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Mr. Walter Morris read a paper “ On the Adulteration 
of Food,” principally with a view to its detection by the 
microscope. Adulteration was defined as being the fraudu- 
lent addition to any substance of another, for the sake of 
increased sale or profit. There are several modes of 
accomplishing this end ; the first, and the most common, is 
by the addition of some article to increase the bulk or 
weight, as when starch is added to mustard, and cheaper 
flours to wheaten flour; the second by improving the 
appearance and apparent quality, so as to sell an inferior 
article at the price of a better, as in the case of the artificial 
colouring of pickles made of stale vegetables to resemble 
fresh. One of the commonest apologies for these practices 
is that the public prefer the adulterated article to the pure; 
that, for instance, pure mustard “will not sell.” This 
allegation is, however, hardly a fair one, as the pure article 
is never offered; and, doubtless, if the pure article were 
used as freely as the ordinary mixture, it would be found 
unexpectedly pungent. But the fallacy of such apologies 
has been exposed by the example of pickles, which under 
this plea used to be invariably coloured with an artificial 
and frequently poisonous pigment. The public eye was thus 
educated to expect them of a bright green ; yet, since some 
manufacturers have exposed the fraud and sent out pure 
pickles, the public have completely turned round, and avoid 
any which show an unnatural colour. 
The adulteration of bread and flour with alum, to make 
them look whiter and of a superior quality, has to some 
extent diminished ; but that substance is often replaced by 
the still worse sulphate of copper, or blue vitriol, which was 
recently detected in 16 out of 20 loaves tested. In this case 
the public has been led to suppose that the quality of bread 
is shown by its whiteness, whereas by taking out the bran a 
most valuable part of the grain, viz., its azotised or flesh-form- 
ing portion, is lost. Less dangerous admixtures are those of 
