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 Poisoning; 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 spongy; of a sweet nutty smell; and when pressed with the finger is tough and resists the pressure like sponge, recovering with a spring its original texture as soon as the finger is removed: if any fracture appears, it is a sign of adulteration. 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: convictions 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 vitriol, 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 palate, without having recourse to the conjoint aid of alum, ammonia, and potatoes.[L] This is the allegation 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 irrespectable part of the trade can make for their nefarious traffic in the remaining 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 contaminated with a quantity of alum,) without which it would be impossible for him to produce light, white, and porous bread, from a half spoiled material.

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

“Other individuals (namely, the “gentlemen” druggists) 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 common salt, to disguise the character of the compound.

The mixture called stuff is composed of one part of alum, in minute crystals, and three of 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 6lbs. 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 advantageous 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 bean-flour has been used, which bakers generally prefer, on account of the great portion of gluten which it contains, (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 adulteration, 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 ascertained 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 cucurbit, 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 consideration or humanity to introduce it into their life-destroying 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 whiteners.” 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 ingredients, 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, 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 composition 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 incrustation 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 constitution 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 disengagement 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 consequence 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 preserves 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 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 whiting 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 adulterated 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 appears 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 separated. The only ready test for the detection of sharp whites and stuff is by the taste.

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 microscope, 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 number 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.

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 membrane, 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 sufficiently extensive to employ a certain part of the “butchering craft” in its distinct mysteries. Probably by “professors of the knife and cleaver” it is considered as the ne plus ultra of butcher-skill, and has its appropriate 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 observes, that sausages are not deserving of that general use in which they are held in London: for the integument which encloses the sausage is often highly injurious to health, while the meat possesses no deleterious quality whatever. The poisonous nature of sausages arising from fraud is partly occasioned by the carelessness of the manufacturer in regard of the vessels in which he keeps his meat, but more generally from the quality of the meat which he uses. Some years ago a German chemist discovered, on analysing German sausages, 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 influenced 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 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 butchers 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 having 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 piece 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 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 suspended across the back of a horse, with their heads downwards, for hours together, in their way from market; 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 stiffness of the fish, the redness of its gills, and the brightness 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 appearance, 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 generally shows the good condition of fish.

Fish out of season, that is after spawning, are unwholesome; and for this reason the legislature has found it necessary to fix the periods at which the fishing of salmon and the dredging of oysters shall be lawful.

SECTION III.
Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, and Sugar.

TEA.

No article of consumption is more subject to adulteration 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-mentioned specimens possess more of the qualities of the tea leaf than any other known vegetable,) are manufactured and fabricated to represent this delicious article of English female consumption: and the colouring, dyeing, and staining process is accomplished by the agency of terra japonica, logwood, verdigris, copperas, Prussian 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 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 fabricators; and these sub-imps in the “black art” are rewarded 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 between 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 mornings’ work.” Of course, I suppose, like other large “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 black thorn, 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 produced by the application of Dutch pink, and a small quantity of logwood; when, “mirabile dictu!” “good, wholesome, nutritious black tea” is produced equal to, and probably surpassing the specimens of the monopolists 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 described, 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 heating 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 indubitable criterion of genuineness in the estimation of our “fair countrywomen,”—the ancient, as well as “the bewitching;”) the operator kindly and generously adds, more verdigris and Dutch pink or Prussian blue. And again “pure, genuine, exhilarating” green tea is produced as quick as thought, and that even in the darkness 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, 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 genuine teas, 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:”

But John, “with all his easy gullibility,” 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 Newspapers, particularly the “Times” and “Courier,” from March to July, in the year 1818, and there thou mayest 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 detail the ready tests or methods of detecting its adulteration. For it is an undoubted fact, as “Medicus” observes, 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 following 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 standing 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 colour, 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 following 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 present. 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 precipitate a small sediment, instead of a deep greenish yellow after it has stood about half a dozen minutes. 4. Where the adulteration has been made with carbonate 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 adulterated 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 serrated 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 imitative 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 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 purchased in a ground state, or allowed to pass through the vender’s mill. Among many others may be mentioned 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 addition 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 empyreumatic oil, they are seldom vended solely by themselves, 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 assistance 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 will have no reason to be longer hard of belief. He will there find that one “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 towards 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 his strong hold—incredulity—will exclaim, 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 machinations 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 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 “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 economy.

