tion. The city of Burlington has a special ordinance regarding the examination of milk, but it is not enforced.

OYSTERS.

The practice of adding boric acid to oysters has been carried on in other states, but the few samples that we examined were mostly pure. There is no excuse for adding preservatives to such goods and especially in our cold climate. It is done to save ice and to allow careless handling of the goods.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.

No goods of this kind have been examined under the direction of the health officers, but we have examined many (ninety) for the various license commissioners and of this number only very few conform strictly to the United States pharmacopoeia standard which the license law calls for. This is a very high standard and is higher than the provisional standard set by the A. A. O. C., which we should use for our food work. Adulteration of distilled liquors in most cases is done by watering them, and from the health and temperance point of view this is not harmful but quite the reverse. But from the economic side, deception is practiced. In this age of rush, most of the distilled liquors are blended with glycerine or sugar to take away the raw taste and to conceal the age.

Beers and ales and malt liquors are sometimes preserved, which is against our law. This covers the principle articles that we have examined and I hope that it has shown what we have done for a beginning. We have made a start towards pure food and our lack of funds must be partly made up by the enthusiasm of our friends, and to this end I would ask for the cooperation of all, the dealers, the grocers, the health officers, and consumers, that we may bring about the education of the people and the correct labelling of the food products sold in Vermont.

H. L. White.

The subject of food is one in which we are all interested. Every man is supposed to be more or less interested, and I suppose the ladies are, too. We can get along with cerebro-spinal meningitis, but we are not able to get along very well for a long time without food, and pure foods and the discussion of pure foods, is one which is of great importance, not only in the state, but in the country at large. In a few minutes I wish to call your attention to the physiological side of the question. I will not devote much time to those things which are in themselves perfectly harmless-as water, salt, vinegar, starch and spices-those things we accept as doing no harm, and don't call for any attention except from the standpoint of fraud.

The second question is in regard to coloring substances-and there is a great deal of discussion throughout the country regarding the harmfulness

or harmlessness of coloring substances. It is claimed by many that in the amount in which they are used they are practically harmless. There is no question but that certain ones are harmless. But we do know this: that a great many of the coloring substances are closely related to creosote and carbolic acid, which are chemically very much alike. It would seem as though a coloring substance which ranks pretty close to creosote and carbolic acid might not be exactly harmless. This fact is recognized by the National Confectionery Association, and they have published a list of coloring substances that are considered harmful, and all members of the Association are forbidden to use any of the coloring substances named in that list. Now, in regard to preservatives, which is the third class: The use of preservatives is seemingly on the increase throughout the country, and it is thought by manufacturers that it is necessary to put just a little bit of preservative of some sort into food products. Going about into some of our slaughter houses I have noticed on the shelves cartons of boric acid, and I find that the butchers are in the habit of using it in the meats. We find that at the present time our products of all kinds have some sort of a preservative added to them-even to things which ought to preserve themselves -in other words, that the use of these preservatives is rather general, and the amount used is considerable. I have taken some figures here, which show something of the extent to which coloring matters and preservatives are used, for instance:

The State of Massachusetts for the year ending September 30, 1903, condemned 17 samples of vinegar, artificially colored; 25 jellies,-jellies not only colored, but preserved,-some were colored, and some preserved, and some were both; 6 samples of lemon extract; 6 samples of grape juice; 3 of cider, and quite a good many of milk and cream. In this country-in this state, at least-we don't estimate the amount of preservatives, but in Great Britain they do estimate in each sample of preserved foods the amount of preservative. Here are some of the results:

In a pint of milk, from 6 to 10 grains of boric acid; from 50 to 90 grains per pound in butter; orange wine, from 6 to 26 grains of salicylic acid.

