borax, or boracic acid, up to 2 per cent, increase the power of salivary, stomach, and intestinal digestion, and apparently hasten digestion. More than 2 per cent apparently retards it. From 1 to 14 per cent of borax on meat probably could not do any special harm, but it would be impossible to have that amount of borax on food when it was simply put on to preserve it; it penetrates the surface of the meat only to a slight extent. It has come in recent years into more common use in preserving meats, especially hog products, and in preserving butter, because it was found that these things kept better with it than with common salt. (244246, 250.)

Dr. ALLPORT says that he considers borax and boracic acid identical in their antiseptic effect. The salts of soda are in most cases almost entirely harmless. They can be given in doses three or four times as great as the corresponding salts of potash. Saltpeter is a potash salt, and in Dr. Allport's judgment more dangerous than borax. He has administered from one to two teaspoonfuls of boracic acid in a day without any harmful results. The effect of any substance which limits bacterial growth is in general rather to increase the digestive powers of the gastric and intestinal juices. Boracic acid is given in large doses, from 5 to 10 grains, in many forms of acid dyspepsia. Dr. Allport has never had direct knowledge of any case in which boracic acid has produced poisonous results, though he knows that such cases have been recorded. Boracic acid is applied to wounds; in some cases as much as half an ounce at a time. It may then remain undisturbed for from 6 to 15 days, and no evidence of irritation of the skin will appear. It is applied to extensive burns without any injurious effects, though burned surfaces absorb large quantities of harmful drugs. Dr. Allport knows of no medicament that is so harmless and so productive of benefit to the system by the extirpation of germ life as boracic acid. He considers that there should be no opposition to the use of it as a coating for meat. One of its many advantages is that it is readily soluble in water, and can be removed, if removal is thought desirable, by washing.

Any alkaline salt is harmful to the system if used in large quantities. Salt meat produces scurvy. It is probable that such an effect would not be produced as quickly by the use of borated meat. (256-260.)

Mr. NORTH, although he opposes the introduction of boracic acid into butter for commercial reasons, believes that boracic acid is as harmless as salt. He has taken half an ounce of it in a glass of water, and it has done him no harm whatever. (477.)

Dr. HENROTIN states that he has had many years' experience in the use of boracic acid and borax, both internally and externally. He has used it in nearly all the cavities of the body. Even when it is applied externally it is absorbed to a certain extent. He has never seen an instance in which any irritating or poisonous effect could be traced to it. He considers it absolutely innocuous. (264, 265.)

Professor DE SCHWEINITZ says that in spite of the great hue and cry, especially by Germany, in regard to the use of borax and boracic acid in preserving meat, the work done from a physiological standpoint has proved as conclusively as such work can prove that they are perfectly harmless. Liebreich has shown conclusively that more irritation is caused by salt than by borax or boracic acid. . The determinations of any one investigator, however, need to be verified by others, and Professor de Schweinitz would not recommend the use of borax or boracic acid. (614.)

Professor JAMES, editor of the National Druggist, says that he made large use of borax in preserving milk, meats, etc., while he was in the Confederate army, and that at a later time he spent nearly 5 months in the summer in the swamps of the Mississippi bottoms with 16 white men, besides colored drivers, and used boracic acid freely to preserve fresh meat, milk, etc., whenever they could be got. During those 5 months not a single man was sick. In particular there were no bowel complaints. Professor James ascribed this fact entirely to the use of boracic acid. When the Australian trade in refrigerated meats began, between 20 and 25 years ago, violent attacks on preservatives were made in the French journals. Professor Le Bon and Dr. Pelligot were especially prominent. Both of these men were afterwards convinced, by using it, that borax is a desirable preservative, and became strong advocates of it. Professor James very strongly favors the use of borax and boracic acid, and believes that they are as harmless as common salt. (267, 268.)

Professor James introduced in connection with his testimony a report of an English case, in which an attempt was made to put a stop to the sale of hams treated with borax. The medical testimony reported was overwhelmingly in favor of the absolute wholesomeness of borax, and the prosecution failed. (269–276.)

