Foods, their composition and analysis : a manual for the use of analytical chemists and others : with an introductory essay on the history of adulteration / by Alexander Wynter Blyth.

Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Foods, their composition and analysis : a manual for the use of analytical chemists and others : with an introductory essay on the history of adulteration / by Alexander Wynter Blyth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    were made by I. William and Mary. All of these Acts, it is scarcely necessary to say, are now obsolete and repealed. § 21. Tea. — An Act was passed in 1723, 11 Geo. I., c. 30, which enacted that no dealer in tea, or manufacturer or seller thereof, or pretending to be, shall counterfeit tea, or adulterate tea, or cause or procure the same to be counterfeited or adulterated, or shall either fabricate or manufacture tea with terra japonica, or with any drug or drugs whatsoever, nor shall mix, or cau.se or procure to be mixed with tea any leaves other than leaves of tea, or other ingredients whatsoever, on pain of forfeiting and losing the tea so counterfeited, adulterated, altensd, fabricated, manufactured, or mixed, or any other thing or tilings whatso- ever added thereto, or uiixed or used therewith, and also the sum of £100. Some years afterwards, 1730-31, afurther Act was passed [4Gpo. II., c. 14] prescribing a penalty for what is termed in the statute sophisticating tea. It i-ecites that several ill-disposed persons do frequently diy, fabi-icate, or manufacture very great quantities of sloe leaves, liquorice leaves, and the leaves of tea that have been before used, or the leaves of other trees, shrubs, or plants m imitation of tea, and do likewise mix, colour, stain, or dye such leaves, and likewise mix tea with terra japonica, sugar, molasses, clay, logwood, and with other ingredients, and do sell and vend the same as true and real tea, to the pi'ejudice of the health of His Majesty's subjects, the diminution of the revenue, and to the ruin of the fair trader. The penalty under this statute was £10 for every pound of tea sophisticated. The next Act was passed in 1776, 17 Geo. III., c. 29. The preamble asserts that great quantities of sloe leaves and the leaves of the ash, elder, and other trees, shrubs, and plants, were manufactured in imitation of tea, and wei'e then sold to dealers in tea, who, after mixing the leaves with tea, sold it as true and real tea; but as the persons who fabricated or manufactured the leaves were not dealers in tea, they were not punishable by the law then in ft)rce. The Act, therefore, rendered any person, whether a dealer or not, who fabricated leaves in imitation of tea, or who mixed tea with other ingredients, or who sold, exposed for sale, or had in his custody fabricated or mixed teas, liable on conviction to a penalty of £5 for each pound of such tea, or in default to imprisonment for not less than six months, nor more than twelve. The officers of the excise wei'e empowered to enter iinder warrant any premises by day or night and seize the leaves, which, on a further warrant, were to be destroyed. § 22. Coffee.—The history of the regulations with regard to coffee and chicory is rather curious, inasmuch as coffee appears
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