, 1906-08-31
PURE FOODS
AND CHEMIST
DIFFICULT POSITION OCCUPIED
BY IMPORTANT OFFICER OF
STATE GOVERNMENT.
surroundings Hard to Realize by I'm
Initiated, Official Having to Cope
with Peculiar Conditions-Inter-
esting Meeting of the Laramie Lit
erary Club Last Night.

The meeting of the Laramie Liter.
airy club last night was called to order
by G. P. Arnold, president of the club.
The principal topic for the evening
was, Some Problems of the Food
Chemist" upon which a very interest
ing paper was read by Ross Moudy
Problems Have Increased.
In the course of his paper Mr.. Moudy
said that the problems confronting the
food chemist have increased in direct
ratio to the Importance which has be-
come attached to the subject. All in
dustries now employ chemists, but III
most cases the men are specialists
along certain lines and do not go far
out of their own province. In the case
OF the food chemist, however, he must
be proficient in all branches of his pro-
fession. He must be an organic and
inorganic chemist, a microscopic and
must in addition have a discriminating
sense of taste and smell and skill in
manipulation. Even with all of these
attributes the food chemist is still in
fear of injuring somebody.
Science Growing Rapidly.
The science itself is growing so rap
idly that substances which would pass
muster a year ago would now be con-
demned, in some cases, because Of i'm
proved methods of determination. The
wording Of the law in most of the
states also makes problems for the
food chemist. Such wording for in
stance as poisonous or injurious to
health" makes difficulties, as often the
chemist knows that substances are in
furious to health but has no means of
proving it. In the case of milk, the
chemist knows that more babies die
from drinking milk with p~reservatives
in it than from all other causes put to-
gether, but as to certain p~reservatives,
cannot prove that they are injurious.
Not Due to AduIteration.
Among the problems which have
come up in the past few years, Mr..
Moudy mentioned that of hogs, which
have been fed upon cotton-seed meal.
In many cases the lard of such hogs
has been reported as containing cot
tonseed oil because it gives a reaction
for certain ingredients of the oil,
when such reaction is due to the meal
the hog has eaten and not to adultera-
ton. This fact has made the formerly
reliable methods of analysis of no use.
Another case is that of honey,
which, in a case occurring in Califor-
mia, vas reported as mixed with cane
sugar because the bees producing it
had obtained some of the honey from
the evodations of the apis, or plant
louise, such as are in great quantities
upon the trees in Laramie. This sub
stance has the property of rotating a
beam of polarized light to the right, a
property which formerly was consid,
cred the best test for cane sugar only,
but which test is now more or less un-
reliable.
Public Expects the Impossible.
Another problem that confronts the
food chemist, is that the public often
expects the impossible. 1t is frequent
ly the case hat a sample of water OF
only a few ounces will be received al
the laboratory and a complete analy'
sis asked for. AS an analysis requires
sufficient residue, after the water is
boiled to dryness, for the making Of
a number of tests, an analysis is i'm,
possible without several gallons of the
water.
In the discussion following the pa
per, Mr.. Moudy spoke of the results
obtained by DR.. Wiley at Washington
where his poison squad" has proved
the harmfulness of such personalities
as borax, silicic acid and others.
Spoke Upon Sp%ontaniety.
George Patterson spoke upon ''Spon
taniety," taking the ground that it is
the same thing as originality and is the
cause of everything that is great in
the world. He said that the man whC
first evolved a thought is much great
er in point of fact to the man WHIT
works it out and makes it useful tt
the world. This topic was treated b!
the club in a somewhat numerous man
ner and Mr.. Patterson was forced tt
defend his position from many attacks
Critics Report Caused Amusement.
The critic for the evening was N. E
Corthell with W. S. Ingham as chair
man during the literary program. Mr.
Corthell in his report caused mucl
amusement,
New Member Taken In.
The resignation of Mr. Merriam from
the club, because of his departure fror
the city, was read and accepted. Tn
following gentlemen were b~allotted w
on and made members of the clut
Messrs. Thomas Gibson, George Cam
bell and Frank Holiday.
Vote of Appreciation.
A vote of appreciation of the wor
of the committee, consisting of Messr,
Hasenkamp, E. N. Rogers and e.
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