CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PAPERS. . 55 



lies as a preservative, says : "It would no doubt surprise many that an 

 ordinary wintergreen lozenge contains as much salicylic acid (com- 

 bined as methyl salicylate) as the average tumbler of jelly which has 

 been preserved with this substance, but such is certainly the case, as 

 any one who desires may verify for himself." 



In this paper we have but briefly touched upon this very impor- 

 tant question. The preservation of foods is now in many countries a 

 gigantic industry; even the manufacture has reached such dimensions 

 as to be too great for any one person to review. Our civilization has 

 reached the point where it is absolutely necessary to protect the pub- 

 lic against the harmful effects of decayed foods, and many things 

 point to the great importance of the trade in preserved foods; hence, 

 the importance of the study by the unprejudiced scientists of the ex- 

 act value. What we are demonstrating as food preservatives have 

 also a much wider and possibly more important application, viz,, in 

 the preservation of certain remedial agents ; for example, in the anti- 

 toxic serums. In the anti-diphtheritic serums, a serum separated from 

 the coagulated blood of a horse immunized through the inoculation 

 of diphtheritic toxin must be preserved. The common preservative 

 for the liquid is tricresol, which is a mixture of meta-, joara- and ortho- 

 cresol. Here we have a liquid which is injected hypodermically ; 

 fatal results would occur, perhaps, if this liquid were not preserved 

 by antiseptic. The antiseptic employed is one which the food com- 

 missioners would say was dangerous, but in the quantities required 

 it becomes entirely innocent, and a great protection to humanity. 



We believe that all preservatives from a certain point of view must 

 be more or less harmful. We are not prepared to believe that foods 

 in general can be preserved without them. If there should be such 

 a necessity, then the investigation concerning the relative toxicity of 

 these preservatives is of far greater importance to the public than the 

 unwarranted crusade against the use of them or the unqualified con- 

 demnation of them all. If it be found in any given case that a food 

 preservative is necessary for a stored food, then the quantity and kind 

 of preservative employed should be plainly stated on the package 

 containing said preserved food. 



