EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE PRESERVATIVE. 

 SCHEDULE OF ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESERVATIVE. 



As has already been mentioned, different methods of administering 

 the preservative were tried. At first it was thought advisable to 

 administer the preservative in the food without indicating to the mem- 

 bers of the table the particular article of food which contained it. 

 Both borax and boric acid having but little taste, considerable quanti- 

 ties thereof could be added to certain articles of food, imparting to 

 them neither marked taste nor odor. The boric acid was, therefore, 

 first administered in the butter, for two reasons first, because it is 

 very often used as a preservative of butter, and, second, because in the 

 finely powdered state it could be intimately mixed with the butter in 

 such a way as not to disclose its presence by any visible signs. 



The preservative was administered in butter during both the first 

 and second series. It was not long, however, until the members of 

 the table discovered that the butter contained the preservative, and 

 though there was no decided effect upon the taste, a dislike of the but- 

 ter was developed. During the third series the boric acid was dissolved 

 in the milk, but before this series was finished the subjects discovered 

 the fact, and a tendency to use less milk was observed. During the 

 fourth series different methods of administration were practiced: Dur- 

 ing one day it was given in the meat, but this proved to be exceed- 

 ingly unsatisfactory. The next day it was given in capsules. It was 

 then given for a short period in the coffee, with results similar to 

 those which attended its administration in the butter and the milk. 

 Finally the use of capsules for holding the preservative was adopted 

 as being the most satisfactory way. There is, of course, objection to 

 this method, since it does not distribute the preservative throughout 

 the food, as would be the case when used for actual preserving pur- 

 poses. The validity of this objection, however, is more apparent than 

 real, since, when properly given in capsules, the containing coats of 

 which are quickly dissolved, the substance, by reason of the motion of 

 the stomach during digestion, is quickly distributed throughout the 

 mass of the food. 



In order to determine whether the capsules in which the preservative 

 was administered delayed the absorption of the preservative, 10 cap- 

 sules containing boric acid were placed in an artificial pepsin solution, 

 made by dissolving 0.1 gram of granulated pepsin in 100 cc of 0.33 

 per cent hydrochloric acid. The solution was heated to a temperature 

 32 



