摘要:

16 THE ANALYST. FEBRUARY, 1880. SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALYSTS. THE ANNUAL MEETING of this Society was held on the 15th January, at Burlington House, Piccadilly, the President, Dr. Muter, in the chair. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The President delivered his Annual Address as follows :- Gentlemen, it is customary for the retiring President of our Society to say a few words of farewell, coupling them with remarks upon the general position of the Society and the working of the Act of Parliament under which we all hold office.I thm glad to say that the past year, so unfortunate to many both at home and abroad, has been comparatively gentle to us, seeing that we have only lost two members by death, namely, Messrs. H. Goode and J. Whitla, with neither of whom had I the pleasure of a personal acquaintance, but I have understood from those who had, that they were men making their mark on the sands of time, now $1118, too soon washed out by the tide of eternity.During the year one member has resigned, and two have been struck off by the Council for non-payment of their fee^, but to make up for this loss five new members have been elected, thus keeping ‘( our balance true ” up to the moment.So that we stand now with 90 members and 12 associatee, being a total gain of 2 in the last 12 months. We are also more fully endowed with that very necessary article called “ worldly dross ” by those who have not got it, seeing that although our payments have increased by $18 on account of THE ANALYST, we have still a balance at our bankers which is 62 better than last year.Uentlemen, our 8ociety is not and never can be large, because it is limited to a certain class, and owing to the vast preponderance of country members our meetings may not be very numerous, but still we have a distinct raison d’ etre, and we carry that out to the letter. You wiU excuse me imitating Mr. Bilas Wegg, and ‘( dropping.into poetry ’’ unconsciously, but after all it is something to boast of that we do act up to our aspirations, which ie more than can be said of all other scientific associations. We do not pretend to elevate the morals of our members and then find ourselves helpless when cases arise requiring suoh elevation, neither do we pretend to raise the fees receivable for work done and then find that we have upon our Council some most notorious offenders in that respect, nor do we get up discussions on subjects specially the province of other societies, and end them in smoke.What we do profess we carry out, namely, to improve the process of analysis in all matters relating to food, Germany is and has always been looked up to as the foater-mother of general chemical discoveries, but for research in our special subjecte we must look at home ; and everyone must admit that Qreat Britain ie up to the present the source of special food research, and that all which has been done has been mainly attained by the members of the Society of Public Analysts.During the last year we have had either read here or published in our journal (THE ANALYST) no less than 41 memoirs, relating to our branch of the chemical profession, and that, remember, all carried out, not by wealthy dilletanti or men receiving grants from16 THE ANALYST. research funds, but by persons daily and actively engaged in carrying out the complex and tedious duties thrown upon them by an Act of Parliament.Let us, gentlemen, strive to keep the hosition so nobly attained, and let us one and all resolve to do more and more every year in the grand cause of the advancement of our art, so that we may keep pace with our enemies, the adulterators, and let the public of Great Britain have that most precious of boons, namely, pure food and drugs.As regards the Act and its working we must congratulate ourselves that, oiled by the good lubricator-time, our wheels move smoother every year.More and more our processes and modes of interpretation of results continually receive general acceptance, and closer do we and our Appeal Court at Somerset House draw to each other. I believe sincerely that Mr. Bell and his collea.gnes try most earnestly to elicit the truth, and were they only freed from the absurd restriction which prevents their coming amongst ug and letting us know their standards and experimental results, there would hardly ever be the difference of a decimal point between our conclusions and theirs.We must, however, trust to time, and I can only hope the day is not far distant when the heads of the Somerset House Laboratory will be found enrolled among us, and helping, as we do, to disseminate the knowledge of food analysis, instead of being compelled to keep their results locked up through a piece of Government red tapeism.The amended act of last session has proved a great public good in the case of peri- patetic vendors of food, who were before enabled to carry on, without fear, the most bare- faced schemes of adulteration ; and the recent decision of the High Court to the effeot that if 8 man asks for an article and pays the full price for it he is distinctly entitled tdo reoeive that article in a state of purity, notwithstanding any declaration or notice to the oontirary, is a distinct advance in equity in the interests of the public.Gentlemen, with these few words I will bid you adieu, hoping that we may all meet again at our next anniversary improved in knowledge and with the full consciousness that we have each given our stone to the grand cairn of the science of food analysis now being erected in our midst, so that our successors in the next generation may have reagon to be thankfa1 for the establishment of the Society of Public Analysts.Mr. Allen proposed a vote of thanks to the President for his addresg, and hoped that it would be published not only in THE ANALYST but in other journals, a8 it showed what a large amount of real scientific work Public Analysts had done within a very shad time.Dr. Duprd, in seconding the vote, expressed a similar hope, and said that if their fellow chemists in England once became aware of the good work they were doing, the Society would rise considerably in their estimation.He took the opportunity of saying that he thought there skould be a little more esprit de corps among the members, which was one of the greatest reasons for establishing the Society. He a100 said that as no ana,lyst could pretend to know everything, it would be very wise if a member, when he h d an article with which he was little acquainted, would write to the secretaries, who would always know the best member to give any required information. The proposal having been unanimously agreed to, Dr.Muter: returned thanks. The President proposed that the thanks of the Society be given to the C o u d of the &mid Society for the use of their rooms for meetings, whiicb was unaaimc#~sly agreed b.THE ANALYST.17 The President proposed a vote of thanks to the Members of Council for their attention to the business of the Society during the past year, which was also agreed to. The President proposed a vote of thanks to the Secretaries, Messrs. Heiflch and Wigner, for their services during the past year, which was also agreed to. Mr. Angell and Mr. West-Knights were appointed Scrutineers to examine the voting papers for the election of Officers and Council, and they reported that the following were elected :- J.MUTER, PH.D., M.A., F.C.S. President. Vice - Presidents . A. DUPRE, PH.D., F.R.S., F.C.S. J. W. TRIPE, M.D. A. WYNTER BLYTH, M.R.C.S., F.C.S. Treasurer. C. W. HEATON, F.C.S. Hm. Secretm’es. CHARLES HEISCH, F.C.S. G. W. WIC~NER, F.C.S. J. CARTER BELL, F.C.S.J. CAMPBELL BROWN, D.Sc., F.C.S. C. A. CAMERON, M.D., F.R.C.S. BERNARD DYER, F.C.S. OTTO HEHNER, F.C.S. W. MORGAN, PH.D., F.C.S. W. WALLACE, PH.D., F.C.S. Other Members of Council. The names of those Members of Council who did not retire this year, are- M. A. ADAMS, F.R.C.S. A. H. ALLEN, F.C.S. H. C. BARTLETT, PH.D., F.C.S. A. H. CHURCH, M.A., F,C.S. F. MAXWELL LYTE, F.C.S. The Scrutineers also reported that Professor C. R. C. Tichborne, Ph.D., F.C.S., Public3 Analyst for Longford County, and President of the Irish Pharmaceutical Society, was elected as Member. Mr. T. P. Bruce Warren, analytical chemist, was proposed as a Member, and Mr. L. Stansell, assistant to Mr. C. H. Piesse, as an Associate. M i . Wigner read a paper by himself and Professor Church on c L Two Anciefit f3amples of Butter.” A paper by Mr. Garter Bell, ‘‘ On the Composition of Unfermented Wines of Com- merce,’’ and one by Mr,W. M..Hamlet, (‘ On the Estimation of Fatin Milk,” were also read. After the meeting the members dined at the Cafd Royal, and passed tb pleasant evening together. The next Pdeeting of the Society will take place at Burlingtion House, on Wednesday, the 18th February.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8800500015

出版商:RSC    

年代:1880

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYST. 17 ON TWO ANCIENT SAMPLES OF BUTTER. BY G. W. WIGNER, F.C.S., AND PROFESSOR CHURCH, M.A., F.C.S. Read before the Society of Public Analysts, on 24th Jan., 1880. The specimen of Irish bog-butter which we have submitted to analysis o m o t be traced with any certainty to a particular locality. There i B no doubt, however, that it is a perfectly authentic specimen, some centuries old; indeed, we should probably be right in concluding its age t o be not less than 1,000 yems.18 THE ANALYST.Whether the specimens of ancient butter found in the bogs of Ireland, and occasionally in those of the Faeroe Isles, and of Scotland, were originally inhumed for the sake of security, or for their preservation and ripening, we have no means of ascertaining. They are inclosed in rough wooden vessels, square, oblong, or cylindrical, sometimes consisting of a hollowed tree trunk.A fine example of the last-namedform is preserved in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, at Dublin, and is figured and described on pages 212 and 268 of their museum catalogue. For the history and archaeology of bog-butter, reference may be made to Dr. Wild& paper in the proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol.vi., p. 569, where will be found a list of the authorities who have discussed the subject. Bog-butter has been chemically examined by Prof. E. Davy in 1826 (Proc. Roy. Dublin SOC.) ; by Williamson (Ann. Ch. Pharm., 1845, liv,, 125); and by Brazier (Chm. Gaz., 1852, 375). Brazier concluded that it mainly consisted of an acid, having the same composition as palmitic acid, and melting at 53" C.We w i l l describe the physical and chemical characteristics of the sample we have examined. It weighs nearly five pounds. In shape it is an irregular oval, about twelve inches by eight inches, and six inches thick. The surface is deeply indented in many placee, and some of these indentations present such an appearance as would be produced by the pressure of the stave of a cask.The general appearance of the sample leads to the opinion that it has been enclosed in a rough cask or tub of an oval form, and as that decayed, an irregular pressure has been brought on to the substance. There are several clearly cut cylindrical holes through the sample : these holes are much like those which would be produced by a cork-borer or a cheese taster.The surface of the sample bears a resemblance to a very old and dirty cheese. The interior ia of an almost smdy colour, and although somewhat like cheese in texture, it is more friable and pulverulent. It has a slightly greasy feel to the fingers, and a slight but distinct odour of cheese, not butter. A small portion from the inside of the mass was examined microscopicctlly. A few bgments of foreign matter did polarize, but the bulk of fat did not, and no trace of crystalline structure could be detected.A good deal of foreign matter, partly curd, was seen. The sample fused very slowly, even at 212O (looa C.), and the curd md foreign matter seprtrated with considerable difficulty. The fat which adhered to the curd was removed by washing with ether, but was not used in the subsequent analysis of the fat.The original sample contained :- Moisture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.40 per cent. Curd, fibre, and other matters insoluble in ether . . 