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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 172. 



and their preparation for use was a duty of 

 members or servants of the family. They 

 had neither potted meats nor canned vege- 

 tables. "When there were ' two women 

 grinding at the mill ' the meal was made of 

 such grain as the householder furnished. 

 Spices came to them unground and with 

 none of their virtue extracted. The list of 

 fine family groceries was a very short one. 

 Our far-away fore-bears lived closer to 

 nature and knew less of art than we. 

 Food adulteration as a great evil follows 

 manufactures and commerce and flourishes 

 in the train of a broadening civilization. 

 A disposition to defraud was not wanting 

 to the ancients, but skill to invent and 

 large opportunity to apply are modern. 



Early Greece had inspectors of wines to 

 prevent adulteration. Pliny records that 

 that in Rome bread was sometimes adulter- 

 ated with mineral matter, and says that 

 sophistication of wines was prevalent and 

 pure wines difficult to obtain, but it does 

 not appear that corrective legislation was 

 attempted or proposed. 



We find sanitary regulations concerning 

 the sale of food, however, among the teach- 

 ings of Moses in the wilderness and in the 

 Eabbinical laws which were given to the 

 Jews at a very early date. The early Jews, 

 be it remembered, were distinctly a people 

 of this world. They had practically no 

 conception of a future life. Moses scarcely 

 referred to a future existence. His life 

 was devoted to the elevation of his people, 

 and it is not conceivable, with all his versa- 

 tility and breadth of judgment, that he did 

 not have in mind the sanitary bearing of 

 the laws he gave to his nation. Rather, is 

 it probable, that he sought to elevate simul- 

 taneously the physical, moral and spiritual 

 natures of his followers. And considering 

 the low state of their civilization, it is sug- 

 gested by high Jewish authority that he 

 deemed it best to surround his directions 

 with the glamour of mystery and supersti- 



tion. " Ye shall do no unrightousness in 

 judgment in mete yard, in weight or in 

 measure ; just balances, just weights, a 

 just ephah and a just hin shall ye have." 

 This command had reference to commerce 

 in general, but I feel warranted in men- 

 tioning it here because similar requirements 

 have commonly been included in pure food 

 laws. It was commanded that the animals 

 which were ofiered as sacrifices, portions 

 of which were used as food by the priests 

 and Levites, should be without blemish, and 

 that no meat should be eaten more than 

 two days after the slaughter of the animal. 

 It is probable that this was intended to in- 

 fluence the Jewish nation as a whole to eat 

 only fresh meat and that from sound ani- 

 mals. In fact, the Rabbinical law comes to 

 our assistance and requires that all animals 

 used as food by the Jews shall be slaugh- 

 tered by a priest, who shall carefully ex- 

 amine the lungs and other vital organs to 

 determine if any disease be present, and 

 that no meat shall be eaten more than two 

 daj's after the slaughter of the animal. It 

 is further provided by both the Biblical and 

 Rabbinical laws that meat shall not be 

 eaten from any animal which died other- 

 wise than at the butcher's hand. 



The range of possible adulterations at this 

 time was necessarily very limited and re- 

 qviired for its development a corresponding 

 growth of commerce and manufacture. 



Passing to the eleventh century we find 

 the world emerging from the Dark Ages. 

 The schoolmen were occupied with meta- 

 physics and theology. Their discussions 

 seem to us unimportant and often trivial, 

 and they were never utilitarian, but they 

 mark an advance toward systematic, scien- 

 tific thinking. Under their influence new 

 universities were established and those of 

 earlier origin received a fresh impetus. A 

 beginning was made in the literature of the 

 Romance languages, the study of the ancient 

 languages was revived and the Arabian 



