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The Sale of Potable Spirits and the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts.
THE SALE OF POTABLE SPIRITS AND THE SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACTS,
611
any harmful inflaence on the nourishment and peritoneum for he found when acting as an anxsthetist that metabolism of the patient ? The lecturer maintained that there was always much shock when flushing was performed. it does not and he based this opinion both on clinical and Sponging is equally out of place, in his opinion, for the one The clinical evidence may be thing needful is the promotion of drainage through the on chemical evidence. summed up as follows: of 116 patients on whom the intestinal lymphatics and early intestinal peristalsis. These operation was performed for some non-malignant disease are favoured by a gastro-jejunostomy which permits the earlier administration and more rapid action of purgatives. more than two years ago 97 are at present alive and well and nine others are in a fairly satisfactory Mr. PATERSON also discussed congenital pyloric stenosis and As to the chemical evidence, Mr. PATERSON its treatment and he advised careful feeding for a time an condition. reported the results of careful analyses of the food then, if an operation should prove necessary, he was nclined and ejecta of three patients after gastro-jejunostomy to favour gastro-jejunostomy. With regard to of and these show clearly that the percentages of nitrogen the surgical treatment of cancer of the stomach space will and fat absorbed differ but little from those in healthy not allow us to follow the lecturer. Suffice it to say that this It has generally been held that the loss of also was discussed with the same care, thoroughness, and persons. nitrogen and fat by non-absorption was very great and this attention to detail which characterised the other portions of opinion was based on JÖSLIN’S investigations in 1897 but the lectures. Mr. FATERSON may be congratulated on having these were made on two patients on whom the gastro- made a notable addition to our knowledge of the surgery of jejunostomy had been done for the relief of pyloric the stomach, not by introducing any startling novelty in It must be obvious operation but by examining the reasons for and against the obstruction caused by carcinoma. that conclusions founded on cases such as these cannot various procedures already employed, by laying stress on influence in the smallest degree our decision as to details of importance in the operations, and by researches operating on non-malignant cases. It is thus seen that into the remote results of gastric surgery. the clinical and the chemico-pathological evidence brought forward by Mr. PATERSON agree in showing that the performance of anastomosis between the stomach and The Sale of Potable and the jejunum does not modify to any practical extent the Sale of Food and either the digestive or the absorbent power of the Acts. alimentary canal. In two cases the patients lived 18 and 19 years respectively in perfect health after the WE do not disguise a feeling of satisfaction that at length a reform which we have persistently advocated in the operation. Of late years nearly all surgeons have expressed a marked columns of THE LANCET for several years is promised in preference for posterior gastro-jejunostomy where the bowel regard to the sale of potable spirits. Five years ago there is brought through a hole in the mesocolon. A careful was no suggestion even that potable spirits might be examination of a long series of cases in which the posterior brought within the operation of the Sale of Food and operation has been done will show that it is by no means Drugs Acts with a view to the detection of foreign or added free from dangerous complications ; especially is there a spirit. In the report of THE LANCET Special Commission on liability to the production of an internal hernia by the Brandy, which was published in THE LANCET of Nov. 29tb, passage of small intestine through the hole made in the 1902, p. 1503, the hope, however, was expressed that the mesocolon. It is certain, too, that the posterior operation is chemical analysis of spirits would be conducted with more difficult and takes longer to perform than the anterior greater attention to detail than had hitherto been the and discusses the case at the hands of the public analyst in this country. question fully operation. Mr. PATERSON arrives at the conclusion, in which we concur, that the "We have no doubt," this report concludes, "that the anterior operation has much in its favour and that the methods of analyses as applied to brandy would, when antipathy to it displayed by mo3t surgeons is ill founded. applied to various whiskies, show significant differences of The treatment of non-perforating gastric ulcer received much composition sufficiently marked to enable a discrimination to attention in the lectures and the lecturer came to the be made between genuine or all-malt whisky and blended conclusion that in chronic gastric ulcerif after six weeks’ whiskies or purely grain spirit whisky." As the application complete rest on a milk diet, a further period of six weeks in this country of chemical analysis to potable spirit was on a milk diet with comparative rest, followed by three extended in the manner suggested by our Commissioners the months’ careful dieting, the patient is not free from definite fact was revealed that substitution was very largely symptoms, or if, after apparent cure, the patient has a practised by the spirit trade. The campaign against this relapse, operation is in the best interests of the patient." As practice commenced therefore with the publication of the to the operation to be performed Mr. PATERSON had no report on brandy in THE LANCET in 1902 and it was not doubt that gastro-enterostomy offers the best results, long before the assertions of our Commissioners were put both immediate and remote. When a gastric ulcer has to the practical test of proceedings in the police court. perforated no two opinions can exist as to the need Case after case was brought before the police magistrates for immediate closure of the perforation, but as to the and on the evidence of analysis convictions were obtained details much variety of opinion is to be found. The under the provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. It lecturer was entirely opposed to excising the ulcer, but is a significant fact that the success of these proceedings led he favoured the performance of a gastro.jejunostomy after to an immense shipment back to France and elsewhere of the closure of the perforation. He objected to flushing the brandy which its shippers knew perfectly well did not come exert
the question
Spirits
Drugs
HONOUR TO THE FOUNDER OF THE COAL-TAR COLOUR INDUSTRY.
