.^^^ 
 
 t^ 
 
 ''  ^.HEPARTMENT  OF  AQ^IC^^LTURE. 
 
 -_  ^  ijL^*i  ■:*  j^PiTlSIOX  OF  CHEMI^riiy; 
 BULLETIlSf' 
 
 ^,  '~r    ,     \  I!  i  I  (Np.  2S.- 
 
 A  POPULAR  TREA/;(1^:^] 
 
 ON  THE 
 
 EXTENT  AND  CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 FOOD  ADULTEKATIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEX.   J.   WEE>I>EHBURN, 
 
 SPECIAL  AGENT 
 
 I'L marsh  1.1)  MY  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SECRETA 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 rjOVERVMKNT     PRINT1N(}     OFFTTF 
 1890. 
 
J.  M.  RUSK, 
 
 f ' 
 
U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE. 
 
 DIVISION'   OF  GHEMISTKY. 
 BULLETIN  No.  25. 
 
 A  POPULAR  TREATISE 
 
 ox  THE 
 
 EXTENT  AND  ClIAUACTER 
 
 FOOD  ADULTEEATIOXS, 
 
 ALEX.   J.    WKDDKRBURN, 
 
 iSi'ECLVL  AGENT. 
 
 PUBLISHED  l{Y  Al'TIlMKITY  OF  TIIM  SECRETARY  OE  AURICULTURF. 
 
 AVASIIINGTOX: 
 GOVERNMENT   PRINTING  OFFICE. 
 
 1S!)(). 
 
PREFATORY    NOTE. 
 
 December  12,  1889. 
 Sir  :  I  have  the  lionor  to  submit  herewith  the  report  of  Mr.  A.  J. 
 Wedderburii,  special  agent  of  the  Department,  on  the  extent  and  charac- 
 ter of  food  adulterations. 
 
 The  object  of  the  present  bulletin  is  wholly  distinct  from  that  pursued 
 in  bulletin  No.  13.  The  investigations,  of  which  the  present  bulletin 
 is  the  result,  were  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  collating  in  popular 
 form  well-authenticated  facts  respecting  food  adulterations,  in  order  that 
 the  peoi)le  and  Congress  might  have,  at  least,  a  general  view  of  the  evil 
 which  it  is  hoped  Mr.  Wedderburu's  work  may  help  to  remove. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 H.  W.  Wiley, 
 
 Chemist, 
 Hon.  J.  M.  liusK, 
 
 Secretary, 
 
LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 
 
 AlexaisDKIA,  Va.,  Sepiemher  15,  1880. 
 Dr.  H.  W.  Wiley, 
 
 Chemist  of  the  IT.  S.  Dejmrtment  of  Agriculture  : 
 
 I  have  the  honor  to  trsmsmit  to  yoa  herewith  special  report  npou  the 
 Extent  of  Food  Adulterations,  a  work  to  which  I  was  dul}'  appointed 
 by  commission  from  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  March  5,  1880,  under 
 act  of  Congress  approved  March  2,  1880. 
 
 In  accordance  with  my  conception  of  the  duty  imposed  upon  me,  I 
 spent  the  greater  i)art  of  the  limited  time  at  my  disposal,  under  terms 
 of  my  commission,  in  gathering  together  important  evidence  in  regard 
 to  the  extent  and  character  of  food  adulterations,  such  information  being 
 derived  largely  from  the  work  of  the  various  State  sanitary  bodies, 
 official  reports,  documents,  and  discussions  upon  which  the  laws  of  the 
 different  States  w^ere  based,  the  laws  of  the  various  States  themselves, 
 and  the  expressions  of  numerous  scientific  men  on  this  subject.  In 
 preparing  a  report  from  the  mass  of  evidence  thus  collected  I  have  sub- 
 divided it  into  several  parts,  with  some  reference  to  the  various  sources 
 of  information  above  enumerated.  In  restricting  the  report  within  such 
 limits  as  would  make  it  available  for  those  for  whose  perusal  it  is  prin- 
 cipally intended,  I  have  necessarily  been  obliged  to  exclude  a  great  deal 
 of  valuable  matter  having  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  subject.  Enough 
 will  be  found,  however,  I  am  convinced,  in  the  pages  of  the  following 
 report  to  emi)hasize  in  the  strongest  manner  the  necessity  for  such  na- 
 tional legislation  as  was  sought  during  the  last  session  of  Congress  by 
 Messrs.  Conger  and  Laird  of  the  House  Committee  on  Agriculture,  as 
 exj)ressed  in  their  very  able  reports,  as  submitted  to  Congress  by  order 
 of  that  (;ommittee. 
 
 I  should  add  that  I  have  confined  myself  strictly  to  the  line  indicated 
 by  the  words  "  report  of  a  popular  character,"  expressed  in  the  com- 
 mission 1  liold,  and  have  avoided  infringing  in  any  degree  upon  the  sci- 
 entific work  so  capably  performed  by  the  division  under  your  charge 
 in  its  investigations  into  this  subject. 
 
 I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  very  respectfidly,  yours, 
 
 Alex.  ,].  Weddekjukn, 
 
 Sjyecial  Agent. 
 5 
 
CHARACTER  OF  FOOD  ADULTERATIONS. 
 
 Adulterations  are  of  two  kinds,  injurious  and  non-injurious  to  health. 
 Adulterations  non-injurious  to  health  may  be  subdivided  again  into 
 two  classes,  viz :  Those  that  are  simple  debasements  of  well-known  di- 
 etary articles  of  which  a  standard  exists,  by  which  to  test  them,  such 
 as  flour,  grain,  lard,  wine,  sugar,  etc.  The  second  subdivision  includes 
 such  articles  as  patent  medicines,  yeast-powders,  beer,  etc.,  and  presents 
 special  difficulties  to  the  investigator  from  the  lack  of  any  such  stand- 
 ard and  of  any  fixed  rules  to  govern  the  formulas.  The  investigations 
 of  the  writer  show,  as  will,  I  think,  be  conclusively  proved  by  the  evi- 
 dence adduced,  that  adulteration  of  our  food  products  is  generally  and 
 steadily  increasing.  That  most  of  these  adulterations  belong  to  the  sec- 
 ond class,  namely,  the  non-injurious  to  health,  is  a  cause  for  congratu- 
 lation, and  in  many  cases  of  adulteration  prejudicial  to  health,  the  use 
 of  such  adulterants  ought  to  be  charged  rather  to  ignorance  than  to 
 malice.  The  result  to  the  consumer,  however,  is  just  as  grievous,  and 
 calls  as  loudly  for  his  protection  from  deleterious  compounds  fraudu 
 lently  introduced  into  food,  drink,  and  drugs  as  though  he  were  the 
 victim  of  malice. 
 
 It  may  be  noted  here  that  among  the  most  poisonous  adnlterauts 
 in  use  are  those  used  to  color  and  cheapen  confectionery  and  liquors. 
 Now,  setting  aside  for  a  moment  the  consideration  of  this  most  grievous 
 sort  of  adulteration,  by  which  the  public  health  is  injured,  we  find  what 
 we  have  styled  "  non-injnrious  adulteration  "  so  common  that  estimates 
 as  to  the  amount  of  which  the  American  people  are  annually  defrauded 
 in  this  manner  are  simply  appalling.  Several  features  of  this  great 
 and  growing  evil  demand  special  consideration.  First,  this  fraud  bears 
 most  heavily  upon  the  uneducated  and  the  poor.  While  the  i)oor  man 
 is  compelled  to  patronize  cheap  stores,  and  in  his  struggle  for  existence 
 and  liis  endeavor  to  provide  the  qiianfifi/  necessary  to  snpply  the  daily 
 wants  of  himself  and  family,  is  driven  to  purchase  cheap  goods,  the 
 rich  man  can  to  a  certain  extent  protect  himself  by  confining  his  deal- 
 ings to  tlie  most  rei)utable  tradesman  and  paying  the  higlu^st  |>rices. 
 
 Again,  we  find  that  adulteration  of  many  of  our  food  ju-oducts  re- 
 sults in  cheapening  the  i)roduct  of  the  farm,  thus  lessening  the  i)rofits 
 of  the  husbandman,  and  robbing  both  consumer  aiul  i)ro(lucer.  It 
 must  not  be  forgotten,  too,  that  even  though   adulterated  with  mat- 
 
8 
 
 ter  not  positively  injurious  to  health,  such  food,  drugs,  or  liquors  can 
 not  be  as  nutritious  and  wholesome  as  the  pure  articles,  and  especially 
 importpnt  does  this  feature  of  adulteration  become  in  the  matter  of 
 drugs  used  to  prevent  or  cure  disease.  To  be  fed  on  debased  and  poi- 
 soned food,  tainted  or  diseased  meat,  until  the  body  sickens,  is  suiely 
 bad  enough,  without  the  etibrts  of  the  physician  to  prevent  or  allay  dis- 
 ease being  frustrated,  by  his  inability  to  secure  unadulterated  drugs  and 
 remedies  fitted  to  do  his  work. 
 
 OUR  EXPORT   TRADE. 
 
 Our  export  trade,  of  which  so  large  a  proportion  consists  of  agri- 
 cultural products,  is  also  suffering  from  the  same  cause,  and  here  again 
 a  heavy  burden  is  laid  upon  our  farmers.  With  the  total  of  American 
 exports  annually  in  the  neighborhood  of  $700,000,000  of  which  73  per 
 cent,  consists  of  agricultural  products,  the  force  of  these  observations  is 
 at  once  apparent.  AYehave  had  many  examples  of  the  alertness  with 
 which  European  governments  seize  every  excuse  for  excluding,  or  embar- 
 rassing American  exi)ort  trade,  while  England,  that  most  astute  of  all 
 governments,  is  putting  forth  herculean  efforts  to  develop  the  resources 
 of  its  own  colonies,  and  thus  greatly  increase  the  tremendous  competi- 
 tion against  which  our  farmers  have  to  contend.  It  may  not  be  amiss 
 to  call  attention  also  to  the  deplorable  eff'ect  of  this  general  system  of 
 adulteration  upon  the  morals  of  our  people.  Nothing  has  been,  in 
 recent  years,  more  startling  than  the  fact,  elicited  by  inquiry  and  inves- 
 tigation into  food  adulterations,  that  men  standing  well  commercially 
 and  socially,  who  would  scorn  apparently  to  do  a  dishonest  action, 
 frequently  inisbrand  their  ])roductions,  selling  articles  of  food  branded 
 as  pure,  which  they  know  to  be  impure.  This  fact  was  prominently 
 brought  out  during  the  lard  investigation,  when  the  heads  of  wealthy 
 and  leputable  firms  unhesitatingly  testified  to  the  fact  that  they  sold 
 compound  articles  of  food  branded  pure. 
 
 Other  reputable  firms,  while  disapi)roving  of  such  methods,  admitted 
 thei)racticcof  them,  claiming  that  unless  th«\v  adopted  the  methods  of  the 
 trade  they  would  be  driven  out  of  business  ;  and  one  of  the  strangest 
 sights  during  the  in\'estigation  referred  to,  was  that  of  a  dealer  i)raying 
 Congress  to  ena(;i  laws  which  would  compel  him  and  his  fellow-dealers 
 to  do  an  honest  business.  We  tind  that  in  other  countries,  notably  in 
 England,  all  the  i)(>wcr  of  the  law  is  invoked  to  ])revent  su(;h  practices, 
 wiiile  in  many  of  them  laws  have  been  ena(*ted,  directed  against  the 
 debased  hog  products  manufactured  in  this  country. 
 
 The  lard  investigation  brought  into  i)rominen(H^  another  ])roduct, 
 nanu'ly,  cotton-seed  oil,  as  a  com])aratively  new  vegetable  fat  for  culi- 
 nary purposes.  Most  anthiuities  assert  this  i>roduct  to  be  i)erfe(!tly 
 liarmless,  while  some  few  declare  it  to  be  injurious.  However  that  may 
 be,  it  is  shown  to  have  been  uschI  extensively  as  a  means  of  adulterating 
 both  l;ii<l  and  butler,  while  it  is  probably  sold  as  olive-oil  more  exten- 
 
9 
 
 sively  in  this  country  than  the  product  of  the  olive  itself.  It  is  now  to 
 be  fouud  on  the  market  as  a  pure  vegetable  fat,  and  shoukl  its  use  sub- 
 stantiate what  is  claimed  for  it,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not 
 become  one  of  the  most  valuable  products  of  the  cotton-plant. 
 
 COST   OF  ADULTERATION. 
 
 The  total  value  of  the  food  supply  consumed  in  the  United  States, 
 according  to  the  American  Grocer,  is,  at  a  low  estimate,  $4,500,000,000. 
 The  Grocer  estimates  that  2  per  cent,  of  this,  is  adulterated,  or 
 $90,000,000,  of  which  90  per  cent,  is  of  a  character  non-prejudicial  to 
 health  (this  is  exclusive  of  meats  and  milk).  Accept  for  the  sake  of 
 argument  this  statement,  and  the  result  shows  that  there  is  $9,000,000 
 worth  of  poisonous  food  products  put  annually  on  the  country,  and 
 $81,000,000  of  fraudulent  products.  This  immense  sum  of  money  is 
 slm])ly  stolen  from  the  people  each  year  by  men  who  coin  fortunes  by 
 cheating  the  consumers. 
 
 That  this  estimate  is  far  below  the  truth  none  can  doubt  for  a  mo- 
 ment, after  an  exahiination  of  the  very  able  reports  made  in  those 
 States  that  have  attempted  to  protect  their  citizens  against  tbis  crime 
 of  adulteration.  Take  the  very  conservative  estimate  of  Dr.  Abbott, 
 of  Massachusetts,  of  a  saving  of  5  per  cent,  to  the  people  in  the  in- 
 creased purity  of  food  products  (to  say  nothing  of  the  benefit  to  health 
 and  morals).  On  $1,500,000,000  the  annual  saving  to  the  country  would 
 be  the  immense  sum  of  $225,000,000.  There  is  undoubtedly  a  large 
 part  of  the  food  products  that  never  leaves  the  hand  of  the  producer, 
 and,  of  course,  this  is.not  adulterated;  and  again  the  wheat  and  corn 
 l)roduction  is  rarely  found  adulterated  in  this  country,  besides  which 
 there  are,  of  course,  many  articles  manipulated  and  sold  by  honest 
 nien  who  would  disdain  to  sell  their  goods  if  debased  or  misbranded. 
 Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this,  undoubtedly  the  percentage  of  adulteration, 
 sophistication,  and  misbranding,  largely  exceeds,  in  my  opinion,  5.i)er 
 cent,  of  the  whole,  and  I  am  confident  that  15  per  cent,  would  be  much 
 nearer  the  mark.  Such  an  estimate  would  give  the  startling  figures  of 
 loss  to  the  people  of  this  country  alone  of  $675,000,000  a  year. 
 
 (7ongr(^ssional  investigation  on  the  hog  product  of  lard  clearly  shows 
 tliat  my  estimate  is  rather  l)elo\v  than  above  the  mark". 
 
 THE   DEPARTMENT   WORK. 
 
 Tlie  Department  of  Agriculture  has  been  for  a  number  of  years  ex- 
 amining into  the  question  of  adulterations,  and  the  chief  of  the  chemical 
 division  has  ])r('])ai(Ml  an  extensive  n^port  upon  this  subject,  known  as 
 Bulletin  13  of  iiis  division,  of  which  Parts  1,  2,  '!,  4,  and  5  are  already 
 in  i)rint  and  deserve  more  attention  than  a  simple  reference.  It  would 
 be  well  for  (!ongiTssiiuMi  to  carefully  examine  these  reports,  and  they 
 will  see  that  miucIi  has  been  done  by  llie  Department  in  the  fause  of 
 lionest  manufacture  and  in  exposing  (lie  i)raetiees  of  the  adulterators. 
 
10 
 
 In  tbe  exposure  of  frauds  undertaken  in  Parts  2,  3,  and  4  of  Bulletin 
 13,  no  attempt  is  made  to  prove  that  all  adulterations  are  hurtful  and 
 injurious  to  health,  as  many  of  them  are  not.  The  great  trouble  lies  iu 
 the  fraudulent  practice  of  selling  a  cheapened  article  under  a  false  name 
 and  at  the  higher  price  of  a  pure  article,  thus  robbing  the  producer  of 
 the  non-adulterated  artfcle,  as  well  as  the  consumer  who  is  made  to  i)ay 
 for  what  he  does  not  want.  Doubtless  some  of  these  adulterations  are 
 due  to  thoughtlessness  and  ignorance. 
 
 THE  EXTENT   OF  ADULTERATION. 
 
 Every  article  of  food  is  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  subject  of 
 adulteration.  The  people  have  no  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  this 
 damaging  imposition  is  practiced  ;  from  the  cheapest  and  most  simple 
 article  of  diet  to  the  most  expensive  the  art  of  the  manipulator  has 
 been  applied.  The  inventive  genius  of  the  "American"  has  been  ex- 
 erted to  increase  the  food  supply,  undoubtedly  a  most  laudable  and 
 praiseworthy  undertaking ;  but  when  in  so  doing  the  manufacturer  goes 
 further,  and  in  selling  j-ou  pepper  forgets  to  add  to  t)ie  words  "Pure 
 Pepper,"  on  the  label,  the  words  "compounded  with  burnt  meal,  nuis- 
 tard,  cayenne,  buckwheat  hulls,  pepper  dust,  etc.,"  and  also  tries  to 
 obtain  the  price  of  a  pure  article,  he  degenerates  into  a  common  rogue. 
 
 Experience  proves  that  a  very  large  majority  of  the  harmless  adul- 
 terations are  used  to  increase  bulk  or  weight,  cheapen  the  article,  and 
 rob  the  consumer.  It  is  gratifying  to  know,  however,  that  our  manu- 
 facturers of  food  supplies  are  conscientious  enough  (in  most  cases)  to 
 abstain  from  poisoning,  even  if  they  do  steal. 
 
 In  the  course  of  this  investigation  I  have  visited  Boston,  New  York, 
 Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  and  have  met  with  a  number  of  gentle- 
 men, who  promptly  responded  to  my  request  for  information,  and  were 
 quite  ready  to  aid  in  so  important  a  work  as  the  exposure  of  the  frauds 
 perpetrated  against  the  lu^alth  and  commerce  of  the  country.  By  cor- 
 respondence and  in  personal  interviews  I  have  failed  to  find  a  single, 
 uninterested,  person  who  has  not  added  testimony  as  to  the  extent  of 
 adulterations,  denouncing  them  as  an  outrage  against  the  public  health 
 and  the  welfare  of  trade. 
 
 Such  unanin)ity  of  sentiment,  added  to  the  able  and  voluminous  re- 
 ports of  the  oflicers  of  those  States  which  have  undertaken  to  suppress 
 the  nefarious  practice,  proves  beyond  (juestion,  (1)  That  adulterations 
 exist  to  an  extent  that  threatens  every  species  of  food  supply.  (2) 
 That  while  these  adulterations  are  mainly  commercial  frauds,  j)racticed 
 by  unscrujjulous  manufacturers,  manipulators,  and  dealers  for  the  pur- 
 jmse  of  deceiving  their  customers  and  adding  to  their  gains,  yet  there 
 are  also,  to  an  alarming  extent,  ])ois()nous  adulterations  that  have,  in 
 many  cases,  not  only  imi)aired  the  health  of  the  consumer,  but  fre- 
 quently caused  death. 
 
11 
 
 NEED  FOU  NATIONAL  LEGISLATION. 
 
 All  of  the  State  officials  with  whom  I  have  consulted,  or  whose  works 
 I  have  read,  unite  in  asserting  that  State  legislation  alone,  can  not  pre- 
 vent adulteration,  sophistication,  and  misbranding  of  the  food  supply, 
 and  the  evils  that  exist  will  continue  until  the  Federal  Government 
 exerts  its  powerful  influence  to  put  down  these  frauds,  alike  injurious 
 to  health,  morals,  and  fair  trade. 
 
 The  writer,  desiring  to  present  the  case  in  as  clear  a  light  as  possi- 
 ble, and  within  reasonable  limits,  has  selected  from  the  mass  of  evi- 
 dence before  him  that  only  which  bears  the  unmistakable  stamp  of 
 reliability  and  authenticity,  and  not  nearly  all  of  that.  For  the  greater 
 convenience  of  the  reader,  the  work  is  divided  into  various  parts,  as 
 follows : 
 
 (1)  A  notice  of  the  work  done  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 
 
 (2)  Extracts  from  reports  of  various  State  authorities  and  sanitary 
 bodies. 
 
 (3)  The  necessity  for  inspection  of  animals  intended  for  food  both  be- 
 fore and  after  slaughter. 
 
 (4)  Public  opinion.  Extract?,  etc.,  together  with  a  list  of  adulter- 
 ants used  as  far  as  obtainable. 
 
 (5)  A  list  of  anti-adulteration  laws  and  where  to  be  found. 
 
 Unless  Congress  takes  steps  to  remedy  this  evil  of  debasing  and 
 adulterating  our  food  and  other  i)roducts  our  export  trade  is  certain  to 
 be  seriously  and  disastrously  affected,  and  among  the  many  important 
 matters  of  legislation,  that  the  next  Congress  will  be  required  to  act 
 upon,  there  will  be  none  more  important  than  that  of  legislation  for  the 
 prevention  of  food  adulteration  and  the  misbranding  of  food  i)roduct8. 
 
 The  bills  reported  to  the  Fiftieth  Congress  by  the  Agricultural  Com- 
 mittee cover  to  a  great  extent  the  question  of  live-stock  investigation, 
 and  as  this  question  has  been  coupled  with  the  other,  I  submit  a  paper 
 on  tills  subject  whi(;h  forcibly  presents  the  necessity  for  this  inspection. 
 
 No  legislation,  unsupported  by  public  opinion,  is  really  ettective,  hence 
 I  have  collected  and  submit  as  fair  an  expression  of  public  opinion  upon 
 this  question  as  space  and  time  would  permit.  Such  expressions  will 
 be  found  in  Part  4. 
 
 During  the  process  of  the  work  confided  to  me,  1  have  necessarily 
 accumulated  a  mass  of  evidence  from  the  i)rincipal  sources  already  in- 
 dicated, which  it  is  unnecessary  and  j)erhaps  useless  to  include  within  the 
 limits  of  this  rej)()rt.  It  has  been  necessary  to  confine  myself  to  that 
 which  in  my  judgment  seemed  to  be  sufiicient  to  clearly  i)n)ve  the 
 widcsi)read  existence  and  the  dangerous  tendency,  from  a  sanitary, 
 commercial,  and  also  from  a  moral  imint  of  view,  of  this  adulteration  and 
 debasing  of  the  food  and  drink  supply  of  the  entire  country,  as  well  as 
 of  medical  and  remedial  agents.  The  writer,  however,  is  impelled  to 
 state  before  presenting  his  conclusions,  from  the  evidence  in  his  jmsses- 
 
12 
 
 siou,  that  it  has  been  a  matter  of  no  little  difficulty  to  confine  himself 
 strictly,  in  making  this  report,  to  the  judicial  and  impartial  terms  which 
 itscharacter  seemed  to  require.  It  would  be  quite  impossible,  for  the  most 
 conservative  and  moderate  of  men,  to  go  through  the  evidence  perused  by 
 him  during  the  past  few  months,  without  being  frequently  provoked  to 
 almost  uncontrollable  expressions  of  reprobation,  at  the  overwhelming 
 evidence  of  fraud,  on  the  part  of  ])ersons  enjoying  no  little  degree  of 
 social  and  commercial  prestige  among  their  neighbors.  A  reckless  dis- 
 regard of  the  laws  of  health,  and  of  the  moral  law  seems  to  characterize 
 a  large  number  of  manufacturers  of  and  dealers  in  i)roducts  which  of 
 all  others  ought  to  be  pure  and  nutritious. 
 
 Such  evidence  as  the  writer  presents  in  the  other  i)ortions  of  this 
 report  are,  in  his  opinion,  amply  sufficient  to  justify  the  following  con- 
 clusions: 
 
 That,  in  view^  of  the  extensive  and  increasing  adulteration,  misbrand- 
 ing, and  debasing  of  food,  liquors,  and  drugs,  and  in  view  of  the  fact 
 that  such  practices  can  not  be  entirely  and  eftectually  regulated  by 
 State  laws,  owing  to  the  numerous  complications  arising  from  inter- 
 state commerce,  it  becomes,  therefore,  necessary,  that  State  laws  should 
 be  supplemented  by  national  law  on  this  subject. 
 
 That  such  national  legislation  is  dejnanded  not  only  by  the  State  au- 
 thorities, but  by  public  opinion. 
 
 That  the  consumers  of  our  food  products  peremptorily,  and  very  justly, 
 demand  absolute  protection  from  the  evil  practices  of  many  manufact- 
 urers and  dealefiirt^nd  that  wherever  the  State  law  can  not  give  such 
 absolute  protection,  adequate  national  legislation  should  be  provided. 
 
 That,  in  addition  to  the  interstate  commerce  feature  which  must  nec- 
 essarily be  regulated  by  national  legislation, it  is  well  understood  that 
 no  other  than  national  legislation  can  meet  the  exigencies  of  our  ex 
 port  trade,  which,  without  the  protection  of  efficient  national  laws,  will 
 certainly  and  rapidly  dwindle  into  insignificance  in  the  face  of  a  grow- 
 ing and  most  unfortunate  reputation,  which  obtains  in  Doreign  coun- 
 tries in  regard  to  our  food  products,  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  lh<> 
 practices  referred  to  and  the  want  of  an  adequate  system  of  national 
 inspection  of  all  goods  intended  for  export. 
 
 To  enumerate  all  those  to  whom  the  writer  is  indebted  for  lUiiny 
 courtesies  and  practical  aid  in  the  ])ursuance  of  his  work  would  be  iin- 
 ])ossible,  but  he  can  not  close  his  report  without  si)ecial  nuMition  of  Pro- 
 fessor Sharpless  and  Mr.  W.  W.  Kimball,  of  Boston,  and  the  Hon.  K. 
 li.  Thurbcr,  of  New  York,  whose  ])ublic  spirited  interest  in  this  work 
 has  bec.n  as  unremitting  as  it  has  been  valuable. 
 
 Respectfully  submitted. 
 
 Alkx.  .1.  Wkddkkbukn, 
 
 Spfcial  Apenf. 
 
REPORTS    OF    THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE 
 ON   FOOD  ADULTERATIONS. 
 
 The  chemist  of  the  Department,  Dr.  H.  W.  Wiley,  is  publishing  in 
 Bulletin  No.  13  an  exhaustive  study  of  food  adulterations  and  meth- 
 ods for  their  detection. 
 
 Five  parts  of  this  bulletin  have  already  been  issued,  viz :  Part  first, 
 Dairy  i)roducts  ;  part  second.  Spices  and  condiments  ;  part  third.  Fer- 
 mented liquors;  i^art  fourth.  Lard  and  lard  adulterants,  and  part  fifth, 
 Baking  powders. 
 
 Other  parts  are  in  preparation,  viz,  Tea,  coffee  and  chocolate ;  Sugar, 
 molasses,  honey  and  condiments  ;  Flour  and  bread  ;  Canned  goods,  etc. 
 These  bulletins  can  be  obtained  by  application  to  tlie  Secretary  of  Ag- 
 riculture. 
 
 STATE  AND   MUNICIPAL  REPORTS. 
 
 The  people  of  the  country  have  good  reason  to  congratulate  them- 
 selves upon  the  character  and  ability  of  the  gentlemen  who  have  been 
 selected  as  food  inspectors  and  commissioners  in  thjt^  fey  States  that 
 have  enacted  laws  regulating  the  sale  and  manufacture-i)f  adulterated 
 and  misbranded  articles  of  diet. 
 
 Wlien  we  consider  the  small  salaries  paid  these  officials,  and  the  tre- 
 mendous wealth  arrayed  against  them,  and  the  small  amount  of  money 
 l)laced  at  their  disposal,  it  is  truly  remarkable  that  they  have  achieved 
 sucli  good  results.  Nearly  every  cas»  undertaken  against  the  fraudu- 
 lent mani])ulators  of  food  products  has  ended  in  a  triumph  for  honesty 
 and  a  vindication  of  the  laws.  Such  clear  cases  of  adulteration,  mis- 
 branding, and  selling  of  diseased  and  putrid  meat  have  been  brought 
 before  our  courts  in  i\Iassa(;husetts,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Ohio 
 as  plainly  show  the  necessity  for  national  and  State  legislation  to  protect 
 the  peoph'  of  the  country,  not  alone  from  gigantic  (^ommercnil  frauds, 
 but  to  preserve  the  health  of  our  population  and  enable  honest,  dealers 
 to  live  wliile  doing  a  legitimate  and  honest  business.  It  is  utterly  use- 
 less for  the  writer  to  comi)ile  a  report  containing  all  the  matter  accu- 
 mulated by  him  in  tlni  course  of  his  investigation,  and  were  he  to 
 attempt  it  the  result  would  be  a  publication  entirely  too  bulky  for  the 
 consideration  of  th<^  committee  of  Congress  to  whom  it  is  to  b(»  sub- 
 mitted. 
 
