find anything the matter with at all ) proves to be a slight accumulation of gas formed, no doubt, by vestige of animal heat being present at that point when the meat was put in cure. SOUR MEATS NOT UNWHOLESOME. Such meats are not in any sense unwholesome. A "light sour" which will not smoke out is seldom depreciated much in value, the damage being so slight; as, for instance, with a ham showing a small exterior bruise extending no further than immediately under the skin. It is really of no consequence, nevertheless such are not put in the very first grade of meats. The slight smell which is found in the "light sour" after smoking is generally located in or near a joint, and there may be a trifle of meat immediate thereto very slightly affected. A "medium sour" has a more pronounced smell than a light, and a larger area is affected, usually at the same point. When these meats are cooked there is little, if any, trace of sourness, though perhaps the appearance at that point is a little grayish. Epicures have declared that a slightly soured ham upon cooking acquires a peculiarly desirable flvor. A "heavy" or "third-grade sour" piece of meat is a trifle more "aged" than a medium, but after being boned and the parts affected trimmed out this ham rolled and boiled is perfectly palatable and entirely wholesome. These grades of meats are a very small percentage of the whole, and that percentage, with constantly improving refrigeration, is fast growing less. Sour meats are the product of perfectly healthy hogs, but the result sometimes of a little carelessness or hurryup process in chilling and sometimes owing to not being fully cured before smoking. Sour meat is not. necessarily decomposed meat, even ever so slightly, and the trouble is always local and of small area. As has been said, it does not affect the meat's whole someness. THE FUTILITY OF FOOD. Dr. Rullison of Toledo is unique among physicians in that he follows his own prescriptions. We are all familiar with the type of doctor who, after telling a patient that everybody eats too much, proceeds, himself, to surround a seven-course dinner, or his colleague, whose most violent form of exertion consists in riding about in an automobile, who urges his patients to walk five miles a day if they would retain their health. Dr. Rullison not only preaches the benefits of a moderate regimen, but has put into practice his unpopular doctrine by abstaining from food for the period of 34 days, and intends to continue abstinent for nobody knows how many days more. "How do I feel?" the doctor is reported as saying. "Why, I feel like a boy again. I hope never again to yield to the tyranny of false hunger. The average man eats ten times more than he should. He should reduce his rations materially and then fast for a month out of every year." An observer states that the doctor's skin is "clear and smooth, his eyes bright and his face glowing with health." Butchers, bakers, grocers and milkmen may well tremble at the propagation of Dr. Rullison's doctrine, but the rest of us, who find eating more expensive every day, will accord it a warm welcome. Food is a luxury, not a necessity, says Dr. Rullison. When the prices of milk and butter, eggs and meat, seem to have taken "Excelsior" for their motto, we can simply "cut them out" as we do candy or cigars dur ing hard times. Man has always been fond of food, but he has made the serious mistake of regarding it as indispensable to his existence. If Dr. Rullison can only refrain from eating for a few more months and continue to grow fat and ruddy, he will have dealt the beef trust barons a blow beyond the powers of an army of Upton Sinclairs armed with rapid-fire fountain pens. San Jose (Cal.) Mercury. PRUSSIAN BAKERIES ARE FILTHY. Boys Knead Dough with Feet-One Plant Used as Hen Coop. The Prussian medical department has issued a report on the sanitary condition of bakeries and slaughter houses, to which the newspapers are giving sensational prominence, one of them using the caption "America in Prussia." The report sets forth that many of the butchering establishments were found in an unclean condition. Some of them were located in dark cellars, where cleanliness was impossible, and others had no facilities for employes to wash themselves. Government inspectors found particularly objectionable conditions in the bakeries. In one town boys kneaded the dough with their feet and one bakery was occupied by cats and hens. In another town a baker's oven served, ad interim, as a goose pen. In many places bakeries were found in close proximity to the insanitary appurtenances of the house. One baker admitted that his floor and vats were scrubbed only once a year. NEW YORK STATE PURE FOOD LAWS. Bills have been introduced in the assembly by Mr. Oliver and by Mr. Cuvillier and in the senate by Mr. Frawley which are labeled pure food acts. The long fight in Congress for a national pure food law has predisposed the public to favor pure food legislation in the states. In order to complete the regulations, it is, in fact, necessary that state laws supplement those of the United States. It will readily be appreciated, however, that the greatest confusion would result if the nation should make certain regulations and each of the several states certain other regulations. An article might pass national