385 
that it still contains small amounts of the unchanged hydrogen perox- 
ide, and also in consequence of the injurious impurities which com- 
mercial solutions of hydrogen peroxide are liable to contain — such as 
boric acid and arsenic — which are present in the substances from 
which the solutions of hydrogen peroxide are made. He adds, how- 
ever, that the consumption of milk sterilized by this method is not 
known to have produced any injurious effects. P. Gordan (42) has 
shown that the small amounts of hydrogen peroxide employed by 
Budde in his process of sterilizing milk have practically no sterilizing 
action, and that if employed in quantities sufficient to sterilize, it 
imparts a taste to the milk and renders it unfit for human consump- 
tion. According to a number of authorities hydrogen peroxide is 
apparently harmless in its effects. Amberg (43) quotes the follow- 
ing authorities on this point: Jablin-Gonnet (44) fed milk contain- 
ing hydrogen peroxide to young animals and took it himself for two 
months without ill effect. Rosam (45) took within a period of three 
months a quantity of hydrogen peroxide, in milk, corresponding to 
1,800 cubic centimeters of a 3 per cent solution without the least inju- 
rious effect, and Vandervelde (46) claims to have shown that hydro- 
gen peroxide favors the action of rennin, pepsin, trypsin, and galactase. 
Concerning the possibility of injurious effects resulting from the 
use of fluorides as milk preservatives, it may be said that the evidence 
now at hand goes to show that these substances are irritating poisons 
of considerable power. That such is thb case may be seen from the 
following observations which have been made on their toxicity: 
Rubuteau (47) found that 0.5 gram of sodium fluoride given by 
the mouth produced sickness in dogs and 0.25 gram by mouth 
produced sickness in rabbits. When injected subcutaneously 0.25 
gram of sodium fluoride proved fatal to rabbits. Kolipinski (48), 
who successfully employed sodium fluoride in minute doses in 
epilepsy, intermittent fever, and sympathetic headache, obserVed 
that 5 grains caused vomiting in a dog, when administered by the 
mouth, and that three grains injected into a dog or cat caused 
death in a few hours. The urine in such cases was found to con- 
tain small amounts of albumen, and to be rich in fluorine, indi- 
cating its elimination by the kidneys. Schulz (49) found the lethal 
dose of sodium fluoride for rabbits to be 0.2 to 0.4 gram, for dogs 
0.3 gram, and for frogs 0.005 to 0.006 gram. Heidenhain (50) 
found the lethal dose for dogs to be 0.05 to 0.1 gram per kilo body 
weight. Weinland (51) observed that a 2.1 per cent solution of 
sodium fluoride killed the mucous membrane of the throat of a frog, 
and Gruentzner (52) found that at such a concentration living nerves 
are destroyed. Czrellitzer (53) found it to be an active poison for 
24907— Bull. 41-08- 
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