EFFECTS OF ALI’MINA SALL’S ON THE: GSSTRIC JL‘ICE, EI’C.
III.-‘l”~: E F F E ~OFT ALUMISA ~ SALTS ON
THE
13
GASTRIC JUICEI N THE
PR@CESS O F DIGESTION.
Br HENRYA. MOTT, JR.,PH.D.
T h e introduction of alum into flour for various purposes, has been a trick of the baker for the past one hundred years ; fortunately, its introduction is limited now to a few unscrupulous bakers-as in England, France and Germany, it is an offense punishable by tiur and imprisonment, to iide alum in any connection with articles of food. r . 1 hat alum is a poison, nilmerotis experiments have demonstrated. T h e experiments conditcted by Devergie and Orfila on living animals, with aliini, clearly demonstrate its poisonous nature. They conclusively demonstrated that alum, in its hydrated and anhgdrouh (or calcined, exniccaterl) condition, has a corrosive action on the rnuvous membrane ; and, further, that it is sure t o produce vomiting, constiIiation, extreme weakness, and loss of appetite, even i n very small closes ; and in such cases, if either by accident or intention, vomiting is prevented, death is sure to result. Several cases of poisoning by the accidental use of alum have been reported from time to tinir. A Mrs. B., reported by Dr. Foiirnier, ‘‘ took by mistake a swallow of about three teaspoolis of a solution of 16 grms of calcined alum in a liter of water. She at once complained of nausea, severe heat, tearing pains iit all parts in contact with the alum ; her pulse had become rapid, and the face animated ; the muscles had been agitated by slight convulsive movements ; the desire t o vomit had increased ; the thirst had bevonie inextinguishable.” Another case is reported by Dr. Ricquet, where a Mr. V. AI., wishing t o purge himself, ordered some sulphate of magnesia, but by mistake alum was given him ; on dissolving 30 grains i n water and drinking the sanie, he succumbed after horrible pains, eight hor~rs after taking the poisoil. Besides the last mentioned case of death resulting from taking alum internally, must be mentioiled three cases of alum poisoning by T’on Hasselt, Taylor and Husemann, and two cases by Tardieuall of which terminated fatally. Tardieu speaks of a woman who murdered her three months’ old child by administering about 0.9 grm of alum. W h e n alum is used in flour in the manufacture of bread, some of the alum is decomposed by the phosphates of the flour, and phosphate
of alumina, basic sulphate of aluniiwi, and some unaltered alum, are left in the bread. T h e introduction of d u m as a substitute for cream of tartar in baking powders, is a recent fraud on the public, and, strange to say, has been upheld by a few men, who, it woiilcl be WIJposed, would condemti its introduction in tlie strongest, terms. In :in alum hakiiig p o w d e r , anotlier cheniical uliange takes place-owing t o the presence o f bicarbonate of sotla-and hydrate o f a;umina is formed, a ~ e r yS(Jl1lble niodificatioii of :tluniin:t, :is coinpared with the phoslihate 01'basic s111phate-l)ut only just SO much of the hydrate of aliiniiiia is formed as there is hiearbonnte of' ~oc1:tpresent i i i t l i c powdtar to f o r m it-aiid as the nliini is a l w a y ~i i i ( ~ s ( ~ c ~ sbeing s, the acid of the c.ornl)ound, there is also formed p1iospli;ite of d u n i i i i a , hasic sulphate of nliiinina, arid soiiie alum is left unaltered. Some of the mannfacturei~sof aluni haking powdcrs liave induced a few sci,entific men, besides saying tlwre is no nlnni in the baked product, to say that the alumina hydrate of t h t b aliiiri is rendered insoliible by the processes of haking, and that it would pass through the system like clay, or any other inert siil)stanci.. r . I his iniglit seem plausible at tirst thought, but wlieii we consider that it take5 ( ~ i i l yten to twenty rninutrs i i i a suitable oven t o bake biscuit, :inti that, after the biscuit is baked, it contains, itself, aboiit fifty p i ' ceiit. of xttci', we see h o w utterly impossible it would be t o drive off tiit. wiiter of coinbinatioii of tlic hydrate of alumina, so as to reiitler i t iiiaolut)le, as :duniiiiic oxide. It I i : t i ~ l l ys c ~ i i i snwessnry for any experiments on animals to decide a question o f this nature, so tl?at the use of alum baking powders can be coiitleiniied; f o r a scieutitic consideration of tlie subject can lead to 110 other (:oiicIiision. Still, as Prof. Patrick, of Missouri, conducted sorile experimeiits o i i cats, t o sustain his position in stating that nlum baking powders a r e riot injurious to health, I thought it advisable t o c m d a c t a series of experirneiits on dogs, in search of the truth. 