3-98 ,, Ash* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -32 .. Fatty Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . 94.30 .. 100*00 *Containing Chlorine *033 = Chloride of Sodium -054.The curd was microscopically examined. It contained a considerable proportion of vegetable matter, and some large fragments of wood, the structure of which was too much destroyed to enable the species to be identified. The largest of these fragments W&8 newly 8 qumter of an inoh long. The curd also contained some fwgoid growthsTBE ANALYST. 19 and mycelium.A considerable proportion wae, however, clearly of animal origin; many fragments of muscular tissue were found, and some hairs. These were quite sufficient to prove the fact, that the fat itself was of animal origin, although it was mixed with some proportion of vegetable matter, which was probably derived from the bog. This curd and other matters insoluble in ether gave the Nitrogen by soda lime process .. . . . . . . = Casein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . = Chloride of Sodium . . . . . . . . . . Containing Chlorine . . . . . . . . . . Fibre (crude Cellulose) . . . . . . . . . . following re~lults :- 3.64 per cent. 23.05 ,, 8.70 ,, -82 Y, 1.35 ,, 27*60 ,, The fatty matter, after separation from the curd, was very dark coloured.It contracted greatly when cooling, and was almost or quite as hard and resonant, when struck, as a good sperm oandle. Its melting point was 121° F. (49-5O C.j. Its specifh gravity, taken at 165* and compared with water at the temperature of looo F. (38O C.), was 875.4. Assuming that the ratio of expansion is fairly accordant with that found in the fats previously examined by one of us*, this would correspond to an actual density of -902 at looo F.(38O C.). The fat was saponified with alcoholic soda in the usual way, the soap decomposed with acid, and the washings containing the soluble fatty acids distilled. The whole of the processes were carried out by flask washing, to avoid loss. The following results were obtained :- Volatile fatty acids, calculated as butyric .. . . -06 per cent. Soluble fatty acids, not volatile . . . . . . . . -42 ,, Insoluble fixed fatty acids . . . . . . . . . . 99.48 .. Glycerin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Minute traaes. The insoluble fatty acids were converted into lead sdts, and the oleate separated by ether. The results were :- Oleio acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.0 per cent. Stearic and palmitic acids .. . . . . . . . . 91.0 ,, The distillate certainly had a faint, though of course very slight, smell of acid; enough however to prove its presence. of lead butyric The traces of glycerin were far too small to admit of any approaoh to estimation. It is interesting to observe how complete has been the decomposition of the orighrtl glycerides of the butter, both the resulting glycerin and the soluble fatty acids set free, having beei almost entirely removed by the action of water only at a low temperature.Time has been an important factor in the change. The other sample of butter is much older. It was taken some time ago from an Egyptian tomb, which probably dates from about 400 or 600 years before Christ. The sample is therefore nearly 2,500 years old.It was contained in a a m d alabaster vase, and had apparently been poured in while in a, melted state. It bears an inscription The vast3 was brought by Lord Prudhoe from the Delta. * THE ANALYST, vol. iv., p. 183.20 THE ANALYST. in hieroglyphics, indicating that it was once the property of Hushepa, a queen of the 18th dynasty. It is quite possible that the butter was once perfumed, e&g the purpose of an ointment; but if so, every trace of such perfume has vanished.In appearance, colow, smell, and taste, it corresponds closely with a sample of slightly rancid butter. The quantity at our disposal-some six grains-was so s m d , that it was only possible to apply a few tests. Under the microscope the sample polarized distinctly. It was entirely soluble in ether.It melted readily, and showed no infusible residue. It was practically free from moisture and from ash. The fusing point was 127.5O F. (53O C.). A small quantity was saponified, and the soap was decomposed in a small fitask. The soluble fatty acids were found to be 8.0 per cent. by direct weighing. The washings containing these soluble acids, had, when warmed, a distinct d o u r of butyric acid, Any attempt at the estimation of the proportion, on such a small quantity, would of course have been useless.The insoluble fatty acids weighed about 86 per cent. The figures, as far as it has been possible to obtain them, indicate that this sample has not undergone any notable decomposition during 25 centuries. This stability must, in all probability, be attributed to the fact of the butter having been melted and sealed, so as to secure it against atmospheric influences. In this reepect if presents a mmked contrast to the bog-butter previously referred to.Mr. Hehner said he had a lingering doubt in his mind as to how it could possibly be proved that it was ever butter. It might have been some other animal substance; it looked like chalk now, but it might have been cheese, which under certain circum- stances is transformed into fat.Dr. Bartlett thought they had never had a specimen of ancient cheese presented to their notice, but in fragments of ancient cheese they found something very different to that then before them. The oldest cheese he was acquainted with waB some that was contained in a screwed up flask, recovered from the Royal George.It had dried up into a perfectly solid maw, containing only a small amount of fat. He thought the large amount of fatty acids would lead them to suppose that thak was not originally cheese. The appearance of adipocere, such as is found in coffing, is not at; all diesidas to that. Adipocere is said to be produced by the action of running water on animal flesh.Mr. Blyth said that putting on one side the chemical evidence, they certainly h d marks very similar to what a stave would make, and besides that the presence of hair. He thought the evidence pointed to it being butter rather than anything else. With regard to the holes he suggested that they might have been made by some boring insect or beetle.Mr. Angell said the only thing which struck him with regard to the examination was the amount of the curd, which was rather indicative to his mind of fatty degeneration. Mr. Wiser, in reply, said that as fo the older. sample, the alabaster vase wa8THE ANALYST. 91 recently opened in the presence of two or three gentlemen. Mr. Church took this sample and it has not left our charge since. Its age, therefore, was undoubtedly what it was represented to be.With regard to the sample of bog-butter, it had been suggested that it was cheese, but those who had studied the subject were aware that cheese had been repeatedly found in these Irish bogs, and that it was not found in cases or tubs as the butter is, but invariably showed signs of having been wrapped in a kind of canvas or cloth, the characteristics and form of cheese being to a great extent preserved ; neither would it be reasonable to expect such perfect conversion of cheese into fatty acids. The possibility of its being adipocere was negatived by the analysis. Adipocere contained much lime and phosphoric acid, and the sample was almost absolutely free from these constituents. Dripping, or some other animal fat, might have undergone a similar decomposition to that of the present sample, but there was nothing to indicate that the theory of dripping was more probable than that of butter. On the contrary, the results of the microscopical examination, and the percentage of true casein found, pointed distinctly to butter.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8800500017

出版商:RSC    

年代:1880

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYST. 91 LAW RE PORTS . THE NORFOLK BAKING POWDER CASE. Alum in Baking Powder.-The Conviction Quashed with Costs. This was an appeal at the Cambridge Quarter Sessions, before the Recorder, J. R. Bulwer, Esq.. Q.C., M.P., against a decision of the magistrates who convicted Messrs. Warren of selling a certain article of food, bakingpowder, mixed with a certain ingredient, alum, so as to be injurious to health.. The appellants were represented by Mr. T. 0. Blofeld and Mr. Horace Browne ; while Mr. Cockerell and Mr. Turner appeared for the respondent. Mr. Cockerell opened the case for the respondent. The proceedings before the magistrates were, he said, taken under the 3rd section of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1876, for selling an article of food, namely, baking powder, mixed with an ingredient that rendered it injurious to health.The third section made it an offence to I‘mix, colour, stain, or powder any article of food with any ingredient or material so as to render the article injurious to health, with the intent that the same may be sold in that state.” The interpretation clause described I‘ food ” as every article used for food or drink by man other tban drugs or water. The facts under which the conviction in the baking powder case took place were these :-Some proceedings having been taken against a baker for the adulteration of certain buns sold by him, and it being alleged by him in defence or mitigation that the adulteration WEB caused by the use of this Norfolk Baking Powder, it was thought desirable and necessary to test the validity of the sale of that powder by having an analysis made of it as sold by the dealers in Cambridge, and that analysis led to these proceedings being taken ; but although Messrs.Warren were the nominal defendants, yet substantially the real defendants then and the real appellants now were the manufacturers of this powder, Messrs. Smith & Sons, of Magdalen Street, Norwich, who were in a verg large way of business. He might say, too, that there were several other gentlemen in the same way of business in Norwich, who took an interest in this matter, and they had combined together to test the question whether this baking powder did contain any ingredient which was injurious to health BO as to bring it within the provisions of the Act of Parliament.A quantity of the powder having been purchased it was put befor! the Public Analyst, whose certificate he handed in to the Recorder. Mr. Blofeld said the appellants would not dispute the analysis being approximately correct, but he would hand up to the Recorder the actual ingredients. There was only one thing omitted, Learned counsel then handed up the analysis to the Recorder, observing that he did not wish it to be made publio. Mr. Cockerell then proceeded with his address, and said that speaking roughly the quantity of alum contained in the powder was about one-third of the whole, and the question for the Recorder to decide was whether that quantity made the powder injurious to health. * See THE ANALYST, vol. iv., p. 231. - WARREN Y. PHILLIPS (inspector).28 THE ANALYBT. The Recorder pointed out that in one of the analyses the alum was described as crystallized potash alum, and in the other as burnt alum.