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134
DRUGS.
Sixty-one samples of drugs were taken, of which 5, or 8.2 per cent., were
adulterated. Two of the offenders were convicted and fined, and the three
others were cautioned. Last year the percentage of adulterated drugs was 7.7,
and it is regrettable to find no improvement this year. It is true that last
year with regard to this form of adulteration the City compared fairly
well with the whole of the Metropolis, as shown by the figures given below,
but it is by no means creditable that the City is not included in the fourteen
London districts in which no drug adulteration was discovered.
Percentage of samples of Drugs adulterated in the City of London and the
several Metropolitan Boroughs during the year 1904, arranged "in order
of merit."

The 127 other articles examined comprised 50 samples of mustard, of which
2 were adulterated, 22 of cocoa with 2 adulterated, 1 each of gin and
scotch whisky, both reported against, the remainder, all of which were genuine,
consisted of 5 each of lard, olive oil, cheese, and baking powder, 27 of pepper,
3 of Demerara sugar, 1 of chocolate, and 2 of yeast.
In addition to the foregoing, seven samples were informally taken and are,
therefore, not included amongst samples collected under the Act; they consisted
of 1 butter and 6 of "four ale." The former was a sample of
sophisticated Dutch butter, referred to in my notes on Butter on p. 129, but
is not included in the Table on p. 128; the "four ales" were taken under the
following circumstances:—