"We find the lowest order of intelligences standing on a potato. Only one
step above this class, another order is found on a hoe-cake. One degree
above this we meet with the class that has risen in the scale of being as
high as it is possible for mortals to rise on a pancake. Head and
shoulders above all of these classes we find the highest order of
intelligences, with large and well-developed brains, and noble characters,
standing securely on their wheaten loaf."
Since bread, then, is the "staff of life," the sin of its adulteration is
the greatest of all wrongs to the human family.
Flour is often adulterated with plaster, white earth, alum, magnesia, etc.
To detect plaster, burn some of the bread to ashes, and the white grains
will be discovered.
Alum is a very pernicious ingredient of adulteration, intended to make the
bread white and light. It is often mixed in inferior flour. It is
detected thus: Soak the loaf till soft in water, adding sufficient warm
water to make it thin; stir it well, and set it a few hours; then strain
it and boil it, to evaporate most of the water. After it stands a while,
and cools, the crystals of alum will be precipitated. You may then tell it
by taste.
Magnesia, so often mixed with inferior flour, to make the bread appear
light, is injurious to children and invalids. You may detect it by burning
the bread, and finding the magnesia in the ashes.
Soda, or potash. Much soda produces dyspepsia, sour stomach, and burning.
To find potash, or soda, break up the bread, and pour upon it sufficient
hot water to cover it. When it is cool, take a piece of litmus paper
(obtained at the apothecary's), wet it in vinegar, and put it into the
dish with the bread and water. The potash will turn the litmus blue again.
The more potash, the sooner it changes. In some countries it is known that
bread is adulterated by copper.