260 EXPEETMEKT STATION EECORD. 



According to the author's suniniary. the following conclusions may bo drawn 

 regarding the action of small doses of sodium benzoate : 



" No action from small doses of sodium benzoate was detectable by the 

 methods used in this Investigation in respect to the following physiological 

 features : The general health of the subject as indicated by subjective and 

 objective signs; the composition of the urine (with one exception, viz, the 

 physiological effect on the hippuric acid excretion) ; the composition of the 

 feces ; the absorption of fats and the fat balance ; the character of the bacteria 

 of the intestinal tract ; the weight of the body ; the hemoglobin of the blood ; 

 the red blood cells ; and the white blood cells. 



" The observed rise iu hippuric acid of the urine was such as was to be ex- 

 pected from the well-kuowu metabolism of benzoic acid in the animal 

 organism. . . . 



" The failure to detect significant departures from any physiological processes 

 may safely be taken as a practical certainty that none of the experimental 

 subjects who submitted themselves to our investigation derived any injurious 

 effects therefrom. The fact that the composite curves made from our subjects 

 to indicate the body weight and the hemoglobin percentage show a rise both iu 

 weight and in hemoglobin for the entire benzoate experiment (low benzoate 

 period and high benzoate period) is a practical and obvious confirmation of this 

 conclusion derived from two important indices of physiological well being or 

 health." 



As regards the action of large doses of benzoate of soda, " it may be stated 

 that no definite physiological consequences of large doses of sodium benzoate 

 were detectable by the methods employed in this investigation except in the 

 following instances : 



" There was a considerable or large rise in the hippuric acid excretion, such 

 as would be expected from the doses of sodium benzoate ingested. The signifi- 

 cance of this rise has been discussed at sufficient length in the preceding section 

 dealing with small doses of sodium benzoate, 



" There was an increase of the indican of the urine, not great but unmis- 

 takable. This rise, discernible iu all 4 subjects, seems attributable to an action 

 of the sodium benzoate, as other known factors in the experimental conditions 

 fail to satisfactorily account for it. It is perhaps attributable to a slight 

 irritant action on the gastro-enteric tract, so altering the secretions or bacteria 

 (or both) as to favor intestinal putrefaction. 



" There was a depression of the gas-foi'ming function of the mixed fecal 

 bacteria. 



" There was a moderate but apparently unmistakable rise in the proportion 

 of coccal bacteria observed in the fermentation tube sediment derived from 

 the inoculation of the mixed fecal flora. The precise significance of this phe- 

 nomenon and of the depression iu gas production noted . . . [above] is not 

 known, but both conditions are frequently associated with slight or pi'onouncetl 

 inflammatory affections of the gastro-enteric tract. 



" There was a distinct rise in the free hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice." 



Is food containing benzoates injurious to health? E. K. Smith (Med. Rcc. 

 [JV. Y.], 75 (1909), No. 1, pi). 16-18). — A discussion of investigations previously 

 noted (E. S. R., 20, p. 404), with the conclusions from which the author does 

 not agree. 



The effects on health of long-continued small doses of sodium sulphite, 

 K. B. Lehmann and A. Treutlein (Arch. Hyg., GS (1909), No. J,, pp. 303-.31S).~ 

 From experiments with cats and dogs the conclusion was reached that medium 

 doses of sodium sulphite do not produce noticeable effects on the health of the 

 animals even when continued for 200 days. The authors point out that it 



