326 WILEY— INFLUENCE OF PRESERVATIVES L April 25, 



experimental data, it is evident that no scientific reason can be urged 

 for the use of limited quantities of a preservative, which is acknowl- 

 edged to be harmful, on the ground that in such quantities it is not 

 injurious. 



Inasmuch as a preservative is not a food, and as it does not in 

 any way take part in the nourishment of the body nor in the res- 

 toration of waste or growth ; and further as it is necessarily elimi- 

 nated, either unchanged or in other forms which may be even more 

 harmful than the original, by the excretory organs of the body, thus 

 imposing upon them an unnecessary and injurious burden and affect- 

 ing more or less the constitution of the ultimate cells thereof in an 

 unfavorable way, it is evident that the argument which would per- 

 mit their use in small quantities is wholly illegitimate. 



The fallacy of the argument that small quantities of an injurious 

 substance are not injurious may perhaps be best represented graph- 

 ically. The chart which accompanies this discussion shows theoret- 

 ically the normal and lethal dose of a food and a drug or, as in this 

 case, a chemical preservative. The chart shows two curves, one 

 representing a chemical preservative and one representing a food. 

 The normal dose of a food is that quantity of food which maintains 

 a healthy adult body in equilibrium. It is represented on the right 

 of the chart by the number 100. If the quantity of food necessary 

 to maintain the equilibrium in a healthy adult body is slightly dimin- 

 ished, no apparent change is at first experienced and possibly even 

 no discomfort. If, however, the quantity of food be still further 

 diminished progressively, as indicated by following the curve down 

 to the left, the point is finally reached when no food is given at all 

 and death ensues, represented by zero on the left hand of the 

 diagram designated " lethal dose." As the curve begins to deviate 

 from the perpendicular on the right the degree of injury is very 

 readily noticed and starvation or symptoms of starvation are set up. 

 Thus, if you follow the perpendicular on the right downward to the 

 point 80, the divergence of the corresponding point of the curve is 

 already measurable. As you descend to zero the magnitude of the 

 measurement increases. It requires but very little further illustra- 

 tion to show how easilv the eft'ect of diminishing the normal dose of 



