Chapter III: Part 3

"1 cwt., containing 224 potatoes, sold in two
evenings, at 1_d._ each £0 18 8
Deduct cost 0 4 0
-------
£0 14 8
3
-------
Six evenings' sale £2 4 0
Pay baker at the rate of 8_d._ per evening for
baking potatoes 0 4 0
-------
Net profit per week £2 0 0"

One more specimen of these baits for gudgeon, and we have done. We frequently see appeals to the benevolent for the loans of small sums. Some of these are doubtless written by innocent persons in distress, who confide in the good side of human nature; and we have been given to understand that in many cases this blind confidence has not been misplaced; for there are many Samaritans who read the papers nowadays, and feel a romantic pleasure in answering such appeals: at the same time, we are afraid that the great majority of them are gross deceptions. The veritable whine of "the poor broken-down tradesman" who makes a habit of visiting our quiet streets and appealing, in a very solemn voice, to "my brethren" for the loan of a small trifle, whilst he anxiously scans the windows for the halfpence, is observable, for instance, in the following cool appeal:--

To the Benevolent.--A Young Tradesman has, from a series of
misfortunes, been reduced to the painful necessity of asking for a
trifling SUM to enable him to raise 10_l._ to save himself from
inevitable ruin and poverty; or if any gentleman would lend the above
it would be faithfully repaid. Satisfactory references as to the
genuineness of this case.--Direct to A.Z., Mr. Rigby's, Post-Office,
Mile-end Road.

The receipt of conscience-money is constantly acknowledged in advertisements by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day, and the sums which in this manner find their way into the Exchequer are by no means inconsiderable. It is honourable to human nature, amid all the roguery we have exposed, to find that now and then some conscience is touched by a very small matter, and that great trouble and no little expense is often gone to in order that others may not suffer through the inadvertency or carelessness of the advertiser. The following is a delicate example:--

To Hackney-Coachmen.--About the month of March last, a gentleman from
the country took a coach from Finsbury Square, and accidentally broke
the glass of one of its windows. Being unwell at the time, the
circumstance was forgotten when he quitted the coach, and it would now
be a great relief to his mind to be put in a situation to pay the
coachman for it. Should this meet the eye of the person who drove the
coach, and he will make application to A. B., at Walker's Hotel, Dean
Street, Soho, any morning during the next week, before eleven o'clock,
proper attention will be paid to it.--_Times_, 1842.

The more curious advertisements which from time to time appear in the public journals, but particularly in the _Times_, do not admit of classification; and they are so numerous, moreover, that if we were to comment upon one tithe of those that have appeared within the last six years, we should far exceed the limits of this article. We make no apology, therefore, for stringing together the following very odd lot:--

Do you want a servant?--Necessity prompts the question.--The
advertiser OFFERS his SERVICES to any lady or gentleman, company, or
others, in want of a truly faithful confidential servant in any
capacity not menial, where a practical knowledge of human nature, in
various parts of the world, would be available. Could undertake any
affair of small or great importance, where talent, inviolable secrecy,
or good address would be necessary. Has moved in the best and worst
societies without being contaminated by either; has never been a
servant; begs to recommend himself as one who knows his place; is
moral, temperate, middle-aged; no objection to any part of the world.
Could advise any capitalist wishing to increase his income, and have
the control of his own money. Could act as secretary or valet to any
lady or gentleman. Can give advice or hold his tongue, sing, dance,
play, fence, box, or preach a sermon, tell a story, be grave or gay,
ridiculous or sublime, or do anything, from the curling of a peruke to
the storming of a citadel, but never to excel his master.--Address, A.
B. C., 7, Little St. Andrew Street, Leicester Square.--_Times_, 1850.

The Mighty Angel's Midnight Roar.--"Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go
ye out to meet him." This awful cry, as is demonstrated, will very
shortly be heard, viz.: at the commencement of "the great day (or
year) of God's wrath," or the last of the 2,300 days (or years) in
Daniel's prophecy. By the authors of "Proofs of the Second Coming of
Messiah at the Passover in 1848." Price 6_d._ Fourth Edition.

This is a Muggletonian prophecy of the destruction of the world at a certain date. The prediction failed, however, and the prophet found it necessary to explain the reason:--

The Mighty Angel's Midnight Roar.--The authors, owing to their
disappointment, most sedulously investigated its cause, and instantly
announce its discovery. Daniel's vision, in chap. 8, was for 2,300
years, to the end of which (see 5-12) the "little horn" was to
practise and prosper, after which comes the year of God's wrath, which
was erroneously included in the 2,300 years, and thus the midnight cry
will be a year later than stated.--_Times_, 1851.

To P. Q. How Is Your Mother? I shan't inquire further, and must
decline entering upon the collateral branches of the family.--_Times_,
1842.

To Widowers and Single Gentlemen.--WANTED, by a lady, a SITUATION to
superintend the household and preside at table. She is agreeable,
becoming, careful, desirable, English, facetious, generous, honest,
industrious, judicious, keen, lively, merry, natty, obedient,
philosophic, quiet, regular, sociable, tasteful, useful, vivacious,
womanish, xantippish, youthful, zealous, &c.--Address, X. Y. Z.,
Simmond's Library, Edgeware Road.--_Times._

The Title of an Ancient Baron. Mr. George Robins is empowered to SELL
the TITLE and DIGNITY of a BARON. The origin of the family, its
ancient descent, and illustrious ancestry, will be fully developed to
those and such only as desire to possess this distinguished rank for
the inconsiderable sum of 1,000_l._ Covent-garden Market.--_Times_,
1841.