 The  extracts  herewith  submitted  are  presented  nierely  as  a  few  of 
 many  similar  facts  and  arguments  in  favor  of  national  legislation,  nec- 
 
 13 
 
14 
 
 essary  to  protect  an  honest  man  in  doing  an  honest  business,  and  to 
 enable  the  consumer  to  secure  exactly  what  he  asks  for,  pays  for,  and 
 has  a  right  to  get. 
 
 3IASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The  State  of  Massachusetts  has  very  carefully  investigated  the  ques- 
 tion of  food  adulterations,  and  has  probably  the  fullest  and  most  com- 
 plete laws  upon  the  subject  in  this  country.  I  glean  from  the  '*  Manual 
 for  the  use  of  Boards  of  Health  of  Massachusetts,"  that  there  are  not 
 only  general  laws  looking  to  the  prevention  of  adulteration,  sophistica- 
 tion, and  misbranding  and  the  sale  of  diseased,  tainted,  and  underage 
 meats,  but  special  laws  relating  to  the  sale  of  oleomargarine  and  other 
 butter  and  cheese  imitations,  vinegar,  milk,  and  lard.  The  general  laws 
 relate  to  the  adulteration  and  sophistication  of  drugs,  food,  liquor,  and 
 provide  for  the  inspection  of  meats.  They  i^iovide  for  fines  and  im- 
 prisonments, but  also  rely  upon  publication  of  the  misdeed  as  a  strong 
 prev^entive.  The  bill  in  many  of  its  lorovisions  is  similar  to  House  bill 
 1126G,  introduced  by  Mr.  Laird  iu  the  last  Congress  and  reported  favor- 
 aby  from  the  Committee  on  Agriculture. 
 
 Dr.  S.  W.  Abbott,  secretary  of  the  State  board  of  health,  in  the  sixth 
 annual  report  of  the  Massachusetts  board  of  health  makes  the  following 
 statement : 
 
 The  principal  articles  liable  to  adulteration  are  milk,  butter,  spices,  vinegar,  cream 
 of  tartar,  and  various  sorts  of  drugs.  The  value  of  these  articles  specilied,  atpreseut 
 consumed  iu  the  State,  rnay  be  stated  in  round  numbers  at  $15,000,000  annually. 
 
 It  may  safely  be  stated  that  the  enforcement  of  the  statutes  has  resulted  in  a  sav- 
 ing to  the  consumers  of  at  least  5  per  cent,  of  this  amount,  or  $750,000,  a  sum  equal 
 to  seventy-five  times  the  amount  expended  in  the  enforcement  of  the  laws. 
 
 REPORT   ON  ADULTERATION. 
 
 The  result  of  Dr.  Wood's  analysis  for  188G,  as  reported  to  the  Mas- 
 sachusetts board  of  health,  pages  109,  110,  111,  show  the  following 
 adulterations: 
 
 Coffee  essences. — Two  samples,  consisting  largely  of  chicory,  burnt 
 starch,  and  caramel. 
 
 Molasses. — Sixty-eight  samples  examined  with  special  reference  to 
 presence  of  tin.     In  33  sami)les  tin  was  found. 
 
 Honey. — Out  of  7  samples  5  were  adulterated  with  cane  sugar  and 
 glucose. 
 
 Baking  'powders. — Five  samples,  analyzed  for  alum  and  all  found  to 
 contain  it. 
 
 Cream  of  tartar. — Eighty-four  samples  examined,  G4  of  which  con- 
 tained less  tliaii  (I  per  cent,  of  im[)urity.  Twenty  were  adnUenite<l  with 
 Hour,  terra  alba,  ov  other  foreign  substances  varying  in  extent  IVom  10 
 to  82  per  cent. 
 
 Mustard, — Forty-six  samples,  20  genuine,  20  adulterated. 
 
15 
 
 White  pepper. — Foiirteeu  samples  examined,  of  which  only  7  were 
 genuine.    The  adulterants  were  wheat,  rice,  and  ginger. 
 
 Black  pepper. — Sixty-two  samples  examined,  37  genuine  and  25 
 adulterated.     The  adulterants  used  were  chiefly  wheat,  rice,  and  corn. 
 
 Cayenne. — Four  examined,  2  adulterated. 
 
 Mace. — Two  samples  examined,  both  adulterated. 
 
 Cassia. — Examined  13,  all  genuine  bat  1. 
 
 Cloves. — Examined  12,  all  of  fair  quality. 
 
 Ginger. — Examined  54,  of  which  45  were  genuine  and  9  adulterated. 
 The  adulterants  were  wheat,  rice,  and  corn. 
 
 TIN  POISON  IN  MOLASSES. 
 
 Thirty-three  cases  of  adul  teration  of  molasses  ivith  salts  of  tin  are 
 cited  in  Dr.  Wood's  report  for  1886.  Speaking  of  this  article  Dr.  Abbott 
 says,  page  84 : 
 
 It  was  also  found  by  experiment  that  the  same  salt  was  cx(;ee(liu<;ly  ])ois()iious 
 when  administered  to  animals  in  moderate  doses,  one-fourth  to  one-half  grain  pro- 
 ducing? symptoms  of  acute  poisoning,  followed  by  death  in  a  few  minutes,  the  drug  be- 
 ing administered  in  various  modes,  both  in  solid  form  and  in  solution.  The  lesion  ol 
 internal  organs  caused  by  the  ingestion  of  the  poison  were  well  marked,  the  stom- 
 ach especially  presenting  the  appearance  caused  by  an  active  corrosive  poison.  The 
 substance  was  also  detected  in  the  liver. 
 
 Of  1,468  samples  of  food  (including  milk)  and  drugs  examined  in 
 Massachusetts  for  the  four  months  ending  September  30,  1886,  926  were 
 found  good  quality,  and  542  not  conforming  to  statutes.  It  will  be  found 
 from  this  that  ev^en  after  the  continued  enforcement  of  the  anti-adultera- 
 tion laws  from  1882,  when  food  laws  were  just  enacted,  that  there  still 
 remained  in  1886  over  one-third  of  the  i)roducts  examined  "  not  con- 
 forming to  the  statutes." 
 
 RELATIVE   TO   CALVES. 
 
 It  is  unlawful  in  Massachusetts  to  kill  or  sell  any  calf  under  four 
 weeks  old,  and  when  such  veal  is  found  it  must  be  destroyed.  The 
 penalty  for  knowingly  selling  such  a  calf  is  imprisonment  not  to  exceed 
 six  months  and  a  fine  not  to  exceed  $200,  or  both. 
 
 NEW  YORK. 
 
 I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Lewis  Balch,  secretary  of  the  State  board 
 of  health,  for  their  valuable  reports  and  the  promptness  and  courtesy 
 with  which  they  were  sent.  These  reports  extend  through  a  series  of 
 years,  and  are  not  only  comprehensive  but  exhaustive. 
 
 I  find  the  following  in  the  reports  (on  page  20,  report  of  1S8S) : 
 
 The  analyst  of  food  lias  (examined  a  considerabhi  number  of  largely  oMiploy«Ml  foo<l 
 articles  and  accessories  and  has  pointed  out  various  iVautluhMit  practices  which  .should 
 be  suppressed.  Fortunately  most  of  tin;  coiiimou  sophistications  are  such  ivsto  atVect 
 the  pocket  of  the  consumer  more  than  thi  y  iiijiin!  tlu)  luiallh.  imt  thcv  ;in^  iioue  the 
 less  to  be  condemned. 
 
16 
 
 From  the  same  report  we  take  the  following  extracts  as  showing  the 
 extent  of  adulterations  in  food  and  drugs  in  the  State  of  New  York,  as 
 shown  by  the  highest  official  authority.  The  report  of  Prof.  S.  A.  Lat- 
 timore,  public  analyst,  State  board  of  health,  New  York,  shows  the 
 result  of  60  analyses,  14  of  which  were  pure  and  46  adulterated,  the 
 adulterations  being — 
 
 Black  pepper 3 
 
 White  pepper 2 
 
 Cream  of  tartar 41 
 
 The  conclusions  reached  by  the  professor  are  worthy  of  note.  He 
 says  on  page  60,  report  1888  : 
 
 In  the  great  majority  of  cases  it  has  heeii  found  that  care  and  iutclligence  are  exer- 
 cised, aud  as  the  amoiiut  of  capital  required  to  niaiutain  such  a  business  with  proht 
 is  very  considerable,  the  proprietors  fiilly'appreciate  the  importance  of  securing  a 
 high  reputation  for  the  excellence  and  purity  of  their  products.  Thejact  that  the  State 
 exercises  a  supervision  over  such  matters  is  doubtless  not  without  silent  hut  salutary  influence.* 
 
 It  is,  however,  in  the  minor  food  articles,  which  are  far  more  costly,  but  are  con- 
 sumed in  smaller  quantities,  that  adulterations  are  chielly  practiced.  Tlie  chief  rea- 
 sons for  this,  besides  the  relatively  liigh  cost  of  the  raw  material,  are,  that  as  the 
 necessary  machinery  is  inexpensive  the  manufacture  is  often  carried  on  in  a  small 
 way,  and  the  very  common  practice  of  selling  such  goods  to  retail  dealers  in  bulk  de- 
 stroys all  means  of  tracing  them  to  the  manufacturer,  who  makes  no  etibrt  to  estab- 
 lish a  reputation,  and  who  even  attempts  to  palliate  his  dishonest  practice  by  the 
 claim  that  the  substitutes  which  he  employs  are  harmless,  and  that  lie  is  conqnlhd 
 to  pursue  suck  a  course  because  his  competitors  do.* 
 
 Of  48  analyses  made  by  Professor  Lattimore  of  useful  houseUold  arti- 
 cles only  7  were  pure,  the  remaining  41  containing  starch,  terra  alba, 
 superphosphate  of  lime,  in  combination  with  cream  of  tartar,  while  30 
 of  the  total  contained  not  a  imrticle  of  cream  of  tartar^  but  consisted  of 
 tartaric  acid  and  starch,  terra  alba,  superphosphate  of  lime^  alum,  aud 
 starch,  in  various  combinations. 
 
 Itegarding  spices,  tliis  gentleman  says  : 
 
 While  many  manufacturers  send  out  under  their  own  names  ground  spices  freo 
 from  all  foreign  substances  and  of  excellent  quality,  and  find  an  increasing  apprecia- 
 tion of  their  goods,  yet  the  markets  are  still  Hooded  with  articles  of  poor  quality, 
 originally  and  largely  mixed  with  any  conveuient  rubbish  which  can  be  manipu- 
 lated into  the  semblance  of  the  genuine  article.  Fortunately  for  the  victimized  pur- 
 clniser,  the  substitutes  by  the  dishonest  spice-grinder,  liowever  unsuitcd  for  food,  and 
 often  repulsive  in  character,  are  not  positively  poisojious. 
 
 CANNED  PEAS  AND  BEANS. 
 
 Tlie  principal  comphunt  in  these  articles  is  that  sulphate  of  copper 
 has  been  used  so  extensively  for  the  purpose  of  greening  that  they  are 
 exceedingly  dangerous.  As  far  as  i  can  learn  the  (rerman,  French, 
 and.  lOnglish  (Governments  do  not  i)roliibit  the  use  of  tins  article  for 
 this  ])uri)0se.  Prof.  R.  Ogdcn  ])oremus,  M.  D.,  LL.  1).,  i)rofessor  of 
 chemistry  and  t()xi(;ology,  IJellevue  II()sj)ital,  New  York,  in  writing  to 
 Mr.  Jas.  P.  Smith,  says  that  *' this  method  of  greening  is  not  injuri- 
 ous to  health,"  and  adds  that,  Pasteur,  Bronardel,  Galippe,  Gauthier, 
 
 *  The  italics  are  mine. 
 
17 
 
 Proust,  Gallard,  Honnerkopf,  Stubenraucb,  Eademaclier,  Muller  von 
 Pforzheim,  and  others  after  careful  investigation  proved  tliat  the  small 
 amount  ot  copper  used  in  canned  vegetables  is  not  hurtful.  (See  page 
 410  of  Xew  York  State  Board  of  Health  for  1887.) 
 
 RECCMMENDING-  FEDERAL   LAWS. 
 
 Frederick  Carman,  assistant  secretary  of  the  board  of  health,  on 
 page  419,  report  1887,  makes  the  following  recommendations: 
 
 (1)  The  laws  should  be  amended  so  as  to  do  tine  the  normal  constituents  of  malt 
 beers  and  malt  beverages. 
 
 (2)  That  a  malt  beverage  should,  as  its  name  indicates,  contain  only  malt  and 
 hops  with  their  constituents  and  water. 
 
 (3)  That  Congress  should  pass  a  law  making  it  obligatory  upon  the  Internal  Reve- 
 nue Department  at  all  times  to  permit  publicity  to  be  given  to  the  ingredients  re- 
 puted to  it  by  the  brewers  and  distillers  as  having  beeu  purchased  from  which  to 
 brew  or  distill. 
 
 VINEGAR. 
 
 In  188G  the  public  analyst  examined  74  samples  of  vinegar:  14.8  per 
 cent,  contained  5  per  cent,  or  over  of  absolute  acetic  acid,  and  63,  or 
 85.2  per  cent.,  contained  less  than  5  per  cent.,  and  therefore  fell  below 
 the  legal  requirement. 
 
 There  are  numerous  vinegars  which  may  be  equally  as  good  as  cider 
 vinegar,  but,  in  the  language  of  the  Xew  York  report,  page  371 — 
 
 While  vinegar  made  from  spirits  or  other  wine  may  be  equally  wholesome,  it  ought 
 not  to  be  sold  for  cider  vinegar,  as  is  very  frequently  the  case.  An  article  so  largely  used 
 in  the  preparation  of  food  as  vinegar  ought  to  be  both  free  from  adulteration  and 
 of  good  strength  as  well,  but  the  results  of  the  examinations  so  far  made  show  that 
 here  as  elsewhere  wide  ditierences  in  quality  exist.  The  addition  of  mineral  acids  is 
 very  uncommon,  but  much  vinegar  is  sold  which  has  been  plentifully  watered,  and 
 the  greater  part  of  that  sold  as  cider  vinegar  is  a  so-called  white-wine  vinegar,  col- 
 ored by  caramel,  with  ])erhaps  some  cider  vinegar  added  to  give  it  flavor. 
 
 Tlie  New  York  law  requires  a  standard  of  4..j  per  cent,  of  acetic  acid 
 in  vinegar. 
 
 OTHER  FOOD   PRODUCTS. 
 
 [See  page  i'2[)  in  reiiort  of  Dr.  Lattinjore  for  1887.] 
 
 Of  376  articles  of  diet  in  daily  use  in  every  household  255,  or  more 
 than  two  thirds,  were  adulterated.  Of  205  samples  of  so  called  cream 
 of  tartar  analyzed,  only  i}3  were  unadulterated.  Among  the  adulter- 
 ated samples  were  found  oxalic  acid  and  terra  alba  (white  earth),  terra 
 alba  and  starch.  The  (piantity  of  this  poisonons  acid  was  about  5  per 
 cent.    In  referring  to  manipulated  si)ices,  Dr.  Lattimore  says  (page  425): 
 
 The  articles  used  for  the  purposes  of  adulterations  are  extremely  nuiiurous.  Most 
 ftirinacoous  substances  which  have  become  damaged  and  unsalalihMuay  by  skilllul 
 roasting  and  grinding  bo  ren<lrred  serviceable  by  the  "spice  mixer."  Many  oth«'r 
 articles  which  might  bo  included  under  the  general  rtibbish,  by  suitable  manipula- 
 tion may  be  transformed  into  mixtures  which  closely  resemble  the  various  spices  in 
 color  and  appearance,  lacking  only  a  little  seasoning  with  thesmallest  possible  quan- 
 tity of  t\n)  real  article  to  give  the  characteristic  odor  and  lit  them  for  tUo  market, 
 1L*5G3— Bull  25 2 
 
18 
 
 It  would  be  interestiug,  did  space  permit,  to  go  more  fully  into  detail 
 so  as  to  show  a  comparison  of  various  adulterations  after  the  enactment 
 of  tbe  anti-adulteratiou  statutes  in  Xew  York  State,  but  tliis  can  not  be 
 done  here,  and  my  observations  lead  me  to  conclude  that  the  failure  to 
 enact  Federal  laws  render  the  local  laws  to  a  great  extent  iueliectual, 
 and  inoperative. 
 
 NECESSITY   FOR   PUBLICATION. 
 
 The  failure  to  make  public  all  adulterations  makes  the  ])ractice  more 
 common  than  under  a  system  by  which  the  manipulator  understood  that 
 his  practices  would  be  thoroughly  published. 
 
 DRUGS. 
 
 Prof.  W.  G.  Tucker,  in  his  report  (page  250,  report  1S8S)  shows  the 
 result  of  320  samples  of  various  drugs,  as  follows : 
 
 Good  quality 140,  or  43.0  per  ceut. 
 
 Fair  (luality 44,  or  VS.'.i  per  cent. 
 
 Inferior 79,  or  '24.  2  per  cent. 
 
 Not  as  called  for ()3,  or  li).  :>  per  cent. 
 
 The  latter  G3  samples,  designated  'hiot  as  called  for,"  show  simply 
 the  fairness  of  the  examiuer,  as,  while  coutaining  adulterants,  benellt  of 
 the  doubt  is  given  to  the  compounder  or  seller,  whether  the  article  was 
 sold  through  ignorance  or  mistake.  The  fact  established  is  that  out  of 
 32G  samples  examined  only  140  were  pure,  and  79  came  under  the  head- 
 ing of  "  inferior,"  which  the  writer  says  is  used  in  the  report  to  desig- 
 nate articles  "if  not  clearly  adulterated  or  falsified,  lacking  in  any  im- 
 portant  constituent,  deficient  in  strength  fron)  improper  manufacture, 
 I)artial  or  comi)lete  decomposition,  orother  causes,  or  containing  undue 
 amount  of  impurity." 
 
 It  was  shown  that  in  the  purchase  of  samples  great  care  was  taken 
 in  each  and  every  instance,  a  written  order  was  tendered,  which  order 
 gave  in  full  the  official  names  of  the  articles  called  for  and  the  amounts 
 desired. 
 
 In  closing  hisrei)ort  Professor  Tucker  says  : 
 
 That  the  woik  done  during  the  i)a8t  two  years  has  had  a  decided  etl'ect  in  iniprov- 
 in«;  the  (juality  of  dru<;s  sold  thron<j;hout  the  State,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  if  man- 
 ufacturers, dealers,  and  »)thers  interested  will  co-operate  with  the  board  in  theefiorts 
 it  is  making  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  drugs  and  medical  preparations  now  upon 
 the  marktit,  the  desir«',d  end  can  be  obtained  without  interfering  with  any  legitimate 
 business  industry,  or  embarrassing  dealers  by  a  too  rigid  or  oppressive  enforcement 
 of  the  law. 
 
 Ql'ININE,    3l()RriIlNK,    A^•D   IRON. 
 
 In  the  r(q)ort  to  board  of  health.  New  York,  October ol,  1S87,  by  l*rof. 
 (r.  0.  Caldwell,  si)eaking  of  the  assays  made  in  morphine,  (juinine,  and 
 iron  ])ills,  he  says: 
 
 liy  the  methods  used,  giving  every  fair  advantage  to  the  dealer,  few  of  the  mor- 
 phine pills  canie  uj)  to  the  staudurd, 
 
19 
 
 There  was  an  improveraeut  in  the  standard  of  qiiiuiue  pills.  The 
 citrate  of  iron  and  quinine  is  often  below  the  standard  and  the  quality 
 of  the  sulphate  is  usually  poor.  Druggists  who  have  been  warned  to 
 cease  selling  certain  brands  of  alkaloidal  preparations  found  to  be  seri- 
 ously deficient  in  quality,  complain  that  they  do  not  know  where  to  go 
 for  their  supplies,  especially  since  houses  of  wide  reputation  not  infre- 
 quently send  out  such  deficient  goods,  and  it  appears  to  them  that  the 
 board  of  health  should  go  at  once  to  the  wholesale  dealer  with  its 
 warnings. 
 
 The  result  of  the  analyses  made  by  Professor  Caldwell  show  :  Sul- 
 phate of  quinine,  14  samples,  only  2  of  which  did  not  contain  foreign 
 substances ;  citrate  of  quinine  and  iron,  16  samples,  of  which  only  3 
 were  free  from  adulterants;  pills  of  sulphate  of  quinine,  58  samples, 
 28  of  which  contained  more  or  less  adulteration ;  pills  of  sulphate  of 
 morphine,  28  samples,  not  one  of  which  was  up  to  the  standard  claimed. 
 
 COMMERCIAL  AND  HEALTH  FRAUDS  IN  BROOKLYN. 
 
 The  result  of  the  laboratory  work  of  the  Brooklyn  Bureau  of  Health 
 offers  conclusive  evidence  that  the  position  taken  elsewhere,  that  food 
 products  are  adulterated  much  more  largely  than  5  per  cent,  is  correct. 
 In  presenting  a  partial  table  of  the  results  obtained,  it  is  right  to  quote 
 what  the  Commissioner  says  (page  66) : 
 
 There  are  large  numbers  of  adulterations  practiced  with  little  if  any  attenii)t  at 
 secrecy  which  we  have  not  been  called  upon  to  investigate. 
 
 Had  these  commercial  frauds  been  examined  doubtless  the  per  cent- 
 age  shown  would  have  been  much  greater. 
 
 [Pages  09  and  70  of  the  report  for  1885.] 
 
 ►S3 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Adulterations. 
 
 95 
 
 Preserved  fruits  and  jellies. 
 
 Tomatoes 
 
 do 
 
 Gelatine 
 
 Ice  cream 
 
 Milk 
 
 Butler 
 
 Condensed  cream 
 
 Evai»orated  milk 
 
 Condensed  milk 
 
 Pickles 
 
 do 
 
 Whisky 
 
 Beer 
 
 Ale 
 
 Cocoanut  candy 
 
 Candy 
 
 Candy  colors 
 
 Cream  of  tartar 
 
 Pepi)er , 
 
 liough  on  1  ats 
 
 Soda  water 
 
 Fruit  syrup 
 
 Lemon  syrup  from  metal  tank 
 
 94  with  tin,  34  with  copper. 
 
 4.5  nigra,  tin,  13.5  mgm.  lead,  30  mgm.  copper. 
 
 Both  tin  and  copper. 
 j  Poor  (jualitv. 
 
 With  gelatine. 
 
 4  watered. 
 I  (Jenuine. 
 
 Not  good. 
 I  Skimmed  before  evaporated, 
 ]  5  partly  Hkimiue<l. 
 
 1.8  mgius.  copper  and  I  with  14  uiguis.  copper. 
 
 3  copper. 
 
 Tannic  acid. 
 
 All  zinc  and  cojjper. 
 
 All  copper,  lead,  an«l  zinc. 
 
 Adulterated. 
 
 18  colored  with  lead  chromato. 
 
 1  lead  chromate. 
 
 Imi)nre. 
 
 1  adulterat«'d. 
 
 ('onsisted  mostly  of  arsenic. 
 
 'J  contained  traces  of  copper. 
 
 Colored  with  cardinal. 
 
 Contained  tin  and  antimony. 
 
20 
 
 Some  artificial  jellies  have  been  sold  iu  Brooklyn  which  are  made 
 from  gelatine,  sugar,  artificial  flavoring  extracts,  cochineal,  or  analine 
 red. 
 
 The  following  articles  were  found  in  products  purchased  of  Brooklyn 
 Polishing  Companies : 
 
 Freuch  chalk  (white)'  also  soapstono  or  talc,  is  a  silicate  of  magnesia. 
 
 Glim  arable. 
 
 Charcoal,  from  wood. 
 
 Drop  black,  animal  charcoal,  or  burut  bones. 
 
 Yellow  ochre.     A  mixture  of  clay  ami  hydrated  oxide  of  iron. 
 
 Venetian  red.     A.  red  earth,  mostly  oxide  of  iron  and  clay. 
 
 Chrome  orange.     Chromate  of  lead,  mixed  earth,  yellow  ochre.     Poisonous. 
 
 Burnt  umber.     Differs  very  little  from  ochre  in  composition. 
 
 Silesia  blue.     A  mixture  of  ochre  and  Prussian  blue.     Gives  off  cyauagen 
 
 abundantly  iu  heating. 
 Turmeric.     The  i)0wdered  root  of  curcuma  Tonga. 
 Indigo  and  indigo  extract.     (This  latter  is  a  sulphate  of  indigo  and  indigo 
 
 carmine.) 
 Persian  berries,  with  ochre,  giving  a  grayish-green  colored  pigment. 
 
 Of  these  the  Commissioner  (page  121)  says  chrome  orange  and  silcsia 
 blue  are  poisonous.     Of  the  remaining  colors  he  says  : 
 
 While  not  so  injurious,  they  are  used  to  deceive  the  public,  and  should  bo  regarded 
 as  adulterations. 
 
 On  the  examination  of  twenty  samples  of  coffee,  polished,  purchased 
 on  the-open  market,  lead  was  found  to  adhere  to  the  beau  in  consider- 
 able quantities,  and  the  use  of  lead  and  Prussian  blue  is  shown  to  be 
 common. 
 
 Alum  and  sal-soda  are  added  to  the  Persian  berries  to  make  a  beau- 
 tiful lake  color.  This  separated,  and  mixed  with  indigo  gives  au  olive 
 green. 
 
 In  addition  to  this  system  of  polishing,  I  learn  that  coffee  is  so  manip- 
 ulated as  to  extract  the  essential  oils  aud  essences  from  the  bean,  which 
 is  sold  as  coffee,  while  tbe  essences  are  manufactured  in  extracts,  and 
 sold  as  such. 
 
 Another  method  of  adulteration  is  to  take  the  shriveled  beans  and 
 soak  them  in  sea-water,  which  "  plumps"  the  berry  and  deceives  the 
 public  into  buying  a  poor  articjle  of  coffee  for  a  good  one. 
 
 The  natural  sequence  is  that  if  you  desire  a  line  grade  of  coffee  you 
 will  avoid  the  highly  ])olishe(l,  colored  and  plumped  grains,  and  pur- 
 chase the  poorest  looking  colfee  you  can  find. 
 
 I30L0GNA   SAUSAGE   COLOR. 
 
 Color  is  an  essential  in  selling  many  of  the  articles  of  food  offered 
 upon  the  market  and  we  not  only  have  "butter  color"  and  milk  color, 
 but  copper  in  various  ways  is  used  to  "  green"  beans,  peas,  aud  pickles, 
 but  tlu^  Brooklyn  health  department  has  discovered  a  coloring  for 
 liologna  sausage  composed  of  salt,  saltpeter,  borax,  alum,  and  Venetian 
 red,    The  liarmfuluess  of  this  mij^turo  consists  in  its  ability  to  deceive 
 
21 
 
 the  purchaser  into  purchasing  stale,  partially-  decomposed,  or  tainted 
 meats,  which  should  cause  its  use  to  be  i)rohibited. 
 
 TIN   AND   LEAD   IN   CANNED   GOODS. 
 
 The  Brooklyn  chemist  finds  the  presence  of  lead  and  tin  in  large 
 quantities  iu  unsealed  cans  and  tin  pails,  while  in  hermetically  sealed 
 cans  the  tin  and  lead  does  not  seem  to  be  atiected  to  any  considerable 
 extent  when  deprived  of  the  air,  but  as  shown  here  the  case  is  quite 
 different.     (See  report  1885,  page  134.) 
 
 COLORINa  MATTER  IN  FOOD. 
 
 The  vermacelli  manufacturers  not  only  use  poor  flour  and  whiten  it 
 with  pipe-clay  or  kaoline,  but  the  absence  of  eggs  is  supplied  by  saffron, 
 tumeric,  and  chromate  of  lead.  The  practice  of  the  use  of  chrome  yel- 
 low has  decreased  materially  since  inspection  has  given  publicity  to  the 
 practice  in  Kew  York  State.  Aniline  red  or  fuchsin  was  found  to  be 
 used  in  coloring  head  cheese. 
 
 Speaking  of  these  practices  the  Brooklyn  report  says  (p.  132) : 
 
 The  manufacturer  colors  bis  meats  to  please  a  public  taste  for  a  bri^bt  red  color, 
 but  wben  tbe  public  learu  that  such  meat  may  be  colored  with  harmful  colors,  while 
 the  meat  itself  is  the  worst  salable  meat  in  the  market,  the  manufacturer  Will  not  bo 
 called  upon  to  practice  it.  Aniline  red  is  in  itself  an  objectional  color,  because  many 
 samples  iu  the  market  contain  arsenic. 
 
 The  supposably  wholesome  and  toothsome  licorice  drops  given  the 
 children  for  colds  are  said  to  be  made  from  the  candy  factory  sweej)- 
 ings,  and  are  apt  to  contain  a  good  deal  of  foreign  substances  as  well 
 as  dirt.  Several  cases  of  sickness  have  been  rei)orted  from  their  con- 
 sumption. 
 
 Pickle  greening  is  a  source  of  poi.soning  that  all  know  of,  and  few  pay 
 any  regard  to  the  addition  of  coi)peras.  All  the  American  eater  seems  to 
 care  for,  is  that  the  article  be  pleasant  to  the  eye  and  pleasant  to  the 
 l)alate ;  whether  it  be  ivholesome  is  not  taken  into  consideration. 
 
