Am.  Jour.  Pharru. 
June,  1909. 
Food  and  Drug  Adulteration. 
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their  labors  laid  the  foundations  for  many  of  our  modern  sciences, 
the  use  of  meaningless  expressions  and  the  clothing  of  ideas  in 
language  which  was  unintelligible  to  the  masses  and  often  probably 
to  the  writer  himself  was  considered  a  mark  of  erudition.  There 
are  some  arts  which  are  not  to  be  considered  lost.  Some  manu- 
facturers emulate  this  characteristic  of  the  alchemists  with  a  similar 
end  in  view — to  confuse  and  befool  the  masses.  The  use  of  lan- 
guage which  is  within  the  letter  of  the  law  as  to  its  applicability, 
and  yet  which  is  obscure  to  a  large  proportion  of  purchasers,  is 
frequently  seen.  The  use  of  the  word  "  artificial  "  for  "  imitation  " 
or  "  substitute  "  is  a  case  in  point,  as  is  also  the  use  of  the  word 
"  simulated  "  for  "  imitated."  One  instance  recently  came  under 
my  observation  where  a  bottle  of  lime  juice  was  labelled  to  the 
effect  that  "each  reputed  pint"  contained  a  certain  amount  of 
preservative.  The  capacity  of  the  bottle  was  found  to  be  about 
eleven  and  one-half  ounces,  or  less  than  three-quarters  of  a  pint. 
The  laws  covering  the  misbranding  of  products  are  so  well 
enforced  that  deliberate  misstatements  are  now  confined  to  bill 
board  and  newspaper  advertisements,  and  obscurity  is  relied  upon 
to  keep  the  purchaser  in  ignorance  so  far  as  the  label  is  concerned. 
The  average  housewife  has  not  yet  acquired  the  habit  of  closely 
scrutinizing  the  labels  of  the  foods  she  buys,  or  of  discriminating 
between  the  foods  which  are  pure  and  those  which  have  been 
debased  by  the  addition  of  some  cheaper  material.  If  half  the 
interest  were  displayed  in  intelligently  selecting  foods  of  unques- 
tioned quality  as  is  shown  in  buying  dress  goods,  ribbons,  and 
laces,  many  manufacturers  would  either  have  to  improve  the  quality 
of  their  goods  or  go  out  of  business. 
When  these  facts  are  once  properly  realized  by  the  public 
whose  health  is  at  stake,  and  when  proper  education  is  disseminated 
as  to  the  necessity  of  carefully  criticizing  every  label  of  every 
article  purchased,  there  will  be  a  fulfilment  of  the  expectations 
held  forth  in  our  modern  food  and  drug  legislation. 
