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tage to the human body as a tonic aside from their nutritive value, 

 and this is doubtless due to the iron they contain, which is probably 

 derived from the machines used for cutting them. Many of the kinds 

 which are found in commerce, however, have been found zinciferous, 

 due to the zinc contained in the trays for holding them during drying. 

 For several years, therefore, the Prussian, at the instance of the Ham- 

 burg authorities, have insisted upon having a certificate to the effect 

 that the evaporated fruits offered for sale have not been dried in contact 

 with galvanized iron wires. All the apples in a case will not be found 

 adulterated, which comes from the fact that only the lower layers in the 

 drying apparatus are brought in contact with the zinc. Mederstadt 

 concludes from his examinations that it is very doubtful whether the 

 evaporated fruit containing zinc is injurious to health, inasmuch as 

 the content of zinc has been found in all cases a very small one, amount- 

 ing in the largest quantities found to not more than seven-hundredths 

 of 1 per cent. (Chemiker-Zeitung, vol. 19, p. 1757.) In his own family, 

 where this fruit has been used for years, not the slightest injurious 

 effect has ever been noticed. It is quite certain that the zinc which may 

 be present in i^reserved fruits and vegetables coming from the solder 

 should be far more an object of suspicion than that which is contained 

 in evaporated apples. 



RESTRICTIONS OF TRADE IN EVAPORATED APPLES. 



In a few German cities the sale of American evaporated apples has 

 been practically prohibited unless a certificate be furnished to the effect 

 that they contain no zinc. By reason of this police regulation the trade 

 has been very much injured and in some quarters almost destroyed. 

 In so far as can be ascertained, no limits have been fixed in regard to 

 the quantity of zinc which the evaporated fruit may contain, except 

 as mentioned below, but all samples containing zinc are exchided from 

 the trade. As an illustration of the character of the regulations in 

 regard to the sale of the fruits, the action of the police authorities of 

 Hamburg and Cologne may be cited. 



DRIED APPLES AT HAMBURG. 



In the report of W. Henry Eobertson, United States consul at Ham- 

 burg, dated October 29, 1891, the following comments are made on the 

 trade in American dried apples in Germany (Consular Eeport, 171, 



p. 89): 



I have ascertained in a semiofficial way that a movement is now being set on foot 

 by the Imperial German Government, and is already engaging the attention of the 

 authorities of this city and, I presume, of the other cities of the Empire, looking to 

 the complete exclusion under the imijerial law regarding the traffic in articles of 

 food, etc., of May 14, 1879^ of dried and evaporated apples from the United States 

 which are found on arrival in Germany to contain more than a specified quantity of 

 metallic zinc, arising from the drying of the apples on zinc plates or frames. 



Each locality determines for itself what quantity of zinc the apples consumed 





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