286 ADULTERATIONS OP ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES. 
always been represented as committing fraud. It is extra- 
ordinary, that when insurrection disturbed the streets, the 
bakers did not fall victims to a reputation which some of 
them may merit, but which should not be imputed to the 
greater number of them. 
A just and severe law should severely punish the man 
who, charged with furnishing us with an indispensable ali- 
ment, wilfully deceives us; but this law should be based on 
regular studies and practical facts ; its execution should also 
be made in an ostensible manner. Thus, a profession 
would be relieved, so that an honest man who exercises it 
may not run the same risks as one who enriches himself by 
daily delinquencies, an unfortunate result, since it puts the 
honest man and the rogue on the same level, also, the 
honest man is injured by the rogue, who reproaches him 
with what he calls his ingenuity. 
3.— Of Meat. 
This aliment is sometimes sold of false weight, and at 
other times it is spoiled when put up for sale. Our obser- 
vations on the sale of spoiled meat have most frequently 
regarded meats which have been cooked. 
A.— Of Milk. 
Nine-tenths of the milk sold in Paris is diluted with one- 
third of water, to which, for some time, a little cassonade 
or caramel has been added ; finally, bicarbonate of soda to 
prevent the milk from turning. 
Some years ago, farina, fecula, rice-flour and gum, were 
employed for adulterating milk ; it appears that these sub- 
stances have been abandoned by adulterators. 
The adulteration of milk in Paris would be difficult to re- 
press, because the poorer classes are in the habit of paying 
for milk less than its value. It would be indispensable, be- 
fore seeking to suppress this fraud, to make the public com- 
