The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-03-31

house unaccompanied either by myself or my
assistant and the dogs never received mouth
full OF food or anything else from any one ex
cept from my assistant or myself I 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, 35 pounds
10 this dog, on the morning of the
9Th OF September, was given eight biscuits
at o.loso clock The biscuits were made by my.
sell as follows: One quart of sifted flour, &c
teaspoons alum baking power, cups water, /
tablespoon butter, % buiscuits made. W eighing
y ounces; time of baking 20 minutes
AT l1.3O, just three hours and twenty
minutes, the dog was taken very sick. vornit-
ing profusely; his vim and brightness of eye
had departed, and he trembed considerably in
his limbs''
Experiments were then made upon three
dogs with biscuits containing only 10 teaspoons
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 otherhanl, three other
dogs were fed 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.
Ii was next necessary to discover what eff
feet alum has on the solvent power of the gas
trio juice. In order to obtain some pure gas
trio juice, a curious device was resorted to.
Vlr ca,,%c
Medical Department of the University of New
York, who inserted small metallic tube di-
rectly through the skin and into the stomach
of each one of them, when the dogs were in
perfectly healthy condition. Prof Arnold
sent to DR.. Mott some gastric juice, which was
produced by tickling the lining of the stomach
of the dog with feather or glass rod, which
caused the gastric. juice to flow out of the tube
into receptacle placed underneath the dog to
receive it.
DIR. Mott, aided by Prof. Schneider, then be-
-gan-some experiments with the four samples
of gastric juice, which he had received from
Prof. Arnold, to discover the effect of She gas
trio juice in which alum had been dissolved
upon fibrine, white, very easily digested sub
.tss.,cc aiv1iiiag basis Of coagulated blood. The
fibrine was imperfectly digested, and the ex-
periments were very important, as showing
that alum can check the digestion of so easily
digested a substance as fibrine. They indicate
therefore, how dangerous it is to introduce
these two salts into our stomachs, if we do not
wish to excite indigestion and dyspepsia. Fur
ther experiments showed that the digestive
power Oh she gastric juice is entirely destroyed
by alum, SO lar as its power of dssolving 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
alumina. He found a considerable quantity
of the stuff in the blood, liver, kidneys and
heart
The Doctor goes ON to describe the different
symptoms exhibited by these dogs as they
passed through almost every phase of animal
agony until they were left in complete state
of physical prostration. To those especially
interested in the details of this subject the ar
ticle in the Scientific american supplement
will give most complete information, and we
will spare the sympathetic reader the account
of the sufferings of these dumb brutes.
DR.. Motifs conclusions, after making these
experiments, are of vital interest to every one
who either makes or eats bread, and therefore
concern all.
'.These experiments" said he recently while
speaking before the American Chemical So
ciety, "clearly demonstrate that the salts left
in the biscuit when cream of tartar baking
powder is used are perfectly harmless, but
when an alum baking powder is used are very
dangerous, for in every case where dogs were
fed on biscuits made with such powders the
dogs were made very sick, causing them to
vomit profusely, lose all energy, and show
weakness in their limbs
1t is o clear aud triumphant confederation oil
the assertions of the Royal Baking Powder
Company, and entities them to gratitude and
support of the community they are endeavor-
ing to protect. As they claim, and DIR. Mott
has shown, bread made of alum is totally unfit
for human or animal food. IT'S true, in the
bread of domestic consumption there may not
be as large proportion of baking powders ar
was in the bread used by DIR. Mott, and that
accounts for the fact that the symptoms in the
reader are not so we'll defined as they were in
experiments in question. How mahy there
are of our immediate friends suffering from
this evil, scientific investigation will alone re-
veal; but many lingering and suffering inva.
lid, with no defined idea of his trouble, can
easily trace it to its source by stopping the use
of alum powders. substituting some brand like
the Royal Baking Powder, whose manufac-
tnrers have a competent chemist in their ex-
elusive employ, who rigidly analyses every in
gredient before its incorporation into thei.
powder. The old cry of honesty being the
best policy" may be worn threadbare, but its
truth will hold forever, and while adultera
tions and short weights abound, it is pleasure
to see at least one in the trade strenuously en-
deavoring to give full weights and pure goods