mouths. 
 
 The mischievous consequences occasioned by the use of 
 suga confectionary, coloured with metallic and vegetable 
 poisons, are provided against by the French Government, 
 by being under the surveillance branch of the police, en- 
 titled the Council of Health, by whom an ordonnance is 
 issued, that no confectionary shall be sold, unless 
 wrapped up in paper, stamped with the name and address 
 of the confectioner ; and the ordonnance further provides 
 that the vendors shall be held responsible for all accidents 
 occasioned by confectionary sold in their shops. M. Che- 
 vallier has, in the Journal de Chimie Medicale for 
 Jan. 1831, discussed this subject with considerable 
 ability. 
 
 " The foreign conserves, such as small green limes, 
 citron, hop-tops, plumbs, angelica roots, &c. imported 
 into this country, and usually sold in round chip boxes, 
 are frequently impregnated with copper." Indeed, most 
 
CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 125 
 
 of the delicacies and " good things" to be obtained in 
 confectioner's shops, are tinted with all the colours of the 
 rainbow, by the agency of lead, copper brass, arsenic, 
 or some other poisonous metal. 
 
 The presence of lead and copper is readily detected 
 by pouring liquid ammonia over the article suspected 
 of being adulterated with the first mentioned metal, which 
 will acquire a blue colour; and sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen, acidulated with muriatic acid, where the second 
 article is suspected to have been made use of in the 
 adulteration, when the article will assume a dark brown 
 or black colour. The adulteration by means of clay 
 may be ascertained by dissolving the suspected article 
 in boiling water, when the sediment or precipitate at the 
 bottom of the vessel ready discovers the fraud. 
 
 For the purpose of communicating an almond or a 
 kernel flavour to custards, blanc-mange, and other pro- 
 ductions of his art, and to render them grateful to the 
 palates of his customers, the pastry-cook flavours them 
 with the leaves of the poisonous plant, the cherry-laurel. 
 And the basis of his favourite blanc-mange often con- 
 sists of the shreds of the dried bladders of horses, the 
 skins of soles, and other animal membranes, as cheap 
 substitutes for isinglass. Among his less objectionable 
 sophistications may be mentioned, his fabrication of 
 creams, custards, tarts, and other kinds of pastry, from 
 rice powder and skimmed milk. 
 
 The negus and lemonade made by pastry-cooks, and 
 the punch of public and coffee-houses, are made of tar- 
 
126 CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 
 
 taric acid, as a cheap substitute for citric or lemon 
 acid. 
 
 The perfumers, the keepers of the " emporiums and 
 bazaars of fashion," the manufacturers of the " best 
 genuine bears' grease," of the " incomparable Macassar 
 Oils" — of the " Kalydors" — " of Les Cosmetiques 
 Royales" — " of the Red and White Olympian Dews," and 
 other prodigiously grand and etymological titles " breath- 
 ing the spirit of patriotic rivalry," have all exerted their 
 respective wits in the art of economising expense and 
 " saving a penny." In fact the tooth-powders, the 
 dentrifices, the ottars of roses, the musks, the cosmetics, 
 the lotions, the balsams, the Hungary waters, the Eaus 
 de Cologne, as well as all the other frenchified eaus, the 
 milks and creams of roses, the pomades divines, the 
 blooms, the pearl- waters, the lip-salves, the perfumes, — the 
 Naples almond and beautifying soaps, — the cephalic, 
 Macouba, and other-hard named snuffs, are all vile sophis- 
 tications, and (to omit speaking of their injurious proper- 
 ties to the health and the skin,) contain but little of the 
 ingredients of which the artists profess that they are made. 
 On this subject I shall address myself especially to 
 my fair readers : craving leave to premise, that it is 
 strange that British ladies, to whom Nature has been 
 so bountiful, should destroy their native charms and 
 have recourse to the wretched substitutes of art, which 
 
 ARE DESTRUCTIVE OF BEAUTY, and PRODUCE REAL 
 DEFORMITY. 
 
 As many ladies attempt to improve their complexions 
 
CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 127 
 
 by the use of the pernicious cosmetics, which are con- 
 tinually and unblushingly advertised as beautifiers of the 
 skin, most of which are either worthless or dangerous, 
 (for if they have any effect, it is that of conveying mer- 
 cury, lead, or bismuth into the system, and too fre- 
 quently laying the foundation of diseases which are often 
 dangerous, and sometimes fatal ;) I cannot refrain from 
 advising those " fair ones" who have been in the habit of 
 using trash of so villainous a nature, that if they have any 
 of it by them, to throw it away at once, and to be persuaded 
 that the best cosmetics are exercise in the open air, an 
 active attention to social and domestic duties, regular 
 hours of repose at night, and cheerful hilarity and tran- 
 quility of mind, and that those cheap and wholesome 
 remedies will not, as the author of " The Toilette 
 Companion" well observes, fail to animate their coun- 
 tenances and beautify their complexions beyond the 
 blooms and the balsams, the Grecian and the Egyptian 
 Waters, the Kalydors and the Macassar Oils, the Gow- 
 land's Lotions and the Pearl Powders, the Cosmetiques 
 Royales, the Red and White Olympian Dews, the Es- 
 sences, the Eaus,and the Pomades Divines, the Essences 
 Apolloniennes or Tyrian, and the Tonic Wines, and all the 
 other puffed and delusive nostrums, that knavery, cupidi- 
 ty, and effrontery, have ever palmed upon a credulous 
 public, by which dull and lustreless eyes, sallow and 
 shrivelled skins, lifeless and cloudy complexions, and 
 impaired and ruined health, are infallibly superinduced : 
 
128 CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 
 
 or those simple and easily purchased ingredients, with 
 a strict attention to cleanliness, that is, well washing the 
 skin every day, and drying it with a course towel, — or 
 when the head, neck, or face perspire, rubbing it dry 
 with a towel of the like description, will, as the author 
 of "The Oracle of Health and Long Life" says, 
 more effectually beautify the complexion, preserve 
 the skin pure, soft, and pervious, and consequently the 
 health firm and unaffected, than all the frauds that have 
 ever been contrived to cheat and deceive the unwary or 
 the inexperienced. Cold water, however, should not be 
 used when the skin is warm, nor very warm water when 
 it is chilled. For as the author of that clever little work 
 " The Toilette Companion, or The whole Art of 
 Beauty and of Dressing," says, " Many a beautiful 
 face, neck, and arm, have been spoiled by not observing 
 this caution." 
 
 I have mentioned the dangerous consequences from 
 the use of the repellent cosmetics and other quack nos- 
 trums puffed off in the newspapers ; but, as example is 
 more convincing than precept, I shall present my rea- 
 ders with a few cases of their lamentable results, which 
 fell under the observation of the celebrated Dr. Darwin. 
 
 " Mrs. S. being much troubled with pimples, applied 
 an alum poultice to her face, which was soon followed 
 by a stroke of the palsy, and terminated in her death. 
 Mrs. L. applied to her face for pimples a quack nos- 
 trum, supposed to be some preparation of lead. Soon 
 
CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c 129 
 
 after she was seized with epileptic fits, which ended in 
 palsy and caused her death. Mr. Y. applied a prepa- 
 ration of lead to his nose to remove pimples, and it 
 brought on palsy on one side of his face. Miss S. an 
 elegant young lady, applied a cosmetic lotion to her face 
 for small red pimples. This produced inflammation of 
 the liver, which required repeated bleedings with purga- 
 tives to remove. As soon as the inflammation was sub- 
 dued, the pimples re-appeared." (Darwin's Zoonomia.) 
 Every person could enlarge this catalogue from the 
 sphere of his own acquaintance. 
 
 I am willing to believe that I have (to use a legal 
 phrase) made out a sufficient case to prove the inefficacy, 
 nay the dangerous consequences of cosmetics, and the 
 rest of the long list of et-ceteras for beautifying the skin. 
 It will now be my duty to direct my attention to the 
 other frauds and impositions practised under the titles of 
 " hair strengthened" — " hair beautifyers"~ of "best 
 genuine bears' grease" — of " incomparable Macassar Oils" 
 — of " Pommades Divines," — and the remaining hair 
 hoaxes and humbugs, played off as hair oils, Russia 
 oils, and similar puffed nostrums, under pretty and taking 
 titles, by Prince, Ross and Son, M'Alpine, and the 
 rest of the bear's grease and hair-oil men ; and I shall 
 feel a singular pleasure should I be the medium of 
 saving any " lovely or loveable woman" from becoming 
 the dupe of imposture and deception. 
 
 Amongst the various cosmetics recommended by the 
 g3 
 
130 CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 
 
 adventurer for the dressing room, it must be admitted 
 that none seems more harmless than those which profess 
 to give a fine curl to the hair. But to assert that any 
 liquid will, of itself, give a permanent or temporary curl 
 to the hair is fallacious ; though it is true that the appli- 
 cation of a weak soap lye, or a solution of caustic potash, 
 will render the hair more susceptible of adopting the arti- 
 ficial curl given by putting it into papers. But then it 
 must be recollected that the effect occasioned by soap lye 
 or potash is only produced by a complete alteration of 
 the organic structure of the hair, superinducing a slow 
 but certain destruction of that beautiful ornament of the 
 human head. This effect may not be immediately 
 observed, either in youth or in advanced life ; but it is 
 certain and inevitable. 
 
 Equally destructive are the various liquid dyes so 
 loudly boasted of, and extensively advertised, by quacks 
 for colouring the hair ; some of them, indeed, do produce 
 the effect proposed, particularly the black dyes ; but they 
 are all injurious, especially the black, as their basis 
 consists always of nitrate of silver, (that is, silver dissolved 
 in nitric acid or aqua-fortis) or lunar caustic when in a dry 
 state ; but the operation is destructive of the hair, as 
 must be evident to any one who has seen the effect of 
 caustic on warts on the skin. It has been well said 
 that if we wish to save our hair, we must first save our 
 money, by abstaining from the whole list of those puffed 
 and unprincipled recipes and nostrums that stare us in 
 
CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c. 131 
 
 the face in every newspaper, and in almost every shop- 
 window. 
 
 The folly of giving credence to any of the impudent 
 and disgraceful impostures for the pretended power of 
 certain ingredients to change the colour of the hair, must, 
 as the author of The Toilette Companion observes, 
 be evident to every person when he is told that the 
 hair depends on a peculiar secretion, and that, when that 
 secretion ceases, which it does from several causes, as 
 grief, fright, ill health, great mental exertion, age, &c. 
 the hair becomes grey : " for Nature, like a provident 
 mother, when she feels the powers of life impaired or 
 decaying, exerts all her energies to support and preserve 
 the vital organs, and can no longer, from her limited 
 means, supply the outposts and ornamental parts of the 
 system as before, which therefore suffer and are sa- 
 crificed." 
 
 Nor are the deceits of the base nostrum-mongers for 
 making the hair grow and curl, or for making the bald 
 pericranium of a nonagenarian vegetate in all the luxuri- 
 ance of rejuvenization, the only frauds practised: equally 
 destructive are the advertised depilatories, the general 
 basis of which is yellow orpiment, a certain poison if 
 taken inwardly. It is true that the Turks, with whom 
 bald heads are in fashion, and also the Chinese, do use 
 this as an unguent, to save the trouble of frequent 
 shaving ; but it should be recollected that those cosme- 
 tics which may be harmless on the head of a robust 
 Janissary, — of a bashaw of three tails or a fat Mandarin, 
 
1 32 CONFECTIONARY, PASTRY, &c 
 
 do not necessarily become fit adjuncts for the toilette of a 
 u British fair," — " the lovely daughters of Albion, 'Erin, 
 or Scotia," or even that of an " Herculean delicate," a 
 Lilliputian dandy, or a Bond-street exquisite. 
 
 Snuff-sniffers and tobacco-munchers and puffers, do ye 
 know what the delectable ingredients which form part of 
 the articles of your recreation, are ? Have you never heard 
 that snuff is often compounded of pulverised nut-shells, 
 of the powder of old rotten wood, called powder post ; 
 that the colour is improved by ochre, and the appearance 
 and feel modified by an addition of treacle or urine ? 
 And have you never been told that the pungency of snuff 
 is increased by the agency of powdered glass or the 
 muriate of ammonia? Tobacco smokers and " chawers" 
 have ye never been told that your favourite f* quid" is 
 often composed of black hellebore, corrosive sublimate, 
 dried dock-leaves, and a variety of other innocent ingre- 
 dients? Oh, dear ! what a deal you have yet to learn 
 oefore you " become wise as serpents !" 
 
MEDICINES. 133 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 MEDICINES; 
 
 MEDICAL EMPIRICISM, 
 
 AND 
 
 QUACKS AND QUACKERY, 
 
 REGULAR AND IRREGULAR, 
 
 LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE. 
 
 Devoted to disease by baker, butcher, grocer, wine- 
 merchant, spirit-dealer, cheesemonger, pastry-cook, and 
 confectioner ; the physician is called to our assistance ; 
 but here again the pernicious system of fraud, as it has 
 given the blow, steps in to defeat the remedy; — the un- 
 principled dealers in drugs and medicines exert the most 
 diabolical ingenuity in sophisticating the most potent and 
 necessaiy drugs, (viz. peruvian bark, rhubarb, ipecacu- 
 anha, magnesia, calomel, castor-oil, spirits of hartshorn, 
 and almost every other chemical preparation in 
 general demand;) and chemical preparations used in 
 pharmacy ; and the fraud has increased to so alarming 
 an extent, says Mr. Accum, and his assertion is borne 
 out by the experience of every one familiar with che- 
 mistry, that nine-tenths of the drugs and medicines in 
 use that are vended by dealers, even of respectability and 
 reputation, according to the usual interpretation of those 
 words, •' and who would," as that gentleman emphati- 
 cally expresses himself, " be the last to be suspected," 
 are adulterated. And what tends to aggravate the 
 
134 MEDICINES. 
 
 evil is that manufactories and mills on " an amazingly- 
 large scale" are constantly at work in this metropolis for 
 the manufacture of spurious drugs. From these licensed 
 elaboratories of disease, the adulterated articles are vended 
 to unprincipled druggists, at less than a third of the price 
 of the genuine article. And as there are no certain tests 
 or methods of detecting the fraud, the consequence is, 
 that the physician's prescription is rendered useless, and 
 the most consummate skill often baffled in the subjection 
 of disease. Some idea of the extent of the adulteration 
 of drugs may be formed, when it is stated that a spurious 
 peruvian bark is sometimes sold, compounded of maho- 
 gany saw-dust and oak-wood, ground into powder, with a 
 proper proportion of genuine quinquina ; and that mag- 
 nesia, even the calcined sort, is adulterated with lime. 
 
