THE PRESERVATION OF MILK 
67 
KiTTKNS B. 
1st week, average of 4 kittens ... 
2nd „ ,, „ „ 
3rd „ „ „ „ ... 
+th „ „ „ „ ... 
5th „ „ „ „ ... 
6th „ „ „ „ ... 
Average total increase for 
6 weeks 
Grms. 
38.0 
I+.2 
0.5 
30.5 
7.2 
7.2 
196.6 
Control Kittens. 
Average of 3 kittens 
Grms. 
77.6 
I 29.6 
61.3 
104.6 
38.0 
0.6 
325-7 
KiTTt.NS C. 
1st week, average of 5 kittens ... + 
2nd „ „ „ „ ... + 
3rd „ „ „ „ ... - 
4th „ „ 3 " ■•• + 
5th „ „ „ „ ... + 
Average total increase for | 
5 weeks ... ... ) 
Grms. 
20.4 
25.4 
18.0 
13-3 
55-3 
96.4 
Control KrrTENS. 
Average of 3 kittens 
Grms. 
46.6 
68.3 
80.6 
83.0 
34-0 
3I2-5 
The earliest effect of the formaldehyde was to cause a loss of appetite during the first week. 
Diarrhoea with noisy gaseous motions, gaseous distension of the abdomen, and changes in the fur 
(the hairs standing and feeling rough and unpleasant to the touch) followed. In some cases 
emaciation and death occurred ; in others the condition continued with but little increase in 
weight until the animals reached the age of about two months. The younger the animals the 
more susceptible they proved to the action of formalin. Compared with the control animals it is 
seen that the formalin in Group A (i in 50,000) retarded the nutrition of the animals, as indicated 
by their increase in weight, to the extent of about 29.3 per cent., in Group B (i in 25,000) to 
39.6 per cent., and in Group C (i in 12,500) to 69.1 per cent. It is evident, from a study of the 
figures, that experiments should be continued on a larger number of animals to avoid the very 
material effect which one animal in five may cause on the average. 
From a consideration of the results of the above tests — chemically of the effect of boric 
acid and formalin on the different digestive ferments, and physiologically of the effect of these 
re-agents on the nutrition of young kittens — one is forced to conclude that these chemicals when 
used as preservatives of milk (and probably of other foods) are very injurious to the health of the 
consumer and particularly so to the health of young infants. Furtlier, it is easy to conceive that 
the great infant mortality rate from diarrhoea of many of our large towns may be closely 
connected with the practice, especially during the summer months, of systematically 'doctoring' 
milk by means of the preservatives used by milk purveyors, dairymen, and milkmen. These 
experiments on young animals will constitute the first of a large series, by which that 'sufficient 
information' as to the injurious effects of the use of preservatives in milk will be provided, in order 
to make an action under the Sale of Foods and Drugs Act possible. 
