466 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 534. 



troduced as exhibits during a trial, might well 

 have received more detailed consideration. 

 For such as are beginning the work of ex- 

 ecutive management of a food control or the 

 duty of sampling agent, a tabulated list of 

 the quantities of sample needful for the sev- 

 eral kinds of analyses would have had much 

 value. 



In discussing the methods of repressing food 

 adulteration the author states that publication 

 has proved a sufficient deterrent, when accom- 

 IJanied by prosecution in a few extreme cases. 

 An expression somewhat contrary to this has 

 recently been published by Director Jenkins, 

 of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, which is the agency for food inspec- 

 tion in that state. Dr. Jenkins notes that 

 publication, which has heretofore been used as 

 the deterrent from adulteration for most 

 foods, is proving less and less effective, and 

 he urges the need for legislation providing for 

 more stringent measures. The experience of 

 the several states in the matter of fertilizer 

 inspection has shown, on the other hand, that 

 publication is entirely sufficient to repress the 

 fraud once widespread in that trade. The 

 buyer of fertilizers watches closely the inspec- 

 tion reports and avoids dealing with firms that 

 conspicuously fail to meet their guaranties. 

 While it is too early to conclude with refer- 

 ence to the effectiveness of publication as a 

 deterrent from fraud in cattle foods, such in- 

 spection having been but recently established, 

 the facts now available indicate that this 

 means is as efficient as in case of fertilizers. 

 It is true that both fertilizer and cattle-food 

 laws contain penal clauses, but these are 

 rarely, if ever, invoked. Is the admitted lack 

 of effectiveness in repressing the adulteration 

 of human foods due to the failure of the pub- 

 lications to reach the buying public — usually 

 ,the housewives— or arc we more indifferent 

 respecting the adulteration of that which we 

 ourselves eat than we are of the food intended 

 for our cattle and our plants? 



The chief aim of the book has been to aid 

 the analyst in the detection of food adultera- 

 tions. For this purpose he must not only 

 know how to detect the presence of foreign 

 substances, but also to interpret departures of 



tlie common constituents from their normal 

 proportions. Keferring first to the latter 

 requisite: While certain staple foods, such as 

 bread, meat, milk and fruit are used by all 

 civilized countries, the latter differ much in 

 their choice of foods of secondary importance 

 and in their methods of food preparation. 

 America has her own strains of dairy cows, 

 her own varieties of fruit and grain. She 

 buys her imported foods in certain markets 

 rather than in others. Her methods of food 

 manufacture differ at many points from those 

 adopted in other lands. For this reason, the 

 American analyst is unable to rely with full 

 confidence upon the bases of comparison es- 

 tablished in German, French or even British 

 experience, and has turned actively to the 

 study of American foods. 



Wiley and his assistants began this study 

 years ago, and Leffmann and Beam have ably 

 condensed and supplemented their results in 

 the little manual, ' Food Analysis.' The past 

 decade has witnessed great activity in this 

 field. The Bureau of Chemistry has added 

 much of value to its earlier work; the human 

 nutrition investigations of the Office of Ex- 

 periment Stations has contributed numerous 

 analyses of American market products; the 

 several agricultural experiment stations have 

 richly increased the literature respecting milk, 

 grains, fruits and other raw materials; and 

 the food inspection laboratories have not con- 

 fined themselves to the routine examination of 

 food samples, but have studied carefully many 

 of our most important food products. To its 

 general methods of determination for the ma- 

 jor groups of food constituents the Association 

 of Official Agricultural Chemists has added 

 provisional methods for the use of food in- 

 spection laboratories, and is engaged upon the 

 formidable task of thoroughly testing them 

 prior to their full adoption as ' official meth- 

 ods.' It began, a few years since, the formu- 

 lation of a series of food standards for the 

 United States. The latter work thus inaugu- 

 ratcfl, Congress has recognized and placed 

 upon a formally official basis. 



The mass of information thus gathered in 

 American laboratories, together with the more 

 recent developments in European food inspec- 



