This  custom  is  defended  on  the  plea  that  no  deception  is  practised,
and  that  these  powders  are  sold  as  compound  articles.  This  may  be
so  as  between  the  wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in  drugs,  but  it  assuredly
is  not  the  case  as  between  these  parties  and  the  medical  profession
and  the  public  :  the  liquorice  powders,  the  extensive  and  varied  adul-
teration of  which  we  have  just  described,  were  sold  simply  as  liquo-
rice, and  no  acknowledgment  whatever  was  made  even  in  a  single
instance  of  their  compound  character.
It  is  evident  that  the  practice  of  making  and  selling  these  com-
pound powders  is  most  objectionable ;  it  indicates  a  laxity  of  princi-
ple, both  on  the  part  of  the  wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in  drugs,  and
it  is  clear  that  the  medical  profession  and  the  public  are  by  it  seriously
imposed  upon.
It  is  affirmed  that  it  is  as  cattle  medicines  that  these  compounds
are  used.  Although  this  is  the  case  to  some  extent,  yet  it  is  verv  cer-
tain that  they  are  not  thus  exclusively  employed  ;  besides,  why  should
these  adulterated  powders  be  thrust  down  the  throats  of  cattle  ?

We  have  now  shown  that  liquorice  in  all  its  forms  and  varieties  is
subject  to  an  enormous  amount  of  adulteration,  and  that  various  sub-
stances are  employed  for  tliat  purpose.
Thus  it  has  been  shown  —

That  the  whole  of  the  foreign  extracts  or  roll  liquorices  were  adul-
terated, some  to  the  extent  of  nearly  50  per  cent.
That  the  whole  of  the  pipe  liquorices  examined  were  also  adul-
terated, some  of  them  not  containing  one  third  their  weight  of  li-
quorice.
That  the  Pontefract  lozenges  likewise  contained  but  little  liquorice.
