362 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



"As in the case of boric acid, salicylic acid, and suljiliiirous acid, this injury 

 manifests itself in a number of different ways, both in the production of un- 

 favorable symptoms and in the disturbance of metabolism. These injurious 

 effects are evident in the medical and clinical data, which show grave dis- 

 turbances of digestion, attended by phenomena which are clearly indicative 

 of irritation, nausea, headache, and, in a few cases, vomiting. These symptoms 

 were not only well marked, but they were produced upon healthy individuals, 

 receiving good and nourishing food and living under proper sanitary conditions. 

 It is only fair to conclude, therefore, that under similar conditions of admin- 

 istration of benzoic acid or benzoate of soda in the case of weaker systems, or 

 less resistant conditions of health, much more serious and lasting injury would 

 be produced. 



" It was also noticed that the administration of benzoic acid and benzoate of 

 soda was attended with a distinct loss of weight, indicative of either a disturb- 

 ance of assimilation or an increased activity in those processes of the body 

 which result in destruction of tissue. The production of a loss of weight in 

 this kind must be regarded as indicative of injurious effects. 



" The influence of the benzoic acid and benzoate of soda upon metabolism 

 was never of a character indicative of a favorable change therein. While often 

 the metabolic changes were not strongly marked, such changes as were estab- 

 lished were of an injurious nature. It is evident that the administration of 

 these bodies, therefore, in the food tends to derange metabolism in an in- 

 jurious way. 



"An important fact in connection with the administration of these bodies 

 is found in the efforts which nature makes to eliminate them from the sys- 

 tem. In so far as possible the benzoic acid is converted into hippuric acid. 

 There is a tendency usually manifested, however, to retain the benzoic acid in 

 the body for a notable length of time, and this is much more marked in the 

 case of benzoate of soda than in the case of benzoic acid. 



"While the administration of both these bodies, therefore, is undoubtedly 

 harmful, the injurious effects are produced more rapidly in the case of ben- 

 zoic acid than they are in the case of benzoate of soda ; the data, however, will 

 show that the total harmful effect produced in the end is practically the same 

 in both cases; hence there appears to be no reason for supposing that the ad- 

 ministration of the preservative in the form of benzoate of soda can be justi- 

 fied by any argument relating to the less injurious effect thereof upon health. 



" The occurrence of microscopic bodies in the urine is undoubtedly increased 

 under the administration of benzoic acid in both forms, thus showing con- 

 clusively the tendency to stimulate the destructive activities of the body. 



" Coming to the final consideration of all of these different phases of the 

 subject, there is only one conclusion to be drawn from the data which have 

 been presented, and that is that in the interests of health both benzoic acid and 

 benzoate of soda should be excluded from food products." 



Preservatives in food and the effect thereof on the public health, H. W. 

 Wiley (Amer. Jour. Puh. Hyg., 18 (1908), No. 1, pp. 27-30). — Information 

 collected from some 250 physiologists, hygienists, health officers, and physi- 

 cians showed that the majority were not in favor of the use of preservatives 

 other than the usual condimental preservatives sugar, salt, alcohol, vinegar, 

 spices, and wood smoke, and believe that other preservatives as a class are 

 injurious to health and not essential. The metabolism and excretion of chemi- 

 cal preservatives and other similar topics are briefly discussed. 



[Pood and dairy laws] {Penn. Dept. Agr. Bui. 160, pp. 69). — The law creat- 

 ing the State department of agriculture, the legislative acts pertaining to the 



