/pos) WHEELER — FOOD ADTTLfERATION. 139 



out disturbing" the others. Between four and seven o'clock in 

 the morning the agent rides from street to street and buys a 

 pint of milk from every milkman whom he meets, without 

 making known the object of his errand. He notes the name 

 of the milkman or of his dairy given on the wagon. 



Eggs, of course, cannot be adulterated, but they may be of 

 varying quality, and now substitutes for them are being man- 

 ufactured. The reasons for this are that eggs are high priced 

 in winter, while in summer they deteriorate too rapidly. On 

 the Boston market one has the privilege of buying eggs of 

 different ages — * 'strictly fresh eggs," "fresh eggs," and 

 "eggs." An agg may be preserved by evaporating its contents 

 down to the solid state. By maintaining a low temperature, 

 the water, which is the largest constituent, is driven off. This 

 preparation is called La Mont's crystallized eggs. It is an 

 important product, for in one year alone 100,000 pounds, 

 equivalent to 4,800,000 eggs, were shipped to South African 

 miners. In New York they are now manufacturing an ^gg 

 substitute, called "ovine." It is said to "take the place of 

 fresh eggs in baking." Analysis, however, shows that it re- 

 sembles the white of an egg in composition, and not the whole 



Coffee offers a good field for the fraudulent operations of 

 the manipulator. The coffee berry is imitated not only in the 

 green state, but also in the roasted condition. There are more 

 than six firms in this country regularly engaged in the manu- 

 facture of coffee-bean making machinery. Bogus berries 

 are ground out by the ton, and they are better looking than 

 those that grow on the bush. A paste is made of chicory, 

 starch, pea meal, caramel, and molasses, molded into the 

 proper shape and dried. The pure-food laws have had a very 

 beneficial influence upon coffee adulteration. In one State the 

 percentage of adulterated samples fell in two years from 63 to 

 25. The adulterants of ground coffee are peas, chicory, wheat 

 rye, and bean hulls. So-called coffee compoundr are mixtures 

 of coffee with other substances, such as cereals. Sometimes 



