Novamber30, 1372] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
425 
a certificate stating that the articles in question are adul¬ 
terated, cause a complaint to he made before a justice of 
the peace, and thereupon such justice shall issue a sum¬ 
mons requiring- the seller or the adulterator to appear 
before the justices in England to answer such complaint, 
and such summons shall he served by delivering the 
same, or a true copy thereof, upon the premises where 
such articles were obtained or sold; and the expense of 
such prosecutions, if not ordered to he paid by the party 
complained against, shall be deemed part of the expense 
of executing this Act. Certain precautions, however, 
must be taken by the inspector or the purchaser in the 
conduct of their proceedings, for as proof will be required 
of the identity of the article purchased and analysed, it is 
necessary that directly the article suspected to be adul¬ 
terated is obtained from the dealer, and before it is re¬ 
moved from the place of sale, the purchaser or inspector 
shall give notice to the dealer or person serving him of his 
intention to have such article analysed, so that the 
dealer may have the opportunity of accompanying the 
put chas( r to the analyst, or of securing the article in such 
a manner as to prevent its being tampered with by the 
purchaser or inspector. This is especially provided for 
in the 3rd clause of the Act of 1860, and in the 8th clause 
of the Act of 1872. Again, in the 10th clause of the 
new Act the mode of retaining samples for further ana¬ 
lysis is prescribed, inspectors being required to receive 
all articles of food, drink, or drugs, to be analysed by the 
analyst appointed under the Act, and in the presence of 
the analyst to take samples from such articles, and 
having sealed them in his presence, to retain them, and 
produce them in case the justices shall order other 
analysis to be made by such skilled persons as they may 
appoint, in accordance with the provisions of the 5th 
clause of the old Act of 1860. 
Sixth.—In case the dealer considers himself aggrieved 
by any conviction of the Justices under these Acts, he 
can appeal to Quarter Sessions, in accordance with the 
provision of the 6th and 7th clauses of the old Act of 
1860, or he can, even when convicted of selling an adul¬ 
terated patented article of food, drink, or drugs, have a 
case stated for the opinion of a superior court. 
Seventh.—The new Act provides that the analysts 
appointed under the Act shall report quarterly to the 
local authorities appointing them the number of articles 
of food, drink, or drugs analysed by them under the Act 
during the foregoing quarter, and shall specify the na¬ 
ture and kind of adulteration detected in such articles, 
and all such reports shall be read at the meetings of the 
aforesaid local authorities. 
Lastly. —The expense of executing the Act within 
the City of London and the liberties thereof is to be 
borne out of the consolidated rates raised by the Com¬ 
missioners of Sewers of the City of London. 
Reviewing, therefore, the provisions of the new Act, 
it appears to us that the following points are deserving 
of notice:— 
A. The third section of the Act declares that “ any 
person who shall sell any article of food or drink, or 
any drug, knowing the same to have been mixed with 
any other substance with intent fraudulently to increase 
its weight or bulk, and who shall not declare such ad¬ 
mixture to any purchaser thereof before delivering the 
same, and no other, shall be deemed to have sold an 
adulterated article of food or drink or drug, as the 
case may be, under this Act.” Now, the question which, 
in our opinion, is open to considerable doubt, is the 
exact meaning of the words “ such admixture and by 
way of illustration we will take the case of the following 
articles, which are notoriously and almost universally 
the subjects of admixture with other substances for the 
purpose of increasing their weight or bulk—tea, coffee, 
cocoa, mustard, and milk. In some cases the admixture 
is undoubtedly fraudulent, as when exhausted tea, or 
spurious leaves, or iron filings, are mixed with tea; or 
when chicory or other roasted vegetable substance, is 
mixed with ground coffee; or when water is added to 
milk ; but in others—as when cocoa is mixed with sugar, 
or farinaceous matter, for the purpose of reducing its 
fatty constituents, which are not always digestible in 
the pure and concentrated state; or when mustard is 
mixed with flour or other harmless substances in order 
to make it an acceptable condiment—it can hardly be 
said, unless the proportions of the diluents are excessive, 
that such admixtures are made with intent fraudulently 
to increase the weight or bulk of the articles. Assuming, 
however, that they are, is it enough for the dealer to 
declare at the time of sale that the article is a mixture, 
or must he name the several ingredients of which it is 
composed ? Or must he even go further, and state the 
proportions of the several ingredients of the article F It 
is manifest that until these questions have been settled 
by some competent legal tribunal, it will not be possible 
to proceed with any certainty of conviction against 
those who admix, or cause others to admix, or who sell 
an a lulterated article ; or, if it be, that by the mere de¬ 
claration at the time of sale that the article sold is a mix¬ 
ture, without specifying approximatively the proportions 
of the constituents, the fraud of adulteration may evi¬ 
dently bo practised to any extent and with perfect im¬ 
punity. 
B. As to the adulteration of drink, it is proper to men¬ 
tion that in the Licensing Act, 1872, provision has been 
made in the 19th and following clauses for the analysis 
of adulterated intoxicating liquors, and for prosecution 
thereon, the analyst being a person appointed by the 
Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and the persons who 
are to purchase, or otherwise obtain, samples of such 
liquors for analysis are the police, acting under the 
orders of the Commissioners of Police or other police au¬ 
thority, or any officer of Inland Revenue. It is a ques¬ 
tion, therefore, whether the analyst appointed under the 
Adulteration of Food Act can undertake the analysis of 
any drink that can be called an intoxicating liquor. 
Again, the examination of chicory, coffee, and tea for 
adulterations already committed to the Excise by various 
Acts of Parliament, dating from the 11th of George I., 
cap. 50, to the 26th and 27th Viet., cap. 22, and the 
relation of their powers and the duties of the food analyst 
is somewhat uncertain. 
C. With respect to the appointing of an analyst under 
the 5th section of the Act of 1872, it is proper to remind 
you that the medical officer of health was so appointed 
by the Commissioners of Sewers on the 2nd of October, 
1860; but, as from that time to the present, notwith¬ 
standing the inducements offered to the public by your 
extensively circulated notice of the first of February, 
] 861, there have been but 57 analyses made by him under 
the provisions of the Act of 1860, if the provisions of 
the Acts of 1860 and 1872 are to be carried fully into 
operation it will, in his opinion, be necessary to recon¬ 
sider the original appointment with the view of provid¬ 
ing for the additional work it will entail. 
D. It will also be necessary to give instructions to the 
inspector of nuisances, or the inspectors of markets, or 
all of them, to obtain samples of articles of food, drink, 
and drugs, under the direction of the analyst, and in 
accordance with the provisions of the Acts of 1 arlia- 
ment. 
NATIONAL CHAMBER OF TRADE. 
The adjourned meeting of the chemists and druggists 
section of this association was held on Tuesday last at 
the offices of the chamber, 10, Duke Street, St. James s, 
to confirm the resolution passed at the previous meeting 
on the 10th October last, and to adopt measures accord- 
ingly. 
Mr. A. F. Haselden took the chair. . 
Mr. F. Morrison, the Secretary of the National 
Chamber of Trade, having read the minutes of the pro¬ 
ceedings of the previous meeting, 
