THE

COMPOSITION

AND

OF FOOD

HOW IT IS ADULTERATED.

W. MARCET, M.D., F.C.S.,

LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS;

ASSISTANT-PHYSICIAN AND LECTURER ON PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY TO THE
WESTMINSTER HOSPITAL; FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF THE EDINBURGH MEDICAL SOCIETY;
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETE DE BIOLOGIE OF PARIS,

INTRODUCTION.

FEW questions have lately engrossed so large a share of the public attention, as that which relates to the adulteration of our aliments. The time has now arrived when, thanks to the progress of chemical and microscopical analysis, the attempts so frequently made to adulterate food, are no longer capable of concealment, and we hail with gratitude and satisfaction, the recent efforts of Parliament to put a stop to a practice, so injurious to the best interests of the country.

With the view of attaining an end so important to the health of the population at large, but more particularly to that of the labouring classes, it appears to me that the first step to be taken, is to investigate carefully and without any exaggeration, the different modes employed for adulterating our food, with their effects upon health; and next to determine the causes which have led to these