The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-09-04
From the New York Tribune.

disclosures are so unpleasant and startling
coming home as they do, to every one, tina
we believe they should be given the creates
publicity. The effort DR.. Mott is making tc
purify our articles Of kitchen use should re
ceive the support of every thinking man and
woman. There has been too much indtfer-
ence on this subject An indifference that has
resulted in Americans earning the title of "a
race Of dyspetics," Poison, year after year
is introduced into the stomach with crimi.
nal disregard 10 consequences that i. apall
ing. If every purveyor of domestic supplies
will carefully consider the result of DR..
Motifs experiments, as detailed in the Scier
tidc American, one of the greatest, If not the
greatest, OF these evils will be corrected.
DR.. Mott says: "The introduction of
alum in -four, for various purposes, has
been a trick of the baker for the past one
hundred years. Fortunately for society, its
introduction is limited now to a few I'M
scrupulous bakers. In England, France and
Germany 1t is an otfense punishable by fine
and imprisonment to use alum in any con.
nection with articles Of food. 1t should be
so In America"
The Royal Baking Powder company, of
this city, long established corporation, cele-
brated for the absolute purity Of their goods,
sometime ago commenced vigorous war.
fare against many of their compel tors who
were indulging in hurtful adulteration. The
contest excited great interest in scientific
circles, in which Professor Angel, DR.. Mott,
and other leading lights took very
prominent part. The experiments of DR..
Mott are result Of this discussion, and 20
to prove conclusively that the most dang r
Gus adulteration that community has to
guard against is alumni in baking powder. In
his paper, the doctor says: 1T was with
difficulty found suitable place to conduct
not disturb the neighborhood; but,
through the courtesy of the commits.
sioners of the dock department, | secured
shed on their premises, foot of Sixteenth
street and East river. This shed had COM
pletely remodeled into suitable house, hay
ing the dimensions of about 16xl4xl2 feet.
Sixteen stalls were made inside, having the
Dimensions of 9Iy2x24 feet. The bottom Of
each compartment was covered with straw,
making pleasant bed for the dogs. | then
secured sixteen dogs from the pound, which
were all carefully examined to see if they
were in perfect state of health. None but
the strong, healthy dogs were selected. The
breed, age, food, color and weight of every
dog was carefully noted. Each dog WAS
teen confined to stall and securely chained,
and they all received number, from / to
III. l commenced my experiments on the
9Th of September, and finished December Sd.
My assistant was with the dogs from morning
until night, and never left the animals with
out first securely boiling and locking the
dog'house. No stranger was allowed TO en-
ter the house unaccompanied either by my
self or my assistant, and the dogs never re-
oeived mouthful of food or anything else
from any one except from my assistant or
myself will now detail the result of my
experiments
DOG No. breed of dog. coach. Age,
year. Health perfect. Food, bread and
crackers. Color, spotted black and white.
Weight, S5 pounds.
ITO this dog, on the morning of the h of
September, was given eight biscuits at $40
O'Clock. The biscuit were made by myself
as follows: One quart sifted -four, 20 tea
spoons alum baking powder, . cups water,
tablespoon butter, % biscuits made, weigh
ing y ounces; time Of baking, 9 minutes.
AT ll:3O, just three hours and twenty
minutes, the dog was taken very sick, vomit-
ing ppofusely; his vim and brightness of eye
had departed, and he trembled considerably
in his limbs"
Experiments were then made upon three
dogs with biscuits containing on,y 10 tea
spoons OF alum baking powder The result
indicated that some animals are more liable
to yield to the effects of poisonous substances
than others are. When, on the other hand,
three other dogs were fei with biscuits made
with pure cream of tartar baking powder, no
i'll effects were experienced. They ate and
ate with an evident relish, day after day, and
even whined for more.
1t was next necessary to discover Whist
effect alum has on the solvent power of the
gastric juice, In order to obtain some pure
gastric juice, curious device was resorted to.
DR.. Mott sent several dogs to Professor
Arnold, medical department of the Univer-
sity of New York, who inserted small
metallic tube directly through the skin and
into the stomach of each one of them, when
the dogs were in perfectly healthy condi-
tion. Professor Arnold sent ts DR.. Mott
some gastric juice, which was produced by
tickling the lining of the stomach of the dogs
with feather or glass rod, which caused the
gastric juice to flow out of the tube into
receptacle placed underneath the dog to re-
ceive IL.
DR.. Mott, aided BY Professor Schneider,
then began some experiments with the four
samples OF gastric Juice, which he had re-
ceived from Professor Arnold, to discover the
effect ofthe gastric juice in which alum had
been dissolved upon fbrine, white, very
easily dgested substance having basis of
coagulated. blood. The fbrine was imperfectly
digested, and the experiments were very i'm
portant, as showing that alum can check tho
digestion Of so easily digested II substance as
tibrine They indicate, therefore, how dan.
gerous II is to introduce these two salts into
our stomachs, if we do not wish TO excite in
digestion ana dyspepsia. Further expert.
ments ehowed that the digestive power of the
gastric juice is entirely destroyed by alum,
so far as Its power Of dissolving the more
indigestible substances, like the boiled white
of an egg. is concerned.
DR.. Mott then determined to learn whether
alumina could be found in the various organs
of the body if q dog was fed with hydraie of
alumina. lie found a considerable quantity
of the stuff in the blood, liver, kidneys and
heart.
The doctor goes on to describe the differ
emit symptoms exhibited by these dogs as they
| passed through almost every phase vf animal
agony, until they were .leh in a complete
t.xtA e. y -