ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN87803FP025

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN87803BP027

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE A N A L Y S T . AUGUST, 1878. THE SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACT AMENDMENT BILL, 1878. A DECISION of the Lords’ Justices on an appeal case in Scotland which we reported in our issue for February would, if it had been confirmed by the English judges, or by a higher court of appeal, have rendered the Sale of Food and Drugs’ Act practically a dead letter. A glance at the analysts’ reports which we publish monthly shows that, although the public expect to be protected from the sale of sophisticated articles as genuine ones, they will not take the trouble to purchase samples for analysis, and still more will not incur the expense of the analysis and the prosecution.This is not to be wondered at. Adulteration is nnquestionably a gigantic fraud when viewed collectively, but when each single case is viewed separately the loss incurred by a single consumer is comparatively small, and it is unjust to throw on him the cost and loss of time incurred in a prosecution.It is a remarkable and significant fact that more than half of the adulteration prosecutions are defended simply on technical quibbles. The solicitors for the defence virtually, if not in so many words, acknowledge the sophistication and then proceed to argue as to the details in which the Act passed for the prevention of this sophistication has not been complied with.It matters little to the defendants what the quibble may be, sometimes it takes the form of an inspector not being prejudiced by the purchase, sometimes the formula of words to be repeated by the inspector is alleged not to have been duly recited, sometimes the sample after division is stated not to have been properly sealed, and sometimes TEE label has been forgotten; anyhow, the fact remains that technical objections are the favourite defence of the grocer, the druggist, and the publican.Next i n favour among the defences raised comes the appeal to Somerset House, and here we cannot really blame the vendors, Guilty although they may know themselves to be, it is only in human nature to appeal to the Inland Revenue chemists and see whether the watered milk from an entire dairy is really worse than that given by the poorest cow which could be found in Great Britain.The chance of success naturally may be and rerg often is enough to justify the appeal.It is needless to say that all this wants altering, and that the only defences in such cases ought to be bonk fide ones, instead of the palpable evasions of the Act in which the trade journals so much delight. Alterations in practice such as these, however, take time, and this month we have to notice merely the first instalment of a step in the right direction, a movement, however, which shows that the country-while fully recognising the right of every man to be considered innocent till he is found guilty-does not recog- nise the arguments ? of those journals which rejoice over a lvictory when a peccant grocer escapes cofiviction, because perforce the inspector did not personally use any of his adulterated coffee, and therefore was not prejudiced.301302 TEE ANALYST.It is sad to see how low the standard of national morality has fallen when misde- meanants are allowed t o evade the consequences of their faults in such a way, and a press, we had almost said an advertising press, can be found to support their misdemeanours. I f a case is defended on its merits by all means let the benefit of every doubt be given to the accused, but if the case is defended on a technical quibble, justice demands that the benefit of the doubt, if any, should be given to the public, who have 80 long suf€’ered from adulteration and fraud.The Bill introduced by Mr. Anderson deals only with the prejudice to purchaser question. It is a Bill which ought to have been entirely unnecessary, and in our opinion it is so now. Why a Government Act passed only three years since, and which although fought most bitterly by the representatives of the adulterators, was carefully watched at erery step by the present Government, should now need amendment, would be a mystery to all but those who recollect its original form.When the Bill of 1875 first appeared the words (‘ usages of trade ” cleverlg, we might almost say scientifically introduced, were designed to cover old crimes, so that what had been, was to be-in other words, adultera- tion was to go on unrestricted until new skill could devise new modes of deceit, and then if detected the offender had a dozen loopholes out of which to escape.Portunately the efforts made by those who wished to get what they paid for partially succeeded, and although the Bill was a compromise, it did put some restriction on adulteration, and the percentage of impure goods sold is now only about one half of‘ what it was before adulteration, as defined by the Act of 1875, was a legal crime.Ever since that time the efforts of defendants have been directed to find flaws in the Act, or in other words, to find something which might be used to give a quasi legal sanction to fraud.To attain this end almost every one of the acting clauses of the Act has been tried, but beyond an occasional, and to our mind, erratic decision by some local magistrate, we are not aware that any evasion has been successful except in the Glasgow case. Mr. Anderson’s Bill is only intended to meet one of the points used as technical defences, but although this very point has been overruled many times both i n London and the country, it is perhaps better that i t should be set entirely at rest.The Bill, which we reprint on mother page, contains only one acting clause, and that simply enacts what common sense would have thought was evident before, that an inspector who is really the agent, or, if it is preferred, the paid servant of the public, should, when he purchases on their behalf, be considered as prejudiced if the article is adulterated.As we have before said, we do not think the Bill is necessary although other amend- ments of the Act may be, but we certainly do feel that it is a disgrace to English honour and English truth, that tradesmen guilty of fraud should protect themselves under such a subterfuge; as this Bill seeks to remove, and we wonder that honest grocers, publicans and druggists do not protest against needing any such twbterfuge to prove their integrity. Let every Corporation, Board or Bench of Nagistrates in the kingdom follow the example of the Plumstead Board of Works, and direct the inspectors to we, as food or drink, or otherwise as the case may be, a portion of every sample which they purchase. This will, no doubt, be a case of fighting the adulterators with their own weapon-sharp practice-but for once this is of little moment, 80 long as the public who are swindled and the honest tradesmen who are undersold, are protected, Meanwhile, a remedy is available.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8780300301