All through this country, and all other countries as well, there are certain preservatives which are recognized as being harmless-having been used for a long time-such as salt, sugar, spices, smoke, and vinegar, and are perfectly harmless. They are the older and the common preservatives. There is a new class coming into the market, and their harmlessness is questioned: Salicylic acid, benzoic acid, formaldehyde, boric acid, borax and sodium sulfite; these are the principal ones which are coming into use in such an alarming degree. I have taken pains to look into this matter, and I find that there is a great difference of opinion in regard to the use of these preservatives and coloring substances. The manufacturers claimed that in the amounts in which these preservatives and coloring matters are used they are perfectly harmless; that the people want the colored food-it looks better, and that they are willing to eat two or three kinds of preservatives to get that appearance. They claim, in regard to preservatives

that no one has as yet proven absolutely that it is harmful, and that they think it is better to use preservatives than to eat spoiled food.

Now, in regard to the physiological phase of this coloring matter: It has been gotten at in three different ways. The best work along this line was by the Dakota state chemist, and which was reported at St. Louis. Taking test tubes and putting into them a composition, then adding coloring matter; first he took the best quality of dyes which he could find and judged of their effect by the length of time which the digestion was delayed. In some cases the digestion was delayed from 6 to 25 minutes. Then he repeated the experiment, taking commercial dyes, and found that digestion was delayed from 6 to 40 minutes.

Now, in regard to preservatives: The action of preservatives has been investigated by artificial digestion to some extent. The best known experiments are those by Dr. Wiley, to ascertain the effects of boric acid. He took a certain number of men and gave each day, a quantity of boric acid, for periods ranging from ten days to six months. These men were in good health, and were examined by a physician every day. They were given an amount varying from 71⁄2 to 60 grains of boric acid per day. This treatment extended, as I said before, from ten days to six months, and he found that by giving 71⁄2 grains for a considerable length of time did not affect all alike; some were affected in a slight degree with headache. When he increased the amount to about 40 grains per day, there was trouble at once. A dull, persistent headache and general discomfort. When he increased the dose to 60 grains per day, a great many had to drop out of the experiment.

It all goes to show that small quantities of boric acid, given for long periods of time, while it might not cause disturbance in all persons, will affect some. Larger quantities for a short time have a greater influence; and in the experiment above mentioned about 80 per cent of the men feeling the effect of the treatment and being affected in various degrees.

Another preservative, used to a considerable extent, is sulfite of soda, and that is used to quite an extent in hamburg steak, giving to it a nice red appearance, which seems to the consumer a sure index to its freshness.

While there has not been much work done in this line, Dr. Harrington fed this also to animals. He took six kittens and experimented on them for five months. Five of them were fed on meat which contained this preservative. At the end of the five months the kittens were killed; the kidneys of the five kittens which were fed with the meat containing sulfite of soda were highly congested, while the kidneys of the sixth kitten were normal in appearance.

It

In regard to formaldehyde and its action upon the human economy: is the experience of numerous investigators that its harmfulness lies in the fact that it causes considerable delay in the time of digestion; and its action upon food materials, particularly upon meats and upon the proteids in milk, is to render these proteids insoluble, and being insoluble they are acted upon with difficulty by the digestive ferments.

In summing up this matter as I have found it, I understand there are

three ways in which the various coloring matters and preservatives affect the human machinery:

First, there is delay in the time of digestion-I don't know whether it is hurtful or not, but certainly many of these things do delay the process. Second, there is quite often irritation of the stomach and intestinal tract, and undoubtedly many of our mild forms of indigestion may be attributed to this. Third, there is certainly irritation of the kidneys.

Those three things seem to be what is discovered so far in the use of our coloring matters and preservatives.

Dr. Holton.

These gentlemen seem to have covered the ground pretty thoroughly in regard to the work. It has devolved upon the State Board of Health, and incidentally upon the health officers, to collect specimens for examination. The legislature did not make any appropriation for paying for the samples collected, hence we have exercised great care, lest we exceed our ordinary expenses. That is the reason why you have not been asked to collect samples— we have no money to pay for doing it. Most of the samples have been collected for the Laboratory under the direction of the State Board of Health or members of the State Board themselves. We have, in a few instances, asked the health officers to collect samples of maple sugar.

