AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 579 



urged the importance of the subject in its bearing upon public health. He 

 would advocate the adoption of labels, specifying the article and naming 

 the manufacturer, so that every man should be responsible for what he sold ; 

 the use of such labels to be compulsory by law. 



Professor Hedrick considered it of little importance to go over the 

 explanation of thS process of fermentation, as the general explanation was 

 known to all present, and the minutiae upon which excellence in any manu- 

 facture depended could not be hoped for from persons having this general 

 knowledge. It required the minute knowledge of experts. He, though 

 understanding the theory, could not produce good wine. 



Dr. Grould then read a paper on injurious articles of food. He said it 

 is now over thirty years since I was involuntarily pressed into the ranks 

 of the dyspeptic army. For the last six years, in particular, I have been 

 very attentive to the laws of alimentation, and in this I have been guided 

 more by the demonstrations of the human stomach than by the results of 

 the chemical laboratory. If food is deleterious, either from adulterations 

 or from unfitness otherwise, it is equally necessary that it should be attended 

 to in one case as in the other. The greatest bane with which we have to 

 contend is deleterious food, made so on its passage from the field to the 

 stomach. Wheat, one of the most healthy cereals we have, has its cover- 

 ing carefully removed before being eaten, though indispensably necessary 

 for the purpose of aiding the stomach in the digestion of the other portions 

 of the berry. The use of common salt has reached an extraordinary and 

 injurious extent, and as a condiment it is especially hurtful when it is used 

 so inordinately as at present. 



Dr. Young thought that Dr. Gould was mistaken in regard to the fact 

 of the use of salt. He believed that the use of salt was not generally 

 hurtful. 



The President stated that Dr. Livingston had found tribes in Africa who 

 did not use salt, who in consequence were remarkably sluggish and imbecile. 



Professor Reuben. — Salt is an important subject to discuss. There are 

 in our blood 8 parts in 1,000 of mineral matter, and half of that is salt; 

 the other half being made up of lime, potash, iron, &c. This salt must be 

 supplied to the system, or it will not be developed healthfully. When, 

 therefore, it is deficient in the soil from which our food is raised, it must 

 be supplied artificially. There is a strong analogy between the want of 

 salt and the want of other elements in the soil. Ifi Massachusetts there is 

 not enough phosphorus in the soil, consequently cattle become feeble, get 

 the rickets, until the farmers supply them with bone earth, or ground 

 bones, which they lick up greedily, and these supply the requisite phos- 

 phorus, to enable the bones to form perfectly and strong. It is remarkable 

 that men who use salt are more active than those who do not. 



Since the subject of sand in sugar has been broached on a former occa- 

 eion, I may remark that a professor in New England has found sand in 

 maple sugar, apparently a precipitate of lime, like cream of tartar from 

 grape sugar. This may account for some, but not for all. 



