568 
Varieties. 
{Am  Tour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1876. 
An  excellent  instance,  showing  how  persistently  warfare  against  spurious  materials 
is  waged,  is  found  in  attacks  now  being  made  in  England  on  artificial  butter.  It  is 
a  well-known  fact  that,  until  recently,  attempts  to  produce  even  a  moderately  pala- 
table artificial  butter  have  failed,  and  although  the  product  has  been  made  of  fair 
savor  while  fresh,  a  day  or  two's  keeping  has  turned  it  into  mere  tallow.  In  Eng- 
land, however,  the  fraud  has  not  ended  at  this.  Conscienceless  individuals  have 
sold  as  butter,  it  is  said,  horrible  concoctions  of  old  lubricating  tallow,  and  even  old 
tallow  candles  minus  the  wicks,  which  an  official  analyst  describes  as  "  supplied  to 
the  poor  in  the  last  stages  of  rottenness."  One  factory  was  detected  making  this 
delectable  product  at  the  rate  of  two  tons  a  day.  This  and  many  other  like  cases 
being  well  known,  it  is  but  natural  that  the  British  public  should  cordially  detest 
"grease  butter/'  The  London  Grocer  has  lately  printed  long  reports  of  trials  of 
sellers  of  the  adulterated  material ;  and  to  show  how  rigidly  the  penalties  against 
the  adulterations  are  enforced,  we  note  that  a  retailer  who  purchased  grease  butter, 
innocently  supposing  it  to  be  genuine  cream  butter,  and  who  sold  it  to  a  customer 
as  the  latter,  was  nevertheless  fined  $50,  and  further  proceedings  were  ordered  to  be 
taken  against  the  wholesale  merchant  from  whom  he  obtained  his  supply. 
We  have  frequently  remarked  this  same  severe  dealing  in  England  with  every 
other  species  of  food  fraud.  At  the  same  time,  no  one  need  remain  in  ignorance 
as  to  what  constitutes  fraud,  because  the  parliamentary  reports  on  the  subject,  even 
in  respect  to  tobacco  and  other  unnecessary  luxuries  not  classified  as  food,  contain 
reliable  and  full  information  relating  thereto.  The  whole  matter  is  a  suggestive 
one  for  us  in  this  country.  Here  the  prosecution  of  a  retailer  by  a  private  citizen, 
because  of  the  former  selling  f  lb.  of  grease  for  1  lb.  genuine  butter,  as  in  the  above 
cited  instance,  would  be  considered  extraordinary.  Our  main  reliance  for  protec- 
tion is  in  the  vigilance  of  health  boards,  whose  jurisdiction  is  local  and  limited  in 
authority.  Hence,  in  most  cities,  we  may  look  in  vain  for  either  frequent  prosecu- 
tions or  reports  of  adulterations  prepared  under  official  auspices,  although  the  possi- 
bility of  such  reports  being  compiled  is  plainly  indicated  by  the  admirable  yearly  work 
of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Health.  Reports,  however,  can  merely  warn  us 
of  evils  in  the  shape  of  food  adulterations,  under  which  we  shall  probably  continue 
to  suffer  until  penalties  are  enforced,  as  rigidly  here  as  they  are  in  England,  against 
each  and  every  retailer  who  wittingly  or  unwittingly  sells  a  spurious  article. — Scient. 
Amer.t  December  2,  1876. 
Varnish  for  Silverware. — Gum  elemi,  30  parts ;  white  amber,  45  ;  charcoal, 
30;  spirits  of  turpentine,  375.  It  must  be  used  in  a  heated  state,  the  metal  to 
which  it  is  to  be  applied  being  also  heated. — Scient.  dmer.,  Nov.  11,  1876. 
MINUTES  OF  THE  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETING. 
The  second  meeting  of  the  Session  was  held  November  21st,  1876,  Dillwyn 
Parrish,  President,  in  the  chair.  The  minutes  of  the  previous  meeting  were  read 
and  approved. 