Postage stamps. A young lady, being desirous of covering her
dressing-room with cancelled POSTAGE STAMPS, has been so far
encouraged in her wish by private friends as to have succeeded in
collecting 16,000! these, however, being insufficient, she will be
greatly obliged if any good-natured persons who may have these
(otherwise useless) little articles at their disposal would assist in
her whimsical project. Address to E. D., Mr. Butt's, glover,
Leadenhall Street; or Mr. Marshall's, jeweller, Hackney.--_Times_,
1841.

To the Theatrical Profession.--WANTED, for a Summer Theatre and
Circuit, a Leading Lady, Singing Chambermaid, First Low Comedian,
Heavy Man, Walking Gentleman, and one or two Gentlemen for Utility. To
open July 9th.

Address (enclosing Stamp for reply) to Mr. J. WINDSOR, Theatre Royal,
Preston, Lancashire.--_Era_, July 1, 1855.

Wanted a Man and his Wife to look after a Horse and Dairy with a
religious turn of mind without any incumbrance.

The variety is perhaps as astonishing as the number of advertisements in the _Times_. Like the trunk of an elephant, no matter seems too minute or too gigantic, too ludicrous or too sad, to be lifted into notoriety by the giant of Printing-house Square. The partition of a thin rule suffices to separate a call for the loan of millions from the sad weak cry of the destitute gentlewoman to be allowed to slave in a nursery "for the sake of a home." Vehement love sends its voice imploring through the world after a graceless boy, side by side with the announcement of the landing of a cargo of lively turtle, or the card of a bug-killer. The poor lady who advertises for boarders "merely for the sake of society" finds her "want" cheek-by-jowl with some Muggletonian announcement gratuitously calculated to break up society altogether, to the effect that the world will come to an end by the middle of the next month. Or the reader is informed that for twelve postage stamps he may learn "How to obtain a certain fortune," exactly opposite an offer of a bonus of 500_l._ to any one who will obtain for the advertiser "a Government situation." The _Times_ reflects every want, and appeals to every motive which affects our composite society. And why does it do this? Because of its ubiquity: go where we will, there, like the house-fly or the sparrow, we find it. The porter reads it in his beehive-chair, the master in his library; Green, we have no doubt, takes it with him to the clouds in his balloon, and the collier reads it in the depths of the mine; the workman at his bench, the lodger in his two-pair back, the gold-digger in his hole, and the soldier in the trench, pore over its broad pages. Hot from the press, or months old, still it is read. That it is, _par excellence_, the national paper, and reflects more than any other the life of the people, may be gathered from its circulation. They show in the editor's room a singular diagram, which indicates by an irregular line the circulation day by day and year by year. On this sheet the gusts of political feeling and the pressure of popular excitement are as minutely indicated as the force and direction of the wind are shown by the self-registering apparatus in Lloyd's Rooms. Thus we find that in the year 1845 it ran along at a pretty nearly dead level of 23,000 copies daily. In 1846--for one day, the 28th of January, that on which the report of Sir Robert Peel's statement respecting the Corn Laws appeared--it rose in a towering peak to a height of 51,000, and then fell again to its old number. It began the year 1848 with 29,000, and rose to 43,000 on the 29th of February--the morrow of the French revolution. In 1852 its level at starting was 36,000, and it attained to the highest point it has yet touched on the 19th of November, the day of the Memoir of the Great Duke, when 69,000 copies were sold. In January, 1853, the level had arisen to 40,000; and at the commencement of the present year it stood at 58,000, a circulation which has since increased to 60,000 copies daily! Notwithstanding all the disturbing causes which make the line of its circulation present the appearance of hill and dale, sometimes rising into Alp-like elevations, its ordinary level at the beginning of each year for some time past has constantly gone on advancing; insomuch that within ten years its circulation has more than doubled by 7,000 daily.

This vigorous growth is the true cause of that wonderful determination of advertisements to its pages, which have overflowed into a second paper, or supplement, as it was formerly called. That this success has been fairly won, we have never ourselves doubted; but a fact has come to our knowledge which will pretty clearly prove that this great paper is conducted on principles which are superior to mere money considerations; or rather its operations are so large that it can afford to inflict upon itself pecuniary losses, such as would annihilate any other journal, in order to take a perfectly free course. In the year 1845, when the railway mania was at its height, the _Times_ advertising sheet was overrun with projected lines, and many a guess was made, we remember, at the time as to their probable value; but high as the estimates generally were, they came far short of the truth. We give the cash and credit returns of advertisements of all kinds for nine weeks:--

Sept. 6 £2839 14 0
" 13 3783 12 0
" 20 3935 7 6
" 27 4692 7 0
Oct. 4 6318 14 0
" 11 6543 17 0
" 18 6687 4 0
" 25 6025 14 6
Nov. 1 3230 3 6

During the greater part of the time that the proprietors were reaping this splendid harvest from the infatuation of the people, the heaviest guns were daily brought to bear from the leading columns upon the bubbles which rose up so thickly in the advertising sheet. The effect of their fire may be measured by the falling off of nearly 3,000_l._ in the returns for a single week. A journal which could afford to sacrifice such a revenue to its independence, certainly deserved some consideration from the Government; but, on the contrary, it appears to have been singled out for annoyance by the act which relates to newspapers. We see certain trees on our lawns whose upshooting branches are by ingenious gardeners trained downwards, and taught to hold themselves in a dependent condition by the imposition of weights upon their extremities. The state gardeners have applied the same treatment to the journal in question, by hanging an extra halfpenny stamp upon every copy of its issue--a proceeding which, in our opinion, is as unfair as it is injudicious: and this they will find in the future, when the crowd of mosquito-like cheap journals called forth by the measure, and supported by the very life-blood of the leading journal, begin to gather strength and to attack Whiggery with their democratic buzz.

