This commodity is subject to much adulteration by the manufacturer. When good, it is dry, easily reducible to powder, tasteless, and without odour. In its use in the laundry, there is no good housewife but can distinguish, by its effects on her “lavatory occupations,” the difference between good and bad starch: it is therefore unnecessary to detail tests. BEES’ WAX. Bees’ wax is frequently adulterated with rosin, tallow, pease-meal, potatoe-starch, and a mixture of oil and litharge. The introduction of rosin into it may be discovered by its hardness, brittleness, and want of tenacity. When adulterated with tallow, the fraud may be detected by scratching the finger over the surface; when its clamminess and adhesiveness to the fingers will indicate the presence of that ingredient. In the purchase of cakes of bees’ wax the cake should be broke, in order to ascertain whether the impurities called foot, are not ingeniously _encased_ in a shell of pure wax. White wax is adulterated with carbonate of lead and white tallow, to increase its weight. Bees’ wax, when good, is of a compact substance, somewhat unctuous to the touch, but not adhering to the fingers or to the teeth when it is kneaded or chewed: and when scratched by the finger-nail, no obstruction is met with, and but little indentation or fissure made; it also has an agreeable smell partaking of a slight odour of honey, and a clear fresh yellow colour. Its texture is also granular. SECTION VI. _Butter, Cheese, Milk, Cream, and Potatoes._ BUTTER. Butter is not exempt from adulteration: the inferior kinds are frequently mixed up with hogs-lard which has lost its flavour and appearance; and not unfrequently kitchen-stuff forms a portion of the bulk. Good butter is hard and firm; therefore that butter which is often sold in the shops in London, that adheres to the knife when applied to, or stuck into it, is factitious, that is, manufactured in a machine, of the following materials—viz. rancid fresh butter, the cheap unsaleable Scotch butters of various hues and dyes, and a quantity of salt, well rummaged and pomelled together. This spurious commodity is of a white cast, and generally sold under the denomination of “Dorset.” It should be recollected that the cheesemongers never beat the good butters, as the beating injures the flavour; they bestow their friendly castigations only on the worthless commodity for the purpose of extracting a portion of its rancidity and obnoxious smell.