Curiosities of Civilization Part 6

page 51 (edit. 1657). Speaking of the Turks, he says, 'Although they be dest.i.tute of taverns, yet they have their coffee-houses, which sometimes resemble them. There sit they chatting most of the day, and sip of a drink called coffa, of the berry that it is made of, in little china dishes, as hot as they can suffer it, black as soot, which helpeth, as they say, digestion, and procureth alacrity.'"

This pleasant sample of the puff indirect has also appended to it the naked sentence--

"_Adulterated with chicory, of which not less than half the sample consists._"

The worst kinds of adulterated coffee are to be found in that which is sold in canisters. The value of the tin envelope cannot be less than 2d., and, as the coffee so sold is charged at the same price as that in a paper wrapper, it must be evident that a more extensive adulteration is necessary in order to make up the difference. Such, upon examination, proves to be the case, as it appeared--

"That the whole twenty-nine packages, bottles, and canisters submitted to a.n.a.lysis, with a single exception,[5] were adulterated.

"That in these twenty-eight adulterated samples the falsification consisted of so-called chicory, which in many instances const.i.tuted the chief part of the article.

"That three of the samples contained mangold-wurzel, and two of them roasted wheat-flour."

We have said it often happens that the adulterations are adulterated.

Chicory is an instance of it. The original fraud is found to have ramified in an endless manner; and Sir Charles Wood will doubtless be astonished to hear of the hideous crop of falsifications his most unfortunate order has caused to spring out of the ground.

Immediately the process of transforming chicory into coffee became legalized by the Government, that article came into very extensive consumption, and factories were set up especially for its secret manufacture. The reason for this secrecy may be gathered from the list of articles which are made to subserve the purpose: roasted wheat, ground acorns, roasted carrots, scorched beans, roasted parsnips, mangold-wurzel, lupin-seeds, dog's biscuits, burnt sugar, _red earth_, roasted horse-chestnuts,--and above and beyond all _baked horses' and bullocks'

livers_. This statement rests upon the authority of Mr. P. G. Simmonds, in a work ent.i.tled "Coffee as it is, and as it ought to be:"--

"In various parts of the metropolis," he says, "but more especially in the east, are to be found 'liver bakers.' These men take the livers of oxen and horses, bake them, and grind them into a powder, which they sell to the low-priced coffeeshop-keepers, at from fourpence to sixpence per lb., horse's liver coffee being the highest price. It may be known by allowing the coffee to stand until cold, when a thick pellicle or skin will be found on the top. It goes farther than coffee, and is generally _mixed with chicory_, and other vegetable imitations of coffee."

In confirmation of this horrible statement the sanitary commissioners of the Lancet state that, on a.n.a.lysis, this substance, which

"possessed a disagreeable animal smell, ... consisted of some imperfectly-charred animal matter."

The new regulation, enjoining grocers to sell coffee and chicory properly labelled as such, is, no doubt, observed in respectable shops; but in the low neighbourhoods the mixture as before is pa.s.sed off for genuine Mocha.

However, the purchaser has the means of protection in his own hands. If he prefers coffee pure, let him buy the roasted berry and grind it himself; he will thus be sure of having the real article, and will get it in greater perfection than by purchasing it ready ground.

In close proximity to the tea and coffee-pots stand the milk-jug and the sugar-basin. What find we here? A few years ago the town was frightened from its propriety by a little work ent.i.tled "Observations on London Milk," published by a medical gentleman of the name of Rugg, which gave some fearful disclosures relative to the manner in which London milk was adulterated. Dr. Ha.s.sall's a.n.a.lyses go to show that, with the exception of the produce of the "iron-tailed cow," none of the supposed defilements really exist, and that the milkman is a sadly maligned individual. Water is added in quant.i.ties varying in different samples from 10 to 50 per cent.; and in the more unfas.h.i.+onable parts of the town _all_ the cream is abstracted to be forwarded to the West-end. If milk _must_ be adulterated in large towns, water is undoubtedly the most harmless ingredient; at the same time it will be seen what a fraud is perpetrated upon the public by selling milky water at 4d. a quart.

That the London milking-pail goes as often to the pump as to the cow we have no manner of doubt. To bring the diluted goods up to a delicate cream colour, it is common to swing round a ball of annatto in the can; and other careful observers and writers upon the adulteration of food have detected flour, starch, and treacle. All medical men know that children are often violently disordered by their morning or evening portion,--an effect which could not come from the mere admixture of water--and we must confess that we ourselves believe the milkman to be a very wicked fellow.

We are afraid, if we look into the sugar-basin, we shall not find much more comfort than in the milk-jug. We refer here to the ordinary brown sugars, such as are generally used at the breakfast-table for coffee. It is scarcely possible to procure moist sugar which is not infested with animalculae of the acari genus, a most disgusting cla.s.s of creatures. In many samples of sugars they swarm to that extent that the ma.s.s moves with them; and in almost every case, by dissolving a spoonful in a wine-gla.s.s of water, dozens of them can be detected by the naked eye, either floating upon the liquid or adhering to the edge of the gla.s.s. Those who are in the habit of "handling" sugars, as it is termed, are liable to a skin affection called the grocer's itch, which is believed to be occasioned by these living inhabitants of our sugar-basins. Horrible as it is to think that such creatures are an article in daily use, we cannot charge the grocer directly with their introduction; the evil is, however, increased by the manner in which he mixes, or "handles," as it is termed in the trade, higher-priced sugars with muscovados, b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and other inferior kinds, in which the animalculae abound.

In addition to this foreign animal element, grocers sometimes mix flour with their sugar, and, if we are to put any credit in popular belief, sand; but of the presence of this gritty ingredient we have never seen any trustworthy evidence. Nevertheless we have said enough to show that the tea-dealer and grocer do their best to supply the proverbial "peck of dirt" which all of us must eat before we die. Would that we were fed with nothing more deleterious or repulsive! Let us see, however, the base admixtures one is liable to swallow in taking--

A CUP OF TEA _or a_ CUP OF COFFEE.

_In the Tea._

If Green-- Prussian-blue.

Turmeric.

China clay or French chalk.

Used tea-leaves.

Copperas.

If Black-- Gum.

Black lead.

Dutch pink.

Used tea-leaves.

Leaves of the ash, sloe, hawthorn, and of many other kinds.

_In the Milk._

On an average 25 per cent. of water.

Annatto.

Treacle.

Flour.

Oxide of iron.

And other unknown ingredients.

_In the Sugar._

If Brown-- Wheat flour.

Hundreds of the sugar-insect.

If White-- Alb.u.men of bullock's blood.

_In the Coffee._

Chicory.

_In the Chicory._

Roast wheat.

" acorn.

" mangold-wurzel.

" beans.

" carrots.

" parsnips " lupin-seeds.

" dog-biscuits.

" horse-chestnuts.

Oxide of iron.

Mahogany sawdust.

Baked horse's liver.

" bullock's liver.

_In the Milk._

Water 25 per cent.

Annatto.

Flour.

Treacle.

Oxide of iron.

And other unknown ingredients.

_In the Sugar._

If Brown-- Wheat flour.

Hundreds of the sugar-insect.