Curiosities of Civilization Part 5

Indeed, if the price charged were according to quality, it would be no fraud at all; but this adjustment rarely takes place. Secondly, the mixture of cheaper articles of another kind. Thirdly, the surrept.i.tious introduction of materials which, taken in large quant.i.ties, are prejudicial to health; and, fourthly, the admixture of the most deadly poisons in order to improve the appearance of the article "doctored."

The microscope alone is capable of detecting at one operation the nature and extent of the more harmless but general of these frauds. When once the investigator, by the aid of that instrument, has become familiar with the configurations of different kinds of the same chemically composed substances, he is armed with far greater detective power than chemical agents could provide him with. It is beyond the limit of the test-tube to show the mind the various forms of animal and vegetable life which exist in impure water; delicate as are its powers, it could not indicate the presence of the sugar-insect, or distinguish with unerring nicety an admixture of the common Circ.u.ma arrowroot with the finer Maranta.

Chemistry is quite capable of telling the component parts of any article: what are the definite forms and natures of the various ingredients which enter into a mixture, it cannot so easily answer. This the microscope can at once effect; and in its present application consists Dr. Ha.s.sall's advantage over all previous investigators in the same field. The precision with which he is enabled to state the result of his labours leaves no appeal: he shows his reader the intimate structures of a coffee-grain, and of oak or mahogany sawdust; and then a specimen of the two combined, sold under the t.i.tle of genuine Mocha. Many manufacturers and retailers who have been detected falsifying the food of the public, have threatened actions; but they all flinched from the test of this unerring instrument.

The system of adulteration is so wide-spread, and embraces so many of the items of the daily meal, that we scarcely know where to begin--what corner of the veil first to lift. Let us hold up the cruet-frame, for example, and a.n.a.lyze its contents. There is mustard, pepper (black and cayenne), vinegar, anchovy and Harvey sauce--so thinks the unsuspecting reader; let us show him what else beside. To begin with mustard. "Best Durham," or "Superfine Durham," no doubt it was purchased for; but we will summarily dismiss this substance by stating that it is impossible to procure it pure at all: out of forty-two samples bought by Dr. Ha.s.sall at the best as well as inferior shops, all were more or less adulterated with wheaten flour for bulk, and with turmeric for colour. Vinegar also suffers a double adulteration. It is first watered, and then pungency is given to it by the addition of sulphuric acid. A small quant.i.ty of this acid is allowed by law; and this is frequently trebled by the victuallers. The pepper-castor is another stronghold of fraud--fraud so long and openly practised, that we question if the great ma.s.s of the perpetrators even think they are doing wrong. Among the milder forms of sophistication to which this article is subjected, are to be found such ingredients as wheaten flour, ground rice, ground mustard-seeds, and linseed-meal. The grocer maintains a certain reserve as to the generality of the articles he employs in vitiating his wares; but pepper he seems to think is given up to him by the public to "cook" in any manner he thinks fit. This he almost invariably does by the addition of what is known in the trade as P. D., or pepper-dust, _alias_ the sweepings from the pepper warehouses. But there is a lower depth still: P. D. is too genuine a commodity for some markets, and it is accordingly mixed with D. P. D., or dirt of pepper-dust.

A little book, published not long since, ent.i.tled "The Successful Merchant," which gives the minute trade history of a gentleman very much respected in Bristol, Samuel Budgett, Esq., affords us a pa.s.sage bearing upon this P. D. which is worthy of notice.

"In Mr. Budgett's early days," says his biographer, "pepper was under a heavy tax, and in the trade universal tradition said that out of the trade everybody expected pepper to be mixed. In the shop stood a cask labelled P. D., containing something _very like_ pepper-dust, wherewith it was usual to mix the pepper before sending it forth to serve the public. The trade tradition had obtained for the apocryphal P. D. a place amongst the standard articles of the shop, and on the strength of that tradition it was vended for pepper by men who thought they were honest. But as Samuel went on in life, his ideas on trade morality grew clearer; this P. D. began to give him much discomfort.

