Page 1 Advertisements Column 4

Otago Witness, Issue 63, 31 July 1852, Page 1

Adulteration op Articles of Food. — The recent investigations by the " Lancet" into this important subject have opened the eyes of the public respecting it. The last inquiry related to the adulteration of milk, isinglass, vinegar, and pickles. In the three first cases the result has been, upon the whole, less unsatisfactory than might have been . feared, but in the last the disclosures are serious. As regards milk, out of twenty-six samples twelve were found to be genuine, while the adulteration detected in the others consisted of water varying in quantity from ten to fifty per cent., and did not include in a single instance any of the material such as chalk, size, gum, sheep's brain, &c, which have been often described as in common use. Of isinglass, the number of samples was twenty-eight ; out of these ten were found to consist entirely of gelatine, a much cheaper, although analagous product. The inquiry respecting vinegar showed that sixteen out of twenty-three samples were more or less below the standard strength, while in some instances there was an undue quantity of sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, which is employed for the purpose of making it keep. Contrary to expectation, however, they were all found free from metallic impregnations, whether of copper, lead, or zinc. The analysis with respect to pickles ended much more disagreeably. The -vinegar used is of the most inferior description, and in nineteen out of twenty samples it owed a portion of its acidity to sulphuric acid. In sixteen different pickles analysed for copper, that poisonous metal was discovered in various amounts. Two of the samples contained a small quantity, eight rather much, one" a "considerable quantity, and one a very considerable quantity. In one copper was present in highly deleterious amount, and in two in poisonous amounts. The pickles containing the largest quantity of poison are those which consist entirely of green vegetables. The " Lancet," in summing up the remarks of the enquiry, remarks :— " Notwithstanding the statement made in books, we felt convinced that so poisonous a metal as copper was now rarely if ever employed for the mere purpose of heightening and preserving the colour of green pickles. "We are, therefore, both surprised and grieved at the really fearful character of the results to which our investigations have conducted us. "We trust, however, now that the conclusive evidence of this scandalous practice has been adduced, and that the public are put upon their guard, a remedy will be found for this great evil. Pickles, doubtless, when properly prepared, are not very digestible, but we now see that much of the ill effects so generally attributed to their use must result from their impregnation with so poisonous a contamination. It is not in the pickles that this poison is present, for it may be detected with remarkable readiness and certainty in the vinegar in which the pickles are preserved, by the immersion in a small quantity of the vinegar— half an ounce is sufficient— for a few hours, of a piece of thick iron wire, having a smooth and polished surface. This test is of such ready application, that we recommend the public to make use of it, and to ascertain for themselves whether the pickles they are using contain the poison or not. If an exceedingly small quantity of copper is present, it will be quickly deposited on the surface of the iron." Butter. — The Guernsey Gazette reports the following method of making butter, which has been adopted in Sweden with the greatest success : — Put the cream, either sweet or sour, into a bag of sufficient fineness to prevent it passing through, and then bury the bag four feet in the ground, carefully covering it up. In twenty-four or twenty-five hours, on taking it up, the cream is converted into excellent butter. Veneration for the Sabbath. — The following anecdote is told in illustration of the Scottish veneration for the Sabbath :— " A geologist, while in the country, and having h;s pocket hammer with him, took it out and was chipping the rock by the wayside for examination. His proceedings did not escape the quick and ready tongue of an old Scotchwoman. She enquired — " "What are you doing there, mun ?" " Don't you see ? I'm breaking a stone." " Y'are doing raair than that; y'are breaking the Sabbath."