We have dwelt chiefly upon the advertising sheet of the _Times_, because it is the epitome of that in all the other journals. It must be mentioned, however, that some of the morning and weekly papers lay themselves out for class advertisements. Thus the _Morning Post_ monopolizes all those which relate to fashion and high life; and the _Morning Advertiser_, the paper of the licensed victuallers, aggregates to itself every announcement relating to their craft. _Bell's Life_ is one mass of advertisements of various sports; the _Era_ is great upon all theatricals; the _Athenæum_ gathers to itself a large proportion of book advertisements. The _Illustrated News_ among the weeklies, like the _Times_ among the dailies, towers by the head above them all. A hebdomadal circulation of 170,000 draws a far more cosmopolitan collection of announcements to its pages than any of its contemporaries can boast. We have said nothing of the advertisements in the provincial journals; but it is gratifying to find that they have more than kept pace with those which have appeared in the metropolitan papers. Their enormous increase is best shown by the returns of the advertisement duty; from which it appears that in 1851 no less than 2,334,593 advertisements were published in the journals of Great Britain and Ireland--a number which has vastly augmented since the tax upon them has been repealed.

It is curious to see the estimate which the different journals place upon themselves as mediums of publicity, by comparing their charges for the same advertisement. Thus the contents of the _Quarterly Review_ for January, 1855, precisely similar as far as length is concerned, was charged for insertion as an advertisement by the different papers as follows:--_Times_, 4s.; _Illustrated News_, 1_l._ 8s.; _Morning Chronicle_, 5s. 6d.; _Morning Post_, 6s.; _Daily News_, 5s. 6d.; _Spectator_, 7s. 6d.; _Morning Herald_, 6s.; _Punch_, 15s.; _Observer_, 9s. 6d.; _English Churchman_, 5s. 6d.; _Examiner_, 3s. 6d.; _John Bull_, 5s. 6d.; _Athenæum_, 10s. 6d. Now the _Times_ did not "display" the advertisement as all the others did, it is true, and therefore squeezed it into half the space; but with this difference, its charge was absolutely the lowest in the list, with the single exception of that of the _Examiner_. How this moderation on the part of the Leading Journal is to be accounted for we know not; but the apparent dearness of the _Illustrated News_ meets a ready solution, and affords us an opportunity of showing how vastly the prime cost of an advertisement, during the present high price of paper especially, is augmented by a great increase of the circulation of the paper in which it appears, and what the advertiser really gets for his money. If we take the advertisement of our contents (_Quarterly Review_), it will be found to measure about one inch in depth; it is obvious, then, that we must multiply this measure by 170,000, the number of separate copies in which it appeared. Now 170,000 inches yield a strip of printed paper the width of a newspaper column--_upwards of two miles and three-quarters long!_ Thus we have at a glance the real amount of publicity which is procurable in a great journal; and with so remarkable a statement it will be well to close our paper.

FOOD AND ITS ADULTERATIONS.

A story is told of a European who, wishing to convince a Brahmin of the folly of his faith in interdicting, as an article of food, anything that once possessed life, showed him, by the aid of the microscope, that the very water which he drank was full of living things. The Indian, thus suddenly introduced to an unseen world, dashed the instrument to the ground, and reproached his teacher for having so wantonly destroyed the guiding principle of his life. We, too, have at home a Hindoo, in the shape of the believing British public, to whose eye Dr. Hassall nicely adjusts the focus of his microscope, and bids him behold what unseen villanies are daily perpetrated upon his purse and person.

The world at large has almost forgotten Accum's celebrated work, "Death in the Pot;" a new generation has indeed sprung up since it was written, and fraudulent tradesmen and manufacturers have gone on in silence, and, up to this time, in security, falsifying the food and picking the pockets of the people. Startling indeed as were the revelations in that remarkable book, yet it had little effect in reforming the abuses it exposed. General denunciations of grocers did not touch individuals of the craft, and they were consequently not driven to improve the quality of their wares. The _Lancet_ Commission went to work in a different manner. In Turkey, when of old they caught a baker giving false weight, or adulterating the staff of life, they nailed his ear to the door-post, "pour encourager les autres." Dr. Hassall, like a modern Al Raschid, perambulated the town himself, or sent his trustworthy agents to purchase articles, upon all of which the inexorable microscope was set to work, and every fraudulent sample, after due notice given, subjected its vendor to be pinned for ever to the terrible pages of the Commissioners' report. In this manner direct responsibility was obtained. If the falsification denounced was not the work of the retailer, he was glad enough to shift the blame upon the manufacturer; and thus the truth came out.

A gun suddenly fired into a rookery could not cause a greater commotion than this publication of the names of dishonest tradesmen; nor does the daylight, when you lift a stone, startle ugly and loathsome things more quickly than the pencil of light, streaming through a quarter-inch lens, surprised in their naked ugliness the thousand and one illegal substances which enter more or less into every description of food that it will pay to adulterate. Nay, to such a pitch of refinement has the art of falsification of alimentary substances reached, that the very articles used to adulterate are adulterated; and while one tradesman is picking the pockets of his customers, a still more cunning rogue is, unknown to himself, deep in his own!

