St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-27
THE AMERICAN STOMACH.
DR.. Mary Whetstone's Interesting
Discussion of 1t.

DR.. Mary WhetstOne's Interesting
Discussion of 1t.
DR.. Mary Wholesome is a friend of the
American stomach. She realizes that il
has been voluntarily abused, and for
that reason she thinks it high time 10
put stop to the involuntary abuse of it
by taking steps, as proposed by the
legislature of Minnesota, TO see that our
food products are pure and free from
adUlteratiOns. If the proposition to
label baking powders which contain am
mOnia becomes a law, that will be d
step in the direction. 1t Will lead to
calling things by their right names, and
a right name avoids false pretenses.
When a man buys baking powder under
that law ne will know what he is get
ting with it.
1t is not strange thing that the foods
of America have been adulterated when
we consider the fact that it is only re-
Gently the people have opened their
eyes to the unclothed truth. Under the
lax laws every Tom, Dick and Harry
who chose TO do SO could open a shop,
and not only put their own price on an
article, but very often name the article
by any name they saw fit. In other
words, it an article contained a poison,
the dealer was not compelled to put the
chaser got his goods blindfolded. Com
pelling druggists to label certain poi
sons is comparatively recent in this
country.
In England the pharmacist who sells a
patent medicine must furniSha label on
which are enumerated the ingredients
contained in the bottle. In the opinion
of DR.. p. ii. Millard the same sort of
laws should govern in this country. He
is not only in favor Of legisla-
tiOn against a particular evil, but
favOrs going for all. Ammonia,
says DR.. NJ, is not a desirable article
of food; on the contrary, 1t is harmful.
He expects to be compelled to eat and
attempt the digestion of adulterated
foods and pOisons, owing to the stupid
Ity of Legislators in not passing a law
requiring that every article of food
placed on sale shall be labeled. so that
If John Smith wants to eat piece of
bread and butter smeared over with
ammonia or alum, he can purchase that
particular brand of baking powder
which contains the ingredients neces-
sary to satisfy his appetite and eat the
lining from his stomach. The discus
sion of the evil done by adultcratlng
food with ammonia is by no means fin
shed. The enactment of bill by the
etitS in the state. of course. The
people in the country generally are
beginning to want to know what
they are buying. The medical men of
the country are beginning to speak
plainly about these matters, and in that
way the people are being educated to
look out for their stOmachS. The opin-
ion Of other gentlemen in the profess
sion on the evil and the remedy will
follow in due season.
Dr. L. HOegh-Adulterati in foods
are very bad indeed. TEe people should
be protected. Alum in baking powder
is very injurious. 1t is used to make a
white dough. Ammonia Is not harmful
when taken in small quantities, as we
prescribe 1t. but the continued use of it
in foods would ultimasely result in a
bad effect. 1t would cause indigestion.
Alum should be prohibited in all arti-
cleS of food. | most emphaticalIy saw,
make law compelling manufacturers
of baking powder, or anything else. to
put the ingredients of their article on
the label. and if the people want to use
it they will know what it is.
DR.. j. W. McDonald-I have seen
alum used in flour with bad results. Tt
is hard to detect it when carefully dis
tributed. Ammonia in small doses is
harmless, but to take it continually in
the stomach would be injurious to the
kidneys, bladder and stomach. Am
monia is az alkali. The water passed
from the bladder is an acid, and when
changed to an alkali causes a derange-
ment of the organs spoken of. It is an
irritant, aud the prolonged use of it will
be very Dad for the stomach. Make
everybody who manufactures a food,
powder or a medici, mt the ingredi-
ents on the bottle d -ou will know
what you are usin
DR.. Bendeke-A NO is of course
prescribed, but TIL. ) not mean to
use it constantly. II IS not poison. but
if kept up in the system it will cause
dyspepsia. Labels with ingredients
should be put on all packages sold for
foods or medicines.
Dr. Murdock-C Certainly, sir, they