62 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



salicylic acid became so common at one time that chemists of many 

 boards of health still test for no other preservative." 



Some of the inorganic substances, such as boric acid, have also 

 been found suitable as preservatives. Doctor Leffman calls attention 

 to these as having the merits of cheapness, of not producing color in 

 the amount needed, of having no odor or appreciable taste when 

 added to the material to be preserved. Each substance has its prefer- 

 able applications. 



The common prejudice seems to be against all new antiseptics as 

 being not only unwholesome but poisonous, but we are inclined to 

 the belief that tliis is an exhibition of conservatism which may im- 

 pede progress — a spirit that assumes all the preservatives of ancient 

 origin to be safe and all of modern origin to be unsafe. 



It cannot be said, says Doctor Leffman, that the prejudice existing 

 against some of the new preservative agents is founded upon a scien- 

 tific basis. The experimental data are not extensive, and are some- 

 what one-sided; the investigations have been made with the modern, 

 or, as they have sometimes been called, chemical preservatives. If we 

 accept freely the published results, we can say, I think, merely that 

 a limited amount of disturbance of function may be attributed to 

 most of the modern antiseptics. 



The question, in my opinion, cannot be considered -as placed on a 

 scientific basis until all forms of preserved foods have been studied 

 carefully in comparison. It is probable that all forms of preserved 

 foods are less wholesome than fresh. Even the cooking of proteid 

 foods diminishes their digestibility. Drying, salting, smoking and 

 pickling have probably still more unfavorable effects. Experiences 

 among those who make long journeys away from the comforts of civ- 

 ilization, who must rely on food preserved in any manner, show 

 amply that fresh materials have some special nutritive quality that is 

 not long retained. This fact is abundantly exemplified in the history 

 of navigation and in recent experience of Alaskan pioneers. 



Doctor Eccles (Am. Jour. Phar.) says: "Every intelligent man is 

 an advocate of pure-food laws and of their enforcement; however, all do 

 not agree as to what constitutes pure foods. There is an idea among 

 people generally that food preservatives are as a rule deleterious to 

 health ; this prejudice is to be accounted for because it has been so 

 widely proclaimed that any form of preservative added to food 

 ' products is a poison. This, as every scientific man knows, is a false 

 ■position to take. We see around us every day the evil effects of foods 

 that do not contain preservatives. It is true preservatives may be 

 somewhat harmful, but not to the same extent as decayed foods. 

 Salicylic, benzoic and boric acids have been used for over twenty 

 years, yet there cannot be found a single recorded case of any one 