-Mr.Cockerell said burnt alum was double the strength of the other. Mr. Blofeld : The Public Analyst here made a little mistake before the magistrates in saying that it was burnt alum instead of crystallized. M i . Cockerell then drew attention to the directions for using the powder-one teaspoonful to a pound of flour, and which especially recommended it to housekeepers for use in breed, while for Norfolk dumplings, it was the only means of securing lightness and digestibility ; its use ensured exactly the contrary, since it rendered bread indigestible by hardening the gluten of the flour, which produced constipation and other ills. The Recorder said the conviction set forth that the appellants, ‘‘ George and Edward Warren, did sell a certain article of food, to wit, baking powder, mixed mith a certain ingredient, to wit, alum, so a8 render such article injurious to health.” Therefore they had first to ascertain what was the food that was mixed with the alum? The charge was “food, to wit, baking powder, mixed with a certain ingredient, to wit, alum.” Therefore the ‘‘ article of food ” was the baking powder.Mr. Cockerell : That is my contention. The Recorder : But the baking powder, from the analysis you have handed to me, is not complete without the alum. The alum is a part of the baking powder. Fir& of all before you get the thing that is mixed you must get the food.Mr. Cockerell: The food is the baking powder. I say alum is no part of the baking powder necessarily. Baking powder ought to contain no alum, The Recorder : But you have got the powder that the man sells. Mr. Cockerell : It is sold as baking powder. The Recorder : What of that ? Suppose for argument that I sell chalk and arsenic mixed together and advertise it as baking powder, is it to be said that I adulterate an (‘ article of food,” chalk, by the arsenic, or the arsenic by the chalk? Let us go by steps. Where is your article of food that is adulterated ? The article of food becomes extinct by the adulteration. Where is your article of food without the alum? Bicarbonate of soda and other matters. Is bicarbonate of soda an article of food? Mr. Cockerell : I say that baking powder is an article of food, commonly sold by these people and by various others, but alum is not a necessary part of that powder, which ought not to contain any.The Recorder : Is there anything known as baking powder?-Mr. Cockerell : Oh, yes. The Recorder : If you will give me evidence of that I shall be glad. I never heard of baking powder beyond what chemists advertise ae such, any more than I know of aperient draughts which may contain no one knows what. Is there such a thing known as baking powder ?-Mr. Cockerell : Yes, known to the public. The Recorder : I mean as an article of food.-Mr. Cockerell : Of course people don’t eat baking powder. Everybody knows what it ought to be. The Recorder: You can only know what baking powder is by analysing it.Suppose A sells a particular compound and calls it baking powder, which is to produce certain effects if used in cookery; B makes up a certain other mixture and calls that baking powder ; while C, D, and so on, proceed in like manner. They are all called baking powder. Mr. Cockerell asked if the word “ mix ” did not bring the baking powder under the section. The Recorder: The Act says “ No person shall mix any artick of food.” You must first of all Mr. Cockerell : I say the alum ought not to be there, and that the powder is mixed improperly. The Recorder : Then you are driven to the other alternative--that the bi-carbonate of soda and the rest of the ingredients are an article of food.-Mr. Cockerell: When compounded as baking powder. The Recorder: Suppose I go to a druggist’s shop and ask for an aperient draught, and it is composed of rhubarb and magnesia, is the chemist to be convicted for adulterating rhubarb with magnesia, or magnesia with rhubarb?-Mr. Cockerell : You get what you want.The Recorder : No, I don’t ; I ask for an aperient draught. If the inspector had gone and asked for bi-carbonate of soda, and they had given him the soda mingled with crystallised potash alum, there would have been a case directly.-Mr. Cockerell said the effect of the learned Recorder’s construction of the Act would make it inoperative altogether. The Recorder : No ; if a baker chooses to mix some noxious compound-mind, I don’t say this is-with his bread and sells it he is liable. I am only calling attention to the matter just to have my mind clear upon it.--Mr.Cockerell said no question of this kind had ever been raised. We treat baking powder as an article of food. get your food.TEE ANALYST. 28 The Recorder : Then I shall want you to tell me what baking powder is.-Mr. Cockerell: My medical witnesses will tell you what this particulsr baking powder is, and what baking powder ought to be without alum, but that is put in because it is cheaper. It is admitted that the powder is to be put into articles of food. In the course of further argument the Recorder said even if the powder became injurious to health when put into food it was not an article of food. Mr. Cockerell also said that the rice flour was an article of food. The Recorder : I don’t know what evidence will be given upon it, but I should have thought the Mr.Cockerell said he had asserted his contention, and he did not know whether the Recorder The Recorder said he was hardly in a position to do so yet without some evidence upon it. Mr. Blofeld said the point was if the rice-flour was an article of food whether it was rendered injurious to health by the alum.-Mr. Cockerell then called Mr. J. W. Knights, Public Analyst for the borough and county of Cambridge, F.C.S., &c., who deposed that from the experiments he had made with the baking powder he was of opinion that when mixed with the flour it rendered the gluten of the flour and the soluble phosphate contained in the flour insoluble. When a teaspoonful of the powder was mixed with a pound of flour and water added, it would liberate the carbonate acid gas and render the soluble phosphates contained in the flour insoluble, by forming phosphate of alumina, which is insoluble. I t would render the phosphoric acid insoluble.He believed an adult in health required 50 grains of phosphoric acid per day. Phosphoric acid was derived from bread and other articles of consumption ; in some cases chiefly from bread. Bread made with this powder, as directed, would give less soluble phosphoric acid than there should be by 7-10th~. 7-lOths of the phosphoric acid would be rendered unavailable, and he should presume the bread would be less nutritious. With children the effect would be the same, but to B greater degree. It would impair digestion. rice was only a medium or padding.-Mr. Blofeld said that was so.intended to express his opinion on the point. Cross-examined by Mr. Blofeld : That is a chemical opinion that I have formed. With regard to the powder rendering the gluten of the flour less soluble is that mere opinion formed by your experiments in your laboratory ?-Yes. Have you actually made bread ?-Yes. But the hardening of the gluten of which you speak is not the result of anything apparent to the eye, but your opinion formed upon your experiments ?-It is actually apparent to the eye. I have not my laboratory here or I could show you experiments, but it takes time to make them. As to rendering the phosphoric acid insoluble, what authority have you for stating that a man in health requires 50 grains of phosphoric acid in the 24 hours ?-I saw it so stated in a medical work- ‘‘ Parke’s Treatise on Practical Hygiene,” I think.That is the only authority I can remember. I have looked at no others. Are you aware that the body rejects as much as from 75 to 100 grains of phosphoric acid per day 1 -It rejects a very large quantity. May I take it that that which the body rejects is what the body does not require to assimilate?- Certainly, but I am not a medical man. When the bicarbonate of soda and alum me mixed with water effervescence takes place and carbonic acid gas is given off. The residuum from the alum is hydrate of alumina, that from the soda is sodic sulphate or sulphate of soda. So that when the bread is made with this powder there is no alum in it and no bicarbonate of soda ; they both cease to exist ?-Yes.By the Recorder: This change takes place when water is added. In the presence of flour the case is somewhat different. The bicarbonate of soda and the alum effervesce in the dough, and there is a residuum from each, but the hydrate would become phosphate. By M i . Blofeld : When mixed with the flour and moisture I should say the phosphate of alumina, is formed immediately, and not hydrate first, but I cannot say that positively. It is necessary, to change the hydrate of alumina into phosphate, that there should be actual contact between the hydrate and the phosphoric acid in the flour. How is the little hydrate of alumina there would be in a llb. loaf to come into contact with all the grains of phosphoric acid to be found in the dough, so as to form it into phosphate of alumina? -Because it is mixed in a dry state.Phosphate of alumina is perfectly well known to be insoluble in water. I believe phosphate of alumina is not soluble in the gastric juices, but that is a question for a physiologist and not a chemist. I t is perfeotly insoluble in acetic acid. It is soluble in hydrochloric aeid, and the gastrio juice is euppose to contain that. I do not believe the gastrio juioe ia practioally aa4 THE ANALYST. weak solution of hydrochloric acid. I have heard that no hydrochloric acid exists in the gastric juice in a free state. I forget where I read that, but it was not in a newspaper. I have no authority for the assertion that the gastric juice is not equivalent to hydrochloric acid. The injurious effect of this baking powder does not depend upon the assertion that phosphate of alumina is insoluble in the stomach. If it is soluble in the stomach what harm could it do ?