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

TEE ANALYST. 303 ON THE NITROGEN COMPOUNDS PRESENT IN THE CEREALS. BY G. W. WIGNER, F.C.S. [2nd Paper.] IN the preliminary note on this subject, published in the ANALYST for July, I pointed out that the nitrogenous fl esh-forming constituents present in wheat, oats, and barley had been over estimated, because nitrogen combined as nitric acid-nitrous acid and alkaloids, and probably nitrogen in other forms, existed in these grains in larger quanti- ties than had been hitherto supposed, as had already been pointed out by Church to be the case in roots and many other vegetable products.The investigation is, of course, too lengthy to admit of rapid completion, but I purpose giving some more details as to the process adopted, and its results on a certain number of samples of wheat.The mode in which I prepare the grain for analysis must necessarily give results slightly different from those which would be obtained from millers' flour and bran, because it is impracticable to grind or dress a small sample in the same perfect manner as a miller dresses his flour. In the miller's case the flour would, of course, be ground between stones and dressed through fine silks.In my case, owing to the limited quantity of each sample available, I am compelled to be satisfied with grinding and304 THE ANALYST. dressing of a far less perfect character. The mode which I adopt is to grind the whole grain in a coffee mill, set to as fine a cut as possible, and then gently sift it through a sieve with 80 holes per linear inch, avoiding as far as possible any pressing or grinding action on the sieve.The first bran which does not pass through the sieve is ground down again in the coffee mill and sifted, and the residue is submitted to the operation once more. By this means by far the larger proportion of the flour is separated from the bran, but an unduly large proportion of the bran is so disintegrated by the grinding that it passes through what is the comparatively coarse sieve used.1 have found it impracticable to ‘( dress ” the quantities available for analysis through silk, because the grinding could not be eflcient enough to enable all the flour tq pass through the silk sieve. The net result of the operation is, therefore, that my flour contains too much bran, and my bran too much flour, or, in other words, the separation is not so complete as the miller would make.I do not think that this interferes sen~bly with the comparative results. The coagulation of the true albuminoids is carried out exactly as described by Church in the last edition of the (( Laboratory Guide.”” 50 grains of the sample is ground in a warm porcelain mortar with enough warm saturated aqueous solution of carbolic acid to form a paste.Two or three drops of dilute acid are added to prevent the alkalies present from dissolving or holding in solution any of the coagulable matters, and the paste is then diluted with hot carbolic acid solution and filtered when cool. The residue on the filter is washed with carbolic acid solution of the same strength. By this treatment all the true albuminoids are coagulated and remain on the filter while any nitrogenous compound present either as nitrates or nitrites, or as alkaloids or gluten, passes through in the filtrate. The residue on the filter is washed down into the point as far as possible and the filter is then dried-the residue detached, and the filter itself finely shredded with scissors and ground to a powder, which is intimately mixed with the residue.There is, of course, no daculty in the process itself except its tedious character. The filtration will generally occupy 36 hours, and sometimes more, and the pulverising of the filter is an operation requiring much patience, My practice is to weigh the mixture of the insoluble residue and the pulverised filter, and to divide it into two portions for duplicate combustions if necessary.As to the filtrate a portion may be taken for the determination of nitrogen a3 nitrates and nitrites, provided, of course, that nitric acid has not been used to acidify the paste with. A to the other nitrogenous constituents which are not coagulated, all I can say at present i a that part is present as alkaloids, and, I believe, part also as gluten.My experience of this process makes me quite satisfied with its results; with reasonable care there is no fear of error (as repeats give very closely accordant results), and there can, I think, hardly be two opinions as to the importance of the new data which are given for determining the true value of the nitrogenous ingredients in the cereal grains.I pass now to a further consideration of the results obtained from some more experiments on wheat, I must leave the completion even of this series, and also the oats and barley for later papers. Church’s Laboratory Guide. Van Voorst. 1877. 4th edition,THE ANALYST. 305 I must premise that the samples which I examined were not merage wheat, but, on the contrary, they were samples carefully selected by Professor Tanner, to whom T.am much indebted in the matter, 80 as to give examples of every class of wheat, i.e. good, %ad, and indifferent, special care being taken to select samples of wheat in which the conditions of soil, or climate, or seed were known and were different. It is naturally to ba expected, therefore, that samples obtained under what, for the purposes of such an enquiry, must be considered a8 most exceptional circumstances, Rhould give variable results, and should differ in the averages from the estimations previously made by those who worked on commercial samples only.The following table shows the results obtained by the comhustion of 15 samples of whole meal from wheats, together with the results obtained from the same samples, after treatment with carbolic acid as already described, and the ratio shown to exist between the true albuminoids and the albuminoids calculated from the total nitrogen found by the combustion process.TABLE I.