4:06 THE KEEPING OF MILK. 



phosphorus and fat assimilation, and in a delicate child it had 

 a chemically measurable deleterious effect on general assimilation 

 combined with a slight intestinal irritant action. 



Wiley was obliged to stop his experiments with formaldehyde 

 on account of the alarming symptoms produced. 



Rideal and Foulerton, Bliss and Novy, Pottevin, Halliburton, 

 Freudenreich, Mayberry and Goldsmith, Loew, Wiegle and 

 Merkel, and Cassal have experimented on the action of formalde- 

 hyde on artificial digestions, and all find some retardation of the 

 time of digestion. 



0. and C. W. Hehner have found that small amounts of 

 fluorides have a very considerable effect in retarding artificial 

 digestions. 



To sum up, it seems that while healthy adults can take small 

 doses of the preservatives usually employed in milk, there is 

 evidence that young children are not unaffected. The practice 

 must, therefore, be considered undesirable. The author's ex- 

 perience has shown that in London, the use of preservatives in 

 milk is entirely unnecessary ; no difficulty has been found, even 

 in summer, in delivering milk to customers in a fresh condition. 

 Cream and butter are on a slightly different footing from milk. 

 While the last is consumed chiefly for its food value, cream and 

 butter are taken chiefly to improve the taste of other foods, and 

 are consumed in comparatively small quantities ; being, more- 

 over, high in price, they may be considered as luxuries, and are 

 expected to keep for a longer time than is naturally possible. 

 It is readily seen that, under these circumstances, there is far 

 more to be said in favour of the use of preservatives in cream 

 and butter, than can be said when they are added to milk. 



Advantages. The advantages of using preservatives to the 

 vendor are obvious ; they enable a perishable article to be 

 maintained in a marketable condition for a longer time than it 

 would otherwise remain so. As change from the action of 

 micro-organisms is not entirely stopped, the advantage to 

 the purchaser is by no means so apparent, and there appears 

 to be a well-founded public opinion against the use of pre- 

 servatives. 



A Departmental Committee of the Local Government Board, 

 appointed to consider the question of preservatives and colouring- 

 matters in food, reported in 1901, and made the following recom- 

 mendations : 



(a) That the use of formaldehyde or formalin, or preparations 

 thereof, in foods or drinks be absolutely prohibited, and that 

 salicylic acid be not used in a greater proportion than 1 grain 

 per pint in liquid food, or 1 grain per pound in solid food. 

 Its presence in all cases to be declared. 



