The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1904-11-24
DANGEROUS DRINKS.
rH0sE OBTAINED AT THE SODA
FOUNTAIN so DESIGNATED.

| 2OUNTA4N ~ O10A030AASe>s
Many Of the Popular Sweet Summer
Beverages Contain Poisonous
! Flavors-Harmful Coal
| Tar Drinks.
This Is the season of the ill-sme1ling
pot of coal tar, smoking at the curb
atone in conjunction with the pile OF
gravel and the hosting apparatus to
the new roof But for one to step to
this odoriferous center Of smells and
offer a friend q draft Of liquid black
in good fellowship would be to invite
the wagon from the detention hospital.
says the Chicago Tribune. For the
coal tar drink the thirsty one invites
his friend to the corner drug store or
into the recesses of the confectioner' 9
shop, where soda" and ice cream soda
water are dispensed without regard to
the pure food laws of the state.
For, according to the best evidences
Of the senses, in connection with the
researches of the analytical chemist,
the market for cheap ice cream and
soda water is more dependent upon the
condition of the Standard Oil company
than the unsuspectfng ever have had
cause to dream. Not only this, but 1t
is hard to determine just where the
interest of the manufacturing and con-
Stunning public begins and ends in the
coloring matter that goes into the
products of drug store, bakery. distil-
lery, confectioner's shop and preserve
factory.
For instance, in one Of the big Chi
cago laboratories for chemical expert
ment and research one may always
find two or three baskets of guinea
pigs of assorted shades, still more
assortedly colored and tinted and shad-
ed with the colors of the spectrum as
coal tar. These little animals are the
unconscious demonstrators of whether
or not certain browns and reds and
blues and yellows and greens that
have been elaborated for the coloring
of foodstu1s are to prove poisonous
In the human system. Just what the
term poisonous shall mean is not made
wholly clear to the layman who asks
the questions. Presumably, If the dose
as measured out for the little animal
turns its cold toes into the air within
the demonstrating period some other
color will be adopted by the expert
menting manufacturer, even II 1t
should cost few cents more a gallon
than his coal tar discovery. But If the
pig is only made little sick from in
dfgestion-well, business is business!
There are some wonderful possibili-
ties In the summer drinks that are
served from the marble top soda foun-
tains of Chicago. A coal tar drink,
with coal tar fruit tint blending with
the ice cream favored with coal tar
fumes. is commonplace as a possibility.
Fruit flavors produced from acids that
have mixed with alcohol to produce
ethers are common, and in the sweet
ening recourse may be had to sac.
charm, that sweetest of all sweets, that
comes also from the black depths of
the coal tar vat
In spite of all of this as q likelihood
at the soda counter, 1t is conceded every
where that the products of coal tar and
petroleum universally are poisonous to
the human system. In any of these
products 1t is question of degree. In
the fruit sfrups of commerce the Gus
toner a. the soda fountain takes his
greatest risks. Fruit sirups Of the purest
may be served here and there: it is con-
coded that fruits and sugars enter into
the best candies that are put upon tho
market, as we'll as into the best cakes
and ices. But 1t is a certainty that the
average cheap ice cream soda dispensed
over the average counter is a wholly
chemical product, almost as nearly al
lied to petroleum as is gasoline
"Aniline oil Is the basis of all these
co1ors that enter into sodas and confec-
lions of the cheaper GLASS;" said a we'll
known chemist. This oil is the active
poison that may result from the color
combinations. In creating some of the
shades desired, arsenical compounds are
used In connection with the aniline oil,
and in addition to the menace of the
free aniline, there are the arsenic poi-
sons.
1T Is hard to determine Just what ono
of these aniline colors may be and do.
The only way to demonstrate is to try
1t on the guinea pig. Again, one indi-
vidual may suffer from one of these col
ors, and another may take 1t almost with
impunity. In the main, however, they
are all poisons. Some Of the products
of coal tar are SO poisonous that few
drops or few grains will produce
death. There is carbolic acid, for in
stance; every one knows what it is, and
yet 1t is product Of coal tar and Is at tho
of these colors and sweets
and favors that are in the tar. Every
drug that is made from coal tar is con-
sidered poisonous In more or less de-
gree, and the physician prescribing any
of them is prepared to watch results
closely.
"In serving soda water Of this chem |
ical constituency, the clerk at the coun-
ter ordinarily pours out at least two
ounces of the strip to each glass. The |
person who is addicted to these drinks
may figure upon how much poison his |
system feeds in a day where the aver |
age number Of glasses reaches four or |
i've"
Rats Gathering Crab Apples.
The family of one of the well-to-do |
citizens OF Oxford, N. H., while sitting |
under = crab apple tree few days ago |
wero attracted bv an unusual rustlinp