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148
Salicylic acid to the extent of 8¾ and 7 grains to the pint
were found respectively in samples of Lime-juice Cordial, and
Ginger Wine. The makers were in each case communicated with
and cautioned.
The objectional practice of adding preservatives to Milk is
very much in evidence in the summer months; and of the 23
samples purchased in Stoke Newington during July, August,
and September, 1912, eleven were found to have been so drugged.
In the Fortieth Annual Report of the Local Government
Board, 1910-11, the following reference to this subject appears:—
"We stated in our last Report that we considered that milk
should at all times be entirely free from preservatives. This is
in the interest of public health."
Last July I was informed of a young adult, 18 years of
age, who had occasional attacks of Diarrhoea, Flatulent
Dyspepsia, Headache, and General Malaise. The cause of this
was quite obscure; his diet was simple and plain. There was
a history of these attacks having recently followed each other at
intervals of a week or so. I examined 3 samples of Milk
supplied to the house, and found that 1 sample contained 5 grains
to of the pint of boric acid, another 7 grains, and another
11 grains. These samples were taken at short intervals during
July. The milk supply was changed to one in which no chemical
antiseptics are employed, and I was informed in December that
the individual had been almost free from the attacks since.
Such a case may well be one of many in which the
symptoms, while possibly due to boric acid in food, are rarely,
if ever, attributed to that cause. The individual is said to have
a weak stomach or to be dyspeptic.
The 19 Butter samples taken throughout the year were
found to be satisfactory. I have not succeeded, in the limited
number of samples with which I have had to deal, in discovering