Professor James also introduced a report of a case tried at Solingen in September, 1898, regarding the use of ham preserved with boracic acid. The medical testimony as given in the report is overwhelmingly in favor of the use of boracic acid as a preservative. Dr. Liebreich stated on the trial that he had preserved sea fish with boracic acid, and eaten them for 8 days continuously, and that large dinners had been served with these fish without the least unpleasant results. The court held that the injuriousness of boracic acid had not been proved, and dismissed the complaint. (276–279.)

Dr. EDWARDS, professor of medicine in the Chicago Medical College, says that experiments show that 10 per cent of borax or boracic acid may be used without greatly interfering with salivary digestion; and this is far more than is used in preserving any article of food. Boracic acid, even in large doses, seems rather to aid than to retard digestion in the stomach and bowels. It is used medicinally in large doses; in the old days, when epilepsy was treated with borax, from 60 to 100 grains were not infrequently given without any noticeable effect on the organs. Relatively large doses are given even to children. It is used as a mouth wash for the new born, and infants may be allowed to swallow considerable quantities of it without any injurious effect. Burns are saturated with it to exclude germs; practically every other antiseptic is interdicted because of the danger of absorption. It is used in washing out the cavities of the body, even in the most delicate individuals. It is not certain that any death has ever been caused by boracic acid. Considering the small percentage of borax and boracic acid which is used in food it is absurd to object to their use as preservatives. (287-289.)

66

G. Preservative agents for meat. (See also Boracic acid and borax, pp. 97-102.)— 1. In general.-Referring to the embalmed meat" question, Mr. HELLER says that hams and bacons are actually embalmed, chemicals being used in curing them. It is absolutely necessary to use preservatives in order to cure meats to keep. Some use only salt and saltpeter, some use boric acid and salt. Boracic acid is often used in connection with saltpeter. All dry salt meat purchased by the English is required to be rubbed with boracic acid or borax; they will not buy it otherwise. The object in using boracic acid is that a mild-cured ham can be produced with a better flavor; without it, it would be necessary to use a very strong brine, and the meat would be hard, dry, and salty. The curing takes just as long with boracic acid as without. (179, 180.)

Professor MITCHELL showed the committee several samples of meat preservatives: (1) One, boxed and sold in Milwaukee, was called "New Method Meat Preserver," "highly recommended for preserving and protecting fresh meat, pork, liver, sausage, pudding, bologna, summer sausage, hamburger steaks, and chopped meats." Two ounces were to be used with every 100 pounds of meat. On analysis this was found to be sulphite of sodium, an undesirable food. (2) "Rosaline," a mixture of salt and niter, an aniline coloring matter, to make sausage look bright red, and probably some other substance. (3) Freezem," sold by Heller & Co., for chopped beef, composed of sulphite of sodium, with a little coloring matter. (113, 114.)

Dr. EDWARDS says that some of the dangers of diseased pork are unquestionably removed by proper curing. (289.)

2. Sulphur and its compounds.-Dr. ALLPORT says that sulphur forms a hard coating of sulphides on the outside of meat. It has been said that sulphur vapors are not of value as preservatives because they do not penetrate. Dr. Allport regards the treatment with sulphur as next in value to the treatment with boracic acid, and preferable to formalin, salicylic acid, carbolic acid, or corrosive sublimate. (260.)

Dr. WILEY says sodium sulphite is common sodium with sulphurous acid. (178.)

Mr. HELLER says that in the preparation in which Heller & Co. prescribe sodium sulphite there are 2 ounces to 100 pounds of meat, or 8 grains to 1 pound of meat. By taking half a pound of meat a man would get 4 grains. It is used only in chopped meat and hamburger steak. It is prescribed by physicians for fermentation of the stomach, to be used in quantities of about 4 grams or 60 grains 3 times a day. It is also used in medicine to cure canker sores in the mouth. The object of using it in chopped beef is to preserve it and to give it a nice color. If hamburger steak is allowed to remain on the counter without sodium sulphite in it, it will become tainted in a very short time; it begins to turn dark in two hours. If a preservative is used, the ptomaine germs and other poisonous germs can be prevented. Mr. Heller contends that a very small proportion of preservative in hamburger steak is absolutely healthful. (178.)

