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22
SANITARY CHRONICLES, 1896.
Milk.
The majority of these samples were of fair quality.
A few had apparently either been watered down to the
well-known standard, or had been diluted with "separated"
milk. Nine were obviously adulterated, and the vendors
were prosecuted. The adulteration of milk in the parish
was therefore 43 per cent. of the samples taken; in the
previous year (1895) it was 5.4 per cent., and it is not likely
to fall lower than 4 per cent.
Spirits.
A fair number of spirits (brandy, gin, rum, and whisky)
were analysed, they were all, with the exception of two
samples, of legal strength and of fair quality. A notice in
the bar to the effect that all spirits were diluted, rendered
a prosecution uncertain, besides which the dilution was not
great. A notice per se in the bar does not protect, unless
the attention of the purchaser is called to it, or unless he
knows of its existence.
Drugs.
Drugs are often somewhat below standard, but
adulteration is rare.
Fourteen samples of white wax were purchased from
Pharmaceutical Chemists, and one was found mixed with a
large proportion of paraffin wax, the Vendor was prosecuted
and lined. White wax is simply bleached beeswax,
and is a substance contained in the British Pharmacopoeia.
The defence raised in this case was that beeswax was
not a drug, but the Magistrate over-ruled the objection.
Subsequent to this prosecution the appeal case of
Fowle v. Fowle (75 L.T.R. 514) was heard before Grantham
and Wright, L.J.J., in which it was decided that Beeswax,
when sold by a grocer in the ordinary way of business, was
not a drug, and whether it was a drug or no depended
upon the manner of selling. From a careful perusal of the
judgment it is evident that the Magistrate's decision in the
Marylebone case would have been upheld. In other words,