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    of engines-houses and coal-mines were introduced to us through a medium more dignified than that of the cheap Miscellany ; essentially frivolous , he printed his trifles in the form of essays , or even as ' books , ' and the public seemed not unwilling to popularise them . Whether he galloped over the Andes , or gossiped on tiie Bruimen of Nassau , or sketched an emigrant ' s hut , or travelled on a locomotive to Crewe , or photographed the seven beauties of Wolverton , or wrote innocuous tittle-tattle about Paris , or gathered from a fortnight ' s experience in Ireland materials for a commissioners' report , or sought to terrify all women that in England dwell about a French invasion ., reading people have taken him in hand , and occasionally promoted him to the " honours of a second edition . Such a writer ought to be well satisfied ; indeed , Sir Francis B . Head is exceedingly well satisfied . He

    has collected his "descriptive" Quarterly Essays in two volumes , and on the azure cover has imprinted a golden allegory . The Quarterly Review , open , -with its face downwards , forms a simple coop ; within , Sir Francis himself , in the guise of a proud hen , is watching a swarming brood ; and the little chickens , running in and out , are the " descriptive essays . " Though not all worth preserving , they are generally readable . Sir Francis has a facile pen , and an aptitude for details . He recorded , when at Boulogne , that upon arriving in his bedroom , he opened his dressing-case , took out Ms razor , prepared a lather , laid a piece of paper on the table to receive the products of his cheeks and chin , and then shaved 1 So minute a chronicler may be expected to deal faithfully with , the topics under analysis ; but , unless the articles have been elaborately corrected since they were originally

    published , a good many of them must have lost their utility . Thus , the statistics of the London and North Western Railway , and of the General Post-Office , as given by Sir Francis Head , possess only an antiquarian value ; while , in other essays , - minute particulars are given which would interest a reader on the day following the particular occurrence alluded to , but would for ever after be as dull as a last year ' s newspaper . Nevertheless , the volumes contain some really descriptive essays which are uncommonly amusing , and to a considerable extent instructive . Among these is the article on the " Cornish Mines . " That on " English Charity" is a comparison of the old with the new system , naturally to the advantage of the new , for was not Sir Francis B . Head the assistant commissioner who mapped

    out the unions in East Kent , and whose interest it was to suppress the outcry against the rigours of the amended law ? That on " Canadian Politics " is a virulent attack on Lord Durham , which might well have been omitted from the collection , inasmuch as it is the decision of a judge in his own case , for Sir Francis Head was pitted against Lord Durham . The article in fact is neither more nor less than an outburst of splenetie personality . The volumes will no doubt attract many readers by the colloquial vivacity of their style and the popular character of their contents ; but the writings of Sir Francis Head are essentially shallow , andean acquire only an ephemeral reputation .

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    THE ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD . Adulterations Detected ; or , Plain Instructions for the Discovery of Frauds in Food and Medicine . By Arthur Hill Hassall , M . D . Longman and Co . This work , invaluable _ to the professional man , is also of some interest to the general public , for it contains succinct accounts of the various adulterations to which food and medicines are subjected , and the means of detecting them . Two hundred and twenty-five microscopic illustrations greatly add to the ^ value of the work for those who happen to possess microscopes . When Dr . Hassall calls his instructions " plain , " he does not mean that they are instructions for the general public , but for microscopists and analysts . He would have added to the popularity of his work could he have given more plain instructions for ordinary people—such , for instance , as the following : —

    genuine , and did not contain a particle of chicory ; also , that clricory was not mix \ i ¦ with coffee ia the houses of the -wealthy , but that it was largely emp loyed eilJi separately or mixed with coffee , by poor persons , and amongst the domestics nf because it was considered to be an improvement , but on the score of economy chic costing about 2 d . or 3 d . perlb ., and coffee four or fir « times as much . This ia th ^ real secret of the use of chicory abroad , and not because of any preference , or that > improves the flavour of coffee . Where money is not an object , and where the b f coffee is required , chicory is but seldom had recourse to . The practice , then abrofl is the very reverse of -what has been asserted , and it affords no countenance to th statement that coffee is "bthe of