 Chemical cunning has even contrived to extract the 
 quinquina, in which consists the whole virtue of the bark, 
 leaving it a completely inert mass. And even the 
 quinine itself is sophisticated, being frequently contami- 
 nated with lime, tallow, sugar, and sulphate of cin- 
 chonas. 
 
 It is necessary also to make some little inquiry, and use 
 some little exercise of one's understanding, in ascertaining 
 for what reasons certain physicians recommend particular 
 druggists, and particular drugs which are manufactured by 
 the " said particular" druggists. Dr. Reece, in his 
 Monthly Gazette of Health for August 1829, has tended to 
 open one's eyes a little on the subject. He informs us 
 that the late Ambrose Godfrey, the nostrum-monger, con- 
 
MEDICINES. 135 
 
 trived to get his preparation of arrow-root into notice and 
 sale at double the price for which it might have been ob- 
 tained of any other druggist, by accompanying samples of 
 his commodity with presents of haunches of venison to 
 certain physicians, and that by judicious repetitions 
 (" neither few nor far between") of the said conciliating 
 haunches of venison, he contrived to maintain the repu- 
 tation and supposed superiority of the said arrow- root, 
 and to keep the monopoly to himself, as all the said 
 learned and grateful physicians always, as in due allegi- 
 ance and duty they were bound, recommended the said 
 Godfrey Ambrose's arrow-root as superior to that of all 
 other simple wights, who supposed that their composition 
 of arrow-root could be good for any thing, if they forgot, 
 or were not able, to give character to the commodities by 
 means of the mute but irresistible influence or eloquence 
 of the said judiciously disposed-of haunches of venison. 
 From this account it appears that the '? sons of Galen" 
 and the artificers of " the pestle and mortar" are not behind 
 their brethren of " the long robe," and " of the quill 
 and parchment tribe" in the " art of huggery." How 
 often has a " learned barrister" contrived to get into the 
 good graces of an attorney and secured practice by invita- 
 tions to dinner, and judiciously and well timed (for few 
 persons are better versed in the art of throwing a sprat to 
 catch a whale than a hungry and briefless, and it must be 
 admitted, often highly gifted barrister ;) presents of game, 
 by a hearty and unseen shake of the hand in the street, 
 which he dared not have given at Westminster Hall, and 
 
136 MEDICINES. 
 
 by all those ingenious means, to which men of great talent 
 have before now condescended, and by which men of 
 little talent have sometimes gained considerable fortunes. 
 
 Nor has the spirit of adulteration allowed even the 
 accredited patent or quack medicines to escape its in- 
 genuity. Dr. James's Fever Powders, and Norris's 
 Fever Drops, besides a variety of other popular receipts, 
 are to be obtained in all possible degrees of strength and 
 flavours from the various venders and manufacturers of 
 the articles. 
 
 Even the simple articles arrow-root, worm-seed, Spa- 
 nish liquorice, lemon acid, soda water, lozenges, honey, 
 spermaceti, and a long list of other commodities in 
 general use, receive the benefit of the sophisticators' 
 ingenuity. 
 
 The greater part of the commodity sold under the name 
 of arrow-root in the shops of the druggists and grocers is 
 prepared from the fecula or starch of wheat and of dry 
 mealy potatoes, with a portion of arrow-root. When 
 good, the grains of arrow-root are very fine, with num- 
 bers of little clots which are formed by the aggregation 
 of the minuter grains while the commodity is drying, and 
 when examined by a magnifying glass appear pearly and 
 very brilliant. 
 
 The seeds of the tansy are often offered for sale, for 
 worm-seed ; but the more conscientious dealer sometimes 
 treats his customers with an equal portion of the genuine 
 and the adulterated article. 
 
 The Spanish liquorice juice of the shops is generally 
 
MEDICINES. 137 
 
 composed of the worst kind of gum arabac, called Indian 
 or Barbary gum, and imported chiefly for the purpose of 
 making shoe-blacking, with a small portion of the genuine 
 juice ; and the factitious composition, when inspissated, 
 is formed into rolls, resembling the genuine article im- 
 ported from Catalonia, nicely sprinkled or stratified with 
 particles of dry bay-leaves, and skilfully impressed with the 
 word " Sofaz," in the true cast of Spanish engraving. 
 Refined liquorice is frequently manufactured from Spanish 
 juice, with an equal quantity of carpenters' glue or starch. 
 The specimens of genuine juice are generally small, per- 
 fectly black, brittle, and break with a smooth and glassy 
 fracture. They are also soluble either in the mouth or in 
 water, without leaving any residue. 
 
 The lemon acid of commerce is, as I have before said, 
 a counterfeit ; tartareous acid being employed as a cheap 
 substitute for lemon or citric acid. 
 
 The soda-water on general sale is frequently contami- 
 nated with copper and lead, produced from the action of 
 the carbonic acid contained in the water on the metallic 
 substances of which the apparatus in which it is made 
 is constructed. 
 
 The lozenges of all varieties, hues, flavours, and qua- 
 lities, particularly those in the composition of which 
 ginger, cream of tartar, magnesia, &c. are used, are so- 
 phisticated with a liberal portion of pipe-clay, as a cheap 
 substitution for sugar ; but this fraud is readily detected 
 by laying one of the suspected lozenges on the pan of a 
 fire shovel or sheet of iron made red-hot ; when, if it be 
 
138 MEDICINES. 
 
 pure, it will readily take fire and be consumed, but if it 
 be adulterated, it will burn feebly, and a hard strong sub- 
 stance will remain, resembling the lozenge in form. 
 
 It is well known that but little genuine honey can be 
 obtained in London. The tests of good honey are its fra- 
 grance and sweetness. When it is suspected to be adul- 
 terated with starch or bean flour, the fraud may be 
 discovered by dissolving the honey in cold water, when 
 the flour will be readily seen, as it will not dissolve, but 
 falls to the bottom of the vessel in powder. If honey 
 thus adulterated be exposed to heat, it soon solidifies and 
 becomes tenacious. 
 
 Honey is of three kinds; the first, called virgin honey, 
 and which is of the finest flavour, is of a whitish cast, 
 and in a fluid state, about the consistence of a syrup. 
 The second is that known by the name of white honey, 
 and its texture is almost solid. The third kind is the 
 common yellow honey, obtained from the combs, by 
 heating them over the fire, or by dipping them into hot 
 water, and then pressing them. 
 
 Manna is sometimes counterfeited by a composition of 
 sugar and honey, mixed with a small portion of scam- 
 mony. 
 
 The adulteration of spermaceti is generally effected with 
 wax ; but the fraud may be detected by the smell of the 
 adulterating ingredient, and by the dulness of the colour ; 
 whereas pure spermaceti is of a semitransparent crystal- 
 line appearance. It is also said that a preparation of the 
 oil obtained from the tail of the whale is likewise vended 
 
MEDICINES. 139 
 
 for genuine spermaceti ; but, as this factitious commodity 
 assumes a yellow shade when exposed to the air, this 
 imposition is also of easy detection. 
 
 The adulteration of the essential oils obtained from the 
 more expensive spices is so common, that, as Mr, Accum 
 says, " it is not easy to meet with any that are fit for 
 use," and so much subtle ingenuity is made use of in the 
 sophistications, that no known tests or agents exist for the 
 detection of the fraud. The only certain tests are the 
 taste or flavour, and the smell. 
 
 It is worth while to attend to the plausible excuses of the 
 respective "artists" of these sophistications. They allege 
 that they are obliged to have recourse to the fraud, to 
 meet the fancies " of those clever persons in their own 
 conceit who are fond of haggling, and insist on buying 
 better bargains than other people, shutting their eyes to 
 the defects of an article, so that they can enjoy the de- 
 light of getting it cheap ; and secondly, for those persons, 
 who being but bad paymasters, yet as the manufacturer, 
 for his own credit-sake, cannot charge more than the 
 usual price of the articles, he thinks himself therefore 
 authorized to adulterate it in value, to make up for the 
 risk he runs, and the long credit he gives ;" — they there- 
 fore are reduced to the necessity of keeping, as they term 
 it, " reduced articles" and genuine ones. This is 
 excellent logic, and no doubt well understood by the 
 whole sophisticating tribe. The public are indebted to 
 Dr. T. Lloyd for this information, which he communicated 
 to the Literary Gazette, No. 146. 
 
140 MEDICINES. 
 
 The ready methods or tests for ascertaining the good 
 qualities of the most common drugs are : 
 
 Castor-oil, when good, is of a light amber or straw 
 colour, inclining to a greenish cast. That which has 
 the least smell, taste, and colour, is considered the 
 mildest. The necessity of some attention to these signs 
 may appear, when I state that I once took seven ounces 
 of this oil in successive doses, and do verily believe that 
 I might have continued to this present hour taking, 
 daily, the usual dose furnished from the same quarter, 
 with as little effect, had not my good genius directed me 
 to send for an ounce from Apothecaries' Hall. I re- 
 commend my readers to purchase their drugs, &c. in the 
 same place. 
 
 Ipecacuanha. — As this drug is sold to the public in a 
 pulverized state, there is no short or off-hand test for 
 discovering its purity. It is adulterated with emetic 
 tartar. 
 
 Opium. — Good opium in a concrete state should be 
 of a blackish brown colour, of a strong fetid smell, a 
 hard viscous texture, and heavy ; and when rubbed be- 
 tween the finger and thumb, it is perfectly free from 
 roughness or grittiness. This drug is liable to great 
 adulteration, being frequently vitiated with cow-dung, or 
 a powder composed of the dry leaves and stalks of the 
 poppy, the gum of the mimosa, meal and other sub- 
 stances. The flavour alone indicates the goodness of 
 opium in a liquid state. 
 
 Rhubarb.— The marks of the goodness of rhubarb 
 
MEDICINES. 141 
 
 are the liveliness of its colour when cut ; its being firm, 
 dry, and solid, but not flinty or hard ; its being* easily 
 pulverizable, and appearing, when powdered, of a fine 
 bright yellow colour ; and its imparting to the spittle, 
 when chewed, a deep saffron-colour, and not proving 
 slimy or mucilaginous to the taste. When rhubarb has 
 become worm-eaten, druggist-ingenuity is called into 
 play, by filling up the holes with a paste made of rhubarb- 
 powder and mucilage ; and then the physic-artists roll 
 the mended pieces in the finest rhubarb powder to give 
 their handy works a good colour and an appearance of 
 freshness. 
 
 Senna leaves are frequently mixed and sophisticated 
 with leaves of argol, box leaves, &c. 
 
 But among the frauds and impositions practised on 
 the public, none are more odious and unprincipled, and, 
 at the same time, more loudly call for the prompt and 
 active interference of the Legislature, than the tricks 
 and effrontery of impostors, quacks, and empirics in 
 medicine, both regular and irregular. It cannot 
 but have been the frequent subject of regret to every 
 honest and reflecting person that this vile trade should 
 receive a legal sanction and protection, which 
 it most assuredly does by virtue of the stamp duty 
 imposed on the villainous trash ; and it cannot be suffi- 
 ciently deplored that any government should find itself 
 reduced to straits so deplorable, or be so short-sighted 
 in its views of enlightened policy, as to be under the 
 necessity of extracting a paltry and disgraceful profit 
 
142 MEDICINES. 
 
 to the revenue of the state, from the tolerance and en- 
 couragement of ignorance, imposture, and mischief. 
 
 The assertion is true, that those pests of society the 
 charlatans and nostrum-mongers " quarter" themselves 
 only on the ignorance and credulity of mankind, and 
 that their patrons and supporters are wealthy but igno- 
 rant men, and superstitious old women, or profligate 
 and thoughtless rakes; but this is a miserable excuse, 
 and but lame kind of reasoning : if it means any thing, 
 it proves the necessity of public protection from the 
 abominable and anti-christian nuisance. Can there be 
 greater libel on the utility and operation of English law, 
 than that vermin of the description of the " Balsam of 
 Rackasiri" empirics* should be tolerated and allowed 
 to spread their mischief and destruction among the po- 
 pulation of a country professing Christianity and civili- 
 zation, and forsooth, to boast of " the thousands they pay 
 
 * The remarks of the learned editors of the Monthly Gazette of 
 Health, Nos. 160 and 162, are so much to the purpose, and so de- 
 serving of diffusion among all ranks and classes of the community, 
 on the exhibition of the jew pedlars, the M groundly learned physi- 
 cians ;." the '* Doctors" J. and C. Jordan, « physicians to the West 
 London Medical Establishment," and " proprietors of the celebrated 
 Balsam of Rackasiri," and the celebrated " Salutary Detersive Drops," 
 as the vagabonds impudently and unblushingly style themselves and 
 their nostrums; and their redoubtable champion ll Mr. Counsellor 
 Bluster/' that I cannot do a greater service to the cause of truth and 
 honesty and the discomfiture of roguery^ of all descriptions, than to 
 refer my readers to those numbers of that work. 
 
MEDICINES. 143 
 
 yearly to the government and the public press," in the 
 form of duty to the one for its sanction and licence, and 
 to the other in the form of remuneration for giving" a 
 disgraceful and destructive publicity to their nefarious 
 designs.* 
 
 Nor is the absence of a proper discrimination between 
 right and wrong of a certain prating brazen-faced 
 
 * These " Hebrew" Jewish knaves having at length been driven 
 from their strong-hold of delusion, and 6nding their trade of impos- 
 ture in the " balsam" rapidly declining through the patriotic ex- 
 ertions of u the heroic Miss May" and the Editors of the Monthly 
 Gazette of Health, have had recourse to a new source of fraud and 
 villainy, ¥ the celebrated Salutary Detersive Drops" — and as the ver- 
 min have the unblushing audacity to designate their filth — a " most 
 important discovery, which, by long study, deep research, and at great ex- 
 pence, they have, fortunately for the human race, brought to a degree 
 of perfection which astonishes themselves ! ! Iff and which " is a 
 certain and speedy cure for all the most distressing diseases to which 
 human nature is heir," when administered " by their superior skill 
 and judgment" and sanctioned " by their high character and situation 
 in life! !" And the impious and blasphemous wretches invoke 
 the Great God of Nature " that he who has the power of doing all 
 things" may further their villainous and murderous designs ! But 
 it is some consolation, though the government of the country may be 
 silent and indifferent lookers-on to " doings" so nefarious and diaboli- 
 cal, that there are hearts that feel indiguant at the wickedness and im- 
 posture of adventurers and monsters in iniquity, whom the igno- 
 rance of mankind in the principles of life and the science of 
 medicine has, as Dr. Morrison justly says in Medicine No Mystery, 
 "enabled to possess palaces bought and constructed with the 
 treasures and blood of their victims." 
 
