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A

TREATISE

ON

ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD,

AND CULINARY POISONS.

EXHIBITING

The Fraudulent Sophistications of

BREAD, BEER, WINE, SPIRITOUS LIQUORS, TEA, COFFEE, CREAM, CONFECTIONERY,VINEGAR, MUSTARD, PEPPER, CHEESE, OLIVE OIL, PICKLES,

AND OTHER ARTICLES EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

AND

METHODS OF DETECTING THEM.

By Fredrick Accum,

OPERATIVE CHEMIST, AND MEMBER OF THE PRINCIPAL ACADEMIES AND SOCIETIESOF ARTS AND SCIENCES IN EUROPE.

Philadelphia:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY AB'M SMALL

1820.

[Pg iii]

PREFACE.

This Treatise, as its title expresses, is intended to exhibit easymethods of detecting the fraudulent adulterations of food, and of otherarticles, classed either among the necessaries or luxuries of the table;and to put the unwary on their guard against the use of such commoditiesas are contaminated with substances deleterious to health.

Every person is aware that bread, beer, wine, and other substancesemployed in domestic economy, are frequently met with in an adulteratedstate: and the late convictions of numerous individuals forcounterfeiting and adulterating tea, coffee, bread, beer, pepper, andother articles of diet, are still fresh in the memory of the public.

To such perfection of ingenuity has the system of counterfeiting and[Pg iv]adulterating various commodities of life arrived in this country, thatspurious articles are every where to be found in the market, made up soskilfully, as to elude the discrimination of the most experiencedjudges.

But of all possible nefarious traffic and deception, practised bymercenary dealers, that of adulterating the articles intended for humanfood with ingredients deleterious to health, is the most criminal, and,in the mind of every honest man, must excite feelings of regret anddisgust. Numerous facts are on record, of human food, contaminated withpoisonous ingredients, having been vended to the public; and the annalsof medicine record tragical events ensuing from the use of such food.

The eager and insatiable thirst for gain, is proof against prohibitionsand penalties; and the possible sacrifice of a fellow-creature's life,is a secondary consideration among unprincipled dealers.

However invidious the office may appear, and however painful the dutymay be, of exposing the names of individuals, who have been convicted of[Pg v]adulterating food; yet it was necessary, for the verification of mystatement, that cases should be adduced in their support; and I havecarefully avoided citing any, except those which are authenticated inParliamentary documents and other public records.

To render this Treatise still more useful, I have also animadverted oncertain material errors, sometimes unconsciously committed throughaccident or ignorance, in private families, during the preparation ofvarious articles of food, and of delicacies for the table.

In stating the experimen

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