CONFECTIONS, PRESERVES, BREAD, AND WATER. some parcels of black tea, which were composed of black lead in large proportions. That was bad, and black enough, but, upon a closer examination, the presumed tea was found to contain fifteen per cent. of dust, or sand. It is a hard case that these Chinese mixers, not contented with giving us paints and poisons, insist upon adding to the bad bargain also of their own sand. Their sand cannot "cheer" us when weary, remove a headache, or do anything better than some hidden mischief in the region of the stomach, known only to medical men-something very terrible, we fear. The only hope indeed the only safety-we enjoy in this matter of sand, is that it may be hard, very hard, hard as rock, and indissoluble. We are assured by dealers in, and writers upon, tea and "the trade," that the Chinese do not wish to mix their staple article, for they are proud of its quality; but they are compelled to meet the diseased taste of buyers. If this be the only cause for the Prussian blue and the turmeric, it can be no reason for the bricks, the clay, the dirt, the dust, the granite in powder, the oolites, the traps; nobody's taste in Britain or Ireland is depraved or diseased enough for them; and so the Chinese and their teas, like the licensed victuallers and their liquors, need to be put under inspection. Sugar is an article of large consumption, and is not extensively mixed with pretences or substitutes. A little potato starch, and some other vegetable substances, with a portion of the sulphate of lime left in half-refined goods "by a blunder," form the foreign substances met usually in sugars. Confections are given to children from kind motives, but they suffer-both the confections and the children suffer from the articles often used in preparing the former. Buyers, we presume, do not generally grudge the price of "carraways," and yet Dr. Thomson says, and even swears, that he has found more than twenty-five per cent. of terra alba in some specimens. This frightful "terra alba"-this something passing under a very general name-was only plaster of Paris! but that is a rather injurious article of digestion to the young, is cheaper than sugar, and can be detected easily; yet Dr. Thomson found it in considerable quantities amongst mints and sweetmeats. Jams, marmalades, and all preserves, with few exceptions, contain a small quantity of copperwhich is poisonous in large quantities; but as copper is rather dearer than these commodities, it gets into them during manufacture from the copper vessels in which they are generally prepared, both in domestic efforts at preserving, and in large manufactories. Means are proposed, and have been proposed for ages, to neutralise this result of boiling fruits in copper vessels; but they have never been successful in unskilful hands, and consumers are minutely poisoned. Preserves are mixed in another fashion with different materials to make them pretences. Thus, beet-root and parsnips, but especially turnips being nearer to tasteless-make capital marmalade. 387 Consumers do not know that they are raising the price of the necessaries of existence upon cows; but these animals never complain. We may also say that no reason exists for supposing that these mixtures are pernicious. O, si sic omnia! but there is no si sic as regardeth omnia-and very necessary things, too. Even bread-the loaves that we pay for so handsomely, are not always, and all, made of flour only. Alum, of course, is requisite to whiten, and then we have all sorts of breadstuffs mingling with the more aristocratic flour of wheat-and perhaps not disadvantageously, in every instance-to cheapen the productions. Yet, it is likely that the public would prefer to take their potatoes, for example, in the vulgar state, rather than made up as bread; while they would altogether excuse the absence of deleterious matters. We may, as affairs stand, bake bread in household ovens; and then the consumer has only to keep an eye upon the flours. We may even buy a domestic corn-mill, and grind wheat as the useful amusement of winter evenings in parlours; and then the eaters would only require to provide for the quality of the wheat. These alternatives are, however, only retrogressions, necessary from the absence of honest dealings, which every person should expect who buys an article at a fair price. The system of selling under false names should be smothered in an Act of Parliament; for the majority of families cannot prosecute their proper business and the baking and grinding trades, at the same time, with advantage. The water used in kneading bread, in large manufactories, was found, according to the evidence produced before the House of Commons, to be detrimental. In some instances, it was found to be mixed with sewage liquid. In others, less or more objectionable contamination had occurred. In London, the common water supplied by the companies may be generally used-and it is not always good, although those who employ it may be unable to obtain a better or a purer article. They cannot, like the people of Glasgow, turn a Highland lake some thirty miles or more down upon their city. They have not adopted even the gravitation principle, which might supply them with abundance of clear, filtered water, pure and sweet from the hills of Surrey. They suffer under a load of six or seven water companies, sufficient to contaminate the water of a kingdom. One of these companies has shares of one hundred pounds worth from ten