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"The sample of vinegar marked 'No. 57,' and referred to in your
letter of the 2nd December, was received here on the 4th inst., securely
sealed.
"We hereby certify that we have analysed the vinegar, and declare
the results of our analysis to be as follows:—
Combined Sulphuric Acid (H2 S04) .118 per cent.
Free Sulphuric Acid „ .099 „
Total 217
"From a consideration of these results, we are of opinion that .14
per cent. of Sulphuric Acid had been added to the vinegar."
These certificates from the Government Laboratory tell
more severely against the defendant at every point than
the certificates from me upon which the Vestry of St.
James's had based their prosecutions. Convictions followed
in all the cases. Yet four "expert chemists" were
found who got into the witness-box and swore that the
vinegars did not contain a particle of sulphuric acid. One
of these was a chemist holding an important professional
position. He deposed that vinegar No. 57 "contained no
trace of sulphuric acid; but that it did contain .055 per
cent. of phosphoric acid, which Dr. Edmunds must have
mistaken for sulphuric acid."
The significance of the percentages set out in the above
certificates is as follows:—In each case the total sulphuric
acid (reckoned as H2 SO4) consisted partly of combined,
partly of free acid. One portion of the combined acid was
estimated as belonging to the vinegar (that is to say, as
due to the barley and the drinking-water with which the
vinegar had been brewed). Another portion of the