144 MEDICINES. 
 
 " barrister" less reprehensible. I love and venerate 
 " the Bar ;" but I must be free to say that when a man 
 can be found so devoid of just and proper feeling as to 
 appear, for the paltry remuneration of a few pounds, or 
 for any remuneration however large, in the defence and 
 propagation of naked and disgusting fraud and 
 peculation — aye, and the secret and wide- 
 spreading DESTRUCTION OF HEALTH AND LIFE tOO ! 
 
 — it evidently proves that there are some members of 
 that distinguished profession who are not possessed of 
 the high and honourable feelings which belong to 
 those who are gentlemen by birth and breeding, scho- 
 lars by education, and Christians and honourable men 
 from moral and religious feeling. But it is to be 
 hoped that there will never occur again a similar ex- 
 hibition to that which took place at Marlborough-street 
 on the infamous Rackasiri-balsam fraud, practised on 
 Miss May, by " the learned graduates of Petticoat- 
 lane," and " regularly bred physicians" the Jew 
 pedlars and old clothesmen " of wonderful abilities" 
 the " Doctors'' C. and J. Jordan ; who " feel awkward- 
 ness in recommending to public notice their uncommon 
 discoveries and talents." The more I consider that 
 transaction, the more I am satisfied that the magistrates 
 are to blame for having allowed the piece of impudent 
 effrontery and imposture to have had the semblance of 
 their sanction, by their singular taciturnity which hap- 
 pened on that occasion. Of the newspapers which gave 
 currency and circulation to the artful and fiend-like ex- 
 
MEDICINES. 145 
 
 culpation, language will not afford terms strong enough 
 to express one's abhorrence and indignation. O shame ! 
 where is thy blush ? How much human misery and 
 destruction has the insertion of those disgraceful and 
 wicked puffs occasioned, by inducing the weak and 
 credulous to give credit to that as a piece of intelligence 
 coming from editors of accredited and impartial journals, 
 which is merely the contrivance and fabrication of wicked 
 impostors to delude and ensnare the thoughtless and 
 unsuspecting ; and for the giving of its mischievous 
 publicity, the proprietors and editors of certain news- 
 papers received large sums of money. But let those 
 thoughtless men reflect, that it is the very consumma- 
 tion of cruelty and unprincipled conduct to sanction the 
 infamous tampering with the lives and happiness of 
 one's fellow creatures for the mere sake of lucre. Nor 
 is the conduct of the magistrates of certain police offices 
 (particularly those to whom the jurisdiction of the city 
 of London is entrusted) less reprehensible, and less 
 fraught with mischievous consequences. What ! ought 
 the frauds and murderous designs of the basest mis- 
 creants alive to receive the solemn and imposing sanction 
 and authority of an oath made before a judicial tribunal ? 
 Surely a grosser violation of duty and a more stupid 
 and reckless indifference to the destruction of human 
 health and life, were never, in the most barbarous coun- 
 try, and the most uncivilized age, exhibited, than the 
 want of sense and foresight displayed by some city- 
 magistrates in allowing affidavits to be made before 
 
 G 
 
146 MEDICINES. 
 
 them of the " wonderful cures" performed on the deluded 
 and perjured agents and " stalking horses" of the em- 
 pirics and impostors ; but, fortunately for mankind, the 
 culpable act will ever remain on record as a stigma and 
 reproach of city-legislation and moral economy. The 
 trade of legalized poisoning and destruction of public 
 health has received greater and more effectual help and 
 recommendation from that source than from all the arts 
 and devices of the impostors, though aided by the sanc- 
 tion of a government duty, and the disgusting and un- 
 principled puffs and paragraphs of a certain portion of 
 the public press. To put an end to these culpable and 
 mischievous proceedings, either on the part of magis- 
 trates or of editors of newspapers, in future, I wish 
 those gentlemen to bear in mind that their " misdoings" 
 shall entitle them to a u niche and an escutcheon of 
 immortality" in the pages of Deadly Adulteration 
 and Slow Poisoning Unmasked ;" 
 
 " If there's a hole in a' your coats, 
 E'en from Land's End to John o'Groats, 
 
 I'd rede y e tent it ; 
 A chiel's amang you taking notes, 
 
 And faith he'll prent it :" 
 
 and that no threats or intimidations of " actions" and 
 " reparations due to the wounded feelings of gentle- 
 men," shall deter me from my duty. If I should offend, 
 of course the courts of justice are open to every injured 
 
MEDICINES. 147 
 
 man, and he will most assuredly receive his due mea- 
 sure of justice there; but should I give that offence for 
 which the " law of the land" affords no redress, the 
 man of honourable feelings and conduct shall never have 
 to complain of my backwardness to give a most prompt 
 and satisfactory reparation; but, at the same time, I wish 
 that those who have been privy, whether by overt or 
 covert acts — whether from their love of " filthy lucre," 
 or their natural propensity to fraud — to the destruction 
 of the lives or health of their fellow-creatures, to recol- 
 lect that I shall be prepared to treat them with the scorn 
 and contempt which their conduct and their misdeeds 
 may merit. 
 
 It has been well said that it is not easy to determine 
 whether the fraud and impudence of the empiric or 
 nostrum-monger, or the folly and credulity of the suf- 
 ferer, are the greater. But the fact is that quacks and 
 impostors of all kinds, whether medical or political, 
 pcedagoguecal or corporational, live and thrive on the 
 infernal popish maxim, that ignorance is the mother 
 of devotion, that is, in plainer phrase — of gullibi- 
 lity. But to the case of the quacks. — It surely indi- 
 cates no ordinary share of dupery, to believe that one 
 and the same nostrum can cure all and every disorder 
 contained in the long catalogue of human woes and 
 miseries; such a belief must incline the victim of its 
 hallucination to suppose an exact similarity of symptoms 
 and a perfect identity of nature in all the disorders to 
 which the frailty of our common nature has rendered us 
 g2 
 
148 MEDICINES. 
 
 subject. On this momentous subject few persons have 
 written more forcibly than the admirable author of the 
 " Manual for Invalids." May the following quotation 
 from that valuable work awaken the attention of those 
 who foolishly confide their health and lives to the care of 
 quacks, nostrum-mongers, jugglers, and impostors !* 
 
 * That the ignorant, the thoughtless, and the '* fashionable/' 
 should become the dupes of mountebank-imposture is not much to be 
 wondered at; but that persons of respectability and character, the 
 heads of the Church and of the Statf, (I have not yet ascertained 
 that that sly old beldam " The Law" has stupified herself so much 
 as to lend her countenance to the imposture,) should give their 
 sanction and support, and endanger their health and lives, by either 
 patronizing or using the deleterious compounds of mountebanks, and 
 thus becoming the dupes of the most groveling imposture and the 
 vilest quackery, cannot really be reasonably accounted for. The old 
 worm-mountebank in Long Acre boasts that he has a list of fifteen 
 hundred " Clergyman" who can give testimony of the virtues of 
 his noslroms. The miraculous powers of Barclay's Antibilious Pills, 
 Ching's Worm Lozenges, and some other articles in the list of quack 
 medicines, are attested by some " Right Reverend Fathers in 
 God!" Nor was that notorious and impudent mountebank " le 
 Docteur" James Graham, who cured patients by only breathing the 
 air of his " Apoilo" hall or chamber in the Adelphi, which was 
 always impregnated (as he said) with celestial aether and influences, 
 without noble and r everen d pat rons. But the consummation 
 of dupery was most powerfully displayed in the case of the old New 
 England quack, Cherokee Whitlaw. In the case of this Yankee quon- 
 dam gardener, " Royals" (as well of native as of foreign breed), 
 
 " RIGHT HONOURABt.ES," " REVERENDS," " SENATORS/' and 
 
 even some gentle " ladyships," were his patrons, and those of his 
 mountebank-asylum at Bayswater, and the recommenders of his 
 
MEDICINES. i49 
 
 *" Where dwells the boasted march of intellect when 
 the understanding is continually insulted with the most 
 impudent and daring pretensions of impostors, who, 
 while they pretend to restore your health, are making 
 a direct attack upon your credulity and your purse. 
 What encouragement exists for the well educated men, 
 
 4t American Herb Extracts," which were a compound of cabbage 
 water, treacle, turpentine, and Epsom salts, and for a pint of which 
 the canting old variet was barefaced enough to demand eight shil- 
 lings in lawful British specie, though the cost price of the mixture 
 did not exceed three half-pence-farthing. But it is a lamentable 
 fact, as Dr. Morrison observes in his well-intentioned little work, 
 entitled u Medicine No Mystery," that in nineteen cases out of twenty 
 (and this, he emphatically remarks, is the proportion that ignorance 
 bears to knowledge,) the charlatan, with his mysterious phrases 
 and gestures, is more sought after and more prized than the accom- 
 plished and experienced physician; "so much of the leaven of the 
 old idea of the connexion between physic and occult and mysterious 
 sciences still subsists, — of those days when physicians pretended to 
 judge of their patients' diseases by seeing their urine; when the 
 stars were consulted before a dose of physic was taken ; when the 
 king's evil was supposed to be cured by royal touch; when women 
 flocked to surround the body of the executed criminal, and rubbed 
 his hands to their breasts as a cure for cancer or epilepsy, &c." 
 
 The mock philanthropy of tlie contemptible quack Whitlaw, and 
 the blasphemous, the monstrously blasphemous and diabolical effront- 
 ery of the conventicle and meeting pulpit-charlatans, (the vile tools 
 of harpyisra and religious knavery,) who puffed off this '< thread- 
 bare juggler's" disgusting impostures by an odious comparison of his 
 selfish and detestable tricks with the enlarged and godlike benevo- 
 lence and charity of the Saviour of mankind, deserve the severest 
 reprobation and chastisement, though sanctioned by the weak and 
 
150 MEDICINES. 
 
 regular graduates of Universities, of high classical and 
 literary attainments, who have chosen the profession of 
 medicine or surgery as a business of life, and in order 
 to practice with credit and character, have directed their 
 attention, their time, and their property to its studies, — 
 who have made the nature of diseases and the efficacy 
 of remedies a study of life— when they find themselves 
 
 culpable patronage of royals, nobles, statesmen, M.P.'s, and divines, 
 and swallowed by the gaping mouths of the ignorant, — of foolish 
 women, and half witted men. But of the two species of imposture, 
 the pulpit charlatanry of ignorant and selfish empirics is the most 
 disgusting. The diabolical farces of those wolves in sheep's clothing 
 — their ignorant and designing perversion of the plain practical 
 morality laid down by the Saviour of mankind in the gospel, — the 
 brain-turning and mind- deranging fanaticism they inculcate, and 
 which they profanely and audaciously call soul-searching and 
 sinner-awakening doctrines, and other like unmeaning and abominable 
 stuff which they inculcate under the evident chieftainship of the 
 devil, loudly demands some legislative interference. It has been 
 well observed, that though the benign spiiit of toleration has per- 
 mitted religious empiricism — though folly and ignorance have coun- 
 tenanced medical quackery and imposture— and though there are 
 persons weak enough to entrust their lives and health, as well as their 
 moral and religious instruction, to enthusiastic cobblers and tailors j 
 yet considering the strange infatuation of mankind, and the proneness 
 of human nature to delusion and imposture, it is the duty of every 
 wise and paternal government to protect the weak and uninformed 
 from the designs of the devil's agents, who, in order to practise their 
 selfish villanies on their unsuspecting victims, become, to use the 
 words of Dr. Robertson the historian, " outrageously Christian" in 
 their professions. 
 
MEDICINES. 151 
 
 completely superseded by some inspired pretender — 
 some ignorant quack. Lord Bacon has long since said, 
 in his work on the advancement of learning, \ If the 
 same honours and rewards are given to fools, which 
 ought to be awarded to the wise, who will labour to be 
 wise?' That the ignorant pretender should be encou- 
 raged by the public, is a reproach to the understanding 
 of any people; but that the revenue of any country 
 should be supplied by a stamp duty* on empirical nos- 
 trums, instead of the government taking measures 
 either of prevention or punishment, can only be explained 
 
 * The impolitic and monstrously inconsistent patent medicine 
 act, which legalizes and sanctions and promotes the sale of quack 
 poisons, has no doubt annually been the unweeting cause of more 
 murders,thanthejoint influence of typhus, small-pox, and consumption. 
 The tax or stamp-duty on this odious and destructive trash was, no 
 doubt, at the time of its imposition, intended as a prevention of the 
 evil which it contemplated to suppress. But this is one of the con- 
 sequences of short-sighted and vicious legislation, and of the entrust- 
 ing of the concoction of the laws to incompetent persons — in the 
 emphatic phrase of the most eloquent of human tongues, mere ita 
 lex scripta est lawyers — men who make a boast of never having read, 
 or who have had but little or no opportunity of reading any other 
 kind of books than their musty, ill-written, badly digested law- 
 books; such as certain " Itarncd gentlemen," of prodigiously scholar- 
 like and scientific attainments — men, whom the Times Newspaper 
 has justly characterised by the style and title of " The Mindless;" 
 and who contrive by the arts of " huggery" and favouritism to de- 
 prive the public of the benefits to be derived from the talents of men 
 of " high classical and literary, and even legal attainments/' and of 
 the most enlarged and enlightened philosophy, but who scorn to 
 
152 MEDICINES. 
 
 by exhibiting similar acts of atrocity on the sentiments 
 of nature; but the truth is, the auri sacra fames has 
 the power of making that appear relatively right, which 
 is absolutely wrong."* 
 
 " Beware of hypocrisy of every description," adds 
 the same excellent writer; " you may as well believe 
 that the Pope can send you to perdition, as that an ad- 
 vertising charlatan can, by any empirical nostrum, 
 restore you to health." 
 
