Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-08-26
regard to II. We then agreed upon the.
form of the; report and the knowledge.
i had gained was of such a character
that | felt justified in signing the re-
4. cHIT,rENnEN,s AppREs

a., - : - II j.
Speaking or the results OF expert
ments made by administering guam
titles of benzoate of sodo into the food
given to six healthy young men for per-.
lods respectively of two months and one
month, DIR, Russell III. Cllittenden, of
T. New Haven. Conn.,, q member of the
referee board, said that three-tenths of
gram was administered daily to each
subject during the two months period.
In the one month experiment each man
received per day during the first week,
siX-tenths gram, second week, one
gram: third week. two grams; fourth
week four grams.
Surely this administration when ac-
scompanied by a grain OF body weight,
and without loss of the power to digest
and absorb the protein and fat of the
daily food must be taken as evidence.
that sodium ben2oate in the doses adj.
ministered is not seriously detrimental
Ito health said DR.. G,hittender. Prom
1 our experiments only one logical con-
clusinr seems possible. viz that the
:benzoate in small and large doses UP to
four grams per dayis without deleter-5
31ous efect-upcn the human system. ]
believe the evidence warrants the opin-3
ion that sodium benznate8is no more
harmful. than corresponding amounts
of common salt. Certainly, huckleber-s
RES cranber1'ies, pluins, prunes and
other related fruits contain apprecia-5
bic amounts of benzoatc, In other
words. the eating of a small quantity
of hucklebcrries. raslberries or kindred
berries is accompanied by. the taking.
into the system of more beilzoate than
IN he3administration$o three-tenths of
u gram of sodium of benzoate. IN the
light OF our experiments tits difficult to-
see Why benzoate ii, moderate amounts
should he considered any more inirnical
to health than such salt as sodium
.chloride.''
DIR. LONGS ADDRESS.
1t was DR.. John II. Long of Evanston,
Ill, who as II member OF the referee
board came In daily contact with thu
six young men upon whom the expert
ments with benzoate of sodaswere made
for the government
RE The evidence from the experiments
was so open and unmistakable that no
faii'-minded person could avoid the con-
clusion that benzoate In the amounts
employed is q perfectly harmless sub
stance. said DR.. Long. II must admit
that In one respect | protected my men
and some of YOU may assume that my
was an Interference. But
there is no telling what would have
had / told the men every day
that they Were eating poison; II / had
from all claims in case of an untoward
termination of the experiments or IL
every newspaper they picked up had
been allowed to class them as possible
in the cause of science. What
may result from aSlittle physical dis
turbance was shown before any actual
tests were made. The men We're brought
advance Of the period
proper. They supposed that the admin
and 1T is an actual fact TINT
some of the men became apparently too
sick to ca properly for several days.
But after the newspapers had ceased
to note the work we had no further
"A
ut has been objected to in certain
quarters that the subjects used in our
experiments were all in good health.
The criticism Is true, but npr just
What kind ofsmen would you use in
standard experiments? Subjects weak
or sick to begin with would be Just as
lyikely to be injured by the food as by
the preserNative.'
After drawing the conclusion that
used in small quantities never
would injure health DR.. Long went on
TO discuss whether or not the drug
could be employed to cover up any in
in foods. Eat the request of
a large manufacturing firm, y he said,
there was sent to my laboratory n
mass of rotten tomatoes with which to
make catsup. L meanwhile had gath
ared UP more rotten tomatoes, al few
peaches, some bananas. These were al-
owed to rot further through four or
i've days. Out OF this about two gall
ons of catsup We're made. Some of it
vas preserved with vinegar and spices,
some with benzoate, ana some left un-2
mixed. The odor and taste of the last
we're bad that with the benzoate
showed essentially the same condition.
while with the vinegar and spices a
air grade of commercial catsup was
secured a worse lotEof raw material
,ould not be imagined, vet the inferior
ty in the lot of product was completely
concealed by the use of vinegar and
spices. Benzoate has but little taste
Ind no odor and therefore it cannot