26 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OfE. Doc. 



these chemicals upon the physical system, and whose only interest is 

 a purely seltish and meicenai-y one, namely, to secure their preserva- 

 tion until they have been able to dispose of them at a profit, utterly 

 careless of what may be the results of their use, upon the public 

 health. 



The following summary, taken from "The Law and Chemistry of 

 Food and Drugs," edited by 11. Mansfield Robinson, LL.D., and Cecil 

 H. Cribb, F. I. C, Fellow of the Chemical Society, gives in brief form, 

 some of the reasons, why Food Commissioners are under obligation 

 to exercise great caution in permitting the use of antiseptics in food. 



The reasons here given for restricting, if not prohibiting, the use 

 of preservatives in food, will commend themselves to every unpreju- 

 diced citizen : 



(1) " With regard to medical evidence. It is unnecessary to prove 

 that preservatives are in all cases injurious. Under certain condi- 

 tions even violent poisons fail in their action, and one instance of 

 harm having resulted from a food preservative has infinitely more 

 weight than numerous cases where large, perhaps enormous, doses 

 have been taken with no ill effect. 



(2) ''^ The fact that the quantities used are small has no hearing on 

 the matter. The constant repetition of a small dose may produce 

 effect, when a single administration of the same quantity would ut- 

 terly fail to do so. Moreover, any quantity, enough tO' act as a pre- 

 servative, is likely to be enough to do harm; for it is difficult to con- 

 ceive, that a drug which will affect the protoplasm of such hardy or- 

 ganisms as bacteria, can be without influence on the delicate mucous 

 membrane of the stomach and other parts of the alimentary canal. 



''(3) None of these preservatives is a food., or a natural constituent 

 of food, neither do thej- enter into the formation of any part of the 

 animal bodv. 



"(4) On the other hand., they are drugs, and are used in medicine 

 for certain definite purposes. It is absurd to forbid pharmacists to 

 prescribe, and at the siime time to allow the butcher, the brewer and 

 the butterman to dose the general public without their knowledge or 

 consent. 



"(5) Thf:!/ are not really necessary. There are legitimate methods 

 of preservation which do not involve the use of drugs, such as sterili- 

 zation by heat and subsequent packing without access to germ-laden 

 air; or by refrigeration, which, so long as it is continued, renders fer- 

 mentation impossible. In many cases, some natural constituent of 

 the article has more or less marked antiseptic properties; e. g., the 

 sugar in jams and condensed milk, the salt in butter, and pepper in 

 sausages. 



''(6) As long as their employment is allowed, there will always be 



