PREFATORY NOTE. 



On the appointment of Mr. A. J. Wedderburn as special agent of the 

 Department, a circular approved by the Assistant Secretary of Agri- 

 culture was sent to about 9,000 druggists and to all the officers and 

 members of State pharmaceutical and dairy associations whose 

 addresses could be obtained. The text of this circular was as follows: 



Please furnish me with any information that you may have in relation to the use 

 of pepsin or black pepsin in (so-called) butter-making. I should be glad to learn 

 also anything in relation to any other butter and cheese adulterants and to obtain 

 any reliable data concerning the adulteration of children's foods, dairy and phar- 

 maceutical preparations. I inclose franked envelope for reply. 



Please furnish me the names and addresses which you may know of any State or 

 municipal officials charged with executing the laws relating to the adulteration of 

 foods and drugs, also the names of officers or members of the pharmaceutical asso- 

 ciations and dairy organizations in your State, and oblige. 



Many replies were received to this circular. Mr. Wedderburn during 

 his service as special agent classified and abstracted the greater number 

 of them, but the material was not entirely put in shape for publication. 

 By instructions of the Secretary of Agriculture I have endeavored to 

 complete this work and prepare the material for transmittal. The 

 details of the work and the use to be made of the material collected 

 were left entirely to the judgment of the special agent. 



All the information in regard to the use of black pepsin has been 

 omitted for the reason that the subject is fully discussed in Farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 12. 



The Chief of the Division of Chemistry does not hold himself in any 

 way responsible for the opinions of the correspondents quoted in the 

 selections made for publication, nor for all the conclusions arrived at 

 by the compiler. In fact, there are many cases in which these opin- 

 ions are without doubt erroneous, as where one correspondent describes 

 flour as largely adulterated with " earth from the South," and another 

 asserts that the sugars of commerce are also adulterated, and where a 

 third affirms that artificial eggs are manufactured. 



The information which is here presented illustrates the attitude of 

 the public mind to the problem of adulteration. It is hardly necessary 



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