-It would probably have an astringent effect.YOU would not undertake to say that positively, would you ?-No, I am not a doctor. The Recorder : Does a minute quantity of alum in bread make it injurious to health ; I have heard that it rather improves it?-I think it is no improvement. However small the quantity there is a corresponding quantity of phosphoric acid rendered insoluble. By Mr. Blofeld : I cannot cite any case where injury has been done to health by the use of a small quantity of alum. Mr. Blofeld then produced two small boxes containing gluten, one of which he said contained no phosphate, the other had in it five times as much as could possibly be found in any bread made with this baking powder.He handed the two to witness and asked him if he could see any difference between the two. Witness : I can see no difference, but I could tell the difference in my laboratory. The hardening of the gluten would not be perceptible to the touch or to the eye without experiments, and I could not tell which box contains the phosphate of alumina and which does not. By the Recorder : Bakers use alum to make bread look nice. To make bread rise, cream of tartar is equally efficacious with alum and is frequently used. The rice flour in this powder is, I believe, merely added to keep the composition dry and in a friable state. It is no part of the baking powder?-It keeps the powder in a powdery state, and so far as the effects of the bicarbonate of soda and the alum are concerned it is not necessary that it should be there.Mr. Blofeld : All articles of food contain phosphoric acid do they not ?-A great many do, such as milk, beer, meat, fish, &c., almost all practically. A pound of flour contains about 12 grains of phosphoric acid, and a pound of flour would make up into about l+-lb. of bread. Have not ascertained how much phosphoric acid there would be in l&-lb. of bread, but it certainly would not be lost in the baking ; it would not volatilise. Mr. Blofeld : I shall show you that the proportion would be very much less.-In that case it would be only as phosphate of lime. In Cambridge water there is a good deal of lime but not much magnesia.The bread here must be made up with water containing lime. Phosphoric acid has an affinity for the lime, that is, assuming the absence of the baking powder. I do not think the phosphoric acid in the bread would combine with the lime first and leave the alumina till all the lime had been used up. I ascertained how much phosphoric acid there was in a pound of flour by analysis, and I found it to vary from 10 to 12 grains, I think. I speak doubtfully as I have not calculated the average. The Recorder : How long would it take to kill a man if he ate an ordinary quantity of bread daily made with this baking powders-A man in health and with good digestion would possibly live aome time. The Becorder : Have you ever heard an instance of anybody having a fit of indigestion from eating bread made with this powder and clearly traceable to it ?-No.I have come into contact with no case, but I should judge, from my chemical knowledge, that indigestion would follow. The effeet of either hydrate or phosphate of alumina would be to harden the gluten. Baking powder can be made with many other ingredients besides bicarbonate of soda and alum. Aa a chemist, in how many ways could you make baking powder ?-Four or five ways probably. By combining an alkali with an acid, baking powder is formed. Only three or four ways would be unobjeotionable. There is no suoh thing as baking powder, is there, beyond the fact that 8 man fancies the name and gives it to what he makes ?-There is no recognized formula for making baking powder.You might make it as you would make an aperient draught ?-Yes ; it is not known in the British Pharmacopcleia. It is what men choose to call it. It might be termed “ Substitute for yeast powder,” or ‘‘ Norfolk dumpling powder.” BQ. Matthew Moncrieff Patteson Muir, Prlelector of Chemistry in Caius College, Cambridge, then gave the effect of an expehent that he had made with a mixture like that contained in the baking powder with phosphate of soda, instead of flour, and said he found insoluble phosphate of alumina, He also made an experiment with half-a-pound of flour free from alum, treated it with water, and found the water contained a large quantity of phosphoric acid. He also mixed half-a4easpoonful of the baking powder with half-a-pound of flour, treated it as before, and found the water contained very small quantities of phosphoric soid.Witness was about to give the result of experiments made with bread Alum is very little prescribed except for use externally and as a gargle.THE ANALYST, 26 in which was mixed the Norfolk baking powder and bread made with another baking powder, but Mr. Blofeld objected to a comparison between baking powders. Witness then described an experiment he had made with the Norfolk baking powder when made into bread according to directions, and said he found about 14 grains of soluble phosphoric acid to the lb. of flour used in the bread. In an experiment he had made with yeast bread he found about 3 grains of solublephosphoric acid to the half-lb. of flour, or, in round numbers, four times the quantity.He tested the bread with hydrochloric acid of 2-10th~ per cent. strength at a temperature of loo* Fahr., with the results he had given. The reason for taking that particular kind of hydrochloric acid was because that was taken as the average strength of the hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice. He then stated that he composed a mixture like the baking powder prepared, a quantity of gluten from flour, digested it with half a litre of 2-10th~ per cent. strength hydrochloric acid for 50 hours, and found that there was 20 per cent. less of the gluten dissolved than there was in a similar quantity heated without alum, soda, &c. Then he made a further solution with a mixtme of dextrine-a modified form of starch which might be taken to represent the starchy matter in flour-with water, and added a solution of alum and a solution of phosphate of soda.The phosphate of alumina which was precipitated carried with it the greater portion of the previously soluble dextrine. In experimenting with a loaf made of the same powder he determined the quantity of phosphate of alumina existing was 25 grains per 4-lb. loaf ; that was about 5 grains to the 3-lb. loaf. Witness then corrected himself, and said he made a mistake in his calculation, he should have said about 3-03 in the +lb. loaf. From these experiments he should say the effect of this baking powder made into bread was that the alum in powder was wholly decomposed, with the production of phofiphate of alumina and sulphate of soda. This phosphate of alumina, he added, rendered the gluten and the dextrine less soft.By the Recorder : I could form no idea of the effect of a man eating an ordinary quantity of bread for a year made with this baking powder because I have no medical knowledge. Cross-examined : The soluble phosphoric acid is present in the flour in the form either of phosphate of potash or phosphate of soda. The presence of an alkali in the bread would affect the colour and make it brown or a yellowish brown if in a large quantity. The presence of 6 grains of alkali in a 4-lb. loaf would probably give it a yellow tint. I should expect to find an objectionable discolouration from the presence of 5 or 6 grains in a 4-lb. loaf. Blyth in his ‘‘ Manual of Chemistry ” is my authority for giving the average amount of phosphoric acid in a pound of flour as 12 grains.I should be surprised to find that there are 28 grains. Perhaps you are dealing with phosphate of potash and I am dealing with phosphoric acid, known to chemists as Pa. 05., but if we mean the same thing I should be surprised to find that number of grains. Supposing phosphate of soda and alum in bread in an uncom- bined state the treatment by water would effect their combination and produce t h i phosphate of alumina. If a man eats Q-lb. of baking powder bread a day he would get into his system-if laboratory experiments are correct-2& grains less of phosphoric acid than he would by the use of other bread. I know the system ejects phosphoric acid to a certain extent, but I can’t give figures. I did not know it was more than 50 grains.On the other side of the coat of the stomach there would be blood, which is alkaline, with the wall and membrane between the two. That being the case would not the phosphoric acid filter out of the phosphate of alumina through the intervening wall into and combine with the alkaline blood in the system?-That is a question that could only be determined by direct experiment. I would not be surprised to have either result. I think one may infer that the gastric juices are. equivalent to a weak solution of hydrochloric acid. I made my experiments upon that assumption. The dextrine I used I obtained from chemical dealers. There are as many as ten kinds of dextrine. It is made from flour. There are dextrines altogether pure that vary in their reactions.In re-examination by Mr. Cockerell, witness said that he did not admit the correctness of the supposition that i f the phosphate of soda and the alum and bread were in an uncombined atate his experiment might have produced phosphate of alumina ; the phosphate of alumina was in the bread previous to his experiment. By the Recorder: I know of no formula for the term bakingpowder. Baking powders do not produce fermentation, but yeast does. Baking powder produces carbonic acid gas without fermentation. I could make perhaps a dozen baking powders wholesome or unwholesome, and might make two or three that were wholesome. Mr. Blofeld said the manufacturer informed him that the object of introducing the ground rice was to keep dry the alum and the bicarbonate of soda, both of which might have some moisture about them.Therefore your very experiment may have produced phosphate of alumina?