 The  Brooklyn  health  commission  says  the  proper  dose  of  sulphate 
 of  copper  is  from  one  quarter  to  2  grains,  while  in  "greened"  pickles 
 analyzed  three  small  pickles  contained  the  full  medicinal  dose  and  5 
 grains  was  contained  in  one-quarter  pound.  On  page  110  an  interest- 
 ing case  is  cited,  that  of  Maggie  Martin,  a  little  girl,  who  was  killed  by 
 eating  a  part  of  one  large  pickle  greened  with  sulpate  of  coi>per. 
 
 Dr.  E.  11.  Bartley,  chief  chemist  of  the  Brooklyn  health  department, 
 in  his  report  for  1887,  speaking  of  the  result  of  the  inspection  of  meats, 
 vegetables,  and  other  food  products,  says: 
 
 Although  it  can  not  be  claimed  that  all  imi)r()p(!r  articles  of  food  have  been  de- 
 tected it  is  certain  that  fewer  complaintH  of  Hickness  havin<]f  n^snlted  from  various 
 kinds  of  foods  have  reached  us  diirinj^  tlu^  past  year  than  any  yt'ar  since  iss:5. 
 
 The  cause  of  this  decrease  the  doctor  ascribi's  not  oidy  to  the  work 
 of  his  department,  but  to  the  fact  of  the  education  of  (he  people  to  seek 
 
22 
 
 better  goods,  which  induced  dealers  to  comply  with  the  demand.  He 
 adds  that  he  is  couvioced  that  the  responsibility  rests  upon  the  people 
 who  are  so  ready  to  protest  against  adulteration.     He  says : 
 
 There  can  be  no  other  reason  given  for  the  wholesale  nse  of  colors  in  the  prepara- 
 tion of  confectionery,  pastry,  ice-cream,  green  peas,  pickles,  macaroni,  milk,  butter, 
 coftee,  tea,  etc.,  than  that  the  public  demand  them.  (Dr.  Hartley's  report  page  33, 
 1887.) 
 
 Not  less  than  ten  or  twelve  of  these  colors  used  in  these  various  foods  have  been 
 condemned  and  their  use  prohibited.  During  the  past  few  mouths  one  large  con- 
 fectiouery  factory  was  found  to  be  using  two  i>oisonous  colors.  Oue  uuicaroni  factory 
 in  this  city  was  fouud  to  be  using  Martin's  yellow  or  triniter  napthaline,  to  impart  a 
 rich  color,  in  imitation  of  the  color  imparted  by  eggs.  The  same  poisonous  color"  was 
 found  in  another  factory,  but  there  was  no  evidence  that  it  had  been  used.  This  color 
 is  sold  under  the  name  of  artificial  safi'ron  and  other  trade  names  to  conceal  its  iden- 
 tity. The  demand  for  these  yellow-colored  foods  has  repeatedly  led  to  the  use  of 
 chrome  yellow  aud  other  poisonous  colors.* 
 
 Dr.  Bartley  pertinently  remarks: 
 
 It  is  not  euough  to  say  that  the  amount  of  these  poisonous  colors  used  is  too  small 
 to  do  harm.  Any  amount  of  a  poison  is  too  much  to  be  allowed  to  be  used  for  humnn 
 food,  especially  when  it  is  to  be  administered  by  an  ignorant  servant  or  careless  work- 
 man. 
 
 He  cites  a  case  of  a  family  receiving  a  sample  of  pistachio  ice-cream 
 by  Bretnis  Green,  and  flavored  with  bitter  almonds.  On  the  subject  of 
 the  poisonous  creams  Dr.  Bartley  says  (page  34) : 
 
 It  seems  difiScult  to  suppose  that  an  ordinary  palate  or  stomach  could  be  deluded 
 into  the  idea  that  it  was  receiving  strawberry  ice-cream  because  the  latter  contained 
 some  red  auiline  and  amyl  ethers.  A  very  small  amount  of  fusel  oil  (amylic  alcohol) 
 in  a  whisky  is  i)opularly  regarded  as  very  detrimental  to  the  health  of  the  con- 
 sumers, while  a  plate  of  some  kinds  of  ice-cream  or  a  glass  of  soda-water  fre<iuently 
 contains  more  fusel  oil  than  five  glasses  of  poor  whisky. 
 
 Speaking  of  soda,  an  interesting  paper  can  be  found  on  pagos  51  and 
 52  of  the  New  Jersey  dairy  commissioner's  report  for  1888,  in  which 
 analysis  showed  the  presence  of  lead,  copper,  zinc,  and  tin.  The  com- 
 missioner recommends  that  the  use  of  bottles  whose  stopj)ers  consist  of 
 "a  loop  of  coated  brass  wire  and  a  tin  button  containing  lead  with  a 
 rubber  belt  be  j)  re  vented." 
 
 Dr.  Bartley,  in  referring  to  the  coloring  of  peas,  beans,  etc.,  with 
 copper,  says  the  board  of  health  had  legalized  them  under  certain 
 conditions,  viz,  that  copper  not  to  exceed  three  (piarters  of  a  grain  to  the 
 avoirdui)ois  pound  of  peas  or  beans,  eipiivalent  to  .'>  grains  of  crystallized 
 sulphate  of  copper,  {ind  that  it  should  be  i)laiidy  stated  on  the  label. 
 The  regulations  of  the  board,  botli  as  to  labeling  and  amount  of  copper 
 used,  it  seems  were  frequently  violated,  even  by  the  very  parties  who 
 instigated  the  regulations.  1  am  glad  to  add  that  Dr.  J5artley  secured 
 the  conviction  of  two  parties  brought  to  trial  for  violation  of  the  rules 
 of  the  board. 
 
 [When  it  is  recollected  that  these  colored  iitid  jjoisoiious  vegetables  are  brought 
 into  direct   competition    with  tlm  product  of   our  market  gardenera,  and  not  only 
 
 •  Sec  Report  of  Philadelphia  Hoard  of  Health,  referred  to  elHUwhore. 
 
23 
 
 (le])reciate  the  price  of  our  home  product,  but  spread  broadcast  disease,  and  further, 
 that  they  come  principally  from  France,  a  country  that  excludes  the  hog  product  of 
 our  farmer,  it  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Congress  would  not  hesitate  to  exclude 
 the  importation  of  these  poisonous  products. — Note  by  the  special  agext.] 
 
 NEW  JERSEY. 
 
 The  report  of  the  dairy  cominissioner  of  Xew  Jersey  for  1S88  coatains 
 much  valuable  information.  Mr.  William  K.  Xewton,  the  commissioner, 
 has  prosecuted  his  work  with  a  zeal  and  energy  which  deserves  the 
 thanks  of  the  people  of  the  whole  country.  His  exposure  of  frauds  can 
 not  fail  to  convince  every  intelligent  reader  of  the  necessity  for  strin- 
 gent legislation.  According  to  his  report  $1,100  have  been  paid  into  the 
 State  treasury  in  tines  for  violation  of  the  oleo  laws,  while  the  penalties 
 l^aid  for  violation  of  the  milk  laws  have  reached  $550. 
 
 FOODS. 
 
 The  following  table  of  foods  analyzed  by  the  commissioner,  with  the 
 results  of  such  analysis,  tells  the  story  briefly  but  pointedly: 
 
 Articles  of  food  Examined. 
 
 Article. 
 
 Butter  aud  oleomargarine 
 
 Milk 
 
 Laid 
 
 Aruerican  canned  goods  .. 
 IinjiDrted  canned  goods  .. 
 
 (J round  coHec- 
 
 Cotiee  essence 
 
 Tea  
 
 Black  pepper 
 
 "White  i)('i)per 
 
 Cayenne  popper 
 
 Mustard 
 
 Cinnamon 
 
 Cloves  
 
 Allspice 
 
 Ginger   
 
 Nutmeg 
 
 Extracted  honey 
 
 Maple  syrup 
 
 Molasses 
 
 Drips 
 
 Vinegar  
 
 Pickles 
 
 Carbonated  l^evorages 
 
 Total. 
 Per  cent  ... 
 
 Total. 
 
 Pure  or 
 standard. 
 
 G8 
 
 24 
 
 121 
 
 78 
 
 Ul 
 
 80 
 
 55 
 
 54 
 
 IG 
 
 5 
 
 24 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 19 
 
 •28 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 •' 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 •) 
 
 023 
 
 Adul- 
 
 teiated 
 
 OllKit 
 
 standard. 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 3':0  .{03 
 
 51.36  4H  (^ 
 
 The  commissioner  says : 
 
 Whihi  tlie  adulti^rants  used  nrc  not  surely  h.irMil'nl  to  lie.iltli,  they  are  always 
 fraudulent,  and  dcpriv*^  the  pur(lia.s«»r  of  an  aruiuint  of  money  efpial  to  the  amount  of 
 adultnation  ;  lu'iicc  if  th(^  law  can  but  restore  to  the  ])cf»ple*an  amount  «'(iiial  to  that 
 of  wliich  they  an;  defrainhMl  by  the  adulteration,  many  timrs  the  sum  a|)|)r<>prialcd 
 for  this  work  shall  ho  returned  to  the  ])ocl<rts  of  our  citi/cns. 
 
 Four  liundred  and  fifteen  articles  of  drugs  were  analyzed;  of  these 
 nearly  50  per  cent,  were  adulterated. 
 
24 
 
 PURE   LEAF   LARD. 
 
 Thetcommissiouer  says  that  the  probable  amount  of  pure  leaf  lard 
 prepared  in  Xew  Jersey  would  not  reach  1,000  pounds. 
 
 TEA. 
 
 Of  tea  he  observes  that : 
 
 The  results  obtaiued  show  that,  while  there  is  no  adulteration,  there  is  largo 
 amount  of  inferior  and  debased  tea  sold  in  the  State.  The  United  States  law  pre- 
 vents the  importation  of  the  adulterated  article,  but  much  that  comes  to  this  country 
 is  of  very  poor  quality,  having  little  of  the  flavor  of  the  true  leaf. 
 
 SPICES. 
 
 Ou  the  subject  of  spices  he  says  : 
 
 The  following  facts  are  deduced  from  the  results  of  the  investigations  :  (1)  A  few 
 dealers  i)nt  up  nothing  but  absolutely  pure  spices,  and  every  package  examined  bear- 
 ng  these  dealers'  names  proved  to  bo  of  excellent  quality.  {2)  Several  spice-mills 
 and  wholesale  dealers  put  two  grades  on  the  market — one  pure  the  other  adulterated. 
 (3)  Many  houses  selling  spices  sell  nothing  but  adulterated  articles.  (4)  Sjiices  sold 
 in  bulk  are  almost  invariably  adulterated.  (5)  The  price  paid  the  retailer  is  no 
 guaranty  of  the  quality.  (C)  The  retail  dealer  and  the  consumer  are  jointly  respon- 
 sible for  the  adulteration— the  former  by  encouraging  the  sale  of  cheap  and  impure 
 articles,  the  latter  in  trying  to  get  spices  at  a  less  price  thnn  will  warrant  the  sale  of 
 pure  articles. 
 
 BAKING  POWDERS. 
 
 On  this  subject  he  says : 
 
 The  greater  number  of  the  inferior  grades  of  bakiugpow  ders  were  only  to  be  had 
 at  stores  patronized  by  poor  people,  or  those  of  moderate  means,  hence  we  are  forced 
 to  believe  that  any  fraud  in  these  articles  is  perpetrated  at  the  expense  of  those  least 
 able  to  l)ear  it.* 
 
 A  bakiug  powder  should  answer  to  all  of  the  following  requirements:  (1)  Itshould 
 generate  the  maximum  amount  of  gas.  (2)  It  should  contain  no  unhealthful  ingre- 
 dients. (:3)  Itshould  leave  in  the  loaf  no  unhealthful  residue.  (4)  The  elements 
 should  be  combined  in  such  proportions  that  the  residue  is  neutral  in  reaction. t 
 
 BRANDY  AND   WHISKY. 
 
 Of  43  samples  of  brandy  analyzed  6  only  ans^vered  to  the  tests  re- 
 quired by  the  United  States  Pharmacopea,  and  37  were  inferior.  The 
 report  says: 
 
 The  difficulty  of  obtaining  p^iro  brandy  of  a  proper  age  for  medicinal  use  is  very 
 great.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  imported  article,  while  that  made  in  California 
 is,  as  a  rule',  of  inferior  (piality  and  not  sufliciently  aged  and  bland  to  be  used  in  cases 
 of  illness.  The  followiug  stateiuent,  made  in  the  United  States  Consular  Reports, 
 November,  1HH7,  i)age  'S.V.i,  is  interesting  in  this  connection: 
 
 **  The  term  *  brandy '  seems  to  be  no  longer  applied  to  a  spirit  produced  by  the  fer- 
 mentation of  grapes,  but  to  a  complex  mixture,  the  alcohol  of  which  is  derived  from 
 grain,  potatoes,  or,  worst  of  all,  the  refuse  of  the  beet-root  refineries.  It  would  seem 
 to  be  fairly  impossible  at  present  to  purchase  a  pure  cognac,  as  each  individual  pro- 
 
 *  Report  New  Jersey  Commissioner,  page  .')4. 
 t  J  bid.,  page  57. 
 
25 
 
 prietor  of  a  vineyard  ha.s  become  a  distiller  and  coinpouuder.  He  has  acquired  the 
 art  of  imitatin;^  any  special  flavor  or  vintage  of  brandy  that  may  be  called  for.  Po- 
 tato spirits  and  beet  alcohols,  the  most  deleterious  and  obnoxious  of  all  the  varieties 
 of  spirits,  are  sent  from  Germany  into  France  in  vast  quantities.  They  are  flavored, 
 colored,  and  branded  or  labeled  to  meet  the  wishes  of  American  connoisseurs.  The 
 mere  fact  of  coming  out  of  bond,  or  '  straight  through  the  custom-house,'  is  generally 
 accepted  here  as  saflScient  evidence  that  they  are  pure  and  genuine.  It  is  rather  un- 
 fortunate that  physicans  themselves  frequently  strengthen  this  hallnciuation  in  favor 
 of  imported  spirits  by  giving  the  most  stringent  orders  to  their  patients  to  procure 
 genuine  French  cognac,  even  though  it  may  command  tenfold  the  price  of  an  abso- 
 lutely pure  spirit  of  domestic  production.  Th  is  imperative  command  becomes  a  cruel 
 injustice  in  the  case  of  poor  patients.  Under  the  best  of  circumstances,  what  is  there 
 to  be  gained  b.v  the  use  of  French  brandy  in  preference  to  pure  domestic  spirit  ?" 
 
 And,  it  maybe  added  to  this  statement,  if  alcoholic  stimulants  are  to  be  prescribed 
 by  the  physician,  let  him  first  ascertain  the  source  of  the  sample  and  acquaint  him- 
 self with  the  quality,  origin,  and  ingredients. 
 
 Of  15  samples  of  wbisky,  3  only  were  equal  to  the  requirements  of 
 the  pharmacopoeia. 
 
 OPIUM  AND   OTHER  DRUGS. 
 
 Of  42  samples  examined  only  8  were  standard  ;  as  previously  stated, 
 other  drugs  showed  55.GG  per  cent,  of  debased  and  adulterated  arti- 
 cles. 
 
 OHIO  IlEPOKT. 
 
 Tlie  following  extracts  taken  from  the  report  of  the  dairy  and  food 
 commission  of  Ohio  for  1887,  speak  for  themselves  and  are  submitted 
 without  comment. 
 
 MAPLE   SIRUP. 
 
 Twofiaudulentsamplesanalyzed.  OnecontainedG2  per  cent,  of  maple 
 sh'up  juid  28  per  cent,  of  glucose ;  the  other,  25  per  cent,  maple  and  75 
 per  cent,  of  glucose  sirup.  One  of  the  parties  pleaded  guilty  and  paid 
 $500  hue.  The  other  swore  the  goods  were  sold  before  the  law  was 
 enacted,  and  was  acquitted. 
 
 VINEGAR. 
 
 Commissioner  Hurst,  speaking  of  this  article,  says: 
 
 The  vile  and  hurtful  compound  manufactured  from  drugs  and  acids  should  be  for- 
 bidden a  place  in  the  trade,  whether  made  within  the  State  or  without.  And  the 
 "low  wine"  vinegais  should  be  branded  with  their  trut;  name,  au<l  the  coloring  of 
 such  vinegar  to  simulate  cider  vinegar  should  be  positively  prohibited.  Such  an 
 amended  law  would  a(l<l  slOO,000  per  year  to  the  value  Of  the  Ohio  apple  crop  and 
 greatly  jtromote  the  public  health. 
 
 BAKING  POWDERS. 
 
 Thirty  samples  were  examined.  The  commissioner  evidently  tried  to 
 be  impartial,  as  he  issued  a  circular  to  the  trade  before  i)urchasing  the 
 sami)les.     Uis  classitication  of  the   powders  were  as  follows :     First 
 
2G 
 
 quality,  cream  of  tartar  powders ;  secoiul  quality,  phosphate  powdersj 
 third  quality,  alum  powders. 
 The  analysis  resulted  as  follows : 
 
 First  quality,  cream  of  tartar 8 
 
 Second  quality,  phosphate 2 
 
 Third  quality,  alum 20 
 
 ORANGE   CIDER. 
 
 An  article  claimed  to  be  pure  orauge  juice  was  fouud  on  sale  as 
 orange  cider, and  upon  analysis  proved  to  be  onlj-  "sweetened  water, 
 sharpened  up  with  citric  and  tartaric;  acids  and  flavored  with  the  oil  or 
 extract  of  orange.'^  The  cost  was  about  IG  cents.  It  was  retailed  at 
 $2.50  a  gallon. 
 
 The  sale  of  this  product  reached  very  large  proportions,  but  in  ten 
 (lays  after  the  fraud  had  been  published  the  whole  business  collapsed. 
 (See  page  14,  Ohio  D.  Report.) 
 
 In  many  lines  of  food  and  drink  products,  however,  the  evils  can  only 
 be  ended  by  national  kiws  and  by  the  establishment  of  a  national  com- 
 mission, which  can  reach  the  great  manufactories,  refineries,  rectifying 
 establishments,  spice-mills,  etc.,  and  liave  supervision  of  all  the 
 channels  of  commerce  and  trade  without  the  obstructions  and  limita- 
 tions of  State  lines. 
 
 Mr.  John  J.  Geghan,  assistant  dairy  and  food  commissioner  for  Ohio, 
 in  his  report  s;iys  : 
 
 A  great  amount  of  hakiujij  powder  hoI  1  in  our  market  is  uot  fit  for  food,  and  should 
 be  condemned  as  injurious  to  health.  There  is  such  a  competition  among  the  manu- 
 facturers of  this  so-called  haking  powder  that  with  each  hill  of  this  stufi",  which 
 they  sell  to  retail  grocers,  they  give  a  largo  amount  of  glassware,  which  is  offered  as 
 an  inducement  to  the  pnrchascrs.  This  is  a  nefarious  scheme  and  should  not  be 
 countenanced  by  the  public.  But  it  seems  the  public  likes  to  be  humbugged  ;  rea- 
 soning sense  ought  to  teach  us  that  the  manufacturer  of  baking  powder  can  not  alford 
 to  give  glassware  as  a  present  to  each  customer  unless  he  makes  up  for  the  cost 
 of  the  ghasswaro  by  the  high  price  ho, receives  for  his  worthless  stuff.  Bakina' 
 powder  is  used  extensively,  and  the  ingredients  entering  into  its  composition  should 
 be  pure  and  healthy.  Alum,  an  injurious  niineral,  is  substitutcxl  for  cream  of  tartar, 
 a  vegetabhi  substance,  so  as  to  cheapen  the  cost  to  the  numufacturer  of  the  so-called 
 baking-powder.  If  the  manufacturer  is  honest  he  should  discontinue  the  custom  of 
 offering  ])rizes  as  an  indnccmient  to  the  peojde  to  buy  his  worthless  goods,  nnd  use  in 
 the  manufacture  of  baking  powder  good  and  healthy  substances, 
 
 Mr.  (rcghan,  it  will  be  seen,  pronounces  alum  an  unhealthy  mincnil. 
 (commissioner  Hurst,  in  his  circular  heretofore  tilluded  to,  on  page  8 
 says: 
 
 Pure  alinn  is  undouI)tedly  a  liurtfiil  salt,  and  the  n\sulfaut  salts  from  its  combina- 
 tion witli  soda  ran  scarcely  be  less  hurtful. 
 
 Ami  yet  this  is  a  question  about  wliidi  ''doctors  disagree,"  and  any 
 number  of  conllicting  opinions  and  (;erti(icates  can  b(»  liad  from  emi- 
 nent cIuMuists  on  either  side  of  this  (pu'stion. 
 
 The  ollictial  investigation  of  this  (dass  of  baking  i)owders  made   in 
 
27 
 
 England  to  test  their  health  fulness  resulted  in  their  favor.  But  this 
 conclusion  rested  upon  the  statement  of  the  chemists  that  the  resultant 
 salt  of  hydrate  of  aluminum  remaining  in  the  bread  was  insoluble,  and 
 hence  unhurtful  when  taken  into  the  stomach.  But  some  of  the  ablest 
 chemists  of  this  country  declare  that  hydrate  of  aluminum  is  quite 
 soluble,  and  hence  is  as  hurtful  as  the  alum  in  other  forms.  So  that 
 the  question  is  still  an  open  one  to  be  determined  by  further  careful 
 scientific  investigation. 
 
 Dr.  Hassall  says  of  alum : 
 
 ''  Father  alnm  is  very  apt  to  disorder  the  stomach  and  to  occasion  acidity  and  dys- 
 pepsia." 
 
 The  Xew  Jersey  food  commission  says  : 
 
 Our  investigations  sliow  that  while  especially  the  higher  grades  of  cream  of  tartar 
 and  acid  phosphate  of  lime  powders  are  maintained  at  a  quite  uniform  standard  of 
 excellence,  the  State  is  flooded  also  with  many  baking  powders  of  very  poor  qual- 
 ity— cheap  goods,  poorly  made.  Of  the  thirty-nine  brands  examined,  twenty-five 
 contain  alum  or  its  equivalent,  in  the  shape  of  some  soluble  alumina  compound ;  eiglit 
 are  cream  of  tartar  powders,  with  small  quantities  of  other  iugredients  in  several 
 cases;  four  are  acid  phosphate  of  lime  powders;  two  belong  properly  under  none  of 
 the  above  classes. 
 
 With  one  exception,  the  powders  containing  alum  all  fall  below  the  average  strength 
 of  the  cream  of  tartar  powders,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  they  fall  much  below  the 
 better  grades  of  the  cream  of  tartar  powders. 
 
 In  the  cream  of  tartar  and  the  acid  phosphate  of  lime  powders  no  indications  of 
 substances  likely  to  be  injurious  to  health,  in  the  quantities  used,  have  been  found. 
 
 There  appears  to  be  ample  ground  for  requiring  that  the  makers  of  baking  powders 
 should  pul)lish  the  iugredients  used  in  theix  powders,  in  order  that  tlie  consumer, 
 who  may  justly  have  doubts  of  the  desirability  of  using  certain  kinds,  may  V)e  pro- 
 tected. At  present  the  only  guaranty  of  an  undoubtedly  wholesome  and  etlicient 
 article  appears  to  l)e  the  name  of  the  brand. 
 
 Referring  to  Dr.  Mallet's  experiments,  he  says: 
 
 He  regards  it  as  a  fair  conclusion  that  not  only  alum  itself,  but  the  residues  which 
 its  use  iu  baking  powder  leaves  in  bread,  cannot  be  viewed  as  harmless,  but  must  be 
 ranked  as  objectionable,  and  should  be  avoided  when  the  object  aimed  at  is  the  pro- 
 duction of  wholesome  bread. 
 
 These  experiments  of  Professor  Mallet  are  conducted  in  the  right  way,  and  his  con- 
 clusions are  entitled  to  great  weight.  We  might  quote  the  decided  opinions  of 
 many  scientific  men  against  the  use  of  alum  baking  i)i)wd«>rs,  but  wiih  the  prrceding 
 facts  l>efore  us  this  phase  of  the  questiou  may  be  left. 
 
 DAIRY   PRODUCTS. 
 
 Of  dairy  products  Mr.  Gcglian  says: 
 
 The  consumers  of  oleomargarine — and  they  consist  generally  of  the  indii  trial  or 
 working  clas-^es — by  using  fraudulent  articles  of  food,  are  compelled  to  i)ay  'JO  cents 
 a  ]>oun<l  for  a  mixture  of  lard  and  tallow  that  can  be  purchased  iu  their  original 
 state  for  5  cents  a  pound.  It  should  be  driven  out  of  the  markets  as  an  unhealthy 
 article  of  food.  Surely  it  is  more  economi<al  for  the  housewife  to  pay  iif)  cents,  t>r 
 even  :50  cents,  for  pure  creamery  butter  than  to  pay  2.')  cents  a  ]»ound  for  tallow  or  lard. 
 
 There  is  a  principle  involved  in  a  manufacture  of  (deomargarine  which  should  sep- 
 arate it  entirely  from  the  (luestiou  of  cheap  butter.  Let  this  oleomargarine  take  the 
 ])lace  «'ntirely  of  butter  made  wholly  from  cream,  and  we  imm«Mliately  <urtail  tiur 
 boof  supply,  an  article  of  food  which  the  American  people,  more  than  any  other 
 
28 
 
 nationality,  use  so  much  of,  owing  to  its  nutritious  quality;  because  in  order  to 
 manufacture  oleomargarine  you  must  first  kill  the  animal  to  get  in  part  the  neces- 
 sary ingretlieuts,  and  thereby  create  a  scarcity  of  the  beef-producing  species. 
 
 If  we  repudiate  the  artificial  and  use  only  the  pure  article  we  encourage  the  farmer 
 to  raise  more  cows.  The  more  cows  he  raises  the  greater  will  be  the  supply  of  beef, 
 pure  milk,  butter,  cream,  aud  cheese.  No  farmer  will  undertake  to  raise  or  propa- 
 gate these  species  of  cattle  unless  he  can  realize  a  profit  by  so  doing, 
 
 Mr.  Gegban  estimates  the  loss  to  the  farmers  of  the  country  by  the 
 manufacture  of  oleomargarine  to  be  for  188G  870,000,000. 
 
 In  spite  of  the  United  States  oleomargarine  law  it  would  seem  that 
 the  i)rofits  are  so  great  in  selling  oleomargarine  for  butter,  that  un- 
 scrupulous men  are  constantly  tempted  to  sell  it,  and  I  am  sure  that 
 in  many  of  the  smaller  cities  of  the  country,  some  not  far  from  the 
 national  c*apital,  oleomargarine  is  openly  sold  in  violation  of  Federal 
 statute.  In  confirmation  of  this  idea  I  find  that  even  in  Ohio,  with  its 
 vigorous  State  officers,  alert  and  watchful,  ready  to  enforce  the  State 
 laws  and  aid  in  the  enforcement  of  the  internal-revenue  laws,  the  pro- 
 visions of  the  oleomargarine  bill  are  constantly  violated,  as  well  as  that 
 of  the  State  laws  relative  to  milk  and  cheese. 
 
 Of  97  analyses  of  butter  made  by  the  chemist — one  known  to  be  gen- 
 uine— 50  were  adulterated,  and  only  40  genuine.  Of  43  samples  of  milk 
 analyzed,  7  were  known  to  be  pure;  of  the  reaiaining  36,  representing 
 milk  sold  in  Columbus,  18  samples  fell  below  the  standard  required  by 
 law. 
 
 The  law  relative  to  skim-milk  cheese  seems  to  have  been  made  to  be 
 broken  in  Ohio,  but  the  prompt  prosecution  and  conviction  of  the  of- 
 fenders, who  pleaded  guilty  and  paid  fines  of  $50  each,  seems  to  indicate 
 that  in  the  future  the  condition  of  cheese  and  of  morals  will  both  be 
 healthier  in  Ohio. 
 
 Fun  cream  cheese  in  Ohio  must  mean  something ;  it  must  mean  exactly  what  it 
 says  after  this,  or  you  must  repeal  the  present  dairy  laws  aud  abolish  the  commis- 
 sion.   (Henry  Talcott,  assistant  dairy  couiuiissiouer  for  Ohio,  page  32,  report  87.) 
 
 BEER  ADULTERANTS. 
 
 Dr.  Wm.  DicUore,  of  Cincinnati,  in  a  report  of  certain  analyses  made 
 by  him  for  the  daiiy  and  food  commission  (page  24),  says: 
 
 "  Beer  in  its  perfect  condition  is  an  excellent  and  healthful  beverage,  conferring  in 
 some  measure  virtuesof  water,  wine,  and  of  food,  as  it  (luenches  the  thirst,  stiniulatt's. 
 cheers,  and  strengthenH,"     (Andrew  Ure.) 
 
