November 10, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



639 



in his circular dated October 16, 1888, prohibited 

 the use of benzoic acid in drinks and food. 



In Austria the Supreme Sanitary Council in an 

 expert opinion dated December 16, 1899, decided 

 in favor of a prohibition of preserving substance 

 containing benzoic acid or its salts, and has ad- 

 hered to this standpoint in a recent expert opinion 

 and given a detailed justification of the same. In 

 the same sense the Saxon Landes-Medizinal-Kol- 

 legium expresses itself. 



The Scientific Deputation for Medical Affairs is 

 likewise of the opinion that the use of benzoic acid 

 and benzoic acid salts for the preservation of food 

 should not be permitted. Even if small doses of 

 the same may be considered harmless for the 

 human organism there is still a danger that, with 

 the addition of these substances to the various food 

 and drinks on the whole quantities would be daUy 

 consumed, which would be injurious to the organ- 

 ism. This fear is particularly justified in the case 

 of children, the aged, and weak or sick persons, 

 whereby it is to be observed that even in the case 

 of normal food not preserved with benzoic acid 

 substances are introduced from which benzoic acid 

 comes into existence in the body. 



A further objection against the use of chemical 

 preservatives at all consists in the fact that in its 

 use the food intended for consumption may not be 

 handled with the necessary care and cleanliness to 

 prevent its decay or injury by fungi and that, 

 being neglected by the manufacturers and sellers, 

 under certain circumstances the quality of the 

 goods would suffer. . . . 



Similar objections exist regarding albuminous 

 food liable to decay. The experiments of the 

 imperial health office have demonstrated among 

 other things that a slight smell of decay in 

 chopped meat may be concealed, but not entirely 

 removed, by merely stirring or turning over the 

 meat; but on mixing with 0.25 per cent, benzoic 

 acid or sodium benzoate the smell disappears for 

 a time. By this process, therefore, food which has 

 already commenced to decay can be given the ap- 

 pearance of freshness and the purchaser deceived 

 as to its quality. 



These findings agree exactly not only with 

 the opinion oiEcially expressed by the Ameri- 

 can Medical Association in its resolutions on 

 this subject, but also with the opinion held by 

 other scientific bodies and by the intelligent 

 public generally. With the reorganization of 

 the Department of Agriculture, which is as 

 inevitable as it is necessary, it is to be hoped 



that the United States government will soon 

 cease to hold its present inconsistent position 

 on the subject of the use of sodium benzoate 

 in foods. This chemical has no place in the 

 dietary of any people and certainly its legal- 

 ized use is a disgrace to an enlightened na- 

 tion. — Journal of the American Medical As- 

 sociation. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Memorial Volume Commemorative of the Life 

 and Worh of Charles Benjamin Dudley, 

 Ph.D., Late President of the International 

 Association for Testing Materials and of 

 the American Society for Testing Materials. 

 Published by the American Society for 

 Testing Materials, Philadelphia, Pa. 1911. 

 The book is, in fact, the proceedings of a 

 memorial session held by the American So- 

 ciety for Testing Materials on June 29, 1910. 

 The proceedings began with the presentation 

 of a sonnet in memory of Charles Benjamin 

 Dudley by Harvey W. Wiley and closed with 

 a personal tribute by Robert W. Hunt. Other 

 contributions to the proceedings consisted of 

 discussions of several phases of Dr. Dudley's 

 character, his life, and his work, by the differ- 

 ent officers and members of the association, 

 respectively, as follows: Introduction, by 

 Vice-president Eobert W. Lesley; Dr. Dudley 

 as a Railroad Man, by Theodore N. Ely; Dr. 

 Dudley as a Chemist, by Edgar F. Smith; 

 Dr. Dudley as a Metallurgist, by Henry M. 

 Howe; Dr. Dudley as a Mentor, by B. W. 

 Dunn; Dr. Dudley as a Citizen, by W. H. 

 Schwartz. These discussions were followed 

 by minutes and announcements on the death 

 of Dr. Dudley and copies of various papers 

 and addresses by him. 



The discussions of the phases of his char- 

 acter and life were all highly eulogistic, as 

 might be expected, but everything said was 

 fully justified. His life and character were 

 worthy to be studied and copied by all, and 

 particularly to be studied and used as an ex- 

 ample and inspiration for young men. Mr. 

 Lesley well summed up his character when he 

 said, " he was a diplomat of the heart, a noble- 

 man of nature's handiwork ..." and further 