-WHEAT. Nitrogenous matters present in the whole meal of 15 samples of Wheat compared with the coagulable nitrogenous matters. Nitrogenous matters = N X 6.33.Nitrogenous Nitrogenous MARK. matter in matter coagulated whole Meal. by carbolic acid. All results in A ... 11-54 ... 10.14 ... B ... 9.14 ... 7'39 ... C ... 8-63 ... 7-89 ... D ... 9.4 1 ... 8.65 ... E ... 9.52 ... 6.27 ... F ... 10.66 ... 8-16 ... G ... 9.40 ... 7-89 ... H ... 9.28 ... 7.52 ... J ... 9-53 ... 7.02 ... E ... 9.16 ... 7.27 ... L ... 9.16 ... 6.77 ...M ... 11.28 ... 10.15 ... N ... 8.03 ... 7.66 ... 0 ... 10.02 ... 7*64 ... P ... 13-19 ... 11.01 ... Of course the first point which attracts attention the samples, but this is due greatly to the fact that percen taps. Nitrogenoue Percenta 0 of true matter not gluten cafcculated on coagulated, total nitrogenous matter. 1.40 1.75 0.64 0.76 3-26 2-61 1-51 1.76 2.5 1 1.88 2.38 1.13 -38 2.38 2.78 ...... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 87.9 80.9 92.6 91.9 65.9 76.4 83.9 81.0 13-7 7 9 4 74.0 90.0 95.3 76.2 79.8 is the great differences between they are representative and not average ones. The differences between the total albuminoids are considerable, but the ratios of the differences in the non-coagulable albuminoid matters are far greater.It will be seen that the latter vary from 0.38 to 3.25, or from about 66 per cent. to about 95 per cent. of the albuminoid matters found by the original combustion. It ie worth note that samples with the lowest total nitrogenous matter shows the largest percentage of dbumboids present in an uncoagulable form. There can be no doubt about the results for they were repeated and gave accordant figures, but they are none the less I paas now to the results obtained from the so-called bran, I say so-called, because, as I have before explained, the bran really contains some flour, and here we get the following very intereBting results, which are tabulated in the same form as those obtained from the whole meal.The bran was obtained from the same samples of wheat, singular.306 THE ANALYST.TABLE II.-WHEAT. Nitrogenous matter present in the bran of 15 samples of wheat compared with the Nitrogenous matters = N X 6.33. coagulable nitrogenous matters. All results in percentages. MARK. A B C D E F G H J K L M N 0 P ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Nitrogenous matter in Bran. 13.42 13.60 11.77 8.67 7.43 9.33 1U-57 11-01 11.66 10.06 11.24 10.76 8.23 9.24 15-66 ...... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Nitrogenous matter coagulated by carbolic acid. 6-69 8-10 3 -54 6.69 8.10 9.49 7.72 10.26 6.46 7.46 8.48 6.7 1 4.81 8.73 * a . ... ... ... ... I.. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Nitrogenous matter not coagulated. 7.73 6.50 6-13 1.74 1-23 1-08 3.29 1.40 3.59 3-78 2.28 1.62 4.43 6.93 * Percentage of true gluten calculated on total nitrogenous matter.... 42.4 ... 69.6 ... 40.8 ... 76.6 .. . 86.8 ... 89.8 ... 70.1 ... 88.0 ..I 64.3 ... 66.4 ... 78-8 ... 81.6 ... 62.1 ... 66.7 ... ... Two points at once attract attention here-first the great difference between the coagulable and non-coagulable albuminoids, and secondly, the difference between this ratio and that found when the whole meal was similarly treated.(To be continued.) IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY MR. SCLATER-BOOTH. THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD Acr.-At the Hampshire Quarter Sessions, held at Winchester, Mr. W. C. D. Esdaile asked the Right Hon. G. Sclater-Booth, M.P., President of the Local Government Board and Chairman of the County Finance Committee, whether his attention had been directed to a decision recently given in Westminster Hall on the adulteration of Foods Act, which in effect rendered that Act nugatory, and also whether he hcd considered the advisability of recommending that no further samples should be collected for analysis until some amendment of the law had been made or that decision reconsidered ? Mr.Sclater-Booth replied that his attention had been directed to a decision in the High Court of England, and another in the Sessions Court of hotland upon questions wising under the Adulteration of Foods Act, but he was hardly in a position to give a definite opinion on the subject, the papers having reached him only yesterday.So far, however, as he knew, it appeared that what Mr. Esdaile had called a decision of the High Court of Justice was in reality the arbitrary dictum of one learned judge, and until that had been appealed against it would not be right to assume that the Act of Parliament had broken down in one important particular- The Court in Scotland had come t o a decision which was certainly surprising to him, and if the Courts of England should take the same view of the existing law it would probably tw that an amended Act would be introduced at the joint instances either of himself or aome one on his behalf and the Lord Advocate. He did not see that they were bound by the recent decision at Westminster, and he should not be disposed t o put any restriotion at; present upon the collection of samples. * Spoilt in analysis,

