26 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 496. 



Just as the discovery of the exogenous struc- 

 ture in many Carboniferous Pteridophytes 

 (Galamites, Stigmaria, Sigillaria, even Lepi- 

 dodendron) overthrew the old Lindleyan classi- 

 fication into endogens and exogens, which was 

 supposed to be fundamental, so the discovery 

 of the Pteridospermaphyta causes the later 

 classification into spore-bearing and seed-bear- 

 ing plants, which was confidently believed to 

 constitute a durable substitute, to break down, 

 and we are in the presence of the important 

 truth that in both their internal structure and 

 their floral structure the early types of vege- 

 tation advanced during Paleozoic time to a 

 position not essentially different from that of 

 the more developed types of the present day. 



Lester F. Ward. 



INFLUENCE OF BORIC ACID AND BORAX 

 ON DIGESTION AND HEALTH. 



Bulletin No. 84 of the Bureau of Chemis- 

 try, now in press, is the first of a series of 

 monographs from that bureau embodying in- 

 vestigations made in accordance with the 

 following authority contained in the act of 

 Congress making appropriations for the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, to wit : " To enable 

 the Secretary of Agriculture to investigate 

 the character of food preservatives, coloring 

 matters, and other substances added to foods, 

 to determine their relation to digestion and 

 health, and to establish the principles which 

 should guide their use." 



These investigations were commenced in the 

 autumn of 1902 under the direction of Dr. H. 

 W. Wiley. Previous to their beginning a 

 careful study of similar work done in this and 

 other countries was undertaken and some of 

 the laboratories where this work had been car- 

 ried on, notably the laboratory of the Imperial 

 Board of Health of Germany, at Charlotten- 

 burg, were visited and the method of experi- 

 ments investigated. The plan finally decided 

 upon was to secure the voluntary services of a 

 number of young men who would undertake 

 to try the effect of the added substances upon 

 their digestion and health, to make the neces- 

 sary observations, and to submit themselves to 

 the rigid analytical control which such a series 

 of investigations required. 



The number finally selected for experiment ■ 

 was 12, as this was found to be about the max- 

 imum number which could be cared for with 

 the analytical and culinary facilities afforded 

 by the Bureau of Chemistry. A kitchen and a 

 dining room were fitted up in the basement of 

 the bureau and in December, 1902, the actual 

 experimental work began and it continued, in 

 the case of boric acid and borax, until July 1, 

 1903. The work was so divided that no one 

 of the young men under observation was re- 

 quired to submit himself to the rigid control 

 necessary to the conduct of the work more 

 than one half of the time. The men selected 

 were taken partly from the force of the Bu- 

 reau of Chemistry and the rest from other 

 Divisions and Bureaus of the Department of 

 Agriculture. Each one was required to sub- 

 scribe to a pledge to obey all the rules and 

 regulations prescribed, and to abstain from all 

 food and drink during the period of observa- 

 tion save that which was given him iii the 

 course of the experiment. Careful medical 

 inspection of each of the members of the 

 experimental class was secured, both directly 

 and by collaboration with the Public Health 

 and Marine Hospital Service. The details of 

 the work, both analytical and medical, are 

 found in full in the bulletin above mentioned 

 which is now in press. Some of the conclu- 

 sions are as follows: 



When boric acid or borax equivalent thereto, 

 in small quantities not exceeding a half gram 

 per day, is given in the food no notable effects 

 are immediately produced. If, however, these 

 small doses be continued for a long while, as 

 for instance in one ease 50 days, there are 

 occasional periods of loss of appetite, bad feel- 

 ing, fulness in the head, and distress in the 

 stomach. These symptoms, however, are not 

 developed in every person within the time cov- 

 ered by the experiment, for some are far more 

 sensitive to the action of these bodies in small 

 quantities than others. 



When boric acid, or borax in equivalent 

 quantities, is given in larger and increasing 

 doses there is a tendency to the somewhat 

 rapid development in a more accentuated form 

 of the symptoms above described. The most 

 common symptom developed is a persistent 



