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will not pay a price suflScient to remunerate the dealer for so costly a 

 preparation, and still demands a fine, soft, and bright powder, the 

 grinder has to resort to the plan of supplying the place of the fibre thus 

 removed, by an equivalent of flour or some other soft grain. A powder 

 is thus obtained of nearly the same strength as the ginger (if ground 

 entirely — fibre and all) would have produced, but of a much finer and 

 prettier aspect, for the inert fibre gives to the powder a dark, dirty, and 

 very specky appearance. 



Under the name of prepared ginger many villanous compounds are, 

 we fear, often imposed on the public. We have ourselves met with a 

 very pretty sample, which, on examination, was found to consist of only 

 one part of ginger to three parts of a mixture of wheat, sago, and 

 Indian meal, coloured with turmeric, and made pungent by an addition 

 of cayenne pepper. All the samples which my friend, Mr. Samuelson, 

 and myself have examined, we find to contain extraneous farinaceous 

 matters, with but one exception. One sample contained a little rice, 

 and being very highly coloured we found abundance of turmeric. In 

 other samples we found much larger proportions of rice, and in some a 

 mixture of wheat flour. One sample we did meet mth free from fari- 

 naceous matters, but it was not as represented, " Prepared Jamaica 

 Ginger," for we found abundant evidence of the epidermal coating of 

 ginger and a small quantity of turmeric ; it had evidently been ground 

 from an undecorticated root. It is extremely difiicult to obtain pre- 

 pared ginger such as we first described, yet for medicinal purposes it is 

 prepared, and in certain localities it may be procured by paying a pro- 

 portionate price. The difference between it and that usually sold as 

 the best is very striking, and for medicinal purposes none other should 

 be used. 



We have examined some of the other spices, such as Cloves, Nut- 

 megs, &c., but have not found them adulterated. Cinnamon we have 

 met with in a powdered state consisting wholly of cassia, and are inclined 

 to believe that cassia is very generally substituted for the more costly 

 cinnamon, when used as pudding spice, &c.; but for medicinal purposes 

 we think a true powder is invariably used. 



At the conclusion of the paper on " Coffee and its Adulterations," 

 in 1852, we ventured to express an opinion that a great boon would be 

 conferred upon the community by the establishment of efQcient examiners 

 of food, in all large towns, with full power to condemn all adulterated 

 and spurious articles. On again returning to the subject of adultera- 

 tions, with Mr. Samuelson, we see no reason for changing an opinion 

 we both fully concur in ; and although we do not feel prepared to 