inspection and its sale still be illegal in any state. Or it might satisfy the laws of one state and be placed on the blacklist in another. There are very few industries of importance nowadays which do not do an interstate business. For this reason it would be the wisest public policy to make the pure food laws of the states mere adaptations of the national pure food law. By this plan there would be secured uniformity, which is essential to the practical operation of such laws. Moreover the plan would be economical for the states, since it would avoid the necessity of maintaining any large force of inspectors. The national inspection would be accepted by the states. New York should take the lead in this matter. It should not enact any pure food law which would involve the employment of a large force of state inspectors and would hamper interstate commerce by attempting to impose regulations other than those of the national law.-Buffalo Express. BOASTING DAIRYMAN ARRESTED. As a result of a public boast of Wm. Wade, of Greenville, that he has been adulterating his milk with water, a state deputy food inspector, conducting an investigation in Bond county for several weeks, filed four informations in the county court against milk sellers. Wade openly made the declaration at a public meeting of dairymen and farmers several weeks ago that his cows gave milk so rich that he was enabled to mix in a quantity of water and still have his product pass the test at the creamery. -Carlinville, Ill., Enquirer. SECRETARY WILSON ON THE LAW AS IT RE LATES TO SUGAR AND MOLASSES. The national pure food and drug act of June 30, 1906, does not treat of sugar and molasses separately. The provisions of the law apply generally to foods, there being only one exception in this regard, and that is one clause relating to confectionery. The regulations which are made under the law, of course, have the force of law until they have been overruled by a decision of the courts. It follows, therefore, that in the production of sugar and molasses the same principles must apply as in the production of any other food product. If the law places no limitation on the use of sulphur, tin salts, bluing, etc., used in the manufacture of sugar and molasses, it does not place any limitations on similar substances used in other food products. Any ruling, therefore, which is made respecting the use of these bodies in sugars must be admitted with equal force to all other bodies. We have on file in this office protests against the exclusion of every known substance which has been used in the adulteration of foods, and if all should be considered favorably the law would be entirely ineffective. There is no doubt that under this law any substances added to sugar and molasses which are injurious to health are in the future to be excluded. Regulation I says that "no substance may be mixed or packed with a food product which shall reduce or lower its quality or strength." Not included under this provision are substances properly used in the preparation of food products in clarification and refining and eliminated in the further process of manufacture. It is evident, therefore, that all substances used for clarifying or refining in the manufacture of sugar and molasses and which are eliminated in the further process of refining are not to be considered in the execution of the law. FOUND SULPHUROUS ACID, SALTS OF TIN AND COMPOUNDS OF ZINC. From the information which I have at hand I find the following substances are probably present in a large quantity of molasses manufactured in Louisiana, namely: First-Sulphurous acid coming from the burning sulphur used in sulphuring the juices as they are expressed from the canes. Second-Salts of tin, which are occasionally, perhaps frequently, used in washing the sugars in a centrifugal, and which remain in toto in molasses. I am Third-Compounds of zinc and sulphurous acid which are used to a large extent in the bleaching of molasses. fully convinced, from the information which is at my disposal, that all of these substances are injurious to health. Under the law it is no excuse for their presence that they are in small quantities, because, if we admit the principle that an injurious substance may be allowed in small quantities, there is no dividing point at which those wishing to use these substances would agree, except a quantity so large as to be positively and permanently injurious. It is undoubtedly the intent of the law that the use of these substances be eliminated. Having thus laid down the broad principle on which the law is to be enforced, attention should next be called to the actual condition of affairs, with a view of securing the enforcement of the law in such a way as to work no injury which can be avoided and to give ample time and opportunity for manufacturers to change their methods in such a way as to comply with the requirements of the law. We have evidence to the effect that the final molasses; that is, after the removal of two and sometimes three crops of sugar, resulting in the manufacture of sugar in Louisiana, is net used to any extent in the state itself, except perhaps to give to the lowest class of laborers and feed mules. We have also evidence that immense quantities of molasses of this kind are consumed in New Orleans, especially in the manufacture of a neutral spirit or in the making of rum, and that other large quantities are used as cattle foods, showing that there is a market for this kind of molasses which does not depend upon human consumption. We have also experimental evidence to show (and this evidence was obtained by the department itself) that from the sugar cane which grows over large areas in Texas, Louisiana. Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Florida a fine table syrup can be made without the use of chemicals at all (or at most with only a little lime, which is eliminated in the process of clarification), which is pure, wholesome and wholly unobjectionable as a human food. It is thus seen that there will be no deprivation in the way of human food by the final exclusion for food purposes of molasses containing the injurious ingredients to which I have referred. In regard to the action of the chemist charged with the inspection of imported food products at New Orleans, I may only say that he was not authorized by this department to make any statements concerning what the attitude of this department shall be, and I have directed the Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry to inquire of him respecting the statement that he has made: "No hardship as far as present crop is concerned." I reach now the most important part of your letter, namely, the attitude of this department respecting the crop which is now on hand. I am collecting further informatoin which will affect the attitude of this department with respect of all food products into which sulphur has heretofore entered during the process of manufacture in the form of burning sulphur. These products include not only molasses but also evaporated fruits and wines. It is the purpose of the department that in cases of this kind, where goods had already been manufactured by methods in common use, before the law had gone into effect, to give the very greatest possible freedom under the law for the utilization of these foods. The inspecting officers of this department, when they are appointed and inducted into the duties of their office, will ascertain, as far as possible at the time of inspection, the time at which the particular article was made. In point of fact, however, the quantity of sugar made and sold in this country, without passing through the hands of refiners, is almost nil, so that, as the conditions stand at the present time, all the_sugar, practically, which is used in this country is refined. For instance, in the city of Washington I doubt if you could find advertised or on sale a single pound of unrefined sugar. During the sugar season I am aware that considerable quantities of sugar are sold directly in Louisiana for consumption and the beet sugar factories of the country also sell considerable quantities for direct consumption. As far as the beet sugar is concerned, the refining is done practically at the factory, and the same is true, I imagine, of the cane sugar sold directly. There is no ruling of this department under this law that could possibly diminish in any way the amount of such an output, and, for one, I should like to see it enormously increased. The beet molasses, however, resulting from the manufacture of sugar, does not enter into consumption; that is, by man. A part, I believe, of the molasses resulting from the manufacture of refined sugar in Louisiana does enter into consumption and contains the bodies, or at least some of them, to which I have alluded above. Your notion that sulphur is a good medicine has ro force in this discussion, since drugs and foods are treated as distinct substances under the act. The act does not permit the unlimited introduction of medicines into foods; in fact, it prevents it. I therefore am unable to agree with you in your contention that the quantity of sulphur used in Louisiana in the clarifying juices is innocuous. Should I admit this, the whole superstructure of the food law would fall. I am not ready yet to issue a decision that sulphurous acid is injurious because I am collecting further evidence form every available source. Pending the issuance of any decision I am considering the advisability of publishing a statement permitting the presence of a certain minimum quantity of this acid in foods, provided it be named plainly upon the label. When the final decision is made, if it be adverse to the use of sulphurous acid, ample notice will be given to dispose of stocks on hand or already made under the provisional ruling outlined above. This arrangement, it appears to me, will be fair to all parties. "Finally, I may say that it will be two or three months before the inspection service of this department is organized. By that time practically the crop of Louisiana will be disposed of, and I can assure you, and, through you, your people, that their interests will be carefully looked after by me in the enforcement of the act in order that no injustice may be done. FIND SOME IMPORTANT FLAWS IN SECRETARY WILSON'S FACTS. Commenting on the letter to the New York Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, N. W. Taussig, of New York, president of the Molasses Refiners' Association, said: "The government proposes to prohibit the use of everything in the manufacture of sugar except a small quantity of lime, eliminating the use of sulphur entirely