Professor MITCHELL says that butchers are in the habit of keeping a package of such compounds as "freezem" and sprinkling it upon odds and ends of fresh meat, which are cast into a barrel, and when enough has accumulated this is

ground up into hamburger steak; he has seen that done in Milwaukee. If a preservative were not used, they would have to keep the scraps in the ice box and work them up into hamburger steaks in small batches, after much shorter periods of time. This is part of the criticism he makes on the use of such preservatives. (183.)

Professor PRESCOTT says that what he said regarding salicylic acid applies also to sulphite of soda. The only difference is one of degree, and not sufficient to make any difference in legislation. (200.)

3. Salt and saltpeter.-Professor PRESCOTT says salted meats are, in a sense, preserved meats. Common salt might be counted as a preservative, but is not wholly such; is in itself an article of food. (195, 201.)

Dr. BILLINGS says common salt is decomposed in the stomach and forms hydrochloric acid, the natural acid of the stomach. When taken in certain amounts it is salutary. The hydrochloric acid in the stomach is an antiseptic, and is the thing above everything else which preserves the body against germs which enter the stomach. It very materially wards off cholera and typhoid-fever germs. Common salt, if taken in large amounts, instead of producing that salutary effect, will sicken the individual and produce blood states similar to scurvy. (245.) Dr. HAINES says that salt and saltpeter, especially if an excessive amount is used, cause the juice of meat to run away, so that much of the value of the meat is lost. They also affect the fiber of the meats disagreeably, and make them less palatable and less digestible. Common salt used in large quantities is dangerous, and death has been caused by excessive doses of it. Saltpeter has caused many deaths. (284.)

Dr. EDWARDS agrees with Dr. Haines as to the undesirable effect of salt and saltpeter upon meat, and says that salt probably produces as many deaths as any of the milder antiseptics. (286,287.)

Dr. BILLINGS says that saltpeter is far more deleterious than common salt, borax, or bicarbonate of soda. It is a nitrate of potash, and potash salts have a more deleterious effect upon the body than do soda preparations, having a tendency to produce degeneration of muscle, and a considerably injurious effect upon the kidneys when constantly used. The nitrates have a more specific effect in that way than do the carbon compounds. (247.)

Mr. HELLER says saltpeter has a direct effect on the kidneys which in some cases is not beneficial. (179.)

4. Smoking.-Pyroligneous acid.—Mr. HELLER says meats are still smoked, the object being to give them a flavor and color, not to cure them. This is sometimes done with pyroligneous acid, which is condensed smoke. (180.)

Dr. WILEY say pyroligneous acid is the distillation of smoke. (180.)

5. Refrigeration.-Dr. ALLPORT says that refrigeration is an excellent means of preserving meat, provided the temperature is maintained steadily at from 30° to 33°, and provided the meat is consumed as soon as it is removed from the cold room. The danger is in the tainting of the meat after it comes out of the refrigerator. (260, 261.)

H. Salicylic acid and other preservatives.-1. Sources and nature of salicylic acid.Dr. WILEY says the most common antiseptic used in food preservation is salicylic acid, which was formerly derived by a very costly process from the willow, but is now made very cheaply from carbolic acid by a simple chemical treatment. Salicylic acid is preferred to creosote for the purpose of preserving foods, because it has no odor and scarcely any taste. He thinks every package of food preserved in that way ought to be marked, not prohibited. (44, 45.)

Dr. BILLINGS says salicylic acid is a natural product of some plants, especially the wintergreen. It is found to the extent of about from 70 to 80 per cent in wintergreen oil. The salicylic acid of commerce is made synthetically from petroleum; it is more directly harmful, and frequently irritates the stomach. It is used frequently in rheumatic disorders, but it disturbs the stomach very easily, and so is used in such compounds as salicylate of soda and salicylate of phenol. It is used as a preservative on meats, etc., but in very much smaller quantities than anything else. If mixed with boracic acid, it makes a compound so bitter that no one would eat the meat. It is a splendid antifermentive and does not need to be used in large amounts. A quarter or perhaps one-tenth of 1 per cent would stop the fermentation of cider, for instance, and in that amount would do absolutely no harm. (248.)

2. Injurious effects.-Professor PRESCOTT says the effect of the continued use of salicylic acid, which has perhaps been used more than any other antiseptic, is injurious to the organs of secretion. (195, 196.)

