Adulteration is a term not only applied in its proper sense to the fraudulent mixture of articles of commerce, food, drink, drugs, seeds, etc, with noxious or inferior ingredients, but also by magistrates and analysts to accidental impurity, and even in some cases to actual substitution.
The chief objects of adulteration are to increase the weight or volume of the article, to give a colour which either makes a good article more pleasing to the eye or else disguises an inferior one, to substitute a cheaper form of the article, or the same substance from which the strength has been extracted, or to give it a false strength.
Among the adulterations which were commonly practised around 1905 for the purpose of fraudulently increasing the weight or volume of an article are the following: Bread was adulterated with alum or sulphate of copper, which gives solidity to the gluten of damaged or inferior flour; with chalk or carbonate of soda to correct the acidity of such flour; and with boiled rice or potatoes, which enables the bread to carry more water, and thus to produce a larger number of loaves from a given quantity of flour. Wheatflour is adulterated with other inferior flours, as the flour from rice, bean, Indian-corn, potato, and with sulphate of lime, alum, etc. Milk was usually adulterated with water. The adulterations generally present in butter consisted of an undue proportion of salt and water, lard, tallow, and other fats; when of poor quality it was frequently coloured with a little annatto, and, at times, with the juice of carrots. Genuine butter should not contain less than 80 percent of butter-fat. Cheese was also coloured with annatto and other substances. Tea was adulterated chiefly in China with sand, iron-filings, chalk, gypsum, Chinaclay, exhausted tea leaves, and the leaves of the sycamore, horse-chestnut, and plum, whilst colour and weight were added by black-lead, indigo, Prussian-blue (one of the deleterious ingredients used by the Chinese in converting the lowest qualities of black into green teas), gum, turmeric, soapstone, catechu, and other substances.
Confections were adulterated with flour and sulphate of lime. Preserved vegetables were kept green and poisoned by salts of copper. The acridity of mustard is commonly reduced by flour, and the colour of the compound is improved by turmeric. Pepper was adulterated with linseed-meal, flour, mustard husks, etc. Colour was given to pickles by salts of copper, acetate of copper, etc. Ale was adulterated with common salt, Cocculus Indicus, grains of paradise, quassia, and other bitters, sulphate of iron, alum, etc. Porter and stout were mixed with sugar, treacle, salt, and an excess of water. Brandy was diluted with water, and burned sugar was added to improve the colour; sometimes bad whisky was flavoured and coloured so as to resemble brandy, and sold under its name.
Gin was mixed with excess of water, and flavouring matters of various kinds, with alum and tartar, were added. Rum was diluted with water, and the flavour and colour kept up by the addition of cayenne and burned sugar. For champagnegooseberry and other inferior wines were often substituted. Port was manufactured from red Cape and other inferior wines, the body, flavour, strength, and colour being produced by gum-dragon, the washings of brandy casks, and a preparation of German bilberries. Cheap brown sherry was mixed with Cape and other low-priced brandies, and was flavoured with the washings of brandy casks, sugar-candy, and bitter almonds. Pale sherries were produced by gypsum, by a process called plastering, which removes the natural acids as well as the colour of the wine. Other wines were adulterated with elderberry, logwood, Brazil-wood, cudbear, red beetroot, etc, for colour; with lime or carbonate of lime, carbonate of soda, carbonate of potash, and litharge, to correct acidity; with catechu, sloe-leaves, and oak-bark for astringency; with sulphate of lime and alum for removing colour; with cane-sugar for giving sweetness and body; with alcohol for fortifying; and with ether, especially acetic ether, for giving bouquet and flavour.
Medicines, such as jalap, opium, rhubarb, cinchonabark, scammony, aloes, sarsaparilla, squills, etc, were mixed with various foreign substances. Castor-oil has been adulterated with other oils; and inferior oils were often. mixed with cod-liver oil. Cantharides were often mixed with golden-beetle and also artificially-coloured glass.
