ADULTERATIONS OP FOOD 
bread. 
For some years the chemists of Europe have 
vied with each other in their attempts to discover 
the various modes by which food is adulterated, 
and the success which crowned their efforts has 
certainly been remarkable. Our own country pre¬ 
sents an ample field for thought and study, and 
though we have been occasionally startled bv the 
discoveries of some solitary investigator, and have 
turned with loathing from that which had pre¬ 
viously been as a “sweet morsel under the 
tongue/’ our qualmishness soon subsided because a 
complete and thorough exposition of the system of 
adulteration has never been given to the American 
Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic. By Sir Wii. 
Hamilton, Bart., Professor .of Logic and Metaphysics 
in trie University of Edinburgh; Advocate, A. M. 
(Oxen) etc; Corresponding Member of the Institute 
of France; Honorary Member of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Latin So¬ 
ciety of Geoa. Edited by the Rev. Henry L. Manskl, 
B. I)-, Oxford, and John Veitcii, M. a., Edinburgh. 
In two volumes. Yol. I.—Metaphysics. [8vo.—pp. 
718.] Boston : Gould & Lincoln. 
Sir William Hamilton was for twonty years Pro¬ 
fessor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of 
Edinburgh. He was educated at Glasgow and Oxford, 
leaving the latter University at twenty-four, with a pre¬ 
eminent reputation for classical and philosophical erudi¬ 
tion. Subsequently he was a member of the Scottish 
bar, and for a short time Professor of Universal History 
in the University of Edinburgh, where he had taken 
up his residence. In 1836, after a hotly contested elec¬ 
tion, he was chosen to the chair, which he filled till his 
death, with a reputation for learning, comprehensive¬ 
ness and power of thought, which placed him, by com- 
limited only — if at all — by tbe impossibility of 
finding materials valueless enough to be profitably 
used. 
Scarcely anything that we eat or drink is free 
from falsification of some kind; either by mixture 
of a cheaper article of the same general alimentary 
character, in which case we only pay an exorbitant 
price for a given amount of really nutritious food 
and are only cheated out of our money; by the sub¬ 
stitution of harmless yet inferior and not equally 
palatable substances, in which case 
we are defrau'ded not only of our 
money, but of the proper amount of 
\ food, and the enjoyment of it; or, final- 
lj> which is far worse, by the addition 
injurious, and often highly poison- 
pM’ \ ous substances, for the purpose of giv- 
\ ing a satisfactory color, improving the 
\ a Ppearance, or of disguising certain 
\ products of decomposition in a dam- 
aged article. In this last case we are 
. swindled every way — in our pockets, 
° Ur P a ' a ^ es > an< f in our pancreatic funo- 
/ tions - 
/ The detection 
PLEASURE GARDENING FOR YOUTH-No. EL 
Messrs. Eds.:— In my last I promised to tell the 
boys, and the girls, too, how to grow radishes, 
melons, &c., and this promise I will now redeem. 
Most of the radishes grown and sold are hard, 
wormy, with a hot, strong taste. Now, a radish] 
when good, must be tender, crisp and mild. The 
reason why radishes are so hard and hot is, that 
they are too long in growing. A radish to be-good 
must be grown quick, and for this reason they 
should not be sown until the weather is tolerably 
mild in the spring, and the ground warm, andthen 
a warm, sheltered spot, on the south side- of a 
fence, in a warm sandy soil should be selected. To 
make a sure thing of raising good radishes, go to 
the woods, or on the common, where the soil has 
never been cultivated, take off the top soil, 
it home and mix with the garden soil, 
never failed to grow excellent radishes 
soil, 
carry 
I have 
on. a new 
every one can get a little for the pur¬ 
pose, but where it cannot be obtained charcoal 
dust is excellent, coal ashes is not as good, but 
some benefit, and bran is more costly, but first rate. 
Sow the seed in shallow drills, just far enough 
apart to allow the soil to be loosened between. Af¬ 
ter the sowing is done, allow an old gardener to 
advise you to scatter over the surface a little soot 
from the chimney, or a little fine charcoal will do, 
though it is not so good. 
