ADULTERATION OF FOOD.-NO. 4. 
319 
the skin soon becomes tight to her ribs, attended 
with loss of appetite and fever. When the disease 
has advanced to this stage, the following mixture is 
recommended as proper:— 
Common turpentine, 4k oz. ; camphor, in powder, 
3 drachms ; gum myrrh, l|oz.; calomel, prepared, 
30 grains. 
The turpentine is first to be boiled over a slow 
fire, till it is of a sufficient hardness to form into 
balls ; then take it off the fire, and let it stand till it 
becomes somewhat warmer than new milk ; next 
add the other ingredients, which must be well 
stirred together, till the mixture gets cold ; then di¬ 
vide it into four balls, one of which may be given 
every day, till the disease is removed. It will also 
be proper to give, once a day, a pint and a half of 
the before-mentioned decoction, to which add three 
fourths of an ounce of saltpetre. The bowels also 
are to be attended to: for if the animal becomes 
costive, one or other of the saline drinks must be 
given, in order to open them, and itmay be repeated 
as often as it is found necessary. 
The food should consist of diluent liquors, malt 
mashes, &c., as before recommended. 
ADULTERATION OF FOOD.— No. 4. 
Coffee . — Singular as it may appear, this substance 
is subject to many adulterations; and unless the 
coffee be purchased entire, its purity can seldom be 
“depended upon, and even then, it is sometimes 
questionable; -for we are assured, on good authority, 
that there is a kind of bean grown in England, 
which so much resembles the coffee berry, that 
none but a practised eye can detect the difference ; 
so that even in buying an unground article, the pur¬ 
chaser cannot consider himself safe. The sub¬ 
stances usually employed in the adulteration of 
ground coffee are dried chiccory root, the grains of 
wheat, barley, and rye, ground and roasted peas 
and beans, coffee grounds that have been exhausted 
by use, and coffee damaged, or spoilt, by sea water. 
By comparing the analysis of coffee with that of 
chiccory, it will be seen that a very great difference 
exists between the two substances. Coffee con¬ 
tains about 65 per cent, of matter soluble in water, 
whilst chiccory contains only about 28 per cent. 
Again, coffee yields but about 3 per cent, of ash, 
while chiccory yields nearly 13 per cent. Hence 
we have, at once, hy this means, almost a positive 
method of detecting this species of adulteration. 
Furthermore, chiccory contains so much gummy 
matter, that if the fingers he moistened, and a little 
of the powdered article be taken, and well pressed 
together between them, it will adhere strongly, and 
form a mass of a very coherent nature, which 
-Gan be moulded into any form. Pure coffee, when 
thus treated does not cohere in the slightest degree. 
Chiccory, also, differs from coffee, when ground, 
m another particular, viz. : Pure coffee, if sprinkled 
on the surface of the water, will remain there for 
some time, and will not sink to the bottom ; but 
chiccory will sink almost immediately, and tinge 
the liquid of a brownish yellow, the intensity of 
the color being in proportion to the quantity of 
chiccory employed. 
The detection of roasted grain, peas, or beans, in 
coffee, may easily be determined by the action of a 
watery solution of iodine on the starch contained 
in them, whilst it does not affect a solution either of 
coffee or chiccory. A decoction of the suspected 
coffee is first made in the usual manner, and strained 
when cold. Then a solution of iodine is added, 
and if peas, heans, or any farinaceous substance be 
present, the liquid will assume a blue, or greenish 
tinge—greenish, when the quantity is small, and 
blue, when large. 
The detection of spent coffee grounds is compa¬ 
ratively simple, and depends on the same mode of 
operation as in the case of chiccory. It is evident 
that coffee, which has been exhausted by water, 
cannot furnish so much soluble matter, and will 
yield more insoluble matter than that in a normal 
state; so that the only thing to be done is, to ex¬ 
haust a given portion of the suspected article with 
water, ascertain the amount of soluble and insolu¬ 
ble matter as before, and compare the results with 
that of genuine coffee. 
Berries of coffee, that has been much damaged by 
sea water, are often torn and flattened out of shape ; 
outside, they possess a brownish-black color—in¬ 
side, a greenish tinge, with a musty smell, and 
rather a soapy taste. When roasted, in the ordi¬ 
nary manner, they give out no aromatic odor, like 
that produced hy good coffee ; nor do they become 
oily and shining by roasting, but remain dry and 
dull. When cold, their smell resembles that of the 
juice of liquorice. The unroasted berry imparts to 
boiling water a brownish tinge, and the decoction 
is very black and difficult to filter. At first, it has 
no bitter taste, nor sensible odor, but when left in 
the mouth, for a little time, it tastes like a weak 
solution of soap. On the contrary, good coffee 
gives a golden-yellow decoction, possessing a 
slightly bitter and herbaceous taste, and a faintly 
aromatic odor. At the expiration of about twelve 
hours, the decoction becomes green, and remains 
perfectly bright. 
Coffee, impregnated with sea water, when roasted 
and infused in water, colors it a bright brown ; and 
the liquid has neither the taste nor the perfume of 
coffee undamaged, and properly prepared. Its 
whole chemical constitution is changed, which ren¬ 
ders it totally unfit for the purposes for which coffee 
is generally employed. In other words, it is un¬ 
wholesome, and should not he used. 
Number of Bees in a Swarm. —A hire contains 
three different classes of bees—namely, the queen 
or female; the drones, or males; and the workers, 
or imperfectly-developed females; these three 
classes varying in number and size. The average 
number of bees in a hive, or swarm, is variously 
stated by different authors. Stawell, in his notes 
on Virgil, gives the general number at about 16,000 ; 
an anon) r mous author says from 15,000 to 20,000; 
the Edinburgh Journal states from 20,000 to 25,000, 
and assures us that before swarming there may be 
upwards of 40,000 in a populous hive; while a 
reviewer of Bevan’s work on bees says, it is 52,000. 
One says that there are 15,000 workers; another 
says 19,499 ; a third says 20,000; and a fourth 
says 50,000 ; the number of drones, we are told by 
one writer to be 5 & 0 ; by another, from 600 to 
2,000 ; and by a writer in the Entomological Ma¬ 
gazine, at usually 2,000, 