on the grourd that the Agricultural Department, in charge of Secretary Wilson and Dr. Wiley, made, as an experiment in 1905 at Waycross, Ga.. 12,000 gallons of syrup without the use of any reagent whatsoever, Dr. Wiley claiming this was a pala table and good quality, and we ought to make just such syrup for table use. "Sulphur has been used in Louisiana upwards of fifty years, and without its use the planter would not be able to make grocery grades of sugar or molasses, but would be forced to manufacture 96-test raw sugar for refining, and the residuum would be blackstrap molasses for distilling purposes. The average price of grocery molasses produced by the planters this year was 27 cents, whereas, if he had made blackstrap he would have got about 5 cents a gallon, and under this ruling would have had to sell his sugar to the refinery for what the refiners chose to give. "The difference between raw sugar in New Orleans and in New York is about 3-16 of a cent against this market. There is a small percentage of the large planters in this state who might be satisfied to manufacture 96-test sugar and blackstrap molasses, as they contemplate establishing a sugar refinery of their own to utilize the 96-test sugar and a distillery to utilize their own blackstrap molasses. By far the largest percentage of the planters are in no position to do this, and they would be forced out of the business or forced to grow cane for central factories, and the investment in their sugar houses would be entirely lost. "The fact of the 12,000 gallons of syrup manufactured at Waycross is that although it cost the government $30,000 to manufacture it, it was finally sold to a merchant at Montgomery, who had to mix it with Louisiana molasses, so that it would go into consumption, as he could find no customer for it in its natural state." TO AUTHORIZE AND REGULATE ADULTERA TION. As our readers are aware we have over and over again made it clear that there is no such thing as purity, either actual or possible, in food or in anything else, the food consumed by civilized man being invariably more or less prepared and treated and modified from its primary condition. and that qualifications such as wholesome, deleterious, innocuous or poisonous, are very largely matters of opinion, on which equally competent authorities differ widely; so that no effective legislation based on these terms can be deemed practicable. The interest of manufacturers requires that they should devote their best efforts to placing their products on the market in desirable and attractive condition, and toward this end they naturally act under the most reliable scientific advice that they can procure. That the advice of such expert specialists can be improved on by government chemists with no such particular knowledge we are unable to make out, and are unwilling to admit. A general law must either leave conditions pretty nearly as they are, or be so administered as to constitute a serious interference with the food industry. In either case it is bad legislation. The best that can be done in the matter of the regulation of food, we have always contended, is to forbid the sale of articles under certain specific conditions which are deemed to be unquestionably injurious, among which as the most objectionable we have mentioned canned salmon that has been reprocessed or "done over" as it is technically designated. Such a policy, however, would no doubt not offer an equally good field for graft. The national food bill, nevertheless, as it was enacted was drawn upon the plan of defining general principles that should govern the sale of foods; and we predicted consequently that it would not prove a success in administration, though excellent to talk about to ignorant people. The regulations that have since been issued for its enforcement strengthen us more than ever in our previous conviction; showing the law in the light of being an enactment not to give us pure food, but to authorize and regulate the sale of adulterated articles. A glance at the preamble of the bill as given in regulation I, which states that the bill is to regulate the traffic in adulterated, or misbranded, or poisonous or deleterious foods, shows this in a rough way to be the case. This conviction is confirmed by a reference to regulation 14, section a, providing for the use under conditions of poisonous preservatives; while section 15 constitutes the Secretary of Agriculture the judge of what colors and preservatives may be embodied in foods. Now the understanding upon which this pure food agitation was started was that no such things as colorings or preservatives were to be allowed in foods, and Dr. Wiley himself has stated over and over again that there was no necessity for such things. Yet here are actual provisions made for their employment! Does this not prove the correctness of our statement that there is no such thing possible as pure food, and that the entire agitation was, like silver inflation, a grafting fake? We have not attempted to make any critical comparison between the regulations now submitted and the provisions of the bill. That will naturally be attended to by those interested at their respective points. But there is one thing that we should like our readers to bear in mind, which is that the greater portion of the regulations are applicable