I recommended sowing on the south side of a 
fence, on account of the warmth, but as we seldom 
get a good without an evil, so there is some evil 
attending this course. On the sunny days of early 
spring it will be very warm and comfortable under 
this fence, and if the air is a little chilly you will 
like to get there yourself, where you will be shel¬ 
tered from the north wind, and watch the growing 
of your radishes as soon as they are up. But you 
are not the only one that will discover that this i 3 
a very comfortable place. It will be found out by 
about all the little insects in the garden, and there 
they will assemble to enjoy themselves, and eat 
their dinner. That little black, hopping flea, some¬ 
times called the turnip fly, will be there in great 
numbers, and they are very fond of the first thick 
tender leaves of the radish, turnip and cabbage 
family, and will eat small holes through them kill¬ 
ing the plants. A little- ashes or any fine dust 
spriukled over them, early in the morning, when 
wet with dew, will prevent the insects from eating. 
Probably it injures their teeth. But this washes 
off with every shower, and is blown off when dry, 
and the insects will find it out long before you do, 
and make a good meal. The best remedy for this, 
is to make a frame of boards around the bed, and 
u.-i r r <1 _ , - ALaAMfl flya will an over it. 
They probably Hunk it is some trap, in which 
they dare not venture. My space is so fully occu¬ 
pied, that I will reserve the remarks on growing 
melons for another number. Old Gardener. ° 
and exposure of a large 
class of these adulterations is within 
the province of chemical science, and 
the analyst can with the most un¬ 
erring precision detect the existence 
of any of that class of substances 
called inorganic, and determine the 
quantity to the minutest fraction of a 
grain. But in determination of many 
organic substances, it becomes neces- 
sary to call in the aid of the microscope. 
Before this instrument was brought 
to the aid of chemistry, many adulterations of food 
of a most pernicious character were quite beyond 
the reach of exposure. Chemical re-agents re¬ 
vealed very little respecting the llSfi of nrornrno 
are not parallel. The definition of this term will 
explain this. What he says in regard to surveyors 
running a line one mile west and thence one mile 
east, and not striking the same point, amounts to 
this—that one cannot produce a line and follow it 
back and touch the same point of commencement, 
which involves an absurdity. It is true that the in¬ 
tersection with the earth’s surface by a plane that is 
perpendicular to only one meridian will bisect the 
equator, and depart southerly from any parallel of 
[ latitude running through the point of contact of 
such meridian and plane, which parallel is the 
true east and west line. But the difference be¬ 
tween them for the distance of one mile at the lati¬ 
tude of W. R., in Cayuga Co., is obscured by the 
necessary imperfections of instruments, and, in 
surveying, by the diurnal variation of the compass 
needle, to say nothing of the local causes that dis¬ 
turb it. A surveyor that runs a line westerly by 
one course one mile, and thence one mile easterly 
by one course, would, for these reasons, fall quite 
as likely to the north of his commencement line as 
to the south of it. Were absolute perfection in 
mathematical instruments attainable, the intel¬ 
ligent surveyor could easily discriminate between 
a parallel of latitude and a great circle, and run a 
true east and west line. 
bristling witli learning, which constitute the staple of 
the supplementary notes to Erid and the essays in the 
Edinburgh Review. The Lectures will bo adopted, 
doubtless, as a College text-book, and be read and 
studied by all who would be acquainted with the state 
and tendencies of 
Fig. 1. 
a. Granules of Potash-starch; 3, of Tapioca-starch 
root ; d, Sago-starch. 
public. This want we are to have supplied, ho' 
and our Ion; 
Magazine has determined to expose the * 
of the trade,” and give to the world the 
c, West-India Arrow- 
iwever, 
■time literary friend, iho Knickerbocker 
1 tricks 
names 
of those who thus make playthings of human lives. 
We wish it success in the undertaking. The arti¬ 
cle which follows—on Bread —is the first of the 
series, and though its length compels us to divide 
aud publish in two numbers of the Rural, the 
portance of the subject will, 
inquiry in psychological science. 
The volume of Logic is to follow at an early day. Sold 
in Rochester by Adams <fc Dabney. 
