igoS.] UPON HEALTH AND METABOLISM. 319 



appears to be no reason for supposing that the administration of the 

 preservative in the form of benzoate of soda can be justified by any 

 argument relating to the less injurious effect thereof upon health. 



The occurrence of microscopic bodies in the urine is undoubt- 

 edly increased under the administration of benzoic acid in all its 

 forms, thus showing conclusively the tendency to stimulate the 

 destructive activities of the body. 



Coming to the final consideration of all these different phases 

 of the subject, there is only one conclusion to be drawn from the 

 data w^hich 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. This conclusion is reached independently of 

 any consideration of the conditions which it is alleged surround the 

 processes of manufacture and which result in the demands of manu- 

 facturers to be allowed to continue the use of this body. This is a 

 subject which must be discussed from an entirely different point of 

 view and has no bearing whatever upon the general conclusions 

 which have been reached, namely, that both benzoic acid and ben- 

 zoate of soda are bodies which, when added to foods, are injurious 

 to health. 



Formaldehyde. — A general study of all the data leads to the 

 conclusion that the admixture of formaldehyde with food is injuri- 

 ous to health, even in the case of healthy young men. It is fair to 

 conclude, therefore, that in the case of infants and children the 

 deleterious effects would be more pronounced. The metabolic func- 

 tions are disturbed in a notable way, both by the retardation of the 

 nitrogen and sulphur metabolism, and the acceleration of phos- 

 phorus metabolism. There seems to be a tendency to an increased 

 absorption from the alimentary canal, especially in the cases when 

 the formaldehyde had stood in contact with the milk, and hence it 

 is fair to presume that in so far as the enzymic action in the intes- 

 tinal canal is concerned, transforming solid food into soluble mate- 

 rials which may enter the circulation, there is evidently a stimulat- 

 ing effect produced. 



There are, however, many varying conditions which must be 

 considered in properly interpreting the data. The uniformly in- 

 creased absorption of the proteid elements of the food, and also of 