The manner in which food is adulterated is not only one of degree, but of kind. The most simple of all sophistications, and that which is most harmless, is the mixture of inferior qualities of the same substance. Indeed, if the price charged were according to quality, it would be no fraud at all; but this adjustment rarely takes place. Secondly, the mixture of cheaper articles of another kind. Thirdly, the surreptitious introduction of materials which, taken in large quantities, are prejudicial to health; and, fourthly, the admixture of the most deadly poisons in order to improve the appearance of the article "doctored."

The microscope alone is capable of detecting at one operation the nature and extent of the more harmless but general of these frauds. When once the investigator, by the aid of that instrument, has become familiar with the configurations of different kinds of the same chemically composed substances, he is armed with far greater detective power than chemical agents could provide him with. It is beyond the limit of the test-tube to show the mind the various forms of animal and vegetable life which exist in impure water; delicate as are its powers, it could not indicate the presence of the sugar-insect, or distinguish with unerring nicety an admixture of the common Circuma arrowroot with the finer Maranta. Chemistry is quite capable of telling the component parts of any article: what are the definite forms and natures of the various ingredients which enter into a mixture, it cannot so easily answer. This the microscope can at once effect; and in its present application consists Dr. Hassall's advantage over all previous investigators in the same field. The precision with which he is enabled to state the result of his labours leaves no appeal: he shows his reader the intimate structures of a coffee-grain, and of oak or mahogany sawdust; and then a specimen of the two combined, sold under the title of genuine Mocha. Many manufacturers and retailers who have been detected falsifying the food of the public, have threatened actions; but they all flinched from the test of this unerring instrument.

The system of adulteration is so wide-spread, and embraces so many of the items of the daily meal, that we scarcely know where to begin--what corner of the veil first to lift. Let us hold up the cruet-frame, for example, and analyze its contents. There is mustard, pepper (black and cayenne), vinegar, anchovy and Harvey sauce--so thinks the unsuspecting reader; let us show him what else beside. To begin with mustard. "Best Durham," or "Superfine Durham," no doubt it was purchased for; but we will summarily dismiss this substance by stating that it is impossible to procure it pure at all: out of forty-two samples bought by Dr. Hassall at the best as well as inferior shops, all were more or less adulterated with wheaten flour for bulk, and with turmeric for colour. Vinegar also suffers a double adulteration. It is first watered, and then pungency is given to it by the addition of sulphuric acid. A small quantity of this acid is allowed by law; and this is frequently trebled by the victuallers. The pepper-castor is another stronghold of fraud--fraud so long and openly practised, that we question if the great mass of the perpetrators even think they are doing wrong. Among the milder forms of sophistication to which this article is subjected, are to be found such ingredients as wheaten flour, ground rice, ground mustard-seeds, and linseed-meal. The grocer maintains a certain reserve as to the generality of the articles he employs in vitiating his wares; but pepper he seems to think is given up to him by the public to "cook" in any manner he thinks fit. This he almost invariably does by the addition of what is known in the trade as P. D., or pepper-dust, _alias_ the sweepings from the pepper warehouses. But there is a lower depth still: P. D. is too genuine a commodity for some markets, and it is accordingly mixed with D. P. D., or dirt of pepper-dust.

A little book, published not long since, entitled "The Successful Merchant," which gives the minute trade history of a gentleman very much respected in Bristol, Samuel Budgett, Esq., affords us a passage bearing upon this P. D. which is worthy of notice.

"In Mr. Budgett's early days," says his biographer, "pepper was under
a heavy tax, and in the trade universal tradition said that out of the
trade everybody expected pepper to be mixed. In the shop stood a cask
labelled P. D., containing something _very like_ pepper-dust,
wherewith it was usual to mix the pepper before sending it forth to
serve the public. The trade tradition had obtained for the apocryphal
P. D. a place amongst the standard articles of the shop, and on the
strength of that tradition it was vended for pepper by men who thought
they were honest. But as Samuel went on in life, his ideas on trade
morality grew clearer; this P. D. began to give him much discomfort.
He thought upon it till he was satisfied that, after all that could be
said, the thing was wrong: arrived at this conclusion, he felt that no
blessing could light upon the place while it was there. He instantly
decreed that P. D. should perish. It was night; but back he went to
the shop, took the hypocritical cask, carried it out to the quarry,
then staved it, and scattered P. D. among the clods and slag and
stones."

Would we could say that the reduction of the tax upon pepper had stimulated the honesty of other grocers to act a similar part to that of Mr. Budgett; but P. D. flourishes as flagrantly as ever; and if every possessor of the article in London were to stave his casks in the roadway, as conscientiously as did the "Successful Merchant," there would be hard work for the scavengers. In the days of Accum it was usual to manufacture peppercorns out of oiled linseed-cake, clay, and cayenne-pepper, formed into a mass, and then granulated: these fraudulent corns were mixed with the real to the extent of seventeen per cent. This form of imposition, like that of wooden nutmegs among our American friends, has, we are happy to say, long been abandoned. The adulterations we have mentioned are simply dirty and fraudulent; but in the cayenne-cruet we find, in addition, a deadly poison. Out of twenty-eight samples submitted to examination, no less than twenty-four were adulterated with white mustard-seed, brickdust, salt, ground rice, and _deal sawdust_, by way of giving bulk; but as all of these tend to lighten the colour, it is necessary to heighten it to the required pitch. And what is employed to do this? Hear and tremble, old Indians and lovers of high-seasoned food--with RED LEAD. Out of twenty-eight samples, red lead, and _often in poisonous quantities_, was present in thirteen! Who knows how many "yellow admirals" at Bath have fallen victims to their cayenne-cruets? Nor can it be said that the small quantity taken at a time could do no permanent mischief; for lead belongs to the class of poisons which are cumulative in their effects.

