Poisonous Confectionary.-^Herculaneum Manuscripts. 317 



darkened by them, as in a densely cloudy day ; as far as the eye 

 can discern, they fill the air, in every direction, as closely as a 

 thick swarm of bees. Cornfields, &c. are prostrated with the 

 clouds that settle upon them ; trees are covered, and the branches 

 bent and broken down. The barracks and i)uildings in the vici- 

 nity, at the ends and sides not exposed to the sun, are entirely 

 black, the insects piled one upon another. These creatures, 

 with their feelers that protrude from head and tail, are about 

 three inches in length, slough their skins dailv, it is said by the 

 inhabitants here ; and in performing this operation, and in dying 

 by millions every hour, infect the atmosphere so that it becomes 

 unfit to breathe. Cattle, swine, and Indians, are said to feed and 

 fatten upon them. The Frenchmen call them musquito hawks, 

 because they make their appearance when musquitoes are most 

 numerous, and, as is supposed, prey upon and drive them away. 

 The flies themselves remain but six or seven days." 



POISONOUS CONFECTIONARY. 



To Mr. Tillock. 



Hackney, Oct. 10, 1819. 



Sir, — I have observed in the Philosophical Magazine for Sep- 

 tember an article on poisonous Tea Leaves, which calls to my 

 mind a highlv blameable practice of contaminating sugar drops 

 u'ith a substance very injurious to health. — Some time ago, while 

 residing in the house of a confectioner, I noticed the colouring 

 of the green fancy sweetmeats being done by dissolving sap-green 

 in brandy. Now sap-green itself, as prepared from the juice of 

 the buckthorn berries, is no doubt a harmless substance ; but 

 the manufacturers of this colour have for manv vears past pro- 

 duced various tints, some' extremely bright, which there can be 

 no doubt are effected by adding preparations of copper. 



The sweetmeats which accompany these lines you will find 

 have evident vestiges of being contaminated with copper. — The 

 practice should therefore be banisbed of colouring these articles 

 of confectionary, the proprietors of which are not aware of the 

 deleterious quality of the substances employed by them. 



I am yours respectfully, 



Geouge Miles. 



herculaneum manuscripts. 



Rome, Aug. 10. 

 "A third volume of the MSS. of Herculaneum is in the press, 

 and will soon be pubiislied. Sir Humpliry Davy is expected in 

 September to make experiments with the chemical composition 

 which he has invented to umol the ancient Latin MSS. of this 

 collection. It has been observed that the Latin MSS. in papyrus 



are 



