and poisonous Sophistications. 103 



ferior sort of this vile refuse, or the sweepings of P. D. is distin- 

 guished among venders by the abbreviation of D. P. D. denoting 

 dust (dirt) of pepper dust. 



The adulteration of pepper, and the making and selling com- 

 modities in imitation of pepper, are prohibited, under a severe 

 penalty. The following are the words of the Act* : 



" And whereas commodities made in imitation of pepper have 

 of late been sold and found in the possession of various dealers 

 in pepper, and other persons in Great Britain ; be it therefore 

 enacted, that from and after the said 5th day of July 1819, if 

 any commodity or substance shall be prepared by any person in 

 imitation of pepper, shall be mixed with pepper, or sold or de- 

 livered as and for, or as a substitute for, pepper, or if any such 

 commodity or substance, alone or mixed, shall be kept for sale, 

 sold, or delivered, or shall be offered or exposed to sale, or shall 

 be in the custody or possession of any dealer or seller of pepper, 

 the same, together with all pepper with which the same shall be 

 mixed, shall be forfeited, with the packages containing the same, 

 and shall and may be seized by any officer of excise ; and the 

 person preparine, manufacturing, mixing as aforesaid, selling, 

 exposing to sale, or delivering the same, or having the same in 

 his, her, or their custody or possession, shall forfeit the sum of 

 one hundred pounds." 



White Pepper. — The common white pepper is factitious, be- 

 ing prepared from the black pepper in the following manner : — 

 The pepper is first steeped in sea water and urine, and then ex- 

 posed to the heat of the sun for several days, till the rind or outer 

 bark loosens ; it is then taken out of the steep, and, when dry, 

 it is rubbed with the hand till the rind falls off. The white fruit 

 is then dfied, and the remains of the rind blown away like chaff. 

 A great deal of the peculiar flavour and pungent hot taste of the 

 pepper is taken off by this process. White pepper is always in- 

 ferior in flavour and quality to the black pepper. 



However, there is a sort of native white pepper, produced on a 

 species of the pepper plant, which is much better than the facti- 

 tious, and indeed little inferior to the common black pepper. 



Poisonous Cayenne Pepper. — Cayenne pepper is an indiscri- 

 minate mixture of the powder of the dried pods of many species 

 of capsicum, but especially of the capsicum frutescens, or bird 

 pepper, which is the hottest of ail. 



This annual plant, a native of South America, is cultivated in 

 large ([uantities in our West -India islands, and even frequently 

 in our gardens, for the beauty of its pods, which are long, pointed, 

 aud pendulous, at first of a green colour, and, when ripe, of a 



• George III. c. 53. § 21, 18iy. 



G 4 bright 