 But, unhappily, it appears that poor John Bull and " his 
 hopeful family" are not gifted with the power of being 
 " beware of hypocrisy," " advertising charlatans" and 
 " empirical nostrums;" but that through their proneness 
 to gullibility and the love of the marvellous, the trade of 
 quackery is daily increasing, and that hundreds of quacks 
 swarm in every quarter of the metropolis, and fatten on 
 
 court the favour of those in power and u high places" by mean and 
 dirty practices. 
 
 * This kind of doctrine will, no doubt, be unpalatable in a certain 
 quarter, and the productiveness to the exchequer of the disgrace- 
 ful revenue arising from the pest, will be adduced as an argument 
 for its continuance. But it is to be hoped, as Mr. J. D. Williams 
 said in his meritorious petition to the Commons House of Parliament 
 on that subject, that the health of the public will be held superior to 
 any such consideration. The lottery, no doubt, brought into the 
 state-coffers a considerable revenue ; but as it was found to undermine 
 and ruin the morals of the community, it was abolished. And the 
 persons at the head of the government at the time have the thanks 
 and gratitude of every true friend of his country for the act. Surely 
 the health of the public is entitled to the same provision. 
 
MEDICINES. 153 
 
 the murders which they are constantly perpetrating with 
 their poisons ; and to add to the monstrous combination 
 against the lives and health of the community, that the 
 aid of even the pulpit is invoked to further the propaga- 
 tion of the imposture ! Instances are on record where 
 mercenary preachers have been wicked enough to ser- 
 monize and expatiate on the miraculous virtues and 
 benefits of the poisonous nostrums* and remedies of the 
 mountebank jugglers and impostors. 
 
 * The whole farrago of quack or patent medicines is destructive of 
 health and life, whether cordial or vegetable balsams, tinctures, 
 syrups, or elixirs, — pectoral or antiscorbutic drops, bile or antibilious 
 pills, tonic or digestive wines, balms of gilead, guestonian embroca- 
 tions, Leake's pillula salutaria, and a thousand other poisonous and 
 fife-destroying trash. Thousands upon thousands of children under 
 three years of age are consigned yearly to the tomb in London alone, 
 by means of the soothing or vegetable syrups, the infants' balms, the 
 worm-cakes, the anodyne necklaces, Godfrey's cordial, Daffy's 
 elixir, Dulby's carminative, apothecaries' draughts and powders, and 
 oiher infernal recipes; which, if they do not cause immediate death, 
 occasion fits, convulsions, fevers, excruciating gripes, palsy, and often 
 confirmed idiotcy. Gowland's lotion, the kalydors, the macassar oils, 
 the cosmetiques royales, the red and white olympian dews, the 
 blooms, the various hair dyes, &c. have not only robbed many a fe- 
 male of her charms and loveliness, but have even produced severe 
 pains of the bowels and of the brain, have occasioned convulsions, and 
 laid the foundation of those diseases which have deprived the victims of 
 life itself. The folly of depending for cure or relief upon the " gout ex- 
 tractors," lt the metallic tractors/' " animal magnetism," and " signa- 
 tures," has been at length exploded; it is therefore unnecessary to 
 say a word on the subject. 
 
 G 3 
 
154 MEDICINES. 
 
 But humbug and imposture, as it has been truly said, 
 is a many-headed monster, and is of very catching* influ- 
 ence ; it has worshippers at the corner of every street ; 
 hordes of the most ignorant vagabonds and jugglers are 
 engaged in its propagation, and announce their impos- 
 tures as " prepared and sanctioned by His Majesty's 
 august authority ■;" but to waste my pages with the men- 
 tion of the " ladies' fever" doctors Lamert, Peede, 
 Davis, Eady, Caton, Courtenay, (alias Messrs. Currie 
 and Co.) Fiedeberg (alias Sloane and Co. alias Jones 
 and Co.) ; — the surreptitious knights, His Carpentership, 
 Sir Gully Daniels, and his Plastership, White Arsenic 
 Sir Cancer Aldis ; — the firm of Goss and Company, the 
 consulting Surgeons of iEgis and Hygeiene notoriety ; — 
 the miniature painter, " the learned and celebrated" artful 
 artist and curer of consumption, Long St. Long, — the 
 crazy chap who entitles himself the " hygeist"* — Taylor 
 
 * The audacity of this fellow exceeds, if possible, the unblushing 
 and incorrigible effrontery of the other impostors. He undertakes to 
 cure all kinds of diseases without any kind of medicine ; and he 
 asserts that all difficult surgical operations can be superseded by 
 merely taking a sup or two of his delectable compound of combusti- 
 bles. According to the modest pretensions of this exotic esculapius, 
 he obtained the knowledge of physic and the power of subduing dis- 
 ease, by intuition or inspiration : he had no need to learn : there was 
 no period of infancy in his medical attainments; he at once attained 
 the highest point and full maturity of medical and chirurgical know- 
 ledge ! Was there ever a more audacious piece of imposture at- 
 tempted to be palmed upon the credulity of the most credulous of 
 mortals, Mr. Bull and his progeny ? But perhaps the philippics of 
 
MEDICINES. 155 
 
 and Son, the Leake's pill-men, — Samuel, the syphilis- 
 pill-man,— the old canting staymaker and life-guardsman, 
 Gardner, who can manufacture tape-worms wholesale 
 and of a league in length from the intestines of cats and 
 
 this gaunt-looking " hygeist" against surgery and anatomy may pro- 
 duce some good. It is true that to a certain degree, those arts should 
 be esteemed and cherished ; but after the allowance of suitable con- 
 sideration, they should fall into their proper rank, with wholesome 
 restrictions. Both the arts are overrated in point of real utility. 
 Were a knowledge of the living laws of the human frame more incul- 
 cated by medical professors than is the case, it would be found of 
 more essential service than all the coxcombry of the present day 
 respecting surgical distinctions and anatomical dissections. In many 
 complaints, indeed, in the principal part to which the human frame is 
 subject, the inutility of dissection is well known to every well in- 
 formed man. But the assumption of the title of <( Surgeon," and 
 the false importance (not to mention the legal security which it 
 affords against prosecution, and the facility of exemption from ex- 
 amination of competency,) it gives the claimant in the estimation of 
 the ignorant part of mankind, have contributed largely to the propa- 
 gation of the erroneous notions which are so anxiously disseminated 
 on the subject. Though it would be fruitless to attempt to expose 
 this popular folly of the day, (which like all other follies or fashions 
 will ll have its rage" until its own enormity cures itself,) yet " it is 
 some consolation to reflect that in another age a more successful prac- 
 tice of medicine wi'l diminish the false estimation in which surgical 
 foppery is now held ; when to save a limb will be deemed a superior 
 exertion of skill to its amputation." 
 
 Nor is the other branch (namely, that which was once designated 
 by the now exploded and unfashionable title of apothecary) free 
 from reprehension. Those tl sons of the pestle and mortar," whose 
 money-interest induces them rather to encourage disease than to sub- 
 
156 MEDICINES. 
 
 chickens, — the piddle-taster, or morning water-doctor, 
 Cameron (alias Crumples,) as also all other quacks, 
 whether of the masculine or feminine gender, who cure 
 by proxy, or by simply pronouncing that the disease 
 
 due it, as the longer they keep the patient in hand, the greater num- 
 ber of phials, pill-boxes, gallipots, draughts and powders they will be 
 entitled to charge for, are so wedded to routine, that they can seldom 
 bring themselves to lay aside the lumber and unmeaning farrago of 
 materia medicas, pharmacopoeias, &c. Their prejudices and pertina- 
 city in favour of received opinions and established usage are so blind 
 and inveterate, that they will never allow themselves to have re- 
 course to the simple remedies which Nature points out : all must be 
 mystery, complication, and conformity to etiquette with them : to 
 lead nature by simple means would be unprofessional ; to practise 
 " secundum artem," she must be driven by powerful remedies, as blue 
 pill, or some active chemical preparation ; and they must bring into 
 play in the simplest ailment to which the human frame is subject that 
 huge mass of disjointed practices and experiments, which is held toge- 
 ther by no order, and is not capable of any satisfactory application, or 
 even elucidation. On this subject, the remarks of the editor of the 
 Monthly Gazette of Health are so deserving of observation, that 1 
 cannot deny myself the advantage of enriching my pages with them. 
 
 That learned gentleman (who has contributed more to the expo- 
 sure of quackery and imposture than any writer of the age) having 
 introduced to the notice of his readers Dr. Mackie's communication 
 of the medicinal virtues of the Guaco plant in cases of hydrophobia 
 among the Indians of South America, closes his information with the 
 following striking remarks: 
 
 " The mode of treating diseases which is generally adopted by the 
 native practitioners of South America, and the East Indies, by de- 
 coctions, infusions, and the expressed juices of vegetable productions, 
 has, at any rate, that great recommendation — simplicity ; but y con- 
 
MEDICINES. 157 
 
 shall be cured, (for there have been impostors impudent 
 enough to make such pretensions ;) or by any art or delu- 
 sion, and who by chalk, chuckling, and chicanery are 
 battening on the vitals of society, would be an insult to 
 
 teraptible as it may appear to be to the practitioners of this country, 
 who suppose that no disease can be successfully combated without 
 blue pill or calomel, or some active mineral or vegetable poison, 
 agreeable to some favourite theory, it often proves successful ; and, 
 indeed, from the information which we have received from the intel- 
 ligent gentlemen who have spent some years among the natives of 
 South America and the East Indies, (some of them members of the 
 medical profession,) we are disposed to believe that in some diseases, 
 particularly scorbutic and scrofulous affections, and those termed 
 pseudo-syphilitic, the native surgeons arc more successful than the 
 practitioners of this couutry. To us, the great difference between 
 the practice of the former and that of the latter appears to be, that 
 the one Itud nature by simple means, which enable her to correct the 
 constitution, and to produce a healthy process of mutation in a dis- 
 eased part, whilst the other drive nature by powerful remedies, as 
 blue pill, or some active chemical preparation. Often have we wit- 
 nessed the recovery of patients, who had been discharged from a 
 hospital, under the simple treatment by decoction of an apparently 
 simple vegetable, and by fomentations under the direction of an old 
 woman; and whoever considers how simple the operations of nature 
 are, will not be surprised that such treatment should succeed even in 
 a formidable chronic disease. Every practitioner of experience and 
 observation will, we think, admit that many thousand invalids are 
 annually hurried to their graves in this metropolis, by persevering in 
 the use of calomel and blue pill, or a drastic purgative, who might 
 have been cured, or whose lives might have been prolonged many 
 years, by a mild alterative treatment; and that many a limb might 
 have been saved by a mild topical treatment of the local diseases, 
 
158 MEDICINES. 
 
 the understanding of my readers, further than to say that 
 each of those worthies, as well as their honourable com- 
 peers the balsam of Rackasiri vagabonds and impostors, 
 can, no doubt, recognize the reality of their deeds in the 
 following quotation from the pages of Hudibras : 
 
 " Nor doctor epidemic, 
 Stored with deletery med'cines, 
 (Which whosoever took, is dead since,) 
 E'er sent so vast a colony 
 To both the under worlds as he." 
 
 Perhaps a few words said on the subject of the former 
 occupations of some of the mountebank impostors, who 
 are practising, and have practised their frauds and villa- 
 nies on the community, may tend to open the eyes of this 
 very gullable nation as to the extent and quality of their 
 medical knowledge, unless it should be supposed that 
 they acquired it by miraculous inspiration or divine in- 
 fluence, to which high pretensions, indeed, many of 
 the vermin have had the audacity to lay claim, well 
 knowing that the bolder their assertions were, the more 
 gullable they would find their ninny patients. 
 
 Know then that the " groundly learned physicians" 
 
 which has been consigned to the knife. In cases of internal acute 
 disease, or active inflammation of a vital part, a decisive treatment is 
 absolutely necessary to save life; but in chronic diseases, attempts 
 by potent remedies to drive nature but too often distract her. To 
 the new theory of chronic inflammation, or ulceration of the mucous 
 membrane of some part of the alimentary canal, thousands have 
 already been sacrificed." 
 
MEDICINES. 159 
 
 — " of superior skill and judgement" — " high character 
 and situation," the Doctors Mordecai J. and C. Jordan, 
 were Jew pedlars ; (and here, reader, recollect that more 
 than one half of the mountebanks and impostors who 
 have gulled and laughed at our gullable nation, are or 
 were circumcised Jews, either of native or of foreign 
 breed;) — the renowned Doctor Eady, of cyprianic me- 
 mory, and who owed his reputation to the joint exertions 
 and recommendation of the saints of Providence Chapel, 
 and the coal-heaving-preaching-and-praying-sinner-saved 
 Huntingdon, was a bumpkin haberdasher and re- 
 tailer of small wares in an obscure country village ; — 
 Monsieur John St. John Long, the celebrated curer of 
 consumption, was a dauber in the miniature-line ;— the 
 once celebrated, and now warmly nestled and scoffing 
 Doctors Brodum and Solomon were, by turns, porters 
 either in a drug warehouse or Jew pedlars ; the canting 
 worm manufacturer in Long Acre was a staymaker and 
 life-guardsman ; — Yankee noodle do Whitlaw and Don 
 celestial Graham filled the honourable posts of a day 
 labourer and torn- fool to a strolling company of players ; 
 — and many of the by-gone mountebank vagabonds 
 were cobblers, tailors, weavers, footmen, blacking-ma- 
 kers, cat's-meat men, &c. &c. &c. : but they all, during 
 their tremulous career of iniquity and canting, 
 
 " Making sanctity the cloak of sin, 
 
 Laugh'd at the fools on whose credulity 
 They fattened. " 
 
160 MEDICINES. 
 
 The sanction and encouragement given to quacks 
 and quackery in this country have long and loudly been 
 stigmatized by foreign writers as a national oppro- 
 brium to Britain; and it must be allowed very justly. 
 The increase of these vermin and pests of society has 
 long been a disgrace to the legislature and government 
 of the country. " They manage these things/' as Sterne 
 says, " better in France." How careful our neighbours 
 are of the health of their community may be gleaned 
 from the following paper lately read before the Royal 
 Academy of Medicine, at Paris : — 
 
 " 1st. That for several centuries, by the vigilance of 
 the administration, in concert with the most distin- 
 guished medical men, the strongest efforts have been 
 made to rid society of the pestilence constantly springing 
 up from secret remedies. 2dly. That the most favour- 
 able circumstances are at present combined to free them 
 from the tribute of money and life, which, on no con- 
 sideration, ought longer to be tolerated." 
 
