ADULTERATIONS OP ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES. 2S7 
prehend that they would be obliged to pay one-third more 
for milk than is paid at present, and that it is obtained at a 
low price only because it contains at least one-third of water 
and only two-thirds of milk. The population have been 
wrongfully disgusted by the publication of statements that 
milk has been prepared with the brain of animals, and es- 
pecially with that of horses killed at Montfaucon ; all the 
investigations made with the view of ascertaining the truth 
of this statement have demonstrated the falsity of a fact 
advanced it is not known with what object. 
5. — Of Beer. 
The beer sold in Paris should be made only with the 
seeds of cereals, properly prepared, and with hops. It is 
known, however, that a portion of this drink is the result 
of an operation into which enters, instead of malted barley, 
syrup of fecula, which sometimes contains a salt of copper, 
and. that the hop is sometimes replaced by leaves of box 
and menianthe. 
It would be, in my opinion, easy to suppress these frauds, 
since the brewers who commit them are liable in a fiscal 
point of view, by persons employed in the Administration, 
who might give useful information concerning these un- 
wholesome preparations.* 
6. — Of Culinary Salt. 
Common salt — that indispensable condiment which enters 
into the preparation of our food — has been the subject of 
numerous frauds, which have been partially suppressed, 
but not totally. t 
* We are assured that in France, as in England, substances of extreme ac- 
tivity are employed for giving bitterness to beer ! but hitherto the truth of this 
assertion has not been demonstrated to us. 
\ The endeavors made by the orders of the Prefect of Police to suppress 
this fraud have been immense ; the members of the Council of Health have 
submitted to chemical analysis more than 4,000 samples of salt, and yet it is 
still adulterated. 