 The  above  is  tlu;  opinion  of  this  groat  scientist.  Whil(>  mostbrewerH  certainly  aim 
 to  ]>rodn((?  becT  (»f  the  best  quality,  still  then;  are  many  otherw  unscrupulous  enough 
 to  substitute  for  the  sake  of  cheaper  production  a  very  large  j)ercentage  of  other 
 grains  for  malt,  and  also  other  drugs,  like  quassia,  aloes,  p  eric  acid,  etc.,  in  cou- 
 iM'ction  with  artifu-ial  flavors,  to  replace  the  more  <^xpensiv<5  hops.  I  would  like  to 
 state  that  even  well-meaning  brewers  may  niako  the  mistake  and  use  too  many  hops, 
 which  will  produce  an  unwholesonui  beer.  IltuT  s^ionld  neither  Iki  too  strong  in  alco- 
 hol or  b(!  to<»  liighly  hopped.  While  barley  is  (by  practical  experience  of  centuries) 
 the  most  appropriate  cereal  to  be  used  in  browing  beer,  still  other  kinds  of  grain,  as 
 rice  or  corn,  in  very  limited  quantities,  may  be  admitted  in  matiufacturing  certain 
 kinds  of  beer.     The  pro[»ortions  should  however  be  regulated  by  law. 
 
29 
 
 As  a  fraudulent  adulteration  corn  stands  in  the  same  line  with  the  adulteration  of 
 Leer  as  low  wines  stand  in  the  adulteration  of  cider  vinegar,  and  when  used  to  ex- 
 cess is  more  injurious  to  the  S5"stem  than  any  other  kind  of  beer. 
 
 WINE. 
 
 The  assistant  food  commissioner  for  Ohio  says  (page  29): 
 
 The  grape-growers  of  Ottawa  county  have  had  their  industry  ruined  by  the'  man- 
 ufacture of  bogus  wine  out  of  foreign  substances,  so  that  the  demand  for  grapes  for 
 this  purpose  no  longer  exists  to  any  great  extent. 
 
 PENKSYJLVAXIA. 
 
 The  committee  on  adulterations,  poisons,  etc.,  of  the  Pennsylvania 
 legislature,  speaking  through  their  chairman,  Dr.  Pemberton  Dudley 
 (see  page  90,  report  of  the  Board  of  Health  of  Pennsylvania),  says : 
 
 There  can  be  no  question,  however,  that  the  department  of  sanitary  labor  assigned 
 to  this  committee  is  one  of  the  most  important  that  engages  the  attention  of  sani- 
 tary authorities.  The  adulterations  of  food  and  drugs  are  so  numerous,  so  common, 
 80  universal,  we  might'almost  say,  and  at  the  same  time  so  prejudicial  to  the  health 
 of  our  people,  that  constant  watchfulness  and  omnipresent  oversight  alone  can  re- 
 press and  prevent  them. 
 
 Wherever  competition  prevails  there  we  find  the  temptation  to  lower  the  standard 
 of  purity  and  strength  of  our  food-stuffs  and  our  medicinal  preparations,  and  with  the 
 exception  of  the  few  that  are  protected  by  patents,  this  competition  extends  to  all. 
 
 Dr.  L.  Wolff,  in  an  article  on  '^  Our  Drugs  and  Medicines"  (Pennsyl- 
 vania Board  of  Ilealth  report,  page  338),  says: 
 
 The  use  of  pure  drugs  and  medicines,  properly  compounded  and  administered,  con- 
 stitutes a  most  important  feature  for  the  preservation  of  health  and  the  prevention  of 
 avoidable  death.  In  all  civilized  countries  it  has  been  made  the  duty  of  the  state  to 
 control  and  supervise  this  through  competent  officials  and  special  laws.  The  harm 
 arishig  from  inert  or  impure  drugs  consists  not  only  in  defeating  the  end  and  object 
 they  are  intended  for,  by  admitting  of  the  unchecked  progress  of  the  disease  and  the 
 fatal  consequences  thereof,  but  also  in  their  improper  and  poisonous  admixtures, 
 which  make  them  destructive  to  life  and  health.  Many  of  them  possess  powerful 
 and  toxic  action,  and  consequently,  when  compounded  and  administered  in  improper 
 quantities  and  doses,  give  rise  to  most  disastrous  results. 
 
 And  again: 
 
 That  there  arc  annually  a  number  of  valuable  lives  sacrificed  from  this  cause  is  as 
 little  to  be  doubted  as  that  all  the  cases  of  sutfering,  illness,  and  death  therefrom  are 
 C(!rtainly  avoidable  by  i)roper  knowledge,  forethought,  precaution,  and  htjal  nuper- 
 vitsion. 
 
 CHROME   YELLOW  POISONING. 
 
 In  a  pamphlet  issued  by  the  State  Board  of  Health  of  Pennsylvania, 
 in  18S7,  entitled  a  Clinical  Analysis  of  sixty-four  cases  of  poisoning  by 
 Lead  Chromate  (Chrome  Yellow),  used  as  a  cake-dye  and  prepare«l  by 
 Dr.  D.  D.  Stewart  of  Jetferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia,  we 
 find  the  following  conclusion: 
 
 There  is  now  no  qnestiou,  from  recent  developments,  that  the  jioisoning  has  been 
 going  on  unsuspected  in  various  sections  of  the  city  for  years.  Since  my  attention  has 
 been  directed  to  the  mntter  I  have  been  surprised,  in  looking  over  the  mortuary  reeorda 
 of  tUo  past  few  mouths,  to  see  the  largo  number  of  deaths  returned  us  couvulsioua. 
 
30 
 
 SLAUGHTER-HOUSE  AND  DAIRY  INSPECTION. 
 
 I  will  iutroduce  this  division  of  Jiiy  report  with  a  paper  prepared  at  my 
 request  by  Dr.  D.  E.  Salmou,  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  ludustry, 
 whose  experience  and  familiarity  with  the  subject  especially  qualily 
 him  to  speak  of  it  with  authority. 
 
 THE  NECESSITY   OF  INSPECTING  ANIMALS  SLAUGHTERED  FOK  FOOD. 
 
 The  iuhabitants  of  the  United  States  are  the  greatest  consumers  of  meat  of  any 
 people  iu  the  world.  They  have  developed  this  characteristic  because  nowhere  else 
 has  the  supply  of  meat  beeu  at  the  same  time  so  abuudaut,  so  cheap,  aud  of  such 
 superior  (quality. 
 
 Wo  find,  however,  that  the  couditions  under  which  our  food-producing  animals  are 
 grown,  marketed,  and  slaughtered  have  been  rapidly  changing,  and  that  this  change 
 has  greatly  increased  the  desirability  of  government  su])ervisi()n  over  the  trans- 
 portation and  slaughter  of  animals  and  the  preparation  of  their  Uesh  for  human 
 food. 
 
 The  necessity  for  such  supervision  was  tirst  felt  in  our  export  trade  in  pork  products. 
 Our  trade  with  Germany  and  France  had  grown  to  large  proportions.  The  Germans, 
 from  their  habit  of  eating  pork  either  raw  or  only  partially  cooked,  were  subject  to 
 periodical  epidemics  of  trichiniasis,  because  the  hogs  of  all  countries  are  more  or  less 
 affected  with  the  parasite  which  causes  this  disease  in  people.  To  guard  against 
 such  outbreaks  of  disease  the  German  Government  instituted  a  microscoj)ic  inspection 
 of  all  hogs  slaughtered  in  the  Empire,  so  that  those  infested  with  trichinae  might  be 
 discovered  and  condemned.  Requiring  such  an  inspection  for  their  own  hogs,  thoy 
 consider  it  admissible  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  iiork  products  from  other  coun- 
 tries where  the  same  precautions  are  not  enforced. 
 
 Id  adopting  this  regulation  it  is  true  that  they  did  not  give  sufficient  weight  to 
 the  fact  that  no  trichiniasis  had  ever  been  produced  in  Germany  l)y  American  pork 
 or  to  the  additional  fact  that  the  curing  process  to  which  all  exported  meats  are  sub- 
 jected destroys  this  parasite  when  present.  Notwithstanding  these  facts,  the  regula- 
 tion was  enforced  and  our  trade  was  ruined.  The  agitation  which  occurred  at  this 
 time  was  such  that  the  Government  of  France  was  induced  to  enforce  a  similar  pro- 
 hibition, although  with  less  justiiication,  because  there  is  no  microscopic  iiKspectiou 
 in  that  country  to  exclude  the  products  of  their  own  trichinous  hogs  from  consump- 
 tion. 
 
 Two  of  the  greatest  markets  of  the  world  being  thus  shut  against  our  hog  products, 
 because  of  the  alleged  existence  of  trichina',  it  is  probable  that  thi.s  prohibition  will 
 not  be  withdrawn  until  our  Government  provides  for  an  inspection  Irom  whieh  it  can 
 guaranty  that  the  meats  packed  under  its  supervision  are  free  fr(uu  this  parasite. 
 And  this  is  the  first  reason  for  the  development  of  a  system  of  meat  inspection. 
 
 The  change  iu  the  method  of  slaughtering  by  which  thisbuNiness  is  concentrated  in 
 a  few  centers,  and  the  meat  is  shipped  in  cold  storage  to  all  parts  of  the  eoi«ntry  for 
 sale,  has  (leveloptMl  the  Kecond  great  reason  for  national  insi)eetit)n.  Under  the  old 
 )dan  of  killing  in  the  xicinity  where  the  meat  was  to  be  consumed  the  biitcher  was 
 known  by  th(i  consumer;  he  had  a  rei)utati()n  to  maintain,  and  ho  Avas  suhject  to  lo- 
 cal i.iws  and  sanitary  regulations.  At  pnssent  the  identity  of  thc^  butcher  is  lost  in  a 
 distant  jiacking  ccMiter,  wh(^r«5  s<',v«5ral  firms  carry  on  an  enormous  slaughtering  l>usi- 
 ness ;  local  butchers  who  dare  to  compete  are  ruined  by  the  [)ower  of  thcs*^  great  mo- 
 nopolies ;  th<5  ( onsunier  has  no  lecourse  but  to  buy  such  meat  as  i^  furuishutl  or  to  do 
 without  this  necessary  artichi  of  food.  Local  inspection  laws  are  impotent  to  protect, 
 because  the  animal  must  be  seen  before  slaughter  ami  the  viscera  must  bo  examined 
 wlicp  tUe  civrcass  ia  Uressotl  to  make  an  inspection  of  any  real  value,  Tlii»  ^leat  change 
 
31 
 
 in  the  mctliod  of  slaughtering  animals  has  made  dressed  meats  an  article  of  interstate 
 commerce,  and  as  such  it  has  been  v/ithdrawn  to  a  great  extent  from  local  regula- 
 tions and  should  receive  the  supervision  of  the  national  authorities. 
 
 The  third  great  reason  for  a  national  inspection  of  slaughtering  establishments  is 
 that  of  outbreaks  of  communicable  diseases  among  live  stock,  which  are  dangerous 
 to  the  property  or  health  of  our  people  should  be  x^romptly  discovered  and  controlled. 
 The  most  available  and  certain  method  by  which  this  can  be  accomplished  is  the  in- 
 spection of  all  animals  sent  to  the  great  slaughtering  establishments  of  the  country. 
 Congress  has  already  made  large  appropriations  for  the  eradication  of  the  contagious 
 lung  plague  of  cattle,  and  the  known  infected  districts  are  under  strict  quarantine. 
 But  if  the  contagiou  in  some  way  escapes  the  vigilance  of  the  oiicers  and  the  disease 
 in  spite  of  all  provision  for  its  discovery  and  suppression  appears  elsewhere  in  the 
 country,  the  owuer  of  affected  animals  may  conceal  his  losses  and  ship  his  herd  for 
 slaughter.  The  animals  are  purchased  by  a  large  packiug  establishment;  they  are 
 seen  only  by  their  irresponsible  employes,  and  no  matter  what  lesions  they  show 
 the  Government  is  none  the  wiser.  In  this  way  consumers  may  be  supplied  with  dis- 
 eased meats,  and  the  y>resence  of  a  contagious  disease  may  be  successfully  concealed. 
 A  thorough  system  of  inspection  would  not  only  protect  the  consumer,  but  would  re- 
 veal the  existence  of  a  new  center  of  contagion  at  the  earliest  moment  and  enable 
 the  Government  to  economically  and  effectually  guard  the  food  supply  of  the  nation 
 and  its  interstate  and  foreign  commerce  from  the  destructive  inliuenco  of  animal 
 plagues. 
 
 To  protect  the  health  and  lives  of  its  citizens  is,  or  ought  to  bo,  one  of  the  tirst  ob- 
 jects of  any  government,  and  there  is  no  way  in  which  more  can  be  done  in  tliis  direc- 
 tion by  our  National  Government  than  in  protecting  the  food  supply  of  the  country. 
 Heretofore  this  has  been  left  to  State  and  municii)al  regulations,  and  the  power  of  the 
 Federal  Government  has  been  felt  in  forcing  articles  into  the  several  States,  because 
 such  articles  were  the  subjects  of  interstate  commerce,  rather  than  in  supplemeutiuf 
 the  local  authority  for  the  protection  of  the  consumer.  And  while  it  is  right  that 
 interstate  commerce  should  be  protected,  it  is  proper  that  it  should  be  regulated  for 
 the  benefit  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people — the  consumers— as  well  as  to  maintain 
 the  business  of  the  smaller  number — the  shippers. 
 
 The  great  importance  of  an  inspection  of  aninuils  slaughtered  for  food  is  apparent 
 to  the  most  superficial  investigator.  In  many  cities  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  ani- 
 mals in  a  most  disgusting  and  dangerous  condition  of  disease  may  be  and  are  regu- 
 larly slaughtered  for  human  food,  and  their  carcasses  go  into  consumption  without 
 let  or  hindrance.  In  a  country  where  refinement  and  civilization  have  reached  the 
 development  which  we  find  in  the  United  States  the  common  instincts  of  humanity 
 require  that  the  consumers  of  meat  should  be  protected  from  food  of  this  character. 
 
 It  is  well  kuown  that  many  of  the  internal  parasites  of  man  can  only  be  obtained 
 from  the  animal  food  of  which  he  partakes.  This  applies  particularly  totai>e  worms 
 and  trichina*,  which  pass  one  period  of  their  lives  in  the  tlesh  of  cattle  and  hogs. 
 It  is  not  so  generally  understood  that  many  sudden  and  dangerous  illnesses  result 
 from  eating  animal  food  which  has  been  poisoned  by  the  products  of  disease  existing 
 in  the  animal  before  its  slaughter.  Most  common  of  these  are  the  septic  disorders  so 
 common  in  nearly  all  species  of  domesticated  aniuuils. 
 
 The  most  dangerous  disease  in  its  effects  upon  human  health,  however,  is  tuber- 
 culosis, which  is  known  to  bo  very  prevalent  among  cattle,  and  for  which  it  is  seldom 
 that  a  carcass  is  condemned.  The  vital  statistic  s  of  the  country  show  that  ir>0,{»()0 
 deaths  are  caused  every  year  in  the  United  States  by  this  disease,  and  almost  the 
 only  available  means  of  prevention  suggested  by  the  medical  comuiissions  whicli 
 have  iuvestigatod  the  subject,  is  the  protection  of  the  consumer  from  food  derived 
 from  tuberculous  animals. 
 
 In  the  preparation  of  this  article  details  hav<'  be. mi  i»m  poscly  omittiMl  and  the  aim 
 lias  been  to  present  in  a  succinct  form  tlui  great  reasons  for  a  national  inspection  law 
 that  will  guaranty  the  character  of  the  uuimul  food  sold  iu  this  country,  as  well  as 
 
32 
 
 of  that  which  goes  into  our  export  trade.  The  facts  which  are  here  stated,  iu  a  lnoad 
 and  general  way,  are  known  to  the  writer  to  be  true,  and  they  can  be  substantiated 
 at  any  time  by  a  proper  inquiry. 
 
 The  disease  referred  to  iu  the  coiicliidiug  part  of  the  preceding  paper, 
 tuberculosis,  is  so  widespread  aud  furnishes  in  itself  so  strong  an  argu- 
 ment in  favor  of  a  rigid  national  inspection  law,  that  1  think  it  well  to 
 introduce  it  more  prominently  in  the  body  of  this  rei)ort,  and  to  that 
 end  I  submit  the  following  extracts  from  the  able  address  of  Dr.  G.  C. 
 Faville,  i)rofessoF  of  veterinary  surgery,  in  charge  of  the  United  States 
 Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  Baltimore,  Md.,  delivered  at  Grange  Camp, 
 Ya.,  August  20,  1889.     Dr.  Faville  said  : 
 
 The  close  competition  in  the  commercial  world  and  the  increasing  number  of  con- 
 sumers in  our  cities  increases  the  temptation  to  adulterate  food  products;  and  as  the 
 producers  of  all  the  foods  consumed  are  really  the  farmers  the  question  of  food  adul- 
 terations comes  home  to  them  through  their  pockets  with  great  force. 
 
 When  tlie  farmer's  hog  has  to  compete  with  the  cotton-seed  oil  aud  paraffiue  it  is 
 expected  that  the  farmer  should  '' squeal,"  and  when  his  cow  has  to  compete  with 
 both  the  hog  and  the  steer  in  the  production  of  butter,  it  is  legitimate  that  he  should 
 "kick."  It  is  probable  that  tlie  chemical  processes  through  which  the  several  in- 
 gredients pass  in  their  transformation  into  so-called  lard  or  butter  would  destroy 
 any  diseased  germs  that  might  be  present,  but  when,  as  often  happens,  the  meat  or 
 milk  of  diseased  animals  is  consumed,  the  dangers  to  human  life  become  much 
 greater. 
 
 There  can  be  uo  question  that  the  people  of  tlie  country  do  not  understand  the 
 danger  in  which  they  stand,  or  they  would  demand  protection  ;  aud  for  the  people 
 to  demand,  is  for  them  to  secure. 
 
 The  diseases  that  are  directly  communicable  to  man  from  the  lower  animals  are 
 numerous:  Glanders,  anthrax,  actynomycosis  (lump  jaw,)  tuberculosis,  and  others, 
 besides  the  various  digestive  and  other  troubles  that  come  from  eating  meat  from  ill- 
 conditioned  carcasses,  are  well  known  to  the  medical  profession.  It  is  a  practice  in 
 all  the  markets  of  our  large  cities  to  sell  meat  from  any  animal  of  the  bovine  species 
 that  is  able  to  go  to  the  slaughter-houses.  In  most  of  our  markets  there  is  no  restric- 
 tion on  the  sale  of  any  class  of  meats,  and  as  a  result  any  old,  emaciated  cows,  or  ani- 
 mals with  cancerous  jaws,  bad  udders,  or  any  other  disease,  are  slaughtered  and  sold 
 forliumau  food.  While  there  is  much  danger  from  any  animal  that  is  not  in  a  healthy 
 condition,  the  most  dangerous  of  all,  probably,  is  the  one  sulferiug  from  tuber- 
 culosis. 
 
 Tuberculosis  has  hvvAi  recognized  under  dilVerent  mimes  for  centuries;  but  not 
 until  the  last  few  years  has  anything  like  a  correct  understanding  of  the  disease 
 existed.  With  this,  as  with  a  host  of  other  diseases,  the  popular  name  has  iiulicated 
 some  existing  condition.  "Crape,"  "  augleberries,"  "pining,"  "consumption," 
 etc.,  have  all  alluded  to  a  condition  observed  in  some  of  tlu^  many  forms  of  this  <lis- 
 ease.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  when  Moses  formulated  the  .Jewish  laws  against 
 tlio  consumi)tion  of  animals  whose  lungs  were  diseased  he  referred  to  tuberculous, 
 and  evei-  since  that  time  the  human  race  has  been  menace*!  Ity  this  intsidious  foe. 
 
 It  was  state.d  on  th«^  floor  of  the  Senate  last  winter  that  statistics  showed  that  live 
 huiulred  thousand  ihildreu  die  annually  in  our  cities  in  the  United  States  from  the 
 use  of  diseasiid  milk. 
 
 What  adulti-rations  can  possibly  be  tlui  sourcii  of  so  great  danger  as  the  g<'rm  of 
 an  infectious  diseas«^  ? 
 
 While  we-  do  not  like  the  idea  of  buying  water  for  milk,  it  is  surely  no  more  re- 
 pugnant than  buying  sand  for  sugar,  oi  any  other  adulteiatcd  (ood. 
 
33 
 
 The  actual  danger  to  the  health  of  the  people  from  such  adulterations  is  nothing 
 when  compared  to  the  danger  from  tubercular  germs. 
 
 The  only  way  to  control  the  spread  of  this  and  other  diseases  is  by  compulsory  in- 
 spection of  all  cows  kept  for  dairy  purpose  by  competent  inspectors*  and  the  con- 
 demnation of  all  cows  that  are  found  to  be  diseased. 
 
 A  thorough  compulsory  inspection  of  all  the  dairies  and  slaughtering  establish- 
 ments, under  the  control  of  the  Federal  and  State  Governments  working  in  harmony, 
 could  be  made  to  very  materially  decrease  the  number  of  deaths  among  the  people, 
 more  especially  in  our  cities.  There  is  no  subject  of  more  importance  with  which  our 
 statesmen  can  grapple.  Under  the  law  as  it  now  stands,  the  Bureau  of  Animal  In- 
 dustry can  do  no  more  than  to  incidentally  find  out  that  tuberculosis  exists ;  there  are 
 no  funds  that  are  available  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  diseased  meats,  or  of  dis- 
 posing of  tuberculosis  cows. 
 
 It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  scientific  men  who  have  given  this  sub- 
 ject attention  are  almost  a  unit  as  to  the  necessity  of  a  rigid  govern- 
 ment inspection  of  both  slaughter-houses  and  dairies. 
 
 The  extracts  which  I  append  are  but  a  few  out  of  a  very  large  num- 
 ber of  a  similar  character  that  have  been'broughttomy  attention.  I  will 
 first  offer  some  extracts  from  the  report  of  an  authority  already  quoted. 
 I  refer  to  the  Brooklyn  health  department.  It  may  be  urged  in  this 
 connection  that  diseased  meats  and  dairy  i^roducts  are  not,  properly 
 speaking,  adulterations,  but  it  is  quite  evident  that  in  providing  for 
 this  report  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  of  the  House  of  Eepresenta- 
 tives  intended  to  include,  as  far  as  possible,  all  food  products  injurious 
 to  health,  as  well  as  those  which  might  come  under  the  head  of  com- 
 mercial adulteration.  That  the  committee  was  desirous  to  prevent  the 
 consumption  of  diseased  meats  is  shown  by  their  favorable  report  on 
 the  Laird  bill  which  embraced  among  its  provisions  one  for  a  rigid  in- 
 spection of  animals  intended  for  human  food,  both  before  and  after 
 slaughter. 
 
 So  far  as  inspection  of  milk  is  concerned  I  would  suggest  that 
 although  from  its  nature  it  is  unlikely  to  become  the  subject  of  interstate 
 commerce  and  thus  be  withdrawn  from  the  absolute  control  of  munici- 
 pal or  State  regulations,  still  there  are  cases  in  various  parts  of  the 
 country  in  which  it  is  conveyed  from  one  State  to  the  other,  and  it  seems 
 to  me  that  to  confine  the  inspection  of  milk  to  an  analysis  as  is  usually 
 done  is  quite  inadequate  for  the  protection  of  the  consumer.  Important 
 as  this  is,  the  inspection  of  the  source  whence  the  milk  is  derived  is 
 perhi^ps  even  more  so.  Among  milch  cows  the  disease  of  tuberculosis 
 is  undoubtedly  very  prevalent.  Professor  Law  states  that  IH),  30,  or 
 even  50  per  cent,  of  certain  herds  that  supply  New  York  City  with  milk 
 are  afl'ected  by  this  disease;  *Mn  some  country  districts  of  New  York 
 can  be  shown  large  herds  with  90  j)er  cent,  subject  to  tuberculosis." 
 The  evidence  in  regard  to  the  (contagious  nature  of  tuberculosis  and  to 
 the  possibility  of  its  communication  to  man  by  the  meat  and  milk  of 
 tuberculous  animals  is  becoming  so  strong  that  further  doubt  is  im- 
 possible. 
 
 12503— liuil.  25 3 
 
Dr.  Charles  Creigbton,  of  Cambridge  University,  believes  that  bovine 
 and  human  tuberculosis  are  identical  and  mutually  communicable.  He 
 says  (see  London  Lancet,  June  10,  1880),  'that  he  believes  a  supposed 
 outbreak  of  typhoid  fever  which  occurred  in  the  industrial  school  to 
 have  been  in  reality  not  typhoid,  but  '  bovine  tuberculosis.''' 
 
 Dr.  Lydten,  of  Carlsruhe,  in  his  rei)ort  upon  tuberculosis  to  the  [Na- 
 tional Veterinary  Congress,  held  m  Brussels,  September,  1883,  con- 
 cludes, among  other  things. 
 
 That  there  are  cliuical  observations  proving  the  transmission  of  tuberculosis  from 
 animals  toman  through  the  use  of  the  milk  of  phthisical  animals;  that  tuberculosis 
 is  contagious,  like  glanders  or  lung  plague  ;  and  that  contagion  fills  a  more  important 
 role  than  heredity  in  the  propagation  of  disease. 
 
 Professor  Jahne,  of  Dresden,  in  a  statement  of  results  of  all  experi- 
 ments he  could  collect  in  1882  upon  the  feeding  of  tuberculous  matter 
 to  various  kinds  of  domestic  animals,  states  that  out  of  322  animals 
 thus  fed  43.5  per  cent,  took  the  disease,  51.1  did  not,  and  in  5  per  cent. 
 the  result  was  doubtful. 
 
 A  large  number  of  experimenters  have  investigated  the  transmission 
 of  tubercle,  and  the  results  are  convincing  and  conclusive.  Dr.  K;im- 
 merer,  city  physician  of  Vienna,  regards  infection  of  tuberculosis  by 
 tuberculous  meat  and  milk  as  quite  as  fruitful  a  source  of  disease  as 
 heridity,  to  which  it  is  usually  traced. 
 
 Professor  Jahne  considers  it  well  proven  that  the  milk  of  tuber- 
 culous cows  is  as  capable  of  communicating  the  disease  to  man  as  to 
 their  own  offspring.  Stang  mentions  a  case  of  accidental  infection 
 of  the  son  of  healthy  parents  by  habitually  drinking  warm  milk  from 
 a  tuberculous  cow.  Professor  Dunme,  of  Berne,  mentions  a  similar 
 case  that  came  under  his  own  observation. 
 
 Dr.  Bartley  says  that  without  going  further  into  this  examination, 
 we  can  see  the  extreme  importance  of  careful  inspection  of  all  cows 
 whose  milk  is  to  be  used  as  food,  and  it  is  unquestionably  quite  as  im- 
 portant that  all  such  animals  should  be  insi)ected  before  and  after 
 slaughter  for  human  food. 
 
 Any  disease  [says  Dr.  Bartley],  whether  contagious  or  not,  which  i>r()duccs  a  con- 
 tinued febrile  condition  for  a  number  of  days,  must  be  n'gardcd  as  sutlicicnt  cause 
 for  tlie  exclusion  of  the  milk  of  cows  so  affected. 
 
 Dr.  J.  II.  Raymond,  health  commissioner  for  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  in 
 bis  report  for  1884,  says  (pages  17  and  18) : 
 
 W(5  know  that  when  th<^  body  is  properly  nourished  iii<li\  iduals  arc  more  able  to 
 withstan«l  the  attacks  of  disease,  and  even  to  escape  thciii,  than  when  from  any  cause 
 they  are  in  a  debilitated  condition. 
 
 My  experience  leads  mo  to  the  conclusion  that  a  very  much  greater  proportion  of 
 diseased  animals  is  slauglitered  and  th<^  m(>at  of  th(^  same:  put  upon  the  market  than 
 is  commonly  believed.  During  tlie  ])ast  summer  inspectors  have  been  statione*!  at 
 the  slaughter-houses  with  niferenc*^  to  tliis  detection  of  im])ure  meat,  and  they  luive 
 thus  been  enabl(Ml  to  dis<u»ver  and  con<lemn  meat  which  would  otherwise  have  found 
 its  way  into  thti  market.  In  one  of  our  large  (cities,  at  a  not  very  distant  dat<%  scores 
 of  immatun^  v«*al  were  exposed  for  sal«j  in  public  market^  and  it  was  the  opinion  of 
 
 I 
 
35 
 
 men  competent  to  decide  tbat  some  of  these  calves  had  come  into  the  world  only  a 
 day  or  two  before  and  others  had  been  born  dead.  The  effect  of  such  meat  upon 
 the  health  of  those  unfortunate  enough  to  eat  it  can  readily  be  surmised ;  and  here  let 
 me  say  that  in  my  judgment  no  inspection  of  meat  can  be  of  much  value  unless  it 
 occurs  at  the  slaughter-house  and  before  the  vicera  has  been  removed.  Many  cases 
 of  tuberculosis  and  of  contagious  pleuro-pneumonia  have  been  detected  by  the  in- 
 spectors, who  were  able  to  interrogate  the  lungs  before  they  were  removed  fiom  the 
 animal,  which  would  have  passed  a  most  rigid  inspection  had  an  examination  of  the 
 carcass  alone  been  relied  upon. 
 