He who loves cayenne, as a rule is fond of curry-powder; and here also the poisonous oxide is to be found in large quantities. Some years ago, a certain amiable duke recommended the labouring population, during a season of famine, to take a pinch of this condiment every morning before going to work, as "warm and comforting to the stomach." If they had followed his advice, thirteen out of every twenty-eight persons would have imbibed a slow poison. Those who are in the habit of using curry, generally take it in considerable quantities, and thus the villanous falsification plays a more deadly part than even in cayenne-pepper. Imagine a man for years pertinaciously painting his stomach with red lead! We do not know whether medical statistics prove that paralysis prevails much among "Nabobs;" but of this we may be sure, that there could be no more fruitful source of it than the two favourite stimulants we have named.

The great staple articles of food are not subject to adulteration in the same proportion as many other articles of minor demand. We need scarcely say that meat is exempt so long as it remains in the condition of joints; but immediately it is prepared in any shape in which its original fibre and form can be hidden, the spirit of craft begins to work. The public have always had certain prejudices against sausages and polonies, for example; and, if we are to believe a witness examined on oath before the Smithfield Market Commissioners in 1850, not without reason. It is a very old joke that there are no live donkeys to be found within twenty miles of Epping; but if all the asinine tribe in England were to fall victims to the chopping-machine, we question if they could supply the _à-la-mode_, polony, and sausage establishments. Mr. J. Harper, for instance, being under examination, upon being asked what became of the diseased meat brought into London, replied:--

"It is purchased by the soup-shops, sausage-makers, the _à-la-mode_
beef and meat-pie shops, &c. There is one soup-shop, I believe, doing
five hundred pounds per week in diseased meat. This firm has a large
_foreign_ trade [thank goodness!]. The trade in diseased meat is very
alarming, as anything in the shape of flesh can be sold at about one
penny per pound, or eightpence per stone.... I am certain that if one
hundred carcases of cows were lying dead in the neighbourhood of
London, I could get them all sold within twenty-four hours: _it don't
matter what they died of_."

It must not be imagined that the _à-la-mode_ beef interest is supplied with this carrion by needy men, whose necessities may in some degree palliate their evil dealings. In proof of this we quote further from Mr. Harper's evidence. In answer to the question, "Is there any slaughtering of bad meat in the country for the supply of the London market?" he says,--

"The London market is very extensively supplied with diseased meat
from the country. There are three insurance offices in London in which
graziers can insure their beasts from disease. It was the practice of
one of these offices to send the unsound animals dying from disease to
their own slaughter-houses, situate a hundred and sixty miles from
London, to be dressed and sent to the London market.... Cattle, sheep,
&c., are insured against all kinds of diseases; and one of the
conditions is, that the diseased animal, when dead, becomes the
property of the insurance company, the party insuring receiving
two-thirds of the value of the animal and one-third of the salvage;
or, in other words, one-third of the amount the beast is sold for when
dead."

Upon being asked, "Do you believe it is still the habit of this company to send up the diseased animals to London?" he replied,--

"Yes, I do; until lately they were regularly consigned to a
meat-salesman in Newgate market of the name of Mathews.... The larger
quantities are sold to people who manufacture it into soup, meat-pies,
sausages, &c."

We have no wish to destroy the generally robust appetite of the persons who visit such shops by any gratuitous disclosure; but we question whether the most hungry crossing-sweeper would look any more with a longing eye upon the huge German sausages, rich and inviting as they appear, if, like Mr. Harper, he knew the too probable antecedents of their contents. The only other preparations of flesh open to adulteration are preserved meats. Some years ago, "the Goldner canister business" so excited the public against this invaluable method of storing perishing articles of food, that a prejudice has existed against it ever since; and a more senseless prejudice could not be. Goldner's process, since adopted by Messrs. Cooper and Aves, is simple and beautiful. The provisions, being placed in tin canisters having their covers soldered down, are plunged up to their necks in a bath of chloride of calcium (a preparation which imbibes a great heat without boiling), and their contents are speedily cooked; at the same time all the air in the meat, and some of the water, are expelled in the form of steam, which issues from a pin-hole in the lid. The instant the cook ascertains the process to be complete, he drops a plug of solder upon the hole, and the mass is thus hermetically sealed. Exclusion of air, and coagulation of the albumen, are the two conditions which enable us to hand the most delicate-flavoured meats down to remote generations,--for as long, in fact, as a stout painted tin canister can maintain itself intact against the oxidating effect of the atmosphere. We have ourselves partaken lately of a duck that was winged, and of milk that came from the cow, as long as eight years ago. Fruit which had been gathered whilst the free-trade struggle was still going on, we found as delicate in flavour as though it had just been plucked from the branch. Out of the many cases of all kinds of provisions opened and examined by Dr. Hassall, scarcely any have been found to be bad. When we remember that the graves of so many of our soldiers in the Crimea may be justly inscribed, "Died of salt pork," we cannot forbear to call attention to a neglected means of feeding our troops with good and nutritious food, instead of with the tough fibre called meat, from which half the blood-making qualities have been extracted by the process of boiling, whilst the remaining half is rendered indigestible by the action of salt, and poisonous by the extraction of one of its most important constituents. It would seem as if we were living in the days of Anson, who lost 626 men of scurvy, out of a crew of 961, before he could reach the island of Juan Fernandez, or of the still later cruise of Sir C. Hardy, who sent 3,500 to hospital with this fatal disease, after a six weeks' sail with the Channel fleet. It may be urged that the sailors in the late war did not sicken on salt pork; but while they had the necessary amount of potass, which the stomach requires to make blood, in the lime-juice served out to them, our troops were without this indispensable accompaniment, and consequently died. In the preserved meats, which are made up with potatoes and other vegetables, the needful potass exists, and such food may be purchased as cheaply as the pernicious salt junk which is patronized by the Government.

