76 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



the Commonwealth all the samples were free from preservatives, 

 while in other localities the practice appeared to be almost a com- 

 mon one. As already stated, a number of dealers were prosecuted, 

 and the suits settled upon the payment of a fine and costs. 



In one county the law failed of its purpose and intent, because 

 the press vigorously defended the local defendants, declaring that 

 the oyster packers residing in another state were the real offenders 

 at fault and that the home dealers had no guilty knowledge of the 

 drugging of the oysters which they were selling and peddling to an 

 unsuspecting patronage. The argument, while fallacious and mis- 

 leading, had its desired effect and resulted in the acquittal of the 

 accused defendants. As the packers are non-residents of Pennsyl- 

 vania they are congratulating themselves upon the miscarriage of 

 justice. 



SACCHARIN DECLARED A FRAUD. 



The "American Grocer," published in New York, in an interesting 

 editorial pronounces saccharin a fraud, in substance as named and 

 in use. Dr. Wiley, of the National Bureau of Chemistry, also de- 

 clares it "a deception and that the person who invented it meant 

 to deceive, because saccharin is a word which means something 

 else altogether." He states that it was simple robbery to take a 

 word in the English language which meant one thing and to apply 

 it to something which it does not mean at all. 



Saccharin is substituted for cane sugar, because it is said to be 

 five hundred times sweeter than sugar. In other words, one au- 

 thority printed a statement to the effect that $500.00 worth of sac- 

 charin would take the place of $10,000.00 worth of cane sugar. If 

 this declaration were sustained in part only, its capabilities for 

 gain in the hands of unscrupulous manufacturers would be almost 

 incomprehensible. 



As a coal tar derivative, it is but natural to assume that it is 

 indigestible and that its constant or frequent use could not fail to 

 create disturbances of the digestive organs, and thus injure the 

 human system. 



The canning trade, manufacturers of soft drinks and others have 

 been discovered using this illegal article in food and drink, and, 

 as a result, arrests were made and the usual penalties imposed. If 

 the medical practitioner sees proper to prescribe saccharin in the 

 treatment of certain ailments, it may be within his proper scope 

 and discretion, but the article has no valid place in the daily dietary 

 of the citizens of Pennsylvania. 



The "American Grocer" very properly urges that every tin of 

 food containing this coal-tar product be labeled "Sweetened with 

 Benzoic Sulphinide." This plan while entirely prohibiting the sale 

 of such goods in this State, since its use was at once shown, would 

 only be fair to the consumers of other states, and a due measure 

 of credit and justice to the packers and producers who eschew its 

 use because of its questionable character. 



FRUIT SYRUPS AND SODA WATERS. 



The continued agitation of the question affecting the purity of 

 fruit syrups and the consequent prosecutions ordered against dis- 



