140 Journal of the Mitchell Society. [Dec. 



the packages are properly labeled, and again they are not. 

 Another indispensable beverage is tea. The extent of its 

 use is indicated by the statement that in a recent year ninety- 

 four million pounds were imported into the United States. 

 Tea is adulterated with soapstone, gypsum, iron dust, and 

 sand; also with lie tea, the trade name of a mixture made up 

 of tea dust and other matters made into lumps with starch 

 paste and colored. Tea is also mixed with exhausted tea 

 leaves and leaves of the beech, willow, elm, rose, and wistaria. 

 Finally, all of the green tea and a good deal of the black tea 

 is faced or coated to impart a gloss and an attractive color. 

 Prussian blue, indigo, and soapstone are used for green teas, 

 and plumbago or black lead for black teas. 



Cocoa and chocolate are making remarkable headway as 

 beverages. Coffee and tea have been objected to on hygienic 

 grounds, and substitutes are being extensively used. Cocoa is 

 more nourishing than any other beverage, and perhaps as 

 sustaining. Cocoa beans are reddish brown in color and re- 

 semble lima beans in shape and size. They are first roasted, 

 a chemical change occuring which developes a very desirable 

 flavor. They are next crushed by machinery to separate them 

 from the shells. The broken cotyledons, free from shells, are 

 known as cocoa nibs. These are ground, and the heat of 

 grinding melts the fat which makes up one-half of theii 

 weight, and the ground product runs out as a thin paste. This 

 is allowed to cool in molds, and constitutes our unsweetened 

 chocolate. Cocoa is prepared by removing a part of the fat 

 by pressure and reducing the residue to a powder. Cocoa is 

 made inferior by grinding the beans with the shells on. It is 

 adulterated by adding extra shells as well as wheat flour, corn- 

 starch, and sugar, and this is a common practice. 



Beneath the beautiful exterior of the soda fountain sit en- 

 throned a host of frauds. We complacently enjoy the beauti- 

 fully colored drinks with the idea that they are made of nat- 

 ural fruit juices, such as strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and 

 many more. Some dispensers use the real fruit, but very com- 



