such information as would enable the board to direct the work
of local authorities in securing greater purity of food; and
they further recommended that the board or court of reference,
which had been advised by the Committee on Food Products
Adulteration, should be established. Pending the establishment
of official standards in respect of arsenic under the Food
Acts, they were of opinion that penalties should be imposed
upon any vendor of beer or any other liquid food, or of any
liquor entering into the composition of food, if that liquid
be shown by adequate test to contain one-hundredth of a grain
or more of arsenic in the gallon, and with regard to solid
food, no matter whether it be consumed habitually in large or
small quantities, or whether it be taken by itself (like golden
syrup), or mixed with water or other substances (like chicory
or yeast extract)--if the substance contain one-hundredth of a
grain of arsenic or more to the pound. The board of reference,
most urgently needed for the protection of the public and
for the guidance of manufacturers and officers, has yet to be
created. While from time immemorial certain articles of food
have been preserved by salting, smoking, drying, or by the
addition of sugar and in some cases of saltpetre, during the
last quarter of the 10th century the use of chemicals acting
more powerfully as antiseptics or preservatives extended
enormously, particularly in England. A very large fraction
of the British food supply being obtained from abroad, a
proportionately great difficulty exists in obtaining the
food in an entirely fresh and untainted condition. While
refrigeration and cold-storage has been the chief factor in
enabling the meat and other highly perishable foods to be
imported, other steps, ensuring preservation of goods that
are collected from farmers and brought together at shipping
ports, are necessary to prevent decomposition prior to such
goods coming into cold store. Thus it is well-nigh impossible
to collect butter from farms in Australia or New Zealand far
distant from the coast without the addition of some chemical
preservative. Heavily salted goods no longer appeal to the
modern palate, and, with the progress of specialized labour,
the inhabitants, especially of great towns, have become
accustomed to resort to manufactured provisions instead of
the home-made and home-cooked food. Manufacturers of many
articles of preserved food gradually adopted the use of
chemical preservatives, and at the present time the practice
has become so general that it may be said that practically
every person in the United Kingdom who has passed the suckling
stage consumes daily more or less food containing chemical
preservatives. The Food Act allows of the addition of any
ingredient, not injurious to health, if it be required for
the production or preparation of the food, or as an article
of commerce, in a state fit for carriage. The legality or
otherwise of the use of chemical preservatives, therefore,
hinges upon their innocuousness. Upon theoretical considerations
it is clear that a substance which is capable of acting as
an antiseptic mnst act injuriously upon bacteria, fungi or
yeasts, and as the human body is, generally speaking, less
resistant to poisons than the low organisms in question, it
would seem to follow that antiseptics are bound to affect it
injuriously. It is, of course, a question of dose and
proportion. It has further been said that all antiseptics
possess some sort of medicinal action, and however valuable
they may be in disease when administered under the control
of a competent physician, they have no business to be given
indiscriminately to sick and healthy alike by purveyors of
food. The result of a general desire on the part of importers
and manufacturers of food materials, of the officers under
the Food Act, of the medical profession and of the public,
resulted after many years of agitation and complaint and
after numerous conflicting magisterial decisions, in the
appointment in 1899, by the president of the Local Government
Board, of a departmental committee to inquire into the use
of preservatives and colouring matters in food, with the
reference to report: first, whether the use of such materials
or any of them, in certain quantities, is injurious to
health, and, if so, in what proportion does their use become
injurious, and, second, to what extent and in what amounts
are they used at the present time. After the examination
of a great number of witnesses a report was issued in
1901. Perhaps the most important conclusion was that the
instances of actual harm which were alleged to have occurred
from the consumption of articles of food and drink chemically
preserved were few in number, and were not at all supported
by conclusive evidence. During the period which has elapsed
since chemically preserved food has been used, the mortality
as a whole has . declined, and while this naturally cannot
be put to the credit of the preservatives but is largely
due to better feeding in consequence of the introduction of
cheaper foods, which are rendered possible to some extent
by the use of preservatives, it conclusively establishes the
fact that no obvious harm has been done to the health of the
community. The committee made certain recommendations which
are the most authoritative pronouncements upon the subject.