    improved y use chicory . Many , perhaps the majority , of the adulterations are practised for the sake of giving the articles that peculiar colour whicli an ignorant public fancies must be an indication of superior quality . Under the mask of this colour ail kinds of impurities are hidden , and the colour itself is poison . N " to enumerate here the bonbons , pickles , preserves , and potted meats which are thus coloured , let us consider only Bread , the most important of all articles We Londouers shudder at the poor Germans and their black bread , yet the black bread , for the most part , is more wholesome than the brilliant white bread which we congratulate ourselves upon . Hear Dr . Hassall : —

    The use of alum in bread— -and it is almost always used by bakers—is particularly injurious . It is true it causes the bread to be whiter than it would be otherwise indeed whiter than it was ever intended to be by Nature ; but it imparts to bread several other properties : thus it hardens the nutritious constituent of the bread the gluten , and so ( on . the authority of that great chemist Liebig ) renders the bread more indigestible ; it enables the baker to adulterate his bread with greater quantities of rice and potatoes than , he could otherwise employ ; and , lastly , by the use of alum he is able to pass off an inferior , and even a damaged flour , for one of superior quality . Is it then -worth while , or rather is it not very foolish , thus to injure the properties o £ the bread try using alum for the mere sake of obtaining an unnaturally white loaf ? The public , then , in judging of the quality of bread by its colour—hy its whiteness —commits a most serious mistake : there is little or no connexion between colour and quality ; in fact , very generally , the whitest breads are the most adulterated . The public , therefore , should lose no time in correcting its judgment on this point .

    Again , the mistaken taste of the public for very white bread—which , be it known , cannot be obtained even from the finest and best flour except by the use of alum 01 some other substance similar in its operation—tends to the serious injury of the bread in another way . The outer part of the grains of wheat has been proved by analysis to be much richer in nourishing principles , in gluten and in oily matter specially , than the central and more floury parts of the grain . Now , in preparing the finer descriptions of iiour , the utmost pains are taken to separate this highly nutritious exterior portion of the grain , and thus , although the flour so obtained is very fine and white—very suitable for making a ¦ white loaf , that fallacious test of quality—it is yet not nearly so nutritious as whole meal flour , or even tlie less finely dressed qualities of wheat flour . The consumer , now better instructed , is in a position to judge of how much he sacrifices for the mere sake of an arbitrary and fallacious standard of quality , namely , whiteness . The difference in nourishing properties between whole meal flour and very finely dressed flour amounts in many cases to fully one-third .

    Further , alum is very apt to disorder the stomach , and to occasion acidity and dyspepsia . To this let us add the authority of Liebig : — Many salts render the gluten again insoluble , apparently by forming with i £ a chemical combination . The bakers of Belgium discovered , about twenty years ago , how to bake from damaged flour—by adding sulphate of copper ( a poison ) to the dough—a bread in appearance and external properties as fine as from the best wheat flour . This mode of improving its physical properties of course deteriorates its chemical properties . Alum has the same effect as sulphate of copper : when added to the dough it renders the bread very light , elastic , firm , and dry ; and the London bakers , in consequence of the demand for white bread , such as the English and American flour , usually so good , yields , appear to have been compelled to add alum to all flour in tho baking . I saw in an alum manufactory in Scotland , little mounds of finely ground alum , which was destined for the use of the London bakers .

    Since phosphoric acid forma with alumina a compound hardly decomposable ly alkalies or acids , this may perhaps explain the indigestibility of the London bakers ' bread , which strikes all foreigners . A small quantity of lime water added to the musty or damaged flour , has the same effect as the alum or sulphate of copper , without being followed by the same disadvantages .

