54 THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



which are likely to mislead both legal and public opinion. It is not my 

 intention to enter now into my investigations on this subject. These 

 will appear in the '[^ierteljahrsschrift fur gerichtliche Medichi and will 

 shortly be published by Churchill in pamphlet form. The reason for my 

 again taking up these questions is an article by Dr. H. E. Annett on Boric 

 Acid and Formalin as Milk Preservatives which appeared in The Lancet 

 of November ir, 1899 (p. 1282). It would be quite suSicient only to 

 criticise this investigation, but it seems advisable also to make some intro- 

 ductory observations. 



In the first place Dr. Annett cites the following from the report of the 

 committee of the Local Government Board: "There is no doubt that 

 boric acid, if taken in large quantities, would be injurious to health, but 

 we have not sufficient information to show whether such minute quanti- 

 ties as are generally added as preservatives would be regarded as having 

 that effect, and more exact information is wanted before it can be decided 

 whether a process which prima facie may be regarded as intended to pre- 

 vent the loss of valuable foods must be held to be prohibited by law." 

 Dr. Annett adds : " It is remarkable that that 'sufficient information ' on 

 the action of minute doses of ' preservatives ' habitually taken after the 

 lapse of a period of almost ten years still is not forthcoming." Dr. An- 

 nett is quite right. It is, indeed, strange that during ten years of experi- 

 mental work, taken part in by a great number of investigators, it has not 

 been forthcoming, and that during these ten years of experience of prac- 

 tising physicians there has not been forthcoming any instance of injury to 

 health from the administration of small doses of borax and boric acid. 

 Particularly so, in my opinion, for during this time a very excellent op- 

 portunity has been afforded for practical observation, because the use of 

 boric acid in small doses has been very extensively resorted to. This 

 gives evidence to the experimenter that the existence of an injurious in- 

 fluence of small doses could only be demonstrated with great difficulty, if 

 indeed it exists at all. One would expect that Dr. Annett had succeeded 

 in obtaining the required proof However, this is not the case. He be- 

 gins by enumerating the injurious effects of excessively large doses in 

 animals and confuses these with therapeutic observations. In such a sci- 

 entific criticism it would have been fairer not to have suppressed the facts 

 that excessive doses administered by the mouth cause only passing harm 

 in man and that the injection of excessive doses of borax and boric acid 

 in the body cavities of patients produces distinct intoxication and even 

 death. This is well known and not to be wondered at ; but from this 

 latter fact no conclusion can be drawn as to their toxicity when adminis- 

 tered through the stomach and intestine, for the purpose of forming a 

 judgment on the use of small quantities for the preservation of food. We 

 are aware that many substances are harmless in the intestinal canal if 



