314 WILEY— INFLUENCE OF PRESERVATIVES [April 25, 



canal, so that larger parts of the nutrients taken into the stomach 

 actually enter the circulation. 



The data which show the effect just noted also indicate that 

 the general effect upon the system is depressing, in that the tissues 

 are broken down more rapidly than they are built up, and thus the 

 normal metabolic processes are interfered with in a harmful way. 

 The administration of the salicylic acid is attended by a gradual 

 decrease in the weight of the subjects, although the quantity of food 

 elements administered during the preservative and after periods is 

 slightly increased, which fact, together with the greater degree of 

 absorption of the food elements, should have resulted in a slight 

 increase in weight. This increase in weight, however, does not 

 occur, and the disturbing influence of the salicylic acid upon meta- 

 bolism, although not very great, is specifically dem'onstrated. 



The final conclusion in this matter, therefore, is that the un- 

 enviable position which salicylic acid has heretofore held among 

 preservatives, in being regarded as the most injurious of all, is to a 

 certain extent undeserved. Like other ordinary preservatives, it is 

 not one which can be classed as a poison in the usual sense of the 

 word. When used as a medicine in many cases of derangement of 

 health it is like the other chemical preservatives, often highly bene- 

 ficial when properly prescribed by a competent physician. It is when 

 used in the food at first an apparent stimulant, increasing the absorp- 

 tion and solubility of the common food elements from the alimen- 

 tary canal. It soon, however, loses its stimulating properties and 

 becomes a depressant, tending to break down the tissues of the body 

 more rapidly than they are built up. It disturbs the metabolic proc- 

 esses, in most cases producing conditions which are not normal and 

 which, apparently, are not beneficial. It has a tendency to diminish 

 the weight of the body and to produce a feeling of discomfort and 

 malaise, which, while not marked, is distinctly indicative of injury. 

 In some cases these symptoms of malaise approach illness, and while 

 not always diagnostic are sufficiently common to point unmistakably 

 to the salicylic acid as their origin. It places upon the excretory 

 organs, especially the kidneys, an additional burden which they are 

 not able to bear and which cannot possibly result in any good, but 

 on the contrary must necessarily finally result in injury, though per- 