He thought upon it till he was satisfied that, after all that could be said, the thing was wrong: arrived at this conclusion, he felt that no blessing could light upon the place while it was there. He instantly decreed that P. D. should perish. It was night; but back he went to the shop, took the hypocritical cask, carried it out to the quarry, then staved it, and scattered P. D. among the clods and slag and stones."

Would we could say that the reduction of the tax upon pepper had stimulated the honesty of other grocers to act a similar part to that of Mr. Budgett; but P. D. flourishes as flagrantly as ever; and if every possessor of the article in London were to stave his casks in the roadway, as conscientiously as did the "Successful Merchant," there would be hard work for the scavengers. In the days of Acc.u.m it was usual to manufacture peppercorns out of oiled linseed-cake, clay, and cayenne-pepper, formed into a ma.s.s, and then granulated: these fraudulent corns were mixed with the real to the extent of seventeen per cent. This form of imposition, like that of wooden nutmegs among our American friends, has, we are happy to say, long been abandoned. The adulterations we have mentioned are simply dirty and fraudulent; but in the cayenne-cruet we find, in addition, a deadly poison. Out of twenty-eight samples submitted to examination, no less than twenty-four were adulterated with white mustard-seed, brickdust, salt, ground rice, and _deal sawdust_, by way of giving bulk; but as all of these tend to lighten the colour, it is necessary to heighten it to the required pitch. And what is employed to do this? Hear and tremble, old Indians and lovers of high-seasoned food--with RED LEAD. Out of twenty-eight samples, red lead, and _often in poisonous quant.i.ties_, was present in thirteen! Who knows how many "yellow admirals"

at Bath have fallen victims to their cayenne-cruets? Nor can it be said that the small quant.i.ty taken at a time could do no permanent mischief; for lead belongs to the cla.s.s of poisons which are c.u.mulative in their effects.

He who loves cayenne, as a rule is fond of curry-powder; and here also the poisonous oxide is to be found in large quant.i.ties. Some years ago, a certain amiable duke recommended the labouring population, during a season of famine, to take a pinch of this condiment every morning before going to work, as "warm and comforting to the stomach." If they had followed his advice, thirteen out of every twenty-eight persons would have imbibed a slow poison. Those who are in the habit of using curry, generally take it in considerable quant.i.ties, and thus the villanous falsification plays a more deadly part than even in cayenne-pepper. Imagine a man for years pertinaciously painting his stomach with red lead! We do not know whether medical statistics prove that paralysis prevails much among "Nabobs;" but of this we may be sure, that there could be no more fruitful source of it than the two favourite stimulants we have named.

The great staple articles of food are not subject to adulteration in the same proportion as many other articles of minor demand. We need scarcely say that meat is exempt so long as it remains in the condition of joints; but immediately it is prepared in any shape in which its original fibre and form can be hidden, the spirit of craft begins to work. The public have always had certain prejudices against sausages and polonies, for example; and, if we are to believe a witness examined on oath before the Smithfield Market Commissioners in 1850, not without reason. It is a very old joke that there are no live donkeys to be found within twenty miles of Epping; but if all the asinine tribe in England were to fall victims to the chopping-machine, we question if they could supply the _a-la-mode_, polony, and sausage establishments. Mr. J. Harper, for instance, being under examination, upon being asked what became of the diseased meat brought into London, replied:--

"It is purchased by the soup-shops, sausage-makers, the _a-la-mode_ beef and meat-pie shops, &c. There is one soup-shop, I believe, doing five hundred pounds per week in diseased meat. This firm has a large _foreign_ trade [thank goodness!]. The trade in diseased meat is very alarming, as anything in the shape of flesh can be sold at about one penny per pound, or eightpence per stone.... I am certain that if one hundred carcases of cows were lying dead in the neighbourhood of London, I could get them all sold within twenty-four hours: _it don't matter what they died of_."

It must not be imagined that the _a-la-mode_ beef interest is supplied with this carrion by needy men, whose necessities may in some degree palliate their evil dealings. In proof of this we quote further from Mr.