As I must, friend John, have, by the foregoing particulars, 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 proportion 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, 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 imbibes the flavour.

Mocha, or Turkey, coffee (namely, in a raw or unroasted 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 ascertaining 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 appropriately 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 is ably stated in “The Oracle of Health and Long Life.”

CHOCOLATE.

Chocolate is frequently adulterated with noxious ingredients, 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 composition.

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 quality 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 particles 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 composition. Of the moist kind, chuse that which is distinguished by the sharpness, brightness, and loose 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 presence of crush-lump may be recognized by the uniformity 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.

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 ingenuity 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 delectable 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 signifies pepper dust; the second, dirt of pepper dust. The mode of manufacturing these inviting ingredients 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. “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 newspapers 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 kernels 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 imperfect berries of the same plant as produces the black pepper; but as it does not possess a strength and pungency, 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 consulted, as in the case of its being brought to table. In fact, white pepper is always, whether genuine or factitious, 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 evident 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 be observed 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 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 delectable 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 excellent 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 sophistication against thy health; and for a confirmation of this assertion thou needest only look to the formulÆ given in cookery books for imparting a fresh and lively green colour or hue to pickles—not to mention the consequences 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.

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 previous 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 becomes difficult of detection.

The clove to be in perfection should be large sized, plump, heavy, of a fine fragrant smell, and a hot aromatic taste, not easily disappearing off the tongue; easily broken, and when pressed between the thumb and finger should leave an oily moisture upon them, producing 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.

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 aromatic 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, &c.

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 copper or verdigris, or at least placed for a considerable time in copper or brazen vessels for the purpose of allowing 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 impregnations of lead, tin, pewter, iron, and copper, from the stills or vessels in which it is made. Its more harmless adulteration is a considerable dilution with water.

Vinegar is prepared from a variety of substances; but its common preparations are from wine, fruits, malt, 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: If 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 residuum 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 suspected, 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.

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 commodity by the retail venders, who frequently keep a pewter vessel immersed in the oil, for the purpose, as they assert, of preserving the liquid from 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 with 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 ascertained by exposing the mixture to a freezing temperature, when the olive oil will become frozen, while the adulterating ingredient will remain fluid.

The best olive oil is of a bright pale amber colour, somewhat inclining to a greenish cast; free from sediment, 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) “either in powder, or in a state of paste ready made, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops.” Whether “patent,” “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 composed of camphor and oil of rosemary, dissolved in oil of turpentine, with the addition of a little of the flour of mustard!

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 sophisticating ingenuity of the trade; for sprats are frequently prepared and sold for anchovies. The best way of discovering 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 manufacture 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 contaminated 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 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 transparent, 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 for judging of its goodness.

BLUE or INDIGO.

This article is subject to great adulteration by the introduction of foreign ingredients into its manufacture. The easiest and speediest test of its genuineness is by dissolving or cutting it. By the first method, if good, it dissolves easily, while that of a coarse or an adulterated kind dissolves with difficulty, and settles at the bottom of the vessel. By the second method, (and which is the best criterion 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 mottled, 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 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 Companion 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 experiment, 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 basin; 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 consumption of soap, many useful hints may be found in “The Maidservant’s Companion and Directory;” 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 appearance and a hard consistence, the wicks burn with a dead light, and the alum spits or emits slight explosions 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 reducible 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 occupations,” 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 discovered by its hardness, brittleness, and want of tenacity. 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, somewhat 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.