They are as follows:--That the use of formaldehyde or formalin,
or preparations thereof, in food or drinks, be absolutely
prohibited, and that salicylic acid be not used in a greater
proportion than one grain per pint in liquid food and one
grain per pound in solid food, its presence in all cases to be
declared. That the use of any preservatives or colouring
matter whatever in milk offered for sale in the United Kingdom
be constituted an offence under the Sale of Food and Drugs
Act. That the only preservative which it shall be lawful to
use in cream be boric acid, or mixtures of boric acid and
borax, and in amount not exceeding 0.25% expressed as boric
acid, the amount of such preservative to be notified by a
label upon the vessel. That the only preservative permitted
to be used in butter and margarine be boric acid, or mixtures
of boric acid and borax, to be used in proportions not
exceeding 0.5% expressed as boric acid. That in the case of
all dietetic preparations intended for the use of invalids or
infants, chemical preservatives of all kinds be prohibited.
Borax.
As the most commonly used chemical preservative is boric acid,
free or in the form of borax, which is extensively employed
in butter, cream, ham, sausages, potted meats, cured butter,
cream, ham, sausages, potted meats, cured fish, and sometimes
in jams and preserved fruit, the arguments for and against
its employment deserve more detailed attention. It cannot be
looked upon in the light of common adulteration because, in any
case, the quantity used is but an inconsiderable fraction,
and the cost of it is generally greater than that of the food
itself. It is not used to hide any traces of decomposition that
may have taken place or to efface its effects. On the other
hand, it cannot be said to be ``required for the production
or preparation'' of the articles with which it is mixed,
since a fraction at least of similar articles are made without
preservative. It enables food to be kept from decomposition,
but it also lessens the need for cleanliness and encourages
neglect and slovenliness in factories. It has no taste, or
only a very slight one, hence does not manifest itself to
the consumer in the same way as does common salt, and cannot
therefore be avoided by him should he desire to do so. Its
preservative action, that is, its potency, is very slight
in comparison with most other preservatives; its potential
injuriousness to man must be proportionately small. It is
practically without interference upon salivary, peptic or tryptic
digestion, unless given in large quantities. Experiments made
by F. W. Tunnicliffe and R. Rosenheim upon children showed
that neither boric acid nor borax, administered in doses of
from 15 to 23 grains per diem, exerted any influence upon
proteid metabolism or upon the assimilation of phosphatized
materials. The fat assimilation was, if anything, improved,
and the body weight increased, and the general health and
well-being was in no way affected. On the other hand, evidence
was adduced that in some cases digestive disturbances, after
continuous administration of from 15 to 40 grains, were
observable, nausea and vomiting in some, and skin irritation,
in one case resulting in complete baldness, in others.
Although it is in most cases very difficult to trace any gastric
disturbance to any particular article of food or one of its
ingredients, so as to exclude all other possible causes of
disturbance, a fairly good case has been made out by a number
of medical practitioners against boracic acid, taken in an
ordinary diet and not for experimental purposes. The most
exhaustive investigation which has as yet been made was carried
out by Dr H. W. Wiley, chief chemist to the United States
department of agriculture. A large number of young men who
had offered themselves as subjects for the investigations,
were boarded as a special ``hygienic table,'' but otherwise
continued their usual vocations during the whole period of the
experiment. They were placed upon their honour to observe
the rules and regulations prepared by the department and to
use no other food or drink than that provided, water excepted,
and any water consumed away from the hygienic table was to be
measured and reported. They were to continue their regular
habits and not to indulge in any excessive amount of labour or
exercise. Weight, temperature and pulse rate were continuously
recorded. The periods during which the subjects of the
experiment were kept under observation varied from thirty
to seventy days, periods of rest being given during which
they were permitted to eat moderately at tables other than
the experimental one. There was a good and ample diet.
The observations were divided into three periods: the fore
period, the preservative period and the after period, during
the whole of which time the rations of each member were weighed
or measured and the excreta collected. Before the ``fore''
period was commenced a note was made of the quantities of
food voluntarily consumed by each of the candidates, and from
these the proper amount necessary in each case to maintain
a comparatively constant body weight was calculated. When
a suitable result was thus arrived at, the same quantity of
food was given daily during the ``preservative'' and ``after''
periods. The preservative was given in the forms of borax and
of boric acid, at first mixed with butter, but subsequently
in gelatine capsules. This was found to be necessary from
the fact that when the preservative was mixed with the
food and concealed in it some of the members of the table
evinced dislike of the food with which it was supposed to
be incorporated; those who thought that the preservative was
in the butter were disposed to find the butter unpalatable,
and the same was true with those who thought it might be in
the milk or coffee, while, when the preservative was given
openly, much less disturbance was created. The preservative
was given at first in small doses such as might be consumed in
commercial food that had been preserved with borax; gradually
the quantities were increased in order to reach the limit
of toleration for each individual. All food was weighed,