We have had several letters from manufacturers of different products, who say, "We do not quite understand your law, but we should be very happy to send you some of our product for examination." We invariably say we are obliged to them, but we want to buy in the open market, so there will be no question as to what the public are buying.

The harmlessness of certain adulterations was touched upon by Mr. Moat. In the matter of wine or other stimulants; in case of sickness you buy a pint of brandy and you get half water; you are not getting anything that hurts you, but you are paying for something that you do not get, and that is not right. Every consumer has a right to know what he is buying; he should not be made to buy what he does not want. One firm manufactures extract of lemon; they are using a washed oil of lemon, and they want to know if they cannot label it "pure extract of lemon" because it has nothing deleterious in it. Our reply is: "You must put on your label just what it contains; you cannot label it 'pure' when it is not pure."

Manufacturers of various things, from other states, write, inquiring about the law, a copy of which is always sent them. One firm to whom three copies of the law had been sent at three different times afterwards professed that they did not know what the law was. Some want to discuss the harmlessness of their production, or what is being done in some other state. To all this there is but one reply, "If your goods are to be sold in Vermont, they must conform to Vermont law."

You have no idea how large is the volume of correspondence we receive upon these subjects. We hope the next legislature will make an appropriation for the carrying on of this work, in order that much more can be ac

complished. We have been told that certain ingredients could not be found in certain products by the best chemists. Evidently we have a chemist who can find what there is in these compounds. Keep in mind that adulteration, deleterious or otherwise, is included in the law. It is argued that as long as it does not do any harm to any one it does not make any difference. The people are paying for something they do not get, and that of course is simply fraud, and all these men want is to be able to put on a label which will cover up something. We have found that the manufacturers of Vermont are invariably desirous of doing what is right. Some send into the Laboratory, saying, "We have purposed to put this product on the market, and if it is not according to the law, we do not want to put it out upon the market for our home people." We go on the principle that the local dealer or grocer does not want to sell anything that is not right, hence in our report of examinations made we say: "We have this specimen of bought of 'Blank,' which is manufactured by which does not come up to the requirements of the law. Now we do not think you want to sell anything that is not right." Hence we do not prosecute that dealer, but if he continues to sell, we shall have to prosecute him for selling adulterated goods; there is nothing left for us to do, under the law. And here comes up a question: A large number of baking powders have been condemned by our examination; the grocer has bought them; will he have to throw them away? He cannot sell them. The manufacturers say: "Don't you think it is rather hard on the grocers of Vermont; don't you think you ought to make an exception and allow them to sell out what stock they have on hand?"

How shall we know when he has sold the stock out? We might get samples next January, the same as last January, and when we ask him about it, he would say, "My old stock is not yet exhausted." How are we to know when his stock is gone. The way to do is to send them back to the manufacturer, and say: "You sold me these goods for the real thing; I bought them for pure goods. It was fraud on your part in selling them to me, and you must replace these adulterated goods with such as meet the requirements of the law." Is not that right, as between man and man?

In the matter of maple sugar: I think two of the adulterated samples came from outside the state. They buy the pure maple sugar here in the state and ship it down to Boston, or somewhere in Massachusetts, and they adulterate it with various things; I understand a hundred gallons of pure maple syrup, when they get through, would be a thousand gallons. They put the labels back on the bottles, and some of it comes back into Vermont, and it sells for pure maple sugar. You cannot get hold of those dealers, they are not in the vicinity. We can have an understanding ̧with the Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York men. The makers of fraudulent goods do not want Congress to pass a pure food law. They have millions of dollars invested in the manufacture of these fraudulent goods, and they can exercise great influence; they can employ legal talent in making Congress believe that it is a pretty bad thing to pass such a law; they will