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The arrowroot case was evidently one of accidental
contamination with ordinary washing starch and as it
was not in my opinion a suitable case for prosecution,
it was passed over.

Few of the popular drugs are so badly supplied to
the public as cheap Seidlitz powders (especially when
purchased elsewhere than at properly qualified chemists
and druggists) they being rarely of the full strength
because they are made in enormous quantities, by cheap
female labour, without weighing the ingredients; which
latter are themselves not uncommonly contaminated with
lead. At present we are helpless to suppress such frauds,
being barred by the division clauses of the Act, as
interpreted by a recent decision to the effect that it is
not legal to purchase three powders and to take one of
them to the Analyst untouched. It is manifest that, if
the powder is divided at the time of purchase, the power
of the Analyst to say what weight was in the papers
when purchased is entirely done away with. This is one
of the many anomalies in the present state of the law
urgently calling for amendment.