-Yes. The powder would be ecually efficacious without the gro.;lnd rice.26 THE ANALYST. Witness added he would think the mixture would be improved by the ground rice. Other things might be found, but ground rice was quite as good as anything else. Dr. J. B. Bradbury, Linacre lecturer in physic at St. John’s College, F.R.C.P., and one of the physicians at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, deposed that from what he had heard from the experiments of the last two witnesses, he should say the effect of the powder used in bread would be to rob the dietary of a certain amount of soluble phosphate which was essentially necessary to nutrition.He agreed with the other witnesses as to the amount of phosphoric acid required for a healthy adult every 24 hours, and as to the amount contained in a pound of flour. In answer to the Recorder, the witness said that people suffered from indigestion who did not eat bread. They got their phosphoric acid from meat, milk, &c. Baking powder produced the same effect as aerating the bread, which was done by forcing carbonic acid into the dough by machinery. Bread made with yeast disagrees with some people. Practically speaking, is there any fault to be found with bread made with this baking powder ?-I should say people might partake of it occaHionally with impunity, but if they were to eat it constantly, and especially if they were chiefly 60 live upon it, it would have a deleterious effect.I t would produce indigestion even in a man who led a regular life. How long has this baking powder been in use ? Mr. Blofeld : Thirty-nine years, and many millions must have eaten bread, &c., made with it. Dr. Bradbury: I t leaves no record how many people have died. There are many diseases one The Recorder : Baking powder does not produce stone, does it ?-Witness : Indigestion does. The Recorder : I should have thought the water of Cambridge would have produced more, By Mr. Cockerell : The use of the powder in bread would have a greater effect upon invalids and children, and taken constantly it is injurious to health in my opinion. Cross-examination : Many suffer from eating bread made with yeast. People get bad yeast some- times.Some people buy what is called German yeast, but that is not because the ordinary yeast is scwce, but because the other is more convenient to obtain. Mr. Blofeld then drew the attention of the witness to Mr. Sutton, and asked if he looked in moderately good health.-Witness : Fairly good. The Recorder : You had better ask Mr. Sutton now what he thinks of Dr. Bradbury. Mr. Blofeld said Mr. Sutton stated before the magistrates that he had eaten things made with this Mr. Cockerell : Mr. Button has sovereign remedies for that. Cross-examination,continued : A man eating bread made with this baking powder would be the Is bread made with this baking powder anything like so indigestible as new cheese ?-New cheese The &corder : Ask him if it is as indigestible as plum-pudding.Witness : Plum-pudding is not made with baking powder, but it is indigestible. M i . Blofeld : Is bread made with this baking powder one-hundredth part a8 indigestible as new A little more ?-A little more. Do agricultural labourers who eat a great deal of cheese often suffer?-They have many oomplaints. I wouldn’t put a stop to making cheese, but I would put a stop to eating it. Your evidence with respect to this baking powder is founded on the assumption that the phosphate of alumina is insoluble in the stomach ?-Nat altogether, but chiefly. And if I satisfy you that the phosphates are not insoluble in the stomach your opinion would be altered or modified ?-It would. In answer to questions by the Recorder, witness said that 50 grains of phosphoric acid were excreted by a healthy man in 24 hours, and these had to be supplied, and that if a man were deprived of the component parts of the phosphoric acid he would be injured to that extent.Dr. Paget, Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge, F.R.S., F.R.C.P., &c., deposed that having heard the evidence of Messrs. Knights and Muir, and assuming that their experi- ments were correct, the effect of a person in ordinary health eating an ordinary quantity of bread made with this baking powder would be that in the course of time digestion would be impaired. Going on the experiments of Mr. Muir, that it has the effect of rendering less soluble the dextrine and the gluten of the bread, he should certainly be of opinion that it would render them less digestible, and so far injurious to health.In children the effect would be more marked, and with persons who had weak cannot fathom. Stone is very common in Norfolk, and it is not very easy to fathom the cause of it. baking powder for many years.-Mr. Sutton : And I never suffered from indigestion. worse for it at the end of five years. would suit one person who would not suffer at all, while others would suffer. cheese ?-I think it would be one-hundredth part.THE ANALYST. stomachs and were troubled with dyspepsia or feeble digestion it would be positively injurious. Questioned on the amount of phosphoric acid required to be taken into the system by a person in good health every 24 hours, the professor stated that to keep a person in health he must take as much of an ingredient, if it were a constituent of the body, as went out of him, and assuming it to be correct that 60 grains of phosphoric acid went out daily, he required to have a like amount introduced.Mr. Blofeld : Do you imagine that the loss of 24 grains of phosphoric acid through eating li-lb. of bread would be injurious to any man’s health ?--Not if a man got other food. If a man were to get 2& grains of phosphoric acid less every day than passed out of him it would very soon be a serious matter. If I neutralise 2& grains of phosphoric acid which I should otherwise get should I be one whit the worse off than before?-Probably not; probably you take more phosphorio acid every day than is good for you. Mr. Blofeld: I hope you confine your remarks to phosphoric acid. But take anyone else in this court ; would any man eating this bread be sensibly damaged?-I hope not, because I should hope everybody gets as much food as would compensate him for the loss of the phosphoric acid he requires.If he gets meat, cheese, eggs, milk, and other things in fair quantities the loss of that small amount of phosphoric acid would be of very small moment indeed. The articles I have mentioned contain phosphoric acid, and fish and cheese in very large quantities, vegetables in less quantity. At this moment I cannot think of any article of food that does not contain phosphoric acid. My opinion that bread made with this baking powder is injurious is based upon the fact spoken to by Mr. Muir that it renders less soluble the gluten and dextrine of the flour.Not as diminishing phosphoric acid?-I said nothing about that. I think it is a disadvantage that it should harden the dextrine. I shouldnot say it was injurious to health except in the case of those who had to live on bread alone. Baking or roasting meat makes it less digestible than if it were boiled?-Yes, provided it be not boiled too much. Roast goose would no doubt be injurious to the health of a dyspeptic person. If you were to eat it dsily during the year you would find evil effects from it. The Becorder: Would you say in the words of the Act of Parliament that bread made with baking powder was an article of food injurious to health?-I would not venture to say it except in the case of persons of weak digestion. We have not sufficient exact experience I think in regard to persons in ordinary good health to give an opinion on the matter. There is experience of alum in bread being injurious to health.That would depend upon the quantity in the bread ?-The larger the quantity the worse the effects. Is alum always injurious?-Taken repeatedly I should say it would be. I should say if any practical physician were asked if he would allow any person to take even a few grains every day of his life for a time he would not only advise to the contrary, but would say probably it would cause some disorder of the stomach before long. It is scarcely ever prescribed except externally. Mr. Blofeld then addressed the Court on behalf of the appellants, and pointed out the importance of this case to a large trade which had been carried on in Norwich, in other parts of the kingdom, and in America, for nearly 40 years.This alum baking powder had been in use almost as many years as he had lived, and not a single objection had been made to it by any human being during that time till proceedings were taken at Cambridge ; it was reserved for Mr. Knights, the analyst employed by the Corporation of Cambridge, to discover what had remained a secret to generations of medical men and analytical chemists. Millions upon millions must have used it and there had been no complaint, and he defied his learned friend, Mr. Cockerell, to produce any single human being on the face of the earth to whom the use of this powder had given indigestion. Such a case could not be found. The legal points arising in this case he could not have put so well as the learned Recorder had done, but he urged first that baking powder was not an article of food, and that it bad not been proved that anything had been mixed with the baking powder to adulterate it because the baking powder was the thing itself.Yeast if partaken of would be injurious to health, but he imagined that no one would contend that the man who sold yeast would be liable to conviction under this Act. Probably if a man took a pint of yeast he would blow up. Yeast was used in the preparation of drink, but it was not an article of food. And so baking powder was not an article of food--it was used in the preparation of food, but in the bread it ceased to exist ; it became something else, a small residuum and the sulphate of soda.As an analagous case the learned counsel referred to the gasogene in which two powders were placed, water applied, and the powders vanished, while the water became aerated. The powders were not used as articles of drink, but for evolving gas, after which they ceased altogether. It would be quite as reasonable to summon Mr, Deck, the chemist, of Csmbridge, for selling these powders, the one in a blue and the other in a28 THE ANALYST. white paper, that produced this aErated water, as it was to charge Messrs. Smith & Son, of Norwich, with selling baking powder as an article of food. He could suggest many other things, such as flavouring of bitter almonds which was more or less a poison. Here was an article that was injurious to health, and it was mixed in jellies, but was Mr. Litchfield, of Cambridge, to be proceeded against because he flavoured jellies with bitter almonds? What the respondents had to show was that the article of which they complained was rendered injurious to health by the mixture of alum. The baking powder- There is no such thing as baking powder.There must be something analogous to the alum ; we have no powder without the alum. You have got according to this an answer to the case, but in deference to others, 1 have occupied more than five hours to investigate this case, and if the parties wish I will take it further, but, as I said at starting, it appears 60 me you must first of all get an article of food which is to be so mixed with an ingredient as to make it unwholesome and injurious to health.The