ADULTERATION. The grocer is never an advocate of adulteration. Manufacturers adulterate for the sake of profit, and are generally driven to it unwillingly by the general demand for cheap goods. A fair price is necessary to secure pure goods. The cry about A. gees to great extremes, and no sensible dealer will encourage it. Indeed, a critical and honest investigation. always proves that half the accusations of A. are unfounded. The desire to appear critical and the fashionable ambition of being considered a good judge, gives rise to much of it. But milk is found pure in nine cases out of ten, and when at fault is generally robbed of part or all of its cream, an unjust but harmless differ ence. Mustard is adulterated by Colman and by Keen, and by almost every large manufacturer by the addition of farina — be cause it is too pungent in its natural state—which is not only harmless but perfectly justifiable.
Again, many of the statements with regard to A. are rendered alarming by the misuse of chemical terms—to say that Clover Honey Syrup is made of glucose, is to state a mystery — ;o say that it was made of corn-starch and sulphuric acid would cause alarm—yet the coru-starch which we use to make delicate dishes for the sick is made by treating corn with hydrocloric acid. If,
as modern medicine asserts, a state of dread affords a direct open ing to disease, then the alarmists are as dangerous as the A., and it would seem preferable to live in ignorance rather than be frightened out of the world by too critical inquiries as to what we eat or drink.
Of course much A. exists which is deleterious to health, but as a rule it exists where it is least expected and rarely detected. Laws of the most stringent character against A. exist in Great Britain, and are made very oppressive on the retail grocers, many of whom purchase goods the purity of which they are unable to determine. Under each article in this Manual sep irate A's are mentioned.