ing the name of the vendor, assigning a number to each sample, which number is the only distinguishing mark for the analyst. One collector may use for this purpose the odd numbers in succession from 1 to 9999, the second the even numbers from 2 to 10,000, while the third may use the numbers from 10,000 up. Each of the two former would begin with a lettered series, as, for instance, A, numbering his samples 1A, 3A, 5A, 7A, etc., or 2A, 4A, 6A, etc., till he reached 10,000, then beginning on series B and so on. If the analyst is to be kept in ignorance of the brand or manufacturer in the case of package goods, the collector must remove from the original package sufficient of the sample for the needs of the analyst, and deliver it to the latter in a plain package, bearing simply the name under which the article was sold and the number. Such precautions are, however, not always practicable and depend largely on local regulations. The analyst reports the result of the analysis of each sample with the number thereof on a library card, with appropriate blanks both for data of analysis and for data of collection, the latter to be filled by the collector from his book after the analyst has handed in the card with the data of analysis. This system of recording and reporting analyses has been successfully used for years by the Department of Food and Drug Inspection of the Massachusetts State Board of Health.

Legal Precautions.-The laboratory of the public analyst should preferably be provided with a locker for each collector, to which access may be had only by that collector and the analyst, so that in the absence of the latter, or when circumstances are such that the samples cannot be delivered to him personally, there may be such safeguards with respect to lock and key as to leave no question in the courts as to safe delivery and freedom from accidental tampering. With such a system it is unnecessary for the collector to place under seal the various samples submitted for analysis. Unless such lockers or their equivalent are employed, it is best to carefully seal all samples.

Such a system of lockers for use with three collectors is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The same careful attention should afterwards be given to keep the specimens in a secure place both before and during the process of analysis, and to label with care all precipitates, filtrates, and solutions having to do with the samples, especially when several processes are being simultaneously conducted, in order that there may be no doubt whatever as to their identity. The importance of precautions of this kind in connection with court work can hardly be too strongly emphasized.

Practical Enforcement of the Food Law.-In the case of foods actually found adulterated, there are three practical methods of suppressing their further sale, viz., by publication, by notification, and by prosecution. These may be separately employed or used in connection with each other, according to the powers conferred by law on the commission, board, or official having in charge the enforcement of the law, and according to the discretion of such official.

Publication. Under the laws of some states, the only means of protecting the people lies in publishing lists of adulterated foods with their brands and manufacturers' names and addresses in periodical bulletins or reports. Sometimes it is considered best to publish for the information of the public lists of unadulterated brands as well, and, again, it is held that only the offenders should thus be advertised.

Such publication, by keeping the trade informed of the blacklisted brands and manufacturers, certainly has a decidedly beneficial effect in reducing adulteration, and involves less trouble and expense than any other method. It is obviously an advantage, however, in addition to this to be able in certain extreme cases to use more stringent methods when necessary.

Notification and Prosecution.-The adulteration of food is best held in check in localities where under the law cases may be brought in court and are occasionally so brought. The mere power to prosecute is in itself a safeguard, even though that power is not frequently exercised. Under a conservative enforcement of the law, actual prosecution should be made as a last resort. Neither the number of court cases brought by a food commission nor the large ratio of court cases to samples found adulterated are criteria of its good work. Except in extreme cases, it is frequently found far more effective to notify a violator of the law, especially if it is a first offense, giving warning that subsequent infraction will be followed by prosecution. Such a notification frequently serves to stop all further trouble at once and with the minimum of expense. Instances are frequent in Massachusetts where, by such simple notification, widely distributed brands of adulterated foods have been immediately withdrawn from sale.

Massachusetts was the first of all the states to enact pure-food legislation, and since the year 1883 has had a well-established system of inspection, prosecuting cases under its laws through the Food and Drug Department of the State Board of Health. Cases are brought in court with practically no expense for legal services. Complaints are entered by

the collector, or, as he is termed, inspector, who makes complaint not in his official capacity, but as a citizen who under the law has been sold a food found to be adulterated, and who is entitled to conduct his own case, which he does with the aid of the analyst and such other witnesses as he may see fit to employ. Experience is readily acquired by the inspector in conducting such cases in the lower police or municipal courts, where they are first tried, and years ago the services of legal counsel in Massachusetts were dispensed with as superfluous. Where such a practice is in vogue an intelligent inspector must of course be chosen with reference to his ability to do this court work. The food laws are few and simple, as are also the court decisions rendered under them, so that it is no great task for the inspector to become much more familiar with them than the average general lawyer whom he meets in court and who not infrequently consults the inspector for information regarding these laws.