The adulteration of seeds was largely practised also, the seed which forms the adulterant being of course of the most worthless kind that can be had. Thus turnip-seed was mixed with rape, wild mustard, or charlock, which are steamed and kiln-dried to destroy their vitality, so as to evade detection in the progress of growth; old and useless turnip-seed was also used fraudulently mixed with fresh seeds. Clover was also much mixed with plantain and mere weeds.
Acts against adulteration have been passed in various countries and at various times. In Britain there was a law against it as early as 1267. Research Adulteration
Agonophilia is the sexual activity of pseudo-rape, a common form of foreplay involving a pretended struggle before the partner is overpowered. Research Agonophilia
Bail is the release by the police, magistrates' court, or Crown Court of a person held in legal custody while awaiting trial or appealing against a criminal conviction. A person granted bail undertakes to pay a specified sum to the court if he fails to appear on the date set by the court. This is known as bail in one's own recognisance. Often the court also requires guarantors (known as sureties) to undertake to produce the accused or to forfeit the sum fixed by the court if they fail to do so. In these circumstances the bailed person is, in theory, released into the custody of the sureties.
Judges have wide discretionary powers as to whether or not bail should be granted, and for what sum. Normally an accused is granted bail unless it is likely that he will abscond, or interfere with witnesses, or unless he is accused of a serious crime (such as rape) and is likely to repeat it if released. The accused has the right to appeal to the High Court against a refusal to grant him bail. The conditions governing bail are contained in the Bail Act 1976. Research Bail
An original study into the science of attraction among the English.
A young person on a Friday night dresses up and goes to town seeking a mate. They would argue that their choice of clothes and presentation are conscious. Decisions made in the light of current fashion trends and their own perception of what they look good in. In fact, the choices have already been made by nature. Biological programming by nature steers that young person as surely as the winds and tides steer a ship without a rudder. To understand these unconscious motivations one must review the role of humans as animals. All animals are programmed with the primary intention of helping the species to survive long-term. Long term survival of any species is accomplished through it's adaptation and development. A species adapts from one generation to the next through the mixing of genes. Breeding between many different partners. Nature programs all animals to encourage the combination of genes which are most likely to assist the species. Strong animals breed together and restrict the breeding of weaker animals. Creative and perceptive, but weak individuals covertly breed.
In this way both strength, and creativity are passed on. The notion of 'the survival of the fittest' is quite untrue. Speed, strength and mental ability all assist survival. Human animals are no different in their programming to any other species. They are as much victims to the primary directive of species survival as are the amoeba, the ant and the elephant. When two animals, be they human or otherwise, breed the parents pass on to the offspring characteristics from themselves. The offspring is then a mixture of characteristics from the parents. Human animals have an insatiable desire to pass on their characteristics. It is programmed into them just as it is with all animals. Certainly the human ability to think and to rationalise gives rise to conflicts between this animal desire and social acceptability, but the urge remains none-the-less.
To examine how the desire to satisfy this primary directive motivates humans in perhaps everything they do one must first review the basic roles of the sexes. The female human, like all female mammals is fertilised by the male and carries the young inside herself for a while before giving birth. Human' s give birth prematurely, as do all advanced animals. If the human mother was to carry her offspring until such time as it was capable of self sufficiency her gestation period would be in the region of twelve years, rather than nine months. Quite impossible, so the young is born early and dependant upon the mother, for she produces milk, for support. In a primitive society, a nursing mother is incapable of supporting her offspring and gathering food and shelter for herself. The human mother, like most other animals relies upon the support of a partner - usually the male father of the offspring - who will collect food, shelter and provide protection against predators. The two roles are quite clearly defined by nature: The female nurtures the offspring. The male provides for the female during the nurturing period With civilisation, the roles
become confused. A male may nurture the offspring once it has been born while the female support him. Two males or females may acquire an offspring and live together. But the basic situation is the same; two adults co-operating for the benefit of producing new offspring for the species. Gregarious co-operation with family units supporting single parents may also appear. But even in these circumstances responsibility for an offspring will be taken by one or two adults. Realising these basic roles of the two sexes one can see what each looks for in the other as a partner.
