powerful enough to hold in check the development of bacteria are yet unable to interfere seriously with the life-processes of the cells of the human body.

When this view of the situation is taken, not only the chemical substances mentioned previously fall under some suspicion, but also certain household preservatives long sanctioned by custom. Spices such as cinnamon, oil of cloves, and the like are, so far as we know, as likely to have an injurious physiological effect when taken in small recurring quantities as are some of the "chemical" preservatives whose use is debarred by law. The chemicals deposited by wood smoke in meat are of a particularly objectionable nature, and their continuous ingestion may quite conceivably lead to serious injury.

One fact persistently comes to the front in any comprehensive study of the food-preservative question, namely, the need of further experiment and observation. We do not at present know what effect is produced in human beings of different ages and varying degrees of strength by the long-continued consumption of food preserved with particular chemicals.

There is, I think, only one way to get at the facts with regard to the various chemicals which have been used for the preservation of foods, and that is by trying them and keeping track of the results. To try them properly, on a sufficiently extensive scale and for a sufficiently long time, is, however, more of a task than can be undertaken by private investigators; for it is only by their continuous use for many years under competent supervision and control that we can hope to attain adequate information for final conclusions. Work of this sort should be done and could very well be done at large government institutions, as, for example, among certain classes of prison inmates. I do not know how many life prisoners or long-term prisoners may be available, but there must be an abundance of them. They would make better subjects than students on whom to try out a substance like boric acid. This, not because they are prisoners whose fate or health is of comparatively little consequence, but because they represent a body of persons whose mode of life is essentially uniform and whose health record could easily be kept for a long period of years. I am well aware that this suggestion will impress many persons as heartless and brutal, but such an experiment would be a mild and humane one when compared with the unrecorded boric acid experiments which have been made by manufacturers on all kinds and conditions of people. Prisoners are unfortunate in not being able to render any useful service to society. Probably not a few would be willing to co-operate in prolonged feeding experiments, similar to the short ones conducted by Dr. Wiley and by the Referee Board. Acceptable reward in the way of well-prepared food of sufficient variety would attract volunteers. If additional inducement were necessary, shortened term of service would probably appeal to many. And in the face of the fact that every civilized country is prepared to sacrifice thousands of its most virile citizens for the honor of its flag (and its foreign trade), the sentiment against endangering the health of a handful of men in the interest of all mankind is not particularly intelligent.[47]