 Messrs.  May  &  McElroy,  meat  inspectors  for  Brooklyn,  in  their  report, 
 say: 
 
 We  have  endeavored  to  check  the  sale  of  meats  unfit  for  human  food  to  such  an  ex- 
 tent, that  we  can  freely  say  and  without  any  hesitation  that  there  is  less  bad  meat 
 sold  in  Brooklyn  than  any  other  city  of  the  Union,  and  for  this  we  are  in  a  large 
 measure  indebted  to  the  assistance  we  have  received  from  our  police  magistrates  iu 
 severely  punishing  offenders,  also  to  the  press  for  publishing  the  proceedings  concern- 
 ing the  same. 
 
 INSPECTION  AT   TIME   OF   SLAUGHTER  NECESSARY. 
 
 No  inspection  of  carcasses  subsequent  to  time  of  slaughter  is  adequate 
 to  insure  the  safety  of  tbe  public.  Among  the  various  diseases  to  which 
 animals  are  liable  and  which  render  the  meat  unlit  for  human  consump- 
 tion, there  are  some  only  to  be  detected  by  examination  of  the  internal 
 organs,  absolutely  necessitating,  therefore,  an  inspection  at  the  time  of 
 slaughter  of  each  animal  by  a  competent  inspector.  This  is  well  ap- 
 preciated in  Europe,  and  especially  in  Berlin,  where  there  exist  '^  muni- 
 cipal slaughter  and  investigation  houses,"  established  in  1883. 
 
 The  following  is  a  record  of  diseased  meat  discovered  and  rejected 
 in  these  houses  ;  64  cattle,  2,932  organs,  2  calves,  297  hogs, 3,410  organs, 
 all  attected  with  tuberculosis,  247  hogs  with  erysipelas,  39  other  ani- 
 mals with  jaundice,  30  with  dropsy,  60  meat  iu  unhealthy  condition, 
 nature  of  disease  not  stated;  in  1,407  cases  the  microscope  detected  the 
 presence  of  tape- worm  ;  *  9,000  unborn  calves  were  seized,  which  would 
 doubtless  have  found  their  way  into  the  market  as  veal,  had  the  ani- 
 mals been  slaughtered  without  the  careful  supervision  secured  by  the 
 centralizing  of  the  slaughter  business.  Finally  no  less  than  199  ani- 
 mals were  infested  with  trichina,  and  destroyed. 
 
 Dr.  Strawbridge,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  County 
 Medical  Society,  in  ottering  a  resolution  urging  State  legislation  in  form 
 of  inspection,  said: 
 
 Anybody  can  dump  any  kind  of  food  iu  Philudelphia  and  wo  must  take  it,  but  if 
 we  refuse  to  oat  it,  we  are  told  that  we  are  not  good  citizens.  Meat  ought  to  be  in- 
 spected when  alive  and  also  during  the  process  of  slaughtering.  Unless  you  can  in- 
 spect the  animal  alive  and  also  when  the  internal  parts  can  be  viewed,  the  inspec- 
 
 *  The  African  negroes  who  are  rich  enough  to  feed  on  beef,  which  they  eat  raw,  are 
 largely  affected  with  tape-worm.  This  is  donl)tl«'ss  transmitted  from  the  animal 
 direct  into  the  human  system.  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  <)bs('^v^^  that  the  practice  or 
 eating  underdone  meats  is  one  calling  for  careful  attention  from  the  scientist. 
 
36 
 
 tion  is  useless.  In  the  inspection  of  milk  the  principal  thing  is  to  see  the  cows  that 
 give  it,  80  as  to  see  that  they  are  not  diseased,  and  to  inspect  it  at  its  place  of  delivery. 
 (American  Analyst,  March  28,  1889.) 
 
 From  an  address  read  before  tbe  State  Sanitary  Convention  of  Ohio, 
 by  Dr.  D.  H.  Beckwitb,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  member  of  the  State  board 
 of  health,  I  take  the  following  : 
 
 In  Twinsbur>r,  a  physician  informed  me  a  few  months  ago  that  in  visiting  a  dairy 
 farm  he  found  a  cow  covered  with  sores  and  undoubtedly  suffering  from  tuberculosis, 
 where  milk  was  being  shipped  to  market  with  that  of  other  cows  for  consumption. 
 Similar  cases  are  noticed  in  various  parts  of  the  country  every  day. 
 
 Thomas  J.  Edge,  a  special  Government  agent  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  says  in  his  re- 
 port July  '21,  1886 : 
 
 "I  am  not  an  alarmist,  but  if  citizens  could  see  the  cases  of  tuberculosis  which 
 have  come  tp  my  notice,  they  would  not  allow  another  session  of  the  legislature  to 
 pass  without  at  least  an  attempt  to  restrict  its  s})read. 
 
 ^'We  have  found  whole  herds  and  dairies  affected  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  with 
 this  disease.  Milk  is  used  from  animals  scarcely  able  to  stand.  That  milk  from  dis- 
 eased animals  reaches  your  city  market  is  eo  evident  that  it  needs  no  demonstration ; 
 that  no  amount  of  inspection  will  detect  the  presence  of  this  disease,  is  apparent." 
 
 This  report  is  not  essentially  different  from  thoseof  other  agents  in  other  localities. 
 It  is  only  a  wonder,  in  view  of  all  the  facts  which  have  been  gathered  by  observation 
 and  examination,  that  any  children  in  large  cities  ever  reach  man's  estate. 
 
 A  few  days  ago  I  attended  a  family  sick  with  diphtheria.  There  was  no  apparent 
 cause  for  the  appearance  of  the  nuilady  about  the  premises.  Upon  inquiring  I  found 
 that  children  in  other  neighboring  families  were  suffering  from  the  same  dread  dis- 
 ease, and  I  determined  to  make  investigation.  It  very  soon  transpired  that  all  of  the 
 affected  families  were  being  supplied  with  milk  from  the  same  person,  who  sold  to  no 
 other  families  in  the  neighborhood. 
 
 1  then  drove  out  to  this  man's  dairy  farm  and  found  ray  worst  suspicions  more  than 
 well  grounded.  The  condition  of  affairs  was  simply  indescribable.  The  entire  water 
 supply  came  from  a  stagnant  pond,  covered  with  slime  and  reeking  with  filth.  Several 
 dead  animals  were  floatin*  in  the  water,  partly  decomposed.  The  stalls  where  the 
 cows  were  fed,  milked,  and  housed,  were  filthy  in  the  extreme.  No  attempt  at  ven- 
 tilation had  been  made,  and  the  food  was  of  the  poorest  quality.  No  worse  condition 
 of  affairs  could  have  been  possible  at  the  farm.  A  kind  Providence  only  spared  the 
 people  whom  this  man  supplied  with  milk. 
 
 The  dangers  to  which  we  are  exi)osed  from  the  use  of  diseased  or  pu trifled  meats 
 are  very  great.  The  flesh  of  diseased  animals  is  liable  to  become  putrified  sooner 
 than  that  of  healthy  animals;  and  the  recent  discovery  of  parasites  in  meat,  which 
 is  but  partially  decomposed,  where,  in  short,  putrifactive  fermentation  has  but  re- 
 cently set  in,  points  to  their  presence  as  the  causeof  the  severe  elfect  of  sickness  pro- 
 duc(!d  from  the  recei)rion  of  moat  in  this  particular  stage  into  the  stomach.   • 
 
 Dr.  Ashmun,  the  liealth  oHiccr  of  Clevelainl,  informed  me  that  during  the  past  year 
 that  from  fourteen  to  fifteen  cases  were  poisoned  from  eating  pork  that  was  infected 
 with  trichina. 
 
 To  diagnose  trichinosis  is  no  easy  task.  The  symptoms  in  connection  with  the  dis- 
 covery of  th(?  parasite  itself,  in  the  suspected  food,  and  removing  a  portion  of  the 
 nniscle  of  the  patient  and  i>la('ing  it  under  a  microscope,  will  reveal  tlie  real  trouble. 
 
 The  Chicago  Acad(Mny  of  Scicme,  a  few  years  since,  examined  portions  of  muscles 
 tak<;n  from  l,'.VM  hogs  in  ilitfcrcint  packing  houses  and  butcher  shops  in  Chicago. 
 They  found  trichina  in  tin?  muscles  of  twenty-eight  hogs.  From  these  examinations 
 and  observations  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  in  the  hogs  brought  to  this  city, 
 one  in  fifty  was  more  or  loss  affected  with  these  parasites  now   on   exhibition   before 
 
 ( 
 
37 
 
 you.  From  the  worst  specimens  they  fouud  in  Chicago,  a  persoa  eating  an  ordinary 
 meal  of  pork  (the  specimen  containing  18,000  to  the  cubic  inch),  would  soon  become 
 infected  with  not  less  than  1,000,000  of  young  trichina. 
 
 PUBLIC    OPINION. 
 
 I  herewith  preseut  extracts  from  sundry  letters  and  reports  of  gen- 
 tlemen who  as  scientists,  officials,  and  publicists  may  be  deservedly  re- 
 garded as  authorities  on  the  subject  we  have  in  hand. 
 
 I  will  first  quote  Prof.  Stephen  P.  Sharpless,  State  assajer  of  Mas- 
 sachusetts. This  gentleman  is  i3robably  one  of  the  best  informed  men 
 in  the  country  on  the  subject  of  food  adulteration,  and  he  has  been 
 good  enough  to  favor  me  with  advance  sheets  of  a  pamphlet  entitled 
 "Adulteration  of  Food,"  from  which  I  will  ofi'er  here  several  extracts, 
 and  whom  I  will  also  quote  again  in  a  subsequent  portion  of  this 
 report,  devoted  to  an  enumeration  of  adulterated  articles  and  adulter- 
 ants.   The  professor  says : 
 
 The  statute-books  of  all  nations  abound  in  laws  upon  this  subject,  which  are  prac- 
 tically dead-letters. 
 
 This  arises  from  two  causes :  the  first  is  ignorant,  indiscriminate  legislation  ;  a  law 
 which  condemns  equally  flour  or  rape-seed  and  chromate  of  lead  in  mustard  is  soon 
 looked  upon  with  contempt.  The  second  cause  is  too  conservative  or  too  definite 
 legislation.  There  are  many  laws  which  condemn  specifically  certain  adulterations- 
 The  adulterator  carefully  avoids  these  substances,  and  substitutes  for  them  others, 
 perhaps  not  less  dangerous,  and  continues  in  his  way. 
 
 Another  objection  to  this  specific  legislation  is  the  fact  that,  when  an  adulteration 
 is  thoroughly  exposed,  it  becomes  practically  dead,  since,  if  it  is  known  to  the  whole 
 of  the  trade,  it  ceases  to  be  profitable. 
 
 But  all  prohibitory  legislation  necessarily  follows  the  act  which  it  is  intended  to 
 prevent,  and  therefore  specific  laws  against  any  particular  adulteration  have  but 
 little  force,  since  they  come  too  late  to  be  of  any  benefit ;  by  the  time  the  law  is  upon 
 the  statute-book  the  old  adulteration  has  been  forgotteu,  and  a  new  one  has  taken 
 its  place. 
 
 England  has  legislated  more  on  this  subject  during  the  past  hundred  years  than 
 any  other  country,  and  a  careful  examination  of  her  laws  will  serve  fully  to  illus- 
 trate what  I  have  said. 
 
 A  law  npou  this  subject  must  be  simple,  easily  understood,  and  general  in  its  appli- 
 cation, and  it  should  not  attempt  to  control  all  commercial  frauds,  but  only  such  as 
 are  directly  detrimental  to  health. 
 
 Dr.  Beck  with,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  adulteration  of  food, 
 drinks  and  drugs,  of  the  Oliio  State  board  of  healtli,  has  also  kindly 
 favored  me  with  the  advance  sheets  of  the  first  annual  rei)ort  of  the 
 board,  from  which  I  extract  the  following  : 
 
 At  the  present  time  nearly  all  the  adulterations  are  mere  dilutions  and  substitu- 
 tions in  the  interest  of  pecuniary  gain,  as  exemplitied  in  the  dilution  of  milk  with 
 water,  and  the  substitution  of  glucose  for  cane  sirups,  so  extensively  practiced; 
 careful  lesearch  showing  in  nearly  all  cases  that  the  presenc*^  of  absolutely  i)eruieiou8 
 ingredients  is  the  result  of  accident  and  not  design.  An  exception,  perhaps,  may  be 
 noted  in  the  use  of  alum  in  damaged  flour,  but  the  efl'ects  of  this.adiilteration  upon 
 the  human  system  are  as  yet  a  matter  of  Hpeeulative  controversy. 
 
38 
 
 The  wisfloin  of  prohibitory  lc<;ishition  can  ho,  seen  ou  our  side  of  tho  water  by  the 
 results  obtained  m  Canada.  The  work  of  examination  there  began  in  ISTG,  wlien 
 51.60  per  cent,  of  the  articles  examined  were  fonnd  adnlterated.  lu  six  years  there- 
 after, or  iu  1882,  this  percentage  had  been  red  need  to  25 — a  remarkable  showing, 
 when  we  consider  that  the  only  mode  of  punishment  for  infraction  of  the  law  has 
 been  the  publication  of  the  names  of  guilty  parties. 
 
 It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  in  every  locality  where  the  law'  does  not  deter  from 
 the  act  adulterated  articles  are  ou  sale  in  all  kinds  of  food-supply  stores,  even  the 
 most  reputable. 
 
 The  same  authority,  in  an  address  before  the  State  sanitary  conven- 
 tion, said  : 
 
 In  the  matter  of  cotfees,  teas,  spices,  simps,  sugars,  and  many  other  articles  in 
 daily  use,  short  crops  or  sweeping  changes  in  import  duties  do  not  trouble  the  con- 
 sumer in  the  least.  The  beneticent  manipulators  of  these  goods  take  the  import,  be 
 it  much  or  little,  and  bring  the  supply  up  to  the  demand  in  their  own  warehonses  by 
 a  judicious  use  of  cheap  home  products.  The  thrifty  housewife  knows  the  cost  of  a 
 box  of  spice  or  a  package  of  coffee  with  the  same  certainty  that  the  manufacturer 
 reckons  the  profits  on  his  sales,  and  both  are  content.  If  said  sugars  are  worth  7 
 cents  in  New  York,  glucose  can  be  had  for  3  cents  iu  Buffalo,  and  it  becomes  a 
 simple  example  in  proportion  to  lay  before  the  consumer  a  prime  article  at  6  cents, 
 and  leave  the  refiner  such  a  margin  for  profit  as  his  fancy  may  dictate.  In  this  in- 
 stance fraud  alone  is  perpetrated ;  but  the  same  refiner,  to  lighten  the  color  of  his 
 sirups,  employs  a  salt  of  tin,  which  is  known  to  be  deleterious  to  health  and  there- 
 fore dangerous  to  life. 
 
 And  in  concluding  he  says  : 
 
 When  we  consider  that  the  welfare,  the  happiness,  and  the  greatest  prosperity  of  a 
 nation  depends  upon  the  health  and  morals  of  its  people,  and  that  unpalatable  and 
 irritating  foods  are  the  prime  causes  of  very  many  diseases  that  llesh  is  heir  to,  the 
 imperativeness  of  entering  the  field,  lance  iu  hand,  against  this  insatiable  foe  to  good 
 living  and  good  temper,  food  adulterations,  ought  to  be  apparent  to  every  one  of  us. 
 So  much  has  been  charged  and  so  much  proven  by  those  who  have  given  their  time 
 and  best  scientific  knowledge  to  investigations  into  the  conditions  of  our  food  prod- 
 ucts, that  ignorance  can  no  longer  be  made  the  excuse  for  inactivity.  The  most 
 humble  among  us  may  become  the  strongest  in  this  righteous  fight.  Play  must  bo 
 given  to  the  impulses  which  are  part  of  all  nations,  and  not  the  creature  of  any  con- 
 dition or  profession. 
 
 We  are  too  prone  to  thrust  upon  the  physicians  and  health  officers  duties  which 
 should  be  our  own. 
 
 In  this  age  of  i>rogreH8  we  can  not  go  back  to  old  time  simplicity,  w  hen  the  mis- 
 tress of  the  house  was  the  presiding  genius  of  the  kitchen,  but  we  can  and  should 
 examine  closely  every  article  of  food  th.at  enters  our  doors,  an<l  call  the  attention  of 
 the  j)roper  authoriti(;s  to  any  case  of  suspected  contamination.  Let  this  be  done  in 
 all  our  homes  and  there  would  soon  grow  a  strong  i)ublie  sentiment  against  food 
 adulteration. 
 
 I  appeal  to  mothers  to  protect  tlieir  ofispring  from  the  ruthless  hand  of  this 
 destroyer. 
 
 I  api)eai  to  the  economist  to  enter  the  lists  againsts  this  desjioiler  of  our  homes  and 
 dej»leter  of  our  fortinu's.  I  api^'al  to  humanity  to  shakt>  ofi'  the  fetters  of  the  most 
 cru(d  tyrant  and  «'.xacting  des])ot  the  world  has  ever  seen.  I  ai)peal  to  the  eonuner- 
 cial  men  all  over  the  country  to  unite  as  a  liaiid  of  brothers  and  (lis«'onMtenanc<'  tlie 
 adulteiation  of  food  and  drink. 
 
 In  reply  to  the  ciicuhir  sent  out  l)y  nie  IMaicli  LM),  ISSi),  and  whicii 
 Nvill  l)(^  found  in  the  appendix  totliis  report,  I  received  aU'ttei"  from  Dr. 
 
39 
 
 Abbott,  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  State  boanj  of  health,  con- 
 taining some  valuable  inclosures,  and  in  which  he  says,  in  regard  to  the 
 inspection  laws  of  his  State : 
 
 I  will  reply  briefly  that  the  laws  of  this  State  relative  to  food  and  drag  inspection 
 were  enacted  in  1882.  Not  much  active  work  other  than  investigation  was  done  till 
 1884,  since  which  time  the  board  has  carried  on  a  very  successful  line  of  work  under 
 these  laws.  About  26,000  samples  of  food  and  drugs,  in  all,  have  been  examined,  and 
 395  prosecutions  conducted  in  80  cities  and  towns  in  this  State.  These  related  to 
 milk,  butter,  hone\,  sirups,  sugar,  molasses,  vinegar,  cream  of  tartar,  olive-oil, 
 maple  sirup  and  sugar,  spices  of  various  sorts,  confectionery,  coffee,  and  various 
 kinds  of  drugs.  Eighty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  complaints  entered  (344  in  all)  re- 
 sulted in  conviction.  Several  articles  of  an  actively  injurious  character  have  been 
 found  and  their  sale  suppressed  and  offenders  driven  out  of  the  State  in  some  iustan*ces. 
 
 From  one  of  the  inclosures  forwarded  by  Dr.  Abbott,  consisting  of  a 
 page  from  an  early  report  of  the  Stale  board,  I  extract  the  following 
 interesting  testimony  as  to  the  results  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law; 
 
 There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  beneficial  results  of  the  law  as  executed  by  the 
 officers  of  the  board  in  improving  the  quality  of  the  food  and  drug  supply  of  the  State, 
 especially  in  regard  to  milk  and  butter — in  the  former  case  as  relates  to  the  quality 
 of  the  supply,  and  in  the  latter  as  relating  to  the  proper  branding  and  marking  of 
 spurious  goods.  The  extensive  correspondence  of  the  health  department  with  whole- 
 sale houses  outside  of  Massachusetts  also  confirms  their  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
 the  work  done  in  this  State,  and  also  the  necessity  of  furnishing  articles  of  undoubted 
 purity  for  this  market.  This  is  especially  true  of  all  classes  of  drugs  sold  at  whole- 
 sale by  parties  outside  the  State. 
 
 The  actual  economic  results  obtained  by  the  enforcement  of  the  statutes  relative 
 to  food  and  drug  inspection  can  not  be  stated  exactly.  The  law  is  comprehensive 
 and  its  provisions  cover  a  great  variety  of  articles.  Its  restraining  influence  extends 
 outside  of  Massachusetts  to  manufacturers  sending  goods  to  this  market.  Such  par- 
 ties appreciate  the  value  of  the  work  done  in  this  State,  and  also  the  necessity  of 
 furnishing  articles  of  undoubted  jmrity  for  this  market. 
 
 From  Dr.  Hewitt,  secretary  of  the  state  board  of  health  and  vital 
 statistics,  of  the  State  of  Minnesota,  I  received  a  letter,  which,  tliough 
 probably  not  intended  for  publication,  treats  the  subject  of  food  adul- 
 teration in  a  common-seuvse  manner  that  ought  to  command  attention. 
 He  is  no  doubt  justified  in  the  assertion  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
 clap-trap  in  the  cry  of  adulterations,  in  spite  of  which  he  concludes  that 
 "there  are  dangers  real,  importa?it,  and  to  be  guarded  against."  His 
 letter  reads  as  follows : 
 
 I  am  glad  that  the  Department  has  undertaken  to  obtain  a  report  of  a  popular 
 character  of  food  adulterations. 
 
 There  is  so  much  clap-trap  in  the  stir  which  has  resulted  in  the  law  for  food  pro- 
 tection in  the  West  this  last  winter,  that  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  the  truth  let  into  the 
 people. 
 
 Alitm  ill  baking  powder !! '^vas  the  cry  that  passed  our  recent  law.  Our  greatest 
 dang(!rs  are  in  milk,  and  pussH)ly  in  meat.  The  cry  against  milk  has  been  a  "  bo- 
 nanza" to  the  patent-f()0(l  men,  and  they  now  boldly  propose  to  supplement,  not  only 
 cow's  milk,  but  mother's  milk  as  well,  and  their  sales  are  enormous.  One  of  them 
 applied  to  mo  the  other  day  for  a  list  of  the  parents  of  now-born  children,  wliich  I 
 get  monthly  from  all  over  the  State,  so  that  ho  could  get  in  early  with  the  patent 
 food.  The  cry  of  atlulteration  and  danger  in  foods  is  becoiiu^  a  wat<;h word  for  tlio 
 very  frauds  themselves. 
 
40 
 
 1  hope  you  will  get  to  the  bottom  aud  show  the  people  exactly  "  where  tlie  scare 
 comes  ill"  :ind  where  it  does  not.  Even  water  (spring  aud  deep  well)  is  under  the 
 bane  of  adulteration  with  seivage,  bacteria,  etc.,  and  Hyatt  aud  other  tilterers  pro- 
 pose a  better  plan  than  the  natural  one. 
 
 The  very  excess  of  the  cry  will  soon  make  people  take  the  natural  reaction,  as  in 
 the  story  of  the  ^'boy  and  the  bsar,"  and  then  the  bear  will  have  the  best  chance 
 because  he  is  so  rarely  around  when  talked  about. 
 
 There  are  dangers  real,  important,  and  to  be  guarded  against,  but  they  want  defi- 
 nition and  to  be  taken  from  the  hands  of  "business  men  aud  experts '' tradiug  on 
 theui  iuto  comiuon  knowledge  aud  sanitary  supervision. 
 
 The  Hou.  F.  B.  Tlmrber,  of  New  York,  in  a  letter  to  the  National 
 Farm  aud  Fireside,  which  appears  in  that  journal  December  7,  18S8, 
 says : 
 
 There  should  be  a  general  bill.  Piecemeal  legislation  is  not  satisfactory,  and  an 
 executive  bureau  with  an  adequate  appropriation  to  see  the  law  is  carried  out,  is  an 
 absolute  necessity.  Laws  do  not  execute  themselves;  if  they  did,  a  police  force  and 
 the  machinery  of  our  courts  would  be  unnecessary. 
 
 While  there  is  probably  not  as  much  injurious  adulteration  as  the  public  generally 
 think,  there  is  enough  to  make  a  national  law  desirable,  and  there  is  a  very  large 
 amount  of  adulteration,  which,  while  perhaps  not  very  injurious,  is  a  fraud  both  upon 
 the  stomach  and  the  i)Ocket  of  the  consumer. 
 
 The  general  principles  to  be  kept  in  view  in  such  legislation  is,  is  injurious  a<lul- 
 teration  prohibited,  while  non-injurious  articles,  which  are  adulterated  simply  to  in- 
 crease bulk  or  reduce  cost,  should  be  permitted  to  be  sold,  provided  plain  notice  is 
 given  to  the  consumer  of  what  he  is  getting. 
 
 A  very  valuable  feature  of  the  Laird  bill  is  the  official  publicity  which  it  proposes 
 to  give  to  the  examination  of  food  by  the  bureau  established  for  that  purpose  ;  for, 
 with  official  publicity,  the  competition  between  manufacturers  and  dealers  will  con- 
 stantly tend  to  raise  the  standard,  while  without  such  publicity  competition  would 
 work  the  other  way. 
 
 A  dealer  who  desires  to  sell  pure  food  products  now  is  met  with  unscrupulous  com- 
 petitors who  chiim  to  sell  just  as  good  goods  as  he  does  at  lower  prices.  If  he  ana- 
 lyzes their  products  and  exposes  them,  they  raise  the  cry  of  "  trade  jealousy  "  aud  his 
 exposures  have  but  little  effect;  but  with  official  publicity,  the  hands  of  the  dealer 
 in  pure  goods  would  be  greatly  strenghtened,  and,  as  above  stated,  this  constitutes 
 one  of  the  most  valuable  features  of  the  Laird  bill.  The  penalty  of  exposure  is  far 
 greater  than  any  other  penalty,  for  it  always  loses  the  trade  aud  profit  t©  the  manu- 
 facturer or  dealer  in  adulterated  goods. 
 
 The  Jlon.  Erastus  Brooks,  in  an  address  before  the  board  of  Penn- 
 sylvania, says  : 
 
 Take,  for  example,  the  simple  article  of  candy,  much  of  svhich  is  reported  to  be 
 made  from  grape-sugar,  glucose,  and  terra  alba,  the  latter  being  sold  at  1  ci'ut  a 
 jjoiind  and  the  former  at  4  cents.  Where  granulated  sngar  costs,  by  the  barrel,  D^ 
 couts,  the  cheaper  grades  of  this  article  may  be  de[)n'ciated  in  value  over  .^0  to  70 
 per  cent.     (Pago  3G3,  Pennsylvania  report.) 
 
 Again,  in  the  same  report  he  says: 
 
 It  is  a  public  duty  to  resist  all  impurities  both  in  the  iojxl  we  eat,  the  water  we 
 drink,  aud  in  the  contaminated  air  we  breathe  in  all  dwellings  aud  workshops  and  in 
 all  that  is  around  them  ;  and  let  mo  say  in  speaking  alike  for  the  State  and  (•iii/m 
 tliat  PrincipUt  obnta  is  the  only  safe  rule  of  action. 
 
 Mr.  IT.  Wliarton  Anierlinjj^  is  the  i)resi(lent  ol  the  American  tSuciety 
 ibr  thePievention  of  Adulteration,  and  in  an  address  delivered  by  him 
 
41 
 
 1  find  the  following  strong  presentment  of  the  case  from  the  point  of 
 view  of  physical  health  : 
 
 By  adulteration  mau  is  made  sick,  and  by  it  he  is  prevented  a  recovery  aud  most 
 foully  murdered.  WI15-,  thus  it  is  that  paupers  are  made  plenty,  criminals  many, 
 lunatics  numerous,  and  Americans  known  as  a  nation  of  invalids.  Men  are  losing 
 their  mental  powers,  and  with  them  their  property  and  honor.  Adulterations  more 
 than  intemperance  dement,  delude,  and  madden  to  fraud,  violence,  and  murder.  Prog- 
 eny inherits  mental  taints,  and  possesses  an  anomalous  desire  to  do  violence  to 
 others'  property  and  person ;  to  burn  houses  and  wreck  trains.  More  room  for  the 
 insane  is  the  general  demand.  -Already  $50,000,000  have  been  invested  in  asylums, 
 while  the  cure  of  the  insane  costs  annually  $15,000,000.  From  1870  to  1860  there  was 
 a  gain  of  26  per  cent,  of  the  total  population,  while  the  insane  population  increased 
 over  100  per  cent. 
 
 THE   POOR   WORST  AFFLICTED. 
 
 People  in  good  circumstances  do  not  suffer  a  tithe  as  much  as  the  poor  in  the  cities. 
 These  poor  buy  a  few  cents'  worth  of  provisions  only  at  a  time.  Yet  insanity  is  gen- 
 eral and  nervous  disorders  are  growing  to  make  it  more  general.  Chloral,  morphine, 
 etc.,  are  demanded  by  the  victims  of  commercial  fraud,  and  insanity  or  death  is  the 
 end.  The  rapidly  increasing  use  of  these  deadly  drugs  is  frightful,  and  will  be  more 
 so  if  supineness  of  legislation  allows  the  insidious  corruption  of  our  food  to  continue. 
 
 NECESSITY  FOR   OFFICERS. 
 
 No  law  will  be  able  to  suppress  adulteration  that  doesnoc  provide  oflBcers  to  detect 
 and  apprehend  it.  Private  individuals  have  not  the  authority  by  law  to  demand  of 
 dealers  and  producers  admission  to  their  establishments  or  power  to  take  articles  to 
 inspect,  or  the  time  aud  money  to  analyze  them.  The  purpose  of  government  being 
 protection,  it  is  not  the  duty  of  private  individuals  to  provide  the  expense  of  such 
 protection.  A  citizen  may  feel  that  he  has  been  injured  by  adulteration,  but  as  the 
 expense  of  analyzation  is  considerable,  amounting  in  most  cases  to  from  $100  to  $300, 
 he  is  unable  to  prove  his  injury,  and  thus  unabated  murder  continues. 
 
