The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-16
ANTlSEPTICS IN FOOD.
Their Too FREQ Use induces = Larger E1.
llibit Of Poisons Than IL Wise.

AiE liOEf llCO in tOOD.
Their Too FREQ Use INDUCES . Larger E1-
hibit Of Poisons Than rs Wise.
The recent prosecution for selling
orange wine containing a little over
three grains to tho pint of salicylio
acid suggests the propriety of dis
cussing shortly the general question
of preserving foods by antiseptics.
Wines are sulphured and doctored
with salicylio acid, huoborates and
duosilicates. To milk in hot weather
all sorts of antiseptics are added,
the chief being boracic acid, varied
of late by the addition of formalin.
Boracic aoid or borax is also the fa-
voritc antiseptic for buffers. 1t
may, indeed, be stated generally
that all decomposable articles not
sterilized by boiling or preserved
from change by cold are liable to
be treated with small quantities of
antiseptios. There may not be in
any one article percentage suffi-
cient to cause, when given in a sim
gle dose, appreoiable effect, but a
person taking boraxed milk and but
ter for breakfast and tea and sal
icylated wine for dinner will be
consuming day by day sufficient
amount of active drugs to produce
some effect on his health.
Salicylic acid is a poison. In 1878
q case happened in which SO small
q dose as three grams GAG 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 SO grams respectively. Sail
cylic cand benzoic acids are therapeu-
tically attenuated phenols. Phenol
being most poisonous, then comes
salicylic acid, and lastly benzoic
acid. What the effect of small doses
of salicylio acid, say 5. grains daily,
may be is at present matter
of conjecture. Weknow that most of
it is excreted by the kidneys united
with glycocoll, 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. It
is conceivable that small quantities
of salicylio 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 salicylic acid will
change the acid into salicylio ester
or salicylic aldehyde. Schmitt, for
instance, has found that, although
Rhine wines are sulphured, the old
Rhine wines con tain no free sulphur
Gus acid. the greater portion hav-
ing bined 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 cxcretory 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-
mem bered that digestion in the in
testines is carried on to great ex-
tent by what, outside the intestines,
would be recognized as fermenta-
tive or putrefactive process. In
short, just as the nourishment of q
number of plants depends on the
microbes around their rootlets, SO
the assimilation of our own nourish-
ment depends to a 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.