Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/154

 134: ADULTERATION ADULTERY in the form of tincture of capsicum, or grains of paradise, are employed ; and its peculiar aroma is preserved by compounds called " gin flavorings," the ingredients of which are juni- per berries, coriander seeds, almond cake, an- gelica root, licorice powder, calamus root, and sulphuric acid. The common whiskey of the country is largely diluted in the distilleries with water, and then to restore the strength the lye of ashes, which is prepared for the purpose, is added in sufficient quantity to give the liquor the character which is expressed by the slang name by which it is called of " rot- gut." The report of the Massachusetts board of health, already referred to, shows that the adulteration of vinegar with sulphuric acid is ex- tensively practised, especially in wine vinegars. Lead is also found in vinegar, often coming from lead faucets. It has been supposed that the adulteration of drugs was very generally prac- tised, and almost without check. Were this the case, medicine would indeed be in bad repute ; for in no department would this prac- tice bo followed by more disastrous conse- quences. That it is largely adopted, the analy- ses of our most respectable druggists prove ; but these also show that the system may be exposed, and in a great measure checked, by those disposed to do so ; and further, that the articles used for sophistication are generally of a very harmless nature. In July, 1848, a law went into etfect in this country, forbidding the importation of these dangerous mixtures. But while the effect of this has been to exclude for- eign adulterations, the manufacture of them at home has been greatly increased. In the first year after its establishment, it appears by the report of Dr. J. M. Bailey to the New York academy of medicine that over 90,000 pounds of drugs, comprising Peruvian bark, rhubarb, jalap, senna, and various other kinds, had been rejected and condemned in the ports of the United States. It is very questionable, how- ever, among druggists, whether after all the sale of spurious medicines has been seriously diminished. The adulteration of Turkey opi- um is carried on as a regular business at Mar- seilles. It is there literally made over again. The greatest variety of impurities are intro- duced into it ; besides extracts of the poppy and other plants, sand, ashes, gums, aloes, small stones, pieces of lead and iron, seeds and stems of plants, are freely used. In England the same practice has been so successfully pursued, that what appeared to be the best Turkey opium has proved entirely destitute of the active prin- ciple of the drug. The essential oils, used more particularly for perfumery, are especial objects of adulteration. Oil of wormwood, we notice upon the test book of one of our most respectable druggists, "warranted pure from Boston," contained about 40 per cent, of a mixture of chloroform and alcohol, besides some resin or fixed oil. Such adulterations may be detected by the greatly reduced boil- ing point of the fluid. Scammony, which is extensively used as a drastic purgative, was before the passage of the law always very im- pure. At Smyrna its adulteration is still a regularly established business. The article called cake scammony, bought and sold in this country, is considered good if it is found to contain 20 per cent, of the genuine material ; and virgin scammony passes if it contains no more than 20 per cent, of foreign matter. This is usually starch. Chalk and flour are also used. ADULTERY, the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person with another than the hus- band or wife. As a topic of the law, adultery may be considered, first, as a ground of di- vorce; second, as a criminal offence. I. In civil cases. The adultery of either party to the marriage contract is now a ground for absolute divorce in almost all Protestant states. It was not so, however, either in Scotland or England until the reformation; and after that, though in the former country divorces a vinculo were allowed for adultery, the law remained un- changed in England for a long time, and as it had been administered in the spiritual courts ever since the Catholic period ; and by the ec- clesiastical law marriage was held to be an in- dissoluble contract, and divorces from it were prohibited. The consequence was, that though divorces a mensa et thoro, or rather separations from bed and board, were granted, the only absolute divorces to be had in England were those procured from parliament upon petition. Proceedings of this character were very ex- pensive and cumbrous ; and besides, it was the almost uniform practice of parliament to grant divorces to husbands only, and to refuse them to wives. The divorce act of 20 and 21 Vic- toria, ch. 85, has partly removed this invidious distinction ; but not even now have husband and wife in England equal legal rights and remedies in this respect. Under this statute the husband may have a dissolution of the mar- riage when the wife has since its celebration been guilty of adultery ; but the wife may have such relief only when the husband since the marriage has been guilty of incestuous adul- tery ; or of adultery with bigamy ; or of rape, sodomy, or bestiality; or of adultery coupled with such cruelty as, without adultery, would have entitled the wife to a divorce from bed and board before the statute ; or of adultery coupled with desertion without reasonable ex- cuse for two years and upward. The incestu- ous adultery of this statute is declared to mean adultery with a woman with whom the hus- band could not have contracted a valid mar- riage, on account of her relationship to him within the prohibited degrees of affinity or con- sanguinity; and the bigamy of the statute means marriage of the husband with another woman during the life of his lawful wife, whether within or beyond the realm. It has been shown that by the common law of Eng- land, at the time of the settlement of this country, adultery was ground only for a divorce a mensa; and as our law followed that of the