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
An alcarraza is a vessel made of a kind of porous, unglazed pottery, used in Spain to hold drinking water, which, oozing slightly through the vessel, is kept cool by the evaporation that takes place at the surface. Similar vessels have been long used in Egypt and elsewhere. Research Alcarraza
Alphabet (from Alpha, and Beta, the two first letters of the Greek alphabet), is the series of characters used in writing a language, and intended to represent the sounds of which it consists.
The English alphabet, like most of those of modern Europe, is derived directly from the Latin, the Latin from the ancient Greek, and that from the Phoenician, which again is believed to have had its origin in the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Hebrew alphabet also having the same origin. The names of the letters in Phoenician and Hebrew must have been almost the same, for the Greek names, which, with the letters, were borrowed from the former, differ little from the Hebrew. By means of the names we may trace the process by which the Egyptian characters were transformed into letters by the Phoenicians. Some Egyptian character would, by its form, recall the idea of a house, for example, in Phoenician or Hebrew beth. This character would subsequently come to be used wherever the sound b occurred. Its form might be afterwards simplified, or even completely modified, but the name would still remain, as beth still continues the Hebrew name for b, and beta the Greek. Our letter m, which in Hebrew was called mim, water, has still a considerable resemblance to the zigzag wavy line which had been chosen to represent water, as in the zodiacal symbol for Aquarius.
The letter o, of which the Hebrew name means eye, no doubt originally intended to represent that organ. While the ancient Greek alphabet gave rise to the ordinary Greek alphabet and the Latin, the Greek alphabet of later times furnished elements for the Coptic, the Gothic, and the old Slavic alphabets. The Latin characters are now employed by a great many nations, such as the Italian, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch, the German, the Hungarian, the Polish, etc, each nation having introduced such modifications or additions as are necessary to express the sound of the language peculiar to it. The Greek alphabet originally possessed only sixteen letters, though the Phoenician had twenty-two.
The original Latin alphabet, as it is found in the oldest inscriptions, consisted of twenty-one letters; namely, the vowels a, e, i, o, and u (v), and the consonants b, c, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, x, z. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet had two characters for the digraph th, which were unfortunately not retained in later English; it had also the character ae. It wanted j, v, y (consonant), and z. The German alphabet consists of the same letters as the English, but the sounds of some of them are different.
Anciently certain characters called Runic were made use of by the Teutonic nations, to which some would attribute an origin independent of the Greek and Latin alphabets. While the alphabets of the west of Europe are derived from the Latin, the Russian, which is very complete, is based on the Greek, with some characters borrowed from the Armenian, etc. Among Asiatic alphabets, the Arabian (ultimately of Phoenician origin) has played a part analogous to that of the Latin in Europe, the conquests of Mohammedanism having imposed it on the Persian, the Turkish, the Hindustani, etc. The Sanskrit or Devanagari alphabet is one of the most remarkable alphabets of the world. As now used it has fourteen characters for the vowels and diphthongs, and thirty-three for the consonants, besides two other symbols. Our alphabet is a very imperfect instrument for what it has to perform, being both defective and redundant. An alphabet is not essential to the writing of a language, since ideograms or symbols may be used instead, as in Chinese.
In the English language there are twenty-six letters, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y and Z, these twenty-six letters occur in use most disproportionately. At the start of the 20th century the proportion of use was as follows, but this will vary as new words, particularly scientific names are added to the English language:
E - 1000 , T - 770, A - 728, I - 704, S - 680, O - 672, N - 670, H - 540, R - 528, D - 392, L - 360, U - 296, C - 280, M - 272, F - 236, W - 190, Y - 184, P - 168, G - 168, B - 158, V - 120, K - 88, J - 55, Q - 50, X - 46, Z - 22
However, as an initial letter, the proportionate use was very different, with the most popular initial letters being:
S - 1194, C - 937, P - 804, A - 574, T - 571, D - 505, B - 463, M - 439, F - 388, I - 377, E- 340, H - 308, L - 298 and R - 291.
The most commonly occurring end letters are R, S, T, and D. Research Alphabet
Analysis is the resolution of an object whether of the senses or the intellect, into its component elements. In philosophy it is the mode of resolving a compound idea into its simple parts, in order to consider them more distinctly, and arrive at a more precise knowledge of the whole. Analysis is opposed to synthesis, by which we combine and class our perceptions, and contrive expressions for our thoughts, so as to represent their several divisions, classes, and relations.
In mathematics, analysis is, in the widest sense, the expression and development of the functions of quantities by calculation;
in a narrower sense the resolving of problems by algebraic equations. The analysis of the ancients was exhibited only in geometry, and made use only of geometrical assistance, whereby it is distinguished from the analysis of the moderns, which extends to all measurable objects, and expresses in equations the mutual dependence of magnitudes. Analysis is divided into lower and higher, the lower comprising, besides arithmetic and algebra, the doctrines of functions, of series, combinations, logarithms, and curves, the higher comprising the differential and integral calculus, and the calculus of variations.