612
up to the standard. The decision given in the well-known case by Mr. FORDHAM at the North London police
brandy
court on May 30th, 1904, clinched the matter, the prosecution being successful. Attention, then, naturally was turned to whisky and the public, we may be certain, showed a greater interest in this case,
for, deplore it
whisky is a very purity brandy concerned the popular beverage. few, since it is viewed as a spirit of medicinal importance, but the purity of whisky concerned the many who are regular drinkers of it. The health authorities of Islington decided to submit whisky to the same test but before doing so they very wisely determined to satisfy themThe
as
we
may,
of
standard could be set up, thus following the same line of procedure as was adopted by THE LANCET Commission in 1902-that is, in regard to brandy. A large number of genuine whiskies were obtained and analysed and a personal inspection of the distilleries in Scotland and Ireland was made. The inquiry culminated in proceedings being taken at the North London police court on Nov. 6th, 1905, against two vendors for selling " to the prejudice of the purchaser a certain article of food (to wit, an alcoholic liquid) which was not of the nature, substance, and quality of the article (to wit, Scotch whisky in the one case and Irish whisky in the other) demanded by the purchaser, the said article so sold containing a large pe:centage of patent-still (otherwise silent or neutral) spirit not whisky contrary to the spirit of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts of 1878 and 1899." The case occup’ed the attention of the court on 12 occasions and the hearing of the evidence was concluded on Feb. 12th. A precis of this evidence was published from time to time in our columns. The witnesses comprised medical men, chemists and distillers, and various trade representatives. The analyst for the prosecution fixed as the result of his examination of a great number of genuine whiskies the minimum coefficient of secondary products at 380 parts per 100,000 parts of absolute alcohol. In the case of the disputed sample of Scotch whisky the coefficient found was 110’5 and in that of the Irish whisky it was 174’ 5. The inference was made that each sample consisted of patent-still, silent, or neutral spirit and it is interesting to note how the evidence of chemical analysis alone was entirely supported by the subsequent statement of a witness, called by the defence, who had supplied the spirit. He selves
as
to whether
a
agreed that the sample was practically young patent spirit with a "dash"" of pot-still malt spirit. In the opinion of the magistrate spirit produced by the patent still from a mash consisting to a large extent of maize to which a "dash " of whisky made from barley malt in a pot still had been added cannot be considered
as either Scotch or Irish He therefore defendants and found convicted both whisky. that each had sold an article of food which was not of the nature, substance, and quality demanded and that the sales in both cases were to the prejudice of the purchaser. We entirely agree with this opinion and it is exactly this opinion which we have expressed in these columns now for several years past. The fact is that for far too long a time the trade has not been honest in this with the public matter but at last it has to reckon with the potentialities of chemical
which has brought it to book in a way which it could not have foreshadowed. The question is not what the public prefers or which spirit is least harmful to health but wholly and solely whether the whisky generally sold is supplied under its proper name. We maintain that it has not been so supplied and the representatives of the trade are bound to admit as much, if only they will speak with candour. There is no law to prevent the sale as such of patent spirit or of blends of patent spirit and malt whisky, and if the public showed a preference for milder spirit than all-malt spirit the trade would not have been prejudiced if the label had been used to exactly the nature of the contents of the bottle. As a matter of fact, the label invariably has been a gross misrepresentation of the truth. The direction of reform is clear and we are gratified to find that the principle of honest labelling for which we have long fought in these columns promises at last to be upheld by the statutes of the country. We are proud to think that we laid the foundations of this successful crusade against the adulteration of potable spirits and we congratulate the Islington health authorities and their officers who conducted the prosecution on having used with such excellent results the means which brought the truth to light and which were placed at their disposal in the columns of THE LANCET a little over three years ago.
