eluded in the original scheme which was prepared before the work 

 reported in Part I was begun. 



The same principles which guided the organization of the work as 

 described in Part I were followed in the present instance. Upon the 

 selection of the members of the hygienic table each man was subjected 

 to a thorough medical examination of the character already described. 

 No one was admitted to the table who was suffering from any organic 

 disease, who manifested any tendency to hereditary disease, or who 

 had been seriously ill within the year previous to the beginning of the 

 experimental work. 



The delay which has attended the presentation of this report for 

 publication has been due to several causes. First, the great burden of 

 collating the data, condensing the analytical tables, and checking the 

 data for accuracy, required, as is usual in such cases, a large amount of 

 time and expert labor. There were also a number of points brought 

 out in the investigations which required further study of the question, 

 both experimentally and in consulting authorities thereon. 



Another reason for the delay consisted in the fact that various rep- 

 resentations were making on the part of manufacturers and others re- 

 specting the effect upon the industries using benzoic acid should the 

 conclusions reached in this report receive executive and judicial confir- 

 mation. It was thought advisable, therefore, to give ample time to the 

 industries involved to experiment with methods of manufacture look- 

 ing to the elimination of objectionable preservatives. Investigations 

 were also undertaken by this Bureau in collaboration with the manu- 

 facturing interests along the same line. Results of these investiga- 

 tions have shown that there is not a single article of food which has 

 been commonly preserved by means of benzoic acid or benzoate of 

 soda which can not be preserved and offered to the consumer in per- 

 fect condition without the aid of any chemical preservative. This 

 fact has been completely demonstrated in the case of cider and grape 

 juice, mince-meat, jelly, jams, catsups, preserves, and other articles 

 of the same character, and there seems, therefore, to be no longer any 

 industrial reason for delaying publication even if the former necessity 

 for such delay be admitted. 



It is believed that the distribution of the results of this investiga- 

 tion at the present time will neither work hardship to any manu- 

 facturing interest nor interfere in any way with any legitimate busi- 

 ness. At the same time it will indicate to the manufacturer, as well 

 as to the consumer, the important truth that the use of benzoic acid 

 or benzoate of soda as a preserving medium is not without danger, 

 that its effects are always injurious or tend to injury, and that its 

 exclusion from food products is desirable not only in order to con- 

 form to the food, and drugs act but also for hygienic reasons. 



[Cir. 39] 



