POISONOUS METALS ON SPEAYED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 5 



vines July 30, and between that date and August 28, the date of 

 harvest, only a few slight rains had fallen. The fruit showed the 

 mixture plainly, more pronouncedly in fact than any treated grapes 

 seen in the market. One kilogram of the clusters (2^ pounds) , includ- 

 ing the stems, which appeared to have the greater part of the copper, 

 * * * yielded 0.005 gram (0.077 grain) of metallic copper," on 

 analysis, about 0.035 grain of copper per pound of grapes. 



In September, 1891, the Board of Health of New York City seized 

 a quantity of grapes some of which had been heavily oversprayed 

 with Bordeaux mixture (46). The following results of analysis of 

 the most heavily sprayed bunches of grapes obtainable from the 

 vineyards from which the grapes seized had come were reported (128) : 



(1) The amount of copper, estimated as metallic copper, found on the berries was 

 very constant in the different samples, averaging 1/120 grain for each pound of fruit 

 (berries and stems). 



(2) The amount of copper, estimated as metallic copper, found on the stems varied 

 from 1/90 to 1/14 grain for each pound of fruit (berries and stems), and averaged 1/30 

 grain. 



(3) If the copper were on the berries in the form of sulphate of copper, each pound 

 of berries would contain about 1/30 grain of copper sulphate. 



(4) As a matter of fact, copper, when found upon sprayed grapes in New York State, 

 exists, not in the form of a sulphate, but in the form of a carbonate or hydroxid, both 

 of which are not readily soluble and would, therefore, be even less dangerous than if 

 present in the form of sulphate of copper. Most of the copper found was on the stems, 

 and the rest of the copper was on the outside of the skin of the berries, which most people 

 do not eat. 



(5) The results obtained from estimating by chemical analysis the amount of copper 

 on grapes, which were selected as being the worst sprayed that could be found, there- 

 fore, seem to justify the assertion that it is simply an absolute impossibility for a person 

 to get enough copper from eating grapes to exert upon the health any injurious effect 

 whatever. 



According to Popenoe and Mason (109), ''as much of the fruit 

 (grapes) at the time of ripening showed a greenish-blue discoloration 

 from the deposit of lime and copper, which had been applied twice 

 since a rain had fallen, some persons feared that it might be poison- 

 ous." Analysis of those grapes showing the heaviest deposit gave for 

 combined stems and berries 0.00188 per cent copper, or 0.52 grain of 

 copper sulphate per pound of grapes. "A short time after this sample 

 was taken a heavy shower washed off so much of the deposit that 

 little of the remaining fruit was injured in appearance." Wheeler 

 (131) found only slight traces of copper on grapes that had been 

 sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. Alwood (6) reported no copper, or 

 only traces, on grapes that had been sprayed with copper mixtures, 

 and concluded ''that these fungicides are perfectly harmless to con- 

 sumers of the treated fruit." Maynard (84) reported that only 

 0.002 per cent of copper oxid was found on grapes which had been so 

 heavily sprayed with Bordeaux as to be badly disfigured and that no 



