of 81 perce respe Lond vario last 1 from is gr way appe now spiri last of ac hard for 1 ought into use during the year. It seems rather to point to the necessity for the purchase of a larger number of samples by the Inspectors. The new feature which we have introduced into the summary this year by the separaon of the London Districts, the large towns and the counties, is deserving of some few Ords of special notice. London appears still to be the worst part of the Kingdom for milk adulteration; the percentage, which over the entire country was 22.00, rising in the Metropolis itself to 26-46. Even, however, in the counties, where one would suppose atering milk would be less prevalent, the percentage of adulterated samples is 20.40. Butter does not appear to follow exactly on the same lines as milk, for whereas in ondon 20.41 per cent. of the samples were found adulterated, the towns show more than 6 per cent., and the counties less than 16 per cent. In groceries the counties are markedly the worst, the percentage of adulteration eaching 13 per cent. as against 8.48 per cent. in London. In drugs, again, the county districts appear to suffer greatly. The percentage in London, however, viz., 9.40, appears large, considering the care which is supposed to be taken in the Metropolis in procuring supplies of pure drugs. When the totals of each class of sample are put together and averaged, we find that there is little to choose between Metropolitan, urban and rural districts, and even in London the average of the whole of the samples purchased shows 15.3 per cent. adulterated. Of the counties there are 8, where only a very small and insufficient number of samples have been analysed, viz., Denbigh, Montgomery, Shropshire, Waterford, N.R. Yorkshire, Cambridge, Carmarthen, and Northumberland, but in this respect the returns appear to show a slight improvement over last year. There are 41 towns, viz., Barnsley, Chesterfield, Andover, Beverley, Louth, Glossop, Wenlock, Lancaster, Dumbarton, Richmond (Yorkshire), Ripon, Wakefield, Deal, Dover, Sandwich, Derby, Warwick, Hereford, Lichfield, Blandford, Stirling, Androssan, Stewarton, Arundel, Chichester, Newington, Tenterden, Bury, Southwold, Devonport, Penryn, Durham, [aidenhead, Godalming, Reigate, Bewdley, New Radnor, Droitwich, Birkenhead, and utherglen, and two counties, viz., Suffolk and Sutherland, where no work appears to have en done last year under the Act. In 1879 there were 44 towns in the same condition, and of the towns appear in the list for both years, as do also the 2 counties of Suffolk and Sutherland. It is to be hoped that in every one of these cases the Public Analysts have strictly mplied with the Act, and made quarterly reports to the appointing authorities in order that ese reports may have been duly forwarded to the Local Government Board, whose sention will thus have been called to such an anomalous state of things. It might also e desirable to draw their attention to this yearly return. At the Meeting of the Society, on the 11th inst., I hope to be able to remark on some urther details in connection with these returns, in order that some points which need Consideration may be fully discussed. LABELS.-We have received specimens of the labels for reagents issued by Messrs. Woolley, Sons Co., for the series required for the examination of the Science and Art Department. The novel eature is that the two series are printed in two different colours, one for general and one for personal ase. Under certain circumstances the advantage of this system in preventing admixture of series of ottles is obvious. The labels are clearly printed. CORRESPONDENCE. [The Editors are not responsible for the opinions of their Correspondents.] THE WATER SUPPLY OF PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE ANALYST." DEAR SIR,-I send herewith the report of the analysis of a sample of water taken from laboratory hydrant on March 31st, 1881. SCHUYLKILL WATER. Vegetable debris and siliceous fragments. The dry residue turns only brown, not black, on heating to redness. The water does not become perceptibly turbid except upon long boiling (4 or hours) when minute mica-like scales are formed. The nitrates were determined by aluminium and caustic soda. The colour and smell are very faint and doubtful. HENRY LEFFMAN, M.D. 920, Walnut Street, Philadelphia, April 4th, 1881. ANALYST'S REPORT. At the Somerset Quarter Sessions, held in the Town Hall, Wells, the report of Dr. Alford, of Taunton, the County Analyst, was presented. He said that during the last quarter he had submitted to him altogether 160 samples of food and drugs. There were 23 of butter, 23 of tea, 9 of mustard, 11 of arrowroot, 4 of pepper, 2 of sugar, 1 of coffee, 2 of jam, 1 of confectionery, 2 of ginger, and 2 of liquorice. Of these the coffee was adulterated with 35 per cent. of chicory, and one of the samples of mustard with 20 per cent. of wheaten flour. Many of the butters were of a very inferior quality, especially the salt butter, and many were rancid. The Chairman (Mr. R. H. Paget, M.P.) said he wished to call the attention of the Court to the large importation of spurious butters which were sold. These, they had every reason to believe, were very extensively imported from America, and found their way to England from that country. They