analysis
disclose
Annotations. " Ne quid nimis."
HONOUR TO THE FOUNDER OF THE COALTAR COLOUR INDUSTRY. FIFTY years ago William Henry Perkin, happily still us and enjoying good health, discovered mauveine, the first dye obtained from the coal-tar derivative aniline. The beautiful violet substance was prepared by acting upon aniline with chromic acid. This discovery was the foundation of an enormous industry, representing at the present time a capital of several millions of money, but unfortunately the application of Perkin’s discovery found practical development not in this country but abroad and Germany may be reckoned to be by far the largest coal-tar colour producer in the world. It is very impressive to think what a feast of colour Perkin’s simple discovery placed at man’s disposal and so rapidly have fresh colours been discovered by similar processes that practically all the natural colours have been displaced. Perkin’s discovery also has had its share in contributing very considerably to the advance of medical science. The differentiation and recognition of pathogenic organisms have only been made possible by the use of aniline dyes and in histology the aniline stains are well-nigh indispensable. Medical men will therefore join in welcoming the movement organised by many eminent scientific men to do honour to the founder of the coal-tar colour industry Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., on the occasion of the jubilee of his great discovery. An appeal is being made in this and for abroad country subscriptions for the purpose of carrying out the following objects : (1) the presentation to Dr. Perkin for his life-time of an oil portrait of himself, executed by an eminent artist, the portrait to become the property of the nation at his death ; (2) the execution of a marble bust of Dr. Perkin to be placed in the rooms of the
amongst
611
any harmful inflaence on the nourishment and peritoneum for he found when acting as an anxsthetist that metabolism of the patient ? The lecturer maintained that there was always much shock when flushing was performed. it does not and he based this opinion both on clinical and Sponging is equally out of place, in his opinion, for the one The clinical evidence may be thing needful is the promotion of drainage through the on chemical evidence. summed up as follows: of 116 patients on whom the intestinal lymphatics and early intestinal peristalsis. These operation was performed for some non-malignant disease are favoured by a gastro-jejunostomy which permits the earlier administration and more rapid action of purgatives. more than two years ago 97 are at present alive and well and nine others are in a fairly satisfactory Mr. PATERSON also discussed congenital pyloric stenosis and As to the chemical evidence, Mr. PATERSON its treatment and he advised careful feeding for a time an condition. reported the results of careful analyses of the food then, if an operation should prove necessary, he was nclined and ejecta of three patients after gastro-jejunostomy to favour gastro-jejunostomy. With regard to of and these show clearly that the percentages of nitrogen the surgical treatment of cancer of the stomach space will and fat absorbed differ but little from those in healthy not allow us to follow the lecturer. Suffice it to say that this It has generally been held that the loss of also was discussed with the same care, thoroughness, and persons. nitrogen and fat by non-absorption was very great and this attention to detail which characterised the other portions of opinion was based on JÖSLIN’S investigations in 1897 but the lectures. Mr. FATERSON may be congratulated on having these were made on two patients on whom the gastro- made a notable addition to our knowledge of the surgery of jejunostomy had been done for the relief of pyloric the stomach, not by introducing any startling novelty in It must be obvious operation but by examining the reasons for and against the obstruction caused by carcinoma. that conclusions founded on cases such as these cannot various procedures already employed, by laying stress on influence in the smallest degree our decision as to details of importance in the operations, and by researches operating on non-malignant