The female when seeking a male partner looks for the following characteristics: 1) Desirability by other females. This ensures that resultant offspring will also attractive and will have the maximum chance of spawning.
2) Fidelity. To ensure the maximum purity of the offspring.
3) Steadfastness. This ensures that the male will support her during the gestation period and while the offspring is dependant upon her. Otherwise, she and the offspring may not survive.
4) Mental ability. Mental ability is important to assist the species to develop.
5) Strength. Physical strength is necessary for the survival of both the offspring and the species.
6) Social Status. In an advanced society this may be realised as wealth. A perceived high social status implies success, which in turn inspires confidence in the off spring' s chances of survival.
The male human seeks the following from a female mate:
1) Desirability by other males. This ensures that resultant offspring will also attractive and will have the maximum chance of spawning.
2) Fidelity. To ensure the maximum purity of the offspring.
3) Steadfastness. This ensures that the female will provide and nourish the offspring ensuring its survival.
4) Mental ability. Mental ability is important to assist the species to develop.
5) Strength. Physical strength is necessary for the survival of both the offspring and the species.
Despite the desire for fidelity in our partner, mankind has also been programmed to spread our genes as far and wide as possible. This programming is responsible for the phases humans go through with our desires at times for 'older' and 'younger' partners, and also for ' exotic' or foreign partners. The problem of inbreeding has been taken care of with our variance in what humans find desirable. If all humans found the same attributes attractive in a person, the scope of reproduction would be severely limited. However, by programming humans to find different attributes more or less attractive, nature ensures a good spread of reproduction. Personality takes a part. Our programming to benefit the species leads one to resist personalities with attributes which do not consider beneficial to the species, and to bias towards personalities with attributes which are found beneficial. As with all animals, humans have a problem with finding a mate. Potential mates must be satisfied with our desirability. And while this can be circumscribed through force and deceit (rape or plying the mate with alcohol or drugs to numb the mind), generally humans preen and parade themselves as other animals do.
Humans embarrass attractiveness through covering our bodies with perfumes, clothes and paint. Males will appear successful through driving a suitable vehicle, or wearing suitable clothes. Suitable being items which trigger the notion of success in the potential mate's mind. The female human, being on the whole passive in the mate selection process, will display herself in front of potential mates to attract attention. She implies receptability through the display and emphasis of her erogenous regions. Homosexuality: While the divisions between the male and female sexes in humans is clearly defined biologically, psychologically the male and female sexes are confused, blended and fused. The advancement of the humananimal has been a partial result of the blending of psychological characteristics of parents in their offspring. Thus, all humans posses male and female characteristics in varying degrees, forming a shaded psyche rather than the clearly defined male/female roles
of less complex organisms. This may account for the comparatively large number of human homosexuals compared to other animals, and indeed observation and interviews with homosexual men over many years has led to the belief that male homosexuals are essentially of the male physical sex, but female mental sex, consisting of a much higher proportion of female psychological attributes than traditional men. Research Biological Programming In Human Sexual Relationships
Capital punishment is punishment by death. Capital punishment is retained in 92 countries and territories, including the 37 states of the USA, China, and Islamic countries. It was abolished in the UK in 1965 for all crimes except treason - in 1998 the death penalty for treason was finally abolished in the United Kingdom. Methods of execution include electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, shooting, lethal injection, garrotting, and decapitation. In Britain, the number of capital offences was reduced from over 200 at the end of the 18th century, until capital punishment was abolished in 1866 for all crimes except murder, treason, piracy, and certain arson attacks. Its use was subject to the royal prerogative of mercy. The punishment was carried out by hanging (in public until 1866).