only in the territories and the District of Columbia. So far as the states are concerned the bill only applies to goods that are being shipped to other states or received from the same. Distribution and sale within the states the bill cannot affect. That is the province of the states themselves. Regulations 17 and 25 appear to require that all the component parts of a mixture, and their proportions, shall be stated on the label, or in other words that the manufacturers' formulæ shall be thrown open to everybody. We think that this is contrary to the understanding that was arrived at. We do not believe it to be equitable, or that it is provided for in the bill; and the natural inference, if this is the case, is that it will not be sustained by the courts. This is leaving out of view the question as to whether it is possible to describe on a small label the great variety of substances that are contained, for instance, in Worcestershire sauce. The public, besides, we believe, does not want such minute information, and has never asked for it. Imitations are things that Dr. Wiley sincerely detests, and that he stamps as fraudulent in the present regulations. Yet the slightest reflection will show that all improvement must, as a rule, partake of that description, and that the man who produces for less cost a serviceable substitute, or imitation, is a real benefactor. Forbid it, and enterprise must stand still or be seriously handicapped. Very many American products and most Californian ones are in reality imitations of others previously produced elsewhere. Is that anything against them? Would people not starve to death if they were confined to the consumption of strictly original articles? Are our readers not aware that the best "Java" coffee-the Mandheling is grown in Sumatra? How far would the supply of genuine Mocha coffee go if we had not the immense supply of Brazilian "imitations" to reinforce it? Are Indian and Ceylon teas not imitations of Congous? And so on infinitely.-Oakland Grocer. PURE FOOD DECISION. A decision by Judge Leffler, of Delaware county, makes it plain that this session of the legislature should strengthen the pure food law of the state. Judge Leffler has the reputation of being conservative and painstaking in his decisions, consequently it is likely that his decision will stand the test of the higher court. Muncie druggists and meat dealers were arrested for selling impure and adulterated food. The court holds that the law, as it now stands, aims at misrepresentation and does not prohibit the sale of adulterated food products. To quote from the court's decision: "It was not shown by the indictments in any of the cases that a dealer misrepresented the article sold. If the article were impure, the presumption is, in the absence of contrary proof, that the purchaser knew of this condition. The law does seek, however, to prevent the sale of an adulterated or impure article under the representation that it is not adulterated or is pure. If a dealer sells goods under one name when the goods are really something vastly different, thus wilfully misrepresenting them, he is liable under the Indiana statutes." If this be the law the present statute should be amended so that the public may know by the label when food is not what it seems. The Journal is disposed to question the judge's conclusion that the purchaser of food is presumed to know of the impurity. The contrary is true, for the purchaser as a rule believes he is getting honest value for his money. But as a weak point in the law has been pointed out the statute should be strengthened.-Lafayette, Ind., Journal. LOUISIANA SUGAR INDUSTRY. Secretaries Shaw and Straus on January 25th last gave a hearing to Representatives Meyer and Broussard and a delegation from New Orleans, representing the sugar and molasses industry of Louisiana, on the question of the use of sulphur fumes and lime in the manufacture of sugar and molasses. It was stated that Secretary Wilson, acting upon the advice of Dr. Wiley, the chief chemist of the Department of Agriculture, had expressed the opinion that sulphur fumes and lime in the manufacture of molasses were injurious to health and, therefore, their use, under the Pure Food Law, should be inhibited. It was stated that the quantities of lime and sulphur fumes were so small that they could not be deleterious to health and that their use was solely for the purpose of clarifying the sugar and molasses and ridding them of substances that would if retained make them altogether unpalatable. To inhibit the use of sulphur fumes and lime, it was said, would entail a loss on the sugar industry of Louisiana of at least thirty per cent. Secretaries Shaw and Straus will take the matter up with Secretary Wilson. THE INDIAN TERRITORY TO ENFORCE THE "We have a law that has been recently passed by congress that I want to call your attention to. It is known as the Pure Food Bill. It has been questioned, I understand, as to whether it is in force in this Territory. But it is my judgment, after a somewhat careful investigation of it, that it will be in force in my jurisdiction until the supreme court decides that it is not in force. If it is not in force here, this is the only part of the country where it is not, and I do not propose that all the impure foods of this country, that