tar, 40 per cent. ; baking-powder, 44 percent.; l>nl ter, 40 per cent. ; bread and pas- 

 try, 15 per cent.; milk, 40 per cent.; lower-grade sugar, 20 percent.: lard, 70 per 

 cent. ; tea, 40 per cent. ; ground coir<-e, 49 per cent. ; cider vinegar, 80 per cent. ; ice 

 cream, 55 per cent. ; chocolate, 38 per cent. ; honey, 24 per cent. ; wine, 40 per cent. , 

 beer, 45 per cent. ; spirituous liquors, 33 per cent. 



Boracic and salicylic acids. The use of these acids as " preserva- 

 tive" of liquors and food products urgently demand attention of our 

 legislators, as they have already secured that in France and Germany, 

 where their use has been absolutely prohibited, except and I desire to 

 emphasize the exception on export goods. 



Dr. Abbott, of the Massachusetts Board of Health, says: 



While they (these ingredients) are not named as active poisons by authorities on 

 toxicology, there can bo but little doubt that their use in considerable quantities, or 

 for a long period of time, would have injurious effects. The value of food depends 

 very much upon the readiness with which it is assimilated in the process of diges- 

 tion. This process is mainly a destructive one, and anything which retards such a 

 process outside of the body will also have a similar action wn'thin it, and hence 

 necessarily impairs to some extent its nutritive value. To this effect should be 

 added the effect of the drug itself upon the human economy. 



Professor Gossman objects to the use of salicylic acid for the preser- 

 vation of butter, and Prof. L. B. Arnold says : 



It is not advisable to use boracic acid or salicylic acid in butter. They are objec- 

 tionable as being foreign substances. They are of no use in the human economy. 

 They neither produce warmth, nor make fat, flesh, or bone! They are medicinal and 

 turn nature out of her course, and it causes a needless expenditure of vital force to 

 absorb, circulate, and cast them out of the system. 



The following articles are frequently used in the adulteration of 

 liquors: Indian cockle, vitriol, grains of Paradise, opium, alum, capsi- 

 cum, copperas, laurelwater, logwood, bazil-wood. cochineal, sugar of 

 lead. 



Dr. E. Yallin, in the bulletin of the French Academy of Medicine 

 (volume 16), says that a committee of that body recommended, owing to 

 the difficulty of deducting the exact amount used and the danger of 

 excessive quantities being used, if allowed at all, "that the addition of 

 salicylic acid or its compounds, even in small amounts, in articles of food 

 or drink, shall be absolutely prohibited by law." 



On page 48 of the Brooklyn report for 1887 we find the following : 



From the facts here stated, I am of the opinion that it is time that the addition 

 of salicylic acid to articles of food receive a check at the hands of sanitary authorities. 



Various examinations of Brooklyn and Western beer revealed the 

 presence of the injurious acid. A supplementary report to that above 

 quoted gives a number of extracts from the American Analyst and 

 others, concluding with the recommendation that the use of the acid be 

 prohibited by law, and the writer adds : 



Beers that show signs of decay for some reason or other, and which by the use of 

 salicylic acid could be preserved, are not proper beverages for the public. 



Canned goods. A New York canned-goods firm assures us that there 

 is no adulteration in the canned-goods trade. The Can-maker's Pro- 



