Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Adulteration, Chemistry, Commerce, Alchemy, Cultural Geography, Race

    Subtitled 'To the Grocer', insists on the 'Great [...] villany of the Chinese', and claims that 'certain books of the working chemist' show that the 'roguery of the Englishman [...] may outblush the pale face of the Tartar trickster'. Sympathises with the 'Chinaman' for adulterating tea-leaves but, quoting Jöns J Berzelius, attacks the avaricious Christian grocers of England for perpetrating the same crime. Analyses the alarming ways in which grocers adulterate such foodstuffs as coffee and honey and invites his imaginary congregation of 'adulterate' grocers to partake of their own dubious goods.