they cannot sell anywhere else, be dumped on to the Indian Territory. And I believe that it was the intention of congress to spread it over this Territory and to absolutely prohibit the sale of any kind of adulterated food here as well as other parts of the United States. "This law absolutely prohibits the killing for meat of any kind of an animal that is in any way diseased. That is a law that we have been wanting and looking for in this Territory for a long time. Of course it is not likely that the butchers of this town would kill a beef that had the big jaw, but possibly there are towns adjoining here where they have done so; maimed and sickly beef, cattle that drag behind in driving to the market, and that cannot be shipped to other territories; cattle that mope and don't do well; don't feed well, are frequently bought and sold to an unsuspecting public. Not only meats but various stuffs are shipped in here and sold under names that do not tell us what they are, are all violations of the law. And I suggest that the way to put the law in force is to commence enforcing it from the day it is enacted and keep enforcing it until it is repealed, or until it is decided that it does not apply to this country. And I want you to pay especial attention to this law." SPURIOUS DRUGS ARE SOLD. Talking with a retired druggist not long since, I led the conversation around to the matter of adulteration, with the result that he expressed himself vigorously, pointing out how first-class druggists suffer from the unfair competition of those who deal in cheap and adulterated products. He mentioned the adulteration of a number of familiar druggists' products which are used largely by the public and which the public buys in good faith as pure. Nothing is more familiar to the average household than witchhazel. This, said the druggist, is put up in three grades. The first is made from the young wood and twigs of the shrub in 20 per cent grain alcohol; a second grade, made from old wood, containing practically no juice whatever, but carrying the odor, is made with 12 to 15 per cent alcohol, just sufficient to keep it from precipitating. The only medicinal value in this product is the alcohol it contains and this is below the standard. A third grade is put out by very cheap houses and contains deodorized wood alcohol, or so-called Columbian spirits. MINNESOTA STOCK FOOD MANUFACTURERS Bills are now before the house providing for state supervision over the several stock foods manufactured and sold in Minnesota and they are being vigorously fought by the manufacturers. The Mork bill places these foods under the control of the state food department and forbids the introduction into them of deleterious foods It is control by the department which the manufacturers object to. Household Science A Hint to the Housekeeper. A certain lady on the north side, says the North Dakota Call, had complained to Milk Inspector Dunham of North Dakota on several occasions that the milk delivered to her was not what it ought to be, that it was frequently sour when it was represented to be These complaints were against dealers whom the inspector felt certain were not to blame. He felt certain that they did not misrepresent their product. and determined to make a test. Fortunately for his purpose, the lady in question did not know the inspector personally and when he happened to go with the milkman a certain morning recently and watched the delivery of the milk, she did not suspect that she was being watched in her handling of the milk. The milkman delivered the milk, pure and sweet, fresh from the dairy. The lady took a pan which contained some sour milk and poured the contents into another vessel. She then poured hot water into the milk pan and rinsed it, apparently carefully scalding the pan. Then she poured the new milk into the pan. At this point Inspector Dunham thought it time to make a few remarks. He directed the attention of the lady to the fact that the pan into which she poured the sweet milk contained all around the pan on the inner side a line of sour cream or milk, a thin line which had evidently been there for days. In scalding the milk pan preparatory to pouring in the new milk she had not been thorough in her work and there was enough sour cream left to taint the new milk. When the inspector directed her attention to the fact that she had been criticizing the milkmen unjustly she became indignant and wanted to know what business he had to say anything about how she looked after her milk utensils. Inspector Dunham meekly informed her that he was the milk inspector. Her anger gave place to confusion and she was compelled to admit that she had, perhaps, been careless, occasionally. The inspector stated yesterday that he had no doubt that several of the complaints against milkmen were as unjust as that of the lady in question and from a similar cause. Some Uses of Tea, In China tea leaves from the cup are used in sweeping floors, as they are sometimes used in the United States, but they are sometimes used in the United States, but this does not end their utilitarian purposes. In regions where fuel is scarce the refuse leaves are pressed into bricks, dried and used in the same manner as blocks of peat. This fuel is particularly prized for pork-curing and the tea-cured or tea-smoked meat is to