"3rd. That of these colouring matters Prussian blue, or ferro eyanide of iron, possesses properties calculated to affect health injuriously.

4th. That in this country there really is no such thing as a green tea, that is, a tea which possesses a natural green hue.

"5th. That green teas, and more especially the Gunpowders, in addition to being faced and glazed, are more subject to adulteration in other ways than black teas, as by admixture with leaves not those of tea, with Paddy husk, and particularly with Lie tea.

"6th. That Lie tea is prepared so as to resemble green tea, and is extensively used by the Chinese themselves to adulterate gunpowder tea; it is also sent over to this country in vast quantities, and is employed for the same purpose by our own tea dealers and grocers." Introduction pp. xv. xvi.

Such are some of the adulterations practised by the Chinese. Unfortunately, after its arrival in this country, tea is subjected to many more frauds. In the first place, exhausted tea leaves are extensively bought up, dried, and faced," or coated with various substances, in order to communicate the appearance of freshness, and sold as fresh tea. Exhausted tea leaves, it seems, can be bought at hotels, and such like places, at about three pence per pound, or less. These are mixed up with a solution of gum, redried, and then faced, as it is called, with rose pink, (i.e., logwood and carbonate of lime,) and blacklead. This makes, in appearance, a genuine tea, but which, of course, contains none of the soluble matter of the tea, and which soluble ingredients constitute its sole value as the basis of a beverage. Manufacturing green tea from exhausted leaves is also done, but the process is more difficult. Sulphate of iron is sometimes added to these exhausted tea leaves, to form some ink with the tannin, and thus strike a dark colour to give the appearance of strength. All these adulterations are very easy of detection. Indeed, the broken state of many of the leaves will in many instances indicate what has taken place. Sometimes, however, the leaves of indigenous trees, as those of the sycamore, horse chestnut, &c., are prepared and sold as tea. The microscope enables any such fraud as this to be discovered without any difficulty. In most of the cases in which this kind of imposition is attempted, some portion of the tea is genuine. For various other very instructing and important facts connected with the adulteration of tea, we must refer to the work of Dr. Hassall, and merely

observe here that some of the adulterations practised upon tea in this country are far more dangerous than any of the kind that takes place in China, before the tea is sent off to this country.

Coffee was, and perhaps notwithstanding the precautions taken recently to prevent the admixture of chicory with it, still is as much improperly interfered with as tea. Independently of the notorious admixture of ground coffee with chicory, it is very commonly adulterated with roasted corn, beans, potato flour, mangold wurzel, acorns, and other fraudulent admixtures. But, as is now universally known, until recently the great adulteration of coffee was with chicory, which sometimes formed a half, and sometimes nearly all of what was sold as ground coffee. The selling the mixture under the name of coffee is now punishable with a heavy fine, and as the detection of chicory in a sample is extremely easy, this fraudulent adulteration and fraud upon the public would probably have been put an end to had not the mixture been legalized by Mr. Gladstone, who was chancellor of the exchequer at the time, provided the mixture were labelled “mixture of chicory and coffee." It is impossible to conceive any reason for this, or any plan more likely to encourage the fraudulent trader. In the first place the "mixture might contain ninety-nine per cent of chicory and only one of coffee, or to use Dr. Hassall's words, a pinch of coffee to a pound of chicory;" in the second place the label would not be of much use to the very great numbers who cannot read, and who constitute the very class that require protecting from such frauds the most; and lastly, in a truly Anglican spirit, the label was to be in English even in Irish and Welsh districts, where the great majority of the inhabitants did not understand one word of that language. Dr. Hassall accordingly purchased after this treasury minute came into force thirty-four samples of coffee, buythem all in one day, and from every shop on each side of the street that he noticed to sell the article. He asked in every case for coffee, and the following was the result. Three, and three only, of the thirty-four parcels turned out to be genuine, and thirty-one contained chicory. In six of the samples the chicory constituted a third of the whole powder, in twenty-two about half, while three specimens were nearly entirely chicory. Notwithstanding the treasury order, ten of the mixtures were not labelled as

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such, and in the twenty-one other instances, although the label was put on, yet in such case coffee was particularly asked for.

The names of the tradespeople who sold Dr. Hassall the adulterated coffee were all published, with their addresses, in the Lancet. A little time afterwards he again purchased coffee from the same shops. He had the satisfaction of finding that his exposure had done some little good. In place of three genuine samples out of thirty-four, he obtained nine, and twenty-five, instead of thirty-one, contained the adulteration. In eight of these latter chicory constituted a third, fourteen a half, and three were nearly all chicory together. Of the twenty-five samples, although coffee was asked for quite distinctly, twenty-three were labelled as " Mixture of coffee and chicory," and two not. As the treasury minute had so little effect, the label was ordered to be changed from "Mixture of coffee and chicory" to "This is sold as a mixture of coffee and chicory." The new set of words, according to Mr. Wilson, their author, "would effectually prevent anything like fraud in future." It has probably had no effect whatever. We entirely agree with Dr. Hassall in his remarks upon the impropriety of the treasury countenancing, by its formal permission, what is sure in practice to be a fraud.

