282 



FOOD AND ITS ADULTEKATIONS. 



[1855. 



imbibe in the course of one year. To 14 J lbs. were applied 8 

 mace 2 J caudereens of colouring matter, or rather more than 

 an ounce. To every hundred pounds of coloured green tea 

 consumed in England or America, the consumer actually drinks 

 more than half a pound of Prussian-blue and gypsum. And 

 yet, tell the drinkers of this coloured tea that the Chinese eat 

 cats and dogs, and they will hold up their hands in amazement 

 and pity the poor Celestials.' 



If ".,lie Chinese use it in these quantities to tinge the genuine 

 leaf, how much more must the English employ in making up 

 afresh exhausted leaves ! That every spoonful of hyson or 

 gunpowder contains a considerable quantity of this deleterious 

 dye will be seen by any one who places a pinch upon a fine 

 sieve, and pours upon it a gentle stream of water, when the 

 tinging of the liquid will show at once the extent of the adul- 

 teration, and the folly of drinking painted tea. Assam tea, 

 though not so inviting in colour, is free from adulteration. A 

 word to the wise is enough. 



Of fifty samples of green tea analysed by Dr. Hassall, all 

 were adulterated. There is one particular kind which is almost 

 entirely a manufactured article — gunpowder, both black and 

 green — the former being called scented caper. Both have a 

 large admixture of what is termed ' lye tea,' or a compound of 

 sand, dirt, tea-dust, and broken-down portions of other leaves 

 worked together with gum into small nodules. This detestable 

 compound, which, according to Mr. Warrington,* who has 

 analysed it, contains forty-five per cent, of earthly matter, is 

 manufactured both in China and in England, for the express 

 purpose of adulterating tea. When mixed Avith ' scented caper ' 

 it is ' faced ' with black lead ; when with gunpowder, Prus- 

 sian-blue ; turmeric and French chalk give it the required 

 bloom. Mr. Warrington states that about 750,000 lbs. of this 

 spurious tea have been imported into Great Britain within 

 eighteen months ! Singularly enough the low-priced teas are 

 the only genuine ones. Every sample of this class which was 

 analysed by Dr. Hassall proved to be perfectly pure. Here at 

 least the poor have the advantage of the better classes, who pay 

 a higher ptrice to be injured in their health by a painted 

 beverage. 



The practice of redrying used-up leaves is also carried on to 

 some extend in England. Mr. George Philips of the Inland 

 Revenue Office, states that in 1843 there were no less than 

 eight manufactories for the purpose of redrying tea-leaves in 

 London alone, whilst there were many others in different parts 

 of the country. These manufacturers had agents who bought 

 up the used leaves from hotels, clubs, coffeehouses, &c., for 

 twopence-half-penny and threepence per lb. With these leaves, 

 others of various trees were used, and very fine pekoe still 

 flourishes upon the hawthorn-bushes, sloe-trees, &c., around 

 the metropolis. As late as the year 1851 the following account 

 of the proceedings of one of these nefarious manufacturers 

 appeared in The Times: — ■ 



If the better class of black and green teas^ are thus vilely 

 adulterated, the reader may fancy that he can at least take 

 refuge in cofiee — alas ! in too many cases he will only avoid 

 Scylla to fall into Charybdis. Coffee, as generally sold in the 

 metropolis and in all large towns, is adulterated more than tea. 

 The Treasury Minute, which allowed it to be mixed with 

 chicory, is at the head and fi'ont of the ofiending. In the year 



* In an article upon the teas of commerce, Tvlaich appeared in the 

 ' Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society ' for July, 18-51. 



f Assam tea is the only exception to this rule. 



1840 this celebrated jNIinute was issued by the sanction of the 

 then Chancellor of Exchequer, Sir C. Wood, the immediate 

 consequence of which was that grocers began to mix it with 

 pure coffee in very large quantities, quite forgetting to inform the 

 public of the nature of the mixture, and neglecting at the same 

 time to lower the price. The evil became so flagrant that upon 

 the installation of the Derby administration, Mr. Disraeli 

 promised to rescind this license to adulterate ; but before the 

 promise was redeemed, the administration was rescinded itself. 

 Mr. Gladstone, upon his acceptance of office, loath, it appears, 

 to injure the chicoiy interest, modified the original Jlinute, 

 but allowed the amalgamation to continue, provided the package 

 was labelled ' Mixture of Chicory and Coffee.' It was speedily 

 found, however, that this announcement became so confounded 

 with other pirinting on the label that it was not easily distin- 

 guishable, and in consequence it was provided that the words, 

 ' This is sold as a mixture of Chicory and Coffee,' should be 

 printed by themselves on one side of the canister. It may be 

 asked what is the nature of this ingredient, that the right to 

 mix it with coffee should be maintained by two Chancellors of 

 the Exchequer during a period of fifteen years as jealously as 

 though it were some important principle of our constitution ? 

 Chicory, to say the best of it, is an insipid root, totally desti- 

 tute of any nourishing or refreshing quality, being utterly 

 deficient in any nitrogenized principle, whilst there are strong 

 doubts whether it is not absolutely hurtful to the nervous 

 system. Professor Beer, the celebrated oculist of Vienna, 

 forbids the use of it to his patients, considering it to be the 

 cause of amaurotic blindness. Even supposing it to be per- 

 fectly harmless, we have a material of the value of 8f?. a pound, 

 which the grocer is allowed to mix ad lihitiim with one worth 

 Is. 4cZ. If the poor got the benefit of the adulteration, there 

 might be some excuse for permitting the admixture of chicory, 

 but it is proved the combination is sold in many shops at tlie 

 same price as jjure coffee. Analyses made by Dr. Hassall of 

 upwards of a hundred different samples of coffee, purchased in 

 all parts of the metropolis before the issuing of the order for 

 the labelling of the packages 'chicory and coffee,' proved 

 that, in a greatnumber of cases, articles sold as 'finest Mocha,' 

 ' choice Jamaica coffee,' ' superb coffee,' &c., contained, in 

 some cases, very little coffee at all; in others 'only a fifth, a 

 third, half,' &c., the rest being made up mainly of chicory. 



THE SUGAE-BASIN. 



X'Iq are afraid, if we look into tlie sugar-basin, we shall not 

 find much more comfort than in the milk-jug. We refer here 

 to the ordinary brown sugars, such as are generally used at the 

 breakfast-table for coffee. It is scarcely possible to procure 

 moist sugar which is not infested with animalcula of the acari 

 genus, a most disgusting class of creatures. In many samples 

 of sugars they swarm to that extent that the mass moves with 

 them; and in almost every case, by dissolving a spoonful in a 

 wine-glass of water, dozens of them can be detected by the 

 naked eye, either floating upon the liquid or adhering to the 

 edge of the glass. Those who are in the habit of ' handling ' 

 sugars, as it is termed, are liable to a skin affection called the 

 grocer's itch, which is believed to be occasioned by these living 

 inhabitants of our sugar-basins. Homble as it is to think that 

 such creatures are an article in daily use, we cannot charge 

 the grocer directly with their introduction ; the evil is, how- 

 ever, increased by the manner in which he mixes, or ' handles,' 

 as it is termed in the trade, higher-priced sugars with musco- 

 vados, bastards, and other inferior kinds, in which the animal- 



