Adulteration.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 879, 4 January 1889, Page 8

Adulteration.

(Saturday Review.) Generally speaking, nothing whioh we eat or drink is what it seems ; everything is unreal and what it ought not to be, from marmalade, in the compounding of whioh the common turnip plays no insignificant part, te the 4 mixed pickles,’ into the curious composition of which wo do not on the present occasion propose to enter. Mr So-and-So, the butcher, palms off upon the unsuspecting customer American for .English beef and Australian ice-preserved mutton for the succulent flesh of the Southdown. Even fish is not all genuine, and we have evidence upon which we can absolutely rely that what is warranted 4 real turtle ’ is very frequently nothing but conger-eel. Then as to the beverages. There is surely no need to insist upon the fact that alien things have for many years entered largely into the composition of champagne, and that for one bottle of the genuine product of the vineyards of Rheims and Epernay and the other grape-growing districts of France, we get nineteen pints, quarts, and magnums of the most atrocious stuff ever invented for the poisoning of mankind. The political economists must explain it as best they-can ; but common sense tells us that adulteration increases in exact proportion to the consumption of food and liquorß. With the extra consumption of all in the shape of luxuries anil of most necessaries (or what are now re. garded as such) has come the increased adulteration of eatables and potables. That there has been a considerable fall in the prices of those commodities wherewith we furnish forth our tables must be admitted, and this is the only semblance of an argument which the vendors of adulterated articles can adduce iu reference to their dishonest practices. It would be interesting to trace the source of the innumerable products which are foisted upon the public as genuine, to a greater extent now than ever. It is unnecessary to state that such a method of procedure is surrounded by snares and pitfalls aa long as matters remain in their present state ; yet we hope in successive articles to give some indications of the quarters, foreign aa well as at home, which are the principal seats of the adulteration trade. Recent legislation has been very serviceable in checking the sale of ‘doctored’ food ; but Justice, though not entirely blind, is painfully slow, and for one dishonest trader or manufacturer who is brought within the meshes of the law one hundred escape punishment. Take the oase of the tobacconists and the cigar ‘merchants.’ It is positively appalling to reflect upon the injury to health caused directly by the sales of what is palmed off upon the public—at once credulous and reckless of consequences —as bona fide tobacco. We are told that a million cigarettes are smoked every day in London alone. Add to that quantity tho tens of thousands of so-called 4 cigars ’ which, are daily consumed, and the wonder is. that at least one-fourth of a!I the surgeons residing in the metropolis do not devote themselves exclusively to diseases of the throat and mouth, When we come to deal specifically with this brhnoh of the subject the reader may expect some curious and interesting... information, for there is no department of commerce so prolific of adulteration as the tobacco and cigar trades. Another article of almost universal consumption has been subjected from time immemorial to adulteration of the grossest ohnracler. We refer to beer. We. have lately submitted three specimens -of this beverage ; to Professor Wanklyn and-iav? received his analyses. The specimens, were marked A, B, and C- 4 A ] same p.ortes purchased' at a smeff public-house upon the Surrey Bide of Blackfiiars Bridge; 4 B 1 was some bitter alp from qne of the principal VYest Epd restaurants ; and 4 O ' some of the mixture known to the working-man as 4 four ale,’ a.nd obtained in the same locality as tbe

porter. We append Professor Wanklyn’a report:— 4 B ’ is. strong well-fermented ale. A and G are unsatisfactory. C is merely weak ; but Ais especially bad. Apparently it is adulterated after brewing with some form of sugar; it is a most unwholesome beverage and likely to do considerable harm to the persons drinking it. A and G are either originally weak or else have been let down with water.’ Thus it will be seen that in the metropolis, while the better classes are apparently able to purohase wholesome beer, an inferior, and in some cases poisonous, article is palmed off upon the working-man. Howell tells us that a French physician who had been in England said, 4 The English have a drink which they oall ale, and whioh I think the wbolesomest liquor that can bo drunk ; for, whereas the body of a man is supported by natural heat and radical moisture, there is no drink conduces more to the preservation of the one and the increase of the other than ale ; for, while Englishmen drink only ale, they are strong, brawny, able men, and can throw an arrow an ell loDg.’ The lower classes are still of the samo opinion as the French physician and firmly believe in beer as a food. Domestic servants and labourers stipulate for beer and beer money ; the trifling gratuity is often called 4 a glass of ale,’ and so we keep up tradition. Working-men give beer credit a 3 a strengthproducer that it by no means deserves. Benjamin Franklin, who knew better, tells us that 4 my companion at the press drank every day a Dint before breakfast, a pint at breakfast, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the afternoon about six o’clock, and another when he had done his day’s work ’ Six pints in all, and a fairly moderate allowance. The majority of the labourers of to day drink more; and. although it has been demonstrated that there is far more nourishment in a pennyworth of bread than in a quart of strong ale, it is difficult to convince workmen of the fact. And, as Professor Wanklyn points out, the unfortunate folk who drink suoh concoctions as the porter he analysed are likely to suffer considerable injury. If he is right, it is clear that the sale of such poison should be prohibited. With reference to Professor Wanklyn’s analysis of A and C, it may be mentioned that the majority of publicans openly declare that their customers will not drink beer as it comes from the brewer. It must be ‘ fined,’ they tell us, before the workingman will approve of it; it must be sweetened, it-must be diluted, and it muit be flavoured to taste, and it must also * carry a head.’ This is particularly to be desired in the case of porter and stout. The favourite drink of the labourer and mechanic is ‘cooper ’ —i.e., stout and porter—half-and half, and fourpenny ale. Perhaps, if the customer takes his ease in his inn for a full quarter of an hour, being warmed, lighted, and sheltered ot the expense of the publican, and only pays for his pint of fourpenny ale, he, the customer, has the best of the^. bargain, and, anyhow, the publican considers that he is entitled to be recouped for hla outlay, and to do this the druggist comes to his assistance, with the result that there is produced that swoet, salt, heady, viscous liquor, the poor man’s beer.