Napoleon Bonaparte said that "soldiers march and fight on their
stomachs." If our soldiers, fed on "embalmed" beef and other chemically
treated food, had had much marching and fighting to do, Spain might
have won. As it was, the American soldiers who were killed or
invalided during that war, were martyrs to a nobler cause than that
of humiliating poor Spain. It was their sufferings that, as already
intimated, led to the national revolt against the wholesale poisoners
and adulterators for commercial profit.
As a matter of course, the parties accused showed fight. One of the
earliest battles was fought over borax, and it was in this battle that
Dr. Wiley first came before the general public prominently. During
the months from December, 1902, to July 1, 1903, he made a series of
experiments on twelve young men in Washington as to the influence
on the health of food containing boric acid or borax. Some of the
conclusions reached were thus summed up briefly:
When boric acid or its equivalent in borax is taken in food
in quantities not exceeding a half gram daily, no immediate
effects are observed; after a time there occur occasional
loss of appetite, a feeling of fullness in the head, gastric
discomfort, and general ill-feeling. Only the more sensitive
persons develop symptoms from the amounts named. When the
drug is given in larger and increasing doses, these symptoms
in accentuated form develop more rapidly; most common is
persistent headache with slight clouding of the mental
processes. The quantity of boric acid required to produce
definite symptoms varies greatly with different individuals.
In some, one to two grams daily produce decided distress;
in others, three grams cause little if any discomfort.
Conclusions regarding the use of less than half a gram daily
were not reached, but from the effect of the larger quantities
taken for a short time, it is reasonable to infer that smaller
doses during an extended period would also prove injurious.
The results in general indicate that it is not advisable
to use borax in articles of food intended for common and
continuous use. When placed in foods used only occasionally
and in small amounts, the quantity of the contained
preservative should be stated plainly, that the consumer may
know what he is eating.
One of the most interesting facts, and one known to few, in connection
with these experiments, is that Dr. Wiley actually began them with a
bias in favor of borax. He did not believe, he said, that borax was
a harmful preservative, but he was going to find out. This statement
aroused my suspicion. Knowing how much "graft" and "politics" there are
apt to be in such investigations, I made up my mind that Dr. Wiley was
a fraud and that he would undoubtedly give a verdict in favor of borax.
While in this frame of mind I wrote the following editorial for the New
York "Evening Post" (April 8, 1903):
Dr. Wiley, of the Department of Agriculture, seems to require
a long time to decide whether his "brigade of poison eaters,"
as the Washington wits have dubbed his free boarders, are
really eating poison or only harmless food preservatives
unjustly suspected of being injurious. It needed no elaborate
experiments to prove that drugged food may be eaten without
serious harm. Many of us are probably eating more or less
of drugged food all the time without actually having to be
taken to the hospital; but many others do suffer in health,
vitality and capacity for work from eating it. In regard to
salicylic acid and formaldehyde, Dr. Wiley himself wrote in
"Leslie's Weekly" two years ago that there is no doubt of the
pernicious influence of these preservatives in some cases.
He also said, truly, that "the public supervision should
look after the weak and diseased digestive systems rather
than the strong and vigorous." Why, nevertheless, he chose
to make his Washington experiments on the strongest young
men he could find is a mystery he has not explained. In the
"Lancet" of Nov. 30, 1901, an account was given of a series
of experiments with boric acid made by Dr. Rinehart, in which
the symptoms of poisoning disappeared as soon as the use of
the drug was given up. Further evidence is furnished in the
"Münchener Medicinische Wochenschrift" of Jan. 26. Dr. G.
Merkel, of Nuremberg, experimented with boric acid on eleven
patients, seven of whom promptly showed disturbance of the
gastro-intestinal tract. The inevitable inference from such
facts is either that the use of boric acid as a preservative
of food should be prohibited by law, or, at least, that the
law should require mention of its use on the label of
canned goods, and in butter, cream, milk and meat, in order
that those whose digestion is not as robust as that of Dr.
Wiley's select boarders may take warning.
[Illustration: HARVEY W. WILEY]
The fact that these remarks were widely copied showed that many other
editors shared my suspicions. Then came Dr. Wiley's verdict, which
proclaimed him the honest, bold, incorruptible champion of truth who
was soon to become respected, admired, and idolized by the whole
American public, with the exception of those who had commercial reasons
for disliking him.
Perhaps I may be pardoned for inserting here a reference to an amusing
incident that occurred during this controversy. Another article of
mine, in which I had spoken disrespectfully of borax, resulted the
following day in a visit to the office of the "Evening Post" by a
man who wanted to see the "borax editor." He was shown to my room,
and promptly proceeded to inform me that I was entirely mistaken in
thinking borax harmful. I replied that I considered borax one of the
most useful things in the world, the greatest of "dirt-chasers,"
indispensable on the wash stand and in the wash house; but as for
internal use, I had had days of discomfort which made me look on it
with feelings of genuine alarm.
"I'll tell you what I'll do!" retorted the man, who represented one of
the large borax companies. "I am willing to take a glass of water, put
in a tablespoonful of borax and drink it right before you." "That's
nothing," I replied; "I wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing. Borax
is not a deadly drug like arsenic or strychnine, it is a chemical
which, taken into the stomach in small doses day after day, week after
week, and month after month, acts as a cumulative poison, gradually
weakening even the strongest stomach; and, inasmuch as the stomach
is the source of most diseases, thus paving the way for all sorts of
troubles."[1]