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN878030303b

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYBT. 307 THE DETECTION OF ALUM IN FLOUR AND BREAD. BY F. M. AND GEORGE RIMMINQTON. Abstracted from the Pharmaceutical Journal and Franaactions. TEE authors state that hitherto the detection of adulteration of flour and bread by the addition of alum has been entirely based upon the assumption that the alumina phosphate found above a certain percentage existed as a soluble salt of alumina, or, in fact, that an addition of alum had beea-intsntionally made.308 THE ANALYBT.They first attempted the estimation of the sulphuric acid; the estimation of the ammonia or the potash appearing beyond the power of analysis. Three modes suggeeted themselves, viz., combustion, solution (elutriation), and dialysis. Combustion wa8 a failnre; solution, that is, by mixing a certain portion OP flour with a diluted solution of alcohol and filtering out the solution and rendering it clear by boiling, or the addition of acetic acid, and precipitation by chloride of barium, proved much more practicable and satisfactory, and it is strong confirmatory evidence.. The authors next state that dialysis yielded results that have given strong hope that it is to be the process of the future.Their mode of procedure is as follows :-Take 50 grams of flour and put into a litre flask 200 C.C. of rectified spirit and to this add the flour and agitate until a perfectly smooth mixture is effected, then add distilled water to make up the measure to one litre. This ia allowed to stand with occasionally shaking for twenty or thirty minutes and then poured upon a large filter.Take any proportion of the filtrate and place it in a dialyser and allow it to dialyse twelve hours ; at the expiration of that time pour out the dialysate into a beaker and put more water in the dialysing dish and continue the process for another twelve hours, and it may be ropeuted the third and fourth time until no trace of sulphuric acid is obtained.These solutions may be dealt with separately or collectively by evaporation to a small volume and the sulphnric acid precipitated by a barium salt, collec,ted and weighed. Any salt of sulphuric acid that is present in the flour must make its nppcamncc in the ditzlysate, and the 0111s problem to settle will be its proportion to the alumina found by incineration. The dialysate mag likewise be tested for alumina. Should the amoiint of sulphuric acid be small or insignificant, it must not be ascribed to alum, but to one of the constituents of the flour, and flour does contain a small quantity of this acid in some combination or other.The authors find the logwaud test most valuable and extremely delicate. They state that it is capable of detecting alum as distinctly as Marsh’s test will detect areenic, 1 part in 1,000,000.And further that there are several kinds of logwood in use, and some of these are useless for the purpose. ALUM IN BREAD, From (( rThe Echo.” SOME legislative action will have to be taken to control the vagaries of the ‘‘ Great Unpaid ” i f the Adulteration Act is really to become a living law instead of an enact- ment to be evaded.The authorities who dismissed a clear case because the inspector failed to state in the exact words of the Act that he intended to have the articles analysed may be complimented on their sharpness, but scarcely on their intelligence. The Government analysts at Somerset House have done their best to render the Acts abortive; they could not have done more if their salaries had depended on the success of their opposition; and in a recent case of flour adulteration they shine with a remarkable brilliancy.It is a diflicult thing to detect alum in bread, because the alum is changed in the chemical proceeses of fermentation and baking, and it is almost equally d a c u l t t o detect it in flour. The soil in which wheat is grown always contains alumina, the stones by whioh it is ground are repaired with cement containing thatTHE ANALYST.300 substance, and no method has yet been devised for estimating the amount of added alum which would be deemed entirely satisfactory by the magistrates. The public analyste, however, have good reasons for believing that their analyses give correct results, but they are thwarted by the negative evidence given by the Government chemists, who persistently ignore their work and adhere to the old methods. It is quite time, both in the interests of the public and tradesmen themselves, that these burning questions should be settled. At present the Adulteration Act is little better than a capzct mortwm, so far as preventing sophistication is concerned.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN878030307b

