=ADULTERATION.= Strictly speaking, this term ought only to be applied to the practice of adding substances to articles of commerce, food or drink, for the purposes of deception or gain, but a wider interpretation is frequently placed on the word than the definition given by magistrates and analysts, these latter often regarding accidental impurity, or even, in some instances, actual substitution as acts of adulteration. The following definition of an adulterated substance has been adopted by the Society of Public Analysts—— A substance shall be deemed to be adulterated—— A. _In the ease of food or drink:_ 1. If it contain any ingredient which may render such article injurious to the health of a consumer. 2. If it contain any substance that sensibly increases its weight, bulk, or strength, or gives it a fictitious value, unless the amount of such substance present be due to circumstances necessarily appertaining to its collection or manufacture, or be necessary for its preservation, or unless the presence thereof be acknowledged at the time of sale. 3. If any important constituent has been wholly or in part abstracted or omitted, unless acknowledgment of such abstraction or omission be made at the time of sale. 4. If it be an imitation of or sold under the name of another article. B. _In the case of drugs:_ 1. If when retailed for medical purposes under a name recognised in the ‘British Pharmacopœia’ it be not equal in strength and purity to the standard laid down in that work. 2. If when sold under a name not recognised in the ‘British Pharmacopœia’ it differs materially from the standard laid down in approved works on materia medica, or the professed standard under which it is sold. _Limits._ The following shall be deemed limits for the respective articles referred to: _Milk_ shall contain not less than 9·0 per cent., by weight, of milk solids, not fat, and not less than 2·5 per cent. of butter fat. _Skim Milk_ shall contain not less than 9·0 per cent. by weight, of milk solids not butter fat. _Butter_ shall contain not less than 80 per cent. of butter fat. _Tea_ shall not contain more than 8·0 per cent. of mineral matter, calculated on the tea dried at 100° C., of which at least 3·0 per cent. shall be soluble in water, and the tea as sold shall yield at least 30 per cent. of extract. _Cocoa_ shall contain at least 20 per cent. of cocoa fat. _Vinegar_ shall contain not less than 3 per cent. of acetic acid.