The Preservation of Food in the Home. — Part I 1279 



otherwise use these preservatives in foods on a better plane, and secure 

 for their products a greater consumption. 



" From a careful study of the data in the individual cases and of the 

 summaries of the results, it is evident that the administration of benzoic 

 acid, either as such or in the form of benzoate of soda, is highly objectionable 

 and produces a very serious disturbance of the metabolic functions, 

 attended with injury to digestion and health. 



"As in the case of boric acid, salicylic acid, and sulphurous acid, this 

 injury manifests itself in a number of different ways, both in the produc- 

 tion of unfavorable symptoms and in the disturbance of metabolism. 

 These injurious effects are evident in the medical and clinical data which 

 show grave disturbances of digestion, attended by phenomena which are 

 clearly indicative of irritation, nausea, headache, and in a few cases 

 vomiting. These symptoms were not only well marked, but they were 

 produced upon healthy individuals receiving good and nourishing food 

 and living under proper sanitary conditions. It is only fair to conclude, 

 therefore, that under similar conditions of administration of benzoic acid 

 or benzoate of soda in the case of weaker systems, or less, resistant condi- 

 tions of health, much more serious and lasting injury would be produced. 



" It was also noticed that the administration of benzoic acid and ben- 

 zoate of soda was attended with a distinct loss of weight, indicative of 

 either a disturbance of assimilation or an increased activity in those 

 processes of the body which result in destruction of tissue. The produc- 

 tion of a loss of weight in cases of this kind must be regarded as indica- 

 tive of injurious effects. 



" Coming to the final consideration of all these different phases of the 

 subject, there is only one conclusion to be drawn from the data which 

 have been presented, and that is that in the interests of health both benzoic 

 acid and benzoate of soda should be excluded from food products. This 

 conclusion is reached independently of any consideration of the conditions 

 which it is alleged surround the processes of manufacture and which 

 result in the demands of manufacturers to be allowed to continue the use 

 of these substances. This is a subject which must be discussed from 

 an entirely different point of view and has no bearing whatever upon the 

 general conclusions which have been reached, namely, that both benzoic 

 acid and benzoate of soda are bodies which, when added to foods, are 

 injurious to health. 



" In the majority of cases the labor of freeing the system from added 

 preservatives falls principally upon the kidneys. In the method of life 

 in vogue in this country the kindeys are already hard-worked organs. 

 Americans probably eat more freely than the citizens of almost any other 

 country, with the possible exception of England. Large quantities of 



