Less Adulteration than Commonly Supposed.
The general Government is also moving in the matter. Last year (1887) three “Bulletins” were issued at Washington, which deal exhaustively with current adulterations of dairy products, spices, etc., and fermented beverages. These reports, made under direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture, were prepared respectively by Messrs. H. W. Wiley, C. Richardson, and C. A. Crampton, who state in substance that they found certain articles extensively adulterated, but generally with harmless materials.
The president of the N. Y. Microscopical Society states that many members of that scientific body have looked into the alleged adulterations of food products and find them not as general as many suppose, and the adulterants found were in most cases harmless.
At the recent “Health Exhibition,” in England, Dr. Jas. Bell declared to the Conference, that, “In most articles of food there has been a very great improvement in recent years as regards adulterations,” and that the “gross and deleterious adulterants formerly used have been practically abandoned.” This accords also with the recently expressed opinions of the eminent Dr. Hassall and of many scientific investigators in this country.