"The fundamental objection to the recent Treasury order is, that it is opposed to every principle of fair dealing and morality, since it affords the highest possible sanction to fraud and adulteration. Now the alteration in the form of the words of the package will not in any way diminish the force of the moral objection. The mixture, even with the new label affixed, will still be extensively palmed off for coffee. It will still be necessary, in order to derive the slight protection that the label might afford, that the purchaser, whoever he may be, the Irishman or Welshman, acquainted only with his native tongue, or the untaught child, should be able to decipher the words upon the wrapper. The mixture will still be sold, made up of coffee and chicory in all proportions, from ounces of the one to pounds of the other, if the article do not even in some cases consist entirely of chicory.

"It might surely have been fairly expected that after the disclosures which have been made by this commission now for upwards of two years, showing that the most extensive and disgraceful adulterations are practised upon almost every article of consumption, that the government, in place of affording encouragement to adulteration, would assuredly have considered how it could but put a

stop to practices so detrimental to the commercial character of the nation, and so fraught with danger to the public health."-p. 532.

Nothing perhaps better illustrates the contagious nature of trickery than the fact that chicory itself, employed to adulterate coffee, is itself now grossly adulterated. It is mixed with ground roasted corn, ground acorns, mangold wurzel, roasted carrot, sawdust, and, for the purpose of producing a heightened colour, venetian red, black jack, (i. e. burnt sugar,) burnt biscuits, &c.

There is a vague impression upon the public mind that a little admixture of chicory improves the beverage we call coffee. If this be the case, at any rate the proper plan is for each consumer to buy the two articles under their proper names, and mix them for himself. But we now know that genuine coffee and tea contain a nitrogenous principle, to which the name of caffeine and theine are given. It is not, perhaps, yet a settled point as to whether they yield nitrogen to the system for the purpose of keeping up nitrogenous structures, or whether, as conjectured by Liebig, they assist in forming bile. At any rate it may, we think, be safely affirmed, that the dietetical value, and therefore the money value of tea and coffee mainly depend upon the presence of this nitrogenous compound, and therefore that any admixture of a substance which, like chicory, contains none such, is a positive fraud upon the consumer and purchaser. Upon this point Dr. Hassall thus expresses himself.

"In favour of the adulteration it is alleged,

"First, that the admixture of chicory with coffee improves coffee, and that such addition is approved of by the public.

"In order to ascertain whether the addition of chicory to coffee be really an improvement, we prepared three infusions, one of coffee, another of chicory, and the third of both these, mixed in the proportions of three-fourths coffee and one-fourth chicory.

"The infusion of coffee was perfectly transparent, and of a dark and rich brown colour; it emitted an odour in a high degree penetrating and refreshing, and the taste was agreeable and rather bitter.

"Having been taken for a few minutes it produced a feeling of general warmth,, and a state of bodily and mental activity and invigoration.

"The infusion of chicory was opaque, staining the sides of the vessel containing it; it possessed a heavy, though some people might be of opinion not a disagreeable smell, wholely unlike, how

ever, the volatile and diffusive odour of coffee; in taste it was more bitter than the coffee, with a certain degree of sweetness.

"Having been swallowed for a few minutes it occasioned a feeling of weight at the stomach, and a general heaviness and indisposition to bodily and mental exertion.

"The combined infusion of chicory and coffee partook to a great extent of the characters of the infusion of genuine coffee, as might be anticipated from the large quantity of coffee that it contained.

"Altogether, we were unable to bring ourselves to believe that the addition of chicory to coffee, in the proportion of twenty-five per cent of the former, was any improvement; on the contrary, we were satisfied that the quality of the beverage was greatly impaired by the addition.

"Persons who are foolish enough to regard a slight sensation of weight and fulness in the region of the stomach, symptoms really of incipient indigestion, as evidences of the beverage being possessed of increased strength' and body,' might possibly be brought to consider the addition as an improvement."-p. 120.

With this extract we unwillingly for the meantime, at least, close the volume. At another time, perhaps, we may make use of its revelations respecting tobacco and its preparations, malt liquors, and gin. The amount of adulteration in almost every article of food and drink, that the pages of Dr. Hassall reveal, is very appalling, and indicate that a great deal of our conventional and almost stereotyped boasting of our commercial integrity is absolutely without foundation. Very likely our neighbours are, in this respect, not a bit better than ourselves, but the disclosures of Dr. Hassall seem to us to prove that we have no better plan of obtaining unadulterated food than by having rigid laws enacted against offenders, and by strictly enforcing them. At any rate science has done her part, and pointed out both the evil and its various forms.