548 ADULTERATION OF FOOD, DRUGS, ETC. 
written to him, stating that he had discovered alum in his 
bread, and threatening to expose him. 
Mr . Clapperton , of 11, Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, 
said he had been mentioned in the Lancet as one of the 
bakers who sold adulterated bread. This statement had 
ruined his business, and obliged him to give it up. Dr. 
Hassall had written a letter exonerating him from it, but on 
application to Mr. Wakley for a portion of the bread said to 
have contained alum, it was refused. Witness was therefore 
advised that an action could not be sustained. 
April 27. — Mr. John Jackson, a miller, near Wakefield, 
said he was a member of a firm which had been prosecuted 
for vending adulterated flour, but the result of the trial was 
to prove that the charge was unfounded. He was of opinion that 
a moderate inspection of mills was desirable, but the inspector 
should be thoroughly competent, capable of distinguishing 
between the various kinds of flour; for instance, the Ameri- 
can flour sometimes arrived in a very warm state, it was put 
on the quay in the barrels for a few days, when it cooled, 
and would then keep for two years ; but if an unqualified 
inspector saw it in the warm state he might condemn it as 
unfit for food, and perhaps confiscate £10,000 worth of 
property. 
Mr. Richter , analytical chemist at Messrs. Savory’s, had 
had considerable experience with regard to the law affecting 
chemists and druggists in Germany. About thirty or forty 
years ago the state of things in Germany was similar to that 
in England, but by the introduction of a law tending to raise 
the education of chemists, he believed the adulteration of 
drugs was abolished. He thought part of this law might 
with advantage be introduced into England, and considered 
the Pharmaceutical Society was already a very important 
institution for the accomplishment of this object. He 
thought it also a very important matter, that the difference 
now existing between the Pharmacopoeias of London, Edin- 
burgh, and Dublin should be abolished; the variation in the 
strength of many of the preparations being a very serious 
evil. 
Mr. Stafford Allen, drug-grinder, said he believed the public 
had been much abused by the evidence given before the 
Committee with respect to drug-grinders. In 1853, when 
his firm w T as established in London, it was the general wish 
of the wholesale drug-trade for the establishment of some 
grinder in whom they could have confidence. He was not 
prepared to say that dishonest grinders did not exist, but 
grinding was carried on in a much better way at present. 
