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130
Report—Public Analyst.
This Table shows the groceries examined to have
been adulterated to the extent of 4 per cent. of the
whole samples received, as against 1.42 in 1894; also a
decided increase in this department. The extra inspection,
however made itself felt here also, as during the
last quarter of the year, only one bad sample was obtained
out of 54 examined.
III.—Bread and Flour.
None of the articles examined in this class were
found to be impure, the low price of wheat having
apparently removed the temptation to use inferior flour
and " improvers " such as alum, &c.
IV.—Drugs.
In last year's summary it was urged that some
more attention should be paid to this important class of
articles and accordingly 37 drugs were purchased during
1895. These were either popular drugs of universal
consumption, or specially expensive articles of which
there might be a temptation to give scant weight in
dispensing. With this object, prescriptions were supplied
to the Inspector by the Medical Officers of the Hoard,
and it must he considered a matter of the greatest
satisfaction to find that in no single case was there any
marked departure from either the proper strength or the
purity of the drugs employed, and indeed in most cases,
the accuracy displayed in the practical dispensing was
very notable.
In conclusion I can only express my confidence
that, with the increased inspection now in force, we will
soon see a return to the usual state of excellence of the
food supply to which we are accustomed in the Wandsworth
Districts.
JOHN MUTER, ph.d ; f.r s.e., f.i.c.
Public Analyst