Dr. WILEY says salicylic acid is very deleterious to health. Most stomachs can take a little salicylic or sulphurous acid with impunity, but when the flow of

pepsin is insufficient or deficient in quality, they interfere very seriously with digestion. (44.)

Professor CHITTENDEN says that according to his observation the effect of salicylic acid is almost invariably to retard digestion. It is said that the long-continued use of it produces local effects on the mucous membrane; but he does not know by personal experiment. He questions the propriety of the use of it. (421, 425.)

Dr. EDWARDS, professor of medicine in the Chicago Medical College, holds that salicylic acid should not be used as a preservative if it can possibly be avoided. Certain individuals may suffer serious accidents from it. It depresses the heart; it often congests the lungs; it is apt to disturb the digestion. It may irritate or actually inflame the kidneys. In susceptible infants it may produce delirium or convulsions. (286.)

Dr. STRINGFIELD says that salicylic acid depresses the heart and the respiration. It is more dangerous now that it is made from coal tar than it formerly was when it was made from oil of wintergreen. Dr. Stringfield has had cases in which death has seemed imminent, where the patient has said that he has not drunk anything but beer, but has been drinking that for several days or a week or two. He has had cases where death was apparently due to depression of the heart caused by the use of salicylic acid. Dr. Stringfield does not specifically state that the beer to which such results were attributed was analyzed to determine the presence of salicylic acid. (282.)

Mr. HELLER says there are preservatives which are dangerous to health; salicylic acid is one of these, and is never used by Heller & Co. (178.)

Mr. THURBER says that the consensus of opinion of medical men is that salicylic acid is deleterious. It is true that the quantity must be considered; a very small quantity of any substance may not be injurious, while a larger quantity would be. (581.)

Professor JAMES, editor of the National Druggist, is opposed to the use of salicylic acid, because many individuals can not tolerate it, even in minute quantities, on account of idiosyncrasies. Besides, it gives an unpleasant flavor to things in which it is used to any extent. (268.)

Professor VAUGHAN has seen at least one person very severely poisoned from drinking cider containing a very large amount of salicylic acid. He does not know how cider can be kept without using a little salicylic acid, and thinks it should be allowed in a prescribed amount. (204.)

3. Its use defended.-Professor TUCKER thinks that salicylic acid is the least objectionable of the preservatives now said to be commonly used. He believes it has been prohibited in several foreign countries, at least in goods for home consumption. He would not give it as his opinion that it is necessarily harmful to all persons in such small quantities as may suffice to preserve certain foods; but there is some evidence tending to that view, and he thinks that when it is used in any article it would be desirable to have the fact stated upon the package. (435.) Mr. DELAFONTAINE says that salicylic acid, which is tabooed in some countries, seems to be very largely used here without any apparent harm. This may be due to the fact that very little of it can be used, it is so little soluble. (232.)

Mr. SCHWARTZ regards salicylic acid as wholesome. He states that it is used in large quantities as a medicine for rheumatism, etc. (368.)

4. Salicylic acid in wines and grape juice.-Dr. WILEY says that wine and some other high-grade beverages often contain salicylic acid. Of six samples of wine which he purchased for examination, one, of domestic origin, contained no preservatives, and two whose labels indicated foreign origin also contained none. The other three, which were nominally foreign, contained salicylic acid. (45,586.) Dr. Wiley says grape juice, such as is used in churches for communion service, is now generally made of salicylic acid and a little bit of grape juice. It can very seldom be found composed of pure fruit juice. (44.)

Dr. MCMURTRIE says that unfermented grape juice preserved by carbonic-acid gas under pressure is preserved by the most desirable agent available. He considers such juice much pleasanter than that preserved by pasteurization or by the use of acids. (603.)

5. Fruit preservative.-Professor MITCHELL exhibited to the committee a preservative compound for use in canning fruit, composed of salicylic acid, salicylate of soda, and phosphate of soda. The manufacturers sell the process, which they call "the American woman's standard canning process," and give the material. Their circular states that it is not a salicylic-acid process. Owners of large orchards will frequently pay a large sum for the process and will put up their goods unknowingly with salicylic acid, without boiling and using less sugar, and so innocently injure the public. The ingredients are deleterious. The manufacturers rented a booth at the State fair and hired a lady to show canned goods pre

served with this material. The fruit had not been boiled and was very bright and of good color. They find ready sales and their counters are generally crowded. (115, 116.)