The improvement in the penal laws of Europe in respect to the reduction of capital punishment may be traced in large part to the publication of Beccaria's treatise on Crimes and Punishments (Dei Delitti e delle Pene) in 1764. At that time in England, as Blackstone a year later pointed out with some amount of feeling, there were 160 capital offences in the statute book. The work of practical reform was initiated in 1770 by Sir William Meredith, who moved for a committee of inquiry into the state of the criminal laws; but the modifications secured by it were few, owing to the opposition of the House of Lords, which continued down to 1832 to oppose systematically all attempts at criminal law reform.
The publication of Madan's Thoughts on Executive Justice, in 1784, urging the stricter administration of the law as it then stood, brought out the opposition of Sir Samuel Romilly, who replied to it in 1785, and introduced at short intervals a series of bills for the abolition of the extreme sentence for minor offences. The influence of Paley and LordEllenborough, and the reaction from the revolutionary principles, which prior to the French Revolution had inaugurated great penal changes in France, told strongly against his efforts; and even his Shoplifting Act, to abolish the sentence of death in cases of theft to the value of five shillings, was resolutely rejected, though passed by the Commons in 1810, 1811, 1813, and 1816. Romilly's work was taken up by Sir James Mackintosh in 1820, and under Peel's ministry with greater success. At his death, however, in the year of the passage of the Reform Bill (1832) forty kinds of forgery with many less serious offences were still capital, though from that time the amelioration was rapid. In the five years following the Reform Act, the capital offences were reduced to 37, and subsequent changes left in 1861 only four capital charges - setting fire to H.M. dockyards or arsenals, piracy with violence, treason, and murder. By 1906 only treason and murder were capital offences in England, andScotland also, though robbery, rape, incest, and wilful fire-raising were still capital crimes in Scottish common law.
Prior to 1868 executions were conducted in public in England, but then in 1868 the law changed that all executions were to be conducted in private within the prison walls. Capital punishment for murder was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1965 but still exists for treason, and during the 1980's it was revealed that the police had a shoot-to-kill and summary execution policy for those suspected of being terrorists. In 2005 a 27 year old Brazilian man was executed by being shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder after being tackled to the ground by plain clothed police officers who mistakenly believed him to be a suicide bomber.
In 1990, Ireland abolished the death penalty for all offences. In Saudi Arabia execution is by beheading in public. Countries that have abolished the death penalty fall into three categories: those that have abolished it for all crimes (44 countries); those that retain it only for exceptional crimes such as war crimes (17 countries); and those that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes but have not executed anyone since 1980 (25 countries and territories).
The first country in Europe to abolish the death penalty was Romania in 1864, followed by Portugal in 1867, Holland in 1870, and by Switzerland in 1874. In the USA, the Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972, as a cruel and unusual punishment, but decided in 1976 that this was not so in all circumstances. It was therefore reintroduced in some states. Many countries use capital punishment for crimes other than murder, such as drug offences (in Malaysia and elsewhere). In 1977 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ruled out imposition of the death penalty on those under the age of 18. The covenant was signed by President Carter on behalf of the USA, but in 1989 the US Supreme Court decided that it could be imposed from the age of 16 for murder, and that the mentally retarded could also face the death penalty. Research Capital Punishment
An epic is a poetical narrative of heroic achievements. It is largely dramatic in character, but embraces a greater area and admits many incidents, each of which might serve as a dramatic plot.
Some authorities widen the definition of an epic so as to include not only long narrative poems of romantic or supernatural adventure, but also those of a historical, legendary, mock-heroic, or humorous character. An epic is distinguished from a drama in so far as the author frequently speaks in his own person as narrator; and from lyrical poetry by making the predominant feature the narration of action rather than the expression of emotion.