Gould &, Lincoln have laid Agricultural readers 
under great obligations for their Annual of Scientific 
Discovery, filled, as its volumes have been, with so 
much that is useful and suggestive. The issue of these 
Lectures and Masson’s Milton, with the promised ro- 
lm- 
e think, fully justify 
such procedure. As “ Knick’ 
lighten upon the doubtful query- 
-we shall be happy to spread before our Re¬ 
possess general in- 
continues to en- 
What do we 
Eat? 1 
ral parish, such portions 
But to the subject in hand : 
What shall we drink ? 
Easy Instructor for tub Piano Forth, in A S 
Smith’s Patent New Method of Reading Music .‘in¬ 
structions and Exercises Selected and Arranged bv 
John H. Iyai bfleiscii and E. Gifkokd Cutler-io 
which are added a number of Popular Melodies. 
1 ubhshed by Gibbs, Bard <fc Saterlee, Nunda, N. Y. 
The new system of Music explained in this work was 
patented by Mrs. Smith, of this city, two or three years 
ago, and lias been highly commended by several pro¬ 
fessors of Musical Science. As explained by its author, 
the new method consists, principally, in “placing at 
the head of each note the musical letter, adapted to its 
forms of each letter, so that for eacli flat, sharp or natu¬ 
ral key or tone of each letter, we have a definite repre¬ 
sentative of tangible form upon the staff presented to 
the eye, which may be read at a glance in difficult as 
well as easy music, thereby greatly assisting the labors 
of teacher and learner, while it adds no inconvenience 
to the experienced performer, as in It aro incorporated 
the organic laws, order and arrangement of the old, 
and all for which it is valuable, so that the transition 
from one to the other is perfectly easy.” The system 
apparently renders the acquisition of a knowledge of 
terest. 
\Y nAT shall we eat 
wherewithal shall we be clothed? continue to be 
considerations that exercise the carnal and worldly, 
notwithstanding the Divine injunction to the con¬ 
trary. 
In its persistency in the IJfffort to secure a ward- 
succeeded in a manner 
and caljeojiaye accom- 
e in the French cloths 
manufactured in the Bay State, and Valenciennes 
and Brussels have not experienced the purifying 
properties of the sea-air, the delusion is perfectly 
harmless. The pocket, it is true, may be depleted 
without adequate consideration: and self-love may 
wince under the conviction of a similated and taw¬ 
dry apparel, but in this there is nothing alarmingly 
fatal. The innocent possessors of sensibilities so 
delicate will survive the shock of the exposure. 
But eating aud drinking require serious considera¬ 
tion. What it is that people eat and drink they 
scarcely know. There is a nomenclature, it is 
true, belonging to this great science of regaling 
the physical man; but with reference to their origi¬ 
nal application and use, the terms now employed 
are certainly misnomers. We speak 
more particularly of articles of food 
which undergo a process of preparation, 
and are somewhat removed from a con- s 
dition of nature. 
We find bread, for instance, com- 
pounded of potatoes, alum, beans, chalk, / 
carbonate of magnesia, silica, pipe-clay, 
bone-dust, plaster of Paris, sulphate of / _ 
S. W. Strowger, 
quite satisfactory. 
Messrs. Eds.:— In the Rural of April 9th, I no¬ 
tice a communication from W. R., entitled “False 
Philosophy.” He arraigns a certain Professor 
of Philosophy, and objects to his explanation of 
the attraction of gravitation, and endeavors to 
prove that the center of two balls, suspended by 
two lengthy cords, would be nearer each other than 
the cords would be at the top, is not mutual attrac¬ 
tion, as explained by the 
A WORD TO THE EOYS 
Professor.” 
After perusing the article, I hunted up an old 
volume of Comstock’s Philosophy, and found 
therein an explanation similar to the one* used by 
the Professor, and I am inclined to believe this to 
be the true philosophy, although I do not dispute 
that the cause assigned by W. R. would have its 
share of influence. But how much. If the cords 
by which the balls are suspended were forty feet 
apart at the top, and one-fourth of a mile in length, 
they would approach each other, by reason of their 
pointing towards the center of the earth, just 
three-hundredths of an inch; a distance barely 
discernible with the naked eye; and, if the cords 
to look upon again. I cannot forget it if I would. 
