Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-02-10
miscellaneous.
F E OF

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DR.. Alcott of Boston, the great dietetic refcr-
mer communicates the following to the N. Y. Tri-
bonc. He says;
SIR: / have not hesitated to pronounce it an
efficient agent in the production Of that most alarm
ing infantile mortality which prevails. Your read
ers know, perhaps, that we loose about 800, 600 in
habitants of the United States every year, under
ten years Of age; and some of them know, if they
have read oil that has been written on the sub
jeet within a few years, that not u few Of these
children might have survived had it not been for
the effects Of Saleratus.
Some individuals have doubted the truth Of my
suggestions. They have seriously questioned
whether Saleratus is really poisonous. Such indi-
viduals may be interested in the following state
ments and facts:
had been lecturing in North Adams, Mass,
on Diet and Regimen. A the close of the lee
ture the Rev. Robert Crawford came to me and
inquired whether | was not fond of collecting
facts and when | replied in the affirmative, he
gave me q particular account of an incident in
Williamstown, which is only four miles from that
place.
In the year 1885 an intelligent female who was
DESTROYS of trying to earn an honest livelihood
for herself and her family by keeping boarders
rented a house in W~illiamstown, and took about
fifteen boarders. They were chiefly if not wholly
young men who were attending the college at that
place.
The housekeeper was ignorant of the fashionable
modes of cookery, though she knew that rich food
was generally preferred. She had heard of Sal
%eratus, and that by many cooks it was freely used.
Accordingly she procured a quantity and freely
used it. The warm biscuits were so full of it as
not only to give them q yellow or burnt appearance
but also to render them bitter or nauseous to the
taste. Many other articles were filled with it in
like manner. In endeavoring to make light pud-
dings, however, she used so much of the article, it
was said, as to render them as heavy, almost so,
as lead. The students called these buildings by
the name of Specific grarity y SO that whenever
they wished for q slice, they would ask to be help
ed to some of the Specific gravity
After the lapse of a few months Il disease broke
out among these students-so severe that many
believed it to be contagious. Of course the whole
number thirteen were confined for a long time,
and the fourteenth was slightly affected for
a few days. The house became known by the
name of the pest-house. Two Of the patients died;
another barely escaped death; and the eleven
finally recovered.
The individual who escaped the disease wholly
was Prof. Tatlock, now of the Williamstown Col
lege. The one who was only slightly affected was
the Rev. Mr.. Crawford, my informant. The latter
had no doubt-never had any-that the disease
was caused solely by the Saleratds. | saw Prof.
Tatlock subsequently who confirmed the state
ment of Mr.. Crawford 1t appears that Mr.. Craw-
ford, ate very little of the food which was SO filed
with Saleratus, and the biscuits they seldom ever
tasted.
l. dlsO SiW anu COuNeTseu lTeely Will II Ddplll,
one of the two principal physicians who attended
at the "pest house" during the sickness aforesaid,
and who is still a practising physician in Williams
town. He told me that, to the present day, nei-
ther he nor his associate, DR.. Smith, had ever en-
tertained a mOmentary doubt that the whole trouble
was caused by s~aleratus.
The nature of the disease was somewhat pecu-
liar; but in every particular gave indication that
the citadel of life had been attacked by no mean
or powerless enemy. The bowels lost their tone,
and there was great muscular prostration. Bills
tiers applied to any part of the system, were
sure to be followed by almost immediate NOR
ti6cation Of the part. In short, the disease was
one of the most severe ever known in that re-
gion.
But, if the more excessive use of this irritating
substance is liable to produce such terrible effects,
can the less erceSstte use of 1t. which almost every
where prevails, be entirely innocuous?
Many tells us they do not use it to excess though
they are well aware that many others do so. But
so 1t is with almost every abuse. L have seldom,
if every, met with a person who would confess the
error of flight tacing-though l have met with thou
sands who knew that such an abuse prevailed all
around them.
was recently taken to task by a venerable
housekeeper of this Commonwealth, for saying
that the use of ten or twelve pounds Of saleratus
in n family was by no means "Why,"
said she, 81 do not use so much as this in my
great family" "How large is your family, Mad
am ?" inquired. at consists of ten persons
"And how much saleratus do you use yearly ~
A pound will last me three weeks" "Well, lad
am, that is between seventeen and eighteen pounds
a year" She was surprised, and said that she
did not use SO much: a pound, she said would last
her nearly four weeks. But this, to her surprise,
was thirteen pounds a year.
There can 5e no doubt that the sub infamma-
ton of the alimentary canal, which the habitual
use Of this aikali induces, both on children and
adults, is one cause Of that dread mortality which
prevails among the former; but which, in summer
and autumn, when other causes cooperate, proves
peculiarly alarming. For my own part, | can
hardly resist the full conviction, that, of the 300,-
600 above mentioned, who die permaturely, at
least 100, 900 might survive, but for the effects Of
saleratus.
WIN. A. AL COTT, M. D.
Auburn Dale, Mass. Dec. 90, 1854.