'I'hrongh the cwiii-tesy of the C'oiriiiiissioriers of the Dock Departmerit, I s e c u r c d a shed o i i their premises foot of Sixteenth street :md East River. This shed I Iiad eo*iipletelyreinodeled into a suitable house, havirig the cliniensioiis of about 16xl4xl'L feet high. Sixteen stalls were made inside, having the cliriierisiorls of :j.& feet by 2 feet by 2 4 feet. T h e bottom of each compartment w a s covered with straw, making a pleasant bed for the dogs. I then secured I6 dogs f t w r r i the 1)ouiit1, which were all carefully examined to see if they were in a perfect state of health. S o n e but strong, healthy dogs were selected. T h e I,reetl, age, food, c d o r ant1 weight, of cvery dog
EFFECTS OF ALUMINA SALTS ON THE GASTRIC JUICE,
mc.
15
was carefully noted. Each dog was then consigned t o a stall, and securely chained, and they all received a number, from one to sixteen. I commenced my experiments on the 9th of September, and finished December the 3d. My assistant was with the dogs from morning until night, and never left the animals without first securely bolting and locking the dog-house. No stranger was allowed to enter the house unaccompanied either by myself or by my assistant, and the dogs never received a mouthful of food or anything else from any one except my assistant and myself. I will now detail the result of my experiments: DOG NU.
I.
Breed-Coac h. Age-1 year. Heal th-Perfect. Food-Bread and crackers. Color-Spotted black and white. Weight-% lbs. T o this dog, on the morning of the 9th of September, was given 8 biscuitp, a t ten minutes past eight o'clock. The biscuits were made b y myself, as follows: 1 quart sifted flour; 20 teaspoom alum baking powder; 2 cups of water; 1 tahlespoon VI butter. 22 biscuits made, weighing 27 02. Time of baking, 20 minutes. A t half-past eleven, the dog was taken very sick, vomiting profusely ; his vim and brightness of eye had departed, and he trembled considerably in his limbs. A t four o'clock, five more biscuits of the same nature were given, but he would not eat them. The next morning, eight more fresh biscuits were given him; he ate only part of one. During the day previous he was quite loose in the bowels; but he had now become very constipated, and. i t was only with great effort and pain he was able to relieve himself for several days. On September I l t h , as he would not eat the biscuits alone, they were mixed with meat; this he ate, but remained very dejected in spirits and extremely constipated. To dog No. V. the same food was given. The description of the dog was as follows: Breed-Terrier. Age-9 vears. Health-Perfect. Food-Crackers. Color-Brindle. Weight-30 Ibs.
A t $. 15 on September gth, eight biscuits, made as described above, were given. A t 12.15, the dog becanir very sick nrid vomited pronerc p i w n him, but he woiiltl fusely. At 4 I>. M., tive iiiorc t)ihI., aild ag:tiii :tt 2.15 1'. v. A t :{ o'clock, one ounc'e more of tlic hydrate of alumina was injected; a t 6 I > , M. hc vomited; he also vomited during the night, and was very constipated. 8.45 the next morning, about one oun(:e more of the hydrate of alrimiria was injected; he vomited at 11.45, and again a t 12.58. A t 4 . b ~ &I., one-quarter ounce more of hydrate was injected, the dog vomiting during the night,. The dog no\v was so cwnipletely under the influence of the hydrale of aluriiiua, that I fully believe lie would have died if any more alainiiia was injected. H e was a very sick dog, trembling in his knees when Iic stootl ill),and wanting all airibition ;ind vim. l[is eye was dull, all the Iwightness had departed. 011 the next morning, a t 8 o'clock, I killed the dog, collected sorile of his blood, ant1 took his liver for analysis. I separated from the blood, by 11.
