268 
Food  and  Drug  Adulteration. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t       June,  1909. 
FOOD  AND  DRUG  ADULTERATION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN 
THE  PREVENTION  AND  CURE  OF  TUBERCULOSIS  * 
By  Charles  H.  La  Wall,  Ph.M., 
Associate  Professor  of  Pharmacy  at  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy, 
and  Chemist  of  the  Pennsylvania  Dairy  and  Food  Department. 
I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words  this  evening-  upon  a 
subject  which  a  few  years  ago  would  not  have  been  considered  as 
a  factor  in  the  prevention  and  cure  of  tuberculosis.  It  is  recognized 
at  the  present  time,  however,  that  no  greater  factor  exists  than  that 
which  takes  into  account  the  quality,  nutritive  value,  and  palatability 
of  the  food  which  we  eat.  The  recent  advancement  in  what  is  now 
known  as  preventive  medicine  is  due  to  a  recognition  of  conditions 
of  the  human  organism  which  in  a  state  of  health  is  enabled  to  ward 
off  attacks  of  certain  diseases  by  virtue  of  the  activity  of  particular 
cells  in  the  blood,  known  as  white  corpuscles  or  phagocytes.  The 
duty  of  these  cells  is  to  destroy  all  invading  germs,  and  the  health 
of  the  individual  and  his  capability  of  resisting  disease  are  found 
to  be  directly  proportional  to  the  activity  of  these  minute  cells, 
which  have  appropriately  been  termed  the  li  policemen  of  the  blood," 
on  account  of  the  manner  in  which  they  attack  and  destroy  the 
harmful  germs. 
As  the  activity  of  these  important  cells  is  directly  proportional 
to  the  state  of  health  of  the  body,  and  as  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant functions  of  food  is  to  furnish  the  tissues  with  a  supply  of 
healthy  blood,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  influence  of  nourishing  food 
in  proper  amounts  as  a  factor  in  warding  off  impending  disease, 
as  well  as  in  aiding  in  the  recovery  from  disease  which  has  already 
obtained  a  foothold,  is  not  to  be  underestimated.  It  therefore 
logically  follows  that  food  products  which  have  been  debased  in 
any  way,  either  by  the  substitution  of  inferior  materials  or  the 
addition  of  preservatives  that  retard  or  destroy  the  activity  of 
certain  bodily  functions,  more  particularly  the  digestive  processes, 
are  detrimental  to  the  health  and  normal  condition  of  the  individual 
and  are  therefore  to  be  suppressed  as  far  as  possible. 
Medical  science  has  made  such  rapid  strides  in  the  perfection 
of  precise  methods  of  diagnosis  and  recognition  of  abnormal  con- 
*  An  address  delivered  at  the  International  Tuberculosis  Exhibition  at 
Philadelphia,  1909. 