baking powder is not baking powder wiihout the alum. The Recorder : Do not call it baking powder ; call it the consiituents of it. Mr. Cockerell said he could only repeat what he had said at the commencement of the case. The R,ecorder added $hat he was not speaking in derogaiion of the safety of the public, but he had to administer the law, and it must be remembered that this was a penal law which was to be construed strictly, and not to be extended to cases which the Legislature had not in contemplation. He then took the points raised by Mr. Blofeld as follows :-That the powder, including all these ingredients, is not an article of food ; if an article of food, taking all the ingredients together, nothing has been mixed with it ; that the ingredients when mixed and used for food cease to exist ; that baking powder without the alum is not an article of food.Mr. Blofeld further argued that the meaning of the Act was that anything injurious to health should be actively injurious, and that the presence of something that merely robbed an article of food of some small quantity of nutrition would not be considered injurious to health, and this baking powder, he contended, used according to the directions, was not injurious to health. The object of its use in bread was to evolve carbonic gas and make the bread light ; in ordinary this was done by yeast, and in aerated bread the gas was forced in by machinery. All baking powders were compounded on the principle of combining an alkali with an acid.For instance, Borwick’s baking powder was tartaric acid and bicarbonate of soda ; water was added, and effervescence took place, and all the original constituents practically vanished and left something else. The objection to powder containing tartaric acid was that the effervescence was almost instantaneous, whereas superiority was claimed for the Norfolk baking powder because the effervescence was much slower. The cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda were employed, and there was a way of making powder with hydrochloric or muriatic acid, which mas a caustic and corrosive poison, and of course it would be a most deleterious thing to get into the stomach. But as soon as it combined with the bicaxbonate of soda, the hydrochloric acid vanished, and what was left was common salt, which was perfectly innocuous.In the Norfolk baking powder the alum was used, and as soon as alum was combined with bicarbonate of soda and water was applied effervescence took place, the alum and soda vanished, leaving alumina and sulphate of sodium. When one looked at the dictionary, one found alumina to be an inert earthy matter, the chief constituent of day, and a constituent of all cereals. So that in all breads alumina would be found, whether alum was used or not. Learned counsel then produced a tube containing six grains of alumina, and said that one of his witnesses, Dr. Beverley, with a view of testing its effects, had swallowed 20 grains of it. There waa no effect, and learned counsel had no doubt he would take 20 grains a-day for a long time.The Recorder : The doctor would carefully prepare himself with m antidote probably. Mr. Blofeld proceeded to say that in Pereira’s great medical work it was recommended that alum should be administered to children suffering from looseness of the bowels and flatulency in doses of from 60 to 120 grains during the 24 hours. Learned counsel was not there to defend the use of alum in bread. It was used in bread to enable the bread to absorb more water, and so increase the weight, while it gave a good colour to bad flour, and so enabled the baker to perpetrate a fraud. Whether alum was injurious to health was an open question, but he was well warranted in saying that there was no recorded case in the world of poisoning by alum, let the quantity taken be ever so great, and he questioned whether there was any case of alum being injurious to health in any way.It was an astringent they knew, but there was no case on record of its being injurious. People thought the alum in this powder went into the bread, but this was a mistake, for in the bread alum ceased to exist, and so far as using the powder to make bread white was concerned, if too much of it was used the bread would be discoloured, and it would make good flour look bad. Then as to what was left after the alum had come in contact with the potash and bicarbonate of soda, the appellants contended that it wasTHE ANALYST. 29 h y h t e of alumina and not phosphate, and they had procured the opinion of the most eminent men in the kingdom on the point.Even supposing that phosphate of alumina was found, whioh he did not admit, then he should show that it was not insoluble in the gastric juice. He should produce an experiment which showed that the alumina was perfectly soluble in an acid like that composing the gastric juice, but it was not only soluble in the gastric juice, but in a variety of other things. His witnesses had paid the greatest attention to the evidence given by the skilled witnesses called on the other side, but they would undertake to say that not the smallest harm in the world could be done to any human being by the use of this baking powder.-Learned counsel then called Mr. Fras. Sutton, F.C.S., F.C.I., Public Analyst for Norfolk and other places, consulting chemist to the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture, and author of several analytical works.He deposed that when the bakingpowder was mixed with the alum it became hydrate of alumina. He did not believe that in bread made with this baking powder phosphate of alumina was found, and it was a very difficult thing to prove that it was. Mr. Blofeld : Is it what you would call a strong or a weak chemical combination ?-Weak, which means that it is not hard to dissolve or to decompose. Many fluids would decompose it. It is said that the alumina found in bread neutralises a certain amount of phosphoric acid in the bread; what do you say to that?-It may possibly do 80, 8ome portion of it. Supposing it contains phosphate of alumina the fluid8 of the stomach decompose that phosphate of alumina, and the result would be that the person would be none the worse for it.I have tested bread made with baking powder and bread made with yeast to ascertain the amount of phosphorio acid in each. I made two loavee, or had them made under my superintendence, one with yeast and the other with the Norfolk baking powder. The yeast bread on treatment with cold distilled water gave me 3.04 grains of phosphoric acid dissolved by the water. These were 41b. loaves. The bread made with baking powder gave me 2-32 grains, being a difference of 72-100th~ of a grain in a 41b. loaf, or 173-100ths of a grain in a llb. loaf. I t is said that the use of baking powder hardens the gluten and the dextrine ?-My opinion is that it has no such effect in bread. I have tried an experiment to see if it did by mixing phosphate of alumina with gluten, but I have made no experiment with dextrine.I do not agree that phosphate of alumina renders the gluten less soluble from the experiments I have made. My experiment was to mix the phosphate with the gluten in a very large excess. In one of the boxes produced I have got gluten without phosphate, and in the other the same quantity of gluten with phosphate added in five times the proportion that would be found in the baking powder, and the condition is not altered in the least. The Recorder : Have you tested its solubility?-No, I did not think it was fair to make such a test with hydrochloric acid, It is not soluble in water, but it is soluble in the juices of the stomach. By Mr. Blofeld: Hydrochloric acid has not got the salivary fluids or the pepsine in it.Hydrochlorio acid is only one of the ingredients, and is but a feeble reproduction of the gastric juice. It is like the gastric juice, leaving out the most important parts. The salivary fluids are particularly necessary for the digestion of all kinds of food, like bread and so on. You would not be surprised to find that Mr. Muir’s experiments were correct, and yet that if the phosphate got into the gastric juice it would do no harm?-Not at all. I may also say that a very high authority, Mitacherlich, of Berlin, ntates that compounds of gluten with alumina are perfectly soluble in the juices of the stomach. Will you tell us the reeult of the experiment you have recently made with two pigs?-Two healthy pigs, of about 5 at. weight each, were purchased and placed in a pen with a boarded floor to prevent them getting earth, which contains alumina.For eight clear days they were fed upon bread made with this Norfolk baking powder in proper proportions mixed up with warm water to a very soft sloppy oonsistence so as to give the best chance for the formation of phosphate of alumina. They consumed in the eight days 911bs. of flour, and at the end of 25 days I went and saw them killed. The pigs had thriven well during that time and their internal appearances were perfectly healthy, as was admitted by the butcher as well as myself. I had removed the stomach and the whole of the bowels, and had them tied up and aent to my laboratory where I examined them. I opened one stomach where the pigs were killed, and they had the mixture of the powder then in a sloppy condition. I removed separately the contents of the upper portion of the bowels, the second stomach, and also the contenta of the lower bowels, or rectum.I took equal portions from the two sets of bowels for each pig, keeping the two uppers sepamte, and the two lowers separate. I then dried down these separate portions of faxes in platinum vessel$ and then burned off the organic matter, with the addition of small quantities of potash to prevent the reduction of the phosphoric acid ; the result would be the ash, in fact, of the If it were so formed it was believed that it would be soluble in the gastric juice. The Recorder: They did not die as the result of the treatment?-Oh no, sir.80 THE ANALYST. fceces, and would contain the whole of the phosphoric acid and other mineral matters present.I then made an analysis of the ash to find the ratio between the alumina and the phosphoric acid. The analysis of the upper bowels showed phosphoric acid 2.24 per cent., oxide of iron 1.08, alumina 3.68, line 0.9, magnesia 0.4, sulphuric acid 0.274, the remainder was unconsumed carbon, alkalis, &c. In the case of the lower bowels the proportions were phosphoric acid 2.43, oxide of iron 1.18, alumina 4.91, lime 1.13, magnesia 0.54, sulphuric acid *343. On the assumption that the whole of the phosphoric acid is combined with the alumina, the excess of alumina in the upper portion of the bowel was 2-07 per cent., and in the case of the lower bowel 3.15 per cent. But it is an open question whether the whole of the phosphoric acid is combined with the alumina, because the other things present, which are stronger bases, keep it entirely to itself.The’ inference to be drawn from the experiment is that the gastric juice in the stomach takes all the phosphoric acid it requires, and if the phosphate of alumina is there at all the gastric juices absorb the phosphoric acid out of it if it is required, leaving the hydrate of alumina in the bowel to be rejected with the faeces. That experiment is a guide to what goes on in the human stomach, and I look upon it an analogous case. By Mr. Cockerell : Is alum in bread injurious ?