In chemistry, analysis is the process of decomposing a compound substance with a view to determine either (a) what elements it contains (known as qualitative analysis), or (b) how much of each element is present (known as quantitative analysis). Thus by the first process we learn that water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, and by the second that it consists of one part of hydrogen by weight to eight parts of oxygen. Research Analysis
An anvil is an instrument on which pieces of metal are laid for the purpose of being hammered. The common smith's anvil is generally made of seven pieces, namely, the core or body; the four corners for the purpose of enlarging its base; the projecting end, which contains a square hole for the reception of a set or chisel to cut off pieces of iron; and the beak or conical end, used for turning pieces of iron into a circular form, etc. These pieces are each separately welded to the core and hammered so as to form a regular surface with the whole. When the anvil has received its due form, it is faced with steel, and is then tempered .in cold water. The smith's anvil is generally placed loose upon a wooden block. The anvil for heavy operations, such as the forging of ordnance and shafting, consists of a huge iron block deeply embedded, and resting on piles of masonry. Research Anvil
Artesian Wells, so called from the French province of Artois, where they appear to have been first used on an extensive scale, are perpendicular borings into the ground through which water rises to the surface of the soil, producing a constant flow or stream, the ultimate sources of supply being higher than the mouth of the boring, and the water thus rising by the well-known law. They are generally sunk in valley plains and districts where the lower pervious strata are bent into basin-shaped curves.
The rain falling on the outcrops of these saturates the whole porous bed, so that when the bore reaches it the water by hydraulic pressure rushes up towards the level of the highest portion of the strata. The supply is sometimes so abundant as to be used extensively as a moving power, and in arid regions for fertilizing the ground, to which purpose artesian springs have been applied from a very remote period. Thus many artesian wells have been sunk in the Algerian Sahara which have proved an immense boon to the district.
The water of most of these is potable, but a few are a little saline, though not to such an extent as to influence vegetation. The hollows in which London and Paris lie are both perforated in many places by borings of this nature. At London they were first sunk only to the sand B B, but latterly into the chalk c o. One of the most celebrated artesian wells is that of Crenelle near Paris, 1798 feet deep, completed in 1841, after eight years' work. Artesian wells are now common in many countries, and have been sunk to the depth of a mile or more. As the temperature of water from great depths is invariably higher than that at the surface, artesian wells have been made to supply warm water for heating manufactories, greenhouses, hospitals, fish-ponds, etc. Petroleumwells are generally of the same technical description. Artesian wells were later made with larger diameters than formerly, and altogether their construction was rendered much more easy after the industrial revolution. Research Artesian Wells
An aspergillus is the brush used in Roman Catholic churches for sprinkling holy water on the people. It is said to have been originally made of hyssop. Research Aspergillus
Assaying is the estimation of the amount of pure metal, and especially of the precious metals, in an ore or alloy. In the case of silver the assay is either by the dry or by the wet process. The dry process is called eupellation from the use of a small and very porous cup, called a cupel, which is usually made of well-burned and finely-ground bone-ash or of magnesia. The cupel, being thoroughly dried, is placed in a fire-clay oven about the size of a drain-tile, with a flat sole and arched roof, and with slits at the sides to admit air. This oven, called a muffle, is set in a furnace, and when it is at a red heat the assay, consisting of a small weighed portion of the alloy wrapped in sheet-lead, is laid upon the cupel. The heat causes the lead to volatilize or combine with the other metals, and to sink with them into the cupel, leaving a bright globule of pure metallic silver, which gives the amount of silver in the alloy operated on. In the wet process the alloy is dissolved in nitric acid, and to the solution are added measured quantities of a solution of common salt of known strength, which precipitates chloride of silver. The operation is concluded when no further precipitate is obtained on the addition of the salt solution, and the quantity of silver is calculated from the amount of salt solution used.
An alloy of gold is first cupelled with lead as above, with the addition of three parts of silver for every one of gold. After the cupellation is finished the alloy of gold and silver is beaten and rolled out into a thin plate, which is curled up by the fingers into a little spiral or cornet. This is put into a flask with nitric acid, which dissolves away the silver and leaves the cornet dark and brittle. After washing with water the cornet is boiled with stronger nitric acid to remove the last traces of silver, well washed, and then allowed to drop into a small crucible, in which it is heated, and then it is weighed. The assay of gold, therefore, consists of two parts: cupellation, by which inferior metals (except silver) are removed; and quartation, by which the added silver and any silver originally present are got rid of. The quantity of silver added has to be regulated to about three times that of the gold. If it be more the cornet breaks up, if it be less the gold protects small quantities of the silver from the action of the acid. Where, as in some gold manufactured articles, these methods of assay cannot be applied, a streak is drawn With the article upon a touchstone consisting of coarse-grained Lydian quartz saturated with bituminous matter, or of black basalt. The practised assayer will detect approximately the richness of the gold from the colour of the streak, which may be further subjected to an acid test. The Goldsmith's Company of London is the statutory assay-master of all England. Research Assaying
Backwash is the flow of water down a beach under the influence of gravity after the breaking of a wave and its associated swash. As this water returns to the breaker zone it carries beach material with it. Steep waves, which break almost vertically on to a beach, have an extremely powerful backwash and move much material out to sea. Backwash contributes to longshore drift. Research Backwash
In geomorphology, badlands are areas of bare ground which have been intensely eroded by running water into a maze of miniature canyons and steep slopes. There may be hundreds of tiny stream channels within a single square kilometre or mile, with the channels containing water only after rainstorms. Common on clays and shales in areas where the climate is semi-arid, they occur also on the tip-heaps of mines, especially of china-clay workings, in areas where the climate is wetter. Resistant layers of rock are often left as cappings on pillars of softer rock; these structures are known as hoodoos, or pedestal rocks. Research Badlands
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Adulteration