Bread, the great blood-producer, claims particular attention. It often surprises persons who walk about the metropolis to find that prices vary according to the locality; thus the loaf that costs in the Borough or the New Cut 7_d._ a quartern, is 10-1/2_d._ at the West End. Can plate-glass windows and rent cause all this difference? Certainly not. We are glad, however, to find that many of the adulterations mentioned by our older writers have vanished with free trade. Prince and Accum mention plaster of Paris, bone-dust, the meal of other cereal grains, white clay, alum, sulphate of copper, potatoes, &c. All of these sophistications have disappeared, with the exception of potatoes, which are occasionally employed when the difference between their value and that of flour makes it worth while for the baker or miller to introduce them. When we see a loaf marked under the market price, we may rest assured that it is made of flour ground from inferior and damaged wheat. In order to bring this up to the required colour, and to destroy the sour taste which often belongs to it, bakers are in the habit of introducing a mixture called in the trade "hards" and "stuff," which is nothing more than alum and salt, kept prepared in large quantities by the druggists. The quantity of alum necessary to render bread white is certainly not great--Mitchell found that it ranged from 116 grains to 34-1/2 grains in the four-pound loaf; but the great advantage the baker derives from it, in addition to improving the colour of his wares, is, that it absorbs a large quantity of water, which he sells at the present time at the rate of 2_d._ a pound. Out of twenty-eight loaves of bread bought in every quarter of the metropolis, Dr. Hassall did not find one free from the adulteration of alum; and in some of the samples he found considerable quantities. As a general rule, the lower the neighbourhood, the cheaper the bread, and the greater the quantity of this "hards" or "stuff" introduced. We must not, however, lay all the blame upon the baker. This was satisfactorily shown by the Sanitary Commissioners, when dealing with the bread sold by the League Bread Company, whose advertisement to the following effect is constantly to be seen in the _Times_:--

"The object for which the above company was established, and is now in
operation, is to insure to the public bread of a pure and nutritious
character. Experience daily proves how much our health is dependent
upon the quality and purity of our food; consequently, how important
it is that an article of such universal consumption as bread should be
free from adulteration. That various diseases are caused by the use of
_alum_ and other deleterious ingredients in the manufacture of bread,
the testimony of many eminent men will fully corroborate. Pure
unadulterated bread, full weight, best quality, and the lowest
possible price."

Upon several samples of this _pure bread_, purchased of various agents of the company, being tested, they were found to be contaminated with _alum_! Here was a discovery. The company protested that the analyses were worthless; and all their workmen made a solemn declaration that they had never used any alum whilst in their employ. The agents of the company also declared that they never sold any but their bread. The analyst looked again through his microscope, and again reiterated his charge, that alum their bread contained. It was then agreed to test the flour supplied to the company, and three samples were proved to contain the obnoxious material. Thus we find that the miller still, in some instances, maintains his doubtful reputation, and is at the bottom of this roguery.

Our succeeding remarks will fall, we fear, like a bomb upon many a tea-table, and stagger teetotalism in its stronghold. A drunkard's stomach is sometimes exhibited at total-abstinence lectures, in every stage of congestion and inflammation, painted up to match the fervid eloquence of the lecturer. If tea is our only refuge from the frightful maladies entailed upon us by fermented liquors, we fear the British public is in a perplexing dilemma. Ladies, there is death in the teapot! Green-tea drinkers, beware! There has always been a vague idea afloat in the public mind about hot copper plates--a suspicion that gunpowder and hyson do not come by their colour honestly. The old duchess of Marlborough used to boast that she came into the world before "nerves were in fashion." We feel half inclined to believe this joke had a great truth in it; for since the introduction of tea, nervous complaints of all kinds have greatly increased; and we need not look far to find one at least of the causes in the teapot. There is no such a thing as pure green tea to be met with in England. It is adulterated in China; and we have lately learnt to adulterate it at home almost as well as the cunning Asiatic. The pure green tea made from the most delicate green leaves grown upon manured soil, such as the Chinese use themselves, is, it is true, wholly untainted; and we are informed that its beautiful bluish bloom, like that upon a grape, is given by the third process of roasting which it undergoes. The enormous demand for a moderately-priced green tea which has arisen both in England and China since the opening of the trade, has led the Hong merchants to imitate this peculiar colour; and this they do so successfully as to deceive the ordinary judges of the article. Black tea is openly coloured in the neighbourhood of Canton in the most wholesale manner.

Mr. Robert Fortune, in his very interesting work, "The Tea Districts of China and India," gives us a good description of the manner in which this colouring process is performed, as witnessed by himself:--

"Having procured a portion of Prussian-blue, he threw it into a
porcelain bowl, not unlike a chemist's mortar, and crushed it into a
very fine powder. At the same time a quantity of gypsum was produced
and burned in the charcoal fires which were then roasting the teas.
The object of this was to soften it, in order that it might be readily
pounded into a very fine powder, in the same manner as the
Prussian-blue had been. The gypsum, having been taken out of the fire
after a certain time had elapsed, readily crumbled down, and was
reduced to powder in the mortar. These two substances, having been
thus prepared, were then mixed together in the proportion of four
parts of gypsum to three parts of Prussian-blue, and formed a light
blue powder, which was then ready for use.