to twelve thousand pounds; and is yet perpetually squabbling with its customers respecting the means of laying dust on streets in warm days. supply of water to nearly all large cities is inadequate in quality and quantity, although no other necessary of existence has been more diffusely supplied to this country. Everybody will agree with Mrs. Brodrip-unless, of course, the aristocracy of water, who may have New River shares, or some other interest in the trade-when she wrote:* Wayside Fancies." The 388 Oh, God! that gavest mountain rills, That trickle pure and clear, TOBACCO, SNUFF, AND DRUGS. Through moss, and rush; and gurgling brooks That spring up everywhere; That poison as they flow, But water, we fancy, does not come within the list of manufactured drinks or food, and the changes in its elements, caused by negligence or selfishness, may require to be obviated by a special class of measures. The luxuries of life are cheapened to a great extent by mixtures of an objectionable character. Cigars are generally made from tobacco, but hay and brown paper are sometimes used; and cigars from hay are preferable to any others. Even tobacco is, on the whole, in a commendable state. The manufacturers content themselves with salts, sugars, and water; while, except for the sake of the revenue, the two latter substances are improvements. Snuff, we regret to observe, is in a very dangerous condition. Between chromate of lead, chloride of sodium-that is to say, salts, alkalines, and earthy carbonates, lime, and earthy phosphates, red ochre and yellow ochre, with amber-the snuffers are in a bad predicament. Not satisfied with putting lead instead of tobacco into the buyers' systems, the manufacturers add iron, oxide of iron, so that a snuffer may become cast metal before he quite understands himself to be in process of transmutation. Lest he should escape that doom, the grinders of snuff put in silica to account for the flinty hearts of snuff takers, and glass, pounded glass, to cut up their nostrils entirely, and powdered orris-root; and this must be something very bad, although we do not know, but merely suppose it to be terrible as the last, and naturally the worst, of an execrable list. Cayenne powder, pickles, sauces, and all similar condiments have been poisoned rather to suit the public taste than for any profit made to the operators by the process; but the purchasers swallow large quantities of copper, in order to have their favourite pickles coloured with an unnatural green. Some improvements have been effected in the preparation of these articles, as of other mixtures, by the exposures which have been circulated widely, and have acted like warnings; but no doubt exists that pickles in purity are still comparatively rare, and that cayenne powder, and currie powders, are, to a considerable extent, chromate of lead, which is an active poison. After men or women, by the aid of all these processes and putrefactions, become ill; or, children get sick from the use of half-poisoned lolly. pops; a doctor is called. As a general rule, medical men wish to save their patients-there can be no doubt upon that point. They are, however, cast out of their reckoning by the character of the drugs in the market. Drugs are mixed with cheaper ingredients before importation and after importation: in the mill of the grinder, the cellars of the wholesale dealers, and the shop of the retailer. The processes are refinements of cruelty, because they must be known to the persons implicated, and cupidity is the reason for the deception. Nobody who can pay anything for drugs grudges any price. In no other department of trade is a good and pure article more necessary, and a fair, or even a high price, more easily obtained. And yet ample evidence has been afforded to the House of Commons that a medical man cannot even prescribe opium, a most important, if not, in a majority of cases, the most important drug, with any certainty that it will be supplied in a state of purity. If the mixture were so regular and systematic that an idea could be formed, when the prescription was in preparation, of the dilution in strength that had occurred, the dose could be increased to meet the case; but if by some accident the retailer had a pure parcel on hand, the patient in that case would very probably be killed by common honesty. Dr. Thomson, of St. Thomas's Hospital, said that the mixture of drugs was a common evil, and an enormous evil; but he had no hope of overcoming it, except by medical inspectors. The public were helpless, and he might have added hopeless, for he said that in 1838 the subject was taken up with vigour; say nineteen years since, but no good came out of this vigour, and the Government are determined to complete the twentieth year before they move in the matter. Next year Parliament will be engaged with the Reform Bill, and of course incapable of attending to anything of so small importance as what we drink and eat, and the medicine that we are compelled to swallow when ill. The subject will thus have attained its majority since the date when Dr. Thomson described it professionally as vigorous, before we have a chance of these great grievances, unless by energetic action during the the present month, being in any manner rectified. The corruption of drugs generally occurs at the drug grinders, and always, unless when the grinders are dishonest, with the consent, or rather, by the order of the wholesale dealers. A quantity of drugs are sent to the