Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/190

Rh 174 colouiing matters of wine may be separated and analysed by the process of Mulder, which is too elaborate for description in this place, and so also are the tests for recognising spurious colours, as the test of Vogel, Jacob, and others (solutions of acetate of lead), that of Pelouze and Frenny (basic acetate of lead) ; of Ness von Esenbeck (solutions of alum and of carbonate of potash) ; of Batilliat (ammonia); of Filhol (ammonia and sulphide of ammonium);
 * and others. At present, the spectroscope has not furnished,

as was expected, any very reliable indications of the nature of the colouring matters of wine. In fact, the whole subject requires fuller investigation. The adulteration of spirits consists mostly in the addition of water and in the use of inferior spirit, recipes being given in the Publican s Guide, and other such books, for what is called making up spirits for sale. The recognition of these frauds rests with the Excise, under the Act 35 and 36 Viet, c. 94. 15. Tobacco and Snuff. The adulteration of these articles is prohibited and otherwise provided for by the statutes 5 and 6 Viet. c. 93, and 25 and 26 Viet. c. 7, and 30 and 31 Viet. c. 90, manufacturers of tobacco and snuff being prohibited from using or having in their possession sugar, honey, molasses, treacle, leaves, herbs, or plants, powdered wood, moss, weeds, sea-weeds, or any ground or unground roasted grain, chicory, lime, sand, umbre, ochre, or other earths, nor anything capable of being used to increase the weight of tobacco or snuff, under a penalty of 200 water alone being allowed in the manufacture of tobacco ; and water, salt, and alkaline salts, as well as lime in the manufacture of snuffs, under a penalty of X300. But it appears from the reports of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, that the adulteration of tobacco and snuff is still largely practised. Tobacco is adulterated with molasses, sugar, aloes, liquorice, gum, catechu, oil and lamp-black, alum, tannic acid and iron, log wood, and such leaves as rhubarb, chicory, cabbage, bur dock, colts-foot, and excess of salt and water. In the year 1862 it was discovered that certain Irish manufacturers were adulterating their Cavendish and roll-tobacco with liquorice, in imitation of the sweetened Cavendish of North America, and therefore in 1863 the practice was legalised in the case of Cavendish and negro-head by the Manufactured Tobacco Act, 1863. Snuffs are adulterated with excess of alkaline salts, lime, sand, ferruginous earths, fustic, torrefied oat meal, peat-moss, ground velonia cups, bichromate of potash, and chromate of lead. Mr Phillips states, in the Fourth Report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, that up to 1856 the practice of adulterating snuff was very prevalent, particularly in Ireland 52 per cent, of the samples analysed being found to be illicit; in 1858 and subsequently, however, the proportion has been much less. These adulterations are recognised by drying the sample, and noting the loss of weight, and by the amount and nature of the ash left on incineration. Foreign leaves, &c., are discovered by the aid of the microscope. 1 6. Among the adulterations which are practised for the purpose of improving the appearance of the article, and giving it a false strength, are the following : The addition of alum or sulp/iate of copper to bread ; the facing of black tea with black lead, and of green with a mixture of indigo or Prussian blue with turmeric and china clay ; the treat ment of pickles and preserved fruits with a salt of copper, whioh has the property of mordanting and brightening the green colouring matter of vegetables. In some cases the quantity of copper has been so large as to give a coppery appearance to a steel knife or fork kept in the pickle ; but at all times the metal may be discovered by the pink colour of the ash, and by its becoming blue when treated with a little strong ammonia. Ferruginous earths are added to sauces, anchovies, potted meats, and the preparations of cocoa. This also is recognised by the amount and colour of the ash. Mineral pigments, as yellow and orange chromate of lead, green arsenite of copper, &c., are frequently used in colouring confectionery, and have produced serious results to those who have eaten it. Lastly, with a view of giving false strength to the article, sulphuric acid has been added to vinegar and lime-juice ; blackjack or burnt sugar to coffee and chicory ; catechu or terra japonica to exhausted tea ; Cocculus indicus to beer and porter ; cayenne and mustard husks to pepper, &c. 17. Adulterations are also practised for the purpose of debasing the article, as when the cream is taken from milk by the process of skimming ; or when the active principles of spices, &c., have been removed by distillation. 18. Accidental adulterations may occur from the admix ture of darnel or ergot with flour; siliceous and earthy matters with substances that are ground in a mill ; mould or acari with flour, sugar, cheese, tic. ; and copper, zinc, or lead may be accidentally derived from the vessels in which any acid substance or liquid has been prepared or kept. In this manner cider and wine have become tainted with lead; sour milk with zinc; and jellies, jams, and preserves with copper. 19. Adulteration of Cattle Foods. In a recent trial, Avhere the question of adulteration was raised, a linseed- cake maker stated in evidence that his ordinary oil-cake consisted of 50 parts ground sesame cake, 20 parts of bran, and 30 of linseed and linseed siftings. To prevent the detection of this fraud by an examination of the cake with the naked eye, it is customary to powder the materials very fine by means of a machine called a &quot; Buffein machine,&quot; after which they are thoroughly mixed together and pressed into a cake. It would seem, indeed, that pure linseed cake is not saleable, except in a few localities, as in the neigh bourhood of Gainsborough, and in the agricultural centres of Lincolnshire and Norfolk, where the genuine cake is appreciated. Elsewhere the adulterated article commands a ready sale, on account of its low price; and thus encouragement is given to the use of all sorts of adulterating agents, as earth-nut, cotton, beech, and sesame bran, rice- husks, oat-dust, and other such worthless matter. Very recently this important subject has been treated by Dr Voelcker in a paper &quot; On the Characters of Pure and Mixed Linseed Cakes,&quot; which was published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (vol. ix. part 1). Some of the impurities of linseed cake may be due to the accidental presence of the seeds of various weeds and wild plants, which the careless farmer has allowed to grow upon his land. Most of these, however, are easily removed by one or two siftings, as in the case with clean linseed ; but the siftings are not thrown away ; they are used for adulterating other samples of linseed making the second, third, and even fourth qualities of Riga and St Petersburg seed. Occasionally the siftings are sent out to sea in barges to meet the vessels coming from the north with linseed on board ; there the mixture is made ; and when the vessels reach the port for which they are destined, the cargo is sold for genuine linseed &quot;as imported.&quot; But besides these impurities, the linseed cake of commerce contains a large proportion of other cakes, as rape, earth- nut, decorticated and undecorticated cotton seed, beech-nut, hemp-seed, cocoa-nut, cocoa, palm-nut, palm-kernels, niger seed, sesame&quot; or teal seed, poppy, castor oil, bassia, curcas, indigo seed, olive, &c., besides bran, acorns, careb-bcans, and the h asks or shades of earth-nut, oats, barley, rice, and other refuse. Some of these things are actually poisonous to cattle, as in the case of castor-oil cake, curcas bean, purging flax, wild mustard, wild radish, &c. ; others are of doubtful quality, as corn cockle, darnel, indigo seed, earth-nut, &c. ; and many are disagreeable to the taste, on