cases. It is thus seen that into the remote results of gastric surgery. the clinical and the chemico-pathological evidence brought forward by Mr. PATERSON agree in showing that the performance of anastomosis between the stomach and The Sale of Potable and the jejunum does not modify to any practical extent the Sale of Food and either the digestive or the absorbent power of the Acts. alimentary canal. In two cases the patients lived 18 and 19 years respectively in perfect health after the WE do not disguise a feeling of satisfaction that at length a reform which we have persistently advocated in the operation. Of late years nearly all surgeons have expressed a marked columns of THE LANCET for several years is promised in preference for posterior gastro-jejunostomy where the bowel regard to the sale of potable spirits. Five years ago there is brought through a hole in the mesocolon. A careful was no suggestion even that potable spirits might be examination of a long series of cases in which the posterior brought within the operation of the Sale of Food and operation has been done will show that it is by no means Drugs Acts with a view to the detection of foreign or added free from dangerous complications ; especially is there a spirit. In the report of THE LANCET Special Commission on liability to the production of an internal hernia by the Brandy, which was published in THE LANCET of Nov. 29tb, passage of small intestine through the hole made in the 1902, p. 1503, the hope, however, was expressed that the mesocolon. It is certain, too, that the posterior operation is chemical analysis of spirits would be conducted with more difficult and takes longer to perform than the anterior greater attention to detail than had hitherto been the and discusses the case at the hands of the public analyst in this country. question fully operation. Mr. PATERSON arrives at the conclusion, in which we concur, that the "We have no doubt," this report concludes, "that the anterior operation has much in its favour and that the methods of analyses as applied to brandy would, when antipathy to it displayed by mo3t surgeons is ill founded. applied to various whiskies, show significant differences of The treatment of non-perforating gastric ulcer received much composition sufficiently marked to enable a discrimination to attention in the lectures and the lecturer came to the be made between genuine or all-malt whisky and blended conclusion that in chronic gastric ulcerif after six weeks’ whiskies or purely grain spirit whisky." As the application complete rest on a milk diet, a further period of six weeks in this country of chemical analysis to potable spirit was on a milk diet with comparative rest, followed by three extended in the manner suggested by our Commissioners the months’ careful dieting, the patient is not free from definite fact was revealed that substitution was very largely symptoms, or if, after apparent cure, the patient has a practised by the spirit trade. The campaign against this relapse, operation is in the best interests of the patient." As practice commenced therefore with the publication of the to the operation to be performed Mr. PATERSON had no report on brandy in THE LANCET in 1902 and it was not doubt that gastro-enterostomy offers the best results, long before the assertions of our Commissioners were put both immediate and remote. When a gastric ulcer has to the practical test of proceedings in the police court. perforated no two opinions can exist as to the need Case after case was brought before the police magistrates for immediate closure of the perforation, but as to the and on the evidence of analysis convictions were obtained details much variety of opinion is to be found. The under the provisions of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. It lecturer was entirely opposed to excising the ulcer, but is a significant fact that the success of these proceedings led he favoured the performance of a gastro.jejunostomy after to an immense shipment back to France and elsewhere of the closure of the perforation. He objected to flushing the brandy which its shippers knew perfectly well did not come exert
the question
Spirits
Drugs
HONOUR TO THE FOUNDER OF THE COAL-TAR COLOUR INDUSTRY.
