POODS HUMAN NUTRITION". 363 



" The experiments on the whole show no serious count against aluminum. 

 This metal, at all events, does not appear to me more susceptible lo the action of 

 water and foods in the process of cooking than does iron, which has been used 

 from time immemorial as the material of cooking pans. . . . There is no evi- 

 dence to show that in the ordinary cooking operations of everyday practice 

 either iron or aluminum is so strongly attacked as to produce an objectionnble 

 amount of soluble salts. All that can be found, when even organic acids and 

 mineral salts are pre.sent in the cooking pan, are the merest traces of metal in 

 a soluble state. The alumina precipitated by ammonia in the tests was in 

 practically all cases an unweighable quantity. The case is different when an 

 alkali is present. Carbonate of soda, for example, is without action upon iron, 

 but it certainly attacks aluminum freely, and it would be well to exclude that 

 salt from an aluminum cooking utensil, although even in this ease it is doubt- 

 ful whether any injury to health would be done. The makers of aluminum cook- 

 ing vessels are fully aware of this action, and, as has been said, they commonly 

 issue a notice warning the possessors of aluminum vessels not to use carbonate 

 of .sodn, which, after all, is not indispensable to cooking processes." 



The opinion is expressed that in general aluminum as now made by reputable 

 manufacturers is to be regarded as " a suitable material for cooking vessels, 

 and . . . any suspicion that it may communicate poisonous qualities to food 

 in the process of cooking may safely be dismissed In view of the results of the 

 practical experiments which we have recorded, showing that the metal is not 

 appreciably acted upon in cooking operations." 



The experiments were made in the Lancet laboratory. 



Culinary and chemical experiments with aluminium cooking' vessels, 

 J. Glaistek and A. Aixisoisr (Lancet [London], 1913, I, No. 12. p. S.'i3). — A sum- 

 mary of a paper by the authors is presented dealing with the effects on the 

 metal of cooking such foods as bacon, drippings, milk, orange and lemon mar- 

 malade, Brussels sprouts, and tomato sauce, in the usual culinary manner, and 

 laboratory tes's with such substances as solutions of common salt, acetic acid, 

 sodium bicarbonate, and a mixture of salt, tartaric, and citric acids with water 

 of different sorts. 



In the case of bacon, drippings, and milk, no aluminum was dissolved, but 

 with the orange and the lemon marmalade, Brussels sprouts, and tomatoes, 

 small amounts were found in solution. In the test with sodium bicarbonate, 

 minute traces of soluble aluminum were found, but not with the other sub- 

 stances enumerated. The largest amount of aluminum, 1,018 grains of 

 aluminum hydroxid, was found with the orange and lemon marmalade, but 

 the authors believe that the amount would prove harmless even if eaten at one 

 meal by one person. " In the cooking experiments no aluminum chlorid was 

 found, and the amount of hydroxid found would, if converted into the chlorid in 

 the stomach, still fall far short of the medicinal dose of the salts. In view of 

 the results obtained the authors feel justified in declaring that the ordinary use 

 of aluminum cooking vessels for culinary purposes is not attended by any risk 

 to the health of the consumers of food cooked therein." 



Our children's health at home and at school, edited by C E. Hecht (West- 

 minster, England, 1912. pp. 5-f//67). — This book, which reports a conference 

 held at Guildhall. London, May 13, 1912, on diet and hygiene in public, sec- 

 ondary, and private schools, contains the report of proceedings and an account 

 of exhibits shown at the conference, which consisted largely of bills of fare, 

 and the comments of the press on the conference. 



The papers presented includetl, among others, the following: Diet as a Factor 

 in Physical, Intellectual, and Moral EflBciency, by C. Dukes; Diet in Boarding 