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYST. so0 REVIEWS. lNDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY.” OF all the critics with whom we are acquainted, the Editor of the PFYarmacezcticaZ Journal is, as a general rule, the most exacting. I n the criticisms published in that periodical the smallest slips are taken note of, and discoveries made since the work was in type are unhesitatingly pointed out as deficiencies. The mention of matters which in the hands of such a critic are simply beyond criticism,” become, when subsequently treated by a more humble authority, undesirable excresences.All this would lead us to suppose that when the editor of that journal did speak in his private capacity, he would be strictly original, grammatical, and above all, down to the latest date with everything. But we are sorry to admit, after a careful perusal of this work, that we are reluctantly placed in the position of the old Scotch woman mentioned, we think, in Dean Ramsay’s Reminiscences, wh 0, while listening to the periods of a youthful preacher, remarked occasionally ‘‘ that’s Chalmers,” or ‘( that’s Scott,” but when he came to the end and gave the benediction, exclaimed ‘ I that’s yoursel’ noo.” It is irritating to find that after reading pages evidencing the masterly hand of the original author, you suddenly meet with the (‘ that’s yoursel’ ’) of the English editor. A number of subjects have been added t o the original, some without any apparent reason, as they are things supposed to be known t o the most elementary student of chemistry.Anyone using such a book for information on the subject of chemistry as applied to manufactures, would be far beyond the necessity of requiring to be tutored in the mere rudiments of the science, such as are contained in the fourteen opening pages.Can it be possible that these were added to show what the editor really could do in chemical philosophy ? Why a few of the less interesting metals such as Titanium, Riobium, and an old explosive, Pyroxam, should be honoured with copious details, whilst such subjects as Dynamite, Gun Cotton, the Picrates, and the Fulminates are scarcely mentioned, is at first sight somewhat difficult to understand.We need not go far however, t o discover that the German edition has been somewhat blindly followed, and this will account for the work not being up to 80 recent a date as might have been expected. Had the careful wording of that work been followed and actually translated, such a ridiculous expression as that regarding paper making would not have occurred.On page 624 of Dr. Paul’s translation, the fibres specially prepared for paper manufacture are called *Industrial Chemistry. A Manual for uee in Technical Colleges and Schools, and for Manufacturers, &c.Based upon a translation, partly by Dr. T. D. Barry, of Stohmann and Engler’s German edition of Payen’s ‘‘ Precis de Chimie lndustrislle.” Edited throughout and supplemented with chapter8 on the Chemistry of the Metals, $G,, b Y. H. Paul, Ph. D. Illustrated with 608 engravings on wood. London: Longmane, Green B 80. 1858.310 THE ANALYST. “ surrogate,” while the original German of substitute for rags.Englishman the word surrogate is rather too suggestive of an unpleasant form of law. The composition and translation are often rather weak j thus on page 314 the writer has such an affection for the word glass that he repeats it more than forty times in sixty- seven lines. I n other parts of the book we are treated to such unmathematical expres- sions as the diameter of rectangular bodies, and we have such important pieces of information as (( crude borax admits of being purified,” and I ‘ kelp is the ash of land and marine plants.” Nor is the acquaintance with modern commercial processes par- ticularly extensive; the aniline dyes being honoured with scarcely more than a mere mention, and such subjects as anthracene and the other important derivatives of coal tar are dismissed with a few lines.In the preface the author speaks as if the book were addressed not only to manu- facturers, but also to the ( I general introduction of chemistry into Bchools.” I n our opinion the attempt to unite two such subjects is perfectly hopeless) and this may account for the manner in which many of the really useful portions of the work hare been revised, in contradistinction to the part occupied on matters of interest only to the purely scientific student.Nuch has doubtless been published since the last number of the German work in 1874, and it therefore behoves modern manufacturers to acquaint themselves with many processes which have no place in the present work. For instance no mention is made of the modern method of working nickel ores, or of ice-making by Carre’s machinc, or of kamptulicon, &c., and many other English manufacturing processes.The book is clearly printed, but burdened by much unnecessary verbiage respecting history and modes of discovery, which have no interest to manufacturers, and the arrange- ment of the whole would, we think, have been much better if in a dictionary form.We do not stoop to take advantage of the numerous misprints as subjects for criticism, but simply say that many of them are such as t o induce a real misunderstanding of the context. The articles which have passed unscathed from the original are admirable, and we should say will be found of the greatest use to the technical students of such specialities. It is to be hoped that the next edition will be edited with more care, and that much of the chemistry of the rarer substances will be expunged, and the commercial processes brought down closer t o date. If this be done and the revision of the proof sheets be entrusted to a person who will more satisfactorily perform that duty, the book will be more worthy of Ur. Paul’s reputation as an editor. surrogate fur die Xurn9en ’’ simply means To an It is surely a pity that the plain English was not adopted.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8780300309

