THE DIRT WE EAT. 
163 
THE DIRT WE EAT. 
ABSTEACT OF PAPER BY MR. WILLIAM SQUARE, JUNR. 
(Read Nov. 9th, 1871.) 
All dirt that gets iato our food must of necessity be of two varie- 
ties, accidental and what is put in on purpose ; this latter is called 
adulteration. The lecturer took various sorts of food, and described 
their dirt adulterations and deleterious portions. He first spoke 
of meat, the various diseases of animals and their consequences. 
JS'ext of bread, as of two sorts, leavened and unleavened. He spoke 
of the various diseases of the wheat plant, and of the various adulte- 
rations to which bread was subjected. He shewed why alum and 
sulphate of copper were used. In speaking of unleavened bread, 
he described baking powders and mixtures, and shewed their evils. 
The rest of the edible amylaceae were described; and then milk. 
The lecturer spoke of the great importance of this article being 
pure, as the infant part of the population depended so much on it. 
He showed the iniquity of adding water to it, and spoke of the 
various other adulterations — next of butter and lard. 
In the description of sugar he showed the value of refined sugar 
compared to raw. He described the dirt of raw sugar — the pieces 
of cane and acari ; he quoted the results of the analyses of the 
Lancet commission — next of tea, cofi'ee, and allied beverages. The 
report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons went to 
show that tea is a comparatively unadulterated article; cofi'ee on 
the other hand was very roughly treated. He spoke of chicory, 
and how enormously it was adulterated. The analyses of cofi'ee 
were spoken of, showing in how many cases there was next to no 
coffee in the samples tested, in some cases none. 
The lecturer now departed a little from his previous course, and 
described some articles of pure luxury. The first was mustard. 
Not one-third of what is sold as mustard is really so, but a mixture 
of flour, mustard, cayenne pepper, ginger and turmeric. The 
evidence of Mr. Gay, Superintendent of the Deptford Yictualling 
Yard Mustard Department was quoted, showing that the bad 
article supplied to the Government had induced them to make 
