HASSALL, ON ADULTERATIONS. 
231 
_ " So great and manifest are the differences revealed by the microscope in 
different vegetable substances, that, with ordinany care and some amount of 
preliminary knowledge, the discrimination becomes a matter of the greatest 
ease and the most absolute certainty. 
" Further, wonderful to relate, the grinding and pulverization, and even the 
charring, of many vegetable substances, does not so destroy their structure 
as to render their identification by the microscope impossible. Chicory and 
coffee may be thus roasted and pulverized, and yet each may be subsequently 
identified with the greatest ease, they being in fact but little changed, except 
in colour, and in the case of coffee by the dispersion of the droplets of oil 
visible in the cells of the unroasted berry. 
" Again, substances may be discovered by means of the microscope, even 
when introduced into articles for the purpose of adulteration in extremely 
minute quantities : the case of some mustard forwarded by a manufacturer 
to the ' Lancet ' some time since furnished a remarkable illustration in 
point. 
" The mustard was stated to be genuine ; but on examination Vfith the 
microscope, it was found to contain a small quantity of turmeric. The 
manufacturer, when informed of the fact, very candidly and properly acknow- 
ledged that this was the case, and stated that he had added ' two ounces of 
turmeric to fifty-six pounds of seeds, not for the purpose of gain or adulte- 
ration, but simply to enliven the colour and make its appearance more 
acceptable / that is, the quantity of turmeric present, and discovered by 
the microscope, consisted of oiA^ one part in 448 of the quantity examined. 
" The last illustration — and a very striking and beautiful one it is, al- 
though not immediately connected with the subject of adulteration — which 
we shall adduce in order to show the extraordinary character of the infor- 
mation furnished in some cases by the microscope is supplied by honey. 
"Honey is the saccharine exudation from the nectaries of flowers: the 
bees in collecting it carry away some of the pollen of the flowers visited by 
them. Now this pollen consists of cells or vesicles, differing in size, form, 
and structure, according to the plants from which it is derived, certain plants 
being characterised by pollen granules of a certain configuration and organ- 
ization. By the pollen present in honey, therefore, the scientific micro- 
scopist acquainted with the characteristics of the pollen of different plants is 
enabled to decide in many instances upon the nature of the plants from 
which the honey has been procured, and whether it has been collected from 
the flowers of the field, the garden, the heath, or the mountain. See article 
Honey for figure in illustration. 
" There is still another use to which the microscope may be applied in the 
detection of adulteration ; it may frequently be made to serve as an auxiliary 
to chemical researches : thus, for example, when we want to ascertain 
whether any substance contains starch, carbonates, phosphates, &c., it is 
often the quickest and most certain way to apply the reagents to a small 
quantity of the substance while this is under the field of vision of the mi- 
croscope." 
In this workj however, Dr. Hassall does not confine himself 
to the microscopical examination of objects, but wherever 
chemistry is capable of assisting he indicates the processes 
to be pursued. Nor is the book confined to food alone. In 
addition to all the ordinary eatables and drinkables, we have 
detailed accounts of the methods of investigating tobacco, 
snulBP, opium, scammony, jalap, ipecacuanha, colocynth, 
VOL. V. u 
