The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-12
MAKING STUDY OF
SULPHUR CURING
National Referee Board Touring
Fruit Districts OF California
on Inspection Work

The national referee board, which
will decide whether the use of sulphur
in drying fruit is injurious to health.
reached San Francisco yesterday in the
course of its Investigations in this
state. The board has studied the. sit
uation in the orchards of Santa Clara
county 1t will go to Fresno, thence
to Santa Rosa and will proceed from
there to the Sacramento valley. It's
decision will not be announced until its
experiments, which may cover a year,
shall have been completed.
At the head of the board is President
Ira Remsen of Johns Hopkins univer-
sity. chemist of international reputa-
tion. His associates are Prof. j.. H.
Long of the medical college of North
western university; Russell II. Chit
tenden. director of the Sheffield scien-
tific school of Yale; DR.. C. A. Herder of
Columbia university, and DIR. A. e. fay
lor of the University of California.
The welfare of the states fruit in
dustry, valued at nearly $50, 100000 a
year, is in large measure dependent
upon the decision of the board. The
sole question to be decided at this time
relates to the sulphur process.
I'VE have come to the coast with
night 1--WE have been delegated to
decide whether the fruit cured with
sulphur is injurious to health. That is
our sole mission in California. We
have no authority in the matter be-
yond reporting to the secretary of ag-
riculture. 1t will be perhaps year
before we are ready to decide. We
have begun a series of tests on human
subjects. Please do not refer to these
II t. feaf,
term and would indicate a tendency to
PREJUDICE the matter. These tests are
being carried on at the Sheffield school
under Doctor Chittenden, at North
western university under Doctor Long
and at the University of California I'M
der Doctor Taylor.
1--WE have already reported on one
disputed point under the pure food act
and the secretary of agriculture acted
upon our findings That was in regard
to the use of benzoate of soda as a
preservative. We found that it had no
i'll effects upon health and the secre-
tary of agriculture at once issued an
order permitting it's use. That, of
course. affected California where the
benzoate of soda is used in such arti-
cles as catsup.
From San Francisco we shall go to-
morrow to Fresno. We have already
made arrangements Win the IfulI anu
raisin men there to observe the meth
DDS in use. We win return to San
Francisco Sunday and leave the next
day for Santa Rosa. Then we shall
go into the Sacramento valley. We
have seen the process as applied to
peaches, apricots, pears and prunes.
We desire to look into the methods
employed in curing the raisins, figs
and apples.
1--WE have been greatly impressed by
what we have seen. The immensely
of it all has appealed very strongly to
US. You have here in California an in
dependence of chance conditions. There
is a certainty of success about your
Agriculture Then it is all on scale
so much vaster than is usually found.
One can not but be impressed"
Pending the decision of the referee
board the department of agriculture
has ruled that the use of sulphur may
be continued 1t has been the conten-
ton of California fruitmen that no In
jury to health could result from the
small quantity of sulphur employed,
Doctor Remsen, who is at the mead
of the special commission, is one OF
the foremost of American scientists.
His writings on chemistry are stand
ard. He succeeded Doctor Gilman as
president of Johns Hopkins.