Harper's evidence. In answer to the question, "Is there any slaughtering of bad meat in the country for the supply of the London market?" he says,--

"The London market is very extensively supplied with diseased meat from the country. There are three insurance offices in London in which graziers can insure their beasts from disease. It was the practice of one of these offices to send the unsound animals dying from disease to their own slaughter-houses, situate a hundred and sixty miles from London, to be dressed and sent to the London market.... Cattle, sheep, &c., are insured against all kinds of diseases; and one of the conditions is, that the diseased animal, when dead, becomes the property of the insurance company, the party insuring receiving two-thirds of the value of the animal and one-third of the salvage; or, in other words, one-third of the amount the beast is sold for when dead."

Upon being asked, "Do you believe it is still the habit of this company to send up the diseased animals to London?" he replied,--

"Yes, I do; until lately they were regularly consigned to a meat-salesman in Newgate market of the name of Mathews.... The larger quant.i.ties are sold to people who manufacture it into soup, meat-pies, sausages, &c."

We have no wish to destroy the generally robust appet.i.te of the persons who visit such shops by any gratuitous disclosure; but we question whether the most hungry crossing-sweeper would look any more with a longing eye upon the huge German sausages, rich and inviting as they appear, if, like Mr. Harper, he knew the too probable antecedents of their contents. The only other preparations of flesh open to adulteration are preserved meats.

Some years ago, "the Goldner canister business" so excited the public against this invaluable method of storing perishing articles of food, that a prejudice has existed against it ever since; and a more senseless prejudice could not be. Goldner's process, since adopted by Messrs. Cooper and Aves, is simple and beautiful. The provisions, being placed in tin canisters having their covers soldered down, are plunged up to their necks in a bath of chloride of calcium (a preparation which imbibes a great heat without boiling), and their contents are speedily cooked; at the same time all the air in the meat, and some of the water, are expelled in the form of steam, which issues from a pin-hole in the lid. The instant the cook ascertains the process to be complete, he drops a plug of solder upon the hole, and the ma.s.s is thus hermetically sealed. Exclusion of air, and coagulation of the alb.u.men, are the two conditions which enable us to hand the most delicate-flavoured meats down to remote generations,--for as long, in fact, as a stout painted tin canister can maintain itself intact against the oxidating effect of the atmosphere. We have ourselves partaken lately of a duck that was winged, and of milk that came from the cow, as long as eight years ago. Fruit which had been gathered whilst the free-trade struggle was still going on, we found as delicate in flavour as though it had just been plucked from the branch. Out of the many cases of all kinds of provisions opened and examined by Dr. Ha.s.sall, scarcely any have been found to be bad. When we remember that the graves of so many of our soldiers in the Crimea may be justly inscribed, "Died of salt pork,"

we cannot forbear to call attention to a neglected means of feeding our troops with good and nutritious food, instead of with the tough fibre called meat, from which half the blood-making qualities have been extracted by the process of boiling, whilst the remaining half is rendered indigestible by the action of salt, and poisonous by the extraction of one of its most important const.i.tuents. It would seem as if we were living in the days of Anson, who lost 626 men of scurvy, out of a crew of 961, before he could reach the island of Juan Fernandez, or of the still later cruise of Sir C. Hardy, who sent 3,500 to hospital with this fatal disease, after a six weeks' sail with the Channel fleet. It may be urged that the sailors in the late war did not sicken on salt pork; but while they had the necessary amount of pota.s.s, which the stomach requires to make blood, in the lime-juice served out to them, our troops were without this indispensable accompaniment, and consequently died. In the preserved meats, which are made up with potatoes and other vegetables, the needful pota.s.s exists, and such food may be purchased as cheaply as the pernicious salt junk which is patronized by the Government.

