The West Shore.
No. 4. JS&JE'S;'' Portland, Oregon, April, 1881. Nrw.i..j,i
RESULTS OF VIVISECTION.
INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS.
PROF. MOTT SHOWS HOW PEOPLE ARE
TAKING POISON IN THEIR DAILY
FOOD A PROLIFIC SOURCE OK DYS
PEPSIA SCIENTIFICALLY DEMON
STRATEI).
A series of highly interesting experi
ments with dogs hnve been lately made
by Prof. Mott; and in the Scientific
American" of Feb. 7th a detailed ao
count is given. The disclosures are so
unpleasant and startling coming home,
as they do, to every one that we be
lieve they should be given the greatest
publicity. The effort Dr. Mott is ma
king to purify our articles of kitchen
use should receive the support of every
thinking man and woman. There has
tacn too much indifference on this sub
ject an indifference that has resulted
in Americans earning the title of "a
race of dyspeptics." Poison, year after
year, is introduced into the stomach
with a criminal disregard to consc
epiences that is appalling. If every
purveyor of domestic supplies will
carefully consider the result of Dr.
Mott's experiments, as detailed in the
Scientific American, one of the greatest,
if not the greatest, of these evils will
be corrected.
Dr. Mott says: "The introduction of
alum in flour, for various purposes, has
been a trick ot the baker for the past
100 years. Fortunately for society, its
introduction is limited now to a few
unscrupulous bakers. In England,
France and Germany It is an offense,
punishable by fine and imprisonment,
to use alum in any connection with
articles of food. It should be 10 in
America."
The Royal Making Powder Com
pany of this city, a long-established cor
poration, celebrated for the absolute
purity of their goods, some time ago
commenced a vigorous warfare against
many of their competitors who were
indulging in hurtful adulteration. The
contest excited great interest in scientific
circles, in which Prof. Angell, Dr. Mott
and other leading lights took a very
prominent part. The experiments of
Dr. Mott are a result of this discussion,
and go to prove conclusively that the
most dangerous adulteration that a com
munity has to guard against is alum in
baking powder. In his paper the Doc
tor says: "It was with difficulty I
found a suitable place to conduct the
experiments, so that the animals would
not disturb the neighborhood; but,
through the courtesy of the Commis
sioners of the Dock Department, I se
cured a shed on their premises, foot of
Sixteenth street ami East river. This
shed I had completely remodeled Into
a suitable house, having the dimensions
of about 16x14x1a feet. Sixteen stalls
were made inside, having the dimen
sions 3xixj feet. The bottom of
each compartment was covered with
straw; making a pleasant tad for the
dogs. I then secured sixteen dogs from
the Pound, which were all carefully ex
amined to fcec if they were In a perfect
state of health. None hut the strong,
healthy dogs were selected. The breed,
age, food, color and weight of every
dog was carefully noted. Each dog
was then confined to a stall and securely
chained, and they all received a num
ber, from 1 to 16 I commenced my ex
periments on the 9th of September,
and finished December 3d. My as
sistant was with the dogs from morn
ing until night, and never left the ani
mals without first securely bolting and
locking the dog-house. No stranger
was allowed to enter the house unac
companied cither by myself or my as
sistant, and the dogs never received a
mouthful of food or anything else from
any one except from my assistant or
myself. I will now detail the result of
my experiments:
"Dog No. 1. -II recti of dog, coach;
age, 1 year; health, perfect 5 food, bread
and crackers; color, spotted black and
white; weight, 35 pounds; To this dog,
on the morning of the oth of September,
were given eight biscuits,! 8:ioo'clock.
I The biscuits were made by myself, as
follows: One quart sifted flour, ao
tcaspoonfula alum baking powder, a
k cupful water, 1 tablespoonful butter
aa biscuits made, weighing ounces;
time of baking, ao minutes.
"At 11:30, just three hours and
twenty minutes, the dog was taken very
sick, vomiting profusely; his vim and
brightness of eyo had departed, and he
trembled considerably in his limbs."
Experiments were then made upon
three dogs, with biscuit containing
only 10 tcaspoonfula of alum baking
powder. The result indicated that
some animals are more liable to yield to
the effects of poisonous substances than
others. When, on the other hand,
three other dogs were fed with biscuits
made with pure cream of tartar baking
powder, no ill effects were experienced.
They ate and ate with an evident relish,
day after day, and even whined for more.
It was next necessary to discover
what effect alum has on the solvent
power of tho gastric juice. In order
to obtain some pure gastric Juice, a
curious device was resorted to. Dr.
Mott sent several dogs to Professor
Arnold, Medical Department of the
the University of New York, who in
scrtcd a small metallic tule directly
through the skin and into tho stomach
of each one of them, when the dogs
were in a perfectly healthy condition.
Prof. Arnold sent to Dr. Mott some
gastric Juice, which was produced by
tickling the lining of the stomach of tho
dogs with feather or glass rod, which
caused the gastric Juice to flow out of
the tuta Into a receptacle placed under
neath the dog to receive it.
Dr. Mott, aided by Prof. Schedler,
then began some experiments with tho
four sample of gastric juice which he
had received from' Prof. Arnold, to dis
cover the effect of the gastric juice In
which alum had been dissolved upon
fibrine, a white, very easily' digested
sulwtance, having a basis of coagulated
blood. Tho fibrine was Imperfectly
digested, and the experiment were
very important, a showing that alum
can check the digestion of so easily
digested a substance a fibrine. They
indicate, therefore, how dangerous It la
to Introduce these two salts Into our
stomachs, if we do not wish to excite
imligerUlon and dyspepsia. Further ex