222 
Use  of  Preservatives  in  Foods. 
A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1906. 
IS  THE  USE  OF  FOOD  PRESERVATIVES  JUSTIFIABLE? 
By  Horatio  C.  Wood,  Jr., 
Demonstrator  of  Pharmacodynamics,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
There  are  two  sides  to  most  questions,  and  before  we  make  a 
judgment  in  the  case  of  "The  People  versus  the  Food-Preserva- 
tives "  we  should  hear  the  side  of  the  defendant.  Under  the  condi- 
tions of  modern  civilization  it  is  frequently  necessary  to  transport 
perishable  food  long  distances  between  the  farmer  and  the  city 
consumer,  and  it  is  urged  that  the  use  of  antiseptics  makes  it  pos- 
sible to  accomplish  this  without  the  food  undergoing  such  putrefac- 
tive changes  as  would  render  it  unfit  for  nutriment.  There  can  be 
no  doubt,  of  course,  that  decayed  food  is  unwholesome  and  any 
means  of  preventing  decomposition  which  is  not  of  itself  deleterious 
to  the  health  is  certainly  to  be  most  eagerly  welcomed  by  every 
one ;  but  when  an  extraneous  substance  is  added  to  a  food-stuff  the 
burden  of  proof  as  to  its  innocuousness  rests  on  the  innovator. 
Leaving  aside  for  the  moment,  however,  the  question  of  the  pos- 
sible harmfulness  of  antiseptics,  there  is  one  point  to  which  I  wish 
to  call  attention,  and  that  is  the  illogical  position  which  is  taken  by 
the  advocates  of  food-preservatives,  who  are  mostly  persons  finan- 
cially interested  in  their  use.  If  the  users  of  these  embalming 
fluids  are  so  firmly  convinced,  as  they  claim  to  be,  that  more  whole- 
some food  can  be  furnished  by  the  use  of  disinfectants,  why  are  they 
so  actively  opposed  to  letting  the  world  know  that  they  employ 
them  ?  If  I  make  a  pair  of  shoes  in  which  a  new  process  of  tanning 
is  employed  that  I  am  convinced  gives  a  better  grade  of  leather  than 
any  other  process,  I  certainly  should  not  attempt  to  hide  the  fact  of 
this  innovation  but  should  lay  stress  upon  it  as  a  recommendation  of 
my  wares.  Whenever  we  see  a  business  making  vigorous  efforts  to 
prevent  publicity  of  its  methods  the  words  of  the  great  Teacher  are 
bound  to  come  to  our  minds,  that  "  men  love  darkness  rather  than 
light  because  their  deeds  are  evil."  There  is  to  my  mind  no  more 
convincing  argument  against  the  use  of  lood-preservatives  than  the 
opposition  of  their  advocates  to  such  a  legislative  measure  as  the 
Heyburn  Bill,  now  before  the  United  States  Congress. 
The  statement  has  been  made  and  repeated  that  it  is  impossible 
to  produce  wholesomely  pure  food  without  the  use  of  antiseptics; 
but  this  is  mere  buncombe.    The  housewife  does  not  require  a  bac- 
