Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-09-07
OUR MILK SUPPLY.
The Other Side Given Of the Preservation
Question.
Editor of the Journal:

VueStI0n.
Editor of the Journal:
The communication on mill, sunnlv
ana mix personalities from the health
olhcerS OF the local board of health Of
augusta, which appeared in yo,1r col !
umns, a Few days ago. is a somewhat
| surprising one IN that the more i'm
portant conclusions which the author
reaches are so different from those
which the great majority of health Of
Hcers. chemists ana other uersons who
have investigated or studied tho mat
ter have reached. Ii is a very serious
matter for Il health officer to lend his
influence in any way to the great army
of those whose cupidity or dishonesty
lead them to the adulteration of our
food supplies-so serious n matter that
such step should not be taken until
after careful and comprehensive ex-
animation of the question has been
| made. The manufacturers and the
agents of the various proprietary prep
arations are persistent enough in their
| claims that their nostrums are harm
less. The health officer should not give
his assent or encouragement until the
| u uill VI lilt Chilli Ol nIfmltSSnpSS Is
Well established.
So far as concerns the action of
| formaldehyde Ghis is the chemical 10
which he alludes) and the various pro
prietary preparations containing it, the
question cannot now be said to be def
nitely determined. but so far as eVi-
dence has come. from chemical obser-
walton and from experimental work,
the most of il confirms the View that,
| as a preventative for milk and other
food products it is not a harmless
agent. Opinion on this question appears
To be passing through a transitional
stage similar to that through which it
passed relative to the use of Salicylic
acid and boraX acid as food preserVa-
tives. AT first there was no evidence
at hand as to their injuries qualities
now their use as preservatives of food
is about universally regarded as crimi-
nal. and is SO defined in the laws of
those states and municipalities which
have laws which are modern and of
much value. As regards formalde-
hyde, in several of the bulletins issued
by the agricultural experiment stations
two or three years ago, and in some of
the other better literature of those days
hopes We're expressed that the aquous
solution of this gas might prove to be
q useful and harmless preventative:
but now very few, if any, of the d-
rectors or workers in these stations.
state or national. would wish to incur
the responsibility of advising or en-
couraging dairymen or milkmen to use
formaldehyde in milk. The same may
he sail of public health officers. nation
al. state and municipal. and of the
great majority of the leading journals.
medical sanitary and agricultural.
home and foreign. SO far as l have OBJ
served. a health officer in one of the
states reports that he had good results
in certain Preventative disorders of the
digestive tract. with small doses of for
maldehyde given in milk; but he does
not go SO far as to encourage its ad-
dition to the general milk supply. In
our own State the State Agricultural
Experiment Station. the State Agri-
cultural Society. the State Board of
Health, and. | think | may very safe
~ say, the great majority of the
members Of the medical profession are
strongly opposed to the use of for
malin as a milk preservative.
Now. as to the statements of the
health officer of Augusta. | will touch
only those in the last quarter of his
article. He says: But where is
substance comparatively new, which
seems, according to recent observers.
to possess many advantages and few
disadvantages. in fact, almost none;
at any rate, its use is allowed by the
New York Board of Health. 1t was
first discovered in 1867 by German
chemist by the name of Hoffman, but
its practical application was not
known until recently. 1t is made of
sugar, either cane sugar, beet sugar.
or molasSes. and is made by peculiar
| methods of distillation and redistila-
ton 1t exists in a liquid FORM
Formaldehyde is admittedly the
| substance" 1t is true that Hoffman
discovered it. but that is about the
only statement in this quotation that
can rightly pass unchallenged AS I
write a telegram comes from the sec
rotary of the New York Board of
Health, saying: This department
does not allow the use of formaldehyde
| in milk" 1t is a mistake to say that
| it is made from sugar or mollaSSeS of
| any kind, or from any other deriva-
| tiycs Hoffman produced it by the in
complete combustion or oxidation of
wood alcohol. and it is now usually SO
produced. Neither is it strictly true
| that it exists in n liquid form. For
maldehyde is a gas soluble in water.
and thus existing as a 40 per cent So
luton. is valuable disinfectant and
antiseptic for some purposes.
eft has the Droperty of being slight
ly irritating to the nose and throat
when inhaled in the form of spray.
but is not in the slightest degree poi
sonous." If drawn from reading the
literature of only few years ago. that
conclusion would be almost correct.
| The Tenth Report of the State Board
of Health says: "Formaldehyde, when
compared with sulphur dioxid, chlorin
and the other gaseous disinfectants. is
very free from poisonous qualities.