 It is to be hoped that our government will be in- 
 fluenced by like motives and follow the glorious example 
 of our neighbours. If they want precedent, — the great 
 bug-bear of improvement either in morals, politics, law, 
 religion, or even common sense, in our error-ridden na- 
 tion, history furnishes us with sufficient examples. 
 But, while those methods and laws are being planned 
 and prepared, let us, in the mean time, resort to the 
 good old practices of correcting and punishing the jug- 
 glers of the present day. 
 
MEDICINES. 161 
 
 In the reign of Edward VI. one Gregg, a poulterer, 
 in Surrey, was set in the pillory at Croydon, and again 
 in the Borough of South wark, during the time of the 
 fair, for cheating people out of their money, for pretend- 
 ing to cure them with charms, by only looking at the 
 patient, and examining his water. In the reign of 
 James I., an order of council, founded on the statute 
 of Henry, granted to the College of Physicians, w r as 
 issued to the magistrates of the city of London, for the 
 apprehension of all reputed empirics, to bring them be- 
 fore the censors of the College, in order to their being- 
 examined as to their qualifications to be trusted either 
 with the lives or limbs of the subject. On that occa- 
 sion several mountebanks, (among others, Lamb, Read, 
 and Woodhouse,) water casters, ague charmers, and 
 nostrum venders, were fined, imprisoned, and banished. 
 This wholesome severity, it may be supposed, checked 
 the evil for a time ; but in the reign of William III. it 
 became again necessary to put the laws in force against 
 those vermin ; in consequence of which many of them 
 were examined, and confessed their utter ignorance 
 even of reading and writing. Some of the miscreants 
 were set in the pillory, and some were put on horse-back 
 with their faces towards the horses' tails, whipped, 
 branded, and banished. 
 
 In Stowe's Annals is to be found an account of a water 
 caster being set on horse-back, his face towards the horse's 
 tail, which he held in his hand, with his neck decked 
 
162 MEDICINES. 
 
 with a collar of urinals, and being led by the hangman 
 through the city, was whipped, branded, and afterwards 
 banished. One Fairfax, in king William's time was 
 fined and imprisoned for doing great damage to several 
 people, by his aqua celestis. Antony, for his aurumpota- 
 bile; Arthur Dee, for advertising remedies which he gave 
 out would cure all diseases ; Foster, for selling a powder 
 for the green-sickness ; Tenant, a water doctor, who 
 sold his pills for 61. each ; Ayres, for selling purging 
 sugar plumbs ; Hunt, for putting up bills in the streets* 
 for the cure of diseases ; and many others, were all 
 punished, and compelled to relinquish their malprac- 
 tices. 
 
 But it is not only the interloping quack — the irre- 
 gular and illegitimate charlatan and self-dubbed doctor 
 that does mischief and destroys the health of the public, 
 but the u regular" and legitimate pretender to medical 
 knowledge, or as they have been significantly and ap- 
 propriately termed by Dr. Morrison, the " roturiers," 
 or dabblers in physic, often do not much less mischief. 
 The following extract from the Manual for Invalids is 
 so much to the purpose, that the wider its circulation 
 can be promoted, the greater good will be produced to 
 society at large. 
 
 * The disgusting practice of having one's hands and eyes polluted 
 at every corner of a street with the abominable bills and placards of the 
 quacking vermin, is past endurance, aud loudly calls for suppression. 
 
MEDICINES. 163 
 
 " In the restoration of health, the poor often try the 
 efficacy of the wine vaults and the medical wisdom of 
 the druggist, who flourishes greatly in low neighbour- 
 hoods, in the metropolis, and even in some large pro- 
 vincial towns. These men, whose solitary qualification 
 for this honest mode of existence has been commonly 
 an apprenticeship behind the counter, have often placed 
 in imminent peril many a valuable life. Sometimes it 
 has occurred that a shrewd boy, employed to clean 
 bottles and sweep out the shop, has received an intuitive 
 call, and has felt himself fully qualified for the important 
 office of recovering and regulating the health of many in^ 
 valids. The writer has a knowledge of a general practi- 
 tioner of this description who was received behind a drug- 
 gist's counter in the manner before related, and perhaps, 
 learning audacity from his late employer, has obtained, 
 through the medium of puffing friends, a surreptitious 
 reputation, and is cried up by those worthies as a very 
 skilful, even a " delightful" and " fine" man, particu- 
 larly for nervous invalids, and more especially for the 
 disorders of women and children." 
 
 Thousands and thousands of the population of this 
 blessedly gifted country in medical science, are killed 
 by this disgraceful quackery of the drug-shop, and the 
 iniquitous drug-jobbing of apothecaries. What murders, 
 what numerous murders have those men to answer for by 
 their careless and injudicious use of powerful medicines 
 — calomel and opium ! But perhaps they console their 
 unfeeling and selfish hearts with the miserable subterfuge 
 
164 MEDICINES. 
 
 that they are merely removing that portion of the in- 
 creasing population which is the great bugbear, that is 
 hourly threatening to eat up Mr. Parson Malthus and 
 his believing disciples by wholesale. 
 
 But the prescribing druggist, the drugging apothe- 
 cary, and the soi-disant surgeon are not the only regular 
 and legitimate quacks ; we have quack physicians, who 
 by the remittance of the enormous sum of £15 to a 
 Scotch university are entitled, legally and professionally, 
 to tack the wonder-working cabalistical initials M.D. to 
 their names, and are then entitled to kill the king's liege 
 and loving subjects, " secundum artem," with licensed 
 and legitimate potion, pill, and draught; who to return 
 obligations to their " "pals" the apothecary and surgeon, 
 prescribe draughts by the quart and the gallon — bleed- 
 ing, blistering, and purging, ad infinitum. By these 
 mystified and jabbering doctors, whose little-or-no wis- 
 dom consists in foolish words of little or no meaning, and 
 dog Latin, or disputes about precedence and the receipt 
 of fees, the laws of vital existence and the astonishing 
 functions of the animal economy, are understood by 
 hearsay and inspiration ! 
 
 This statement of the general ignorance of the medi- 
 cal profession is not exaggerated. " Five sixths of 
 the medical profession," says Dr. Morrison, in. Medicine 
 No Mystery, " know little or nothing of the science of 
 life." The cause of this lamentable ignorance arises 
 from the abominable and disgraceful system of medical 
 education in vogue, according to which the bought and 
 
MEDICINES. 165 
 
 sale prices of the current drugs, and the art and mystery 
 of dispensing medicines often constitute the whole 
 and sole knowledge of those who are entrusted with 
 the health and lives of their fellow-creatures ; in whose 
 bungling and self-interested practice hearsay and pre- 
 cedent supply the place of experience, and by whom signs 
 and symptoms are mistaken for causes. Another cause is 
 the deplorable deficiency of the public in the knowledge 
 of medicine. Were the principles of medical science 
 to form a part of general education, the public would 
 be enabled to select well educated and honest medical 
 men, and escape the fangs and delusions and murderous 
 acts of quacks and impostors, whether interlopers, or 
 those who are enrolled in one or other of the medical insti- 
 tutions of London. It really seems an anomaly in the 
 pursuit and attainment of knowledge that a man should 
 conceive it necessary to be able to judge whether his 
 shoe or his cravat is made in a good and workman-like 
 manner, but of that science which treats of himself, 
 and with which his health, his life, and all his comforts 
 are so intimately and seriously connected, he should be 
 in the most abject state of ignorance, and, unhappily, 
 not hesitate to avow that ignorance ! But while it is 
 an incontrovertible truth that the community in general 
 should have some knowledge of medicine, in order to 
 enable them to judge of the qualifications of their 
 medical attendants, (to the attainment of which know- 
 ledge popular medical writings, such as Dr. Kitchener's 
 Art of Invigorating Life ; Sir John Sinclair's Code of 
 
166 MEDICINES. 
 
 Health and Longevity, Dr. Reece's Medical Guide, and 
 the Oracle of Health and Long Life, or Plain Rules for 
 the Preservation and Attainment of Sound Health and 
 Vigorous Old Age, and a few others, are calculated to 
 afford the most effectual help ;) it must be deeply re- 
 gretted by every well disposed member of society, to 
 observe books got up by rash and inexperienced persons, 
 professing to give directions for the management of health, 
 which are filled with the crudest and the falsest instruc- 
 tions, the nature and consequence of which are de- 
 cidedly destructive of health, if not of life itself. And 
 what must add to that regret, is that the title-page and 
 covers should be blazoned with the professed sanction and 
 recommendation of a late eminent medical practitioner. 
 But surely that gentleman could never have read, 
 among many other dangerous fooleries and extrava- 
 gancies, the silly and monstrous instructions to sleep 
 with open windows, to swallow as much salt as possible, 
 &c. &c. &c. or if he did read them, it is but an act of 
 courteous feeling towards him to suppose that he did not 
 comprehend their purport. Another circumstance de- 
 serving reprobation respecting the means which have 
 been taken to get that ill-judged little book into circula- 
 tion has been the profuse and repeated attempts of a 
 portion of the public press to give it notoriety and circu- 
 lation. It certainly savours a little of presumption, that 
 those who have not made the science of medicine a study 
 or a profession, should venture to give opinions of the 
 merits or demerits of a work professing to treat of the 
 
MEDICINES. 167 
 
 momentous subjects of health and life. These remarks 
 are not made in any petulant feeling. I believe the 
 author to be a well-intentioned though a misguided 
 man, and as he hints that he published his work with 
 the hope of adding to his income from the profits, I sin- 
 cerely wish that he had chosen a subject for which he may 
 be more competent, as then I should have been relieved 
 from the necessity of making these remarks, in the ex- 
 pression of which a sense of public duty has alone ac- 
 tuated me. It gives me, however, great satisfaction to 
 draw the public attention to the masterly abstract of 
 Cornaro's Treatise appended to the book, and which, 
 from its disparity of style, is evidently written by another 
 person. It is no extravagant praise to say that the pub- 
 lic is under infinite obligations to the able and expe- 
 rienced writer who made that valuable addition to the 
 book. Cornaro's works may now be read with advan- 
 tage by every one, as it is freed from the disagreeable 
 prosings, tautologies, and incongruities which pervade 
 that work. It is to be hoped that the proprietor of the 
 book will favour the community with its publication in a 
 separate form. 
 
 Considering the severity of the remarks I have made 
 in the preceding pages on the medical profession, it may 
 be supposed I have set myself up in opposition to medical 
 men of all descriptions. I have no such intention. 
 The intelligent and skilful physician and surgeon I 
 reverence, and only wish that the following observations 
 
168 MEDICINES. 
 
 were not a true portrait of their often unsuccessful pro- 
 gress. 
 
 It is certain no body of men can produce more noble 
 instances of integrity, liberality of mind, and strength of 
 intellect, than the Professors of Physic ; but, as with 
 other bodies of men, this high character will not apply 
 diffusedly. To find, therefore, a fit person with whom 
 to intrust our health, is not an easy matter. Fortunately, 
 however, for the profession, people are not very fasti- 
 dious on this point ; and if they or their friends are but 
 sent to the grave in a regular way, they bear the load 
 of ills which their own follies and the ignorance of the 
 practitioner may have heaped upon them, with great phi- 
 losophy, imputing the whole to the natural order of 
 things. Indeed, to judge of the merits of a medical 
 man is extremely difficult ; and, when we see one man 
 ordering away, with contempt, the medicine which an- 
 other has thought a specific, and pursuing a totally dif- 
 ferent course, we are forced to conclude that education 
 alone will not make a physician. Reputation is not un- 
 frequently got without merit, for who is to judge ? Ac- 
 cident, solely, both with the drug and the doctor, has 
 often been the maker of their fame. This may be exem- 
 plified by an anecdote of a deservedly eminent physician, 
 which, though perhaps it has been often related, is not 
 less to the point. The doctor happened to be sent for 
 one evening, after having indulged at a convivial meet- 
 ing, so that by the time he had been whirled to his pa- 
 tient's door, he was very ill qualified to decide in a case 
 
MEDICINES. 169 
 
 of difficulty. Having made shift to reach the drawing 
 room, and seeing a lady extended on a sofa, assisted 
 by a female attendant, he, by a sort of mechanical im- 
 pulse, seized her hand ; but finding himself utterly 
 unable to form an opinion on the case, he exclaimed, 
 
 u D d drunk, by G — d!" (meaning that he was in 
 
 that unfit state) and immediately made the best retreat he 
 was able. Feeling rather awkwardly at this adventure, 
 he was not impatient to renew his visit ; but being- 
 sent for on some other occasion, he took courage, and 
 was preparing an apology, when the lady presently re- 
 moved his apprehensions, by whispering these words in 
 his ear — " My dear doctor, how could you find out my 
 case so immediately the other evening? — It was cer- 
 tainly a proof of your skill, but for God's sake not a 
 word more on that subject." Thus, the doctor added to 
 his repute by a circumstance which might have endan- 
 gered that of a less fortunate man. This, though a lu- 
 dicrous event, may serve, as well as a graver one, to eluci- 
 date the fact that many owe their celebrity, not so much 
 to any judgement of their own, as to a want of it in 
 others. As it is with other professions, so it is with 
 physic. Many of its professors possessing great skill 
 are doomed to pass their lives in obscurity, whilst they 
 see others, of inferior knowledge and judgement, rise to 
 importance. It has been truly said by one who was not 
 unacquainted with the causes of medical success or 
 failure, that, H Even among the regularly bred physi- 
 cians accident will often accomplish what merit strives 
 
170 COALS. 
 
 for in vain ; and those coincidences of circumstances 
 which frequently elevate one man and depress another 
 in the medical art, are more the production of what is 
 called chance, than from any extension of mind, or any 
 peculiar tact or skill in the art of intellectual combina- 
 tions/' 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 COALS. 
 
