292 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Under the laws for the prevention of the adulteration of foods, 

 which have been in operation in Germany, England, France, Canada, 

 and a few of our states during a longer or shorter period of time, a 

 large share of attention has been given to the adulteration of spices 

 and condiments and the means of detecting them. Fortunately the 

 latter are not difticult, and the results have been an awakening of the 

 communities in these countries to an appreciation of the advantages 

 of pure spices and the placing of the method of detection on a more 

 certain basis. 



EXPERIENCE IN COUNTRIES HAVING PUBLIC ANALYSTS. 



In England the public mind had been so far educated by the pub- 

 lications of private investigators, such as Hassall, that in 1860 laws 

 were passed for the prevention of the adulteration of food and drink. 

 These have been repealed and modified, so that the present law dates 

 from 1875 and amendments of 1879. 



Unfortunately there is no government report upon the results of 

 the scientific work done by those employed under the act, and we are 

 indebted to the Society of Public Analysts for a large i^ortion of the 

 information which is at our disposal in regard to adulteration in Eng- 

 land. We have also in the publications of Hassall, Blyth, and Allen 

 volumes which give the most recent scientific data as to the best 

 method for the detection of adulteration and illustrations of the 

 forms in which foreign matter occurs. On Dr. Hassall's work is 

 founded many of our present methods of examining foods micro- 

 scopically, and especially spices and condiments. In Tlie Analyst, the 

 publication of the Society of Public Analysts, will be found, in the 

 proceedings of the society, in papers of individuals, and in reports of 

 prosecutions, much information in regard to the status of adultera- 

 tion in England during the last eleven years, including the material 

 used for adulteration of spices and the means of detecting it. The 

 lack of an official publication of the results and alL that has been 

 done, both in regard to particular samples and methods employed for 

 their examination, is, however, much to be regretted. There is the 

 same difficulty in Germany. The law of the Empire of 1881 provides 

 for the prevention of the adulteration of the substances which we 

 have under consideration, but no reports on the execution of the law 

 or of the results, scientific or otherwise, have been available to us. 

 Much, however, has been published in the technical and scientific 

 journals on the method of detecting adulte'rants which is of the 

 greatest value. 



In France the laboratory of the prefecture of police of Paris, which, 

 has control of the investigation of the food supplies of that city, 

 makes an elaborate report annually, of which, however, but a small 

 -portion is devoted to sjjices, although they are recognized as being 

 largely adulterated; pepper, for example, being mixed to an aston- 

 ishing extent with ground olive-stones. Other cities of France have 

 municipal laboratories, whose reports, if any there are, have not 

 reached us. 



In this country Canada makes a much better statement of the re- 

 sults which have followed the enforcement of the adulteration of food 

 act of 1876 than is done anywhere else. The commissioner of inland 

 revenue has published annually a stcitement showing the entire num- 

 ber of samples analyzed, the persons supplying them, and their com- 

 position and adulterants. Sx^ices occupy a prominent position in the 



