There is a well-developed tendency during the administration of the 

 salicylic acid to increase the store of phosphoric acid in the body, 

 since the amount absorbed from the alimentary canal is slightly 

 increased and the quantity excreted by the kidneys is decreased. 

 It is evident, therefore, that there is a storihg of phosphatic material in 

 the tissues due to the effect of salicylic acid. It is doubtful if such 

 an increased store would prove of any lasting benefit in its effects, 

 nor would it be just to claim that it would be injurious. The most 

 that can be said in this case is that there is a decided disturbance of 

 phosphoric acid metabolism in the direction of increasing the stores 

 of phosphorus in the body, while in the case of nitrogen there is no 

 marked effect produced on the metabolic process. 



THE USE OF SMALL QUANTITIES OF THE PRESERVATIVE. 



The arguments which have been advanced in excuse of the use of 

 preservatives when used in minute quantities have perhaps been 

 more vigorously urged for salicylic acid than for almost any other 

 substance. Since the publication of Part I of Bulletin 84 this argu- 

 ment has been urged with such vigor and such ingenuity that a 

 further reference may not be out of place in these general conclu- 

 sions. The principle which is laid down is that a substance which 

 is injurious to health when added to foods, if not a natural constit- 

 uent thereof, or if not added for condimental purposes, does not 

 lose its power of injury to health because it is diluted or given in 

 small quantities. The only change which is made is to mask the 

 injurious effects produced to make them more difficult of ascer- 

 tainment and impossible of measurement. This subject was fully 

 discust in the hearings before the House Committee on Interstate 

 and Foreign Commerce in February, 1906. The fallacy of the argu- 

 ment that small quantities of an injurious substance are not injurious 

 may perhaps be best represented graphically. The chart which 

 accompanies this discussion shows theoretically the normal and 

 lethal dose of a food and a drug or, as in this case, a chemical pre- 

 servative. 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 in the chart on the right by the 

 number 100. If the quantity of food necessary to maintain the 

 equilibrium in a healthy adult body is slightly diminished, no appar- 

 ent change is at first experienced and possibly even no discomfort. 

 If, however, the quantity of food be still further diminished pro- 

 gressively, 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 on the left hand of the diagram designated 

 " Lethal dose." As the curve begins to deviate from the perpen- 