grinder, with instructions to return equal weight; and as the articles lose in grinding, he cannot comply with the instructions, except by the introduction of foreign substances. After the dealers have shown thus the way of cheating the public to the grinders, some of the latter occasionally cheat their immediate customers, and act in the manner imputed of old time to corn millers. Carelessness has sometimes as much to do with these matters as cupidity, and is equally dangerous. Dr. Thomson says he once required the "tincture of sesquichloride of iron," for St. Thomas's Hospital; this medicine ought to contain thirty grains in the ounce of "sesquioxide of iron." The specimen furnished to Dr. Thomson contained only twenty-five grains. He returned it on account of the deficiency, and received another THE DAISY OF GROUVILLE, 389 We do not appreciate the reasons for advancing some measures and delaying others, in the present session, on account of the labour requisite in the one, or the importance attached to the other. The Jewish nation are a very respectable class of persons in our estimation, but a sharp specimen containing thirty-five grains. He was compelled to return it also; because, while the composition with twenty-five grains of sesquioxide of iron would not have produced the required results, that with thirty-five grains would have produced more than were wanted. The first would have been inefficient, the second super-enactment against the frauds in necessaries of exefficient, and both bad-both dangerous. Calamine was a medicine once in common use, for surgical purposes, and one pound of calamine supplied to Dr. Thomson was "a prepartion of sul- | phate of baryta, chalk, and ochre," neither of which has any business whatever in calamine, for it appears to be carbonate of zinc. This specimen contained no single trace of zine, and therefore, could have been of no use for those purposes in the preparation of which zinc may be valuable. Calamine by name may be anything whatever by nature. One specimen comprised 6 per cent. of oxide of zine, and another contained 57.76 of the same oxide. If that oxide have any influence whatever, bad, good, or indifferent, the two specimens could not both have been properly prescribed for medical purposes under one name. No difficulty exists in the adjustment of this subject, and honest traders would rejoice to see it settled. Parliament should at once create the machinery necessary for the prosecution of persons making or selling articles under false names. The mixture of matters to be drunk, or to be eaten, with alien substances, or even with allied substances of a cheaper nature, should be suppressed, and if a general law is too heavy during the summer months for our legislators, at least some provision should be made for the sick, that medicine may be supplied in its native and pure state. istence might even have been more valuable to the people of London than the animation of their sus pended member, although both might have been accomplished. The public have been indebted ere now to the Reformers of Birmingham for practical suggestions, and perseverance in their realisation. An association in that great town have already done good service in circulating information on this topic, and if they could oblige the public still farther by urging the propriety of immediate action concerning it upon their town and county members, who possess very considerable influence among the two great parties in the State, although Sir George Grey is not easily pressed into work, yet it might be possible to persuade him that a measure could be matured, even at this late date, to secure pure medicine for those who have been gradually dragged into sickness by the previous processes of trade; and very probably a few lives might be extended, that will, on the other hand, be shortened by the delay of this provision, for the medical witnesses examined by the committee of the Commons honestly told them that their evidence had previously secured nothing better than extended information on the means of mixing drugs to those who sought the profits of the crime; and no good reasons can be found for delaying enactments necessary to extend life. SKETCHES OF JERSEY. NO. II. THE DAISY OF GROUVILLE. "WELL, how are you this morning ?" was the salutation of my tale-relating friend, as, the following day, he entered the room, and placed himself beside me. "I am quite well," I replied; "and quite ready to listen to the story you promised me." "Now, that is really too bad," he said. "Before I have had time to breathe-before you have even asked me how I am, or ascertained whether I am suffering from headache or dyspepsia (consequence of oyster-soup, &c.), you put me on duty, place me in the ranks, and command me to fire away' at the story! I've a great mind to turn rebellious, and refuse." "Take care!" I answered, "or I shall place you under arrest-order a court-martial, and send you to-Coventry." "But, I am really not in a story-telling mood," he said. "I cannot feel in the least melancholy or sentimental; and, as I told you, 'The Daisy of Grouville' is a very melancholy tale. I came this morning to ask you to drive with me to Mount Orgueil Castle, the scene of a part of the tale; if you consent, the spirit of what shall I call it ?