With the windows dropped at the top, and the transoms open, little more will be required in clear weather. On damp and stormy days, a large circular register, placed in the centre of the ceiling, and directly connected with the ventilator on the main roof, will be found sufficient. The ceiling registers in the waterclosets and hat and cloak rooms may be connected with the main ventilators by metal pipes, an up-going current being maintained in them at all times by artificial heat.

A thorough "flushing" of the rooms with outside air should be insisted upon, both in summer and winter, before and after sessions, and at recess. As soon as the children leave the room, all doors and windows should be opened to their fullest extent, and the air be allowed to sweep through them unimpeded. With a proper apparatus, the required temperature of the room will be quickly restored.

I would say, in conclusion, that the buildings shown in both designs can be easily doubled in capacity by placing a floor above the one now shown. As I said before, I have not tried in either design to produce a cheap building, but have endeavored, by the use of the best materials, combined with sound construction and a careful consideration of the requirements of the occupants, to show that structures can be built having all the comforts of ordinary ones, without their objectionable features.

While many of the theories I advance may be new, and consequently not looked upon with favor, it will still be acknowledged that an honesty of purpose in my plea for better buildings for the young has alone actuated me. If the perusal of these pages will in any way help to improve the condition of existing schools, or show a better way to construct those about to be built, my aim will be accomplished.

14

ADULTERATION OF FOOD.

BY EDWIN J. BARTLETT, M. D., ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, HANOVER, N. H.

The subject of food adulteration is now well before the public, and merits all the attention which it is receiving. The sources of information are abundant, and constantly increasing, so that to any who desire information a variety of valuable material is accessible. The literature is yet largely foreign, because other countries have been longer in the field. Of this general literature a list has been issued by the New York Board of Health (No. 40). Excellent lists, classified by subjects and including articles in periodical literature, are appended to the chapters of Blyth's "Practical Chemistry." The monthly Bulletins of Medical Literature from the Surgeon-General's office enter, under "State Medicine," new publications upon this subject. The reports presented to the 46th and 47th Congress, the publications of the National Board of Health, the Canadian reports, the reports of state boards of health, a special column in the Sanitary Engineer, and occasional articles in the Chemical, Medical, Microscopical, and Trade journals constitute sources of information upon this side of the Atlantic. Blyth's "Practical Chemistry" and Hassall's "Food and its Adulterations" are excellent general reference books, while from the lists mentioned above monographs in English, French, and German may readily be selected.

For years it has been necessary, in the more advanced countries of Europe, to regulate by law the sale of articles of food. England, Germany, France, Sweden, Holland, have more or less efficient laws, and the large number of convictions when these laws have been enforced have proved their necessity. From the investigations preliminary to legislation and attendant upon the

execution of the laws, from the reports of the analysts and boards of health, much statistical information is obtainable concerning affairs abroad. It appears that even now, after several years of prosecution, nearly a quarter of the samples examined are adulterated, while before legislation adulteration rose to perhaps fifty or sixty per cent. Indeed, one authority declared that all the food which could be adulterated, and which it paid to adulterate, was so treated. It is reasonable enough that in this country, whose merchants and manufacturers are not slow in seizing opportunities for gain, the tricks of trade, somewhat suppressed in foreign lands, should greatly flourish, and all the more from the general lack of legal interference. Moreover the country is large, many of its communities are young, people are busy, and, like art and science generally, daintiness about food is a plant of later growth. Chemists, with a few honorable exceptions, have busied themselves in employments more lucrative than work for the public good.

Undoubtedly the people could find under the common law protection against this as well as against many other forms of fraud, but they are always slow to avail themselves of such protection. They have not thought at all of the matter, or they have not believed their food was adulterated, or they have considered themselves very comfortable notwithstanding, or with a little in'dignation they have not cared to incur the odium and expense of legal proceedings about what involved no more than a trifle after all. Public opinion seldom supports a man in making what seems a large disturbance over a small matter. Even in the case of special legislation, a law which does not provide for inspection and analysis by public officers, at public expense, soon ends in failure.

Till within a very few years, any inquirer into the extent of food adulteration was compelled to go across the ocean for his figures. Anything like systematic examination and report was unknown in America (Canada began, 1876). This condition is past; and while much remains to be done, a fair beginning has been made. Many cities have provision for the analysis of special articles of food; a number of states have, through their health boards, had special investigation into the prevalence of fraud in this respect, and have already enacted special laws, or have

provided for investigation and legislation; the National Board of Trade has interested itself in the subject, and to its committee is due the draft of the law proposed for all the states, and already enacted in New York (see page 219); the National Board of Health has conducted an inquiry with many analyses; two House committees have reported upon the subject; the Canadian government has published six carefully arranged and tabulated reports; New Jersey has accomplished through its board of health a thorough examination of the food sold in its markets; Wisconsin has only a little less thoroughly examined its food; New York will soon give to the public the report of its very able Board of Analysts; Michigan, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, Iowa, and the District of Columbia have, through legislatures or boards of health, shown a lively interest in the matter.

All this is the token of no foray against harmless windmills, nor yet, unless in the widest meaning, a struggle for life. The grinning death's-head of the skeleton that sits in the pot, and chuckles because of the witches' broth within, is too sensational a picture for to-day. Now, a mighty dollar, with a shrewd wink upon the eye of the glorious fowl, would be a much more suitable device for a treatise upon food adulteration. It is honesty, not existence, for the most part money, not health,-that is at stake.

A somewhat careful examination of published statistics has been made. It cannot be that nearly all published are here included: they are too widely scattered. It is impossible, too, that any collection of figures upon a matter like this should perfectly give the truth. Here, for instance, are included the Canadian statistics where the ratio of adulteration is steadily diminishing; in many cases samples are subjected to examination, not at random, but because for some reason suspected; and then there is a noticeable tendency to accumulate a large number of figures upon substances frequently adulterated, while there are but few examinations of substances comparatively pure. But, for those given below, this may be stated: They are all from the United States and Canada; they are recent; they are from reliable sources; nearly all are published over the name of the analyst; where the analyst has not chosen to declare adulteration, the writer has not essayed to do so for him; samples reported as doubtful are included in the totals, but in computing the per cent. are practically