EFFECT8 OF ALUMINA SALTS ON THE GASTRIC JUICE, FTC.
23
analysis, a considerable quantity of alumina, a8 also from the liver. T h e silica and phosphate of lime were first remor-ed before the alumina was precipitated. My next experiment was on a black and tan dog in Prof. Arnold's laboratory. I supplied Prof. Arnold with freshly precipitated hydrate of alumina, and he fed the animal with 12 oz. of the same during four days, when the dog was killed. I received the kidney, heart and blood , for analysis, from all of which I separated out alumina in large quantities. Professor Arnold examined the intestinal canal, finding the upper portion of the duodenum much inflamed, and also analyzed the spleen and liver, proving there the presence of alumina. The next dog experimented 011 was also a black and tan. To this dog Prof. Arnold fed 5 0 2 . precipitated phosphate of alumina (containing 75 per cent. of water), mixed with meat. On killing the dog, I took the spleen and liver for analysis, and separated out large quantities of alumina from them. Prof. Arnold examined the stomachy which he found congested, and also analyzed the heart, finding alumina. It has never been asserted by me that a perRon eating one biscuit made with an alum baking powder, would suffer from the alumina salts present in i t ; but it is certain that persons continually eating biscuits made with an alum powder will suffer from its poisonous effects, as the alumina salts, instead of papsing out of the system, accumulate in the various organs, interfering with their proper functions. The following experiment .vi11 show the amount of alum necessarily present in well-baked biscuits. Sifted flour taken ( 1 quart). ................. 153 oz. Alum baking powder (2 teaspoons). . . . . . . . . . . Q oz. 1) oz. L a r d . . ................................... Milk ...................................... 102 oz. Weight of d o u g h . . ...................... 28;b oz. Weight of (hot) biscuit.. ................... 24) oz. 3&oz. Loss in baking ............................ Weight of biscuit (cold). ................... 234 oz. Loss on cooling.. ......................... 14 oz. T h e baking took 15 minutes. The biscuits were heavy. Another experiment was conducted, using three teaspoons of an alum baking powder. The biscuits were quite light, showing that three teaspoons of the powder are necessary. 2 teaspoons of alum powder weighed.. ..... 234 grains. 3
"
(6
66
"
....... 351
"
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Air'ALYBES OF THE AGHEB OF' CERTAIX WEEDS.
'Flie baking powder contained about 30 per cent. of burnt alum. Therefore, there was introduced into 21) oz. of biscuit, 105.3 grains of burnt alum, or \\-hat is equivalent t o 194.2 1 grains of common alum; and, as oiie biqcuit would contain 3 yraitis of hydrate of alumina, a person eating four of these biscuits a t :t meal, would therefore introduce into his 3toniac.h 12 grains of hydrate uf alumina.
IV.--ANAI.Y~ES (IF BY
THE
F P
ASHESO F CERTAINWEEDS. I)ISXIXOTON.
%'ith a 1 iew of obtaining sonie knowledge of the extent t o which certain soils contain available, iriorganic plant-food, I have undertaken, in the folloN ing analysis, to aspertain the comparative demand6 made by certain wide-spread and abundant weeds, for the main constituents of plant ashes, though, also, determining other constituents which have little bearing on tlie rolution of this problem. These plants were gathered just previous t o flowering, each from a locality in which they were growing quite abundantly,* taking aa a sample the whole previous growth of the season. Not having taken any special precautions to exclude the fine, clay dust of this locality, a small amount of a!uinina, iron, nimganese and silica, is, no doubt, to he thus accounted for. Since yome weeds are known in different localities by bo different nanieh, I give, also, the botanical names. T h e plants selected were tlw followitlg : 1. Broom sedge ( L ~ / l ( h p f / ( J / l wopctri7c.s),beard grass, 2. Wire grab5 (Eleusi/c~ hitlivci), dog's-tail grass. .
