PRESERVATION OF CREAM FOR MARKET. 143 



USE OF GERMICIDES. 



The method of adding something to the cream that will 

 destroy the bacteria or prevent their growth, no matter how 

 warm the weather or how distant the market, appeals to the 

 dealer on account of its cheapness, simplicity and effectiveness. 

 Cream in which a sufficient quantity of boric acid or salicylic 

 acid has been introduced, for these are the substances generally 

 used as preservatives of cream, will remain perfectly sweet for an 

 indefinite time even in the hottest summer temperature. These 

 chemicals produce no decided change in the taste or appearance 

 of the cream, and it is no wonder that this method has some- 

 times been adopted by those who have seen in it a solution of the 

 only difficulty in the way of extending a lucrative cream trade. 

 What, then, are the objections to this method? The first and 

 the very decided objection that will occur to the consumer is, 

 that when paying for sweet and wholesome cream he does not 

 want it diluted with anything else. In view of the compara- 

 tively small quantity of the preservative that has to be used, this 

 objection might be overcome by an appeal to the reason of the 

 consumer, if he did not have reason as well as prejudice on his 

 side. If it could be shown that the preservative was as harmless 

 as the cream itself the-re would, perhaps, be no reasonable objec- 

 tion to it, but the best that can be claimed for these chemical 

 preservatives is, that while they are sure death to bacteria they 

 also endanger the health and derange the digestive apparatus of 

 human beings. Among those qualified to judge of the effect of 

 these substances when taken into the stomach of human beings, 

 there is practically but one opinion, and that is, that the constant 

 consumption of them is harmful even if taken in small 

 quantities. In certain cases where persons are suffering from 

 disease of the digestive organisms, the use of cream preserved 

 by this method is positively dangerous. 



The statement is made by Foraster and quoted in the National 

 Dispensatory that boric acid greatly increases the fecal solids 

 and the excretion of albuminous compounds, even when given in 

 a daily dose of seven or eight grains, and that these effects con- 

 tinue for some time after the suppression of the medicine. 



