62 THE MICROSCOPE. 



the rest being a villainous decoction of molasses, glucose, acetic 

 acid, sour ale, lager beer, distillery slops, etc., made for about half 

 the lowest possible cost for pure cider vinegar. Nor is this all, nor 

 even the worst view of the case. Such substances as oil of vitriol 

 and other mineral acids are brought into requisition. One cent's 

 worth of sulphuric acid is sufficient for the manufacture of four gal- 

 lons of vinegar, and when disguised by other ingredients its presence 

 cannot be detected by taste alone. Much of this wretched stuff, it is 

 believed, has been sold in the Boston market as " pure apple vine- 

 gar." Fifteen hundred barrels of it in a single cargo were seized 

 by the officers, and fifty more barrels were captured in a warehouse 

 and shipped back to the former owners. The extent to ^vhich this 

 illegal and inhuman business is carried on is shown by the fact that 

 the wholesale price of vinegar in Boston averages nine cents a gal- 

 lon, much of it being sold as low as six cents, while the genuine 

 article cannot be sold for less than about i2)-3 cents per gallon. It 

 is only natural that the inspector, in concluding his report, should 

 attribute the high death rate of the city largely to the consumption 

 of these deleterious compounds. — Ex. 