-Per se, I do not think it should be allowed, because it opens up a way for fraud. Apart from that I do not think a little of it used would be injurious.I do not think 40 grains in a 4-lb. loaf would be injurious. That is my private opinion ; I am not giving a medical opinion on that point. Chloride of alumina would be objectionable in a large quantity. The Recorder : I suppose you might evolve poisonous things out of a mutton chop ?-Oh, yes. By Mr. Cockerell : Mr. Muir produced his phosphate of alumina in conjunction with the gluten ; mine was produced the aame way as it would be in the bread. I extracted the gluten from the flour in a pure state. The effect of hardening the gluten in any way would be to make it tough like leather. It is of no use my making experiments that do not go on in the stomach. Those made by Mr. Muir were merely a waste of time and nothing more.By the Recorder : I do not dispute the accuracy of Mr. Muir’s experiments as he made them. My opinion of Mr. Muir‘s experiment8 as a chemist is a rery high one, and I think he is a very admirable experimenter. By Mr. Cockerell : Mr. Muir’s experiments and mine are not comparable because he used hydro- chloric acid, which is not all that the gastric juice contains, and my experiment was with the natural juices. Eight days’ feeding of the pigs was fixed upon in order that they might get rid of the food they had had before and fill themselves with the bread. It was an improved diet for them. The food had no prejudicial effect whatever upon the lining of the stomach. I have used this baking powder for year8 for all kinds of pastry, cakes, &c. By the Recorder : I have had no reason to complain of its having given dyspepsia, indigestion, or anything of the kind, nor have my wife or family.By Mr. Cookerell: My ohief article of nutrition is not bread, but my children live mainly upon bread food. We do not make bread with the baking powder ; we prefer yeast bread. The Recorder : Possibly a person living on this bread might suffer ill-effects from it, but would not a man suffer ill-effects who had nothing to eat but yeast bread ?-It would be very injudicious in any one to live upon it. Can you, after making these experiments, conscientiously say that you think there is nothing in this baking powder that is injurious to health ?-I do not think there is, and I gave that opinion seven years ago. You know the words of the Act of Parliament.Can you say, as a skilled witness, that there is nothing injurious to health in it ?-I certainly do say so, and I would not allow it to be used in my house if I thought otherwise. The Recorder asked if there was any need to go further after what this gentleman hed said. This was a penal enactment, in which the first offence rendered a person liable to a penalty of S50, and the second to imprisonment, with hard labour, for a period not exceeding six calendar months. Could he be expected to confirm this conviction when a skilled witness like Mr. Sutton (for whose opinion he had the highest esteem) declared upon his oath that there was nothing injurious to health in the use of this baking powder, raising the question even upon the merits, without the question as to whether the case came within the statute ? Mr.Blofield said he should like to call Dr. Thudicum and Dr. Tidy in fairness to Messrs. Smith and Sons.-The Recorder assented, and Dr. J. L. W. Thudicum, F.C.P., Lond., F.C.S., deposed: I have been frequently consulted on hygienic questions by the Government and by Boarda of Health. Mi, Blofeld ; You have been present throughout this trial, and, having heard all the evidenee thatTHE ANALYST. 81 haa been given, and the experiments that have been made by Mr. Muir and those of Mr. Sutton, and his experience of this baking powder, is there in it in your opinion anything that is injurious t o health?- In my opinion there is nothing injurious in the use of this baking powder. Assuming that phosphate of alumina is formed in the stomach, would it or would it not be decom- posed in the gastric juices in the stomach?-It would be entirely decomposed by the gastric juices in the stomach.Do you admit that these is phosphate of alumina there ?-I merely assume that there is for the purpose of this argument. Is it your opinion that there is or is not ?-It is not proved that there is. By the Recorder : The decomposition mould take place without any extra effort of the gastric juice. By Mr. Blofeld : The hydrate of alumina in the bottle produced is perfectly harmless. The Recorder (to Mr. Sutton) : How much do you say you produced from a 21b. loaf ?-Six grains. Dr. Thudicum : That rests upon the evidence of Mr. Sutton, and I coincide with it. Mr. Blofeld : Dr. Beverley may have taken 20 grains ?-He might.You have heard a good deal said about the diminution of the phosphoric acid absorbed into the system by the use of this baking powder, will you give us your opinion ?-The diminution of phosphoric acid in the human body by the use of this baking bowder would be quite inappreciable, and would be of no consequence whatever to the body. You heard Mr. Sutton give his evidence as to the experiment he made with the two pigs and the conclusion he came to. Do you agree with the conclusion he drew?-I agree with them, and think they are physiologically stronger than he put them. The difference it would make by its presence would be inappreciable. It is perfectly harmless. The Recorder : You think the experiment was a satisfactory one ?-Very so.Mr. Cockerell, addressing the Recorder, said he took it that he had decided the case, and as he (Mr. Cockerell) did not apprehend he should be able to alter the Recorder’s view of the matter it would be absurd for him to take up more time. The Recorder said it was satisfactory to find that there was not so much difference between the gentlemen on the one side and on the other. No one disputed the accuracy of the experiments made, but upon the one aide hydrochloric acid was used, and on the other side it was said by a very able gentlemen that this acid was only one of the component parts of the gastric juice, and the experiment he made was striotly analogous to what took place in the human system, Dr. Charles Meymott Tidy, M.B., F.C.S. (Professor of Chemistry, and of Forensic Medicine at the London Hospital, Medical Officer of Health for Islington, and late Deputy Medical Officer of Health for the City of London, &c.), was next sworn and examined by M i .Blofeld: The first question is as to phosphate of alumina being formed. Do you agree that it is formed in bread by the use of this baking powder, or is it an open question or not ?-I think it is very improbable that the phosphate of alumina is formed at all, because in order to form phosphate of alumina you must have actual contact between the phosphoric acid and the alumina, and I cannot see how that can be brought about under the ordinary conditions of digestion, and even granting that it occurs-and I don’t think it makes the slightest difference in the oase-even supposing that it does occur, I know, as a matter of fact, that the phosphate of alumina is soluble in the gastric juices in weak acid solutions, and I know that when phosphate of alumina is in solution of that nature with the membrane between and the alkaline blood on the other side the whole of the phosphoric acid filters through into the blood.I know that as a laboratory experiment, and1 know if that occurs a8 a laboratory experiment it occurs muah more rapidly in the living tissue. Can you see anything on earth in the use of this baking powder which can be injurious to health ? -No ; moat certainly not. I should like to say, in giving my opinion with reapect to this powder, that I do not wish to express any opinion about alum in bread as a means of fraud.I conceive alum ought not to be used in large quantities, as it is not on the question of injury to the health, but for the reason that bread holds a larger quantity of water and bakers can use a very inferior quality of flour. I am only giving my opinion of this baking powder and not of the alum in bread-making. Mr. Cockerell: Nor of the us8 of alum at sll?-I do not give it, but simply as alum leads to fraud. The Recorder : You think there is nothing injurious in this powder ?-No, in the proportions in which it is possible to use it. It might be said, “Couldn’t you put in a large quantity of this powder?” but this could not be done as it would spoil the bread entirely. Therefore it is utterly impossible to my mind that this powder could be used for the purpose of fraud from the point of view from which I put alum forward and from which alum is ooeasiondly used.52 THE ANALYST.Mr. Blofeld said he had Dr. Beverley here, but he did not think, after the evidence that h d been given, it was necessary to call him. The Recorder, in giving judgment, said: I t is unnecessary for me to express any opinion upon the legal point as to whether this case falls within the Act of Parliament ; but if my opinion is worth anything to anybody I still adhere to the opinion I have already expressed, that it does not come within the Act for reasons, some of which I have already given. I decide this case upon its merits and upon the evidence. After the evidence we have just heard I do not think this baking powder is an artiole of food, or that bread made with it becomes an article of food injurious to health, and as a matter of fwt, I find in favour of the appellants.That was his case. Mr. Blofeld : I have to ask for costs. Mr. Cockerell : I never heard of any costs being given against magiatrates. We come here tonphold The Recorder : Who is the respondent?-Mr. Cockerell : Mr. Phillips, the provision inspector. The Recorder : Who put the law in force ? Mr. Cockerell said proceedings were taken against the sellers of this powder at Cambridge, in donse- quence of a conviction that took place there of a man for selling buns made with this powder. The magistrates threw out a hint that proceedings should be taken against the sellers of the powder. Mr. Blofeld said the buns in question could not have been made with this baking powder.The Recorder also said that they could not have found alum in the buns if they were made with this powder.