Aprit 12, 1912] 
While the American investigators and Ger- 
lach thus reach conclusions which could not 
be more favorable to those who espouse the 
cause of benzoic acid, the question as to the 
admissibility of its use is not yet wholly 
cleared up in Europe, especially in Germany, 
and an unfriendly disposition predominates. 
France summarily prohibited the use of ben- 
zoic acid as early as 1888, long, therefore, be- 
fore its thorough investigation; in Austria, 
also, it was excluded from use by a decision 
of the chief of the Board of Health on the 
16th of December, 1899, and recently again 
he has refused his sanction.” The Landes- 
medizinalkollegium of Saxony has likewise 
refused to authorize its use.” 
In Germany the law takes no firm stand 
against benzoic acid. The acquittal of dealers 
who introduced margarine preserved with 
benzoic acid into the trade in Saxony is inter- 
esting. The produce dealer Gertrud Eberlein, 
née Herber, who had been fined 2 Marks for 
dealing in margarine with 0.05 per cent. benzoic 
acid, had started a long trial in three courts 
which, however, had ended with her acquittal 
in the assessors’s, district and provincial courts. 
Injury to health by such doses of benzoic 
acid no one could maintain; the opponents of 
benzoic acid among the judges asserted that 
benzoic acid is really a preservative, that the 
addition of benzoic acid makes it possible to 
store margarine, but that the public demands 
fresh margarine and that the stored product 
is not as good as the fresh margarine. The 
arguments frequently made by the judges in 
favor of acquittal were the following: Benzoic 
acid has thus far not been prohibited in Ger- 
many; it occurs in cowberries in considerable 
quantities; in the amounts in question it is 
harmless; the nutritive value, wholesomeness 
and usefulness of the margarine is not 
changed; it is therefore a preservative which, 
where applicable, offers great advantages long 
sought for, without any disadvantages. The 
following judicial verdicts concerning benzoic 
acid in margarine have come to my knowledge: 
5 Das osterr. Sanitétsw., 1910, Nos. 13-15. 
© Jahresb. Medizinalw. Konigsreichs Sachsen, 
1905, 193. 
SCIENCE 
583 
(1) Acquittal of the manufacturer F. A. Is- 
serstedt, Elberfeld, before the assessor’s court 
of Solingen on November 11, 1908.’ (2) Ac- 
quittal of the manufacturer Held, Schkeuditz, 
before the assessor’s court of Schkeuditz.’ 
(3) Acquittal of the same before the provin- 
cial court of Halle. Appellate proceedings on 
May 3, 1910.2 (4) Acquittal of the mer- 
chant G. Eberlein before the assessor’s court 
of Dresden in June, 1910.° (5) Acquittal of 
the same before the district court of Dresden 
on February 8, 1911." (6) Acquittal of the 
same before the provincial court at Dresden 
on June 7, 1911.” 
The following express themselves in favor 
of the use of benzoic acid (for margarine) : 
(1) Professor Eccles in his book, “ Die 
Bedeutung der Konservierungsmittel fiir die 
menschliche Ernahrung in wirtschaftlicher 
und hygienischer Hinsicht”; (2) von Vieting- 
hoff-Scheel;* (8) Gustav Hefter;* (4) the 
food chemist, Dr. Langfurth, Altona; * (5) the 
food chemist, Dr. Postler, Miihlhausen;* 
(6) Professor Klostermann, Halle; (7) the 
food chemist, Dr. Niederhiuser, Wiesbaden ;* 
(8) the food chemist, Dr. Liihrig, Breslau;* 
Professor Frerichs, Bonn. 
Recently the Prussian Committee on Med- 
ical Affairs has expressed itself, in a decidedly 
surprising manner, in favor of the prohibition 
of benzoic acid as a preservative for human 
foodstuffs and luxuries. The referees, Privy 
Councillors Heffter and Abel,” frankly ac- 
knowledge, indeed, the conclusiveness of the 
7Z. Marg.-Ind., 1903, 69. 
® Ibid., 1910, 113. 
®Z. Marg.-Ind., 1910, 113. 
10 Tbid., 1910, 152. 
" [bid., 1911, 69. 
2 [bid., 1911, 159. 
3 Chem. Ztg., 1909, 181; 1910, 904. 
14¢< Technologie der Fette und Oele,’’ Vol. 3, p. 
192. 
% Z, Marg.-Ind., 1910, 152. 
18 Tbid., 1911, 69; ef. also Chem. Ztg., 1911, 28, 
53. 
1 ¢<¢Tie Verwendung von Benzoesdure und ihren 
Salzen zur Konservierung von Nahrungsmitteln,’’ 
Vierteljahrschrift ger. Med. u. off. Sanitdtswesen, 
41, 330 (1911). 
