Nor are fishmongers less crafty and dishonest than the other dealers in the necessaries of life. Sea-fish, particularly cod, haddock, and whiting, are subject to the operation of inflating the cellular membrane, in order to make them look plump, and increase the bulk of the fish. The imposition is detected by pressing each side of the orifice at the belly of the fish between the thumb and finger, when the air will be perceived to escape. The signs that fish are fresh are the firmness or stiffness of the fish, the redness of its gills, and the brightness of the eyes. Whiteness of muscle and the absence of oiliness and viscidity are also signs of wholesomeness of this species of food. Flakiness and opaque appearance, with a layer of white curdy matter interspersed between the flakes, after the fish has been cooked, are signs of the goodness of turbot, cod, whiting, haddock, flounder, and sole. The gills should also smell sweet, the fins be tight up, and the eyes not sunk. The reverse of any of these signs shows that it is stale. Thickness of flesh generally shows the good condition of fish. Fish out of season, that is after spawning, are unwholesome; and for this reason the legislature has found it necessary to fix the periods at which the fishing of salmon and the dredging of oysters shall be lawful. SECTION III. _Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, and Sugar._ TEA. No article of consumption is more subject to adulteration than the pleasant one which forms the principal ingredient of the tea-table. It is not only adulterated by the Chinese vender, but it undergoes sophistication by the Chinese artist. By the former several vegetable productions, particularly a kind of moss, are mixed among genuine tea, and often sold by the _antemundane_ subjects of “the Brother of the Sun and Moon, and The Light of Nations,” in its stead.