    DETECTION" OP ADULTERATED COFFEE . If the ground coffee calces in the paper in which it is folded or when pressed between the fingers , theru is good reason for believing that it is adulterated , most probablv with chicory . If , when a few pinches of the suspected coffee are placed upon some water in a wineglass , part floats and part sinks , there is reason to believe that it is adulterated ; it may be either with chicoxy , roasted corn , or some other analogous substances . The coffca does not imbibe the water , but floats on the surface , while the other substances absorb the water , and gradually subside to tho bottom to a greater or loss extent . Usually , however , part of the coffee subsides with the chicory , and a portion of the latter remains on the surface with the coffee ; and after the lapse of a short time , in general , both coffeo and chicory fall to tho bottom .

    Again , if tho cold water to which a portion of ground coffeo has been added , quickly becomes deeply coloured , it is an evidence of the presence of some roasted vegetable substance or burnt sugar ; for wlion coffee is added to water , it becomes scarcely coloured for some time . Lastly , if in a few grains of coffee , spread out on a piece of glass and moistened with a tew aropa of water , wo are enabled to pick out , by means of a needle , minute pieces ofsubBtanceof a soft consistence , the coffeo ia doubtlesa adulterated ; for the particles of the coffee need are hard and resisting , and do not become soft even after prolonged immersion in water . ¦ * ° His work ought to call tlie attention of Legislature to the frightful S 3 fm ? ' aad diahoneat adulteration , and to the means of readily detecting it . If there is to be a nublin i ™*™*™ *»««« . oi . ~ ii u ^ „ ui £ i — " jjiuouiiuhh l auuuiu «¦

    ,. , ,,, „„„» * i ,. , v * ••« , uero uu a puuiic ISJrfh-Ti- f ° Ught - *? ^ P rotccted well aa our property . Con-Z ^ a Hnn ^^ ° "T OrClaL intQ S ^ y which permits a public and solemn co ^ m ^ iZ ^ ^^ Of comm ° ™ ^ genial unjitfor human Some of the adulteration s are said to bo harmless ; but even they are frauds , 3 mco tho public pays * higher price than would be demanded if ? he mixture were declared . Sometimes , aa in the case of Chicory , they are saS to improve tho flavour ; but they also arc frauds . Dr . Hassall , rTforrin « " to tho alleged use of Chicory in France , says ¦ — ° ^ ppt ^^ . ^\ :: rzz ^ i : ^ r : ^ r ^^

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    THE NEW ZEAL ANDERS . Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders . By Edward ShorUutul , M . A . Longman and Co . Within the last two years no lesa than -three -works have appeared on the subject of New Zealand traditions and superstitions—one by Sir George Grey , the late Governor of the Island ; a second by the Roy . R . Taylor ; and another , the present volume , written by Mr . Shortland . The time may probably come when a sufficient fund of material will have been accumulated from the various sources scattered throughout the

    innumerable islands of the Pacific Polynesia , to enable some industrious and intelligent labourer to embody , in a concise system , the superstitions and myths of their populations . By this means wo shall have an opportunity of analysing their relationship with the traditions of other nations , and tracing out their ethnological connexion . There can be no surer guide to the cognate origin of peoples than their customs , language , and traditions . Thus , in Africa , ' tribes remotely separated by geography can bo shown to have descended from the same ancestral tribe . The same line of inference induces us to believe tliat the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians found their way to tho prairios and mountains of America from the coasts of Asia

    ^ z But , independently of tlie ethnological interest which an inquiry into such matters possesses , there is frequently a charm in the strueturo nnd spirit of the myths of the better class of savages which is highly attractive . 1 hero we have imagination still investing the objects of nature with supernatural attributes , and creating forms and porsonages whicli carry us back to the days when fairies still ruled supreme over th

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    114 THjB ___ Ii : E AP-EB- [ jTg ^ 58 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 31, 1857, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2178/page/18/