preservatives on account of excessive quantities having been administered medicinally to invalids. Let us look critically and honestly at the latest report of an assumed poisonous action of borax. In the Lancet of August 10, 1907, page 369, we read: "A fortnight after birth the child developed thrush, for which borax and honey were applied. The child seemed to be relieved of the thrush by this remedy and developed such a liking for it that it was applied most liberally, from two to three four-drachm boxes having been used every week from the second to the eighth week." The article states that the child wasted away, and that there was no cause for the wasting and rash except the borax, of which the child had abouť 10 grains every day for six weeks. I do not wish to seem to advocate the administration of borax in this amount to an infant of two to eight weeks, but even with its use does the evidence establish the fact that it acted injuriously? The existing condition of thrush shows that the child was ill before the administration of borax. What was responsible for that? Was the child suffering from a catarrhal stomatitis, perhaps as a result of improper feeding, or was the thrush due to want of cleanliness of the mouth? In the latter event, is it not quite as just to maintain that the child wasted away because of a condition that might have been prevented by the proper use of a solution of borax for keeping the mouth clean? If so, it was the lack of borax before the disease, and not its use afterwards, that was the cause, so far as the borax is concerned; at least, there are two points of view in the matter. If injury was caused by the medicinal application containing borax, may not the honey. have been at fault rather than the borax? In speaking of honey, Harrington, in Practical Hygiene, page 166, says: “Honey from the flowers of the yellow jasmine has been known to produce serious and even fatal results." Diet in Health and Disease, Friedenwald and Ruhrah, page 188: "Honey may contain poison. Plugge found that the honey from the Rhododendron ponticum is poisonous, and Xenophon, in his Anabasis, describes attacks of intoxication due to eating honey. Although death seemed near, none of his soldiers were killed by it. Strabbo and Dioscorides both speak of honey as producing madness or melancholia. * The honey from gelsemium is also poisonous. In Branchville, S. C., twenty persons were made ill and three died from eating honey dereived from this source. In New Zealand honey from the whauriki,' a cress-like plant, causes severe symptoms and sometimes death." * * When the poisonous effects of honey are so well known, was it wise to feed a two-weeks-old infant comparatively all the borax and honey it could swallow, and was it right to conclude that borax was the agent that caused the illness? I believe that there is no more authentic evidence than this of boron-preserved foods ever having caused disease in persons because of the boron present. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that there is a vital necessity for the proper preservation of perishable articles of food. According to the press reports there have been, during the past nine months, over 4,700 cases of ptomaine poisoning in the United States, 119 of which were fatal. There have doubtless been many more that were not reported by the press. All such cases were preventable by proper hygienic measures. Under the above circumstances, is it just to condemn modern methods of preserving food upon what, at most, is uncertain evidence? I sincerely trust, gentlemen, you will carefully consider the above facts, and realize that food which poisoned thousands of our fellow beings is not pure food, and that it deteriorated and became impure and poisonous owing to the fact that it was not preserved; and, further, that a judicious use of boron compounds will protect the lives and health of the public by keeping food in a sweet, healthful, hygienic condition. The above facts should appeal to you so forcibly that you will at once realize the value, necessity, and innocence of boron compounds when used for the preservation of food. The following committees on recommendations of referees were appointed by the president: Committee A.-R. J. Davidson; Harry Snyder; H. D. Haskins. The convention adjourned to meet at 9.30 Thursday morning. SECOND DAY. THURSDAY-MORNING SESSION. At the opening of the session the following papers were presented, which, together with the report of the associate referee on the determination of water in foods, completed the subject of food adulteration. Mr. C. B. Cochran submitted an outline of the classification of coaltar colors to serve as a basis for future investigations, with the idea that, if possible, a committee be appointed to assist in the prosecution of such an investigation. In this connection the following paper by Mr. Cochran is also submitted: THE ACTION OF SODIUM BISULPHITE REAGENT ON CERTAIN COAL-TAR COLORS. By C. B. COCHRAN. The sodium bisulphite reagent is made by saturating a 5 per cent solution of sodium hydroxid with sulphur dioxid. It is therefore a solution of NaHSO+H2SO. This reagent added to a water solution of any of the following coal-tar colors, decolorizes the solution, and on heating the color reappears but disappears again on cooling. The heating and cooling may be repeated many times and each time the color will reappear in the solution while hot. Acid magenta (A) S. and J. 462. Fuchsin (A) S. and J. 448. Methyl violet (Grübler) S. and J. 451. Ethyl violet (Grübler) S. and J. 453. Guinea violet 4B (A).· Ethyl green (A) S. and J. 428. Guinea green B (A). Chrome green S. and J. 443. Acid green (Grübler) S. and J. 435. Malachite green (Grübler). Turquoise blue BB. Acridin red (Grübler). The references to Schultz and Julius are taken from the 1904 edition. (A) indicates the Berlin Aniline Company. With the exception of acridin red, all the colors in this list belong to Group X of Schultz and Julius which comprises the triphenyl methane and diphenylnaphthyl methane coloring matters. The list is taken from about two hundred colors examined and includes all those which were found to exhibit the peculiar behavior with sodium bisulphite reagent which has been briefly described. The only color of Group X thus far examined which has shown a different behavior with sodium bisulphite reagent is China blue (Grübler) S. and J. 480. This color is readily bleached, but the color does not seem to return on heating. The results of the experiments made with these colors proved that the temperature at which the decolorized solution began to show a return of the color depended on the amount of sodium bisulphite reagent used. It was also found that, in many cases at least, if this reagent was added in considerable excess of the amount required to bleach the solution, no color would return even on heating to the boiling point. The following description of the results of some of the experiments made on two of the colors will illustrate in a general way the behavior of the abovenamed coal-tar colors when treated with this reagent: Acid magenta (A).