In stating the experimental proceedings necessary for the detection of the frauds which it has been my object to expose, I have confined myself to the task of pointing out such operations only as may be performed by persons unacquainted with chemical science; and it has been my purpose to express all necessary rules and instructions in the plainest language, divested of those recondite terms of science, which would be out of place in a work intended for general perusal. The design of the Treatise will be fully answered, if the views here given should induce a single reader to pursue the object for which it is published; or if it should tend to impress on the mind of the Public the magnitude of an evil, which, in many cases, prevails to an extent so alarming, that we may exclaim with the sons of the Prophet, "_THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT._" For the abolition of such nefarious practices, it is the interest of all classes of the community to co-operate. FREDRICK ACCUM. LONDON. 1820. CONTENTS. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE ADULTERATION OF FOOD _Page_ 13 EFFECT OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF WATER EMPLOYED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY 33 _Characters of Good Water_ 37 _Chemical Constitution of the Waters used in Domestic Economy and the Arts_ 40 _Rain Water_ 40 _Snow Water_ 41 _Spring Water_ 42 _River Water_ 44 _Substances usually contained in Common Water, and Tests by which they are detected_ 48 _Method of ascertaining the Quantity of each of the different Substances usually contained in Common Water_ 54 _Deleterious Effects of keeping Water for Domestic Economy, in Leaden Reservoirs_ 60 _Method of detecting Lead, when contained in common Water_ 69 ADULTERATION OF WINE 74 _Method of detecting the Deleterious Adulterations of Wine_ 86 _Specific Differences, and Component Parts of Wine_ 89 _Easy process of ascertaining the Quantity of Brandy contained in various sorts of Wine_ 92 _Tabular View, exhibiting the Per Centage of Brandy or Alcohol contained in various kinds of Wine and other fermented Liquors_ 94 _Constitution of Home-made Wines_ 96 ADULTERATION OF BREAD 98 _Method of detecting the Presence of Alum in Bread_ 108 _Easy Method of judging of the Goodness of Bread-Corn and Bread-Flour_ 110