Statistics in the annual reports of the Massachusetts Board show with what uniform success these trials have been conducted. While more often settled in the lower courts, occasional appeal cases are carried to the superior courts, where the services of the regular district attorney are of course availed of in prosecuting the case.

Such a system as the above, while admirable for a state or city after long experience in the enforcement of food laws in the courts, is obviously impracticable with newly established systems of state food inspection.

CHAPTER II.

THE LABORATORY AND ITS EQUIPMENT.

Location. The selection of a location for a food laboratory cannot always be made solely with reference to its needs and its convenience, but it is more often subject to economic conditions beyond the analyst's control. Under very best conditions, such a laboratory should be situated in a building designed from the start exclusively for chemical or biological and chemical work. Almost any well-lighted rooms in such a building can be readily adapted for the purpose. When, however, as is frequently the case, rooms for such a laboratory are provided in municipal, government, or office buildings, in which for the most part clerical work is done, the problem of adequately utilizing such rooms so that they may not at the same time prove offensive to or interfere with the comfort of other occupants of the building is sometimes difficult. It is obvious that basement rooms in such a building, as far as ventilation is concerned, are less readily adapted for the requirements in hand than are those of the top floor, though, if the light is good and there are abundant and well-arranged ventilating-shafts, such rooms may be made to serve every purpose. In the basement one may most easily obtain water, gas, and steam, and dispose of wastes without annoyance to one's neighbors. When, however, it is possible to do so, rooms on the top floor of an office building should be utilized for a food laboratory, for in such rooms the problems of lighting, heating and ventilating are comparatively simple and may usually be solved without regard to other occupants. In such a case ample provision must be made, preferably through shafts which are readily accessible for water-, gas-, steam-, and soil-pipes passing down below.

The actual equipment of the food laboratory depends of course largely on its particular purpose; and while it is manifestly impossible to do otherwise than leave the details to the individual taste and needs of the analyst,

modified by the means at his disposal, a few general suggestions regarding important essentials may prove helpful. These imply a fairly liberal though not extravagant outlay, with a view to saving both time and energy by convenient surroundings well adapted to the work in hand.

Floor. The best material for the floor of the working laboratory is asphalt. Such a floor is firm but elastic, is readily washed by direct application of running water, if necessary, and resists well the action of ordinary reagents. An occasional thin coating of shellac with lampblack applied with a brush gives the asphalt floor a smooth, hard surface and may be applied locally to cover spots and blemishes.

Lighting. The ideal arrangement is with benches for analytical work running north and south, the principal light being from south windows, and with benches for microscopes, balances, colorimeters, and standard solutions along the north wall where the north windows admit a soft light and never direct sunshine.

FIXTURES.

Ventilation by forced draft is a great convenience. For this purpose an exhaust fan driven by an electric motor and controlled in speed by a fractional rheostat is admirable. Such a fan would best be located in a small closed compartment or closet near the centre of the series of rooms designed to be ventilated by it, and this closet should have directly over the fan an outlet-shaft passing through the roof of the building. With such a system, a series of branching air-ducts should radiate from the fan closet, conveniently arranged either above or along the ceiling and communicating with the various hoods, closets, and rooms near the top.

Benches. The working benches should have wooden or glazed tile tops. White glazed tile, if properly laid, furnish a very clean, sanitary, and resistant surface, besides being often convenient for color tests. If laid on a plank surface, cement should not be applied directly, as it swells the wood before drying out and results in a loose and often uneven surface. Cement may be avoided altogether and the tiles after first soaking in oil may be laid in putty directly on the wood. Tiles may be laid in cement by first covering the plank surface with cheap tin plate, overlapping the edges and securing by tacks. This prevents swelling of the wood. The tin may be covered to advantage with cheap paint. The tiles may then be embedded in a layer of cement spread over the tin surface.

Soft encaustic glazed tiles commonly used for wall finish are not as