72 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



It was recommended in a previous report that the State laboratory should be 

 equipped with the paraphernalia necessary for making complete bacteriological 

 examinations of milk, water and food products, but the requisite instruments 

 have not yet been made available. The bacteriological chemist to-day occupies 

 such a conspicuous part in the analytical world that each succeeding day and 

 month only emphasizes the need of securing these increased and most desir- 

 able advantages for the service of the Department of Agriculture, at the Har- 

 risburg laboratory. With the aid of analytical, microscopical and bacteriolo- 

 gical information, the work of the Dairy and Food Division would not only 

 be greatly enlarged, but the public in general would be vastly benefited. All 

 of this innovation could be added without any great cost to the Commonwealth. 

 Many of the leading and progressive dairymen of Pennsylvania would hail this 

 innovation with special pleasure. 



EXPERT FOOD CHEMISTS IN DEMAND. 



The increasing attention that is being paid to the investigation of food pro- 

 ducts on the part of both National and State authorities has created a demand 

 and opened a new field for an increased number of proficient and expert 

 analysts of food products. The long experience of the chemists employed by 

 the Dairy and Food Bureau of Pennsylvania was well known to the National 

 authorities, and as a result. Prof. H. M. Loomis, formerly engaged in food 

 analytical work at the State laboratory, located at Harrisburg, was offered 

 and accepted a responsible position under the direction of Dr. H. W. Wiley, 

 of the National Bureau of Chemistry. He is at present in charge of the Gal- 

 veston, Texas, district. In several other cases the chemists of the Bureau 

 are actively engaged in assisting the National government in making special 

 examinations and researches into food products, a work that is regarded as' 

 of mutual advantage. It is the intention of the Pennsylvania authorities to 

 co-operate In every manner in work that will improve the pure food supply 

 of the State and Nation, and the experiences of the past year justified this 

 decision, by reason of the good results attained. 



With thousands of analyses made by our chemists, it is but a tribute of 

 fairness to say that in no single instance has there been any charge of un- 

 fairness or gross error on the part of any of the numerous parties directly 

 concerned in food analyses. In no state in the Union was a greater volume 

 of analytical work performed, and the general results are therefore all the 

 more gratifying to the officials responsible for the difficult task. 



NO JURISDICTION OVER DRUGS AND MEDICINES. 



The requirements of the National Food and Drugs Act are frequently con- 

 founded with the food laws of Pennsylvania, and the Dairy and Food Bureau 

 receives many scores of letters from correspondents, including druggists and 

 physicians, who ask for further enlightenment. Such letters are usually re- 

 ferred to the authorities in charge at Washington, or the several State boards 

 having local jurisdiction. The manufacturers of patent or proprietary medi- 

 cines are particularly interested in the new medical law, and as illegal brand- 

 ing was far too common, its enforcement will be not only very desirable, but 

 resultant of much good. The order issued by the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue, Treasury Department of the United States, requiring dealers in 

 certain patent medicines to pay a revenue tax as liquor dealers, also brought 

 many letters of inquiry. This order has no connection, whatever, with the 

 Dairy and Food Bureau, so far as Pennsylvania is concerned, and the revenue 

 license was demanded by the National officials, because certain so-called 

 "medicines" contained but very little substances whose properties were med- 

 icinal, but such large amounts of alcohol as to make their use as intoxicants 

 not uncommon, as well as dangerous to a certain class of patients. 



Another subject of inquiry came from patients who used "head-ache powders." 

 This matter is also outside of the jurisdiction of this office, but those immedi- 

 ately concerned have a right to know more about the different degrees of 

 toxicity in the use of these drugs which have such potent physiological effects 

 upon various persons. Many brands of "head-ache" powders cannot be re- 

 garded otherwise than extremely dangerous. 



The medical fraternity are best qualified to pass upon these questions, but the 

 public should be safeguarded, as it is known that many of these "medicines" 

 have a most depressant effect. 



Although always willing to co-operate with the proper authorities in charge 

 of the laws regulating the manufacture and sale of so-called "patent medi- 

 cines," the Dairy and Food Bureau of Pennsylvania has no legal jurisdiction 

 over such products. Judging by the number of letters received by the Bureau, 

 it is evident that the notion prevails that anybody and everybody has the 

 right to compound, bottle, label and sell (or give away) to the public such 

 "patent medicine." The wrappers and labels in very many cases are of 

 such a laudatory character as to give physicians a feeling of disgust. Phar- 

 macists and physicians who are familiar with certain compositions declare that 

 their capacity for evil is far greater than is ordinarily comprehended. It has 