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

310 THE ANALYST. AIDS TO CHEM1STRY.S By C. E. ARMAND TXNPLE, M.B., &c. THIS is one of the little (‘ aid” series of books at present being issued by Messrs. Baillithe & Co., specially designed for medical students preparing for examination. i t is scarcely possible to review it as it belongs to the class of ‘‘ cram ” books which every journal which would be called respectable is in duty bound to decry.Candidly, ho\-vever, we do not hold with Ruch wonderful assumptions of anti-priggishnesa, and must admit * London: Baillikre, Tindall & Cox,THE ANALYST. 31 1 that given the dictum that there is a use for everything, even L L cram” books are not without their benefits in often helping the lame duck over the stile. If there were no such persons in the medical profession the great ones would not be able to shine with such refulgence. Indeed, the stereotyped denunciations of ‘ I cram ” too often mean that the endowed lecturer is too busy to take any interest in his students, and in consequence men who really try to impart instruction and succeed are dubbed (‘ crammers.” Admitting the poesibility, then, of touching a “ cram ” book now and then without soiling ones moral principles, we must say that for cheapness, good print, and perspicuity, Messrs.Bailliiree’ ‘‘ Aid ’’ series are all that can be desired by a medical student desirous of brushing up his rusty knowledge before examination.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8780300310

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYST. 31 1 POISONOUS ICE CREAMS. A LETTEB, dated from the vague address '' Belgravia," has appeared in the Times, calling attection to certain alleged cases of poisoning by ice creams. Unfortunately the letter, like moat of its class, indulges in generalities such as '' poisoning by some metallic irritant," and talkfj about the poisonous nature of the coloura used, but the one specific step which the writer might have taken, namely, to submit a sample to the public analyst, has of course, been omitted, hence we are not likely to know what the metallic poison was.It seems well to point out t o public analysts that there are two possible ways in which metallic poisons may be introduced into ices. It is well known that a good many samples of magenta do contain arsenic, and magenta is certainly used in some cases for colouring ices ; here then is a possible, though we think improbable, source of metallic poisoning.Again, the metal of which the freezing cans are made is often of very bad quality, and when acid i R used to give the tartness of flavour, which is desired in some ices, it is quite possible that some lead, and perhaps some antimony also may be dissolved.The danger from this source is certainly greater than from the one previously mentioned. It is, however, much more probable that any injurious effects which have been produced, are due either to the indiscriminate use of ices by children when heated by over exertion, or surfeited with a quantity of indigestible food, or to the use of decaying fruit in the making of the ices.Analysis could do nothing in either case, for even microscopical examination would fail to detect damaged strawberries after they had been smashed and semi-frozen. No doubt samples will soon be purchased and submitted for analysis, and we have therefore pointed out what in our opinion are the points to which examination should be directed. A correspondent writes to the Tifitea to point out the dangers of poisonous ice creams, He says (6 that these tempting delicacies are not harmless, two cases lately under my observation prove.In one case, the L L patient, a child about seven yeare of age, was seized with alarming symptoms of poisoning by some '( metallic irritaut, which at one time threatened to prove fatal. In the other case also, a child, similar '' symptoms manifested themselves, though of a milder type.In both cases the cause was the subject of a '' searching investigation, and waa ultimately clearly traced to the children having partaken of cdoured ices '' at a street barrow. The colours represented in these ices are usually red, pink, yellew, and green, and in '' some instances blue. How the various colours are imparted to the article, sold at so low a price, and 6' usually consisting of a maximum of ice with a minimum of what in the East-end is called oream, is a '' secret possessed probably only by the manufacturer himself, Whatever its nature may be, the abore 6' ilistances show that not ordly is it not harmless, but in some cases absolutely poisonous."