"This colouring matter was applied to the teas during the process of
roasting. About five minutes before the tea was removed from the
pans--the time being regulated by the burning of a joss-stick--the
superintendent took a small porcelain spoon, and with it he scattered
a portion of the colouring matter over the leaves in each pan. The
workmen then turned the leaves round rapidly with both hands, in order
that the colour might be equally diffused. During this part of the
operation the hands of the workmen were quite blue. I could not help
thinking, if any green-tea drinkers had been present during the
operation, their taste would have been corrected, and, I believe,
improved.

"One day an English gentleman in Shanghae, being in conversation with
some Chinese from the green-tea country, asked them what reason they
had for dyeing the tea, and whether it would not be better without
undergoing this process. They acknowledged that tea was much better
when prepared without having any such ingredients mixed with it, and
that _they never drank dyed teas_ themselves, but justly remarked,
that, as foreigners seemed _to prefer having a mixture of
Prussian-blue and gypsum with their tea_ to make it look uniform and
pretty, and as these ingredients were cheap enough, the Chinese had no
objection to supply them, especially as such teas always fetched a
higher price.

"I took some trouble to ascertain precisely the quantity of colouring
matter used in the process of dyeing green teas, not certainly with
the view of assisting others, either at home or abroad, in the art of
colouring, but simply to show green-tea drinkers in England, and more
particularly in the United States of America, what _quantity_ of
Prussian-blue and gypsum they imbibe in the course of one year. To
14-1/2 lbs. were applied 8 mace 2-1/2 candareens of colouring matter,
or rather more than an ounce. To every hundred pounds of coloured
green-tea consumed in England or America, the consumer actually drinks
more than half a pound of Prussian-blue and gypsum. And yet, tell the
drinkers of this coloured tea that the Chinese eat cats and dogs, and
they will hold up their hands in amazement, and pity the poor
Celestials."

If the Chinese use it in these quantities to tinge the genuine leaf, how much more must the English employ in making up afresh exhausted leaves! That every spoonful of hyson or gunpowder contains a considerable quantity of this deleterious dye will be seen by any one who places a pinch upon a fine sieve, and pours upon it a gentle stream of water, when the tinging of the liquid will show at once the extent of the adulteration, and the folly of drinking painted tea. Assam tea, though not so inviting in colour, is free from adulteration. A word to the wise is enough.

Of fifty samples of green tea analyzed by Dr. Hassall, all were adulterated. There is one particular kind which is almost entirely a manufactured article--gunpowder, both black and green--the former being called scented caper. Both have a large admixture of what is termed "lye tea," or a compound of sand, dirt, tea-dust, and broken-down portions of other leaves worked together with gum into small nodules. This detestable compound, which, according to Mr. Warrington,[3] who has analyzed it, contains forty-five per cent. of earthy matter, is manufactured both in China and in England, for the express purpose of adulterating tea. When mixed with "scented caper," it is "faced" with black lead; when with gunpowder, Prussian-blue: turmeric and French chalk give it the required bloom. Mr. Warrington states that about 750,000 lbs. of this spurious tea have been imported into Great Britain within eighteen months! Singularly enough, the low-priced teas are the only genuine ones. Every sample of this class which was analyzed by Dr. Hassall proved to be perfectly pure. Here at least the poor have the advantage of the better classes, who pay a higher price to be injured in their health by a painted beverage.

The practice of redrying used-up leaves is also carried on to some extent in England. Mr. George Philips, of the Inland Revenue Office, states that in 1843 there were no less than eight manufactories for the purpose of redrying tea-leaves in London alone, whilst there were many others in different parts of the country. These manufacturers had agents who bought up the used leaves from hotels, clubs, coffeehouses, &c., for twopence halfpenny and threepence per lb. With these leaves, others of various trees were used, and very fine pekoe still flourishes upon the hawthorn-bushes, sloe-trees, &c., around the metropolis. As late as the year 1851 the following account of the proceedings of one of these nefarious manufacturers appeared in the _Times_:--

"CLERKENWELL.--Edward South and Louisa his wife were placed at the
bar, before Mr. Combe, charged by Inspector Brennan, of the E
division, with being concerned in the manufacture of spurious tea. It
appeared, from the statement of the inspector, that, in consequence of
information that the prisoners and others were in the habit of
carrying on an extensive traffic in manufacturing spurious tea, on the
premises situate at 27-1/2, Clerkenwell Close, Clerkenwell Green, on
Saturday evening, at about seven o'clock, the witness, in company with
Serjeant Cole, proceeded to the house, where they found the prisoners
in an apartment busily engaged in the manufacture of spurious tea.
There was an extensive furnace, before which was suspended an iron
pan, containing sloe-leaves and tea-leaves, which they were in the
practice of purchasing from coffeeshop-keepers after being used. On
searching the place they found an immense quantity of used tea,
bay-leaves, and every description of spurious ingredients for the
purpose of manufacturing illicit tea, and they were mixed with a
solution of gum and a quantity of _copperas_. The woman was employed
in stirring about the bay-leaves and other composition with the
solution of gum in the pan; and in one part of the room there was a
large quantity of spurious stuffs, the exact imitation of genuine tea.
In a back room they found nearly a hundred pounds weight of redried
tea-leaves, bay-leaves, and sloe-leaves, all spread on the floor
drying.... Mr. Brennan added, that the prisoners had pursued this
nefarious traffic most extensively, and were in the habit of dealing
largely with grocers, chandlers, and others in the country."