—A solution of this color was made of such a depth that printed letters one-eighth of an inch long could just be distinguished in strong daylight through a layer of 5 inches. Experiment I: To 5 cc of this solution was added 1 cc of sodium bisulphite reagent. The solution was decolorized within a few seconds. On heating to the boiling point only a faint color returned, which quickly disappeared on cooling. Experiment II: To 5 cc of solution 0.5 cc of the reagent was added. The color disappeared in two or three minutes. On heating to the boiling point a deep color returned, which disappeared at 50° C. Acridin red (Grübler).—The solution used was made of the same depth as in the case of acid magenta. Experiment I: To 5 cc of solution 1 cc of reagent was added. The color disappeared at once. Only a faint color returned on heating to the boiling point. Experiment II: To 10 cc of the solution 0.1 cc reagent was added. The color disappeared in one minute, but returned in its original intensity on heating to the boiling point and did not entirely disappear until the solution was cooled to 27° C. Ethyl green (A).—This color is very easily bleached, and if a great excess of the reagent is used no color returns even on heating to the boiling point and continuing the heat for some time. When only a slight excess of the reagent is present a strong green color returns on heating to 60° C., which gradually disappears as the solution cools. The temperature at which the color finally disappears from heated solutions of any of the colors given in the list depends on the rate of cooling. If cooled slowly the color will disappear at a much higher temperature than if cooled rapidly. With the majority of the colors given in this list, a solution of sulphur dioxid in water will produce results similar to those obtained with the sodium bisulphite reagent. However, in working with a large number of coal-tar colors the latter reagent was found to give distinctive reactions in a larger number of cases than the sulphur dioxid solution. Preference was therefore given to the bisulphite solution as a reagent for general use. THE DETERMINATION OF MOISTURE IN SIRUPS AND MOLASSES. By W. D. HORNE. The correct determination of water in sirups and molasses is very important both from the technical and the legal point of view-first, because this alone enables one to determine the true purity of the solution, and, secondly, because a sirup is defined by law as a solution containing not more than 25 per cent of water. Various methods have been proposed for determining the water, but difficulties have been met with in all of them. Undiluted sirups dry slowly and frequently incompletely, necessitating prolonged heating or high temperatures, both of which tend to decompose organic matter. To dilute and mix with sand, pumice, etc., solves this difficulty only partly. Vacuum drying is not always convenient. It necessitates elaborate apparatus and is often rather slow. The importance of finding a simple, quick, and accurate method for making this determination is apparent, and a very satisfactory procedure, gradually evolved by the writer in the course of many years of experimenting, is offered for the consideration of the association. The method reads as follows: One gram of molasses is weighed into a flat-bottomed dish 3 inches wide and about 0.5 inch deep and containing a glass rod. About 0.8 cc of water is well mixed with the molasses and then about 30 grams of dry quartz sand, previously extracted with hydrochloric acid, is exactly weighed and added to the diluted molasses. The dish is placed on an open boiling water bath and stirred carefully and frequently during half an hour. This causes the free evaporation of about nine-tenths of the water at a moderate temperature. The dish is next placed in a water-jacketed air bath, where it is heated at the temperature of boiling water for two hours. After cooling it is weighed and reheated for one-hour intervals until the weight is constant. This very easy method, requiring only the simplest devices and manipulations, gives, in from two to four hours, constant results that agree closely with determinations effected in partial vacuo during longer heating periods and under the influence of a fine stream of air dried by sulphuric acid. The method has been employed on refinery molasses for several years with great satisfaction. In this work it is found that the degree Brix of the undiluted molasses plus the moisture determined as above amounts to 103.3 with great regularity, despite rather wide variations in the percentage of ash in the sirups. Mr. Tolman submitted by title a report entitled "A study of the changes taking place in whisky stored in wood," by C. A. Crampton and himself. This report covers an investigation of eight years' duration conducted in the laboratory of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and is published in full in the Journal of the American Chemical Society for January, 1908, page 98. The conclusions reached are as follows: (1) There are important relationships among the acids, esters, color, and solids in a properly aged whisky, which will differentiate it from artificial mixtures and from young spirit. (2) All the constituents are undergoing changes as the aging process proceeds, and it is evident that the matured whisky is the result of these combined changes. (3) The amount of higher alcohols increases in the matured whisky only in proportion to the concentration. (4) Acids and esters reach an equilibrum, which is maintained after about three or four years. (5) The characteristic aroma of American whisky is derived almost entirely from the charred package in which it is aged. (6) The rye whiskies show a higher content of solids, acids, esters, etc., than do the Bourbon whiskies, but this is explained by the fact that heated warehouses are almost universally used for the maturing of rye whiskies, and unheated warehouses for the maturing of Bourbon whiskies. (7) The improvement in flavor of whiskies stored in charred packages after the fourth year is due largely to concentration. (8) The oily appearance of a matured whisky is due to material extracted from the charred package, as this appearance is almost lacking in whiskies aged in uncharred wood. (9) The "body" of a whisky, so called, is due largely to the solids extracted from the wood. |