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8780300311

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

312 THE ANALYST. ANALYSTS’ REPORTS. At the Somerset Quarter Sessions, Mr. W. W. Stoddart, the county analyst, presented his quarterly report. The document set forth that during the last quarter 147 samples had been submitted to him for analysis-two by the general public, and the rest by police superintendents ; and, before giving the full details, Mr. Stoddart said the result was satisfactory, as only twenty six of the samples were found to have been adulterated. Mr.Welman (magistrate) remarked that the remuneration of the analyst was much in excess of that given in Devonshire, where the population was about the same. Mr. Speke, another magistrate, said he had looked through the list of articlee analysed, and they all seemed to be pepper, mustard, and tea. While no end of pepper, mustard, and tea appeared to have been analyeed, there was only one sample of beer.Mustard, pepper, and tea were only used to a limited extent, and would hurt nobody ; but, considering the injurious forms of adulterated beer and spirits, it would be far more usefnl to the poor if examination were directed by the county analyst to those liquids, The Chairman said he had no doubt the Chief Constable would see to this.The Chief Constable intimated hiB readiness to fall in with any suggestion of the Court. Mr. J. Carter Bell, Public Analyst for Cheshire, reported to the Court of Quarter Session for that county, that during the past quarter he had examined 44 samples of whiskies, 30 gins, 1 rum, 34 milks, 31 violet powders, 5 eoffees! 5 peppers, 4 mustards, 4 teas, 1 vinegar, and 1 lard.He found 69 of them were adulterated. 9 violet powders, which should have been made of pure starch, were almost entirely composed of sulphate of lime, and, as violet powder was chiefly used as a Eoothing agent for infants’ excoriated skin, the sulphate of lime, being in a fine crystallised state, would act as an irritant instead of a sedative.At the Warwickshire Sessions, Dr. lIill, the county analyst, reported having had 23 samples of food and drink sent for analysis during the quarter. Of these 17 were sent by the inspector of the notorious Meriden district, and 6 from the Aston district. Of these samples 11 from Meriden were adulterated, and all from Aston, namely, 4 of coffee, 1 of milk, and 1 of rum. Dr.Campbell Brown, the analyst for Lancashire, reports, that during the year 678 samples had been analysed, of which 152 were found to be such as constituted offences against the Act, and 18 were doubtful. Milk was found to be mixed with water in proportions varying from 5 to 60 parts to 100 parts of milk, or was deprived of a very large proportion of its cream ; butter contained a fraudulent quantity of water ; bread contained alum ; and spirits were mixed with an excessive proportion of water, and were frequently raw spirits coloured.Ale contained excess of salt ; tea was weighted and coloured with mineral matter, but not to a great extent ; coffee was mixed with chicory ; preserved peas were coloured with a poisonous salt of copper ; cheese was badly prepared and unwholesome ; mustard contained flour ; and the 2 samples of drugs (1 of which was made up from the prescription of R medical man) were entirely wanting in the principal constituents.The total number of prosecutions was 92 ; convictions followed in 87, 4 were dismissed, and 1 was withdrawn. The penalties amounted to €235 19s., or within f S of the previous year ; and the costs amounted to €100.Although the number of offences detected was only 7 more than those of last year, and the number of prosecutions and convictions the same, a greater number of samples had been analysed to furnish those cases, so that the percentage of offences had fallen from 27.35 last year to 23.62 this year, and the percentage of convictions from 16 tb 134. It was ordered that this report be printed with the proceedings of the Court.Mr. E. W. T. Jones, Analyst for the County of Stafford, reports having analysed 231 samples, of which only 31 were adulterated. These consisted of 1 alumed bread, 5 coffees containing chicory, 2 diuted gins, 5 mustards containing flour, 16 watered and skimmed milks, and 1 tea containing lie tea. Dr. S wete, the public analyst for Worcester, reports :-“ During the last quarter I have received 28 articlesforanalysis ; of these 19 were samples of milk, of which 6 were rich good milk; 6 were wretchedly poor, but being within the very low standard I am obliged to consider them genuine.Beer, 3 samples : 1 from Upton-on-Severn, genuine ; 1 from Malvern contained a large quantity of salt, the presence of a considerable quantity of sulphate of lime as well led me to consider the mineral nature of the water used to be the source of the chloriw found. One from Stourport is in my opinion salted, but as the chemists of Somerset House having recently declared a sample of beer with 68-5 grains of salt to the galion genuine, 1 am a280 bound to give the benefit of the doubt to the vendor. The samples of pepper, oatmeal, and tea were all genuine.Violet powder : Considerable anxiety having arisen from arsenic being added to violet powder, I have received 2 samples fram Stourport, which do not contain any poisonous ingredients. 1 think the arsenical violet powders will be limited to the east of England, one manufacturer having (probably unintentionally) permitted arsenic to be mixed with the cosmetic at Chelmsford.Violet powder has no fixed composition, each manufacturer having his own receipts for the ingredients, but I do not think arsenic would be added as a common adulteration. Four samples of mustard, 1 of mustard condiment, and 1 of coffee, are still under examination.” The report was adopted, Mr, Heiscb reports as follows i--Lewijham, 20 sampled rcceived, 16 milk, of which 13 were genuine,TEE ANALYST.313 1 contained 30 per cent. added water ; 1-22 per cent. ; and 1-20 per cent., this last was also skimmed ; 2 butter, genuine ; 2 violet powder, 1 contained 29 per cent. gypsum ; 1-54 per cest. ditto, the rest being starch. Parish of St. John’s, Hampstead, during quarter ending July 25th, 17 samples were analysed, milk 8, of which 1 was evidently derived from a diseased cow, and contained blood, pus, and pieces of skin, and Blyth‘s bodies, and 1 contained only 1.2 fat, the rest were genuine ; 9 violet powder, of which 5 were either all starch or contained only 4 or 6 per cent, of Fuller’s earth ; 2 were entirely gypsum, 1-45 per cent.gypsum, the rest starch ; 1-47 per cent.gypsum, and the rest starch. A correspondent writes to the Chemist and Druggist to point out that some time since a number of oysters sent from Oran to Orleans were observed to possess a marked green coloration, the taste mas peculiar, tart, and somewhat bitter ; on being placed for some time in contact with a polished iron surface a thin layer of metallic copper was deposited. M. Balland ascertained by electrolysis the amount of copper present, and found it to average three milligrammes in each oyster without the shell. Many persons partook of these oysters without any injurious effects. He adds : ‘6 of course the addition of copper to food merely for improving the colour of the same must be kept in check, and I do not write with a view of defending such practice.” We should think not.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8780300312

