Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1886-09-24
sag THE CHILDREN.

Detrimental food which, by reason Of theil
superior strength, may not seriously affect fhs
health Of adults as is wen known, frequently
acts upon the more delicate organs of the
child to produce this disorders of the most sc.
rious character. The amount of laudanum OF
other poison that would be harmless to an
adult will cause the death Of an infant. This
great difference between the vitality of adults
and children is too generally overlooked in the
preparation Of food. Because no harm i'm
mediately perceptible comes to the adult by
the use of an article of food, no thought is
given to the effect it may have upon the more
delicate organs of inferior age.
Children diet largely upon cake and bread,
and these articles, if hgnt, sweet and COM
posed of materials that are free from injurious
substances, are easily digested, nutritious and
wholesome. There is danger to cur
children, however, lurking in their bread and
cake which is to often lost sight Of. These
articles are now leavened largely by baking
powders, and when pure and wholesome bak-
ing powders are used they make not only the
most palatable food, but one much more
wholesome and nutritive than il leavened with
yeast or cream Of tartar and soda. The
trouble arises from the. fact as shown by recent
scientific tests by the Government chemists
and by official boards of health, that all these
baking powders, with the single exception Of
the Royal, contain either lime, alum, phos-
pilates, or acids of an injurious character
Therefore when bread or cake is made with
the use OF these cheap baking powders these
ingredients (which are present through the
efforts of the manufacturers TO produce
cheaper article) pass into the food and are
taken into the delicate organs of childhood
where they are the source of very much of the
disease with which our children are afflicted.
Persons who have not strong constitutions,
growing girls, young children and nursing
mothers are particularly liable to the evil
effects produced by the introduction Of the
adulterants named as found in the cheap bak.
ing powders. Heartburn and the prevalent
forms OF Indigestion are often solely traceable
to the action Of alum on the delicate coats Of
the stomach. Prof. Willard Parker, U. S.
Surgeon General Hammond, Prof. Alonzo
Clarke, most eminent physicians Of New York,
with scores Of others, have written and spoken
most earnestly Of the evils arising from the
partaking Of such food There should be as
much care in the choice of baking powder
as in obtaining pure milk or in having a pre-
scnption compounded from pure drugs and
not from Loisons. The matter is one of the
greatest Importance, particularly to the rising
generation, and while our conservative law
makers are making up their minds as to the
proper legislation 10 stop the sale of the
poisonous compounds, mothers will do well to
study it carefully. The housekeeper will ex-
perience no inconvenience in discardine the
use of the adulterated baking powder, if she
has been using it, as to the Royal Baking
Powder upon the purity and wholesomeness of
which all the Government chemists agree, is
equally accessible; but she will need to exer.
else close watch upon her packages from
the grocer in order to prevent the inferior
brands from creeping into her kitchen un-
awares.
In what we have felt it our duty TO say in
reference to the subject of baking powder
there is no intention to disparage the work or
the products of those many manufacturers in
other lines of food products who, with con-
scientiousness and liberallty, are serving the
public with pure and wholesome articles of
diet.