food sophistication in 1924.1

290 FOOD SOPHISTICATION IN 1924.

that these Croonian lectures should be of service in

disentangling essentials from a mass of confusinghypotheses, which have been erected on an unstablebase of unconvincing attempts in the correlation ofclinical symptoms with the facts of morbid anatomy.In the unravelling of the problems of disease of thehuman nervous system the clinical method must

always hold the first place and the value of theselectures as an example of close and unbiased clinicalstudies is great. They should serve to quickeninterest in a difficult subject and rouse the possiblyflagging spirits of any who may have been led tothink that the day was past when purely clinicalmethods could achieve progress.

FOOD SOPHISTICATION IN 1924.1

THE sophistication of food is a tempting form ofdeceit, and the last report of the Ministry of Healthshows that it has not lost its attraction for varioustrades. When the purveyor causes 2lb. of sugar to

appear where only 1 Ib. grew before he is expressinghis impulse to cultivate ; in selling them by mis-representation he is educating his wits ; financiallyhe is satisfying his acquisitive instincts. But theseconsiderations do not appeal to a public which expectsa pure food-supply. Wherever and whenever foundsuch offenders should be treated in accord with theirdemerits, and it is matter for satisfaction that in thiscountry to-day their careers are becoming precarious.Under the administration of the Sale of Food and i

Drugs Act there has been an increased activity on thepart of many local authorities during 1924. Thetotal number of samples analysed was 118,000-anincrease of 3154 over the previous year-and, eitheras a result of rising interest in the subject or becauseof an improving moral atmosphere, the percentage ofadulterations showed a slight reduction. A total of6987 samples, or 5-9 per cent., was reported as

adulterated or not up to standard, and, although thisfigure is very large, it compares favourably with therecords of 1923 (6-1 per cent.) and 1922 (6-2 per cent.).

Milk was as usual the chief object of analysis, andof 62,133 samples which were purchased and sub-mitted for analysis 7-7 per cent. were regarded asadulterated or not up to standard. This did notrepresent any improvement on the figure for 1922and virtually none on that for 1923 ; but there were

only 160 samples described as contaminated withdirt, as against 197 in 1923, which suggests that theefforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and other

cognate bodies towards securing a clean milk-supplyare proving effective. In 25 cases successful legalproceedings were instituted against vendors of dirtymilk, and the cynical may note with relish that onSundays there is more tampering with milk owing tothe greater demand and a feeling of greater immunityfrom interference. Samples procured on Sundaysin the county of Durham showed adulteration in27-6 per cent. of cases, although the figure for all thespecimens collected throughout the year was only15-5 per cent. The addition of colouring matter isinfrequent. Altogether 68 samples were reportedagainst on account of such additions, and in 33 casesfines or costs were recovered ; but in spite of theconsiderable number of prosecutions against milk-sellers, only two were prohibited from further carryingon their trade. As the fines inflicted were usually notlarge, it would seem that in all punitive proceedings

1 Sixth Annual Report of the Ministry of Health (1924-1925);Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry(1924). H.M. Stationery Office. 1925. Each volume 3s. 6d.

reliance has been chiefly placed on the publicity whichis given to the guilt. Over 10,500 samples of butterwere analysed during the year, but of these only1-4 per cent. were condemned as not up to the

requirements of the Act. Loading with water is themost common treatment, and 74 samples containedwater in excess of the maximum of 16 per cent.

legally permitted. Foreign fats, such as margarine,were found in 68 samples, and in nine there was morethan 0-5 per cent. of boric acid. At Leeds an informalsample of butter was purchased by the police froma hawker in the street. It was submitted to the

public analyst, who reported that it was whollymargarine, and the vendor was sent to prison forthree months for obtaining money under falsepretences. Special interest has been taken in con-densed and dried milks on account of the recent

regulations dealing with them. A larger number ofsamples than usual was taken ; but it was found thatthe percentage reported against remained about thesame. Some were deficient in fat ; three were

contaminated with lead, and a good many weresold in tins bearing labels not in accordance with thelaw ; but as the majority of the cases were firstoffences the local authorities generally contentedthemselves with cautioning the vendors. The sale ofboricised cream without proper notice to the pur-chasers is still remarkably common. Altogether 196out of 1089 samples bought as fresh cream containedboric acid, and 24 out of 1016 samples bought as

preserved cream contained boric acid in excess of themaximum of 0-4 per cent. allowed. It may beobserved in this connexion that the Committeeappointed in 1923 by the Minister of Health to con-sider the uses of preservatives has advised the totalprohibition of boron derivatives in food. Theircumulative action is obscure, but appears to beharmful, and from the practical aspect the Committeewas convinced that they could be dispensed with infood without serious inconvenience to traders or con-sumers.

