An extract, said to be innocent, sold in casks, containing from half a cwt. to five cwt. by the brewers' druggists, under the name of _bittern_, is composed of calcined sulphate of iron (copperas), extract of coculus indicus berries, extract of quassia, and Spanish liquorice.
It would be very easy to adduce, in support of these remarks, the testimony of numerous individuals, by whom I have been professionally engaged to examine certain mixtures, said to be perfectly innocent, which are used in very extensive manufactories of the above description. Indeed, during the long period devoted to the practice of my profession, I have had abundant reason to be convinced that a vast number of dealers, of the highest respectability, have vended to their customers articles absolutely poisonous, which they themselves considered as harmless, and which they would not have offered for sale, had they been apprised of the spurious and pernicious nature of the compounds, and of the purposes to which they were destined.
For instance, I have known cases in which brandy merchants were not aware that the substance which they frequently purchase under the delusive name of _flash_, for strengthening and clarifying spiritous liquors, and which is held out as consisting of burnt sugar and isinglass only, in the form of an extract, is in reality a compound of sugar, with extract of capsicum; and that to the acrid and pungent qualities of the capsicum is to be ascribed the heightened flavour of brandy and rum, when coloured with the above-mentioned matter.
In other cases the ale-brewer has been supplied with ready-ground coriander seeds, previously mixed with a portion of _nux vomica_ and quassia, to give a bitter taste and narcotic property to the beverage.
The retail venders of mustard do not appear to be aware that mustard seed alone cannot produce, when ground, a powder of so intense and brilliant a colour as that of the common mustard of commerce. Nor would the powder of real mustard, when mixed with salt and water, without the addition of a portion of pulverised capsicum, keep for so long a time as the mustard usually offered for sale.
Many other instances of unconscious deceptions might be mentioned, which were practised by persons of upright and honourable minds.