— narration will come to me, and you shall hear this story under the very rocks which are described in it. But I am very much afraid you will expect too much after all this talking." "I don't expect anything," I said, "except a pretty tale; and I shall be delighted to take the drive, as it will afford me an opportunity of seeing the country; and you will be a protection against another maniac attack, should we be unfortunate enough to meet a second Le Clerc." "Do you call it unfortunate?" he asked. "Now, I should have considered the rencontre a very happy one, inasmuch as it had put me in possession of a very interesting legend." "Umph!" I replied, "legends are very pretty things in their way, but scarcely worth the chance of a 'grip' from a madman, and a broken neck by way of denouement. If I had not managed to get away from that old fellow, he would, in his facetiousness, have tumbled me over the precipice! However, here we are, wasting all this fine day in talking; so, you go now and order the carriage, and I will put on my bonnet while you are gone." "Put on your bonnet!" he replied smiling. "What an assumption of simplicity there is in that feminine term-'put on my bonnet'! As if you had not a hundred other little things for sooth, to put on-cuffs, collars, little bows, petti coats "Hush!" I exclaimed; "you ought not to talk about petticoats-you, a bachelor! what can you know about petticoats? But do go and get the carriage; and I will don the manifold articles of dress you seem to fancy we wear, and be ready by the time you return." In about a quarter of an hour, the carriage stood at the door. I jumped in and off we drove. "We will first go along the coast of the St. Clement's Bay; thence to Grouville and Prince's Tower," my companion said; "this will lengthen our drive considerably; but the scenery is so pretty, I don't think you will object to the exten "On the contrary, I shall be glad of it.” We drove through the town again, and then came in sight of the St. Clement's Bay. I thought it even more beautiful than that which I had seen in my previous drive. It was low water, and I noticed those dreadful rocks-their sharp, pointed summits, just appearing above the tide-which are said to form the natural defence of Jersey, on that side of the island, at least. These rocks thickly interspersed the bay. Some did not appear larger than the pointed trunk of a good sized tree; while others seemed to attain the size of miniature islands. There they were like watch-dogs, guarding the island from every inimical sail. "What a dreadful navigation !" I exclaimed. "Surely large ships do not attempt to enter or anchor here ?" "Certainly not; why should they-when they have that splendid harbour and the St. Aubin's Bay ?" "Now," I said, "I know you are saying to yourself, 'No one but a woman could have suggested such an absurdity.' Come, confess; was not that your thought ?" "It would be ungallant to plead guilty to such an idea, even if I entertained it. But you see we have now turned from the coast and taken an inland road. Look to the left, do you see that high tower ?" "Yes." "It is called Princess Tower. Beyond it lies the Queen's Farm-a small property belonging to her Majesty, which, possibly, she never heard of before her visit to the island some few years since." "I suppose," I remarked, "that was a grand event." "It was indeed. The sight of a real live Queen and Prince was an incident of startling interest to the Jersey peasantry, although I think a great many of them were disappointed at seeing a mere lady and gentleman; they expected the Queen in scarlet satin and ermine the crown on her head, the sceptre in her hand; while, I believe, they pictured Prince Albert in a kind of conjuror's gown-purple velvet, covered with gold stars. See! there is Grouville church; and that is the cottage where Marguerite, the heroine of the coming story, lived." I looked. There was nothing very promising in its outer aspect. It was simply a whitewashed cottage, as glaring and commonplace as whitewashed cottages always are. I felt myself, however, in duty bound to look, and try to see something to admire (even in the whitewash) for the sake of Marguerite. We passed Grouville, and drove on to Gorey, a small fishing town on the western side of the island. It possesses a harbour, and two or three public-houses-"hotels," or "inns," they may have the audacity to call themselves. Notwithstanding these advantages, it is an insignificant place, little worthy of notice. As to its castle, the site of that is beautiful indeed. Situated on a rock overhanging the sea, it frowns defiance at all enemies. Cannon bristle round this castle, and on its summit-cannon, which would bellow forth their voice of warning, did any, unbidden and unwelcome, seck to force an entrance there. "We will leave the carriage, and walk on; or, if you are willing to spend the day here, we will send it back to the village, and order it to come for us again to-night." "As you like," I replied; "but how do you propose to dine? I am very matter-of-fact, and cannot live on the poetry of a scene; besides, if I could, you, I know, could not. It is a very melancholy circumstance, that people must eat and drink; no matter how romantic they mean to be, they must attend to the vulgar consideration of dinner; so, again I ask you where shall we dine ?" "Let me first dismiss the carriage; and then I will show you," he said. "Now," as in a few moments he again joined me, "now, this way." We walked on. Then my companion stopped. "Look!" he said, "is not the castle beautiful from this aspect ?" THE DAISY OF GROUVILLE. I did look; and then answered heartily, "Yes." There it was