ADULTERATION OF FOOD. 



AFGHANISTAN. 



Fresh and Condensed Milk," by Charles E. 

 Munsell, Ph. D., says that the daily consump- 

 tion of milk in the metropolis, in summer, is 

 500,000 quarts, which retails at from six to ten 

 cents, representing about $35,000 a day, or over 

 $12,000,000 a year. Formerly one fourth water 

 would be added to this supply, so that the 

 money-saving to the public from official regula- 

 tion can thus be estimated. 



As a result of the strict surveillance of the 

 health authorities, it is rare for the inspectors 

 to find sophisticated milk in retail stores. The 

 public, also, are becoming alive to the quality 

 of the supply, and will not be content with 

 poor milk. No fewer than fifty small dealers 

 now sell pure milk'at but little above cost (five 

 cents a quart in summer, as an advertisement), 

 and it is believed that many others will do so, 

 which will prove a great boon to the children 

 of the poor in the hot weather. 



Meat-inspection in markets is provided for 

 in most large cities ; but there is not sufficient 

 surveillance of slaughter-houses and examina- 

 tion of cattle before or immediately after kill- 

 ing to prevent the sale of impure and diseased 

 meat. 



Adulteration of food has only recently be- 

 come a subject of popular interest and legal 

 action in the United States, though it has been 

 discussed and legislated upon in other coun- 

 tries for a long time. In most European coun- 

 tries, laws have long existed to control the 

 manufacture and sale of food. In England, 

 laws to prevent adulteration were passed in 

 1860 and 1872. The statute now in force was 

 enacted in 1875, and modified in 1879. The 

 laws in force in the United States were based 

 upon these recent English enactments. In 

 Great Britain, public analysts appointed by 

 local authorities are required to examine a cer- 

 tain number of samples each year, for a stated 

 sum. If these are found to be adulterated, 

 complaint is made to a magistrate, and the 

 offender is prosecuted. The appointment of an 

 analyst is obligatory on the local authorities, 

 but while such appointments are usually made, 

 in many instances no work is allotted, owing 

 to lack of sympathy with the work or to the 

 penuriousness of the authorities. The results 

 obtained, therefore, are not wholly satisfactory. 

 Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and 

 other of the older States have long had laws 

 relating to the adulteration of food, and pro- 

 hibiting the sale of unwholesome meats and 

 provisions, while nearly every State places re- 

 strictions upon the weight and other commer- 

 cial qualities of flour, bacon, lard, salt, etc. In 

 1879 a prize of $1,000 was offered by the Na- 

 tional Board of Trade for the best essay on 

 food-adulteration, and for the best form of a 

 law prohibiting the same. Such a law was 

 drafted, and finally adopted by the Legisla- 

 tures of New Jersey, New York, and Massa- 

 chusetts, in 1881-'82. A modification of the 

 same law, adapted to the Territories and other 

 sections of the country under the charge of 



the General Government, was submitted to 

 Congress' in 1883-'84, but failed to pass. An 

 act prohibiting the importation of damaged 

 and adulterated tea was adopted, and has been 

 successfully enforced. The State laws just 

 referred to define what is meant by adultera- 

 tion in the case of food or drugs, give State 

 boards of health power to exempt certain ar- 

 ticles that are recognized as not injuriqus to 

 health, and authorize them to appoint analysts 

 and inspectors. The time has been too short 

 to test fairly the operation of these acts, and 

 from insufficiency of funds they have not ac- 

 complished all the results that might have been 

 expected. Only a few prosecutions have taken 

 place under them, and their validity has not 

 yet been tested before the higher courts. The 

 best authorities seem to agree that adulteration 

 should be treated chiefly from the commercial, 

 rather than from the sanitary stand-point,, and 

 that so far as possible the elaborate machinery, 

 inevitable delay, and cost incident upon a large 

 corps of inspectors and analysts, should be 

 saved. Dr. E. R. Squibb, a high authority on 

 the subject, remarks that the chief aim of all 

 legislation in this direction should be to deter 

 persons from attempting the practice of adul- 

 teration, rather than to punish them after com- 

 mitting the act. "The motive power of all 

 adulteration is pecuniary profit or gain, and 

 not to endanger or damage health at all. That 

 adulterations do endanger health, is a mere ac- 

 cident. ... If the penalty be sufficient and 

 sufficiently sure to make the risk of punish- 

 ment greater than the profit will warrant, the 

 design to adulterate will be abandoned, and 

 the law will have its natural and wholesome 

 success." Simple exposure through the press 

 of persons guilty of adulteration is the most 

 potent means to this end, as has been found 

 in Canada, where greater success has been 

 achieved in checking adulteration than any- 

 where else. 



In Germany a bill for the prevention of 

 adulteration, based on the English enactments, 

 has been passed. A humorous story current 

 in that country illustrates the extent of adul- 

 teration there. It is to the effect that three 

 flies feasted, the first on flour, the second on 

 sugar, and the third on fly- poison ; and the 

 last was the only one that survived! 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central Asia, 

 occupying a mountainous country between the 

 Oxus and Indus valleys. It is the only remain- 

 ing territory separating the Russian possessions 

 in Asia from the Indian Empire. The ruler is 

 Abdurrahman Khan, Ameer of Afghanistan, 

 whose residence is at Cabul. He was placed 

 on the throne nnder the protection of the 

 British Government, after the conquest of the 

 country in the Anglo- Afghan war of 1878-'79, 

 and the abdication of his predecessor, Yakub 

 Khan. The extent and population of Afghan- 

 istan can not be determined even by estimates, 

 as there are no fixed boundaries, and many of 

 the outlying tribes, which have at some time 