the Chinese what beech-nut and sugar-cured bacon and ham are to the American. The ashes from the fuel are used as a fertilizer. But even before its use as fuel the refuse tea serves another purpose. The leaves are vigorously stewed or allowed to steep in cold water, in order to recover the tannic acid which they contain (about 12 per cent). This is used in tanning leather and in dyeing textiles. It gives a fine permanent nut-brown color, requires no mordant and is unaffected by sunlight, bleaching or washing. Sometimes the refuse tea leaves are used as fodder for farm stock-at least providing bulk if not much nutrition. Again they may be dried, mixed with the low-grade, factitiously scented teas of commerce and are then known as "lie-tea." The decoction resulting from such tea cannot be far superior to one made from hay. Be Brick tea even serves as money. It is still in circulation as a medium of exchange in the far-in-land Chinese towns and central Asian marts and bazaars. tween the Mongolian towns of Urgas and the Siberian town of Kiakta there is usually as much as half a million taels ($850,000) of this money in circulation. At the latter place it ceases to be used as currency and enters into the regular brick-tea trade of Siberia and Russia. As brick tea it is largely used in the Russian army, by surveying engineers, tourists and hunters. Breakfast Food Poetry. Every magazine has a little fun with the breakfast food fads. The following poem by Bert Leston Taylor, which appeared originally in the "Chicago Tribune," and was extensively copied and initiated, is one of the most innocent and amusing of these conceits: THE BREAKFAST FOOD FAMILY. John Spratt will eat no fat, Nor will he touch the lean. He scorns to eat of any meat; He lives upon Foodine. But Mrs. Spratt will none of that; Her special wish is for a dish To William Spratt that food is fat His favorite feed-his special need- But sister Lil can't see how Will Can touch such tasteless food. As breakfast fare it can't compare, She says, with Shredded Wood. Now, none of these Leander please; He feeds upon Bath Mitts. While sister Jane improves her brain With Cero-Grapo-Grits. Lycurgus votes for Father's Oats; Corrected Wheat for little Pete: On Battle Creek Near-Grub. Witch-Hazel and Quinine Adulterated. In view of the fact that witchhazel is often taken internally it is obvious that only the pure article should be obtained. In this connection it is interesting to note the results of a series of tests (by Lederle) of 128 samples of witchhazel, purchased in the open market in greater New York. Only twenty samples contained the required amount of official (94.9 per cent) alcohol. Fifty-one contained less than 15 but over 13 per cent, thirty-five contained II but less than 13 per cent, thirteen contained over 9 but less than II per cent, and nine actually contained less than 9 per cent alcohol. It goes without saying that some other substance had to be used and the tests showed no less than fifty-four samples containing formaldehyde. It is obvious that the consumer must get a known and tried brand of witchhazel extract. Another common drug, according to the druggist already quoted, which is frequently adulterated is quinine. He recently secured pills advertised by a department store as twograin quinine pills which were sold for less than the cost to the wholesale druggist of the quinine which should have been Stew the apples until tender in a covered stone crock in the oven, cook the lean beef in a close covered stone crock in the oven using only a dessert spoonful of water. When tender chop up or pass through a meat grinder. Cut the candied peel small and chop up with the beef also the seeded raisins, the sultanas and currants to be put in the mixture whole. Let all the ingredients be thoroughly mixed, adding the brandy last and again thoroughly mixing. Securely can in Mason jars, fill them full and cover with melted paraffin. 3 oz. candied lemon peel cut short and thin). 4 eggs-yolks and whites beaten separately, I oz. ground ginger. Warm the flour-beat butter to a cream-add the sugar and ginger and beat in-then beat in the flour and lemon peel-beat in the yolks (already beaten) then add the beaten whites, using as much new milk as will make a stiff paster, roll in balls as large as an English walnut, roll in fine sugar and bake in a pastry oven a very pale color. In putting the above in an iron baking shelf set them well apart or they will run together, especially if the oven is two slow. If put in tin cannisters when cold they will keep a long time. N. B.-The colder the suet the more easily it is disintegrated. This Marmalade Was Pure. There was intense excitement in the city laboratory yesterday when Chemist Cross analyzed a crock of orange marmalade, and found that it was absolutely pure, as it contained no coal tar or other substitutes. The marmalade was made abroad. Analysis of gum drops disclosed that they were made of glucose, starch, citric acid and colored with a coal tar dye. Molasses taffy was filled with ordinary baking powder to make it light and puffy. A sample of chocolate candy had as a base a composition known as Cremo, the principal ingredient of which is tallow and other packing house fats, and serves as a substitute for butter, milk, eggs and sugar. Cremo has a sickly sweet taste, |