 Under  the  law  preventing  adulteration  the  English  are  living  longer  and  better 
 than  we.  Dr.  Foster  stated  before  the  English  medical  society  lately,  that  a  man's 
 natural  life-time  is  one  hundred  years,  and  tiiat  all  could  live  that  long  if  they  met 
 with  no  accident  and  lived  properly.  From  Dr.  Farr's  observation  of  the  march 
 through  life  of  1,000,000  children,  he  found  that  the  English  were  living  longer  than 
 formerly,  as  there  had  been  a  gain  of  2^  years  in  the  average  life  of  the  people.  He 
 claims  that  the  largest  amount  of  sickness  is  due  to  insutiicient  and  impure  food,  and 
 that  the  first  essential  to  life  is  pure  food.  Further,  that  hereditary  taints  may  be 
 abolished  by  proper  living,  and  the  body  left  at  death  strongerand  better  than  when 
 it  was  taken  up  at  birth,  because  the  old  blood  cells,  the  fibers  and  epithelic  scales 
 being  cast  off,  may  be  replaced  with  others  better,  and  eventually  untainted. 
 
 In  concluding  this  address,  Mr.  xVmerling  says: 
 
 There  are  (piite  as  many  adulterations  as  pure  articles;  we  have  fonnd  food  adul- 
 teration to  average  41  per  cent,  and  drug  adulterations  38  per  cent.  Let  us  realize 
 that  we  can  never  perpetuate  our  government  as  long  as  the  very  nourishment  of  the 
 babe  is  v)oisoned  at  its  mother's  breast. 
 
 Mr.  v.  N.  Barrett,  editor  of  the  American  Grocer^  thus  tersely  aud 
 stro.igly  exi)resses  the  coiniuer(;ial  view  of  this  matter,  "The  gist  of 
 the  whole  thing  lies  in  the  riglit  of  every  mau  to  get  what  he  pays  his 
 money  for." 
 
 A  reputable  firui  of  druggists  wiitiug  fioui  llostou,  say  :  "That  the 
 extent  of  adulteration  in  that  State  is  'verv  small;'  oui   State  laws  are 
 
42 
 
 so  stringent  that  it  will  not  pay  to  take  the  risk."  Tliey  also  say : 
 "Any  adulterants  used  in  medicines  would  be  injurious,"  and  they  con- 
 clude with  the  assertion  that  an  experience  of  thirty-nine  years  shows 
 that  druggists  who  adulterate  their  goods  generally  lose  their  trade. 
 
 Mr.  Elisha  Winter  is  the  secretary-  of  the  committee  on  legislation 
 of  the  National  Pure  Food  Movement ;  in  a  debate  before  the  Retail 
 Grocers'  Association  of  Xew  York  and  vicinity  between  himself  and 
 Artemus  Ward,  he  spoke  as  follows : 
 
 A<hilteratiou  plays  into  the  hands  of  the  avaricious  few,  by  j^iviugthem  the  chauce 
 to  take  more  than  their  share  of  trade,  ou  accoimt  of  the  low  prices  at  which  they 
 can  sell  poor  goods.  Some  of  the  arguments  that  have  been  brought  up  against  the 
 possible  operation  of  this  bill  remind  me  of  the  terrible  apprehension  with  which 
 some  persons  endeavored  to  scare  the  community  when  railroads  were  first  suggested. 
 It  was  gravely  argued  that  the  trains  would  frighten  the  cows  and  they  would  not  let 
 down  their  milk. 
 
 Recognizing  the  limit  to  the  situation,  wo  present  this  bill  as  the  only  possible  re- 
 sort; or,  in  the  language  of  the  call:  ''The  only  protection  the  honest  retailer  can  se- 
 cure for  himself  is  to  ask  the  National  Government  to  supplement  the  various  States 
 and  municipalities  by  reaching  imported  commodities,  interstate  transportation,  and 
 in  territories,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the^United  States  authorities,  the  sale  of  food 
 products."  If  the  General  Government  will  give  the  retailer  this  protection,  he  may 
 then  work  out  his  own  salvation  by  putting  his  individual  guaranty  upon  all  his 
 goods  and  demanding  that  the  State  authorities  shall  then  recognize  the  integrity  of 
 his  purpose  and  give  him  support,  instead  of  uiaking  the  present  class  discrimination, 
 to  free  himself  from  which  he  is  now  making  this  organized  national  attempt. 
 
 The  same  gentleman,  in  a  circular  dated  March,  1887,  says : 
 
 The  evils  accruing  from  the  manufacture,  importation,  and  sale  of  adulterated 
 food,  drugs,  and  medicines  are  patent  to  all  who  have  given  the  matter  even  casual 
 attention.  This  traffic  is  on  the  increase,  and  the  detrimental  influences  arising 
 therefrom  extend  to  the  health  as  well  as  the  pockets  of  the  people.  For  both  hy- 
 gienic and  commercial  reasons  it  is  agreed  that  a  remedy  sufficiently  powerful  to 
 check  the  evil  must  be  invoked. 
 
 The  constitution  and  bylaws  of  the  Central  Association  of  Retail 
 Merchants  of  New  York  and  vicinity,  says  under  the  heading  of  "  ob- 
 jects and  aims  :" 
 
 Sec.  7.  Protection  against  the  adulteration  of  goods,  fictitious  labels,  imperfectly 
 prepared  food  products,  etc.  :  Legislative  reform  has  been  practically  null  and  void 
 looking  to  the  accouiplishmeut  of  much  reform  in  the  adulteration  of  goods,  ficti- 
 tious labels,  etc.  It  has  been  very  easy  to  pass  laws,  but  very  difficult  to  enforce 
 them.  Our  proposed  State  association  will  have  a  duty  to  perform  in  arriving,  if 
 possible,  at  a  happy  medium  of  judgment  upon  the  merits  of  these  questions.  This 
 association  should  also  demand  that  with  every  i)ackage  of  food  products  shall  be  de- 
 livered the  guaranty  and  designation  of  the  (juality  of  goods  therein  contained. 
 
 DR.   HASSELL   ON   THE   NEED   OF  LEGISLATION. 
 
 in  concluding  this  report    1  submit  the  following  deductions  of  that 
 celebrated  and  eminent  English  scientist,  Dr.  Hassell,  who  more  than 
 thirty  years  ago  was  employed  by  the  London  Lancet  to   investigate 
 the  adulteration  of  food   products.     Dr.   ILissell's  work  on  food  adid 
 terants  is  a  staudiird  on  (he  subject,  and  as  his  (H)nclnsions  (winch  aided 
 
43 
 
 so  greatly  in  securing  the  passage  of  tbe  food  adulteration  act)  are 
 as  applicable  to  the  present  condition  of  affairs  in  this  country  as  they 
 were  thirty  years  ago  in  England,  I  give  them  in  full.  The  second 
 paragraph,  relative  to  taxation,  is  of  course  not  applicable  to  the  United 
 States  at  this  time : 
 
 Legislation  on  the  subject  is  required — 
 
 First.  For  the  protection  of  the  public  health.  The  evidence  given  before  the 
 parliamentary  committee  on  adulteration  proves  that  the  deadliest  poisons  are  daily 
 resorted  to  for  purposes  of  adulteration,  to  the  injury  of  the  health  and  the  destruc- 
 tion of  the  lives  of  thousands.  There  is  scarcely  a  poisonous  pigment  known  to 
 these  islands  which  are  not  thus  employed. 
 
 .  Second.  For  the  protection  of  the  revenue.  This  will  be  readily  acknowledged 
 when  it  is  known  that  nearly  half  the  national  revenue  is  derived  from  taxes  on  food 
 and  beverages.  It  has  already  been  shown  that  not  long  since  adulteration  was  rife, 
 and  it  still  exists  to  a  large  extent  in  nearly  all  articles  of  consumption,  both  solid 
 and  fluid,  and  including  even  those  under  the  supervision  of  the  excise. 
 
 Third.  In  the  interests  of  the  honest  merchant  and  trader.  The  upright  trader  is 
 placed  in  a  most  trying  and  unfair  position  in  consequence  of  adulteration.  He  is 
 exposed  to  the  most  ruinous  and  unscrupulous  competition ;  too  often  he  is  under- 
 sold, and  his  business  thus  taken  from  him.  It  is  therefore  to  the  interest  of  the 
 honest  trader  that  effective  legislation  should  take  place,  and  not  only  is  it  to  his  in- 
 terest but  we  can  state  that  it  is  his  most  anxious  desire  that  adulteration  should  be 
 abolished.  In  advocating  the  suppression  of  adulteration  we  are  therefore  advocat- 
 ing the  rights  and  interests  of  all  honorable  traders. 
 
 Fourth.  For  the  sake  of  the  consumer.  That  the  consumer  is  extensively  robbed 
 through  adulteration,  sometimes  of  his  health,  but  always  of  his  money,  is  unques- 
 tionable. It  is,  however,  the  poor  man,  the  laborer,  and  the  artisan,  who  is  the  most 
 extensively  defrauded  ;  for,  occupied  early  and  late  with  his  daily  labor,  often  in  debt 
 with  those  with  whom  he  deals,  he  has  no  time  or  power  to  help  himself  in  the  mat- 
 ter, and  if  he  had  the  time  he  still  would  require  the  requisite  knowledge.  The  sub- 
 ject of  adulteration,  therefore,  while  it  concerns  all  classes,  is  eminently  a  ])oor  man's 
 question  ;  the  extent  to  which  he  is  cheated  through  adulteration  is  really  enormous. 
 
 Fifth.  On  the  ground  of  public  morality.  Adulteration  involves  deception,  dis- 
 honesty, fraud,  and  robbery,  and  since  adulteration  is  so  prevalent  so  equally  must 
 these  vices  prevail  to  the  serious  detriment  of  public  morality  and  to  the  injury  of 
 the  character  of  the  whole  nation  for  probity  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  We  repeat, 
 then,  that  some  prompt,  active,  and  efficient  legislative  interference  is  demanded  for 
 the  sake  of  public  morality  and  the  character  of  this  country  among  the  nations  of 
 the  world. 
 
 I  will  conclude  this  portion  of  this  report  with  two  notable  extracts, 
 cue  a  speech  delivered  in  the  Forty-eighth  Congress  by  the  Hon.  J.  W. 
 Green  and  the  other  from  a  report  in  the  Fiftieth  Congress  by  the  late 
 Hon.  .James  Laird  of  Nebraska,  respectively'. 
 
 Said  the  Hon.  Mr.  Green  : 
 
 Who  will  say  that  he  who  stamps  and  i)asses  otlt' little  bits  of  baser  metal  than  the 
 standard  bullion  to  |)ut  in  your  pockets  is  guilty  of  greater  wrong  than  he  who  pre- 
 pares and  sells  to  you  base  and  counterfeit  coini)()nn(ls,  not  to  say  deadly,  to  put  into 
 your  stomach  ?  Possibly  the  reason  (or  imposing  penalties  in  the  one  ca.se  and  neg- 
 lecting to  do  so  in  the  other,  is  that  our  ancestors  could  not  realize  that  human  cu- 
 pidity could  prompt  such  depravity  as  trilling  with  the  health,  well-being,  and  very 
 existence  of  myriads  of  their  fellow-men. 
 
 Probably  every  gentleman  on  this  floor  knows  what  steatite  or  soapstone  is;  if  not, 
 1  will  state  that  it  is  a  soft,  calcareous,  easily  cut  rock,  but  probably  surpassing  any 
 
44 
 
 other  in  wei<ii;lit  and  dousity.  Presumptively,  therefore,  not  the  most  digestible  ar- 
 ticle of  diet  known. 
 
 Now,  sir,  what  would  be  your  inference,  if  told  by  the  proprietor  of  one  of  these  sap- 
 onaceous quarries,  as  I  have  been,  that  he  finds  a  ready  sale  for  all  the  "soapstone 
 flour"  that  he  can  grind?  And  who  are  your  customers?  Chiefly  commercial  mill- 
 ers and  sugar  refiners. 
 
 Mine,  sir,  was  that  the  information  tallied  with  what  I  had  previously  seen  in 
 print,  that  the  vile  stuff  enters  largely  into  our  tea,  cofl'ee,  toddy,  sweetmeats,  and 
 daily  bread.  Sir,  it  behooves  those  who  hear  to  ponder  well.  Steatite  may  be  an 
 excellent  lining  for  stoves.  I  doubt  its  coequal  fitness  for  stomachs.  Hot  "biscuit 
 for  breakfast,  "  'Might  bread  for  supper,  "  was  wont  to  gladden  my  heart  in  younger 
 days,  for  in  the  house  of  an  honored  uncle  who  raised  me,  "corn  bread"  as  a  rule 
 was  the  staple  staff  of  life. 
 
 Think  you  that  biscuit  for  breakfast  or  light  bread  for  supper  (Heaven  save 
 the  uuirk,  how  could  it  have  been  made  light  ?)  would  have  been  as  palatable  as  ash- 
 cake  or  johnny  if  one  of  the  descendants  of  old  Job's  comforters  had  kindly  volun- 
 teered the  information  that  they  were  to  be  made  out  of  nice,  white  soapstoue  tlour 
 instead  of  the  glorious  golden  grain  grown  on  the  broad  acres  around  me? 
 
 It  is  safe  to  assume,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  were  the  question  put  to  the  leading  medi- 
 cal men  of  the  country  a  large  majority  of  them  would  decide  that  the  alarming  in- 
 crease of  late  years  in  nervous,  cerebral,  and  kidney  diseases  is  directly  traceable  to 
 the  cause  assigned,  uamely,  adulterated  drinks  of  all  kinds,  including  vinous,  malt, 
 and  distilled.  Is  not  insanity  fearfully  on  the  increase,  as  evidenced  by  the  over- 
 crowded bedlams  of  the  land  and  the  mania  for  self-destruction  f  Then  seek  for  rea- 
 son why  and  find  it,  too,  no  less  in  poisoned  beverage  than  in  the  growing  passion 
 for  wild  speculation. 
 
 But  I  were  derelict  to  my  subject,  my  constituents,  and  myself  did  I  close  without 
 some  allusion  to  like  vicious  practice  in  the  make-up  of  medicine  ;  for,  sir,  human 
 depravity,  with  utter  disregard  of  human  life,  has  even  dared  invade  the  sacred  pre- 
 cincts of  the  pharmacopeia,  to  lift  the  tops  of  the  mystic  jars  on  shelves  arranged, 
 and  to  infuse  base  substance  in  their  portentous  contents,  where  oft  the  difierence  of 
 a  feather's  weight  may  involve  the  mortal  life  of  immortal  men.  Medical  skill  is  im- 
 potent to  act  and  powerless  to  grapple  with  fell  disease  in  critical  juncture,  because 
 by  base  admixture  with  medicinals  it  is  at  loss  to  know  what  measure  to  prescribe 
 to  compass  the  end  desired. 
 
 I  broadly,  boldly  make  the  charge  and  challenge  the  refutal  of  investigation.  A 
 distinguished  physician  told  me  some  years  since,  in  a  neighboring  city,  that  proba- 
 bly more  deaths  resulted  directly  and  indirectly  from  that  source  than  would  from 
 disease  if  left  to  itself.  Almost  every  leading  government  in  Europe  has  stringent 
 jaws  against  adulteration.  Of  these  England  has  perhaps  the  most  perfect  and  com- 
 plete system,  and  yet  it  is  only  of  yesterday's  growth.  Less  than  thirty  years  ago  Dr. 
 John  Postgate,  a  country  physician,  seeing  the  abuses  perpetrated  by  adulterators 
 of  every  class,  took  the  matter  in  hand  and  after  years  of  persistent  effort,  beginning 
 with  only  one  HUi>porter  in  Parliament,  Mr.  Sdiolefield,  and  with  all  the  large  manu- 
 facturers and  dealers  in  Great  Britain  hounding  and  denouncing  him,  succeeded  at  last 
 in  having  his  ideas  adojited  as  embodied  in  the  adulteration  acts  of  the  last  decade. 
 
 The  Hon.  Mr.  Laird,  in  his  able  report  presenting  bill  No.  11206, 
 to  the  House  of  liepresentatives,  said  : 
 
 The  work  is  assigneJ  to  the  Depaitmcnt  of  Agriculture  for  the  reason  tliat  it  is 
 germane  to  certain  work  already  in  progress  there. 
 
 Then,  after  referring  to  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry'  and  the  work 
 of  the  chemical  division  of  the  Department,  he  adds: 
 
 A  more  im])ortant  reason  for  this  reference  to  the  Department  devoted  exclusively 
 to  tlu'  interestM  of  agriculture  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  producer  of  the  food  supply  is 
 
45 
 
 most  deeply  affected  by  its  adulteration  ;  it  therefore  apjiears  to  be  the  one  best  cal- 
 culated to  enforce  proper  rules  which,  while  accomplishing  the  objects  desired,  bear 
 without  undue  weight  upon  commerce,  manufacture,  and  transportation. 
 
 That  one  of  the  first  considerations  of  every  civilized  government  is  its  food  sup- 
 ply can  not  be  controverted,  nor  can  it  be  contested  that  the  purity  of  the  supply 
 is  as  important  as  the  .supply  itself.  Quantity  alone  will  not  meet  the  demand  ; 
 quality,  within  certain  limits,  is  as  necessary  to  health  and  the  prolongation  of  life 
 as  quantity  is  to  its  preservation. 
 
 The  recent  exhaustive  examination  into  the  alleged  adulteration  of  lard  by  this 
 committee  demonstrated  the  prevalence  of  covetous  and  dishonest  practices  in  the 
 degeneration,  counterfeit,  and  substitution  of  commodities  by  which  inferior,  cheaper, 
 and  sometimes  injurious  articles  were  made  to  represent  those  of  standard  quality 
 and  absolute  purity. 
 
 This  state  of  facts  amounts  not  only  to  a  premium  upon  dishonesty  but  is  a  threat 
 to  national  health.  Honest  manufacturers  and  dealers  are  placed  at  a  disadvantage 
 or  are  forced  into  a  reckless  competition  with  fraud.  Legitimate  trade  is  handi- 
 capped and  demoralized.  It  tends  to  make  an  Ishmaelite  of  both  manufacturer  and 
 dealer,  and  tbe  hand  that  is  raised  against  competitors  in  trade  falls  in  the  case  of 
 the  meat  industries  of  the  country  necessarily  upon  the  7,000,000  and  over  of  farmers 
 who  produce  the  supply,  and  fraudulently  upon  the  entire  population  that  consumes 
 it  at  second  hand. 
 
 To  say  nothing  of  the  home  interests  to  be  conserved  by  the  legislation  herein  pro- 
 posed, of  the  protection  to  health,  and  the  defense  against  imposition  attemi)ted  by 
 this  bill,  the  importance  of  our  exports  alone  is  sufficient  to  require  the  passage  of 
 this  act. 
 
 The  value  of  farm  animals  as  given  by  the  statistical  abstract  from  18G5  to  1883 
 shows  a  steady  increase  both  in  number  and  value.  Beginning  with  a  value  of 
 0:300,879,128  in  1865,  they  reach  the  vast  aggregate  of  !§2,338,2ir),268  in  1882.  In  1884 
 the  value  was  $2,467,368,924;  in  1885,  $2,456,428,383;  in  1886,  $2,365,159,802.  In  1887 
 there  is  a  shortage  of  the  herds,  and  only  a  slightly  increased  valuation.  The  statis- 
 tics from  1884  to  1887  shows  proportionally  a  more  alarming  decrease,  the  figures 
 being  as  follows : 
 
 Tears. 
 
 Nnraber 
 of  hogs. 
 
 Value. 
 
 1882      
 
 44, 122,  200 
 
 43,  270,  086 
 
 44,  200,  893 
 4.->,  142.  657 
 4«i.  092,  043 
 44,618,836 
 
 $263,  543, 195 
 2M,  651,  211 
 246,  no  1, 139 
 226.401.683 
 196,  568,  864 
 200,  043,  291 
 
 1883  
 
 1 884 
 
 1885 
 
 1886     
 
 1887 
 
 For  1887  there  is  an  apparent  increase  in  the  total  value,  but  in  reality  only  21.8 
 cents  per  hog,  and  is  due  entirely  to  the  fact  that  the  hog  crop  fell  otf  1,474,207  in 
 numbers  from  all  causes,  and  the  fact  stands  forth,  leaving  out  tbe  short  crop  years 
 of  18S3  and  1887,  that  the  decrease  in  these  six  years  iri  value  of  the  hog  product 
 reached  $66,973,301,  with  comi»aratively  no  increase  of  the  numbers. 
 
 Tbe  opponents  of  pure  lard  claim  that  the  admixture  of  foreign  comi)ounds  has  in- 
 creased th(^  value  of  hogs  and  cattle.  The  facts  prove  that  within  the  seven  years 
 this  compounding  has  been  going  on  the  values  have  steadily  decreased,  as  shown 
 by  the  foregoing  tables. 
 
 The  interest  in  and  necessity  for  the  legislation  jtropo.scd  in  the   acrompanying  bill 
 is  evidently  felt  luost  by  two  classes  of  our  peoph — tbe  producers  and  the  cousumera 
 
46 
 
 of  the  products  to  be  affected.  The  demand  for  this  legislation  is  wide-spread  among 
 the  farmers  of  the  whole  country.  It  is  confined  to  no  section  and  is  as  emphatic  as 
 it  is  universal.  Letters,  bulletins,  and  resolutions  from  the  Grange,  Patrons  of 
 Husbandry,  Alliances,  and  other  agricultural  organizations  demanding  legislation 
 have  flooded  the  committee  and  the  House.  That  the  same  interest  in  the  subject  is 
 apparent  on  the  part  of  the  consumers  is  manifest  by  the  letters,  petitions,  and 
 memorials  of  the  various  labor  organizations,  appealing  for  such  action  as  will  give 
 them  honest  food  as  against  the  dishonest  compounds  that  not  only  rob  them  of  their 
 monev,  but  of  their  health  also. 
 
 The  interest  manifested  in  this  matter  l)y  the  producers  and  consumers  of  the 
 country  has  received  and  is  receiving  the  unequivocal  indorsement  of  the  trade  asso- 
 ciations of  the  United  States  and  England,  and  has  the  earnest  support  of  all  manu- 
 facturers and  dealers  not  directly  interested  in  compounding  the  products  that  are 
 the  subject  of  interstate  and  foreign  commerce.  That  such  is  the  attitude  of  the 
 business  interests  of  the  country,  from  the  least  individual  to  the  most  powerful 
 trade  association,  is  evidenced  by  their  declarations  received  by  the  connnittee  from 
 all  sections  of  the  country,  and  particularly  from  the  great  business  atul  food  centers 
 of  the  West  and  South,  namely,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Kansas  City,  Omaha, 
 and  other  important  packing  ^joints. 
 
 The  universality  of  this  demand  for  immediate  legislation  should  surprise  no  one? 
 The  interests  involved  are  the  greatest  known  to  America.  The  number  of  horned 
 cattle  in  the  United  States  in  188.'),  is  put  at  45,510,630  head ;  sheep  50,000,000  head, 
 swine  45,000,000  head,  representing  in  the  aggregate  $2,500,000,000  [i.  e.,  including 
 horses  and  mules  not  given].  This  vast  sum  represents  the  present  earning  and 
 possible  future  profits  of  half  the  population  of  the  United  States. 
 
 In  the  thirteen  Southern  States,  beginning  with  Virginia  and  ending  with  Texas, 
 and  including  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Arkansas,  all  the  assessed  real  estate  and 
 personal  property,  as  returned  in  the  census  of  1880,  did  not  etjual  the  present  esti- 
 mated value  of  our  animal  industry;  and  all  the  New  England  States  combined,  with 
 the  single  exception  of  New  Hampshire,  did  not  have  enough  assessed  valuation  in 
 1880  to  equal  the  present  value  of  our  domestic  animals. 
 
 The  product  of  our  animal  industry  in  1884,  including  meat  and  labor,  and  dairy 
 products,  and  wool,  and  lard,  and  tallow,  and  hides,  etc.,  was  four  times  as  much  as 
 the  gross  earnings  of  all  the  railroad  companies  in  the  United  States. 
 
 The  animal  industry  is  not  only  great  in  itself,  but  it  is  great  in  the  assistance 
 which  it  renders  to  other  productive  iiulustries.  Take  the  greatest  crop  produced  in 
 this  country — the  corn  crop — and  72  per  cent,  of  ihat  is  dependent  upon  our  animal 
 industry  for  a  market.  Take  the  great  hay  crop,  and  there  is  no  other  way  to  utilize 
 it;  and  the  oat  crop,  which  mostly  goes  for  animal  food.  The  value  of  these  three 
 crops,  which  are  marketed  as  animal  food,  of  itsidf  reaches  a  thousaiul  millions  of 
 dollars  a  year. 
 
 While  this  industry,  which  asks  for  the  protection  ])roposod  in  this  bill,  reaches  all 
 the  levels  of  life  from  the  millionaire  to  the  day  laborers,  it  embraces  more  than  all 
 other  industries  in  the  country  combined — the  property  of  the  poor. 
 
 One  lu^ad  of  this  vast  aggregate  of  45,000,000  of  horned  cattle  is  the  unit  of  the 
 wealth  of  the  farmer — it  is  the  savings-bank  of  the  day  laborer. 
 
 From  ail  these  sources  come  the  demand  for  this  legislation,  and  to  its  force  is  added 
 every  argunient  that  springs  from  healtli,  econoujy,  and  business  honor.  To  the  in- 
 estimable damage  which  delay  or  defeat  must  do  to  the  health  an<l  nuuals  of  the 
 country  is  added  the  fae.t  whiiih  your  (jomuiittee  must  in  candor  static  is  mort;  than  a 
 mena(;(^,  and  that  unless  it  be  avc^rted  by  this  or  like  legislation  we  are  face  to  face 
 with  tln'  iudisj)utabl(!  fact  that  one  by  one  the  nations  of  the  earth  will  close  the 
 doors  of  tlunr  trachi  in  our  faces,  ther«!by  subjecting  the  groat  industries  depend- 
 ent on  foreign  consum]»tion  and  confidence  to  irreparable  injury. 
 
 1 
 
47 
 
 FOOD    PRODUCTS     ADUI.TERATED     AND     ADULTERANTS 
 
 COMMOXEY  USED. 
 
 Under  this  bead  1  will  endeavor  to  give  a  list  of  the  food  products 
 in  which  adulterations  have  been  frequently  practiced,  as  well  as  a  list 
 of  the  adulterants  andcheap  substitutes  in  common  use.  I  will  quote 
 freely  from  the  advance  sheets  of  Professor  Sharpless^s  report,  as  this 
 gentleman  has  gone  very  fullj^  into  the  subject.  As  he  has  already- 
 been  quoted  in  the  section  of  this  report  next  preceding,  it  will  he  un- 
 necessary to  introduce  him  further  to  the  reader.  The  same  may  be 
 said  in  regard  to  Dr.  Beckwith,  of  the  Ohio  Board,  from  whose  report 
 we  shall  make  some  interesting  extracts  on  the  use  of  glucose  especially, 
 and  also  as  to  the  percentage  of  various  food  products  subjected  to 
 adulteration.  I  will  also  include  a  list  of  articles  found  to  be  specially 
 liable  to  adulteration  by  the  chemists  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of 
 Health.  To  this  long  list  we  will  have  to  add  certain  sections  treating 
 especially-  of  canned  goods  and  lard  adulterations  and  some  notes  culled 
 here  and  there  from  recognized  and  competent  authorities  in  regard  to 
 the  extent  and  character  of  these  adulterations. 
 
 With  these  notes  and  figures  before  him,  the  legislator  will  be  able 
 to  appreciate  the  extent  to  which  misbranding,  sophistication,  adulter- 
 ation, and  general  debasing  of  food  products  is  indulged  in  tliroughouc 
 the  country,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  section  of  the  report  alone 
 will  be  sufficient  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  all  who  read  it  the  ur- 
 gent necessity  for  adequate  national  legislation  on  this  subject,  which 
 is  of  such  profound  interest  to  every  individual  of  our  vast  population. 
 Legislation  capable  of  preventing  these  frauds  will  mean  not  only  the 
 saving  of  millions  of  money  to  the  public,  but  the  preservation  of  the 
 health  of  our  people. 
 
 To  quote  first  from  Professor  Sharpless.  The  professor  classsifies 
 under  the  three  heads  of  deleterious,  fraudulent,  and  accidental. 
 
 Under  the  first  he  includes  such  adulterations  as  copper  in  pickles, 
 red  lead  in  cayenne  pepper,  arsenical  colors  in  candy,  water  in  milk 
 (deleterious  because  diminishing  the  food  value  of  the  product  and  "  so 
 starving  children  who  are  fed  on  it).''  He  also  includes  in  this  class  of 
 deleterious  all  sophistications  of  drugs  and  medicines,  '^  since  the  phy- 
 sician  depends  greatly  upon  the  purity  of  these  in  regulating  the  size 
 of  the  dose,  and  if  of  inferior  strength  they  do  not  produce  the  desired 
 effect,  and  thus  become  negatively  injurious." 
 
 The  fraudulent  he  defines  as  non-injurious,  but  ^'  a  fraud  upon  the 
 pocket,"  and  to  this  class  belong  the  great  majority  of  adulterations. 
 
