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THE ALUMNI JOURNAL, 



JUSTIFIABLE USE OF PRESERVATIVES. 



By Joseph F. Geislee, Ph.C, F. C. S. 



The perishable nature of many articles 

 of food has tested the ingenuity of man 

 to devise means to keep, for a consider- 

 able length of time, such food in a sound 

 and wholesome condition. Many methods 

 have been used with more or less suc- 

 cess. Some are permissable, others pro- 

 hibited on sanitary grounds. The most 

 primitive methods are those of drying 

 and refrigeration, which haye been in 

 use from time immemorial. The former 

 was applied in the simple drying of 

 meats by exposure to the sun, and which 

 is still in vogue, and in a modified form 

 now applied to dried meats and dried or 

 dessicated fruits. The utilization of ice 

 and low temperatures dates back to an 

 equally remote period, and have led to 

 the elaborate methods of refrigeration as 

 now practiced. Other methods in use 

 are those of smoking, applied principally 

 to meats and fish, by which the empyreu- 

 matic oil and other products of combus- 

 tion act as antiseptics. Then follow those 

 depending on the addition of preserva- 

 tives or antiseptics, such as salt, sugar, 

 vinegar, alcohol, and the long list of 

 chemical compounds, such as boracic 

 acid, salicylic acid, benzoic acid, saccha- 

 rin, hydronaphthol, etc. The most 

 ingenious method is no doubt that in 

 which, after the expulsion of the air by 

 boiling and other means, the food is 

 hermetically sealed in tin (canned goods) 

 or glass receptacles. 



CHEMICAL PREPARATIONS. 

 The discovery of salicylic acid and 

 other antiseptics led to their use in food 

 products, since which time much has 

 been written pro and con concerning 

 their use as preservatives. A few years 

 ago a sanitary commission in Paris, con- 

 sisting of eminent scientists, made a 

 thorough investigation regarding the use 

 of salicylic acid, and, more recently, also 



benzoic acid and other drugs, as a result 

 of which the use of these and other anti- 

 septics in food has been generally con- 

 demned and prohibited. It is but natural 

 that when bodies high in authority saw 

 fit to legislate against the use of preserva- 

 tives in food products, others should 

 follow the precedent and adopt similar 

 prohibitory measures. 



It is argued that digestion is practically 

 a fermentation, and since this is the case, 

 a substance which will prevent fermenta- 

 tion will also prevent or disturb digestion. 

 And, further, in the case of organic anti- 

 septics, such as salicylic acid, the loss by 

 decomposition of the acid on long keeping 

 of the preserved article makes it difficult, 

 if not impossible, to estimate the quantity 

 originally used, whence it might follow 

 that the quantity of salicylic acid origin- 

 ally added may have been decidely ob- 

 jectionable, but after long keeping re- 

 duced to a permissable quantity through 

 natural decomposition, and thus bring it 

 within the limit set by sanitary author- 

 ities. Thus there would not be sufficient 

 safeguard against the excessive use of 

 salicylic acid. 



HYGIENIC PRINCIPLE QUESTIONED. 



The hygienic principle underlying 

 these objections is of questionable stabil- 

 ity, although if it is proper to err at all, 

 it is best to err on the side of safety. This 

 is quite in keeping with sanitary acts, 

 and yet there is a more rational way of 

 looking at the matter. It must be obvi- 

 ous to any one that the true merit and 

 wholesomeness of food products depend 

 first whether they are in a condition to 

 be eaten. The appearance, smell, taste 

 or peculiar flavor make an article of food 

 palatable, and as it deteriorates from 

 these standards it depreciates in pecuniary 

 and dietetic value. In fact, the flavor 

 and smell are in many cases the indica- 

 tions of the wholesomeness of a food. 



According to the character of the 



