ADULTERATION 169 2. Coffee has from very early times been the subject of sophistication. As far back as 1725, the Act 2 Geo. I. c. 30, took cognizance of the practice, and rendered it penal. In 1803 it was the object of very decisive measures, for by 43 Geo. III. c. 129, the officers of excise were empowered to search for, and to seize any burnt, scorched, or roasted peas, beans, or other grains or vegetable substance prepared in imitation of coffee ; and any person manufacturing or selling the same was liable to a penalty of 100; gradually, however, it was found that use of torrefied vegetables in lieu of coffee, was becoming general in spite of these restrictions, and, therefore, in 1822, the Legislature (3 Geo. IV. c. 53) thought it expedient to allow the manufacture and sale of scorched or roasted corn, peas, beans, or turnips, by persons who were not dealers or sellers of coffee or cocoa, provided the same was sold under license in a whole or unground condition, and in its proper name. The penalty for infraction of the law was 100 in the case of a dealer in coffee or cocoa, and 50 in that of a licensed dealer. At that time the use of chicory was not generally known in England, although it had long before been introduced into France as a substitute for coffee ; and its use was encouraged by the first Napoleon, who thought thus to strike a blow at English commerce. It was also used in Belgium and the Nether lands, so that travellers who visited Paris, Brussels, or Amsterdam, became acquainted with the substitute, and gradually acquired a taste for it. About the year 1820 the first parcels of chicory were imported into this country, and it would seem that the public demand for it gradually increased ; for in 1832 there was a minute of the Treasury nullifying the Acts of George III. and George IV., by allowing grocers and other dealers in coffee and cocoa to sell chicory, provided they did not mix it with coffee. At a later period even this restriction was withdrawn ; for by the Treasury minute of 18-40, dealers in coffee were per mitted to sell a mixture of chicory and coffee, provided a duty of Gd. per Ib. was paid on all the chicory imported for home consumption. The use of it being thus legalised, it rapidly came into favour, and English farmers found it profitable to cultivate the root, and to send it into commerce duty free. This roused the attention of the Government, for the duties on chicory and coffee began seriously to fall off. Even the quality of the coffee imported underwent a change ; for instead of demanding the fine flavoured varieties, orders were given for a coarse and strong descrip tion of plantation coffee, which would stand a good deal of chicory, as the grocers phrased it. All this was brought to the notice of the Lords of the Treasury, and in 1852 they revoked the order of 1840. But so strong was the influence of the trade upon Government, that in the following year the offensive minute was withdrawn, and grocers were again permitted to sell mixtures of coffee and chicory, provided the packet was distinctly labelled " mixture of chicory and coffee." The Treasury even went so far in 1858 as to direct the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, not to object to licensed dealers in coffee keeping and selling mangel- wurzel or beet-root mixed with coffee, provided they observed the same conditions as those laid down in the Treasury minute of 1 853 as to chicory and coffee. Up to this time the duty on chicory had been merely nominal ; but it was gradually increased until, in 1863, it was equivalent to that levied on coffee, and thus the revenue was protected, Avhile adulteration was encouraged. The extent to which this was practised may be gathered from the Annual Reports of Mr Phillips, the principal chemist of the Inland Revenue Laboratory. During the years 1856 to 1862 inclusive, when the dealers in coffee and chicory were visited by the officers of Excise, the average number of samples of coffee annually examined was 3053, and of these 90, or nearly 3 per cent, were adulterated the range being from 5 1 per cent, in 1856, to 1 S per cent, in 1862 ; and the quantity of chicory in the mixture averaged 24 per cent. In 1860 it was 29 per cent. Now, in all these cases the coffee was sold as pure coffee, with no label upon the package ; but when the mixtures of chicory and coffee were asked for, 7 3 per cent, were improperly labelled, and the average proportions of chicory ranged from 39 8 per cent. in 1859, to 22 3 per cent, in 1862 the average for the seven years, before the duties were equalised, being 30 7 per cent. In some cases, however, it reached to nearly 90 per cent. 40 to 50 per cent, being common propor tions ; and to neutralise the peculiar sweetness, and the earthy flavours which such quantities of chicory induced, it was, and still is the practice, to add more or less of the bitter material called " finings," which is a preparation of burnt sugar or caramel. Even chicory itself is now the subject of adulteration with roasted corn, beans, lupin seeds, acorns, horse-chesnuts, peas, pulse (called " Hambro pow der"), mustard husks, coffee husks (called "flights"), and even spent coffee, besides various roots, as carrots, parsnips, mangel-wurzel, beet-root, dandelion, &c. It is even said that spent tan and dried bullocks livers have been employed for the purpose. The tests for these adulterations are the appearances presented by the tissues of the various vegetables when examined under the microscope, and by the fact that infusion of chicory does not become discoloured when it is treated with iodine, as it contains no starchy matters. Ground coffee, also, is of such a greasy nature, from the presence of volatile oil, that when it is thrown upon water, it floats, and does not readily discolour the water; whereas, all the adulterating agents quickly sink in water, and give it a brown porter-like appearance. It is not difficult indeed to separate, in a rough way, the coffee from its adulterating matters by merely stirring a given weight of the mixture in a tumbler of cold water ; after a few minutes, the coffee will be found upon the surface of the water, and the other things at the bottom of it. Chemical analysis also readily discovers the fraud. It might be thought that there was safety in purchasing the coffee-berries entire, but a very ingenious machine has been patented for the manufacture of spurious berries out of common vegetable substances. 3. Tea. Formerly, when the supply of tea to this country was entirely under the control of the East India Company, the adulteration of it in China was rarely practised, as every shipment of it was carefully examined by experienced officers at Canton, who rejected all teas of spurious or doubtful character. At that time, therefore, the adulteration of tea was carried on after it was imported into this country, and there were many legislative enactments prohibiting the practice. By the Act 2 Geo. I. c. 3, every tea dealer was subject to a penalty of 100, if he was convicted of counterfeiting, altering, fabricating, or manufacturing tea, or mixing it with other leaves. Later still, the statutes of 4 Geo. II. c. 14, and 17 Geo. III. c. 29, and 4 Geo. IV. c. 14, dealt more precisely with the subject, and imposed other penalties. At that time the adulterations of tea were effected in a wholesale manner ; for according to Mr Phillips, of the Inland Revenue Office, there were in London alone, in 1843, as many as eight manufactories in which the exhausted leaves, obtained from hotels, coffee-houses, and elsewhere, were redried, and faced with rose-pink and blacklead, in imitation of genuine tea. More recently, however, the adulteration of tea has been practised by the Chinese, who find no difficulty in disposing of any kind of spurious tea to English merchants at Canton and Shanghai, who ship it to this country, and lodge it in the bonded warehouses with all the formalities of an honourable transaction, knowing that the difficulties of convicting them under the Adulteration of Food Acts and
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