APPLICATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE. 107 



ranla arundinacea), upon which there was no 

 duty. If the attempt had been successful, the 

 revenue would have been defrauded to a large 

 amount. Government employed a distinguished 

 chemist. Dr. Ure, to examine into the matter, 

 and to ascertain what was the real character of 

 the cargo. The skill of the chemist failed to 

 elicit the truth, but Dr. Ure called in the aid of 

 the Microscope, when it was proved that the 

 article was not arrowroot, but tapioca. 1 With- 

 in a few years, the question of the comparative 

 merits and characters of coffee and chiccory was 

 discussed throughout the empire. It formed 

 the subject of debate in Parliament. An exa- 

 mination into the question took place before a 

 Committee of the House of Commons, when 

 three professional men, chemists, declared that 

 it was impossible to detect chiccory if it was 

 mixed loith coffee. But the Microscope's aid 

 was employed, and wherever the mixture had 

 taken place the fact was at once discovered. Who 

 has looked into the pages and illustrations in the 

 work of Dr. A. H. Hassall on Food and its Adul- 



1 Professor Quekett's Lectures on Histology, vol. i. pp. 

 31, 32. 