Bread, the great blood-producer, claims particular attention. It often surprises persons who walk about the metropolis to find that prices vary according to the locality; thus the loaf that costs in the Borough or the New Cut 7_d._ a quartern, is 10-1/2_d._ at the West End. Can plate-gla.s.s windows and rent cause all this difference? Certainly not. We are glad, however, to find that many of the adulterations mentioned by our older writers have vanished with free trade. Prince and Acc.u.m mention plaster of Paris, bone-dust, the meal of other cereal grains, white clay, alum, sulphate of copper, potatoes, &c. All of these sophistications have disappeared, with the exception of potatoes, which are occasionally employed when the difference between their value and that of flour makes it worth while for the baker or miller to introduce them. When we see a loaf marked under the market price, we may rest a.s.sured that it is made of flour ground from inferior and damaged wheat. In order to bring this up to the required colour, and to destroy the sour taste which often belongs to it, bakers are in the habit of introducing a mixture called in the trade "hards" and "stuff," which is nothing more than alum and salt, kept prepared in large quant.i.ties by the druggists. The quant.i.ty of alum necessary to render bread white is certainly not great--Mitch.e.l.l found that it ranged from 116 grains to 34-1/2 grains in the four-pound loaf; but the great advantage the baker derives from it, in addition to improving the colour of his wares, is, that it absorbs a large quant.i.ty of water, which he sells at the present time at the rate of 2_d._ a pound.

Out of twenty-eight loaves of bread bought in every quarter of the metropolis, Dr. Ha.s.sall did not find one free from the adulteration of alum; and in some of the samples he found considerable quant.i.ties. As a general rule, the lower the neighbourhood, the cheaper the bread, and the greater the quant.i.ty of this "hards" or "stuff" introduced. We must not, however, lay all the blame upon the baker. This was satisfactorily shown by the Sanitary Commissioners, when dealing with the bread sold by the League Bread Company, whose advertis.e.m.e.nt to the following effect is constantly to be seen in the _Times_:--

"The object for which the above company was established, and is now in operation, is to insure to the public bread of a pure and nutritious character. Experience daily proves how much our health is dependent upon the quality and purity of our food; consequently, how important it is that an article of such universal consumption as bread should be free from adulteration. That various diseases are caused by the use of _alum_ and other deleterious ingredients in the manufacture of bread, the testimony of many eminent men will fully corroborate. Pure unadulterated bread, full weight, best quality, and the lowest possible price."

Upon several samples of this _pure bread_, purchased of various agents of the company, being tested, they were found to be contaminated with _alum_!

Here was a discovery. The company protested that the a.n.a.lyses were worthless; and all their workmen made a solemn declaration that they had never used any alum whilst in their employ. The agents of the company also declared that they never sold any but their bread. The a.n.a.lyst looked again through his microscope, and again reiterated his charge, that alum their bread contained. It was then agreed to test the flour supplied to the company, and three samples were proved to contain the obnoxious material. Thus we find that the miller still, in some instances, maintains his doubtful reputation, and is at the bottom of this roguery.

Our succeeding remarks will fall, we fear, like a bomb upon many a tea-table, and stagger teetotalism in its stronghold. A drunkard's stomach is sometimes exhibited at total-abstinence lectures, in every stage of congestion and inflammation, painted up to match the fervid eloquence of the lecturer. If tea is our only refuge from the frightful maladies entailed upon us by fermented liquors, we fear the British public is in a perplexing dilemma. Ladies, there is death in the teapot! Green-tea drinkers, beware! There has always been a vague idea afloat in the public mind about hot copper plates--a suspicion that gunpowder and hyson do not come by their colour honestly. The old d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough used to boast that she came into the world before "nerves were in fashion." We feel half inclined to believe this joke had a great truth in it; for since the introduction of tea, nervous complaints of all kinds have greatly increased; and we need not look far to find one at least of the causes in the teapot. There is no such a thing as pure green tea to be met with in England. It is adulterated in China; and we have lately learnt to adulterate it at home almost as well as the cunning Asiatic. The pure green tea made from the most delicate green leaves grown upon manured soil, such as the Chinese use themselves, is, it is true, wholly untainted; and we are informed that its beautiful bluish bloom, like that upon a grape, is given by the third process of roasting which it undergoes. The enormous demand for a moderately-priced green tea which has arisen both in England and China since the opening of the trade, has led the Hong merchants to imitate this peculiar colour; and this they do so successfully as to deceive the ordinary judges of the article. Black tea is openly coloured in the neighbourhood of Canton in the most wholesale manner.

