Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-03-07
POISONED TABLE FOOD.

POISONED TABLE FOOD.
The Injurious Effects of Preserved veg-
etables Coppered Peas and Green
| Pickles.
Mr.. Bernard Dyer, F. G. S., member
of the Society of Public Analysis,
writes to London newspaper:
"The question raised on Mond ay in
the Marlborough street police court as
to the injurious effects of preserved
vegetables contaminated with copper
salts is, as Mr.. Knox remarked, one of
much public interest. The consump-
ton of timed vegetables and preserved
fruits, particularly during the winter
months, is sufficiently large to give
rise to considerable trade in these
and similar articles, and it seems to me
that every precaution out to be taken
to insure their supply in condition
free from clearly unnecessary ad-
mixture with q substance the poison
Gus nature of which is even open to
question. Every respect must, of
course, be laid to the evidence of DR..
Pavy, who is reported to have asserted
that the daily consumption of 81 of 8
grain of copper equivalent to 1.22
grain of blue vitriol might be unat-
tended with injury, and it is also true
that the British Pharnoacopsia prescribes
dose of .25 of grain to two grains
of this salt as an astringent medicine
On these grounds, presumably, Mr..
Lewis raised for the defense the objec-
ton that copper, SO far from being in
furious, is actually beneficial to health
"a statement which requires but
slight extension to imply that persons
careful of their we'll being ought, by
preference, to dine off preserved peas
containing one grain or more per tin of
sulphate of copper or its equivalent. DR..
Taylor distinctly refers to the celebration
of fruits, vegetables, etc., with copper
salts as noxious practice, and one
which may be fraught with injurious
, effects to the consumer. There is no
) doubt that copper frequently owes its
presence in the articles of food to the
use of copper vessels in the process of
preparation, without any necessary
fraudulent intent On the part of the
manufacturer. But if this loophole
for escape be left open, it will be prac-
tically impossible to obtain any con-
viction in the case of more serious
, offenders, unless the proportion of cop
per found should be excessively large.
If, moreover, the copper vessels en-
ployed be properly timed, no material
, contamination need result from their
use. The sale of pickles colored by
means Of copper-salts, may certainly
henceforth be carried on with impu-
nifty if the plea set up by Mr.. Lewis
!, is to hold good, for the quantity of
pickles likely to be consumed in a
single meal by one person would natu-
served vegetables or fruits, and the &C
tual weight of copper contained in one
dose-copper being, moreover, assumed
to be actually beneficial to health,
must, of course, be deemed trivial,
and beneath the consideration Of the
law. Now, this is state of things
which, I submit should be guarded
against, particularly since it it is well
known that considerable proportion
of the brilliant green pickles and bot
tied fruits, offered for sale, both abroad
, and in this country, are colored-
whether Intentionally or carelessly
matters but ittle-with what I still
venture to consider as an acrid min
eral poison. Not very long since I
was led to test some bright green
pickles, the nauseous, biting taste of
which raised in my mind sus-
picion as to their purity. Ac-
cordingly, after dinner / took
the bottle into my laboratory, and
soon convinced myself of the presence
r of copper-in this instance, be it no.
ticed, in sufficient large quantity to rem
, der the pickles quite unpalatable. The
: bottle, may add, bore the capsule az
. we'll as the label of q well-known Eng
: fish firm, the genuineness of whose
: goods ought certainly to have been
1 above suspicion. By decisive action
3 we have fairly stamped out the greater
: evil of lead contamination in pickles
J, fruits and vegetables?"
3 The London Lancet says: cit is just
;, now, cnriously enough, vexed ques-
, ton how much "copper" foreign and,
: under certain conditions, poisonous
9 substance, with which preserved peas
2 are adulterated to impart fine green
4 color to the article-may be taken by
r the consumer without actual injury
r This is a novel mode of looking at the
' subject. How much lead can be intro
3 duced into hair-dyes without affecting
g those who use them with lead-colic or
lead palsy? Hew much arsenic may
3 be spread over wall paper without seri-
/ ously affecting those who inhabit
apartments in which such deleterious
decorations are employed? How long
may man go on eating dishes poison
) ed with minute doses Of antimony be-
: fore he succumbs? Common sense
suggests that it would be wise to elm
mate poisons, such as lead, arsenic an
timony and copper from our food, es-
pecially when they are only required
for coloring purposes. We think it
would be well if the law simply regis
tered and applied the dictates of COM
mon sense"
The South Pole.
4 From all the Year Round.
i The greatest point of difference he