COMMERCIAL PRESERVATIVES 179 



tity they will wholly prevent putrefaction, and even in 

 small quantities they may so check the growth as to pre 

 serve the food much longer than usual. For this reason 

 they are extremely convenient and have been widely used 

 by people who do not understand what they are. It is 

 easy to see how a housewife, after trying them once, might 

 find them so convenient as to give up entirely the use of 

 a refrigerator or other devices for keeping food cool, be- 

 lieving it cheaper as well as more convenient and more 

 satisfactory to employ a preservative than to use ice. The 

 various forms of preservatives may be used for almost any 

 kind of food, — for canning fruits or vegetables, for preserv- 

 ing milk, meat, etc., — and, so far as concerns the actual 

 protection of food from decay, they certainly accomplish 

 their purpose. 



But the important question arises whether it is health- 

 ful to use such materials in our food. Every one of them 

 is of a more or less injurious nature, and if taken into the 

 body in any considerable amount will produce poisonous 

 effects. This has led to much experimenting and discus- 

 sion. In past years a considerable portion of the food 

 products on the market was treated with some of these 

 food preservatives, borax being widely used for this pur- 

 pose. In the markets of Europe some of these substances 

 are used to preserve a large part of the meats, butter, milk, 

 etc. England obtains great quantities of her provisions 

 from Canada and even Australia, and it seems difficult, 

 or impossible, to deliver them at such long distances with- 

 out treating them with preservatives. At aU events, the 

 foods coming from Australia to the markets of England 

 are usually so treated. The use of preservatives in our 