612
up to the standard. The decision given in the well-known case by Mr. FORDHAM at the North London police
brandy
court on May 30th, 1904, clinched the matter, the prosecution being successful. Attention, then, naturally was turned to whisky and the public, we may be certain, showed a greater interest in this case,
for, deplore it
whisky is a very purity brandy concerned the popular beverage. few, since it is viewed as a spirit of medicinal importance, but the purity of whisky concerned the many who are regular drinkers of it. The health authorities of Islington decided to submit whisky to the same test but before doing so they very wisely determined to satisfy themThe
as
we
may,
of
standard could be set up, thus following the same line of procedure as was adopted by THE LANCET Commission in 1902-that is, in regard to brandy. A large number of genuine whiskies were obtained and analysed and a personal inspection of the distilleries in Scotland and Ireland was made. The inquiry culminated in proceedings being taken at the North London police court on Nov. 6th, 1905, against two vendors for selling " to the prejudice of the purchaser a certain article of food (to wit, an alcoholic liquid) which was not of the nature, substance, and quality of the article (to wit, Scotch whisky in the one case and Irish whisky in the other) demanded by the purchaser, the said article so sold containing a large pe:centage of patent-still (otherwise silent or neutral) spirit not whisky contrary to the spirit of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts of 1878 and 1899." The case occup’ed the attention of the court on 12 occasions and the hearing of the evidence was concluded on Feb. 12th. A precis of this evidence was published from time to time in our columns. The witnesses comprised medical men, chemists and distillers, and various trade representatives. The analyst for the prosecution fixed as the result of his examination of a great number of genuine whiskies the minimum coefficient of secondary products at 380 parts per 100,000 parts of absolute alcohol. In the case of the disputed sample of Scotch whisky the coefficient found was 110’5 and in that of the Irish whisky it was 174’ 5. The inference was made that each sample consisted of patent-still, silent, or neutral spirit and it is interesting to note how the evidence of chemical analysis alone was entirely supported by the subsequent statement of a witness, called by the defence, who had supplied the spirit. He selves
as
to whether
a
agreed that the sample was practically young patent spirit with a "dash"" of pot-still malt spirit. In the opinion of the magistrate spirit produced by the patent still from a mash consisting to a large extent of maize to which a "dash " of whisky made from barley malt in a pot still had been added cannot be considered
as either Scotch or Irish He therefore defendants and found convicted both whisky. that each had sold an article of food which was not of the nature, substance, and quality demanded and that the sales in both cases were to the prejudice of the purchaser. We entirely agree with this opinion and it is exactly this opinion which we have expressed in these columns now for several years past. The fact is that for far too long a time the trade has not been honest in this with the public matter but at last it has to reckon with the potentialities of chemical
which has brought it to book in a way which it could not have foreshadowed. The question is not what the public prefers or which spirit is least harmful to health but wholly and solely whether the whisky generally sold is supplied under its proper name. We maintain that it has not been so supplied and the representatives of the trade are bound to admit as much, if only they will speak with candour. There is no law to prevent the sale as such of patent spirit or of blends of patent spirit and malt whisky, and if the public showed a preference for milder spirit than all-malt spirit the trade would not have been prejudiced if the label had been used to exactly the nature of the contents of the bottle. As a matter of fact, the label invariably has been a gross misrepresentation of the truth. The direction of reform is clear and we are gratified to find that the principle of honest labelling for which we have long fought in these columns promises at last to be upheld by the statutes of the country. We are proud to think that we laid the foundations of this successful crusade against the adulteration of potable spirits and we congratulate the Islington health authorities and their officers who conducted the prosecution on having used with such excellent results the means which brought the truth to light and which were placed at their disposal in the columns of THE LANCET a little over three years ago.
analysis
disclose
Annotations. " Ne quid nimis."
HONOUR TO THE FOUNDER OF THE COALTAR COLOUR INDUSTRY. FIFTY years ago William Henry Perkin, happily still us and enjoying good health, discovered mauveine, the first dye obtained from the coal-tar derivative aniline. The beautiful violet substance was prepared by acting upon aniline with chromic acid. This discovery was the foundation of an enormous industry, representing at the present time a capital of several millions of money, but unfortunately the application of Perkin’s discovery found practical development not in this country but abroad and Germany may be reckoned to be by far the largest coal-tar colour producer in the world. It is very impressive to think what a feast of colour Perkin’s simple discovery placed at man’s disposal and so rapidly have fresh colours been discovered by similar processes that practically all the natural colours have been displaced. Perkin’s discovery also has had its share in contributing very considerably to the advance of medical science. The differentiation and recognition of pathogenic organisms have only been made possible by the use of aniline dyes and in histology the aniline stains are well-nigh indispensable. Medical men will therefore join in welcoming the movement organised by many eminent scientific men to do honour to the founder of the coal-tar colour industry Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., on the occasion of the jubilee of his great discovery. An appeal is being made in this and for abroad country subscriptions for the purpose of carrying out the following objects : (1) the presentation to Dr. Perkin for his life-time of an oil portrait of himself, executed by an eminent artist, the portrait to become the property of the nation at his death ; (2) the execution of a marble bust of Dr. Perkin to be placed in the rooms of the
amongst