had a name, but they were never openly sold in any market as butterine and oleomargarine, and without any process of conversion they found their way into the English market as butter. If the analysis made showed that these compounds were not what they were represented to be, an offence would be committed under the Adulteration of Food Act by anyone exposing them for sale, and he suggested to the Court that they should call the attention of the chief constable, who was the chief inspector under the Act in that county, to this point, and also call the attention of the County Analyst to it, that they might do their best to protect the consumers from eating these spurious and fictitious compounds. Would the chief constable be good enough to call the attention of the police to the matter? Captain Goold (chief constable) said he would not lose sight of the matter. He then made a communication to the Chairman, which was inaudible to the other occupants of the Court. The Chairman said the Court would be glad to hear that there were only four cases of adulterated goods proved in the course of the quarter, and prosecutions had taken place in those cases, and fines to the extent of £4 7s. 6d. imposed. The subject then dropped. BOOKS, &c., RECEIVED. The Chemist and Druggist; The Brewers' Guardian; The British Medical Journal; The Medical Press; The Pharmaceutical Journal; The Sanitary Record; The Miller; Journal of Applied Science; The Boston Journal of Chemistry; The Provisioner; The Practitioner; New Remedies; Proceedings of the American Chemical Society; Le Practicien; The Inventors' Record; New York Public Health; The Scientific American; Society of Arts Journal; Sanitary Engineer of New York; The Cowkeeper and Dairyman's Journal; The Chemists' Journal; Oil and Drug News; The Textile Record of America; Sugar Cane; Country Brewers' Gazette. THE ANALYSES OF THE PUBLIC WATER SUPPLIES OF ENGLAND. OUR readers will observe two slight changes in the headings of the water returns for this month. The chlorine and phosphoric acid returns are now tabulated as 66 chlorine as chlorides " and " phosphoric acid as phosphates." These changes are made in anticipation of the enlarged instructions for water analysis, the issue of which will commence in the next number of this journal. It is intended that in future the tables should give the analyses of samples drawn at any date between the 15th of one month and the 14th of the next inclusive. Thus the tables published in June will include the analyses of waters supplied between April 15th and May 14th. The dates on which the samples were drawn will also be added to the tables. ANALYTICAL WORK AT SOMERSET HOUSE. THE Twenty-Third Report of the Inland Revenue Commissioners has recently been issued, and we take the following extracts from the Report of the Principal of the Laboratory : The number of samples examined during the year ended the 31st March, 1880, was 15,113, which is 208 in excess of the previous year. In addition to the ordinary work of the department we have continued our investigation into the chemical composition of various articles of food, and we hope shortly to publish the results in a form in which they will prove useful to analysts and others. A series of food analyses accurately performed, and of recent date, is an important desideratum, and the want is one which we are endeavouring to supply. Under the provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act the magistrates have referred 26 samples to us for analysis. These comprised milk, butter, flour, oatmeal, coffee, whisky, and mercurial ointment, and in fifteen of the cases our certificate differed from that of the public analyst. Three of these cases consisted of coffee said to contain an admixture of chicory, and the difference in the nature of the certificates did not depend, as in some cases, upon the results of a chemical analysis, for not only were these results in favour of the genuineness of the samples, but by the microscope alone the absence of chicory could be conclusively shown. Three samples of flour alleged to be adulterated with alum were found to contain a slight excess of alumina probably derived from an earthy impurity, but the results of the analysis showed that the flour in each case was entirely free from alum. A sample of mercurial ointment, which was below the standard of the British Pharmacopoeia, was found to agree with what is known in the trade as "mild mercurial ointment," and for the preparation of which a formula was given in the London Pharmacopoeia of 1836. Finding this to be the case we reported accordingly, and it afterwards appeared that the article was labelled and sold under its proper designation as "mild mercurial ointment." The sample of whisky was said to consist of ordinary alcohol flavoured, but we found it to be composed of a blend of two kinds of spirits commonly known as " patent" and "pot still" whisky. A notable case of alleged abstraction of cream formed one of the samples of milk recently referred to us. The results of our analysis of the sample were as follows :Solids not fat ... ... ... ... 8.54 per cent. On these results we reported that we were unable to affirm that cream had been abstracted. It appears that the magistrates came to the conclusion that it would be better to get |