I seem see them still—that motley array of all 
ages and conditions. Not a word, or even look at 
their fellows allowed, even under the eye of a vigi¬ 
lant keeper; and then, as they were examined > 
marched to their cells and locked up for the night] 
only to pursue again that unvaried round of labor 
for months and years, and some for life. 0, how 
it made my heart ache. It was sad to see among 
them young men in freshness and vigor doomed by 
crime td that wretched life. Old men, too, even 
with gray hairs, were there,—not a “crown of 
glory,” but badges of shame were theirs. But if 
possible, it was sadder still to see among them 
boys, one less than fourteen years of age, younger 
than one of my own little boys at home. And then 
I thought, if he and other boys could once look 
upon such a scene, it would bo a life-long lesson to 
them. 
The warden very kindly answered all inquiries; 
and what do you think brought that boy there ?. It 
was passion, uncontrolled temper. He commenced 
only in play, then got angry with a playmate, and 
pliia. Commencing on Saturday, March 5th, with 
“Ivanlioe,” they have issued a volume every xveek 
since, and purpose to complete the series of twenty-six 
volumes in the course of six months. Though nomi¬ 
nally very cheap—only 25 cents a volume, or the whole 
Itwenty-six for five dollars—the print is too fine, and the 
paper too thin, to render the edition a desirable acqui¬ 
sition ; and we respectfully decline publishing the long 
|uffs kindly furnished us by the Publishers. We trust 
qicy are not in collusion with the oculists and spectacle 
Manufacturers, as might be inferred from this apparent 
■tempt to permanently injure, or perhaps destroy, the 
i; ual organs of the people! 
a, Starch granules of Wheat-flour; 3, of Rye-flour; c, of Indian-corn • 
d, of Rice-flour. 
some in- to punish, through the competent authorities, those 
who thus recklessly trifle with the public health, 
ftobacco- If by the publication of an extended series of 
icntly en- chemical analyses of food, accompanied by the 
;entment, most searching microscopic examinations, we can 
sappoint- expose “ the tricks of trade,” and awaken in our 
ion of the own citizens a determination to live longer and 
jss in the better on pure food, the effort shall not be wanting; 
they are and the names of manufacturers and dealers who 
st unsen- (so far as our investigations extend) are guilty of 
acco con- these adulterations, will be published. All that 
i:—bran, we desire is, the co-operation of manufacturers and 
l chicory dealers, and the sympathy of the suffering public, 
nmoniac, Above we give illustrations showing granules of 
i, etc. It starch from different grains, which will be more 
this city particularly explained in our next, when will also 
ckage of be given engravings exhibiting varieties of fungus 
und that growth and animalcule in damaged flour. 
RD Byron made a comparison of divers lan¬ 
es with music. “The Russian tongue,” said 
was like a kettle drum; the German- like a 
viol; the French, as a wedding hymn; the 
■ n > Bke aa jEolian harp; the English only be- 
he human voice.” On the contrary, Heine 
1 the following. He says“ Take a word 
die mouth, turn it round therein, and spit it 
To-morrow is like a juggler that deceives us; a 
quack that pretends to cure us, and thin ice that 
will not bear our own weight. It is a fruit beyond 
our grasp; a glittering bubble that bursts and van¬ 
ishes away; a will-o’-the-wisp that leads many 
into the mire, and a rock that many mariners have 
struck and suffered shipwreck. It is an illusion to 
all who neglect the present hour, and a reality to 
those only who improve to-day. 
I suppose that one of the severest trials of a sor¬ 
did man is that which is caused by the disgust he 
feels in the society of his own soul. I once heard 
a preacher remark that were it not for the inter¬ 
position of sleep, by which all men are separated 
once in twenty-four hours from the consciousness 
of their own meanness, they would all die of self¬ 
contempt.— Selected. 
« affections of some men arc like wells, stony 
on i outside, narrow, yet deep within; not flow- 
mg filth like a river to seek souls far and near, to 
gad fc God s earth; nor gushing up and around 
ikeafountain in the sun, for all who seek them, 
■>ut uslful, notwithstanding, and very precious, 
each tisome one individual or household. 
Acts of love and kindness naturally conciliate (J* 
esteem. • 
It is with life as with coffee; he who drinks it $ 
pure must not drain it to the dregs. 
It is much better to have your gold in tlie hand 
than in the heart. — Fuller. 