 To  this  class  belong  such  articles  as  package  coftee,  which  is  generally  a  coiiipouiul 
 which  contains  no  cortee;  salad-oil,  which  is  fie([iiently  fret^  from  olivo-oil,  consist- 
 ing mainly  of  cotton-seed  oil;  mustard  diluted  with  tlonr  and  colored  with  turmeric  ; 
 the  mixture  of  inferior  grades  of  goods  with  higher  grades  of  the  same  material, 
 the  mixtun^  heing  represented  as  pure  and  of  full  of  strength ;  the  mixture  ofeorn- 
 sinip  or  glucose  with  cane-sirup,  the  mixture  heing  sold  as  pure  cane-sirup;  the 
 sale  of  oleomargarine  or  v^mt-l. utter  as  genuine  butter,  i>nd  the  adulteration  of  spices 
 with  ship-bread. 
 
48 
 
 LTnder  the  head  of  accidental,  he  classes  adiilteratious  consistiug  of 
 substances  accidcDtally  present  in  articles  of  food,  that  is,  not  added 
 iutentionall}',  but  either  present  because  natural  to  the  article,  or  be- 
 cause they  have  become  incorporated  in  it  during  the  process  of  manu- 
 facture. In  case  such  accidental  impurities  are  of  a  nature  to  be  in- 
 jurious to  health  the  article  should  be  condemned  at  once,  though  in 
 such  case  it  would  hardly  be  just  to  hold  the  vender  liable  to  a  greater 
 extent  than  is  involved  in  the  loss  of  his  property.  We  append  the 
 following  list : 
 
 Articles  liable  to  be  adulterated,  as  presented  by  Professor  &ha)-pless. 
 
 Articles. 
 
 Arrowroot 
 
 Brandy 
 Bread  . . 
 
 Butter 
 
 Canned  vegetables 
 
 and  meat. 
 Cheese 
 
 Candy  and  confec- 
 tionery. 
 Coffee 
 
 Deleterious  adultera- 
 tion. 
 
 Fraudulent  adulteration. 
 
 Accidental  adul- 
 teration. 
 
 Alum,  snlphateof  cop- 
 per, i 
 
 Copper I 
 
 Salts  of  copper,  lead..; 
 
 Salts  of   mercury  in 
 the  rind.  '         ' 
 
 Poisonous  colors,  arti-  [ 
 ficial  e-ssences.  | 
 
 Other  starches,  which  are  substituted 
 in  whole  or  in  part  for  tlie  genuine 
 article. 
 
 Water,  burnt  susar. 
 
 Flour.s  other  than  wheat,  inferior  flour, 
 potatoes. 
 
 Water,  other    fats,  excess   of   salts, 
 
 starch. 
 Excess  of  water 
 
 Cocoa  and  chocolate. 
 Cayenne  pepper 
 
 Flour  .. 
 Ginjjer . 
 
 Oxideof  iron  anil  other 
 
 co'oring  matters. 
 IJed  lead  
 
 Alum . 
 
 Gin Alum  .salt,  spirits  of 
 
 turpentine. 
 Honev 
 
 I8ine:las8 
 
 Caustic  lime,  alum 
 Mustard Chroraato  of  lead,  sul- 
 
 ]      phate  of  lime. 
 
 Milk Water 
 
 Meat Infested    with    ])ara- 
 
 I      sites. 
 
 Ilorseradish 
 
 Fruit  .jellies i  Aniline  colors,  artifi- 
 
 I      cial  essences. 
 
 Oatmeal ' 
 
 Pickles Salts  of  copi)er,  alum. 
 
 Preserves I  Aniline  colors 
 
 Pepper i 
 
 Oleomargarine. 
 
 Grape-sugar 
 
 ChJccory.  peas,  rye,  beans,  aconis, 
 chcfus-nuts,  almond  or  other  nut- 
 shells, burnt  sugar,  low-grade 
 coffees. 
 
 Animal  fats,  starch,  flour,  and  sugar. 
 
 Ground    rice,   flour,    talt,    and   ship- 
 bread,  Indian-meal. 
 Ground  rice 
 
 Turmeric,  Cayenne  pepper,  mustard, 
 
 inferior  vaiieties  of  ginger. 
 Water,  sugar. 
 
 Glucose,  cane-sugar 
 
 Gelatine 
 
 Starch,  stearine,  salt* 
 
 Yellow  lakes,  flour,  turmeric.Cayenno 
 
 pepper. 
 Burnt  sugar,  annotto 
 
 Ashes  from  oven, 
 grit  from  mill- 
 stones. 
 
 Curd. 
 
 Meat  damaged  in 
 tl:e  process  of 
 canning. 
 
 Flour. 
 
 Oxide  of  iron. 
 Grit  and  sand. 
 
 Pollen  of  various 
 plants,  inscvits. 
 
 Turni]) 
 
 Golatme,  apple  jellj- 
 
 Sago i 
 
 Kum Cayenne  pepper,  arti- 
 
 licial  <'.ssence.s. 
 
 Sugar Salts  of  tin  and  lead, 
 
 I      gypsum. 
 
 Spicea 
 
 Cloves  — 
 Cinnamon 
 Pimento... 
 Tea 
 
 Apples,  pumpkins,  molasses 
 
 Flour,  ship-bread,   mustard,  linseed- 
 nu>al. 
 
 Potato-starch 
 
 Water 
 
 I{ic(>-tloui 
 
 Sand,  «lirt. 
 Tainted. 
 
 Vine- 
 
 Wine 
 
 Suliihuric,  hydro- 
 diloiic,  and  i»yrolig- 
 ncous  acids 
 
 Aniline  colors,  crude 
 brandy. 
 
 Floui-,  starches 
 
 Arrowroot 
 
 Spent  bark 
 
 slii]»  bread 
 
 Foreign  leaves,  Hpent  tea,  nlumbago, 
 
 gum,  indigo,  l*russian  iduc,  China 
 
 clay,  soap-.stone,  gypsum. 
 Burnt  sugar,  water 
 
 Water. 
 
 Old  aird  wormy. 
 Sand. 
 
 Burnt  sugar. 
 
 Sand  and  dirt,  in- 
 j  sects  dead  and 
 I      alive. 
 
 Fer  r  ugi  n  <>u  s 
 «arlh. 
 
 Sulphate  of  pot- 
 tassn. 
 
 'It  was  ovidontly  an  oversight  to  hav(^  omitted  cotton-seed  oil  ami  watei 
 
49 
 
 As  the  professor  says,  the  above  is  certainly  a  formidable  list.  For- 
 tunately, however,  the  majority  of  articles  are  not  adulterated  injuri- 
 ously. Many  adulterants  have  been  only  recently  met  with.  Of  brandy 
 the  professor  says  : 
 
 A  large  portion  of  that  m  the  market  is  made  from  so-called  neutral  spirits,  which 
 are  merely  alcohol  which  has  been  rectified  by  passing  over  wood  charcoal.  These 
 neutral  spirits  are  colored  with  burnt  sugar,  or  *'  French  color,"  and  flavored  with  oil 
 of  cognac  ;  a  little  catechu  is  then  added,  so  as  to  imitate  the  taste  of  the  wood,  and, 
 finally,  a  little  simple  sirup,  so  as  to  take  off  the  rough  edge  and  impart  a  smooth 
 taste.  In  this  country  the  spirit  used  is  generally  free  from  any  objectionable  in- 
 gredients.    The  foreign  article,  made  from  potato-whisky,  is  more  objectionable. 
 
 CANNED  VEGETABLES  AND  MEATS. 
 
 Frequent  cases  have  been  reported  of  late  years  of  sickness  arising 
 from  the  use  of  canned  meats.  The  cause  seems  mainly  to  have  been 
 improper  methods  of  canning,  or  the  use  of  meat  that  was  tainted  be- 
 fore being  canned.  Unfortunately  we  can  do  nothing  in  such  cases  by 
 an  inspection  of  the  meat,  for  it  generally  appears  to  be  all  right. 
 
 In  buying  meats  and  vegetables — if  care  is  taken  in  their  selection, 
 all  cans  being  avoided  which  are  not  concave  in  the  heads — but  little 
 risk  is  run. 
 
 An  examination  of  the  outside  of  the  can  is  the  only  guide  we  can 
 have  in  this  class  of  articles.  The  heads  should  be  slightly  concave. 
 This  shows  that  they  were  hot  when  sealed,  if  the  heads  are  convex, 
 it  shows  that  decomposition  has  commenced  in  the  can. 
 
 Cheese. — Occasionally  cases  of  poisoning  result  from  its  use,  but  this 
 occurs  rarely.  The  rind  is  frequently  washed  with  arsenical  and  mer- 
 curial washes  to  protect  it  from  flies  and  other  insects.  All  cheese  is 
 artificially  colored ;  generally  with  annatto. 
 
 Candij  and  confectioner y  are  the  subject  of  such  poisonous  adultera- 
 tions and  are  so  largelj-  used  by  women  and  children,  that  we  will  quote 
 what  the  professor  has  to  say  in  regard  to  them  in  full,  adding  that  Pro- 
 fessor Tonry,  in  an  article  in  the  Baltimore  Sun  last  year,  m^ide  some 
 startling  statements  as  to  the  extent  of  the  adulterations  and  poisons 
 used  in  the  manufacture  of  candy. 
 
 Professor  8harpless  says  ; 
 
 No  article  of  food  is  so  liable  to  \u\  injuriously  adulterated  as  caudy  and  all  kinds 
 of  confectionery.  Even  the  perfectly  white  candy,  which  is  free  from  injurious 
 coloring  matters,  is  freciiUMitly  llavorod  with  fusel-oil  (essence  of  banana),  oil  of  bit- 
 ter almonds,  or  essence  de  mirabane  (nitro-benzole),  Prussic  acid  in  various  forms 
 known  as  almond  flavor,  aiul  various  other  ossencrs  and  extracts  which  are  poisonous 
 in  their  nature,  and  which  are  used  in  large  excess  by  the  makers  in  order  to  give  a 
 strong  flavor  to  the  article.  Various  coloring  matters  of  a  poisonous  nature  are  used 
 in  tlu'  colored  candie.sfrecinently  to  be  found  in  the  shops.  A  long  list  of  such  articles 
 may  be  found  in  Hassall's  Tn-atiaeon  Foods,  or  in  an  article  published  in  the  proceed- 
 ings of  the  American  Pharn\aceutical  Association  for  lw78.  The  vegetable  colors  can 
 frequently  be  identified  by  dyeing  pieces  of  mordanted  cloth  with  them  in  a  batli 
 slightly  acidulated  with  aceti<r  acid.  The  aniline  colors  are  easily  identitietl  by 
 12503— Hull.  25 1 
 
50 
 
 dyeing  unmordauted  wool  in  a  ueutral  or  slightly  arid  bath.  Mineral  colors  uiust  be 
 sought  for  by  the  usual  methods  of  qnalltative  aualysis.  For  ideutitication  of  color- 
 ing matters  Bolley's  Manual  may  be  studied  with  advantage. 
 
 Glucose  is  probably  preseut  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  most  candy,  but  fre- 
 quently the  candy  is  almost  entirely  composed  of  it.  Such  candy  should  be  ex- 
 amined for  free  sulphuric  acid  and  for  excess  of  lime  or  sulphate  of  lime,  .■  ince  the  glu- 
 coses of  the  market  generally  contain  an  excess  of  these  bodies.  The  glucose  itself  is 
 harmless;  it  is  only  its  impurities  that  are  to  be  feared.  "Terra  alba,"  which  may  be 
 either  gypsum  or  China  clay,  is  frequently  found  in  certain  kinds  of  cheap  candy, 
 such  as  conversation  lozenges.  They  are  to  be  sought  for  in  such  candies  as  have 
 a  very  white  opaque  appearance.  Flour  is  sometimes  classed  as  an  adulterant.  It 
 is  very  apt  to  be  preseut,  as  it  is  used  for  various  purposes  in  the  manufacture  of 
 candy.  It  is  harmless,  and  less  injurious  than  the  real  article.  Its  use,  even  in  ex- 
 cessive quantities,  can  only  be  condemned  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a  fraud,  so  far  as 
 it  is  used  to  make  weight.  The  frosting  on  cakes,  being  of  the  same  nature  as  con- 
 fectionery, is  subject  to  the  same  adulterations  and  frauds. 
 
 Very  frequently  papers  colored  with  Paris  green,  or  with  the  aceto-arsenite  of  cop- 
 per, have  been  used  as  a  coveriug  for  rolls  of  lozenges,  and  such  papers  are  almost 
 universally  used  to  make  the  ornamental  leaves  with  which  cakes  are  ornamented. 
 Such  a  practice  can  not  be  too  strongly  condemned. 
 
 In  coffae,  the  adulterants  are  rarely  barniful ;  fraudulent  ones,  how- 
 ever, are  very  numerous.  The  berry  is  polished  and  variously  manipu- 
 lated so  as  to  deceive  the  customer  as  to  quality,  and  it  is  moreover 
 sometimes  weighted  with  water  after  roasting,  by  subjecting  it  to  a 
 current  of  steam  while  still  warm.  He  adds  :  "  It  may  be  safely  said 
 that  scarcely  a  brand  of  the  so-called  package  coffees  contain  any  coffee." 
 *'The  essence  of  coffee,"  he  declares,  consists  mainly  of  burnt  molasses, 
 while  the  package  coffees  referred  to,  are  composed  principally  of  peas, 
 chiccory,  andrye  roasted  and  ground.  There  is  also  asmall  nut,  **chefus" 
 occasionally  found  in  the  market  which  is  used  for  the  same  purpose. 
 Almond  shells  are  treated  with  molasses,  and  when  roasted  make  a  fair 
 imitation. 
 
 Cocoa  and  chocolate. — Of  this  the  chief  adulterants  are  fats  other  than 
 the  cocoa  nibs;  also  flour,  with  the  addition  of  oxide  of  iron  as  a  color- 
 ing agent  to  counteract  excess  of  flour.  The  so-called  soluble  cocoas 
 have  their  fat  extracted  by  heat. 
 
 Flour,  though  extensively  debased  in  Europe,  is  generally  pure  in 
 this  country,  though  sometimes  corn-meal  and  rice  are  used  as  adulter- 
 ants.   The  principal  trouble  is,  however,  in  the  use  of  damaged  wheat. 
 
 Ginger  is  sold  of  two  grades,  pure  and  colored,  the  latter  being  a 
 mixture  of  about  one-half  turmeric.  It  is  used  to  flavor  and  c^olor 
 gingerbread.  Mustard  is  also  added  to  strengthen  other  grades  of 
 ging(*r,  so  that  it  may  sell  as  genuine  African  ginger. 
 
 lloneij  is  adulterated  with  glucose. 
 
 Lard  is  fraudulently  adulterated  with  alum  and  lime  water  to  improve 
 its  color  and  add  to  its  weight;  also  sometimes  with  starch,  and  largely 
 with  cotton-stHMl  oil  nnd  stearine. 
 
 Mustard  is  colored  with  chroinato  of  lead,  also  with  turnifric,  and 
 weighted  with  sulphate  of  linic. 
 
 i 
 
51 
 
 Horse-radish  grated  fraudulently  consists  largely  of  turnips. 
 
 Fruit  jellies  are  often,  without  respect  to  the  name  they  bear,  simply 
 apple  jelly,  colored  and  flavored  to  suit.  The  coloring  matter  is  often 
 objectionable,  and  this  is  true  of  most  of  the  flavorings. 
 
 In  Picldes,  sulphuric  acid  and  copper  are  the  chief  things  objected  to. 
 
 Preserved  fruits. — Apple-sauce  is  often  nothing  more  than  pumpkin 
 boiled  in  cider.  The  raspberry  jam  is  often  sour,  while  strawberry  jam 
 is  frequently  made  from  refuse  berries. 
 
 In  Pepi)er  we  have  roast  ship-bread,  mustard  husks,  and  Indian-meal. 
 
 In  Sago  J  Potato-starch. 
 
 Sugar,  generally  pure,  though  powdered  sugar  is  sometimes  adulter- 
 ated with  flour  and  sirups;  frequently  with  glucose. 
 
 Of  Spices,  the  professor  holds  that  to  obtain  them  pure  "it  is  almost 
 necessary  to  buy  them  in  the  unground  state." 
 
 Tea  is  adulterated  with  other  leaves;  exhausted  tea  leaves  are  said 
 to  be  shipped  from  China,  while  sand  and  dust  are  frequently  found  in 
 the  low^  grades.  Teas  are  weighted  between  20  and  25  per  cent.,  and 
 black  lead,  Prussian  blue,  and  soap-stone  are  all  used. 
 
 Good  Vinegar  should  contain  at  least  4  per  cent,  of  acetic  acid.  By 
 the  British  law,  sulphuric  acid  and  sulphates  in  vinegar  must  not  exceed 
 one-tenth  of  1  per  cent.,  and  chlorides  of  more  than  one-tenth  of  1  per 
 cent,  should  be  absent. 
 
 In  regard  to  Winey  of  which  so  much  is  the  subject  of  importation 
 from  foreign  countries,  we  will  quote  what  the  professor  has  to  say 
 more  fully.  After  defining  what  wine  is,  and  explaining  the  process 
 of  ''  plastering,"  he  adds : 
 
 This  plastering  of  the  wine  is  excused  on  various  grounds.  That  it  is  injurious 
 hardly  admits  of  (juestions ;  but  at  present  it  Las  to  he  submitted  to,  since  it  is  im- 
 possible to  obtain  sherry  or  port  that  has  not  been  so  treated. 
 
 The  next  sophistication  to  which  wine  is  submitted  during  its  manufacture  is 
 sweetening  with  sugar.  In  bad  years  the  grapes  are  poor,  and  yield  a  thin,  acid 
 juice.  In  order  that  the  fermentation  may  produce  sufficient  alcohol  to  keep  the 
 wine,  it  is  customary  to  add  sugar  to  the  must. 
 
 Sometimes  the  flavor  is  delicieut.  In  order  to  improve  this,  the  wine  merchant 
 keeps  a  supply  of  old,  high-flavored  wiues,  which  he  adds  to  the  jwor  wine. 
 
 If  the  color  is  deficient  in  the  case  of  jmrt  and  other  red  wiues,  elderberry -juice  is 
 added  to  produce  the  desired  shade.  In  the  case  of  sherries,  caramel  is  used.  Cham- 
 pagne is  a  manufactured  wine,  having  for  its  basis  the  juice  of  a  black  grape  growing* 
 jn  the  champagne  district  in  France.  The  bottlers  of  champagne  flavor  it,  fortify  it, 
 and  sweeten  it  according  to  private  formulas,  so  as  to  imitate  as  nearly  as  possible 
 their  wxdl-known  brands;  the  main  ditference  between  the  vintagesof  various  years 
 being  in  the  good  or  poor  (luality  of  the  wine  they  start  upon.  Only  one  thing  can 
 be  relied  upon  in  regard  to  champagne,  and  that  is  the  fact  that  it  is  not  tho  pure, 
 fermented  jnice  of  the  grape.  It  is  just  as  uiuch  an  artificial  production  as  the  various 
 cordials  which  are  found  in  the  market. 
 
 So  far  only  what  nuiy  i»ass  as  reasonably  pure  wines  have  been  si)oken  of;  that  is, 
 wines  which  come  from  the  i>laces  where  such  wines  originate,  and  which  are  free 
 fron«  adulteration  other  than  what  custon»  and  long  usage  have  sanctioned. 
 
 Fictitious  wines,  that  have  never  been  within  the  limits  of  the  wine-growing  dis- 
 tricts, are  also  to  be  found  in  tlu'  market.      It  is  estimated  that   the  champagne  dis- 
 
52 
 
 trict  in  France  does  not  i)ioduce  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  amount  of  champagne 
 consumed,  the  remainder  being  manufactured  from  cider  and  other  wines. 
 
 Cream  of  Tartar  is  frequently  more  or  less  adulterated,  usually  with 
 terra  alba  or  gypsum,  and  to  an  extent  varying  from  5  to  75  per  cent. 
 On  the  subject  of  Glucose^  Dr.  Beckwith  says : 
 
 In  view  of  the  fact  that  about  ten  pounds  of  this  product  are  manufactured  iu  the 
 United  States  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  therein,  annually,  and  that  Clevc^laud 
 is  not  quarantined  against  the  rest  of  the  country,  a  two  hours'  fruitless  search  for  a 
 small  sample  to  be  used  in  comparative  analysis  was  certainly  discouraging.  Drug- 
 gists, wholesale  and  retail,  had  none,  but,  with  singular  unanimity,  referred  the  in- 
 quirer to  the  candy  manufacturers,  who,  to  a  man,  knew  nothing  of  the  commodity. 
 
 Parenthetically,  a  specimen  of  tatty  of  another  kind,  abstracted  from  an  inviting 
 pile,  yielded  79  percent,  of  glucose  on  analysis. 
 
 Glucose  is  probably  the  leading  adulterant  upon  the  market.  It  is  largely  used  iu 
 sirups,  low-grade  sugars,  jellies,  and  cheap  confections. 
 
 As  artificially  j)repared  it  differs  materially  from  cane-sugar,  having  but  about  one- 
 third  the  latter's  sweetening  power  and  being  devoid  of  color  when  in  solution.  It 
 is  frequently  contaminated  by  the  lime  which  is  used  to  neutralize  the  sulphuric  aci<l 
 employed  in  the  conversion  of  the  starch  into  sugar. 
 
 Free  acid  is  also  claimed  to  be  occasionally  found.  The  presence  of  lime  in  the 
 ash  of  sugars  or  sirups,  obtained  by  burning  off  the  organic  matter  and  carbon,  is  a 
 good  indication  of  glucose  adulteration  in  the  example  under  estimation. 
 
 The  cheapness  of  glucose,  together  with  its  close  relationship  to  cane-sugar,  enables 
 the  refiner  to  use  it  extensively  as  a  sophistication  at  a  handsome  profit,  and  without 
 fear  of  detection  when  shipped  to  country  store-keepers  and  city  dealers  in  localities 
 where  sanitary  laws  are  not  rigorously  enforced. 
 
 Per  86  glucose  is  wholesome  and  nutritious.  Its  production  encourages  corn-grow- 
 ing, increases  the  sugar  supjdy,  and  offers  employment  to  capital  and  labor.  So  far 
 the  industry  which  it  represents  should  be  encouraged,  but  its  sale  as  cane-sugar  is  a 
 fraud,  and  should  be  as  completely  tabooed  as  the  sale  of  artificial  butter  for  the 
 genuine  article.  Its  cheapness  and  poverty  iu  saccharine  matter  demand  its  com- 
 plete isolation. 
 
 In  Europe  glucose  is  largely  prepared  from  potatoes;  in  this  country,  on  account 
 of  its  greater  abundance,  from  corn;  whence  the  name  corn-sugar  or  corn-sirup  in 
 common  use. 
 
 Seven  examples  of  sirups  were  purchased  for  analysis,  principally  to  determine 
 the  extent  of  glucose  adulteration. 
 
 These  were  bought  at  as  many  difl'erent  retail  stores  in  various  parts  of  the  city, 
 and  were  in  each  case  guaranteed  free  from  adulteration.  With  Fehling'a  solution 
 six  of  them  were  found  to  contain  abnormal  amounts  of  glucose. 
 
 Theseventh,  dark  and  unprepossessing  in  appearance,  contained  less  than  4  percent.; 
 .about  the   usual   quantity  normal  to  cane-sugara.      The   following  table  shows  the 
 complete  result: 
 Glucose  yielded  (warranted  cane) . 
 
 Per  cent. 
 
 No.  1 23.11) 
 
 No.  2 10.76 
 
 No.  :{ 20.30 
 
 No.  4 43.  0() 
 
 No.  5 3.07 
 
 No.  G 16.15 
 
 No.  7 31.68 
 
 Two  of  these,   numbers  two  and  six,  the  lightest  colored  in  the  group,  wore  incin- 
 
53 
 
 erated,  and  tested  for  the  salts  of  tiu,  which  are  quite  often  used  as  bleaching  agents, 
 with  the  following  results  : 
 
 No.  2,.  26i^o^,Hr  grams  contained  231  milligrauis  of  ash  and  a  free  precipitate  of  iron 
 sulphide,  which  was  not  weighed. 
 
 No.  6,  13]^oVo  grams  contained  184  grams  ash  and  113  milligrams  of  tin  solohide. 
 The  tiu  was  precipitated  from  the  chlorliydric  solution  by  hydric  sulphide.  (The  pres- 
 ence of  iron  in  No.  2  is  not  accounted  for.)  The  chlorides  of  tin  are  poisons,  being 
 classed  as  such  by  Taylor  aud  others. 
 
 There  are  many  well-authenticated  cases  of  poisoning  of  people  through  the 
 medium  of  the  milk  of  cows  which  have  eaten  hyssop,  spruce,  buckeye  (yEsculns  gla- 
 bra), and  other  poisonous  substances,  and  it  is  universally  known  that  milk  instantly 
 reveals  any  change  of  feed  having  a  peculiar  or  easily-recognizable  taste  or  smell, 
 like  turnips  or  wild  parsnips.  In  the  light  of  these  facts,  what  may  be  said  of  the 
 intentional  impoverishment  aud  contamination  ot  milk  by  the  feeding  of  distillery 
 waste,  brewers'  grains,  glucose,  and  garbage,  which  is  openly  practiced  in  the  city  of 
 Cleveland  by  unscrupulous  venders  ? 
 
 An  examination  of  the  reports  of  analysts  employed  by  the  Boards  in  ditferent 
 States  will  reveal  the  fact  that  about  all  of  our  food  supply  is  largely  adulterated. 
 Household  articles,  according  to  the  following  table,  compiled  by  Dr.  Newton,  of 
 New  Jersey,  suffer  to  an  alarming  extent.     The  table  is  appended  : 
 
 Per  cent. 
 
 Spices  and  condiments 60 
 
 Ground  coffee 45 
 
 Tea 48 
 
 Lower  grade  sugar 20 
 
 Sirups 50 
 
 Milk,  when  not  inspected 50 
 
 Flour • none 
 
 Bread 2 
 
 Cream  tartar  and  baking-powder 44 
 
 Butter  (substitution  of  other  fats) 40 
 
 Vinegar rarely  cider 
 
 Olive-oil GO 
 
 If  (igures  do  not  lie  and  scientific  research  deceive,  we  surely  have  in  this  table  a 
 finger-board  to  the  path  of  professional  duty  for  this  aud  other  health  boards  tb.rough- 
 out  the  United  States. — (Dr.  Beckwith,  in  The  Sanitarian  for  July,  1887.) 
 
 The  following:  is  a  list  of  articles  especially  liable  to  adulteration,  and 
 adulterants  used,  accordinf^  to  the  report  of  the  chemists  of  the  Mas- 
 sachusetts State  Board  (see  page  24,  Massachusetts  Report,  18SG) : 
 
 Milli. — Addition  of  water  and  coloring  matter  and  abstraction  of  cream. 
 
 7i//<to\— Substitution  of  foreign  fats  aud  addition  of  coloring  matter. 
 
 S2)iccn. — Addition  of  starch  aud  other  foreign  powders.  Especially  true  of  mustard 
 and  i)epi>er. 
 
 Cream  o/ /ar/ar.— Substitution  of  starch,  gypsum,  and  other  cheap  substances. 
 
 Baking-jfoivders.—Almw  and  other  injurious  ingredients.  Baking-powders  have  no 
 legal  standard,  other  than  freedom  from  harmful  ingredients. 
 
 Lard. — l*resence  of  cheaper  fats  aud  oils. 
 
 Olive-oil. — Sabatitution  of  cheaper  oils. 
 
 JellicH  and  imnerred  frtuts. — Substitution  of  cheaper  fruits  and  addition  of  ecdoring 
 inatter. 
 
 I'iHf^ar.— Absence  of  the  reijuired  amount  of  acetic  acid  and  addition  of  coloring 
 matter. 
 
 //oM<>i/.— Substitution  of  cane-sugar,  glucose,  aud  other  substances. 
 
 .l/o/a««e«.— Addition  of  glucose,  presence  of  tin  or  other  foreign  substance 
 
 Sugar. — Glucose,  iK»isonoiis  coloring  matter. 
 
 'S. 
 
Lager  beer  for  salicylic  acid Seven  contained  it. 
 
 Ice-cream  coloring.*. Aniline  jrreen. 
 
 Ice-cream  flavor Essence  bitter  almonds. 
 
 Cans  of  mackerel Tin  and  lead  found. 
 
 French  peas '.  Copper  fonnd. 
 
 do Copper  determined. 
 
 1  I  Milk  color Annatto. 
 
 5  I  Macaroni Satlron,  turmeric,  and  Martin's  y«ll< 
 
 3  I do Same  a.s  above. 
 
 Cranberries One  .spoilt-d 
 
 Canned  beans Colored  with  copper. 
 
 Candies Two  containeil  chrome  villow. 
 
 Gelatine One  putrid. 
 
 Canned  corn  beef ^  Negative. 
 
 Canned  com Spoiled. 
 
 Candy  colors Not  given. 
 
 Coffee  colors Not  poisonous. 
 
 Lactometers  tested " - I  Fifteen  condemned. 
 
 54 
 
 Maple-sugar  and  sirup. — Glucose. 
 
