THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
X\0^ 
STANDARDS  FOR  FLAVORING  EXTRACTS. 
By  Wilbur  L.  Scoviixe. 
There  are  standards  and  standards.  Some  are  positive  and  defi- 
nite, more  are  variable.    Our  title  is  one  of  the  latter  class. 
To  the  man  who  "  lives  to  eat,"  a  standard  in  flavoring  extracts 
is  one  thing  ;  to  the  man  who  "  eats  to  live,"  it  is  quite  another. 
The  first  calls  himself  an  epicure,  and  prides  himself  on  a  capability 
for  fine  discrimination  in  taste  and  an  appreciation  of  the  more  sub- 
tile effects  in  palate-tickling.  The  other  has  his  attention  occupied 
by  other  things,  and  asks  only  that  his  food  shall  be  acceptable  to 
an  unabused  palate. 
Like  most  standards,  this  is  a  matter  of  education.  The  epicure 
is  simply  one  who  has  enjoyed  the  finest  opportunities  of  culinary 
art,  and  by  attention  thereto  has  learned  to  appreciate  them.  He 
frequently  gets  to  the  point  where  he  would  rather  invent  "  a  new 
dish  "  than  be  President.  The  non-epicure  may  have  lacked  either 
the  opportunity  or  the  needed  attention  to  train  his  palate  to  a  fine 
discrimination,  and  there  are  many  grades  of  him.  Attention  plays 
a  more  important  part  than  opportunity  in  all  phases  of  education. 
Then  the  harmonies  of  life  enter  into  the  question.  Man  is 
instinctively  harmonious  in  his  habits — in  eating,  in  dress,  in  recrea- 
tions, in  all  his  tastes.  Harmony  more  than  quality  determines  the 
enjoyment  of  the  table.  A  course  of  poorly  seasoned  or  highly 
seasoned  meats  and  vegetables  is  not  in  accord  with  a  delicately 
flavored  pudding,  however  fine  the  flavor  may  be.  Cooks  are  rarely 
artists,  and  if  the  seasoning  of  the  soups,  meats  and  vegetables  does 
not  match  that  of  the  pastry,  the  latter,  following,  may  appear  flat 
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