Whether these ideas hold good with regard to pickles, may be somewhat doubtful. We cannot but think that the large amount of spices, now so much used in making pickles, is injurious to the health; even the simplest kind, we are inclined to believe, should be used with moderation; and as the imported pickles, and those prepared in the manufactories in this country, are often compounded with articles known to be injurious, it is safer to make whatever is required in the way of pickles, whether mixed or plain, at home, under your own eyes. Some of the various kinds of vinegar now in use, and largely employed in the factories for pickles, is very injurious. The process of “greening” pickles is carried on with most reckless disregard of health. A bottle of small, delicately-greened pickles is very attractive to those who do not know the poison hidden in them. Cider vinegar of the purest quality is the best. But in the process of making, if pickles are soaked or boiled in a brass kettle, they are poisoned by the verdigris, or acetate of copper, which is formed by the action of the vinegar on the brass. Acid dissolves the lead that there is in the tinning of saucepans, and corrodes copper and brass, and if it remains in such vessels any length of time the vinegar becomes very injurious. For these reasons metal kettles should be discarded in making pickles. When necessary to boil vinegar, use a stone jar on the stove, and also use _wooden_ spoons and forks. Most suppose that the delicate green cannot be obtained without the use of alum in the brine, and in this brine they must be soaked, boiled, and allowed to cool in a brass kettle half a day. They claim that by thus soaking, the skin is acted upon by the metal, or acetate of copper, and by soaking afterward in hot water this poison can be so far removed as to be no longer injurious. It is said that if soaked long enough in the brass to bring out the full green, pickles would be dangerously poisoned; and that one can tell if this has been done by the clear, _light_ green color; but if, after soaking in the alum and brine, _in brass_, half a day, and then being removed and soaked in hot water, the action of the heat turns them a _dark_ grass green, the poison is destroyed. This may be so, but we prefer pickles made green without the help of brass, or not green at all. There are ways by which all adulterations may be discovered. The chemist would find no difficulty in ascertaining; but very few of those most interested--our housekeepers--are competent, even if they have time or inclination, to examine these things scientifically, and therefore it is well to insure against harm in domestic manufacture by having it fully understood that metal kettles of every kind should be discarded.