254 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



action on the eyes of the baths of gaseous carbonic acid. He observed 

 that the douches of carbonic acid had been used against " amblyopie" or 

 enfeebling of vision, and different precautions were used to moderate the 

 effects of the gas, or diminishing the force of the jet, or its distance ; or 

 its direct action by interposing muslin. When the eyes have an inflam- 

 matory tendency, it irritates the organ and the neighboring parts ; the 

 heat sometimes produces dangerous congestion. 



FOOD AND ITS ADULTERATIONS. 



During the past year Dr. Hassall, of London, has published the results of the 

 inquiry instituted by government respecting the adulterations of food the 

 investigations being conducted by a sanitary commission of which Dr. Hassall 

 was a prominent member. The subject, from its very nature, says the London 

 Athenceum, is one of no ordinary difficulty. The very first article on the list 

 of substances examined is a proof. Coffee is found to be adulterated with 

 chicory ; but if persons prefer their coffee mixed with chicory, this can hardly 

 be called an adulteration, even if it be a misnomer to call the compound cof- 

 fee. We know a coffee-dealer who, wishing to avoid the imputation of 

 adding chicory to his coffee, gave up the practice, when, to his great surprise, 

 his coffee trade fell off to such an extent that his only alternative was shutting 

 up shop or returning to his chicory. On adding chicory his trade again re- 

 vived, and we see his name in Dr. Hassan's list a| selling coffee " adulterated 

 with chicory." To those, however, who prefer pure coffee it will be some 

 consolation to know that the use of the microscope is a means by which this 

 addition as well as many others can be detected. 



Passing from coffee we come to sugar ; and here it appears that little or no 

 adulteration is practiced. A little mite, belonging to the same family as those 

 which attack our figs, dates, cheese, and other kept food, is found in brown 

 sugar, but not in lump. It is different with sweetmeats and bonbons. Chil- 

 dren are really exposed to the swallowing of such trash, which sometimes 

 proves fatal, in these compounds, that it would be a wise and safe rule to give 

 them nothing but lump sugar in indulging their taste for this article of diet. 



Arrowroot seems subjected to an adulteration in the shape of potato flour. 

 This is a great fraud, for whereas genuine arrowroot costs one shilling or 

 eighteenpence a pound, potato flour is not worth more than threepence or 

 fourpence. The difference in form of the starch grains of potatoes and the 

 arrowroot plants renders this fraud not difficult of detection. There is, how- 

 ever, one great comfort attendant upon this adulteration ; and it is, that, so 

 far as the ultimate action of potato starch on the system is concerned, it is 

 precisely the same as arrowroot. This is not a poisonous adulteration. 



Every one will naturally turn to bread as the staff of life, and inquire how 

 much it is exposed to adulteration. With the exception of a little alum, in 

 so small a quantity as to be questionable whether it is really pernicious, this 

 important article of diet seems not to be exposed to any great amount of 

 adulteration. 



The reports on beer are not so full as could be wished, with one exception, 



