Salicylic Acid and Calcium Sulfite as Pre- 
servatives of Cider. 
BY E. H. S. BAILEY AND CHAS. M. PALMER. 
The object of these experiments was to determine the preserva- 
tive influence exerted upon cider (and hence other fermentable 
liquids), by salicylic acid and sulfurous acid, the latter being in 
the form of calcium sulfite, in various amounts; also to review the 
various methods of detecting these agents. The surrounding con- 
ditions were supposed to simulate those under which these sub- 
stances are used by people generally, and considerable reference is 
also made to the literature of their use, effect, detection, etc.; es- 
pecially in the case of salicylic acid. 
Salicylic acid was discovered in 1838 by Piria (Amer. Jour. of 
Phar., Aug., 1843,), but it was not until Kolbe so improved the 
method of manufacture in 1874 (J. Prakt, Chem 2), 26y) 08), 4. aeu0G 
render it commercially available that it was used as a preservative. 
He made an extensive study of its anti-fermentative action which 
extended over a year or two. His conclusions were that it re- 
strained or prevented the action of organized ferments and also that 
of unorganized ferments to some extent, but that it was harmless 
to animal life, and he strongly advocated its use as a food preser- 
vative. 
On August 7 and 8, 1882, at the Nuremberg meeting of the In- 
dependent Union of the Bavarian Representatives of Applied 
Chemistry, the association, after an exhaustive discussion of the 
propriety of the use of salicylic acid as a food preservative, refused, 
by a practically unanimous vote, to sanction its addition to beer 
CBwI Ui Si Dept. of Agric. 13, Pt. 8,). In Germany its use is 
prohibited, except in beers intended for exportation. In France 
its use in food or drink of any kind was forbidden by ministerial 
decree on the 7th of February, 1881. 
In this country Dr. Cyrus Edson, of the New York board \of 
health, seized, on November 11, 1886, 5,280 gallons of artificial 
(111) KAN, UNTV. QUAR., VOL. Vi, NO, 3, 1897, SERTES A. 
og 
eS 
