ADULTERATION  OF  FOOD  AND  DRUGS. 
31 
flour,  salt,  soap,  turmeric,  ferruginous  earths,  Venetian  red,  and 
red  lead.  Arrowroot,  both  East  and  West  India,  with  sago, 
tapioca,  and  various  mixtures  and  combinations  of  these.  An- 
chovies, by  Dutch,  French,  and  Sicilian  fish,  colored  by  bole- 
Armenian  and  Venetian  red.  Bread,  with  mashed  potatoes, 
alum,  and  various  other  articles.  Coffee,  with  chicory,  roasted 
wheat,  rye,  and  bad  flour  and  bones.  Chicory  itself  with  the 
same  substances,  with  the  addition  of  Venetian  red,  umber,  &c. 
Curry  powder,  with  ground  rice,  red  lead,  &c.  Gin,  with  water, 
sugar,  cayenne,  &c.  Mustard,  with  wheat  flour,  turmeric,  &c. 
Preserves,  with  salts  of  copper  (chiefly  the  acetate,)  ground  rice, 
&c.  Vinegar,  with  water  and  sulphuric  acid.  Scammony,  with 
wheat  flour,  chalk,  &c." 
"  Annatto  is  a  coloring  substance,  and  is  used  largely  in  dyeing 
and  coloring  cheese  and  milk,  butter  and  cream  ;  it  is  largely 
imported,  and  is  a  very  expensive  article.  From  samples  of  it, 
chalk  was  present  in  twenty-one,  wheat  flour  in  four,  rye  in 
nine,  salt  in  nineteen,  and  an  oily  substance  (probably  soap) 
in  seven. 
"In  twenty-three  samples  of  opium,  no  less  than  nineteen  were 
adulterated,  chiefly  with  wheat  flour  and  poppy  capsules,  while 
the  active  principle  of  the  opium  was  only  present  in  the  pro- 
portion of  one  to  five.  Opium  was  one  of  the  most  important 
drugs,  especially  in  cholera  cases  and  delirium  tremens,  and  it 
was  essential  in  such  cases  it  should  be  good.  The  drugs  retailed 
at  Apothecaries'  Hall  might  be  taken  to  be  genuine.  He  had 
examined  four  or  five  samples,  and  had  never  met  with  an 
adulterated  article. 
With  regard  to  the  adulteration  of  drugs,  it  does  not  often  come 
under  the  notice  of  Apothecaries'  Hall.  They  buy  in  the  market 
the  best  that  can  be  procured,  and  although  there  may  be  adul- 
teration to  a  certain  extent — which  is  the  case  with  almost  every 
article — yet  the  public  may  be  certain  of  obtaining  the  purest 
the  market,  offers.  As  to  opium,  none  is  imported  pure.  The 
juices  obtained  from  the  poppy  will  never  dry  beyond  a  certain 
consistence ;  some  leaves  of  other  plants  are  therefore  added  to 
bring  it  into  a  cohesive  state — this  is  adulteration  in  one  sense. 
Everything  brought  at  the  "  Hall"  is  tested. 
In  answer  to  a  question  as  to  whether  the  variation  in  the  quality 
of  opium  might  not  seriously  affect  the  prescriptions  in  which  it 
