636 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 723 



concerned possess the same essential prop- 

 erties during- their brief sojourn in the liv- 

 ing nexns as they do before and after. 



In his address to the geological section, 

 Professor John Joly, F.K.S., dealt with the 

 effects of the presence of radium in the 

 earth's crust and rocks on the distribution 

 of the temperature gradients. By ex- 

 haustive determinations of the radium con- 

 tents of various rocks and oceanic sedi- 

 ments, as Avell as by a systematic examina- 

 tion of the rocks of the Simplon and 

 Central St. Gothard tunnels he foiind the 

 change in temperature gradient observed 

 to correspond exactly with the radium con- 

 tent of the rock. Space will not pennit a 

 proper abstract of this interesting address. 



Leo Frank Guttman 



THE OFFICIAL INSPECTION OF 

 COMMODITIES 



The adulteration of articles of commerce 

 is distinctly an evil of civilization. In 

 the primitive state of man, nature supplied 

 directly to the consumer the materials for 

 food and raiment. There was no com- 

 merce and, therefore, none of the attending 

 frauds. The savage vented his evil nature 

 in murder, rapine and other of the grosser 

 forms of crime, but he had no opportunity 

 to practise the more intellectual frauds 

 W'hich civilization has made possible. 



As soon as commerce came into existence, 

 merchants began to cheat in weight and 

 measure and to practise other commercial 

 frauds, but at first they had comparatively 

 few opportunities for adulteration, as the 

 articles exchanged were for the most part 

 crude products, such as grain and wool, 

 which could not be successfully imitated. 

 It was at a later period, when flour, cloth 

 and other adulterable articles were bought 

 and sold, that sophistication began to be a 

 serious menace to the public Avelfare, and 



the evil, having once gained a foothold, in- 

 creased as civilization advanced. 



In recent times adulteration has in- 

 creased enormously, particularly during 

 the past half century. 



There are several reasons for this alarm- 

 ing growth of fraud. In the first place, 

 the number of commercial articles which 

 can be successfully imitated greatly in- 

 creased during the past century and is still 

 increasing. We have to-day on the market 

 an endless variety of foods, drugs, paints, 

 oils, chemicals and fabrics which can be 

 readily debased by the addition of foreign 

 materials, without having the fraud evi- 

 dent to the purchaser. 



The second reason is that the manu- 

 facture of butter, lard, cheese, starch, yarn, 

 cloth and other articles, which formerly 

 was carried on in the household, has been 

 transferred to the mill and the factory. It 

 can not be disputed that the cost of pro- 

 duction has been reduced by this centraliza- 

 tion of labor, and the housewife, incident- 

 ally, has been saved a deal of hard work, 

 but the genuineness of the products has 

 suffered as a consequence. 



Still another cause for the increase of 

 sophistication in recent years is to be found 

 in the variety of materials adapted for use 

 as adulterants which are now obtainable. 

 Some of the materials which are commonly 

 used for fraudulent purposes are products 

 of the highest scientific research. I will 

 mention as examples— oleo oil, cotton-seed 

 oil, stearine and petroleum products, used 

 for mixing with higher-priced fats and oils ; 

 glucose syrup, the common adulterant for 

 molasses; artificial vanillin and coumarin, 

 used in vanilla extracts; salicylic acid, 

 benzoic acid and other food preservatives; 

 coal-tar dj'es, Avhich serve as a mask for 

 other food adulterants; wood alcohol, 

 aeetanilid and other coal-tar products, also 

 morphine, cocaine and other habit-forming 