Mr. Robert Fortune, in his very interesting work, "The Tea Districts of China and India," gives us a good description of the manner in which this colouring process is performed, as witnessed by himself:--

"Having procured a portion of Prussian-blue, he threw it into a porcelain bowl, not unlike a chemist's mortar, and crushed it into a very fine powder. At the same time a quant.i.ty of gypsum was produced and burned in the charcoal fires which were then roasting the teas.

The object of this was to soften it, in order that it might be readily pounded into a very fine powder, in the same manner as the Prussian-blue had been. The gypsum, having been taken out of the fire after a certain time had elapsed, readily crumbled down, and was reduced to powder in the mortar. These two substances, having been thus prepared, were then mixed together in the proportion of four parts of gypsum to three parts of Prussian-blue, and formed a light blue powder, which was then ready for use.

"This colouring matter was applied to the teas during the process of roasting. About five minutes before the tea was removed from the pans--the time being regulated by the burning of a joss-stick--the superintendent took a small porcelain spoon, and with it he scattered a portion of the colouring matter over the leaves in each pan. The workmen then turned the leaves round rapidly with both hands, in order that the colour might be equally diffused. During this part of the operation the hands of the workmen were quite blue. I could not help thinking, if any green-tea drinkers had been present during the operation, their taste would have been corrected, and, I believe, improved.

"One day an English gentleman in Shanghae, being in conversation with some Chinese from the green-tea country, asked them what reason they had for dyeing the tea, and whether it would not be better without undergoing this process. They acknowledged that tea was much better when prepared without having any such ingredients mixed with it, and that _they never drank dyed teas_ themselves, but justly remarked, that, as foreigners seemed _to prefer having a mixture of Prussian-blue and gypsum with their tea_ to make it look uniform and pretty, and as these ingredients were cheap enough, the Chinese had no objection to supply them, especially as such teas always fetched a higher price.

"I took some trouble to ascertain precisely the quant.i.ty of colouring matter used in the process of dyeing green teas, not certainly with the view of a.s.sisting others, either at home or abroad, in the art of colouring, but simply to show green-tea drinkers in England, and more particularly in the United States of America, what _quant.i.ty_ of Prussian-blue and gypsum they imbibe in the course of one year. To 14-1/2 lbs. were applied 8 mace 2-1/2 candareens of colouring matter, or rather more than an ounce. To every hundred pounds of coloured green-tea consumed in England or America, the consumer actually drinks more than half a pound of Prussian-blue and gypsum. And yet, tell the drinkers of this coloured tea that the Chinese eat cats and dogs, and they will hold up their hands in amazement, and pity the poor Celestials."

If the Chinese use it in these quant.i.ties to tinge the genuine leaf, how much more must the English employ in making up afresh exhausted leaves!

That every spoonful of hyson or gunpowder contains a considerable quant.i.ty of this deleterious dye will be seen by any one who places a pinch upon a fine sieve, and pours upon it a gentle stream of water, when the tinging of the liquid will show at once the extent of the adulteration, and the folly of drinking painted tea. a.s.sam tea, though not so inviting in colour, is free from adulteration. A word to the wise is enough.

Of fifty samples of green tea a.n.a.lyzed by Dr. Ha.s.sall, all were adulterated. There is one particular kind which is almost entirely a manufactured article--gunpowder, both black and green--the former being called scented caper. Both have a large admixture of what is termed "lye tea," or a compound of sand, dirt, tea-dust, and broken-down portions of other leaves worked together with gum into small nodules. This detestable compound, which, according to Mr. Warrington,[3] who has a.n.a.lyzed it, contains forty-five per cent. of earthy matter, is manufactured both in China and in England, for the express purpose of adulterating tea. When mixed with "scented caper," it is "faced" with black lead; when with gunpowder, Prussian-blue: turmeric and French chalk give it the required bloom. Mr. Warrington states that about 750,000 lbs. of this spurious tea have been imported into Great Britain within eighteen months! Singularly enough, the low-priced teas are the only genuine ones. Every sample of this cla.s.s which was a.n.a.lyzed by Dr. Ha.s.sall proved to be perfectly pure.

