768 INFLUENCE OF FOOD PRESERVATIVES ON HEALTH. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTRATION. 



The organization of the work in general was practically identical 

 with that of the previous investigations. A slight variation in the 

 administration of the preservative was introduced by the fact that it 

 was deemed important that the investigation should include sulphur- 

 ous acid in a gaseous state as well as in combination as sulphites. 

 The most convenient method for the administration of the gaseous 

 sulphurous acid was found to be by the preparation of an aqueous 

 solution of the acid of standard strength taken, after dilution with 

 water, as an ordinary drink. Water proved to be a more convenient 

 vehicle than milk or other beverages for this purpose. 



In the form of sulphites the method of achninistration in capsules 

 was practiced. This method, as in the previous investigations, was 

 found not only to be the most convenient, but also, all things con- 

 sidered, the most desirable form in which to administer a substance 

 of this kind. 



Attention has been called in the previous reports to the distaste 

 which the subject would acquire for a food product in which he knew 

 the preservative had been mixed, and therefore less disturbance of 

 the mental equilibrum was caused by the administration of the capsule, 

 the envelope of which is itself a food product and would be soon dis- 

 solved in the acid digestive juices of the stomach. Moreover, in the 

 solution of this capsule the whole of the preservative is not discharged 

 at once into the contents of the stomach, but the capsule dissolving 

 at different points presents gradually increasing surfaces at which solu- 

 tion of its contents may take place, and this, in connection with the 

 peristaltic action of the stomach, results in a complete incorporation 

 of the preservative with the food in the stomach in a reasonable 

 period of time. Thus, in substances which do not possess any active 

 escharotic action, no possible damage can be done to the walls of the 

 stomach by this method of administration. The objections which 

 have been made to this form of administration are undoubtedly of 

 a merely captions character, for the purpose, if possible, of prejudicing 

 the public against the conclusions reached. Inasmuch as the cap- 

 sule is a common method of administering solid remedies at the 

 present time the practice of the medical profession approves unani- 

 mously this method of exhibition. 



It will be observed that in all the discussions which follow summa- 

 ries are prepared for Nos. 1 to 6 and 7 to 12, the individuals being 

 grouped in accordance with the nature of the preservative admin- 

 istered, i. e., Nos. 1 to 6 receiving sodium sulphite, and Nos. 7 to 12 

 sulphurous acid. Additional summaries are given for Nos. 1 to 4, 5 

 and 6, and 8 to 11, these subgroups being arranged according to 

 common -variations in administration of the preservative. 



a Bui. 84, Part I, p. 11; Part II, p. 479. 



