617 



powder, they will give a green of auy required shade. It is made to 

 adhere to the tea-leaf by some adhesive matter, and then it is faced 

 by the French chalk, to give it the pearly appearance so much liked." 



The above statements are confirmed by the ' Lancet's ' analyses of 

 twenty samples of green tea, showing : — 



" 1st. That the whole of the twenty samples of green tea were arti- 

 ficially colomed, blazed, or painted, with a mixture of Prussian blue, 

 turmeric powder, and China clay. 



" 2nd. That eleven out of the thirteen gunpowder teas, in addition 

 to being artificially coloured, were adulterated with different propor- 

 tions of Lie tea, this article in some cases forming the chief part, and 

 in other instances nearly the whole of the samples. 



" 3rd. That out of the twenty samples not one was found possessed 

 of the natural green colour. 



" The price of Lie tea is from sixpence to eightpence per pound, ex- 

 clusive of duty ; it is a worthless article, and from the extent to which 

 it is coloured with Prussian blue very injurious to health." 



Reports on milk very appropriately follow those on tea. From the 

 samples analysed it would appear that water is the only extraneous 

 substance added. Neither chalk nor any of the ^other articles gene- 

 rally supposed to be used in the adulteration of milk were detected. 

 Various other articles have been examined. In each case either an 

 inferior article is sold under a false name, as gelatine for isinglass, 

 cassia for cinnamon, or the bulk of the genuine article is increased 

 by the addition of cheaper substances ; thus a mixture of cassia and 

 cinnamon is made, or perhaps cassia or cinnamon-powder is mixed 

 with large quantities of arrow-root, potato-flour, sago-meal, or wheat- 

 flour, baked, to give them a brown colour, the mixture in every case 

 being sold as cinnamon, and at genuine cinnamon price. In the case 

 of ginger the process is nearly the same — sago-meal, potato-flour, 

 wheat-flour, ground-rice, with perhaps Cayenne pepper or mustard- 

 husks, to give apparent strength, and turmeric-powder, to impart a yel- 

 low colour. These additions occur in various quantities ; but in the 

 majority of cases they constitute the chief bulk of the article. Cocoa 

 also is overwhelmed with wheat-flour, potato-starch, sago-meal, &c., 

 or mixtures of these in various proportions, the additions (varying 

 from five to fifty per cent.) being coloured with red-ochre. 



While passing over several interesting reports on various minor 

 articles of food, we must not omit a warning against the green pickles 

 of the shops — French beans, gherkins, &c. Their attractive green 

 colour is due to the presence of copper. The quantity varied in 



