The most common adulterations to which coffee is liable consist in the addition of chicory, caramel, and numerous roasted grains, such as corn, wheat, and rye, as well as such roots and seeds as dandelion, mangold wurzel, turnips, beans, peas, etc. The roasted and ground article is naturally most exposed to falsification, although letters patent have been issued for the fictitious manufacture of a pressed “coffee bean,” containing absolutely no coffee. The addition of chicory is by far the most prevalent adulteration of coffee. Of thirty-four samples examined by Hassall, thirty-one (91 per cent.) contained this root. In regard to the moral aspects of its use, it can safely be asserted that, while the addition of chicory to coffee is largely sanctioned, and indeed demanded by the existing tastes of many coffee-drinkers, its use constitutes a true adulteration, and should be condemned, unless its presence is prominently stated on the label of the package. In chicory the active principles of coffee, which exert valuable physiological effects on the system (viz. caffeine, the essential oil, etc.), are totally absent; moreover, its comparative cheapness is a constant temptation to employ a proportion largely in excess of the amount requisite to produce any alleged improvement in the flavour of the resulting admixture. The sophistications of coffee may be detected, in a general way, by physical tests, by chemical analysis, and by microscopic examination, in which processes great aid is derived from the characteristic properties exhibited by the pure roasted and ground berry which distinguish it from its more usual adulterants. (_a_) _Physical Examination._--The following tests, while not always decisive in their results, are often of service. A small portion of the suspected sample is gently placed upon the surface of a beaker filled with cold water, and allowed to remain at rest for about fifteen minutes. If pure, the sample does not imbibe the water, but floats upon the surface without communicating much colour to it; if chicory or caramel be present, these substances rapidly absorb moisture and sink, producing brownish-red streaks in their descent, which, by diffusion, impart a very decided tint to the entire liquid. A similar coloration is caused by many other roasted roots and berries, but not so quickly or to so great an extent. The test may be somewhat modified by shaking the sample with cold water, and then allowing the vessel to stand aside for a short time. Pure coffee rises to the surface, little or no colour being imparted to the water; chicory, etc., fall to the bottom as a sediment, and give a brownish colour to the liquid. If a small quantity of the sample is placed upon a clean plate of glass, and moistened with a few drops of water, the pure coffee berries remain hard, and offer resistance when tested with a needle; most grains employed for their adulteration become softened in their texture.