MALT LIQUORS. 301 



to prevent over- fermentation, from a grain to 3 grains to the pint in quantity. The 

 French authorities, as I have said, believe that the use of salicylic and boric acids 

 tends to irritate delicate digestive organs, and to also irritate the kidneys, through 

 which they are eliminated under their own forms. Though I have talked with a 

 number of scientific gentlemen in this country, few are willing to go into court and 

 swear that this is also their opinion. It must not be lost sight of, however, that a 

 person might at a meal take several articles of diet, each containing that which if 

 taken alone would be a harmless dose, but taken together, and possibly for a consid- 

 erable time, would prove highly injurious. The only safe way is to discard all addi- 

 ditions to food which may possibly become a source of damage. 



The following is of interest as establishing a precedent for the con- 

 demnation of articles containing salicylic acid: 1 - 



Dr. Cyrus Edson, of the Board of Health, condemned and seized on November 11, 

 5,280 gallons of artificial wine in the possession of a Front street merchant. Dr. 

 Edson reported the following as the process of manufacturing the stuff: "Dried 

 fruits, such as raisins, currants, and peaches, are macerated with water, to which a 

 certain amount of sugar is added. The mixture is then feimeuted, and when fer- 

 mentation is considered sufficiently advanced it is checked by the addition of salicylic 

 acid, sufficient being added to act as a preservative and prevent further fermenta- 

 tion. The so-called wine is then clarified, flavored, and colored to cause it to resem- 

 ble port, claret, or any desired kind of wine. The object of the sophistication is to 

 imitate and undersell natural native wines. The use of salicylic acid as a preserva- 

 tive is forbidden in France, as the French authorities consider it detrimental to 

 health." I have consulted a number of noted chemists in this city as to their opinion 

 concerning its use and nearly all unhesitatingly condemn it, holding that depressing 

 effects in the nervous system would follow the daily use of the acid in small doses. 

 It is my opinion and the opinion of Drs. J. B. Ishain and J. B. Linehan, whom I have 

 called on to assist in condemning and seizing the so-called wine, that the adultera- 

 tion is a dangerous one and likely to cause sickness. The amount of acid used is 

 about four and a half grains to the pint." 



Kecent information in regard to the status of the question in France, 

 together with a very strong argument in favor of prohibiting entirely 

 the use of this preserving agent, may be found in the following recom- 

 mendation by Dr. Bartley : 2 



Dr. Bartley, the chief chemist of the Brooklyn Board of Health, has sent a com- 

 munication to Health Commissioner Otterson, of that city, on the subject of poison- 

 ous beer adulterations, and strongly recommending that the Board take action against' 

 it. Dr. Bartley says: "During the year 1835 I had the honor to call the atten- 

 tion of the Department to certain abuses in the manufacture of lager beer, so called, 

 in the course of which 1 said that ' the most important adulterations discovered, from 

 a sanitary point of view, were yeast and sodium bicarbonate.' Since that time I 

 have from time to time inspected the breweries of the city. As this beverage has 

 become so largely used by families, it is now kept in bottles by many grocers. All 

 brewers are compelled to manufacture an article for the use of bottlers. This is pre. 

 pared with more care, in most cases, on account of the longer time it is to be kept 

 before using. Unless it bo thoroughly cured and well cleared the beer will often 

 spoil before it is consumed, by a process of fermentation or putrefaction. To avoid 

 the necessary care in the manufacture and the keeping of the beer for a longer time, 

 it has become a practice among brewers to add salicylic acid to prevent this fermen- 



- American Analyst 18SG, p. 410. - American Analyst 1887, April 1. 