Among the more famous epics of the world's literature may be noted: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; Virgil's AEneid; the German Nibelungenlied; the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf; the French Song of Roland; Dante's Divina Commedia; Tasso's Gierusalemme Liberata; Ariosto's OrlandoFurioso; Milton's Paradise Lost; Spenser's Fairy Queen; Camoens' Lusiads (Portuguese); and Firdusi's Shah Nameh (Persian). Hesiod's Theogony; the poetic Edda; the Finnish Kalewala; the Indian Mahabharata may be described as collections of epic legends. The historical epic has an excellent representative in Barbour's Bruce; and specimens of the mock-heroic and humorous epic are found in The Battle of the Frogs and Mice; Reynard the Fox; Butler's Hudibras; and Pope's Rape of the Lock. Research Epic
Femgerichte (Fehmgerichte or Vehmgerichte) were criminal courts of Germany in the middle ages, which took the place of the regular administration of justice (then fallen into decay), especially in criminal cases. These courts originated and had their chief jurisdiction in Westphalia, and their proceedings were conducted with the most profound secrecy. They seem to have been a survival of old territorial jurisdictions which, on the general distraction and lawlessness prevalent after the fall of Henry the Lion in 1182, acquired an extensive and tremendous authority. In process of time, however, they degenerated, and no longer confined themselves to law and precedent, so that the secrecy in which they enveloped themselves only served as a cloak to their criminal purposes.
The flagrant abuse of their power brought about their fall. In 1461 various princes and cities of Germany, as well as the Swiss confederates, united in a league against them, but their influence was not entirely destroyed until an amended form of trial and penal judicature was introduced. The last Femgericht was held at Zeil in 1568.
The president of the secret tribunal was called the Freigraf, and was generally a prince or count. His associates, who concurred in and executed the sentence, were called Freischoffen. These were scattered through all the provinces of Germany, and recognized one another by certain signs and watchwords. They acknowledged the emperor as their superior, and for this reason generally made him one of their number at his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle. The assemblies of the tribunal were open or secret. The former were held by day in the open air; the latter by night, in a forest or in concealed and subterranean places. In these different cases the circumstances of judgment and the process of trial were different. The crimes of which the secret tribunal usurped cognizance were heresy, sorcery, rape, theft, robbery, and murder.
The accusation was made by one of the Freischoffen, who, without further proof, declared upon oath that the accused had committed the crime. The accused was now thrice summoned to appear before the secret tribunal, and the citation was secretly affixed to the door of his dwelling or some neighbouring place; the accuser remained unknown. If, after the third summons, the accused did not appear, he was once more cited in a solemn session of the court, and if still contumacious, was given over to the Freischoffen. The first Freischoffe who met him was bound to execute the decree of the court. A dagger was left by the corpse to show that it was not a murder, but a punishment inflicted by one of the Freischoifen. How many judicial murders were perpetrated in this manner from revenge, interested motives, or malice, may well be imagined. Research Femgerichte
Rape is defined as the act of forcing a woman or girl to have sexual intercourse against her will, or of buggering a man or boy against his will. The ancient Jews, Romans and Goths punished rape with death. During the reign of William I rape was punishable by mutilation and having the eyes removed. This punishment was mitigated by the statute of Westminster in 1274. In 1338 rape was made a felony in Britain, being made punishable by transportation in 1841 and penal servitude for life or a lesser period in 1861. The causes of what leads a person (usually a man, although sometimes women are committed as accessories to rape) to commit a rape are unclear. Some people advocate that it is not about sexual pleasure at all, but about power. But this simplistic explanation does not take into consideration the crime of 'date rape' where by a victim is raped following a date with her assailant. Nor does it take into consideration victims being forced into having sex under the influence of drugs or alcohol, many of which incidents are never reported, but are most likely perpetrated for sexual pleasure. Research Rape
The Pollen Beetle (Meligethes aeneus) is a sap-beetle (Nitidulidae). They are so named after the larvae habit of eating pollen, and are also a pest of crops such as oilseed rape where they also nibble the flowers causing damage to the plant. Research Pollen Beetle
Abbreviations
Research Adulteration