 There are few trades in which greater frauds are prac- 
 tised than in " the coal trade/' The dealers in the 
 " black diamonds'' are versed in all the allowable leger- 
 demain and trickery of " auld England's honest trades- 
 men :" the most skilfully initiated in the art of sleight-of- 
 hand would find himself at fault in attempting to rival 
 the dexterity of the true " son of the coalshed," under 
 the old regime of measuring, in ingeniously tossing his 
 u spadefuls" into the measure so as to enable " the dar- 
 lings" to lie lightly and " go far," and assume the form 
 of a solid cone, while the hollow cavity within proved as 
 treacherous to any one treading on its " well raised sum- 
 mit," as if he had put his foot on the surface of a quag- 
 mire. Nor was the well-fed, gaily clothed, richly lodged 
 coal-merchant, with his " extensive concerns" to be easily 
 " out-done 9 in well devised craft and contrivance : nicely 
 pinched sacks, not foolishly flapping inwards so as to 
 
COALS. 171 
 
 betray the precise amount of their contents, — well planned 
 deliveries, either so early in the morning that the heads 
 of the family might prefer the arms of Morpheus to the 
 hazard of being choked with volumes of coal dust, or so 
 late in the evening, that there might be a possibility of 
 their being engaged in the " solid recreation" of their 
 dinner, were a few of the demonstrations of generalship 
 frequently exhibited by this portion of " the monied 
 interest" and " great capitalists of the nation." 
 
 But to come to the point in hand. An honest writer on 
 the subject, Mr. Eddington, in his Treatise on the Coal 
 Trade, p. 94, informs us that the keeper of a coal-shed 
 felt himself dissatisfied with his measure, if in doling out 
 his article to his poor, half-starved, shivering neighbours, 
 in pecks, half pecks, or bushels, he could not measure 
 out at the rate of forty-two bushels from every chaldron 
 of thirty-six bushels ; without taking into consideration 
 the gain to be obtained from vending the inferior coal, 
 and the consequent increase of quantity by throwing a 
 few bushels of sifted ashes, pieces of stone, bones, 
 or any other commodity which will assume a black form 
 after having been well rummaged among the heap of coals. 
 
 Another great source of unfair profit arising to the 
 vender of coals is the " Macadamizing" of them, and 
 like true " nursing fathers" carefully and sedulously 
 giving them their due quantum of moisture. For under 
 the old regime of measuring, the cunning varlets knew 
 full well that by the greater number of angular points 
 ii 2 
 
172 COALS. * 
 
 that they were able to produce, they filled their measure 
 with the least possible quantity of coals. This paternal 
 fulfilment of the command " to increase and multiply" 
 they still piously and faithfully observe, as the greater 
 progeny of small bits and dust that they can produce 
 from a lonely and solitary lump, the more they will be 
 able to increase the weight by their considerate and 
 frequently repeated waterings and drenchings. Accor- 
 dingly they set their shoulders to the work, and patrioti- 
 cally and radically proscribe every rebellious lump in their 
 shed, by smashing it into as many figures as possible, 
 often exceeding in number the ever varying mutations of 
 the kaleidoscope, or Orator Hunt's two hundred thou- 
 sand unity tales. Nor are their " betters'* (( the mer- 
 chants" less skilled in the art. Those considerate and 
 sharp-sighted gentry, foreseeing that the large masses and 
 blocks which are delivered out of the ships into their 
 barges, round as they came from the mine, would be an 
 inconvenience to their customers, and probable tumble 
 on some fair and delicate damsel's toes, kindly set to work, 
 and smash away; so that when the round coals of every 
 chamber, containing the ingrain of five chaldron and 
 a half, have undergone the process of their friendly thump- 
 ings and republican equalization, they will measure out 
 again from six to six and a half chaldrons. The increase 
 by breakage appears by the following statement from Dr. 
 Hutton's Mathematical Dictionary: " If one coal mea- 
 suring exactly a cubic yard (nearly equal to five bolls) 
 
COALS. 173 
 
 be broken into pieces of a moderate size, it will measure 
 seven bolls and a half; if broken very small, it will mea- 
 nine bolls." 
 
 And even after the coals have gone through the con- 
 juring process of being increased in bulk by the aforesaid 
 smashing or Macadamising art, and have reached their 
 destination at the wharf, the ingenuity of " the monied 
 interest" and " the great capitalists" is still at work. 
 Careful that the purchaser may not be put to the trouble 
 of wetting his coals to make them cake and burn well, 
 those considerate and obliging gentlemen relieve him 
 from the task by scientifically wetting the commodity; 
 and as a reward for their well intentioned and meritorious 
 labours they generally contrive to produce, as Mr. Ed- 
 dington informs us, " from six to six and a quarter, or 
 even six and a half, chaldrons from each room," con- 
 taining five and a half chaldron of smashed or " macada- 
 mized" coals. A correspondent to the World newspaper 
 for September, 1829, who signs himself a Coal Mer- 
 chant, says that instances are on record where eighty 
 and even ninety sacks have been measured out of a room 
 of coals! 
 
 According to the new regime of weighing, (which has 
 already proved one of the most deceitful hoaxes that igno- 
 rance and cupidity ever contrived against the interests of 
 the poor,) the quantity is increased in a like proportion in 
 favour of the coal dealer. 
 
 Another hint or two on this matter may be of some 
 service to thee, friend Bull. Always recollect, John, in 
 
174 COALS. 
 
 the purchase of your coals, that you pay attention to the 
 season of the year; for there is with every article a 
 cheap season and a dear one, and with none mora than 
 with coals : by purchasing at the proper season, often 
 from twenty to thirty per cent, are saved. The method 
 of purchasing should always he considered ; for by pur- 
 chasing a room of coals, which is called pool measure, 
 two fourths of a chaldron is often obtained in every five 
 chaldrons ; for a room of coals contains in general 
 from sixty-three to sixty-eight sacks. Therefore, where 
 the quantity is too much for the consumption of one 
 family, two or more should join together in the pur- 
 chase. 
 
 But the legislature, that is, " the collective wisdom of 
 the nation, " aware of thy disposition to gullibility, has, 
 John, taken thy affair of coals into its paternal and law- 
 making consideration, and has made some regulations, as 
 to the possibility of thy receiving " good and lawful" 
 weight. They are as follow : — To ensure lawful weight 
 to the purchaser, and prevent frauds in the sale and deli- 
 very of coals, the vender of all coals exceeding 5601bs. 
 is to cause the carman to deliver a paper or ticket to the 
 purchaser before he shoots any of the coals out of his 
 cart or waggon, specifying the number of tons, the des- 
 cription of the coals, and the weight of the sack. And 
 a weighing machine is to be carried in such cart or wag- 
 gon, with which the carman is directed to weigh gratis 
 the coals contained in any one or more of the sacks which 
 the purchaser or his servant may require to be so re- 
 
COALS. 175 
 
 weighed. But no ticket is necessary to be delivered with 
 coals purchased at the " Coal Market," or with coals 
 exceeding* 5601bs. purchased in bulk from any vessel or 
 wharf, if purchasers do not require a ticket. The seller 
 of the coals not sending a ticket and a weighing machine 
 with the coals, and the carman not delivering the ticket, 
 or neglecting or refusing to weigh the coals, are subject 
 to distinct penalties. 
 
 No less than seventy-seven kinds of sea coal are 
 brought to the London market ; forty-five of which are 
 imported from Newcastle, and the rest from Sunderland. 
 The best of the Sunderland produce are Stewart's main, 
 Lambton's main, and Hetley main, or as they are more 
 generally termed in imitation of the old Russell Walls 
 End, Stewart's Walls End, &c. The Scotch and Staf- 
 fordshire coals are inferior to the sea coal both in dura- 
 bility and the heat which they give, being about one- 
 third less productive in those qualities than the Newcastle 
 and Sunderland varieties. 
 
 The test of good coal depends on the burning, and 
 the quantity of bitumen it affords in its combustion ; and 
 no bad signs of its inferiority are that it is dull, small, 
 stony, or slaty. But the quality of coals is in a great 
 measure determined by the weight ; for there often occurs 
 a difference of 301b3. weight in two sacks of different 
 qualities, though equally filled : largeness of size is no 
 proper criterion, for the inferior coals are often of the 
 largest size. 
 
17$ 
 
 SECTION XL 
 
 Painters Colours or Pigments, Hats, Broad ClotIi T 
 Kerseymeres, Linens, Laces, Cambrics, Silks, 
 Jewellery, Stationary, tyc. 
 
 The spirit of adulteration pursues poor John even 
 into his domestic arrangements. Should he design to 
 decorate his dwelling — " his neat suburban cottage" — 
 and have the walls or wainscot of his drawing-room paint- 
 ed a delicate pink colour to rival the carnation tints of the 
 cheek of his " cara sposa," or those of his breakfast 
 parlour, to imitate the lively blue of the bright eyes of 
 his " lovely cherubs," the vile sophisticators mar all his 
 wishes, and he is able to obtain nothing" else than dull 
 and darkling" daubs. In fewer words, he cannot obtain 
 genuine colours wherewith to have his house painted. 
 And this sophistication does not only extend to the com- 
 mon house-paints, (as where white lead is mixed with 
 carbonate or sulphate of barytes ; vermilion with red 
 lead, and along et-cetera ;) but should honest John wish 
 that his hopeful progeny may rival the Zeuxis or Apelles 
 of antiquity, or confine his paternal longings to the more 
 modern artists — a Reynolds, a Gainsborough, a Moreland, 
 or a David, — he has the mortification of seeing his fond 
 illusions dissipated by the adulterating manufacturers of 
 
HATS, CLOTHS, LINENS, LACE, &c. 177 
 
 ultramarine, carmine, lake, Antwerp blue, crome 
 yellow, Indian ink, and all the other et-ceteras of artist- 
 decoration. 
 
 The covering of even John's sconce is not exempt from 
 sophistication. In the room of the dear bought, far 
 fetched beaver, the adulterators adorn John's pate with a 
 strange combination of wool and the homely and cheaply 
 purchased fur of the rabbit and mole. This, it must be 
 admitted, is cruel usage of the good old gentleman, and 
 must, as the witty author of the Indicator says, bring 
 to his mind an odd association of ideas, (namely, of 
 cheatery and forgiveness,) in one of those communings 
 with his hat's lining, while, like a polite worshipper, he 
 is whispering his preparatory ejaculations, before he 
 turns round with due gravity and composure, and makes 
 a bow of genteel recognition of the Mr. and Mrs A. and 
 the Misses B. who have assembled in the pew before 
 him. 
 
 Nor is he better treated by his clothier or man's mer- 
 cer. Not to mention the slight texture of the articles, 
 and the substitution of inferior materials for the " best 
 superfine Spanish" and the " super-extra Saxony," 
 the sly varlet artfully stitches the selvage of broad cloths, 
 kerseymeres, and ladies' " extra superfine," dyed of a 
 permanent colour, to the edge of cloth dyed with a fuga- 
 tive or fading dye ; and this operation is performed with 
 so much skill and nicety as to elude John's most pene- 
 trating optics. 
 
 Neither are Mrs. Bull and her " lovely daughters" 
 h3 
 
178 HATS, CLOTHS, LINENS, LACE, &o 
 
 more exempt from the knaveries of the linen-draper, the 
 dealers in laces, veils, silks, " Cashmere shalls," French 
 cambrics, and the other paraphernalia of the female 
 wardrobe : they are all sophisticated, and often no more 
 like the native article than " the moon is like green 
 cheese." Like " a true bred knight," I shall not forget 
 to furnish the female part of Mr. Bull's family with the 
 means and criteria for judging of the goodness of those 
 commodities, in the work which, as I have before said, 
 I have nearly ready for press. Nor shall I omit to take 
 notice in the same publication, to give directions for the 
 proper selection of the articles of furniture of the old 
 gent's house ; such as feathers, blankets, carpets, &c. 
 &c. 
 
 While gallantly professing my knight-errantry in the 
 cause of Mrs. Bull and " her lovely daughters," I find 
 that I have made an unpardonable omission — not a word 
 on laces and muslins ! To propitiate their u kind consi- 
 deration," I hurry to supply the unpardonable omission. 
 Let then every " lovely fair one" know that laces are 
 now generally made from single cottons (instead of good 
 double thread, as was formerly the case), and in order to 
 make them look fine and clear, they are stiffened with 
 starch, which occasions the delusive articles, as soon as 
 they are washed, to fall to pieces. In some articles of 
 lace, particularly veils, many of the springs and flowers 
 are fastened on with gum, which, as soon as they are 
 wetted, immediately fall off and betray the cheatery. 
 Caps and other articles of female habiliments sold in the 
 
HATS, CLOTHS, LINENS, LACE, &c. 179 
 
 streets, are often united together in the most ingenious 
 manner by means of gum or paste. 
 
 Muslins are not free from sophistication-ingenuity. 
 Poor, thin, rough specimens are rendered stiff, high 
 glazed, and thick with a quantum sufficit of pipe-clay, 
 &c. ; sometimes a paper-pulp is spread over the dete- 
 riorated article ; and the fibres of the cotton which 
 ought to be dressed off, are left in order to hold the com- 
 position put in. 
 
 Stockings are often rendered stiff and thick to the 
 feet, by bleaching them with brimstone. And coarse 
 woollen cloth receives the addition of large quantities of 
 fuller's-earth to give it body and closeness ; while the 
 right or pressed side is finished off with oil, in order to 
 give the cloth a fine, soft, and smooth appearance. Never 
 choose woollen cloth which is glossy and stiff. 
 
 " The frauds committed in the tanning of skins, and 
 their conversion into leather ; and in the manufacture 
 of cutlery andjewellery," says Mr. Accum, " exceed be- 
 lief." And I can assure my readers that that gentleman 
 is not mistaken in his assertion ; and, had he added that 
 of cabinet wares and silver plate of all sorts, he would 
 not have over-stepped the limits of truth. To those ac- 
 quainted with the manufacture of silver goods, it is well 
 known that you cannot always be sure that the various 
 costly articles are of the legal standard with which 
 Pride and Vanity, Luxury and Fashion, when they " set 
 up for Gentry and Stylish people," and have a desire 
 for " shewing off,*' gratify their whims and fantastic 
 
280 HATS, CLOTHS, LINENS, LACE, kc. 
 
 notions of gentility, and their ambition of " outplating 
 and outdishing" their friends and neighbours. The 
 prosecution instituted some years ago against a " legiti- 
 mate" son of Crispin for the manufacture of shoes, the 
 soles of which were ingeniously united to the welts by 
 only six stitches in each shoe, while the external parts 
 of the soles exhibited evident traces of a multiplicity of 
 stiches rivalling the number of the stars of the firmament 
 of the heavens in extent and variety, and their exact 
 mathematical precision seemed to display the exertion of 
 the genius of a Euclid, cannot have slipped the recollec- 
 tion of all my readers. 
 
