29 



As u fraud 11 Icn I ;i< In lit- rat ion corn stands in t h<- saiiu; line with t hr adult era t ion of 

 beer as low wines stand in the adulteration of cider vinegar, and when used to ex- 

 cess is more injurious to the system than auy other kind of beer. 



WINE. 



The assistant food commissioner for Ohio says (page 29): 



The grape-growers of Ottawa county have had their industry ruined by the man- 

 ufacture of bogus wiue out of foreign substances, so that the demand for grapes for 

 this purpose no longer exists to auy great extent. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



The committee on adulterations, poisons, etc., of the Pennsylvania 

 legislature, speaking through their chairman, Dr. Pemberton Dudley 

 (see page 90, report of the Board of Health of Pennsylvania), says : 



There can be no question, however, that the department of sanitary labor assigned 

 to this committee is one of the most important that engages the attention of sani- 

 tary authorities. The adulterations of food and drugs are so numerous, so common, 

 so universal, wo might almost say, and at the same time so prejudicial to the health 

 of our people, that constant watchfulness and omnipresent oversight alone can re- 

 press and prevent them. 



Wherever competition prevails there wo find the temptation to lower the standard 

 of purity and strength of our food-stuffs and our medicinal preparations, and with the 

 exception of the few that are protected by patents, this competition extends to all. 



Dr. L. Wolff, in an article on u Our Drugs and Medicines" (Pennsyl- 

 vania Board of Health report, page 338). says: 



The use of pure drugs and medicines, properly compounded and administered, con- 

 stitutes a most important feature for the preservation of health and the prevention of 

 avoidable death. In all civilized countries, it has been made the duty of the state to 

 control and supervise this through competent officials and special laws. The harm 

 arising from inert or impure drugs consists not only in defeating the cud and object 

 they are intended for, by admitting of the unchecked progress of the disease and the 

 fatal consequences thereof, but also in their improper and poisonous admixtures, 

 which make them destructive to life and health. Many of them possess powerful 

 and toxic action, and consequently, when compounded and administered in improper 

 quantities and doses, give rise to most disastrous results. 



And again: 



That there are annually a number of valuable lives sacrificed from this cause is as 

 little to bo doubted as that all the cases of suffering, illness, and death therefrom are 

 certainly avoidable by proper knowledge, forethought, precaution, and legal super- 

 vision. 



CHROME YELLOW POISONING. 



In a pamphlet issued by the State Board of Health of Pennsylvania, 

 in 1887, entitled a Clinical Analysis of sixty-four cases of poisoning by 

 Lead Chromate (Chrome Yellow), used as a cake-dye and prepared by 

 Dr. D. D. Stewart of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, we 

 find the following conclusion: 



Then- is now no question, from recent developments, that the poisoning has been 

 going on unsuspected in various sections of the city for years. Since my attention has 

 been directed to the matter I have been surprised, in looking over the mortuary records 

 of: the past few months, to see the largo number of deaths returned as convulsions, 



