374 TEE ADULTERATION OF FOOD. 



tcnccs and in the punctuation of parts of his Preface, which is hardly com- 

 patible with good grammar, and inclines us to think that he has carried to 

 too great an extent one of the theories advanced in this preface, that "cor- 

 rectness in writing is only one (of the purposes of the study of English 

 grammar) and a secondary and subordinate one at that — by no means un- 

 important, but best attained when sought indirectly." Such things are un- 

 doubtedly duo to the fact that an eminent philologist is liable to overlook 

 some of the minutim in giving attention to the great principles involved in 

 the discussion of the subject. 



The arrangement of the work is admirable, and the tjq^ography and 

 general execution of the mechanical part are far superior to that of the or- 

 dinary run of school books. — [Ed.] 



SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 



THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD. 



We take the following extracts on the adulteration of food from an ar- 

 ticle which recently apx^eared in the Evening Post : 



"While it is certain that needless alarm is frequently excited by exag- 

 gerated statements regarding food adulteration, there can be no doubt that 

 many of the articles of food met with at our tables often contain foreign 

 ingredients which are introduced either for the purpose of lessening their 

 cost or improving their taste and appearauce. 



Flour is subjected to adulteration with other and inferior meals, such as 

 rice, beans, rye, potatoes, and Indian corn, the addition of which cheapens 

 the price and in some cases bestows a good color upon a damaged or inferior 

 grade, or causes it to take up an abnormally large quantity of water. The 

 addition of foreign meals to flour is practised, however, almost exclusively 

 in Europe, as most of the substances of this class used have in this country 

 a greater value than pure wheaten flour. A more probable adulteration with 

 us is the use of alum and mineral substances ; the former is occasionally 

 employed to impart a white color to the flour, the latter, which include sul- 

 phate of lime, kaolin, chalk, and bonedust, being used to produce increased 

 weight. It has quite recently come to light that a flour containing ten per 

 centum of a mixture of chalk, plaster of Paris, and barytes has for some 

 time formed a steady article of export from Holland into other European 

 countries. The presence of such substances as these can be detected by 

 placing the flour in a long tube nearly filled with chloroform, shaking the 

 mixture, and allowing it to stand, when the pure flour will rise to the top 

 of the liquid, the heavier mineral adulterants sinking to the bottom. 



Bread naturally contains the foreign ingredients added to the flour from 



