“No, massa; den we send it lower down, and charge three francs a bath. Dar’s plenty of people who ain’t so berry particular, who will bathe in it after this at two francs a head. Den, massa, we let the common people have it at a franc apiece.”
“Then, of course, you throw it away,” exclaimed the traveller, who thought this was going even beyond Yankee profit.
A CHAMPAGNE BATH.
“No, indeed, massa,” was the indignant reply, accompanied by a profound bow; “no, indeed, massa; we are not so stravagant as dat comes to; we just bottle it up den, and send it to ’Meriky for champagne.”
A Chemist’s Testimony.
Dr. Hiram Cox, an eminent chemist of Ohio, states that during two years he has made five hundred and seventy-nine inspections of various kinds of liquors, and has found nine tenths of them imitations, and a quarter portion of them poisonous concoctions. Of brandy, he found one gallon in one hundred pure; of wine, not a gallon in a thousand, but generally made of whiskey as a basis, with poisonous articles for condiments. Not a drop of Madeira wine had been made in that island since 1851. Some of the whiskey he inspected contained sulphuric acid enough in a quart to eat a hole through a man’s stomach.
MOTHER’S MILK PURE AND HEALTHY. MOTHER’S MILK AFTER DRINKING WHISKEY.
Brandy usually contains sulphuric acid. I obtained a “pure article” yesterday, from an honest, Christian druggist. In an hour I found sulphuric acid in it. Acids are easily detected in liquors, by placing in it for an hour a bright steel spatula. The acids have an affinity to steel, and the spatula soon turns black, separating the acid from the liquid supposed to be brandy. If the brandy is sharp to the throat on swallowing it, be sure that it is not pure, but contains capsicum, horseradish, or fusel oil. Good brandy will be smooth and oily to the throat. To detect lead in wine or brandy, suspend a piece of pure zinc in the glass, and if the lead is present, delicate fibrils of that metal will form on the zinc.