-Mr. Cockerell : They did not say it mas alum. Mr. Blofeld: They did say so, and here is the conviction to prove it. (Conviction handed in.) The persons who started these proceedings were a committee connected with the Corporation d n o t the magistrates. The Recorder : I should be loth to make an order for coats, especially against Mr. PhUips, a public officer put forward by the Corporation to look after the health of the town, but if the convietion were sustained I see that the costs Mr. Phillips would have received from Messrs. Warren would have been S10 1s. Ordinarily speaking I should not think of giving costs against the magistrates nor against s public officer, but I should like to know the circumstances under whioh this prosecution was instituted. the decision of the magistrates. Mr. Cockerell said he had stated the Circumstances. The Recorder-Where will the costs come from ?-Mr. Cockerell did not know. Mr. Horace Bromne said they would come out of the Corporation. His learned friend Mr. Cookerell The Recorder said : I do not Bee why the usual results ehould not follow upon a successful appeal. I The coats allowed amounted to 2100. was being instructed by the Town Clerk.-After further opposition on the part of Mr. Coekerell, quash the conviction, with costs. Mr. G. D. Macdougall has been appointed Public Analyst for Perthshire. Mr. J. Napier has been appointed Public Analyst for the Borough of Ipswich, and Mr. J. Carter Bell has been appointed Public Analyst for Stalybridge. also for East Suffolk. REVIEWS. A Year'r Cookery. By PHILLIS BROWNE. Cassell, Petter & Gcalpin. Cookery becomes more and more a question of chemistry, and the waste of food is, by this means, becoming reduced ; therefore when a cookcry book makes any claim to scientific accuracy it is a fit subject for review in our columns. The preface to this work says : '' No work of the kind on this plan exists. I have specially addressed myself to people of moderate income, with moderate kitchen help and ordinary domestic utensils." It is seldom that we find such a bold statement as the raison d'gtre for a new book, but after carefully reading it through from beginning to end, we find that the contents fully justify the statement made. It is the most unique and complete book on cookery we have yet seen ; unique in its conception, because a separate menu is provided, not only for each day of the year, but for every meal for each day ; complete in its directions which not only give ordinary, and many extraordinary receipts ; but even include in the proper timeTKE ANALYST. 88 a d place, suoh directions as : Put a cupful of hominy in soak in cold water ready for to- morrow morning.” A remarkable feature is the daily paragraph of things that must not be forgotten. Careful attention to these paragraphs, day by day, would cause a consider- able reduction in the expenses of many households, where a large proportion of the food now cooked, or supposed to be cooked, is simply wasted. American cereals and tinned goods are judiciouslyreferred to, and included in many of the dishes, and the novel receipts are not only numerous, but as far we have yet tried them, generally good.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8800500021

出版商:RSC    

年代:1880

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYST. 88 NOTES OF THE MONTH. Two cases have been decided during Lhe month on the subject of cream of tartar, and it has been held that the commercial salt, containing tartrate of lime, is a legal tender under that name. Modern arqol certainly always contains a much larger pro- portion of lime than was formerly the case, owing to the almost universal custom of ‘ 6 plastering ” the ,arape juice ; but it is a question how far purification by recrystalliza- tion should be carried, before the crude argol can be sold as cream of tartar. There is no standard for this apparently, because that of the British Pharmacopceia is taken only when it suits the defence, and when it does not it is promptly repudiated. It is unfortunate, therefore, that some analysts should continue to take that standard without first making themselves acquainted with all the details of the manufacture and contents of commercial articles, as it only leads to action tending to discredit the general body.What an analyst ought to do in the case of his getting any article with the commonly recognised composition of which he is not experimentally familiar, was well stated by Dr. DuprB at our last meeting, when he said that, under such circumstances, the analyst should apply to our Secretaries to furnish him with the names of one or two of ihe members who had made a specialty of the subject, and then seek the advice of the gentlemen named before certifying. Had this been done in the cases in point the analyst would have doubtless been referred to one of our Vice-presidents, who is well-known for the depth of his information on everything relating to wine, and to our President, who is daily engaged in the study of all relating to drugs, and between them we are satisfied such advice would have been tendered as would have induced the insertion of some special remarks in the certificate, tending to prevent prosecution if possible.We trust that all our country friends will in future take this course, as all our specialists have expressed their perfect willingness to give such advice in every case. Members should not forget that the very object of our Society is mutual self-help, and no scruples of false delicacy should prevent their applying, as no man can hope to unite in himself a perfect practical familiarity with all the articles embraced in our very wide field of research, and it is no slur on his general knowledge that he requires now and Chen special enlightenment.Of course the trade journals have their fling as usual when any prosecutions break down. The Chemist and Druggist comments on the cases in an article headed “ Angellic Pharmacy,” but as in this case it fairly confines its strictures to a particular analyst’s evidence, and does not make it a handle to denounce the whole body of Public Analysts, we must leave the gentleman affected to take whatever remedy he may be advised to adopt, if he feels desirous of doing so. The Pharmaceutical Journal, on the other hand, talks loudly of our general incompetence, and suggests that their society should move so as to obtain a more rigid scrutiny of the knowledge of analysts before appointment.To the latter desire we have nothing to say, and our Society would cordially second any true effort to raise the standard of analysts ; but to the cry of general incompetence we return a most unqualified denial, and, in support of that, we can point to the fact, referred to in our President’s address, that England, as repre- sented by our members, is at present the leading source of improvements in all processes used by Public Analysts, as evidenced by the 41 papers read before our Society or published in our columns during the past year.34 THE ANALYST, While on this subject, we would ask the learned doctor who presides over the Pharmaceutical Journal what remedy he proposes in the matter ? His own society has examinations continually increasing in stringency, and would he dare to say that, even then, every man who obtains the power to legally write himself pharmaceutical chemist is perfectly competent to deal with every prescription which may be submitted to him ? If SO, where the necessity for the 4‘ dispensing memoranda ” for mutual self-help, which is so prominent a feature in his journal.Again, take the medical and legal professions, both of which guard their doors with the utmost jealousy, and do we there find each ma.n universally cognisant of all diseases or points of law ? If so, why the skin, ear, eye, and brain specialiste, and why the conveyancer and special pleader ? Hedge any scientific pursuit with as many barriers as you please, you cannot ensure universally competent men to deal with every special matter which may arise.Why then should Public Analysts be expected to be superhuman? If the same blaze of publicity was necessarily entailed on pharmacists as on Public Analysts we should soon see which body would come out most slightly scathed. There are no journals interested in holding up to public scorn every pharmacist who, when engaged in counter prescrib- ing, mistakes the symptoms of his customer, and gives him a purge when he ought to have let him alone or referred him to a medical man ; but woe betide the analyst who makes the slightest slip, for all his previous work goes for nothing ! Let the Pharma- ceutical Society render all its members perfectly free from even a chance of mistaken opinion before it undertakes to do the same to others.Another disputed case has been heard on the subject of alum in baking powder, and it has been held that the use of that article, as a constituent in such mixtures, is not dangerous to health when combined with sodium carbonate. It is doubtless a great victory for the manufacturers, but we have yet to see its ultimate effect for public good. In this case, at all events, no blame can be laid to the door of the analyst, even by the most rabid detractor, seeing that it commenced by the prosecution of a baker for alum in buns, and on his stating that he used this powder, the magistrate directed an examination of the article, and prosecution of the manufacturers. All through the case Mr. Knights (ably seconded by Mr.Muir) acted with skill, and made a series of interesting experiments in support of the contention that alum rendered bread indi- gestible. The matter was forced upon the analyst, so the failure of the case can in no way be attributed to him. The result of the case does not interfere with the prohibi- tion of the use of alum in bread, because even the defence witnesses (brought up at great cost it was stated) said that, in giving their opinion as to the innocence of this particular powder, they were not to be held to say that the addition of alum to bread was, in their opinion, allowable. There is no need to fight the question of danger to health, when the fact remains that the use of alum enables the baker to defraud the public by using inferior flour, and getting his loaves to hold more water, and it is on this view that certificates had better be drawn in future. BOOKS, &c., RECEIVED. The Art of Perfumery, by G. Septimus Piesse ; The Chemist and Druggist ; The Brewers’ Guardian ; The British Medical Journal ; The Medical Press ; The Pharmaceutical Journal ; The Sanitary Record ; The Miller ; Journal of Applied Science ; The Boston Journal of Chemistry; The Provisioner ; The Practitioner ; American New Remedies ; Proceedings of the American Chemical Society ; Le Praticien ; The Inventors’ Record ; New York Public Health ; Philadelphia Printers’ Circular ; The Scientific American ; The American Traveller ; Society of Arts Journal. +** Owing to the pressure on our space this month, we are compelled to hold over several papers and other interesting matter already in type, especially a paper by Mr. West Knights, on his experiments in the Norfolk Baking Powder Case.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8800500033

出版商:RSC    

年代:1880

数据来源: RSC