Here at least the poor have the advantage of the better cla.s.ses, who pay a higher price to be injured in their health by a painted beverage.

The practice of redrying used-up leaves is also carried on to some extent in England. Mr. George Philips, of the Inland Revenue Office, states that in 1843 there were no less than eight manufactories for the purpose of redrying tea-leaves in London alone, whilst there were many others in different parts of the country. These manufacturers had agents who bought up the used leaves from hotels, clubs, coffeehouses, &c., for twopence halfpenny and threepence per lb. With these leaves, others of various trees were used, and very fine pekoe still flourishes upon the hawthorn-bushes, sloe-trees, &c., around the metropolis. As late as the year 1851 the following account of the proceedings of one of these nefarious manufacturers appeared in the _Times_:--

"CLERKENWELL.--Edward South and Louisa his wife were placed at the bar, before Mr. Combe, charged by Inspector Brennan, of the E division, with being concerned in the manufacture of spurious tea. It appeared, from the statement of the inspector, that, in consequence of information that the prisoners and others were in the habit of carrying on an extensive traffic in manufacturing spurious tea, on the premises situate at 27-1/2, Clerkenwell Close, Clerkenwell Green, on Sat.u.r.day evening, at about seven o'clock, the witness, in company with Serjeant Cole, proceeded to the house, where they found the prisoners in an apartment busily engaged in the manufacture of spurious tea.

There was an extensive furnace, before which was suspended an iron pan, containing sloe-leaves and tea-leaves, which they were in the practice of purchasing from coffeeshop-keepers after being used. On searching the place they found an immense quant.i.ty of used tea, bay-leaves, and every description of spurious ingredients for the purpose of manufacturing illicit tea, and they were mixed with a solution of gum and a quant.i.ty of _copperas_. The woman was employed in stirring about the bay-leaves and other composition with the solution of gum in the pan; and in one part of the room there was a large quant.i.ty of spurious stuffs, the exact imitation of genuine tea.

In a back room they found nearly a hundred pounds weight of redried tea-leaves, bay-leaves, and sloe-leaves, all spread on the floor drying.... Mr. Brennan added, that the prisoners had pursued this nefarious traffic most extensively, and were in the habit of dealing largely with grocers, chandlers, and others in the country."

This poisonous imitation green tea, "so largely supplied to country grocers," was no doubt used for adulterating other green teas already dosed with Prussian-blue, turmeric, &c. These have found their way into many a country home of small means. When the nephew comes on a visit, or the curate calls of an afternoon, the ordinary two spoonfuls of black are "improved" with "just a dash of green," and the poor innocent gentleman wonders afterwards what it can be that keeps him awake all night.

We often hear the remark from old-fashioned people that we have never had any good tea since the monopoly of the East-India Company was broken up: in this remark there is some truth and much error. There can be no possible doubt that the higher-priced teas have fallen off since the trade has been open, as the buyers of the company were perfectly aware of the frauds perpetrated by the Hong merchants, and never allowed a spurious article to be shipped. On the other hand, the great reduction which has taken place in the price of the common black teas, both on account of the cessation of monopoly and the reduction of the duty, has in a great measure destroyed the English manufacture of spurious tea from indigenous leaves. The extent to which this formerly took place may be judged from a report of the Committee of the House of Commons, in 1783, which states that no less than four millions of pounds were annually manufactured from sloe and ash leaves in different parts of England; and this, be it remembered, when the whole quant.i.ty of genuine tea sold by the East-India Company did not amount to more than six millions of pounds annually.