This poisonous imitation green tea, "so largely supplied to country grocers," was no doubt used for adulterating other green teas already dosed with Prussian-blue, turmeric, &c. These have found their way into many a country home of small means. When the nephew comes on a visit, or the curate calls of an afternoon, the ordinary two spoonfuls of black are "improved" with "just a dash of green," and the poor innocent gentleman wonders afterwards what it can be that keeps him awake all night.

We often hear the remark from old-fashioned people that we have never had any good tea since the monopoly of the East-India Company was broken up: in this remark there is some truth and much error. There can be no possible doubt that the higher-priced teas have fallen off since the trade has been open, as the buyers of the company were perfectly aware of the frauds perpetrated by the Hong merchants, and never allowed a spurious article to be shipped. On the other hand, the great reduction which has taken place in the price of the common black teas, both on account of the cessation of monopoly and the reduction of the duty, has in a great measure destroyed the English manufacture of spurious tea from indigenous leaves. The extent to which this formerly took place may be judged from a report of the Committee of the House of Commons, in 1783, which states that no less than four millions of pounds were annually manufactured from sloe and ash leaves in different parts of England; and this, be it remembered, when the whole quantity of genuine tea sold by the East-India Company did not amount to more than six millions of pounds annually.

If the better class of black and all green teas[4] are thus vilely adulterated, the reader may fancy he can at least take refuge in coffee--alas! in too many cases he will only avoid Scylla to fall into Charybdis. Coffee, as generally sold in the metropolis and in all large towns, is adulterated even more than tea. The Treasury minute, which allowed it to be mixed with chicory, is at the head and front of the offending. In the year 1840, this celebrated minute was issued by the sanction of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir C. Wood, the immediate consequence of which was that grocers began to mix it with pure coffee in very large quantities, quite forgetting to inform the public of the nature of the mixture, and neglecting at the same time to lower the price. The evil became so flagrant that upon the installation of the Derby administration Mr. Disraeli promised to rescind this license to adulterate; but before the promise was redeemed, the administration was rescinded itself. Mr. Gladstone, upon his acceptance of office, loath, it appears, to injure the chicory interest, modified the original minute, but allowed the amalgamation to continue, provided the package was labelled "Mixture of Chicory and Coffee." It was speedily found, however, that this announcement became so confounded with other printing on the label that it was not easily distinguishable, and in consequence it was provided that the words, "This is sold as a mixture of Chicory and Coffee," should be printed by themselves on one side of the canister. It may be asked what is the nature of this ingredient, that the right to mix it with coffee should be maintained by two Chancellors of the Exchequer, during a period of fifteen years, as jealously as though it were some important principle of our constitution? Chicory, to say the best of it, is an insipid root, totally destitute of any nourishing or refreshing quality, being utterly deficient in any nitrogenized principle, whilst there are strong doubts whether it is not absolutely hurtful to the nervous system. Professor Beer, the celebrated oculist of Vienna, forbids the use of it to his patients, considering it to be the cause of amaurotic blindness. Even supposing it to be perfectly harmless, we have a material of the value of 8_d._ a pound, which the grocer is allowed to mix, _ad libitum_, with one worth 1_s._ 4_d._ If the poor got the benefit of the adulteration, there might be some excuse for permitting the admixture of chicory, but it is proved that the combination is sold in many shops at the same price as pure coffee.

Analyses made by Dr. Hassall of upwards of a hundred different samples of coffee, purchased in all parts of the metropolis before the issuing of the order for the labelling of the packages 'chicory and coffee,' proved that, in a great number of cases, articles sold as "finest Mocha," "choice Jamaica coffee," "superb coffee," &c., contained, in some instances, very little coffee at all; in others "only a fifth, a third, half," &c., the rest being made up mainly of chicory. Nothing is more indicative of the barefaced frauds perpetrated by grocers upon the public than the manner in which they go out of their way to puff in the grossest style the most abominable trash. The report of the sanitary commission gives many examples of these puff and announcements, which, we are informed, are kept set up at the printers, and may be had in any quantities. We quote one as an example:--

"JOHN ----'S COFFEE,

"_The richness, flavour, and strength of which are not to be
surpassed._

"Coffee has now become an article of consumption among all classes of
the community. Hence the importance of supplying an article of such a
character as to encourage its consumption in preference to beverages
the use of which promotes a vast amount of misery.

"John ----'s coffee meets the requirement of the age, and, as a
natural result, the celebrity to which it has attained is wholly
unparalleled. Its peculiarity consists in its possessing that rich
aromatic flavour, combined with great strength and deliciousness,
which is to be found alone in the choicest mountain growths. It may,
with perfect truth, be stated that no article connected with _domestic
economy_ has given such general satisfaction, and the demand for it is
rapidly increasing.

"John ----'s establishment, both for extent and capability, is the
first in the empire.

"Observe!

"Every canister of John ----'s coffee bears his signature, without
which none is _genuine_."

At the end of this puff the analyst places the words--

"_Adulterated with a considerable quantity of chicory!_"

More erudite grocers treat us to the puff literary, as in the following instance:--

"Rich-flavoured coffees fresh-roasted daily.

"USE OF COFFEE IN TURKEY.