before me, with its great sullen looking walls, a sloping ascent of the softest grass reaching to its foundation. On this ascent some sheep were grazing, looking so mild and peaceful, a contrast to the frowning fortress above them fitting types of peace and war, I thought. And then my mind went wandering on-as it always will-into the visionary realms of thought. I pictured that castle in a state of siege-the battle. ments manned by the brave soldiers; the pent-up animal at bay! the human stag, hunted by his fellow man! Fancy led me into the interior. I saw the daily decreasing supply of provisions; the wistful faces round; the anxious, yet determined brow, which said, "Here we can either live or die." Why, how silent you have become !" exclaimed my companion. "I want to show you where we can dine." "I don't want any dinner-at least, not yet," I added, for common sense came to my aid, and led me down from the clouds. "Nevertheless, as I see you mean to take me through that arch, which looks inviting, I will go." We passed through the arch, which was nothing more nor less than the castle gate. Inside that was the cottage, where I discovered we were to dine. An apology for a garden stood before the cottage; then came a wall (the castle wall), and outside that again was the sea, dashing against the rocks on which the castle stood. "Will you go and order dinner, or shall I ?" asked my friend. "Oh, you by all means," I replied. "I don't care what I have; let it be something which we can eat quickly, and then be out again." "Very well. The unfailing English dish of cutlets or steak will do I suppose." "Oh, yes-anything; only make haste, for I want to see the inside of the castle. Can we go over it ?" "Yes. It is nothing very wonderful though; but no doubt you will people each vaulted and stony corridor with phantom forms of your own creating, and so make it interesting." "Indeed, I shall do nothing of the kind," I replied. "I am looking forward all this time to the Daisy of Grouville.' Why cannot we sit down here on this shady ledge of rock, and begin? Surely that murmuring sea beneath, and the bright blue sky above, are enough to excite your imagi nation." My companion took the seat I indicated, and I saw that a shade of sadness was stealing over him. "I never can think of this tale without feeling sorrowful," he said. "But I must not make you gloomy, or you will vote me a dull companion. Why! what will you do with your hands during the progress of the story? for you have no sewing here!" and he glanced at me with malicious glee. 39 So now "But I have my sewing," I replied, as I triumphantly drew it from my pocket; begin. This time I shall not be disappointed by the ringing of that eternal dinner bell." "I would not trust to my memory," he said, as he drew a manuscript from his pocket. "I have it written down here, for the story is too long to remember accurately." He leant against the wall as he spoke, and began to read as follows :— Marguerite Le Genre, the heroine of the present tale, was one of the most lovely girls I ever saw. Dark in complexion, with the richest colour mantling in her cheek; hair of that purple blackness which is rarely seen, and eyes of the deepest hue, swimming in their own liquid light! Then her mouth-aye, that was a thing to dream about! An ever-varying expression played round the coral lips-a look of mirth it might be, or a gleam of thought (for the mouth can express thought as well as the eyes), which curled and parted those lips, and showed the pearly teeth within. She was of French extraction-from Granville; hence her beauty, for all the Granvillaise are said to be beautiful. Her parents, poor but honest people, had come to Jersey (lured by the words of those who wished them there), to try and make a livelihood. It was a difficult matter, but they succeeded; that is to say, they lived from hand to mouth, made but little, and lived on that little. Madame Le Genre took in washing-Monsieur went out as a gardener. They brought up Marguerite excellently; and, instead of teaching her embroidery, crochet, and other useless employments, they made her take the household work on her. Even when she was but a mere child, I can remember seeing her scrub the floor of their little kitchen, and perform other acts of domestic utility. In process of time she was exalted to the washing tub; for the good old mother looked on the washing tub with veneration, as the most productive source of the family labour, and so guarded it sacredly from profane fingers. Marguerite's, however, were not profane she had been carefully introduced into all the mysteries of "soaping-in," "rubbing," " rinsing," etc.; and, at the age of eighteen, was pronounced, by the indisputable word of her mother, to be perfect in her art. Allons, Marguerite," she would say, "il faut finir tout cela, et cela, et cela!" and she would indicate certain difficulties and works of labour, in the way of fine collars, crimped frills, etc., and Marguerite, nothing daunted, would set about it, singing all the time some bright French air. The fortunes of the Le Genre family were looking up. A girl was hired on washing days to do the household work, for Marguerite was too busy to attend to that now. Madame was saving money! She had a little hoard put carefully away in the foot of an old stocking her bank. From time to time she added a silver piece or two to the hoard; but lately, instead of adding to, she had taken from, this store; taken from it several of |