84 
Varieties. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.. 
\     Jan.  1, 1874. 
Adulteration  of  Wax  with  Tallow. — M.  Hardy. — Wax  floats  upon  alcohol 
at  29°.  By  determining  the  strength  which  alcohol  must  have  so  that  the 
sample  may  float  upon  its  surface,  the  quantity  of  wax  may  be  found  in  a  sam- 
ple falsified  with  tallow  only  . — 
When  the  Alcoholo- 
meter marks- 
The  Wax  contains- 
f  29-00°  100  per  cent. 
3963  .  .  .  .  .  75 
50-25  .....  50 
60-87  .  j         .  .  .  25 
71-50  0 
Ibid. 
Alleged  Presence  of  Iron  Filings  in  Tea. — In  several  cases  of  prosecution 
under  the  Adulteration  Act  which  have  recently  been  reported,  the  analyst 
has  been  able  to  demonstrate  that  a  magnet  thrust  into  a  specimen  of  tea 
would  attract  certain  particles  which  were  stated  to  be  iron  filings  ;  and  held 
to  be  indisputable  proof  of  a  fraudulent  admixture.  That  this  inference  is 
necessarily  correct  has,  however,  been  disputed  in  more  than  one  quarter.  Mr. 
TrefFrey,  of  Exeter,  writing  to  the  Grocer,  asserts  that  the  mineral  matter  found 
in  tea  is  not  iron  filings  but  a  native  magnetic  oxide  of  iron,  and  he  states  that 
"it  is  probably  titaniferous  iron  sand,  which  is  very  abundant  in  China."  Mr. 
Alfred  Bird,  F.  0.  S  ,  of  Birmingham,  says  that  he  has  separated  particles  of 
mica  and  quartz  from  the  magnetic  oxide  of  iron  found  in  tea,  his  inference 
being  "  that  as  magnetic  oxide  of  iron  forms  part  of  the  soil  of  China,  it  would 
rise  with  the  dust  of  the  country,  and  coming  in  contact  with  the  damp  leaves 
would  adhere  to  them  when  they  are  dried,  and  thus  make  the  dried  leaves 
stick  to  the  magnet  as  if  there  were  iron  filings  mixed  up  amongst  them." 
Speculative,  to  say  the  least,  as  this  may  seem,  it  would  appear  to  receive  some 
support  from  an  experiment  made  by  Mr.  Bird  upon  some  French  bean  leaves 
grown  in  his  own  garden.  One  hundred  grains  were  dried,  and  upon  testing 
with  a  magnet  were  found  to  be  attracted  by  it  in  a  similar  manner  to  that  re- 
ported of  some  specimens  of  tea  leaves.  A  closer  examination  of  the  matter 
adhering  to  the  leaves  showed  that  it  was  magnetic  oxide  of  iron,  and  0*02  of 
a  grain  was  obtained  from  the  100  grains  of  bean  leaves.  An  investigation  of 
the  black  mould  of  the  garden  in  which  the  plants  were  grown  showed  that  it 
contained  an  abundance  of  magnetic  oxide  of  iron. 
If  all  that  the  opponents  of  the  Adulteration  Act  say  against  it  were  true, 
it  would  be  but  little  to  be  able  to  reply  that  it  is  not  an  unmitigated  evil ;  but 
still  it  is  a  fact  that  the  Act  has  given  a  great  impulse  to  the  investigation  of 
food  substances,  the  benefit  of  which  must  appear  in  an  acquisition  to  our  store 
of  knowledge  respecting  this  important  subject.  For  even  should  Mr.  Bird's 
speculations  prove  correct,  it  would  not  be  the  only  instance  that  has  recently 
come  under  our  notice  where  the  presence  of  a  gross  adulterant  has  been  al- 
leged upon  insufficient  grounds. — Pharm.  Journ.  and  Trans.,  Nov.  22,  1873. 
Haschisch. — The  natives  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  in  the  north  of  Africa, 
are  far  more  addicted  to  the  use  of  the  haschisch  {Cannabis  Indica)  than  to 