 Confectionery. — Terra  alba,  poisouoiis  coloriug  matter,  fusel-oil,  arsenical  wrappers. 
 
 Coffee. — Mixture  or  substitute  of  various  cheaper  substauces. 
 
 Canned  fruits  vegetables  and  meats. — Metallic  poisous.  f 
 
 t 
 
 DRUGS.      FORM   OF   ADULTERATION. 
 
 Opium  and  its  preparation©,  especially  powdered  opium,  and  tincture  of  opium. 
 Deticieucy  in  the  reqnire^l  strength  of  the  niorphi;>. 
 
 Cinchona,  quinine  and  its  preparation.s,  especially  the  citrate  of  iron  and  quinine. 
 
 Quinine  pills. — Deficiency  in  weight. 
 
 Compound  spirits  of  eiher. — (Hotfmau'.s  anodyne).  Absence  of  its  most  important 
 ingredient,  the  ethereal  oil,  or  substitution  therefor. 
 
 Spirits  of  nitrous  ether  (sweet  spirits  of  niter). — Defioieiuv  in  ethvle  nitrite. 
 
 Salts  of  bismuth. — Essence  of  arsenic. 
 
 Tincture  of  iodine. — Deficiency  of  iodine. 
 
 Iodide  of  potassium.— 'Excess  of  chloride  or  other  impurities. 
 
 Bitartrate  of  potassium. — Excess  of  lime  or  other  impurities,  and  substitnri<»n  of 
 starch  and  other  ingredients. 
 
 Jalap. — Deficiency  in  required  strength. 
 
 Cochineal. — Loaded  with  heavy  foreign  powders. 
 
 Essential  oils. — Adulterated  with  turpentine. 
 
 Fharmacopccial  wines  and  liquors. — Excess  or  deficiency  in  required  strength  of 
 alcohol  and  excess  in  solid  residue,  addition  of  water,  alcohol,  or  sugar. 
 
 Out  of  288  samples  examined  by  Dr.  Davenport  13*2,  or  45.8  per  cent.,  were  found 
 not  to  be  of  standard  quality. 
 
 The  Brooklyn  Board  of  Health  published  the  result  o/ sundry  analyses 
 made  in  1SS7,  from  which  we  quote  the  following  : 
 
 *  Name.  {  Kesult. 
 
 Six  other  articles  were  analyzed,  but  nothing  was  fonnd  wron?  about  thrra. 
 
 From  the  report  of  the  chemist  of  the  American  Society  for  Preven- 
 tion of  Adulteration  of  Food  we  give  the  result  of  examinations  made  by 
 him  and  compared  with  similar  work  by  a  number  of  other  chemists  : 
 
 From  such  examinations  he  made  the  following  av.»rage  of  the  per  cent,  of  adulter- 
 ation of  the  mun*  common  articles  of  food  and  drugs:  Olive-oil,  00  per  cent. ;  castor- 
 oil,  20  per  cent. ;  blue  ointment,  «>l  per  cent.;  tincture  opium,  fvS  percent.;  spices 
 and  condiments,  &)  per  cent. ;  candies,  :V.\  per  cent. ;  Kiruj>s,  ,'>0  per  cent. ;  cream  tar- 
 
tar,  40  per  cent. :  baking-powder,  44  per  ceut. ;  butter,  40  per  cent. ;  Lread  and  jjas- 
 try,  15  per  cent. ;  milk,  40  per  cent. ;  lower-grade  sugar,  20  per  cent. :  lard,  70  per 
 cent. ;  tea,  40  per  cent. ;  ground  coffee,  49  per  cent. ;  cider  vinegar,  60  jyer  cent. ;  ice 
 cream,  55  per  cent. ;  chocolate,  38  per  ceut. ;  honey,  24  per  cent. ;  wine,  40  per  cent. , 
 beer,  45  per  cent. ;  spirituous  liquors,  33  per  ceut. 
 
 Boracic  and  salicylic  acids. — The  use  of  these  acids  as  '*  preserva- 
 tive" of  liquors  and  food  products  urgently  demaud  attention  of  our 
 legislators,  as  they  have  already  secured  that  in  France  and  Germany, 
 where  their  use  has  been  absolutely  prohibited,  except — and  I  desire  to 
 emphasize  the  exception — on  export  goods. 
 
 Dr.  Abbott,  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health,  says: 
 
 While  they  (these  ingredients)  are  not  named  as  active  poisons  by  authorities  on 
 toxicology,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  their  use  in  considerable  quantities,  or 
 for  a  long  period  of  time,  would  have  injurious  effects.  The  value  of  food  depends 
 very  much  upon  the  readiness  with  which  it  is  assimilated  in  the  process  of  diges- 
 tion. This  process  is  mainly  a  destructive  one,  and  anything  which  retards  such  a 
 process  outside  of  the  body  will  also  have  a  similar  action  within  it,  and  hence 
 necessarily  impairs  to  some  extent  its  nutritive  value.  To  this  effect  should  be 
 added  the  effect  of  the  drug  itself  upon  the  human  economy. 
 
 Professor  Gossman  objects  to  the  use  of  salicylic  acid  for  the  preser- 
 vation of  butter,  and  Prof.  L.  B.  Arnold  says  : 
 
 It  is  not  advisable  to  use  boracic  acid  or  salicylic  acid  in  butter.  They  are  objec- 
 tionable as  being  foreign  substances.  They  are  of  no  use  in  the  human  economy. 
 They  neither  produce  warmth,  nor  make  fat,  flesh,  or  bone.  They  are  medicinal  and 
 turn  nature  out  of  her  course,  and  it  causes  a  needless  expenditure  of  vital  force  to 
 absorb,  circulate,  and  cast  them  out  of  the  system. 
 
 •  The  following  articles  are  frequently  used  in  the  adulteration  of 
 liquors:  Indian  cockle,  vitriol,  grains  of  Paradise,  opium,  alum,  capsi- 
 cum, copperas,  laurelwater,  logwood,  bazil-wood,  cochineal,  sugar  of 
 lead. 
 
 Dr.  E.  Vallin,  in  the  bulletin  of  the  French  Academy  of  Medicine 
 (volume  16),  says  that  a  committee  of  that  body  recommended,  owing  to 
 the  difficulty  of  deducting  the  exact  amount  used  and  the  danger  of 
 excessive  quantities  being  used,  if  allowed  at  all,  "that  the  addition  of 
 salicylic  acid  or  its  compounds,  even  in  small  amounts,  in  articles  of  food 
 or  drink,  shall  be  absolutely  prohibited  by  law.'' 
 
 On  page  48  of  the  Brooklyn  report  for  1SS7  we  find  the  following : 
 
 From  the  facts  here  stated,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  time  that  the  addition 
 of  salicylic  acid  to  articles  of  food  receive  a  check  at  the  hands  of  sanitary  authorities. 
 
 Various  examinations  of  Brooklyn  and  Western  beer  revealed  the 
 presence  of  the  injurious  acid.  A  supplementary  report  to  that  above 
 quoted  gives  a  number  of  extracts  from  the  American  Analyst  and 
 others,  conchnling  with  the  recommendation  that  the  use  of  the  acid  be 
 prohibited  by  law,  and  the  writer  adds : 
 
 Beerb  that  show  signs  of  decay  for  some  reason  or  other,  and  which  by  the  use  of 
 salicylic  acid  could  be  preserved,  are  not  proper  beverages  for  the  pu'»lio. 
 
 Canned  goods. — A  Xew  York  canned-goods  firm  assures  us  that  there 
 is  no  adulteration  in  the  canned-goods  trade.    The  Can-maker's  Pro- 
 
56 
 
 tective  Union,  on  tbe  other  hand,  chiims  that  such  adulterations  exist, 
 and  that  acids  are  used  and  machine-made  cans  with  injurious  results. 
 A  Phihidelphia  tirm,  dealing  in  cauned  goods  and  dried  fruits,  writes : 
 
 In  canned  goods,  dried  peas  and  dried  Lima  beans  are  soaked  and  represented  as 
 fresh  by  unprincipled  cauners  and  dealers.  In  fruits  there  is  an  excess  of  water  used 
 to  make  weight  and  fill  up  the  cans. 
 
 The  cost  of  soaked  peas  and  beans  is  about  45  per  cent,  less  than  that 
 of  the  fresh  articles;  while,  in  addition  to  water,  we  find  that  "alcohol 
 and  molasses"  are  sometimes  used  to  sprinkle  dried  fruits  and  to  in- 
 crease weight,  but  not  often,  water  being  the  cheaper. 
 
 Prof.  S.  B.  Sharpless,  already  so  extensively  quoted,  thus  speaks  in 
 regard  to  tliis  subject  of  canned  goods  in  his  work  on  Food  Adultera- 
 tion : 
 
 Sometimes,  through  careless  soldering  or  the  use  of  terne-plate  in  making  the  cans, 
 the  articles  i>reserved  become  contaminated  with  lead.  As  this,  at  the  most,  only 
 exists  in  very  small  quantities,  its  detection  is  often  a  matter  of  difficulty.  The  best 
 method  of  proceeding  is  to  destroy  the  organic  matter  either  with  aqua  regia  or 
 clilorhydric  acid  and  chlorate. 
 
 Copper  is  also  occasionallj^  found  in  these  goods;  it  conies  from  the  copper  vessels 
 nsed  in  their  preparation.  This  may  be  detected  by  the  same  means  that  are  used  iu  the 
 detection  of  lead  and  tin.  Copper  is  to  be  particularly  looked  for  in  canned  vegeta- 
 bles and  pickles,  which  were  formerly  very  generally  colored  with  salts  of  this  metal. 
 Another  fraud  practiced  in  these  goods  is  dilution  with  water  or  with  sirup,  the  can 
 having  comparatively  little  solid  matter  in  it.  There  has  also  been  frequent  com- 
 plaint of  light-weight  and  small-sized  cans. 
 
 Craclers — From  replies  received  from  cracker  manufacturers  in  the 
 various  sections  of  the  country  it  would  seem  as  if  this  trade  had  ab- 
 sorbed a  large  percentage  of  the  few  honest  men  in  the  country.  All 
 letters  received  on  the  subject  from  manufacturers  disclaim  any  knowl- 
 edge of  adulterants,  and  one  in  particular,  after  vigorously  disclaiming 
 any  knowledge  of  adulteration,  concludes  by  authorzing  me  to  '-state 
 positively  that  I  use  no  adulterations  in  my  goods."  Adulterations  in 
 these  goods  consists  mostly,  if  adulteration  it  can  properly  be  called, 
 in  the  use  of  inferior  grades  of  flour  and  butter. 
 
 Flour  is,  as  a  rule,  free  from  adulterations,  though  not  infrequently 
 mixed  with  inferior  grades,  while  corn-meal  is  sometimes  added;  this, 
 however,  is  a  decei)tion  easily  detected.  1  think  we  may  set  down  the 
 adulteration  of  flour  as  rare;  nor  have  I  been  able  to  find  any  known 
 instance  where  soap-stone  was  used,  as  recited  in  the  speech  of  the  Hon. 
 Mr.  Green  elsewhere  (quoted. 
 
 Fish  are  a  food  product  which  hardly  admit  of  adulteration,  though 
 it  is  alleged  by  some  fish  packers  that  fish  caught  by  gill-nets  are  often 
 placed  on^tlie  mjuket  in  an  unfit  condition  for  food.  Doubtless  this 
 ai)plies  to  fish  caught  in  other  wfiys  as  well. 
 
 The  liability  to  fraud  in  packing  fish  is  in  the  packing  of  stale  fish, 
 while  a  good  deal  of  commercial  fraud  is  ])racticed  by  the  putting  up 
 of  inferior  and  clieai)  fisli,  which  when  packed  arc  sold  under  the  name 
 of  a  superior  and  scarcer  kind. 
 
57 
 
 Lard. — Since  this  report  was  commenced  the  Chemical  Division  have 
 issued  part  5  of  Bulletin  13,  relating  entirely  to  lard.  Although  much 
 data  on  this  particular  suJDject  has  been  carefully  collected,  it  is  deemed 
 unnecessary  to  go  furth^-^  into  the  subject  in  this  report.  The  reader 
 who  doubts  that  this  important  article  of  daily  consumption  is  adul- 
 terated in  the  most  reckless  and  outrageous  manner,  is  referred  to  the 
 above  Bulletin  and  the  report  of  the  Agricultural  Committee  of  the  House 
 of  Representatives  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress,  and  also  to  the  exhaustive 
 and  able  report  of  Hon.  E.  H.  Conger,  of  Iowa,  in  presenting  the  bill  to 
 prevent  the  adulteration  of  lard. 
 
 Flavoring  extracts  are  used  more  or  less  in  every  family,  and  the 
 evidence  I  have  been  able  to  gather  leads  me  to  the  conviction  that  a 
 very  small  proportion  of  the  flavoring  extracts  sold  on  the  market  is 
 true  to  name.  Most  of  them  are  mixtures  of  acids  and  other  drugs; 
 indeed,  the  manufacturer  who  makes  a  thoroughly  pure  article  has  no 
 chance  in  the  market,  where  the  cheapness  of  the  artificial  article  gives 
 it  full  sway.  The  acids  and  drugs  used  in  the  preparation  of  these 
 goods  are  all  more  or  less  harmful,  and  as  a  result  we  not  infrequently 
 come  across  wholesale  poisoning  from  their  use.  See  for  example  the 
 Washington  Star^  September  12,  where  a  hundred  persons  at  a  wed- 
 ding were  poisoned,  presumably  by  eating  ice  cream.  A  manufacturer 
 of  this  class  of  goods  writes  as  follows : 
 
 Fiillj  75  per  cent,  are  sophisticated,  aud  the  cost  of  mannfacturo  reduced  about  50 
 per  cent.  That  of  this  the  retailer  gaius  25  per  cent.,  while  the  consumer  receives  no 
 benefit  whatever,  and  further,  that  these  goods  are  always  sold  as  pure. 
 
 Tm,  like  coflee,  is  used  in  every  household  in  the  country,  and  has 
 long  been  recognized  as  a  necessary  article  of  diet.  Like  coffee,  too,  it- 
 has  become  the  prey  of  the  adulterater,  with  this  difference,  that  the 
 adulterants  in  the  case  of  tea  are  frequently  ix)t  simply  commercial 
 frauds,  but  are  often  injurious  to  health,  and  sometimes  extremely 
 poisonous. 
 
 I  subjoin  extracts  from  replies  received  from  two  different  tea  houses, 
 differing  widely  in  their  statements. 
 
 Chase  &  Sanborn,  Boston,  say: 
 
 There  is  very  littki  adulteration  in  teas  and  coffees.  Teas  certainly  are  pure,  and 
 the  advent  of  the  coffee-mill  in  the  j^rocery  stores  lias  done  away  with  ground  coffee, 
 and  th<;roby  with  th<^  opportunity  to  adulterate. 
 
 Theyconcludetheir  letter  with  the  statement  that  '^tea  and  coffee,  as 
 at  present  furnished,  are  to  a  very  large  extent  pure  products."  But  it 
 seems  that  tea  dealers,  like  doctors,  differ. 
 
 Martin  Gillet  &  Co.,  of  Baltimore,  say: 
 
 Two-thirds  of  green  teas  from  China  and  one-half  of  all  Japan  teas  are  faced  or 
 colored  to  givo  them  a  deceptive  appearance.  Tlie  facing  is  Prussian  blue,  gypsum, 
 soap-stone,  i)luuibago,  aud  other  chemicals.  They  arc  certainly  not  beuelicial  to 
 health.  Strange  to  say,  the  adulteration  adds  to  the  cost;  that  is,  the  color  or  faciug 
 costs.  It  simply  enables  tho  unscrupulous  dealer  to  deceive  the  ignorant  buyer.  Ah 
 a  rule,  all  tea  shipped  from  China  aud  Ja])ati  are  branded  by  orders  from  America 
 with  thenaniesof  ilnr  highest  grades.     No  one  braivds  tho  truth  on  the  poorest  grades. 
 
58 
 
 In  a  letter  a<*companyiiig  the  (uicnlar  this  firm  saj^s  tliat  as  far  back 
 as  ten  years  ago  they  opened  correspondence  with  the  Commissioner  of 
 the  Agricnltural  Department,  urging  that  something  be  done  to  pre- 
 vent adulteration  of  tea,  as  they  believe  the  honest  dealer  would  tiius 
 be  greatly  helped,  and  that  it  would  bB  the  means  of  increasing  largely 
 the  use  of  the  most  wholesome  beverage  the  world  knows. 
 
 Vinegar. — Corn  vinegar  is  sold  as  cider  vinegar.  The  fraud  consists 
 in  the  white  wine  or  corn  vinegar  being  sold  for  pure  eider.  The  color- 
 ing used  is  made  from  caramel  or  burnt  sugar.  I  learn  from  various 
 sources,  quite  reliable  and  in  no  way  connected  with  the  manufacture 
 of  either  cider  or  corn  vinegar,  that  the  latter  is  an  excellent  article  for 
 keeping  pickles  and  for  table  use,  but  when  sold  under  a  false  name  it 
 adds  one  more  to  the  many  frauds  practiced  upon  the  people. 
 
 Water. — While  more  disease  is  caused  and  spread  in  all  probability 
 by  the  use  of  impure  water  than  by  any  other  one  cause,  it  does  not 
 come  within  my  province  to  discuss  that  matter,  further  than  to  call  at- 
 tention to  the  fact  that  many  spurious  mineral  waters  are  sold,  and  it 
 is  claimed  that  contaminated  water  from  city  wells  is  largely  used  in 
 the  manufacture  of  these  so-called  beverages,  because  of  their  ability 
 to  take  larger  charges  of  gas.  The  question  of  impure  water,  how- 
 ever, is  one  of  so  local  a  character  as  to  call  for  legislation  within  each 
 State  for  itself.  It  is  clearly  outside  of  the  province  of  Congress  to 
 consider  it. 
 
 Concentrated  lye. — It  is  estimated  by  a  manufacturer  of  acids,  soda- 
 ash,  etc.,  that  a  large  amount  of  concentrated  lye  is  adulterated  with 
 salt  to  the  extent  of  35  or  -40  per  €ent.,  the  standard  being  GO  per  cent, 
 caustic  soda,  while  the  average  is  actually  less  than  40  percent.  While 
 this  extract  is  not  directly  in  line  with  food  products,  I  refer  to  its  adul- 
 teration because  it  is  an  article  in  general  use  in  every  household,  and 
 as  illustrative  of  the  general  spirit  of  adulteration  extending  into  nearly 
 every  department  of  commerce,  including  the  shoddy  used  in  our  cloth- 
 ing, th(^  poisons  used  in  dyeing  various  articles,  notably  stockings,  from 
 the  wearing  of  which  sickness  and  in  a  few  cases  death  has  resulted. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ADVANTAGES  OF  INSPECTION. 
 
 As  an  evidence  of  the  advantages  of  '' inspection  laws,"  it  may  bo 
 cited  that  in  1883,  when  the  milk  inspection  laws  were  first  put  into 
 operation  in  Massachusetts,  the  samples  examined  showed  77.5  per 
 cent,  of  adulteration,  leaving  only  22.5  per  cent,  above  the  required 
 standard.  In  March,  1884,  the  samples  from  the  same  cities  and  towns 
 and  a  few  smaller  towns  showed  55. G  per  cent,  above  standard,  when  in 
 1885  and  for  the  fourteen  months  ending  May  31,  188G,  the  result 
 showed  GG.7  per  cent.  • 
 
 To  continue  the  illustration  it  is  only  necessary  to  show  the  increase 
 in  purity  as  shown  by  the  report,  page  82: 
 
 Article.  !      1884.  1886. 
 
 Per  cent.    Per  cent. 
 
 Vinegar :\\)  62 
 
 Cream  of  tartar 6C  7(5 
 
 Black  i)epper 'Jl  59 
 
 White  pepper 3.i  r)0 
 
 Mustard 5.^.  43 
 
 Ginger 7(i  83 
 
 PETITIONS   AND   RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 The  National  Grange  Patrons  of  Husbandry  and  a  large  number  of 
 State  and  local  Grangers  have  passed  resolutions  and  forwarded  peti- 
 tions urging  Congress  to  pass  a  i)ure-food  bill ;  also  alliances,  wiieels, 
 and  clubs  in  all  sections  of  the  country  have  urged  the  a(lo})tion  of  this 
 measure.  It  is  useless  to  attemi)t  to  enumerate  the  various  trade  organ- 
 izations that  have  adopted  resolutions  favoring  legislation,  but  the 
 petitions  referred  to  heretofore  in  Mr.  Laird's  report  are  very  numerous, 
 and  signed  by  thousands  of  the  best  people  in  all  parts  of  the  land. 
 Since  the  adjournment  of  Congress  petitions  have  been  constantly  sent 
 me  from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  be  presented  to  that  body  when  it 
 meets  in  December. 
 
 THANKS. 
 
 I  desire  to  return  thanks  to  the  following  gentlenuMi  for  courtesies 
 and  information  extended  in  the  preparation  of  this  report :  Dr.  Dav- 
 enport, of  Boston,  State  analyst;  Prof.  II.  II.  Webber,  professor  of 
 agri(Hiltural  chemistry  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio;  Dr- 
 Balch,  secretary  New  York  Board  of  Health,  for  valuable  reports,  and 
 to  all  others  wh<)  have  kindly  assisted  me,  but  whose  names  are  neces 
 sarily  omitted  tor  want  of  space. 
 
60 
 
 CIRCULAR   TO   THE   TRADE. 
 
 Unitkd  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
 Division  of  Chemistry, 
 
 Washington,  D.   C, ,  1889. 
 
 Dear  Sir:  Having  beeu  appointed  a  special  agent  of  this  Department  to  prepare 
 "  a  report  of  a  popular  character  on  the  extent  of  the  adulterations  of  food  supplies,"  I 
 am  anxious  to  learn  from  all  reliable  sources  possible — 
 
 First :  The  extent  of  adulterations. 
 
 Second  :  The  extent  of  adulterations  injurious  to  health. 
 
 Third  :  The  extent  of  sophisticated  goods  that  are  sold  as  pure. 
 
 I  am  anxious  to  present  a  report  based  upon  facts,  not  conjecture,  which  will  do 
 no  injustice  to  any  person  or  trade,  and  at  the  same  time  show  favor  to  none,  and 
 present  a  true  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  matter  treated  ;  therefore  I  ask  the 
 various  trades  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  food  products  to  aid  me  with  such  data 
 as  they  can  furnish,  so  as  to  enable  rae  to  produce  such  a  stateilieut  as  will  he  of  serv- 
 ice to  the  commercial  and  agricultural  interest  of  the  country. 
 
 I  inclose  an  addressed  and  franked  envelope  for  reply. 
 
 Trusting  you  will  aid  us  as  far  as  you  can  conveniently,  I  am 
 Yours,  respectfully, 
 
 Alex.  J.  Wedderburx, 
 
 Special  Jgent. 
 
 Please  state  your  name, ,  address, .  business, '-. 
 
 To  what  extent,  if  any,  does  adulteration  exist  in  your  trade  1 . 
 
 State  what  adulterants  are  used . 
 
 Are  they,  or  any  of  them,  injurious  to  health  :  and,  if  so,  which  ? 
 
 What  is  the  estimated  adulteration  in  your  trade,  what  percentage  of  reduction 
 does  it  make  in  the  cost  of  the  articles  ? . 
 
 What  is  the  relative  reduction  of  the  sophisticated  articles  to  the  retailer,  and  what 
 is  the  reduction  to  the  consumer? . 
 
 Are  the  adulterated  articles  branded  true  to  name,  or  are  they  misbranded  and 
 sold  as  pure  goods? . 
 
 Can  you  refer  me  to  any  positive  evidence  of  adulterations  or  misbrandings  of  food 
 products  in  your  own  or  other  trades? . 
 
 Will  you  kindly  give  me  any  further  infofmation  of  a  reliable  character  that  will 
 enabh;  me  to  properly  represent  your  trade  in  my  report  ? . 
 
 LAWS  RELATING  TO   ADULTERATION. 
 
 New  York  passed  a  general  law  in  1R81. 
 
 Michigan  passed  a  general  law  in  ld8i. 
 
 New  .Jersey  pa.ssed  a  general  law  in  1881. 
 
 Massachuscitts  ])assed  a  general  law  in  1882,  which  was  amended  and  improved  in 
 1881). 
 
 The  full  t(^xt  of  the  above  hiws  (except  th<^  last)  can  be  foun<l  in  Tart  'J,  Bulletin  l:?, 
 Department  of  Agriculture;  as  can  also  be  found  the  Canadian  laws.  The  adultera- 
 tion act,  "Food,  drug,  and  I'ortilizer." 
 
 New  York  and  Massachusetts  have  special  laws  relating  to  dairy  products  aiul  vin- 
 egar. 
 
 New  York,  Ohio,  and  California  have  special  wine  laws. 
 
 Tw(;nty-three  States  hav*;  laws  against  the  adulteiation  of  dairy  products. 
 
 Illinois  and  Maine  liave  stringj'ut  laws  against  (he  sah^  of  adullerated  lard. 
 
 The  United  Stati's  have  laws  regulating  and  jfrohibiting  i\ui  imi>ortation  of  teas 
 and  drugs  not  of  a  standard  ipiality,  also  regulating  llie  sale  of  oleomargarine. 
 
61 
 
 The  Fiftieth  Congress  adopted  au  auti-adulteratiou  law  for  the  District  of  Colum- 
 bia. 
 
 The  British  laws  can  be  found  in  Hansell. 
 
 There  are  stringent  laws  in  Germany,  France,  Belgium,  Austria,  Holland ;  and  most 
 of  the  European  Governments  require  the  proper  branding  of  food  and  the  inspection 
 of  animals  sold  for  food  both  before  and  after  slaughter. 
 
 The  new  law  of  New  York  relative  to  the  standard  of  vinegar  went  into  eliect  on 
 August  27,  1889. 
 
 The  laws  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  require  that  milk  shall  contain  over  18  per 
 cent,  of  milk  solids;  "to  contain  less,  or  to  contain  less  than  9.3  per  cent,  of  milk  sol- 
 ids, exclusive  of  fat,  shall  not  be  standard,  except  in  May  or  June,  when  12  percent, 
 shall  be  standard. 
 
 Massachusetts  law  ijrovides  for  the  publication  in  two  newspapers  of  the  names  and 
 residences  of  persons  convicted  of  selling  adulterated  milk. 
 
 To  kill  knowingly  a  calf  under  four  weeks  old  in  Massachusetts  for  the  purpose  of 
 sale  subjects  the  offender  to  imprisonment  not  to  exceed  six  months  or  to  a  fine 
 not  to  exceed  §200,  or  both.  And  all  such  underage  meat  is  subject  to  be  destroyed 
 whether  the  vender  knew  it  to  be  so  or  not. 
 
 No  action  to  recover  a  debt  for  an  adulterated  article  can  be  made  in  a  Pennsyl- 
 vania court. 
 
 To  adulterate  any  liquor  with  poisons  or  other  deleterious  drugs  subjects  the  of- 
 fender to  a  fine  of  $1,000  and  imprison  ueut  not  over  a  year. 
 
 MAINE    LARD    LAW. 
 
 Not  having  seen  the  following  law  in  print,  I  give  it  in  full  : 
 
 [State  of  Maine,  in  tlie  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eii-lit  Inindied  and  eij,dityuiuc.  I 
 [An  act  to  prevent  fraud  in  the  salo  ot  lard.] 
 
 Be  it  enacted  hi/  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  in  legislature  assembled,  as 
 follows  : 
 
 Section  1.  No  manufacturer  or  other  person  shall  sell,  deliver,  prepare,  put  up, 
 expose,  or  otter  for  sale  any  lard,  or  any  article  intended  for  use  as  lard,  which  con- 
 tains any  ingredient  but  the  pure  fat  of  swine,  in  any  tierce,  bucket,  pail,  or  other 
 vessel  or  wrapper,  or  under  any  label  bearing  the  words  "  pure,'  "  refined,"  "family," 
 or  either  of  them,  alone  or  in  combination  with  other  words,  unless  every  vessel, 
 wrapper,  or  label  in  or  under  which  suuh  article  is  sold  or  delivered  or  prepared,  put 
 up  or  exposed  for  sale,  bears  on  the  top  or  outer  side  thereof,  in  letters  not  less  than 
 one-half  inch  in  length  and  plainly  exposed  to  view,  the  words  **  compound  lard." 
 
 Sec.  2.  Any  person  who  violates  any  provision  hereof  shall  forfeit  the  suni  of  fifty 
 dollars  to  the  use  of  any  person  suing  therefor,  in  an  action  of  debt. 
 
 In  House  of  KKrHESKNTATivics,  March  1,  1889. 
 This  bill  having  had  three  several  readings,  passed  to  be  enacted. 
 
 Fked  N.  Dow,  Speaker. 
 
 In  Si:natk,  March  2,  1889. 
 This  bill  having  had  two  several  readings,  passed  to  be  enacted. 
 
 IIenhv  Loki),  rresident. 
 
 Makch  2,  1889. 
 Approved. 
 
 Edwin  C.  BritLEic.ii,  Governor. 
 
UNIVERSITY  OF  FLORIDA 
 
 II 
 
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