From the reports it would appear that the more

unregenerate days of the " wicked grocer "

are

passing. A sugar adulteration of 0-3 per cent. ofcases in 1924 is, comparatively speaking, negligible.The grocer is gaining a vindication from Mr.CHESTERTON’S assertion that

"He sells us sands of ArabyAs sugar for cash down."

Full-blooded poets are apt to belittle the grocer, andcry up mine host at the inn, so that the grocer may

, smile at the discovery that the righteous minds ofinnkeepers have led .them in 13-5 per cent. of casesto adulterate their spirits. Two defendants chargedwith selling diluted spirits based their defence onnotices exhibited in their bars advertising that thealcoholic strength of their wares was not guaranteed ;but the ruling went against them on the ground

, that the article supplied was not of. the nature,substance, and quality demanded. The display of

: notices in bars appears to be relatively inefficient.. Not all grocers, however, have abandoned subtlety,and there has been some doubt in various placeswhether dyed and flavoured maize can legitimately be

; labelled as custard powder. Furthermore, several jam manufacturers have been prosecuted : one of- them was fined E20 and ordered to destroy 1400lb.of his produce, and another, whose strawberry jam; contained not less than 75 per cent. of apple jelly; but not one whole strawberry, had to pay a similar

fine and costs. It is obvious from this information; that the present machinery for detecting and dis-

playing fraud is of great importance. Though it

291INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF HISTORY OF MEDICINE.

would be unwise to argue that the reduction ofadulterated samples in two years from 6-2 per cent.to 5-9 per cent. indicates that in 40 years dishonestywill have been abolished in this country for ever, itmay nevertheless be admitted that the outlook forthe future is encouraging. In the meantime the

machinery requires local support and extension.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF THEHISTORY OF MEDICINE.

THE Fifth International Congress of the Historyof Medicine was held at Geneva from July 20th tothe 24th under the presidency of Dr. Charles GreeneCumston, lecturer in the history of medicine at theUniversity of Geneva, with Sir D’Arcy Power as

president of honour. The meetings, which were heldin the Athénée, were well attended, representativesbeing present from Belgium, Cuba, Denmark, France,Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Morocco, Poland,Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. Openingaddresses were delivered by the President of theCongress, the President of the Medical Society ofGeneva, the representative of the Council of State,the rector of the University of Geneva, and thePresident of the International Society of the Historyof Medicine, and were followed by a lecture by Prof.Eugene Pittard, illustrated by lantern slides, on

operations in the Stone Age. Special mention shouldbe made of Dr. Cumston’s address, which containedan account of the distinguished Geneva physiciansDaniel Le Clerc, whom Dr. Cumston described asthe father of the history of medicine, Jean AntoineSarasin, the writer on plague, and Théophile Bouet,the morbid anatomist. In the evening the membersof the Congress were entertained by the Presidentand Mme. Cumston at the Hotel des Bergues, wherea concert terminated with the delivery of an odespecially prepared for the occasion in honour of themedical profession. On July 21st the principal papersread were one by Sir D’Arcy Power on the Dispu-tationes chirurgicæ selectæ, or early eighteenthcentury theses, edited by Albrecht von Halle, andone by Dr. J. D. Rolleston on Voltaire and Englishdoctors, particularly Cheselden, Mead, Hans Sloane,Friend, and Towne, the author of a work on diseasesin the West Indies and translator of part of LaHenriade. Dr. John Comrie lectured on the eighteenthcentury neurologist, Robert Whytt, who gave thefirst clear description of tuberculous meningitis ; Dr.Guisan, of Lausanne, on Fabricius Hildanus, thecelebrated surgeon of Basle ; Dr. J. G. de Lint on aletter of Tronchin dealing with the Suttonian methodof inoculation ; Dr. Ernest Wickersheimer on thepresence of syphilis at Geneva at the end of thefifteenth century ; and Mr. C. J. S. Thompson onhygiene in early civilisations. In the afternoon agarden party was held in the grounds of Dr. andMme. Rilliet’s house at Vengeron, where, in addition toan admirable view of the lake and of Mont Blanc, themembers of the Congress had an opportunity ofinspecting the library of Dr. Frédéric Rilliet, theauthor of the well-known work written in collabora-tion with Barkez on diseases of children, and ofmeeting the veteran paediatrist, Prof. D’Espine,whose resemblance to the late Sir Clifford Allbuttstruck several of the British members present. OnJuly 22nd papers were read by Dr. R. 0. Moon onParacelsus and medicine, by Dr. E. B. Krumbhaar,of Philadelphia, on the medical literature of theseventeenth century as exemplified in the Elzevir Press,by Dr. H. Renaud, of Rabat, on some recent acquisi-tions to the history of Arabian medicine in Morocco,by Dr. Tricot Royen on the history of lepers atAntwerp and Louvain, by Dr. Wickersheimer on thesurgeon Jean Gispaden, who flourished at Grenobleand Annecy at the end of the fifteenth century, andby Mrs. Lilian Lindsay on the growth of dentistryin England from the earliest times to the beginning

