Am/pOr"]r;^906arm•}        Use  of  Preservatives  in  Foods.  157 
provision  would  apply  to  all  preservatives,  since  they  are  all  applied 
first  externally  and  are  only  mingled  with  the  material  afterward. 
The  greatest  fault  of  a  provision  of  this  kind  is  its  ethical  offense 
rather  than  its  practical  application. 
OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  USE  OF  CHEMICAL  PRESERVATIVES. 
I  will  try  and  state  now  the  principal  objections  to  the  use  of 
chemical  preservatives  in  foods.  In  the  first  place,  I  may  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  they  are  never  necessary  except  perhaps  in 
some  emergencies.  I  mean  that  in  the  ordinary  commerce  in  foods 
and  the  preservation  of  foods  necessary  to  that  commerce,  the 
use  of  chemical  preservatives  is  never  a  necessity.  I  will  admit 
without  argument  that  it  is  far  better  to  have  foods  preserved  with, 
chemical  antiseptics  than  to  have  no  foods  at  all  and,  therefore, 
whenever  it  is  a  question  between  starvation  and  antisepsis  the  latter 
is  preferable.  Such  an  emergency,  however,  in  the  present  consti- 
tution of  the  world  is  a  very  remote  one.  The  methods  of  trans- 
portation are  now  of  such  a  character  that  if  by  some  misfortune 
the  supply  of  food  should  fall  short  in  any  locality,  it  is  easily  and 
quickly  supplied  from  other  more  favored  localities.  The  methods 
of  the  sterilization  of  food  products  by  heat  have  now  reached  such 
perfection  that  all  substances  which  are  not  rendered  unsuitable  for 
consumption  by  the  application  of  heat  can  be  easily  preseived 
thereby ;  that  is,  vegetables,  cooked  fruits,  cooked  meats,  fish,  oys- 
ters, etc.,  are  easily  and  perfectly  sterilized  and  in  this  state  will 
keep  in  edible  condition  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time. 
Without  dwelling  too  long  on  a  process  so  well  known  as  steriliza- 
tion, I  may  pass  to  the  utilization  of  a  low  temperature  for  the 
preservation  of  such  food  products  as  are  not  suitable  for  sterilization 
by  heat.  The  magnitude  of  the  cold  storage  industry  has  vastly 
increased  in  the  past  few  years  and  its  technique  been  very  much 
improved.  There  are  certain  food  products  which  actually  improve 
for  a  certain  time  in  cold  storage,  such  as  fruits,  meats,  poultry  and 
game.  There  are  other  food  products  which  are  not  improved  by 
cold  storage,  but  which  are  kept  in  reasonably  good  condition  for  a 
limited  time  therein,  namely,  eggs,  fish,  butter,  etc.  While  there 
are  often  temptations  to  keep  food  products  too  long  in  cold  storage, 
its  immense  utility  in  the  proper  preservation  of  foods  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of. 