 And to complete the climax of sophistication, even 
 the paper on which John gives birth to his " winged 
 words," and expresses his indignant feelings at the extent 
 and the audacity of the frauds and impositions practised 
 on his good-nature and credulous disposition, is sophisti- 
 cated. In the manufacture of paper, a large quantity of 
 plaster of Paris is often mixed up with the paper-stuff, 
 instead of its consisting of good linen rags only, and the 
 foreign substance is added to increase the weight of the 
 commodity. Nor is he, when, like ourselves, desirous 
 of having his thoughts and discoveries rendered " endur- 
 ing for ages," (monumentum aere perennius,) by having 
 them cast in stereotype, and thus " save a penny," 
 exempt from the designs and contrivances of sophistica- 
 tion ; — the founder deceives him by casting his " words 
 that breathe and thoughts that burn" in a metal as soft 
 and ductile as lollipop. Thus honest Bull is circumvented 
 
CONCLUSION. 181 
 
 in all his intents, and surprised and overpowered at every 
 turn by the Genius of Sophistication. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 Friend Bull ! if thou hast carefully and dispassion- 
 ately (that is, if thou hast sufficiently divested thy honest 
 mind of its usual scepticism — videlicet, its unwilling- 
 ness to be convinced against its constitutional prejudices,) 
 read my disclosures, I am willing to believe that thou 
 wilt readily admit that I have established all my allega- 
 tions of the frauds and impositions to which thou art 
 subject in this sophisticating age, and that I have proved 
 the truth and propriety of the title of my little book, 
 " Disease and Death in the Pot and the Bot- 
 tle." What remedy (for a good advocate seldom forgets 
 that prospective part of his duty,) to recommend thee to 
 adopt, in order to free thyself from the knavery and 
 effrontery of the sophisticators, I know not, except, 
 hermetically to close thy jaws so as to prevent the entrance 
 of any of the sophistications into them, or the more 
 pleasurable remedy of preferring a petition to thy " gra- 
 cious Sovereign," who " can do no wrong," praying 
 " the omnipotency of Parliament," — in its " collective 
 and superlative wisdom" to take thy deplorable case into 
 consideration," and to devise some means, in the pleni- 
 tude of its conjoint wisdom, to protect thee and thy 
 " little ones," in this " land of equal law," from the arts 
 and devices of slow poisoning. In the success of thy 
 humble and righteous remonstrance believe me, thy fellow 
 
182 CONCLUSION. 
 
 sufferer, and " enemy of fraud and villany," will heartily 
 and sincerely join. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Postscript. — In reviewing my well-meant, and, I 
 tr^ust, useful denunciations of fraud and villany, I find 
 that I have omitted to speak of false weights and mea- 
 sures. But as the proverb says, better late than never. 
 Not to mention the trick of clapping a piece of weight 
 or other metal underneath the scale in which the com- 
 modity to be sold is weighed ; commercial balances are 
 frequently misconstructed for fraudulent purposes, by 
 making the arm from which the substance to be weighed 
 is suspended longer than that from which the counter- 
 poise is hung, thereby giving the substance to be 
 weighed a greater leverage. 
 
 Authenticated communications of adulterations thankfully re- 
 ceived, and liberally paid for. 
 
183 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note to page 28. 
 
 I have said at the above mentioned page that " the 
 perfection of adulteration is in gin ;" and on re vie wing- 
 that passage I have no cause to modify the expression ; 
 but must, with all my heart and soul, assent to the de- 
 claration of honest Jonas Hanway, that it is "a liquid 
 fire ;" and must further agree with the said true-hearted 
 old Englishman, that " it should be sold only in quart 
 bottles, sealed up with the king's seal, with a very high 
 duty, and never sold without being mixed with a strong- 
 emetic/' This I admit is a very harsh prescription, and 
 no doubt every true lover of " blue-ruin" will exclaim, 
 notwithstanding that he or she is aware that their u com- 
 fort" is in the most abandoned state of adulteration, and 
 is a rank slow poison, equally ruinous to the health and 
 the purse ; — What ! a gin-drinking nation, and yet not a 
 drop of " the genuine"— of the popular English beverage, 
 the diurnal consumption of which in the metropolis alone, 
 would inundate the largest parish within the bills of mor- 
 tality — not a drop of •' the genuine" to be had for mo- 
 ney! Yes, Bull, whether thou beest of the masculine or 
 feminine gender, this is the truth ; and it is a circum- 
 stance, the reformation of which would well become the 
 labours of the informing tribe and the bellowers of radical 
 reform. Here there would be a fine field for radicalism 
 and " informing" to exercise themselves in. 
 
 Note to page 83. 
 I have stated at page 83, that fish out of season is un- 
 wholesome. The following fact will confirm the truth of 
 
184 APPENDIX* 
 
 this assertion. It is well known that in Ireland and 
 Scotland, where great facility is presented to the country 
 people in catching salmon, both during and after the 
 spawning season, the eating of the fish in that state 
 has been productive of very serious consequences to the 
 health of the consumers. Probably the unwholesome 
 consignments of noxious fish obtained exclusively , as 
 the fashionable fishmongers phrase it, out of season, 
 and to be purchased only at extravagant prices, often 
 occasion to their epicurean customers and the legiti- 
 mate gourmands much of the illness assigned to other 
 causes. 
 
 Note to page 87. 
 
 At page 87, I have said that the quantity of tea con- 
 sumed in this country is between twenty and thirty mil- 
 lions of lbs. weight ; but I forgot to state that between two 
 and three millions of pounds sterling are drawn out of 
 the pocket of the public yearly in its purchase, either in 
 the form of price or of duty. Surely the expenditure of 
 this enormous sum by the good people of this country, 
 and considering that tea has become so essential a part 
 of the diet of every person in the kingdom, imposes an ob- 
 ligation on the sovereign company of tea dealers in Lea- 
 denhall Street to take care that the inhabitants of " this 
 land of milk and honey, " who pay nearly eight times as 
 much as their neighbours do for the same article (namely 
 bohea tea), have a good and fresh commodity, instead of 
 the tasteless, parched, insipid, and scentless rubbish 
 which they retail out to the public, after having remained 
 in the warehouse long enough to perish its good qualities 
 even were its flavour and taste ten times more delicious 
 and grateful than they are. Would it not, as it has been 
 well said, be to the credit of some of our genuine mem- 
 bers of the legislature to endeavour to procure the sale of 
 a pure and good article, instead of the trash that is 
 foisted upon the public at present, and which they cannot 
 appeal from, by introducing a law into parliament lega- 
 
APPENDIX. 185 
 
 lizing the purchase of the article from other hands than 
 the Leadenhall Street monopolists. 
 
 Note to page 89, &c. 
 
 An experienced friend in the tea trade who has read 
 over and approved of the various tests I have mentioned 
 at page 89, &c. for detecting the qualities of tea, has 
 kindly furnished me with the following valuable commu- 
 nication : 
 
 " As a ready test of black tea being manufactured 
 from old tea-leaves, dyed with log-wood, &c. moisten 
 some of the tea, and rub it on white paper, which it will 
 blacken when not genuine. If you wish to be more par- 
 ticular, infuse a quantity of the sample in half a pint of 
 cold soft water for three or four hours. If the water is 
 then of an amber colour, and does not become red when 
 you drop some oil of vitriol or sulphuric acid into it,, 
 you may presume the tea to be good. Adulterated black 
 tea, when infused in cold water, gives a bluish black tinge, 
 and it becomes instantly red with a few drops of oil of 
 vitriol. 
 
 Note to page 154. 
 
 I observe that I have forgotten to give " a local habi- 
 tation and a name" among the morning water and Sir 
 Reverence doctors, to his Doctorship Doctor Laing, of 
 Newman Street, Oxford Street. And I have to beg 
 pardon, most humbly and reverently, for passing over 
 the quondam Greenwich Crumples, alias Doctor Ca- 
 meron, alias Mister Coley, in Berners Street, Oxford 
 Street; — the Doctor to a new patient with his morning 
 water and " shiners'* in hand, but Mister, when the 
 said " humbugged" patient, having discovered the fraud 
 practised upon him, returns to " blow up" the Doctor 
 for his tricks and ignorance. 
 
 Note to page 166. 
 After all the vapouring and drivelling nonsense that 
 has been said, sung and trumpeted forth by a certain 
 
186 APrENDlX. 
 
 portion of the Periodical Press respecting the " Simpli- 
 city of Health," it is really consoling to find at last a 
 man of sense and critical acumen having* spirit and ho- 
 nesty enough to relieve the public from the delusions under 
 which it is suffering* from the book in question. 
 
 " An immense quantity of drivel," says the spirited 
 Editor of The Edinburgh Literary Journal, 1829, " has 
 found its way into books professing to give an account 
 of the best mode of preserving health ; but of all the 
 drivel it has ever been our lot to peruse, that contained 
 in the work entitled the " Simplicity of Health," is the 
 most pre-eminent." The ingenious and honest reviewer, 
 after having pointed out several of the fooleries and ex- 
 travagancies of the book, adds, " We have no patience 
 with a piece of humbug like this ; we shall not insult 
 the good sense of our readers with more of this doting- 
 nonsense." It must be admitted that this sentence is 
 dictated in the strictest and the justest sense of criti- 
 cism, and that had all those who have ventured to 
 laud and recommend that dangerous little book adopted 
 somewhat of its spirit, much bodily and mental suffer- 
 ing might have been saved to many people who will 
 become the victims of its misjudged and culpable direc- 
 tions. 
 
 The burst of indignation and ridicule expressed by 
 the Critic respecting Hortator's foolish directions for 
 " Squirting water briskly into the eyes by a syringe" 
 is too fraught with truth and utility to be omitted : 
 u ^:Is it not plain from this, that the poor squirting 
 wretch must have bleared and blod-shot eyes ? Ima- 
 gine a beautiful girl at her morning toilette, presenting 
 one of this dirty old booby's squirts at her clear blue 
 laughing eyes ! But the fact is, this impudent old wife 
 must be descended from a long line of tailors, who have 
 bred in and in, till the imbecile race has ended in the 
 scarecrow who has spawned the " Simplicity of Health." 
 fh It is with much satisfaction that I am able to support 
 the opinion which I have expressed at page 166, by so 
 
APPENDIX. 187 
 
 just and judicious a criticism as the above ; had I stood 
 alone in opinion, that opinion would have been assigned 
 to any other than its true cause — a sense of public duty, 
 which ought with every true patriot to be paramount to 
 every other consideration. 
 
 I shall now close my well meant, and I hope I may 
 say, useful and patriotic little volume, with a few words 
 respecting those pests and scourges of society, the shark- 
 ing* and extortionate part of the pawnbroking trade, and 
 those banes of hnman comfort and existence the mad- 
 houses. 
 
 PAWNBROKERS. 
 
 It has been well said, that as the poorest, the most 
 distressed, and the most friendless are those who are 
 compelled to have dealings with, and are exposed to the 
 " tender mercies" of pawnbrokers, it is of the utmost 
 consequence that such men as follow the calling should 
 be honest, correct, and even humane characters. For the 
 sake of honesty it is to be hoped that there are many of 
 this description ; but a little, and but a little unhappy 
 experience when urgent necessity may compel the unfor- 
 tunate to have recourse to shops of this description, will 
 convince the most thoughtless person alive, that there 
 are numbers of heartless, griping, and extortionate scoun- 
 drels in that trade, whose conduct and dealings are a 
 disgrace to the most contemptible sharper and swindler 
 alive, — who by every species of fraud, extortion, and 
 oppression, rob, harass, and plunder the poor and the 
 miserable, and add to the distresses of those whose 
 misfortunes have reduced them to have dealings with the 
 detestable harpies. The taking of illegal and excessive 
 interest is comparatively the least important of their de- 
 linquencies, though this to the poor and unfortunate is 
 grinding in the extreme, as these knaves in their deal- 
 ings with those who have neither money nor friends, 
 treat the act of Parliament for the regulation of the 
 
188 APPENDIX. 
 
 Pawnbroking trade as a mere dead letter. The substitu- 
 tion of articles of inferior description for such as are of 
 a greater value, — the taking off the gold hands and 
 removing the interior works of watches, and replacing 
 them with others which resemble them, of base metal or 
 inferior value, — and the scraping or diminishing articles 
 of plate and the cases of watches, are well known to those 
 whose wants or emergencies compel them to send their 
 property on its travels up the spout of the pop-shop. 
 And through the defect of the law, and as the poet Crabbe 
 says, " the protection of a drowsy bench," sufferers but 
 rarely obtain any redress. A periodical writer, in ex- 
 pressing his abhorrence of the frauds of these vermin, 
 recommends the sufferers to lay " incessant informations 
 against the malpractices of these villains." But had that 
 kind-hearted man been acquainted with the fact that 
 informations have been repeatedly laid, and have always 
 miscarried, and will always miscarry while the law re- 
 mains in its defective state, he would, no doubt, have 
 recommended a petition to Parliament, praying to subject 
 the infamous impostors to the punishment of transporta- 
 tion for their audacious and daily frauds and swindlings 
 practised " on the children of sorrow and the heirs of 
 unnumbered woes and wants." The fate of informations 
 has been fully proved in the numerous instances in which 
 a scoundrel in the neighbourhood of Snow Hill has de- 
 feated the purposes of justice by the contemptible quibbles, 
 evasions, and subterfuges resorted to by his attorney in 
 all cases in which he has been summoned before the 
 magistrates at Guildhall, and by whose very disgraceful 
 objections as to technicalities, he has contrived as 
 hitherto, to laugh at and hold in contempt both Law and 
 Justice ! ! ! 
 
APPENDIX. 189 
 
 PRIVATE BEDLAMS. 
 
 " Where the noble mind's o'erthrown." 
 
 How true is the remark that " the history of the Red 
 and White Houses" like that of the Red and White Roses, 
 would afford many interesting though appalling particu- 
 lars were they collected in a detailable form. 
 
 " For who to that dread spot consigned, 
 
 Amid the maniac's horrid yell 
 Has liv'd, and in that den confined, 
 
 Could not some secrets of the madhouse ttll." 
 
