The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1896-04-07
ANrIsEprlC5 N FOOD.

Their Too Tree Use induces a Larger Ex-
libit of Poisons Than Is Wise.
The recent prosecution for selling
orange wine containing q little over
three grains to the pint of salicylio
acid suggests the propriety of dis
cussing shortly the general question
of preserving foods by antiseptics.
Wines are sulphurcd and doctored
with salicylic acid, fluoborates and
fuosilicates. To milk in hot weather
all sorts of antiseptics are added,
the chief being boracio acid, varied
of late by the addition of formalin.
Boracio acid or borax is also the ia
vorite antiseptio for buffers. 1t
may, indeed, be stated generally
that all deoomposable articles not
sterilized by boiling or preserved
from change by cold are liable to
be treated with small quantities of
antiseptics. There may not be in
any one article percentage suffi-
cient to cause, when given in sim
gle dose, appreoiable effect, but a
person taking boraxed milk and but
ter for breakfast and tea and sal
ioylated wine for dinner will be
consuming day by day sufficient
amount of active drugs to produce
some effect on his health.
Salioylic acid is poison. In 1878
case happened in which SO small
dose as three grams (46 grains)
caused death in 40 hours. Possibly
the acid was impure. In three other
cases in which decided and danger
Gus symptoms were produced the
dose was much larger, being Is, %
and 80 grams respectively. Sail
cylic and benzoic acids are therapeu-
tically attenuated phenols. Phenol
being most poisonous, then comes
salicylio acid, and lastly benzoio
acid. What the effect of small doses
of salicylio acid, say ) grains daily,
may be is at present matter
of conjecture. We know that most of
it is exoreted by the kidneys united
with glyoocoll, and also that it is a
substance which readily enters into
combination, forming variety of
aldehydes and esters, the physiolog-
ical effects of which are not pre-
cisely the same as the free acid. 1t
is conceivable that small quantities
of salicylic acid, when they come in
contact with the intestinal and gas
trio juices, are in this way changed.
1t is also possible that long bottling
of wine with salioylio acid will
change the acid into salicylic ester
or salioylic aldehyde. Sohmitt, for
instance, has found that, although
Rhine wines are sulphured, the old
Rhine wines contain no free sulphur
Gus acid, the greater portion hav-
ing combined with aldehyde, form
ing aldehyde sulphurous acid.
Be this as it may, the growing use
of antiseptics constitutes possible
danger to health. Persons with
sound excretory organs have for
years daily taken chemicals of the
kind in their food without injury,
yet it can be confidently predicted
that other persons with damaged or
weak kidneys will be affected by
minute doses. 1t must also be re-
membered that digestion in the in
testines is carried ON to a great eX-
tent by what, outside the intestines,
would be recognized as a fermenta-
tive or putrefactive process. In
short, just as the nourishment of a
number of plants depends on the
microbes around their rootlets, so
the assimilation of our own nourish-
ment depends to large degree on
the activity of hosts of colonies of
microbes in the intestinal canal. All
antiseptics, even in minute quanti-
ty, will inhibit the activity of these
colonies or affect unequally various
species, the net result in ordinary
individuals being an impairment of
digestion or an actual dyspepsia
British Medical Journal.