of the nineteenth century. The afternoon meetingwas followed by a visit to the Rousseau Museumand the University library, where a number of rareworks were on view. In the evening the Congresswas received by the administrative Council of the cityof Geneva at the Palais Eynard.On the following day the Congress made a tour

on the lake and visited the Castle of Chillon, whenthe medical profession of Montreux provided lunch,and then to Evian-les-Bains, where a banquet wasoffered by the administration of the spa. On the24th Dr. Wierzbicki read a paper by himself andProf. A. Wrzosek on auscultation in Poland duringthe first half of the nineteenth century. Dr. J. W.Courtney, of Boston, dealt with Dr. Benjamin Water-house, " the Jenner of America," Dr. De Alcarde

of Madrid, exhibited the iron crown used in themiddle ages as a cure for certain diseases of the

head, and Dr. Bugiel described the life of the Polishstudents at the Paris Faculty of Medicine in thethirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Mr.C. J. S. Thompson, in the absence of the writer,read Dr. J. B. Hurry’s paper on I-Em-Hetep, primeminister to King Zoser, and afterwards the medicalgod of Egypt. The secretary of the Congress,Dr. de Peyer, contributed a communication on

his ancestor Jean Conrad Peyer, the anatomist andphysician of Schaffhausen. The Congress terminatedin the evening with a banquet at the Hotel desBergues.

The next Congress will be held at Leyden in the lastweek of July, 1927, under the presidency of Dr.J. G. de Lint.

______________

Annotations.

COMFORTABLE WARMTH FOR MENTALWORKERS.

"Ne quid nimia."

RESEARCHES carried out by Margaret Fishenden,D.Sc., and R. E. Willgress, B.Sc., on the heating ofrooms for sedentary workers indicate that the mostcomfortable conditions for mental work correspondwith an air temperature of about 55° F. in conjunctionwith the requisite intensity of radiation for warmth ;that is, a source of radiant heat with a horizontalcomponent of radiation equivalent to 75 Britishthermal units per square foot per hour, over theposition occupied by the worker. In their work theseauthors used a room of about 4000 cubic feet capacity,and compared three sources of radiant heat: (1) gasfire, (2) electric heater, (3) low-temperature (up to750° F.) specially designed heater (6 ft. square),consisting of a shallow sheet-iron box with asbestosback and baffied interior almost filling the hearthopening and heated internally by a series of Bunsenflames playing upon an arrangement of refractorymaterial. They preferred this low-temperature heaterbecause it gave a more uniform distribution of radiationwith height, the degree of comfort being greater thanwith either of the other two radiators. They foundthat with slightly higher air temperatures than 55° F.-e.g., 58° or 59° F.-a feeling of mental lassitudewas produced, although radiation was still required tomaintain warmth without physical exertion. Below51’ or 52° F. draughts or the effects of low airtemperature became very perceptible, and the typical" scorched on one side, chilly on the other " sensationsassociated with open-fire heating in cold weathercould be felt.

It is the relatively equable climate in Great Britainwhich renders open-fire heating practicable. Where

1 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. FuelResearch Board, Technical Paper No. 12. The Heating ofRooms : A Comparison of the Costs of Different Methods on theBasis of Warmth Comfort. By Margaret Fishenden, D.Sc.,F.Inst.P., assisted by R. E.’Willgress, B.Sc., A.R.C.Sc. H.M.Stationery Office. Pp. 48. 1s.