AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION.  503 
sence  of  which  is  not  acknowledged  in  the  name  under  which  the  article  is 
sold. 
Your  Committee  feel  that  perhaps  they  may  bring  forward  some  facts,  not 
in  all  cases  agreeable,  and  that  they  may  be  met  with  the  oft-repeated  state- 
ment that  u  the  public  wish  the  adulterated  articles/'  that  t:  pure  mustard 
and  cream  of  tartar  will  not  sell,"  coffee  with  burnt  peas  and  apples  in  it  is 
"  richer,"  and  more  "  nutritious,"  but  we  feel  constrained  to  say  this  pre- 
tended regard  for  the  wishes  and  tastes  of  the  "  public1'  is  most  generally 
based  upon  a  slight  interest  for  the  pecuniary  welfare  of  the  manufacturer 
or  trader. 
The  public  do  not  wish  adulterated  articles  ;  were  they  once  aware  of  the 
real  difference  between  pure  and  impure  articles  they  wo  ild  not  hesitate  a 
moment  in  their  choice:  could  they  but  see  the  peas  and  beans  roasted  for 
best  "  old  Mocha,"  the  sulphate  of  soda  for  u  cream  tartar,"  the  turmeric 
for  "  mustard,"  the  alum  for  bread,  and  the  sulphuric  acid  for  "  vinegar," 
your  committee  feel  that  very  soon  the  lucrative  portion  of  the  adultera- 
tor's business  would  pass  away,  leaving  him  with  a  reputation  far  from 
enviable. 
It  is  not  only  in  articles  of  food,  but  in  medicines,  also,  that  this  practice 
prevails,  and  your  committee  have  felt  that  upon  this  part  of  the  subject 
they  should  bestow  a  large  portion  of  their  investigations. 
Science  is  never  so  noble  as  when  engaged  in  advancing  those  arts  which 
promote  health  or  mitigate  the  sufferings  of  humanity,  but  when  it  is  prosti- 
tuted to  ignoble  purposes,  and,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  relieving  of  suffer- 
ing, is  engaged  in  sophisticating  with  a  cunning  and  well  concealed  hand 
those  very  articles  which  the  physician  relies  upon  for  promoting  and  re- 
storing health,  then  indeed  it  is  deserving  of  condemnation. 
Very  many  of  the  adulterations  of  the  present  day  exhibit  a  knowledge 
of  science  worthy  a  better  cause;  many  of  them  are  decidedly  pernicious, 
and  serious  results  have  followed  their  use  ;  of  such  we  may  instance  the 
employment  of  poisonous  pigments  for  the  colored  confections,  lead  in  snuff 
and  in  Cayenne  pepper,  copper  in  pickles,  and  cocculus  indicus  and  nux  vo- 
mica in  beer  and  ale. 
Your  Committee  would  refer  to  any  of  the  works  published  in  France  or 
England,  devoted  to  the  exposure  of  the  frauds  in  food  and  medicine,  for 
evidence,  were  it  needed,  of  the  great  interest  felt  in  this  subject  hy  scientific 
men;  and  they  cannot  better  illustrate  the  necessity  of  these  investigations 
than  by  giving  a  short  list  of  those  articles  of  food  which  have  been  proved 
to  be  adulterated,  and  the  substances  used  for  the  purpose.  Many  of  these 
have  been  met  with  by  your  Committee,  and  some  of  them  are  described  by 
Doctor  Hassall  in  his  work,  on  "The  Adulterations  of  Food  and  Medicine." 
The  articles  we  specially  refer  to  are  as  follows  : 
Colored  Confectionery — Adulterated  with  emerald  or  Scheele's  green,  ar- 
senite  of  copper. 
Beer — with  cocculus  indicus  and  nux  vomica. 
Pickles  and  Bottled  Fruits— writh  verdigris  and  sulphate  of  copper. 
Custard  Powders — with  chromate  of  lead. 
Tea  and  snuff — with  the  same. 
Cayenne  and  Curry  Powder — with  red  oxide  of  lead. 
Sugar  Confectionery — with  gamboge,  orpiment,  or  sulphuret  of  arsenic, 
and  chloride  of  copper. 
Flour  and  Bread — with  hydrated  sulphate  of  lime,  plaster  of  Paris  and 
alum. 
Vinegar — with  sulphuric  acid. 
Sugar — with  sand  and  plaster  of  Paris. 
Milk — with  chalk,  sheeps'  brains,  ground  turmeric. 
