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Special Joint Report. In the course of our enquiries, we found that
the acid was usually employed in the form of a proprietary article,
which we designated "the preservative," composed mainly of
free boracic acid, with a certain amount of borax, and that according
to the directions, it is added to milk, in solution, in the
proportion of about seven grains to the pint; twice this amount
being added to cream. We pointed out the probability that both
the farmer and the dairyman might make use of the preservative,
in which event the above quantities would be doubled. We were
able to discover but little information as to the action of boracic
acid upon the human frame, it being not much employed in
medicine. Reference, however, was made to its alleged tendency
to set up diarrhoea, a disease prevalent amongst infants, the chief
consumers of milk, in hot weather, when the " preservative " is
most used, in order to delay the changes which milk and cream
are then liable to undergo quickly. We also quoted certain
observations by Dr. Forster, based on experiments, which go to
show that the addition of boracic acid to articles of food, in far
smaller proportions than customary, is injurious to health. "Even
small doses," Dr. Forster states, "are injurious to the digestive
organs," its action on the intestinal discharges being well marked,
even by the exhibition of as little as four grains per diem, such
action being in direct relation to the quantity taken, and being
maintained for some time after the doses of the drug have ceased.
References to the subject published in the medical papers since
1887 appear to confirm the justness of Dr. Forster's observations.
In the course of their recent enquiries the Special Purposes
Committee consulted me relative to a sample of cream, to which
boracic acid had been added, desiring to be informed whether the
quantity of boracic acid certified to be present (=0.17 per cent.
by weight of anhydrous acid) was such as to render the article
injurious to health. The Committee also desired me to advise as
to the quantity of boracic acid that could be used without being
injurious to health. Manifestly, these were questions that could