8 12  Alleged  Food  Value  of  Saccharin.  {AnJ™te*h?w 
view  which  have  already  been  advanced,  notably  by  Becht 3  He 
remarks  that  since  the  catalytic  power  of  the  blood  varies  between 
enormously  wide  limits  under  the  same  conditions,  it  is  unlikely  that 
the  catalases  are  important  and  that  the  measurement  of  them  can 
explain  "  the  mysteries  of  the  processes  of  oxidation."  One  of  the 
factors  particularly  advanced  by  Burge  in  support  of  his  theory  was 
the  asserted  increase  in  catalase  noted  as  the  accompaniment  of 
features  known  to  promote  metabolism.  Stehle4  has  repeated  the 
studies  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  School  of  Medicine  with- 
out rinding  the  parallelism  on  which  the  catalase  theory  of  metabol- 
ism is  based.  He  observed  that  the  fluctuations  in  the  catalase  con- 
tent of  the  blood  are  due  to  variations  in  the  number  of  red  calls. 
Consequently,  Stehle  notes,  it  is  simpler  to  regard  the  catalase  con- 
tent as  dependent  on  the  number  of  erythrocytes  than  to  assume  any 
direct  relation  between  catalase  and  biologic  oxidations.  Among 
other  compounds,  Burge  has  ascribed  to  saccharin  the  property  of 
increasing  the  catalase  content  of  the  blood.5  Correlating  this  with 
an  increase  in  metabolism,  he  concluded  that  saccharin  exhibits  ad- 
vantages characteristic  of  foods  that  are  known  to  augment  metabol- 
ism. Despite  the  fact  that  the  doses  used  by  Burge  in  his  experi- 
ments amounted  to  5  gni.  per  kilogram  of  body  weight  and  thus  far 
exceeded  any  dietetically  significant  quantities,  his  seeming  approval 
of  the  effect  of  these  enormous  doses  of  saccharin  was  promptly 
made  use  of  by  certain  advertisers  to  promote  the  use  of  this  chem- 
ical substance  in  the  diet.  Stehle4  has  disposed  of  the  assumed 
basis  for  this  undesirable  propaganda  by  what  amounts  essentially 
to  a  denial  of  the  claims  made.  The  advocacy  of  saccharin  as  a 
food  can  no  longer  pose  in  the  garb  of  scientific  proof. 
3  Becht,  F.  C. :  "  Observations  on  the  Catalytic  Power  of  Blood  and 
Solid  Tissue,"  Am.  J.  Physiol.,  48  :  171  (March),  1919. 
4  Stehle,  R.  L. :  "  Some  Data  Concerning  the  Alleged  Relation  of  Catalase 
for  Animal  Oxidations,"  /.  Biol.  Chem.,  39:  403  (Sept.),  1919. 
5  Burge,  W.  E. :  "  Saccharin  for  Sugar,"  Science,  New  York,  48:  549,  1918. 
