o ignorantly make use of the spurious
article. I have examined large packages of both black and white pepper,
by order of the Excise, and have found them to contain about 16 per
cent. of this artificial compound. The spurious pepper is made up of
oil cakes (the residue of lintseed, from which the oil has been
pressed,) common clay, and a portion of Cayenne pepper, formed in a
mass, and granulated by being first pressed through a sieve, and then
rolled in a cask. The mode of detecting the fraud is easy. It is only
necessary to throw a sample of the suspected pepper into a bowl of
water; the artificial pepper-corns fall to powder, whilst the true
pepper remains whole.

Ground pepper is very often sophisticated by adding to a portion of
genuine pepper, a quantity of pepper dust, or the sweepings from the
pepper warehouses, mixed with a little Cayenne pepper. The sweepings are
known, and purchased in the market, under the name of P. D. signifying
pepper dust. An inferior sort of this vile refuse, or the sweepings of
P. D. is distinguished among venders by the abbreviation of D. P. D.
denoting, dust (dirt) of pepper dust.

The adulteration of pepper, and the making and selling commodities in
imitation of pepper, are prohibited, under a severe penalty. The
following are the words of the Act:[105]

"And whereas commodities made in imitation of pepper have of late been
sold and found in the possession of various dealers in pepper, and other
persons in Great Britain; be it therefore enacted, that from and after
the said 5th day of July, 1819, if any commodity or substance shall be
prepared by any person in imitation of pepper, shall be mixed with
pepper, or sold or delivered as and for, or as a substitute for, pepper,
or if any such commodity or substance, alone or mixed, shall be kept for
sale, sold, or delivered, or shall be offered or exposed to sale, or
shall be in the custody or possession of any dealer or seller of pepper,
the same, together with all pepper with which the same shall be mixed,
shall be forfeited, with the packages containing the same, and shall and
may be seized by any officer of excise; and the person preparing,
manufacturing, mixing as aforesaid, selling, exposing to sale, or
delivering the same, or having the same in his, her, or their custody or
possession, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds."

WHITE PEPPER.

The common white pepper is factitious, being prepared from the black
pepper in