 4t Yes ! there still live some few who have escaped per- 
 petual torture and confinement, which the soothing care 
 of disinterested friends would have buried alive in those 
 inquisitorial receptacles, but for the acute discernment of 
 the eye of humanity, which accident or curiosity had 
 directed to the spot. 
 
 " Of private madhouses there has long been but one 
 prevailing opinion. The generality of them are insti- 
 tuted as a medium of existence by talentless and avari- 
 cious individuals, who are better, by far, adapted for 
 the office of turnkeys to Newgate, than for the exercise 
 of such moral and physical means as would appear calcu- 
 lated to restore lost reason. They manage these things 
 much better in Paris ; but it is not our intention to enter 
 into particulars as regards the management of these 
 licensed houses of correction in the home department, 
 where every fibre of humanity appears paralysed, where 
 victims are left to linger out their miserable and wretched 
 existence, and to perish by means we know nothing of." 
 Instances innumerable are on record of the improper 
 treatment of the unhappy persons immured in these 
 dreary abodes ; the inquest that sat at the Elephant and 
 Castle, Pancras Road, on the body of a poor woman 
 named Ann Goldstock, alias Coldstock, in the month of 
 August, 1828, who came by her death, under singular 
 circumstances, in the madhouse, otherwise yclep'd the 
 
190 APPENDIX. 
 
 White House at Bethnal Green, kept by one Warbur- 
 ton, cannot have slipped the recollection of all my readers. 
 The case of an unfortunate man of the name of Parker 
 confined in that place for alleged insanity, is also too 
 remarkable to be passed over in silence. My man-ser- 
 vant importuned me to see the poor fellow. I accordingly 
 went to him, and must acknowledge, that after a long in- 
 terview in which I closely cross-examined him, he gave a 
 statement of his life and transactions, distinguished for 
 its accuracy, minuteness, and consistency. I wish the 
 parties concerned in that affair to recollect, though I have 
 been refused admittance to the unhappy man by one of 
 the understrappers of that place, that I will not let this 
 affair pass unheeded, as I have very little doubt but that 
 I shall be able to bring to justice the knaves who have 
 stripped the poor fellow and his injured family of their 
 property, and who, to screen their villany, have con- 
 signed him to a madhouse. 
 
 THE EXD. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 MARCHANT, PRINTER, INGRAM-COURT. 
 
BOOKS 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER, 
 23, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 Jennings s Code of Useful Knowledge, 
 
 1. THE FAMILY CYCLOPEDIA: a Dictionary of Useful 
 and Necessary Knowledge in Domestic Economy, Agriculture, 
 Chemistry, and the Arts ; including the most approved Modes of 
 Treatment of Diseases, Accidents, and Casualties. By JAMES 
 JFNNINGS, Esq. In one large vol. 8vo. price 11. 7s. in boards. 
 
 This very useful work contains upward of fourteen hundred 
 closely printed pages, comprising as much matter as is frequently 
 contained in six ordinary-sized volumes. The following are the 
 opinions of the Reviewers on its merits : — 
 
 " As a book of daily reference, the Family Cyclopedia is 
 really invaluable : it forms a portable Library of Useful Know- 
 ledge, of easy reference, and contains a great variety of informa- 
 tion not to be found in other works of similar pretensions, and of 
 greater magnitude/' 
 
 " It contains a large mass of information on subjects connected 
 with the Domestic Economy of Life. In matters of Science and 
 the Arts, the selections are all from sources of the best authority, 
 and treated in a clear and familiar manner. As a book of daily 
 reference in the common concerns of life, its great practical utility 
 will, no doubt, ensure it a ready introduction, and a favourable 
 reception in every intelligent family." 
 
 " The able manner in which this work is executed, affords 
 satisfactory evidence that the editor is thoroughly acquainted with 
 the subject. It is a valuable multum in parvo." 
 
Books Printed for Sherwood & Co. Paternoster- Row. 
 
 Moubray on Poultry, Pigs, and Cows. 
 2. A PRACTICAL TREATISE on BREEDING, REARING, 
 and FATTENING all kinds of DOMESTIC POULTRY, 
 PIGEONS, and RABBITS j also, on Breeding, Feeding, and 
 Managing Swine, Milch Cows, and Bees. By BONINGTON 
 MOUBRAY, Esq. Sixth Edition, enlarged by a Treatise on 
 Brewing, on making Cider, Butter, and Cheese : adapted to 
 the Use of Private Families. Price 7s. 6d. cloth boards. 
 
 " This is unquestionably the most practical Work on the subject 
 in our Language, and the Information is conveyed in plain and 
 intelligible Terms. The convenience of a small Poultry Yard — 
 two or three Pigs, with a breeding Sow, and a Cow for Cream, 
 Milk, Butter, and Cheese — in an English Country House, 
 appears indispensable ; and to point out how these may be ob- 
 tained, at a Reasonable Expense, seems to have been Mr. Mou- 
 bray's object. He is evidently a good practical Farmer, tho- 
 roughly conversant with Rural Economy in all its branches ; his 
 Book is written in a light, lively, Kitchener style, and, like the 
 works of that celebrated Gastronome, conveys, at least, as much 
 amusement as information. Were any testimony wanted, as to 
 its practical utility, it would be found in the declaration of an 
 eminent Rural Economist, Sir John Sinclair, who pronounces 
 it ' the best work hitherto printed* on the subject of which it 
 treats." — Farmer's Journal. 
 
 Scott's Village Doctor. 
 
 a. THE VILLAGE DOCTOR; or, Family Medical Ad- 
 viser, adapted to Domestic Convenience, and intended for the use 
 of Country Clergymen, Conductors of Schools, Parents, and Heads 
 of Families. By JAMES SCOTT, Surgeon. Sixth Edition, con- 
 siderably improved, price 5s. 
 
 %* This little work contains such information as may be often 
 wanted in the hour of need : it is a monitor that points out the 
 remedy in a moment of alarm ; a pilot that directs the progress of 
 diseases with care ; a beacon that shows the shoals upon which 
 health may be wrecked ; and a friend that removes the doubtful 
 anxiety of ignorance, by explaining the present, and showing the 
 probabilities of the future. 
 
Books Printed for Sherwood & Co. Paternoster-Row. 
 
 Dickson's Law of Wills. 
 
 4. PLAIN INSTRUCTIONS AND ADVICE TO TESTA- 
 TORS, EXECUTORS, ADMINISTRATORS, AND LEGA- 
 TEES ; being a Practical Exposition of the LAW of WILLS, 
 with Observations on the Consequences of Intestacy ; to which are 
 added, Directions respecting the Probate of Wills, and the taking 
 out of Letters of Administration ; Tables of the Stamp Duties on 
 Probates, Administrations, Legacies, and Residuary Shares ; the 
 Method of obtaining a Return of the Administration and Probate 
 Duty, if overpaid, or on the ground of Debts; and forms of Inven- 
 tories to be taken by Executors and Administrators ; with Prece- 
 dents of Wills, Codicils, Republications, &c. Including the Act of 
 Will. IV. c. 40, u for making better Provisions for the Disposal of 
 the Residues of the Effects of Testators." By RICHARD DICK- 
 SON, Esq. of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn. Price 5s. 6d. 
 
 u To the very important branch of Law relative to Wills, Mr. 
 Dickson appears to have paid considerable attention ; and, view- 
 ing the whole subject, we scarcely know a question of common 
 6ccurrence that can be proposed, for which he has not provided 
 some judicious advice, if not a satisfactory answer." — Imperial 
 Magazine, May, 1830. 
 
 TO HEADS OF FAMILIES. 
 
 A Valuable Present for Servant Maids. 
 
 5. THE FEMALE SERVANT'S GUIDE AND ADVISER ; 
 
 or, The Service Instructor. Illustrated with Plates, exhibiting 
 the Methods of setting out Dinner Tables, price 3s. 
 
 This Work has an emphatical claim to the sanction of Masters 
 and Mistresses, as, by its directions and instructions, Servants 
 are enabled to perform the various occupatious of service in an 
 efficient and a satisfactory manner, and are informed of the 
 methods of occasioning large savings in the management and use 
 of their Employer's Household Property and Provisions : in fact, it 
 embraces the interests and welfare of the great family of mankind — 
 Masters and Servants. 
 
 u By the present of a copy of the Work to each of their Ser- 
 vants, Employers may safely calculate on the saving of many 
 pounds a year in their expenditure." — Taunton Courier. 
 
Books Printed for Sherwood & Co. Paternoster- Row. 
 
 TO THE CLERGY, CHURCHWARDENS, AND OVER- 
 SEERS, OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 Shaw's Parish Officer's Guide. 
 
 A New and Practical Work on the Laws relative to Parish Mas- 
 ters, calculated for general Information, and to furnish all 
 Persons liable to serve the office of Churchwarden, Overseer, 
 &c. with full instructions for their legal and efficient discharge* 
 entitled, 
 
 6, THE PAROCHIAL LAWYER ; or, CHURCHWAR- 
 DENS' and OVERSEERS' GUIDE: containing the whole of 
 the Statute Law, with the Decisions of the Courts of Law and 
 Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, on the Duties and Powers of those 
 Officers, embodying all that is practical and operative in Dean 
 Prideaux' Instructions to Churchwardens. By JAMES SHAW, 
 Esq. of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Third 
 Edition, considerably improved, with the New Acts of 1 and 2 of 
 William IV. price 5s. 6d. 
 
 The Work is divided into Four Parts : the first and second relate 
 to the Duties, Powers, and Responsibility of Churchwardens and 
 Overseers, with the Management, Relief, and Employment of the 
 Poor, by Select Vestry, Guardians, or Trustees. The third and 
 fourth Parts embrace the Law, Practice, and Proceedings of Open 
 and Select Vestries, with some necessary Information respecting 
 the Offices of Vestry Clerk, Parish Clerk, Constables, 
 Sextons, &c. 
 
 Also, by the same Author, 
 
 1. THE DOMESTIC LAWYER; or, a Practical and Po- 
 pular Exposition of the Laws of England, containing the 
 requisite Legal Information relative to every possible Circum- 
 stance and Situation in which persons can be placed in the ordi- 
 nary occurrences of Trade and Social Life. Including the Im- 
 portant Acts of last Sessions. Price 9s. bound in cloth. 
 
 2. THE CONSTABLE and POLICE-OFFICER'S COM- 
 PANION and GUIDE. Price 4s. 
 
Books Printed for Suf.rwood & Co. Paternoster- Row. 
 
 Dubrunfaut on Rectification and Distilling. 
 
 7. A COMPLETE TREATISE ON THE WHOLE ART OF 
 DISTILLATION, with Practical Instructions for preparing 
 Spirituous Liquors from Corn, Potatoes, Beet-Roots, and 
 other Farinaceous and Sugary Vegetables ; particularly Useful to 
 Maltsters, Brewers, and Vinegar Makers. Also, the ART of 
 RECTIFICATION, in which is particularly treated the Nature 
 of Essential Oils, as the influential causes of the Tastes and 
 Flavours of Spirits. From the French of DUBRUNFAUT, by 
 JOHN SHERIDAN. To which is prefixed, the DISTILLERS' 
 PRACTICAL GUIDE, with genuine Receipts for making RUM, 
 BRANDY, HOLLANDS, GIN, and all sorts of Compounds, Cor- 
 dials, and Liqueurs. Price 12s. in cloth, illustrated with numerous 
 Cuts of improved Apparatus used in Distillation. 
 
 Tingrys House-Painter s Manual. 
 
 8. The HOUSE-PAINTER'S and COLOURMANS COM- 
 PLETE GUIDE: or, Every Man his own Painter ; being a 
 Practical and Theoretical Treatise on the Preparation of Colours, 
 and their Application to the different kinds of Painting, in which 
 is particularly described the whole Art of House Painting. 
 By P. F. TINGRY, Professor of Chemistry, &c. Third Edition, 
 corrected and very considerably improved. Price 7s. cloth. 
 
 Packer s Dyers Guide. 
 
 9. THE DYER'S GUIDE; being a Compendium of the Art of 
 Dying Linen, Cotton, Silk, Wool, Muslin, Dresses, Furniture, 
 &c. ; with the Method of scouring Wool, bleaching Cotton, &c. ; 
 and Directions for un-gumming Silk, and of whitening and sul- 
 phuring Silk and Wool ; and also an Introductory Epitome of the 
 leading Facts in Chemistry, as connected with the Art of Dyeing. 
 By THOMAS PACKER, Dyer and Chemist. Second Edition, 
 corrected and improved, price 6s. 
 
Books Printed for Sherwood & Co. Paternoster- Row. 
 
 Siddons's Cabinet- Maker's Manual. 
 
 10. THE CABINET-MAKER'S GUIDE; or, Rules and In- 
 structions in the Art of Varnishing, Dyeing, Staining, Japanning, 
 Polishing, Lackering, and Beautifying Wood, Ivory, Tortoise- 
 shell, and Metal ; with Observations on their Management and 
 Application. By G. A. SIDDONS. Fifth Edition, improved and 
 enlarged, by the addition of several new Articles, Receipts, &c. 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 " We strongly recommend this as a vade-mecum, which should 
 be in the pocket of every Cabinet-maker/' — Critical Gazette. 
 
 King's Law of Auctions. 
 
 11. THE AUCTIONEER'S LEGAL GUIDE AND AD- 
 VISER ; containing a practical Exposition of the Law of Auc- 
 tions, viz. 
 
 1. Qualifications, Responsibility, Rights, Duties, and Obligations 
 
 of Auctioneers. 
 
 2. The Mode of conducting Sales. 
 
 3. Directions for making Excise Returns, Delivery and Passing 
 
 Account, and Payment of Duty. 
 
 4. Property and Effects subject to and exempt from Payment 
 
 of Duty. 
 
 5. The relative Rights of Vendors and Vendees at Auctions. 
 
 With Rules and Directions for the Valuation of Lands and Fix- 
 tures : to vi hich are added, the Qualifications and Duties of 
 Appraisers ; with a copious Appendix of Precedents. (Originally 
 written by T. Williams, Esq.) Fifth Edition, considerably im- 
 proved. By WILLIAM KING. Price 7s. bound in cloth. 
 
University of California Library 
 or to the 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 • 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 (510)642-6753 
 
 • 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing 
 books to NRLF 
 
 • Renewals and recharges may be made 4 
 days prior to due date. 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 APR 22 1997 
 
 MAR 2 2005 
 
 12,000(11/95) 
 
U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CQ1425S00145