FOOD CONTROLLER 



Food Controller. Name given 

 in Great Britain to the official 

 responsible for carrying out the 

 Government's scheme to exercise 

 control over the food supplies. The 

 post was created by the exigencies 

 of the Great War, and something 

 of the kind existed in Germany and 

 other countries besides Great 

 Britain. From Dec., 1916, to 

 June, 1917, Viscount Devonport 

 was the controller. He was suc- 

 ceeded by Lord Rhondda, who 

 occupied the position until his 

 death in July, 1918, when J. R. 

 Clynes (q.v.) was appointed. He 

 held it until Nov., 1918, and was 

 succeeded by G. H. Roberts, who 

 was, in turn, succeeded by C. A. 

 McCurdy, March, 1920. His depart- 

 ment was known as the ministry 

 of food, which was wound up in 

 March, 1921. 



Food Preservation. Food that 

 is preserved in some manner or 

 another enters very largely into 

 the dietary of modern civilized 

 communities. Doubtless for ages 

 past there have been methods on a 

 small scale of preserving food, used 

 chiefly by those who produced it 

 in order to tide them over the 

 winter seasons. 



Modern bacteriological know- 

 ledge has revealed the meaning of 

 putrefaction and decomposition, 

 and the secrets of the life histories 

 of the organisms upon which these 

 processes depend. By taking steps 

 to prevent those conditions being 

 present, the organisms themselves 

 cannot live. For example, if a 

 fresh potato be sliced and the 

 slices left open in an ordinary at- 

 mosphere, in a day or two the 

 surface of these slices will become 

 mouldy from the growth of an 

 organism, and the potato as a food- 

 stuff will be rapidly spoiled. This 

 mouldiness is the growth of a 

 living organism, which for its 

 success in life depends upon the 

 presence of moisture and a favour- 

 able temperature. If, then, the 

 sliced potato is treated in such a 

 way that all the moisture or water 

 is driven out of it, and it is then 

 packed in a tin hermetically sealed 

 so that no moisture or organism 

 can gain access to it, there is no 

 apparent reason why that potato 

 should not keep indefinitely. 



As a matter of fact that actual 

 process is carried out, and sliced 

 dried potatoes prepared in Great 

 Britain have been sent to British 

 troops all over the world, to be eaten, 

 after having been resoaked, as still 

 fresh potatoes. In the same way a 

 very large quantity of fish is pre- 

 served by drying. The fish are 

 cleaned, the heads removed, they 

 are exposed either to the sun or 

 to artificial heat, packed so that 



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they are kept dry, and sent 

 thousands of miles, perhaps, before 

 they are consumed. Organisms of 

 decay cannot flourish in low tem- 

 peratures. If a sheep, therefore, 

 be killed in New Zealand and sub- 

 jected to a process of freezing while 

 still fresh, it can be sent all over 

 the world in that fresh condition 

 so long as it is kept cold enough. 

 Borax and Boracic Acid 



There are various substances 

 which can be added to foodstuffs 

 without injuring their nutritive 

 properties, to preserve them from 

 decay. Salt or saltpetre enter into 

 many forms of pickling solutions. 

 But by far the most important of 

 the chemicals used in this way is 

 boracic acid, or borax, which ful- 

 fils the requirements of a food 

 preservative, in that while it 

 possesses distinct antiseptic pro- 

 perties it can be consumed by 

 human beings in small quantities 

 without harm. A half p.c. solution 

 of boracic acid is as effective from 

 a preserving point of view as a 

 4 p.c. solution of common salt. 

 Furthermore, it does not un- 

 pleasantly affect the taste of the 

 food to which it is added, nor has 

 it any smell or other objectionable 

 character. Precisely how much 

 per cent, of borax should be used 

 in this way is a question for ex- 

 perts ; but of its general value as 

 a food preservative there can be 

 no question. It has been used for 

 preserving fresh milk which has 

 to be transported a long distance 

 before delivery, but this applica- 

 tion is largely being superseded by 

 the process of cooling. Fresh un- 

 salted butter can likewise be 

 treated with borax. 



The whole question of food pre- 

 servatives was carefully investi- 

 gated by a parliamentary com- 

 mittee, whose report was issued in 

 1901. This committee recom- 

 mended that formalin should be 

 absolutely prohibited as a preser- 

 vative of food or drinks, and that 

 the only preservative which should 

 be lawful for use in cream, butter, 

 or margarine should be boracic acid 

 or mixtures of that with borax. 

 They recommended that the use of 

 copper salts should be prohibited, 

 and that no chemicals should be 

 added to any dietetic preparation 

 intended for infants or invalids. 

 See Canning ; Refrigeration. 



Fool ( Lat. foil is, wind-bag). Re- 

 tainer kept in the medieval period, 

 and up to the 17th century, by 

 kings and nobles for their enter- 

 tainment. He was licensed in the 

 exercise of his antic buffoonery, his 

 fooling and the shrewdness of his 

 tongue, and is scarcely to be differ- 

 entiated from the jester. Shake- 

 speare's Touchstone (q.v.) is the 



FOOLSCAP 



typical fool. The fool wore a special 

 parti-coloured dress, and a cap 

 shaped like a cock's comb with ass's 



Fool. The court fool of ancient times 

 attired in bis motley 



After A. Lanibron 



ears, and carried a mock sceptre 

 with a fool's head carved on it, and 

 a bladder at the end of a string. 



Fools, FEAST OF. Medieval bur- 

 lesque religious festival. A survival 

 of the Roman Saturnalia (q.v.), 

 it was originally celebrated on the 

 first day of the year. The Church, 

 although originally opposed to it, 

 eventually allotted special days for 

 its observance. The chief charac- 

 teristic was at first the inversion 

 of rank. A boy or young man, 

 known by such names as the 

 boy bishop (q.v.) or the abbot of 

 unreason (q.v.), was chosen to 

 conduct the ritual ; but the cere- 

 monies quickly degenerated into 

 buffoonery. 



The ass, representing Balaam's 

 ass, the ass which stood by the 

 manger, that on which the Virgin 

 and Child fled to Egypt, or that on 

 which Christ rode into Jerusalem, 

 often played a part. In some places 

 there was a special Feast of the 

 Ass, e.g. at Beauvais, where the 

 flight into Egypt was represented 

 by a girl carrying a baby or doll 

 and mounted on an ass, and the 

 priest dismissed the congregation 

 by braying three times, the people 

 responding in the same fashion. 

 The Feast of Fools survived until 

 the Reformation, and as late as 

 1644 at Antibes in France. 

 ^ Foolscap. Properly, the cap 

 worn by fools and jesters, usually 

 conical in shape with bells fastened 

 to it. It is also the common 

 name for a sheet of paper, strictly 

 17 ins. by 13 ins., but frequently 

 smaller. This is so called because 

 it had formerly a fool's cap and 

 bells for its watermark. 



