m 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 366 



pictures is put on a circular glass plate, which is rapidly 

 turned round its axis: and, whenever a picture appears before 

 the eye of the observer, it is lit up by an electric spark. By 

 this means the natural motion of the object is reproduced with 

 a degree of truth and accuracy that is absolutely bewildering. 

 Looking thus at the representation of a man on a galloping horse, 

 every single movement of horse and rider can be followed. Not 

 only do the legs of the horse move according to the gait, but 

 one sees the dust rise, the horse's mane and tail fly, and the 

 ■nostrils extend. The rider is jerked in his saddle, he urges 

 his horse, pulls the curb-chain, and moTes back his leg to 

 apply the spur, etc. Each series in this apparatus represents a 

 bit of life — not a life-like picture, but life itself — with 

 amazing naturalness and truth. One of these tachyscopes, and 

 many notable examples of Mr. Anschuetz's work, have been 

 brought to this country, and are now on exhibition at the show- 

 rooms of the United States Photographic Supply Co.npany on 

 Fourteenth Street, this city. 



SOME FOOD SUBSTITUTES AND ADULTERANTS.' 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — In his address be- 

 fore this society last year, our late president, Dr. J. H. Kidder, 

 presented the subject of air as one of the ' ' two necessities of life 

 which, ' ' he said, ' ' are absolute, ' ' and ' ' which we" cannot live 

 without;"' namely, "food (including water) and air." It is 

 more especially to a certain class of foods, whose increasing con- 

 sumption and sale have of late years attracted public notice, that 

 I wish to call your attention this evening ; namely, that of cheap 

 .and wholesome food substitutes, which are also frequently used 

 AS food adulterants. 



Our bodies are like a furnace, and require fuel and air to sus- 

 tain the heat of combustion by the constant renewal of fresh 

 material and the elimination of the waste products. The form, 

 whether solid or liquid, of animal or vegetable origin, in which 

 we supply this fuel, depends largely on local circumstances, 

 climate, education, etc. ; and, as long as the food employed 

 goes to furnish the proper amount of fuel material for the main- 

 tenance of the body temperature, life is sustained. 



The extent of the consumption of any new food will evidently 

 depend on how it fulfils this requirement as a fuel, and by its 

 pleasing appearance, its palatability, its capacity to appease hun- 

 ger, its wholesomeness, and its relative cheapness, atti-aots public 

 attention. If the new food is a manufactured product, its cheap- 

 ness will depend upon the possibility of its pi'oduction on a large 

 scale from relatively cheap materials. 



From want of reliable information in regard to the materials 

 employed in most new food products, there is a general feeling 

 of uncertainty and insecurity on the subject. People, as a rule, 

 imagine that any substance used as an adulterant of, or a substi- 

 tute for, a food product is to be avoided as itself being injurious 

 to health ; and when they hear that a certain food is adulterated, 

 or is a food substitute, there is immediately a prejudice excited 

 against the article, which it takes time and familiarity to allay. 

 A moment' s reflection ought to show that it would be directly 

 contrary to the food manufacturer's interest to add to, or substi- 

 tute any thing for, a food product which would cause injurious 

 symptoms, as in that case his means of gain would be cut off by 

 the refusal of consumers to buy his product. It is true that the 

 unscrupulous manufacturer or dealer does not hesitate to cheat 

 his customer in the interest of his own pecuniary profit and gain, 

 but he does not want to poison him. Where, thi-ough careless- 

 ness or ignorance, injurious substances, such as the arsenic, 

 copper, aniline, and other metallic and oi'ganic poisonous salts 

 sometimes used for artificial colors, are added to foods, their 

 presence is promptly revealed by the dangerous symptoms which 

 they call forth in the consumer. About a year ago the case of 

 the Philadelphia bakers, who added clu-omate of lead to color 

 some of their cakes, and thus caused the death of several persons, 

 and serious illness in nearly every one who ate any of these 

 products, will be recalled by many present. 



1 Annual address of the retiring president, Mr. Edgar Richards, delivered 

 Jan. 23, 1890, before the Chemical Society of Washington. 



The great majority of substances used for food adulterants or 

 substitutes consist of cheap and harmless substances, which are 

 not injurious to health, as the following list of those most com- 

 monly met with in the principal food products will show. This 

 list has been compiled from the reports of the State boards of 

 health, the returns of the British Inland Revenue Department, 

 the reports of the British Local Government Board, and those of 

 the Paris Municipal Laboratory. 



Table I. 

 Food Products and their Chief Adulterants. 



FOOD PRODDCT. 



Milk Water, removal of cream, addition of oleo-oil or 



lard to skimmed milk. 



Butter Water, salt, foreign fats, artificial coloring-mat- 

 ter. 



Cheese I Lard, oleo-oil, cottonseed-oil. 



Olive-oil' I Cottonseed and other vegetable oils. 



Beer.. Artificial glucose, malt and hop substitutes, sodi- 

 um bicarbonate, salt, antiseptics. 



Sirup . . .• Artificial glucose. 



Honey Artificial glucose, cane-sugar. 



Confectionery Artificial glucose, starch, artificial essences, pol- 



I sonous pigments, terra alba, gypsum. 



WineS; liquors Water, spirits, artificial coloring-matter, fictitious 



imitations, aromatic ethers, burnt sugar, anti- 

 septics. 



Vinegar i Water, other mineral or organic acid. 



Flour, bread Other meals, alum. 



Baker's chemicals' Starch, alum. 



Spices' Flour, starches of various kinds, turmeric. 



Cocoa and chocolate Sugar, starch, flour. 



Coffee' Chiccory, peas, beans, rye, com, wheat, coloring- 

 matter. 



Tea I Exhausted tea-leaves, foreign leaves, tannin, in- 

 digo, Prussian blue, turmeric, gypsum, soap- 

 stone, sand. 



Canned goods' Metallic poisons. 



Pickles I Salts of copper. 



' For list of adulterated brands see Report of the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue, 1889, pp. 181-184. 



"Water. 



Ordinary potable water is not generally considered either ex- 

 ternally or internally "injurious to health," yet it is probably 

 the most common adulterant used. We find, indeed, in the 

 Canadian "Adulteration Act, " that "if water has been added" 

 to milk, ' 'it shall be deemed to have been adulterated in a man- 

 ner injurious to health' ' (Section 15) . The watering of milk is 

 everywhere recognized as not only a fraud, but also a grave mis- 

 demeanor, if not actually a crime. Tliis is the food on which 

 the whole population under one year old is fed ; and, where the 

 mother cannot supply the proper nourishment for the child, she 

 must depend for its bringing-up on cow's or other milk. It is 

 self-evident that a pint of watered milk does not contain the 

 same amount of nourishment as the same volume of whole milk, 

 so that a child or invalid might be actually starved to death if 

 compelled to rely Sn the foi-mer for its sole sustenance. The 

 placing of watered and skimmed milk on the market should, in 

 all large cities, call foith the active exertions of their health 

 departments to supervise and as far as possible suppress their 

 sale. 



The skill of the milk adulterator has kept pace witli the march 

 of improvement, and to-day we find centi'if ugal machines costing 

 over two hundred dollars placed on the market, designed solely 

 to manufacture, from skimmed milk and oleo-oil and lard, an 

 artificial cream or milk, depending on the amount of animal fat 

 added, which, it is stated, can be used for all pui-poses in which 

 the genuine ai-ticle is employed. A description of such machines 

 will be found in Engineering (vol. xliv. 1887, p. 478) and in the 

 catalogues of the dealers. 



