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very pleasant flavour; it was quite free from animal tissue, from
lead, and from copper. Under the microscope, bacteria were seen
to be very numerous, and suggestive of the advisability of heating
before eating.
Of Alcoholic Liquors, two Spirits and three Beers have been
examined. The Gin was only a very little below par, and the
Whiskey a very little above. The gin contained a very distinct
trace of lead.
As to the Beers, since the use of sugar has become so general,
they have very much altered in character. One of them contained
an inordinate quantity of chlorides, both as chloride of sodium
(common salt) and chloride of potassium; the latter, probably, from
the sugar employed.
22nd June, 1882.
During the past quarter I have analysed twenty-nine articles
of food, several of them in duplicate.
There is a considerable improvement in the quality of Milks, as,
indeed, one would expect in the spring quarter of the year. Only
three were adulterated out of sixteen; two of them, however, very
considerably with, respectively, 18 and 36 per cent. of water.
A sample of Condensed Milk of very high quality has been
analysed, and deserves attention. The same remark applies to an
Essence of Cacao, which is everything that the name expresses.
A Sugar and a Treacle were of excellent quality, clean and
very free from the chlorides of sodium snd potassium. The treacle
was much richer in sugar than is commonly the case, and was
perfectly free from any metallic contamination.
Two Coffees were genuine, and call for no further remark.
The only fault attaching to a sample of Pickled Cabbage was its
toughness. It contained a mere trace of lead, but no copper:
generally a trace of the latter is met with.
A Mushroom Ketchup well deserved its name, and had a
powerful mushroom odour. The ash, as usual, consisted almost
entirely of salt, which amounted to 8½ per cent.
Five Ales have also been analysed. They vary very much in