6. Cider preservatives.-Professor MITCHELL says that cider was formerly made and used while it was fresh and sweet, and when it got sour it was allowed to go into vinegar and sold as such. But now it seems that cider merchants think it necessary to keep cider in its apparently new state by the use of preservatives, which the witness thinks objectionable. (116.)

Professor HALLBERG says cider is now preserved chiefly with fluoride of ammonia or soda, one of the most powerful disinfectants. When it decomposes it furnishes hydrofluoric acid, which is used to etch glass, and is the only substance known that can not be kept in glass bottles. (85.)

7. Saccharin.-Dr. WILEY says that saccharin is not a sugar, but a coal-tar preparation, having a sweet taste, but indigestible, every particle taken into the body passing off unchanged. It has no food value, but is an antiseptic, and therefore retards digestion; is an excellent paralyzer of ferments, and a sufficient quantity will arrest digestion completely. It has been used very extensively as a preservative. (44,53.)

I. Beer preservatives.-1. Comparative disuse in domestic beer.-Dr. WILEY testifies that salicylic acid has been used very largely in preserving beer, which must either be sterilized (which is preferable) or contain a preservative, unless it is to be consumed within 10 days or 2 weeks after bottling. Otherwise, beer subjected to the ordinary high temperature of summer would speedily disintegrate and lose its flavor and have an excess of gas. Nearly all dealers recognize the necessity of using preservatives when sterilization is not practiced. Salicylic acid has not often been found in beer since attention was called to its harmfulness in the report of the Agricultural Department on beverages. (44, 45.)

Mr. THOMANN, secretary of the United States Brewers' Association, says that he can not state whether or not a brewer here and there may use preservatives. He knows that dozens of brewers do not use them. He has frequently found brewers unwilling to ship beer for long distances because they were opposed to using preservatives and could not guarantee that their beer would keep. On this ground brewers declined to send their beer to the Paris Exposition.

Dr. WILEY confirms this statement of Mr. Thomann's, saying that the almost universal response from brewers who were invited to make exhibits of beer at the Paris Exposition was that they were unwilling to send their beers to be placed on exhibition for perhaps 6 months, and afterwards tested by a jury, because their beers contained no preservatives, but were only pasteurized, and could be kept by that means for not more than 2 or 3 months. (356-359.)

Mr. PABST states that he uses no salicylic acid or other preservatives in his beer. He has heard of its being used, perhaps 8 or 10 years ago. Knowledge of beer making has increased since then. Bottled beer is pasteurized now, and Mr. Pabst does not think that salicylic acid is used by any brewery in this country. (312.)

Mr. OEHNE says that antiseptics may have been used years ago in bottled beer, but that since the adoption of pasteurization he does not think that any have been used. It is not necessary, and he can see no reason for it. It is possible that some salicylic acid may still be used by a few brewers for preserving bottled beer, but not 5 per cent of the beer made in the United States is bottled. (294, 296.)

Mr. BUSCH asserts that if beer has a proper age in the cellar before it is turned out for consumption it needs no preservative. What spoils beer is the yeast which may remain in it when it is sent out. It should "lager" or lie in storage for from 3 to 6 months. Then all the yeast will settle, and there will be no need of preservatives. (488.)

Mr. EVANS, a brewer of ale and porter, says that he uses no preservatives in his products and does not pasteurize them. Ale and porter do not spoil as lager does in shipping. Present-use ale, made for immediate consumption, does not have a chance to spoil. It is all fermented in the bottle. Stock ale is brewed with the idea of keeping in any temperature. It may be kept even in wood from 18 months to 8 years, according to the character of the goods. (417.)

Mr. HACHEMEISTER, treasurer of a brewing company, says that his company uses no preservatives whatever. Beer that is to be shipped they simply pasteurize. (415.) Mr. BAUER, a brew master, says that no preservatives are used in his beer. (290.)

Mr. LIPPE says that he uses no antiseptics in his beer. He sells beer only to men who have facilities for pasteurizing it. If a foreign house should apply to him for goods in bulk he would make it plain to them that the goods would not