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

TEE ANALYST. 313 CORREBPO NBENCE. [The Editors are not responsible for the opinion8 of their Correspondents.1 To THE EDITOR OF L L THE ANALYST.” SIq-Having recently examined a large number of samples of violet powder, I have been much struck by the variety of articles sold under that name, and I am inclined to ask the old question, what is violet powder ? It ia usually believed to consist of staxch, and some scenting material, e.g.orris root; but I observe that in a recent case when a dealer was prosecuted for selling violet powder, not being of the quality of the article demanded, he set up the defence that any thing not injurious, might be sold as videt powder, as there is no recognized formula for it, and this defence was considered good by the magistrate, unfortiinately the report did not say of what the powder consisted.Now it seems to me that if the powder is not of such a nature as to answer the purpose for which it is intended, it comes within the meaning of the 6th clause of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, though it may contain nothing absolutely deleterious. The purpose m I believe for which violet powder is used, especially in the nursery, is as a desiccant, and to prevent chafing.The question, therefore is, will the articles Bold answer these purposes properly? Now, the substance I have motit frequently found in the violet powders of commerce is ground gypsum in sharp crystalline particles and fully hydrated, the quantity varying from 29 per cent. as a minimum, to 100 per cent. as a maximum; fully two thirds of the samples examined varied within these limits.How hydrated sulphate of calcium can act as a desiccant I cannot conceive, and the sharp crystalline grains would I ehould think, if applied to an irritable skin, be anything but soothing. Ought not the sale of such powder to be stopped? No one would purchase it i f they know what it was, yet it can hardly be said that gypsum is a deleterious substance, though I believe under certain circumstances it would produce deleterious effects.July, 1878. CHARLES HEISCH. Prom ths Pharmacetdical Joecnzal.” VIOLET POWDER. Sq-In common, no doubt, with other analysts, I have received a great number of samples of violet powder for analysis, and without offering an opinion as to what the composition of articlea bearing that name ought to be, I have considered it my duty to endeavour to allay any unnecessary alarm which recent lamentable accidents connected with the use of such articles have tended to produce.You have, I think, suficiently indioted in your leader last week that the term (‘ violet powder ” is applied to several preparations, differing greatly in composition, and not always used for the same purpose.I can fully confirm your statement that there are two principal varities of so-called violet powder in commerce, stareh forming the basis of one, and hydrated sulphate of calcium that of the other, while there are several sub- varieties produced by the addition of other ingredients. But while 1 admit the justness of your remarks in Borne reepeots, I cannot agree with your implied objection on merely inferencinl grounds to the use of hydrated sulphate of calcium as a dusting powder.It has been long and very extensively used, without, as I am informed, any fault having been found with it, and in cases that have comc under my immediate observation it has proved very beneficial, and in the estimation of those using it sometimes preferable even to starch, T, REDWOOD.THE ANALYST. From the u Pharmacszctical Journal.” b,-I have been connected for more than forty years, man and boy, with the retail drug trade, and have during that rather lengthened period always understood that what is called cc violet powder ” wall a composition of starch powder, orris root powder and a little perfume; the first article being about 96 per cent.of the whole. It seems, however, that I have been mistaken, and that terra alba, magnesia, etc., are the legitimate ingredients. When such an authority as Professor Redwood speaks, there is nothing left for a humble mortal like myself then to “ baiseer la t4te et croire.” DUM VIVO DISCO,

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8780300313

出版商:RSC    

年代:1878

数据来源: RSC