If the better cla.s.s of black and all green teas[4] are thus vilely adulterated, the reader may fancy he can at least take refuge in coffee--alas! in too many cases he will only avoid Scylla to fall into Charybdis. Coffee, as generally sold in the metropolis and in all large towns, is adulterated even more than tea. The Treasury minute, which allowed it to be mixed with chicory, is at the head and front of the offending. In the year 1840, this celebrated minute was issued by the sanction of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir C. Wood, the immediate consequence of which was that grocers began to mix it with pure coffee in very large quant.i.ties, quite forgetting to inform the public of the nature of the mixture, and neglecting at the same time to lower the price. The evil became so flagrant that upon the installation of the Derby administration Mr. Disraeli promised to rescind this license to adulterate; but before the promise was redeemed, the administration was rescinded itself. Mr. Gladstone, upon his acceptance of office, loath, it appears, to injure the chicory interest, modified the original minute, but allowed the amalgamation to continue, provided the package was labelled "Mixture of Chicory and Coffee." It was speedily found, however, that this announcement became so confounded with other printing on the label that it was not easily distinguishable, and in consequence it was provided that the words, "This is sold as a mixture of Chicory and Coffee," should be printed by themselves on one side of the canister. It may be asked what is the nature of this ingredient, that the right to mix it with coffee should be maintained by two Chancellors of the Exchequer, during a period of fifteen years, as jealously as though it were some important principle of our const.i.tution? Chicory, to say the best of it, is an insipid root, totally dest.i.tute of any nourishing or refreshing quality, being utterly deficient in any nitrogenized principle, whilst there are strong doubts whether it is not absolutely hurtful to the nervous system. Professor Beer, the celebrated oculist of Vienna, forbids the use of it to his patients, considering it to be the cause of amaurotic blindness. Even supposing it to be perfectly harmless, we have a material of the value of 8_d._ a pound, which the grocer is allowed to mix, _ad libitum_, with one worth 1_s._ 4_d._ If the poor got the benefit of the adulteration, there might be some excuse for permitting the admixture of chicory, but it is proved that the combination is sold in many shops at the same price as pure coffee.

a.n.a.lyses made by Dr. Ha.s.sall of upwards of a hundred different samples of coffee, purchased in all parts of the metropolis before the issuing of the order for the labelling of the packages 'chicory and coffee,' proved that, in a great number of cases, articles sold as "finest Mocha," "choice Jamaica coffee," "superb coffee," &c., contained, in some instances, very little coffee at all; in others "only a fifth, a third, half," &c., the rest being made up mainly of chicory. Nothing is more indicative of the barefaced frauds perpetrated by grocers upon the public than the manner in which they go out of their way to puff in the grossest style the most abominable trash. The report of the sanitary commission gives many examples of these puff and announcements, which, we are informed, are kept set up at the printers, and may be had in any quant.i.ties. We quote one as an example:--

"JOHN ----'S COFFEE,

"_The richness, flavour, and strength of which are not to be surpa.s.sed._

"Coffee has now become an article of consumption among all cla.s.ses of the community. Hence the importance of supplying an article of such a character as to encourage its consumption in preference to beverages the use of which promotes a vast amount of misery.

"John ----'s coffee meets the requirement of the age, and, as a natural result, the celebrity to which it has attained is wholly unparalleled. Its peculiarity consists in its possessing that rich aromatic flavour, combined with great strength and deliciousness, which is to be found alone in the choicest mountain growths. It may, with perfect truth, be stated that no article connected with _domestic economy_ has given such general satisfaction, and the demand for it is rapidly increasing.

"John ----'s establishment, both for extent and capability, is the first in the empire.

"Observe!

"Every canister of John ----'s coffee bears his signature, without which none is _genuine_."

At the end of this puff the a.n.a.lyst places the words--

"_Adulterated with a considerable quant.i.ty of chicory!_"

More erudite grocers treat us to the puff literary, as in the following instance:--

"Rich-flavoured coffees fresh-roasted daily.

"USE OF COFFEE IN TURKEY.

"Sandys, the translator of 'Ovid's Metamorphoses,' and who travelled in Turkey in 1610, gives the following pa.s.sage in his 'Travailes,'