392 
Laboratory  Notes. 
<  Am.  Jour.  Pharin. 
\      August,  1899. 
in  fats.  For  this  reason  milk  and  cream  must  be  added,  the  milk 
supplying  the  antiscorbutic  property. 
We  have  now  covered  all  the  classes  of  artificial  foods  and  have 
discussed  their  composition  and  utility  in  the  light  of  the  laws  laid 
down  as  the  result  of  practical  experience  by  the  authorities  on  this 
subject,  and  in  conclusion  we  find  that  they  are  all  more  or  less 
useful,  but  that  they  all  possess  certain  definite  defects.  That  no 
one  can  tell  whether  a  certain  food  will  be  successful  in  any  certain 
case  till  it  has  been  tried,  and  that,  as  we  have  said  before,  the  best 
commercial  foods  are  those  which  supply  the  five  essentials  in  the 
requisite  proportions,  in  a  form  physiologically  capable  of  digestion 
and  sufficiently  palatable  to  be  relished.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  since 
none  of  these  foods  meet  all  these  requirements  completely,  the 
problem  of  artificial  feeding  has  not  yet  been  completely  solved. 
Yet  one  cannot  glance  through  any  ol  the  best  pharmaceutical  or 
medical  journals  or  literature  of  to-day  without  noticing  the 
articles  written  on  this  subject  by  the  most  noted  scientific  men,  and 
without  realizing  that  science  and  art  are  combining  their  forces  and 
exerting  the  greatest  activity  in  the  attempt  to  solve  this  problem. 
Judging  from  the  great  interest  that  this  subject  has  excited,  not 
only  among  the  scientific  classes,  but  with  the  community  at  large, 
resulting  in  a  universal  demand  for  a  perfect  artificial  food,  and  con- 
sidering the  unlimited  resources  of  this  country  and  its  people,  the 
great  possibility  of  supplying  this  demand,  and  thus  meeting  our  ob- 
ligations to  humanity,  seems  almost  within  our  grasp. 
LABORATORY  NOTES. 
By  Charges  H.  LaWau  and  Robert  C.  Purser. 
The  records  of  the  analytical  department  of  a  large  wholesale 
and  manufacturing  establishment  are  of  great  value  in  indicating 
the  average  quality  of  the  goods  upon  the  market.  The  publishing 
of  such  notes  from  time  to  time  serves  to  keep  other  analysts  posted 
on  the  character  and  extent  of  the  adulteration  noted,  for  when  a 
lot  of  goods  is  rejected  by  one  house  the  seller  does  not  destroy 
the  goods,  but  tries  others  until  he  disposes  of  them.  Thus,  it  will 
be  seen  that  adulterated  articles  eventually  reach  the  retailer,  and 
through  him  the  consumer,  and  the.  only  way  of  preventing  this 
is  the  enforcement  of  the  laws  regulating  the  quality  of  various 
substances  by  establishing  standards  to  which  they  must  conform. 
