unites with it to form a new compound, which, although not a poison,
is yet unwholesome.

We can hardly speak too strongly in condemnation of the use of chemicals
in bread-making, when we reflect that the majority of housewives who
combine sour milk and salaratus, or cream of tartar and soda, more
frequently than otherwise _guess_ at the proportions, or measure them by
some "rule of thumb," without stopping to consider that although two
cups of sour milk may at one time be sufficiently acid to neutralize a
teaspoonful of saleratus, milk may vary in degree of acidity to such an
extent that the same quantity will be quite insufficient for the purpose
at another time; or that though a teaspoonful of some brand of cream of
tartar will neutralize a half teaspoonful of one kind of soda, similar
measures will not always bring about the same result. Very seldom,
indeed, will the proportions be sufficiently exact to perfectly
neutralise the alkali, since chemicals are subject to variations in
degree of strength, both on account of the method by which they are
manufactured and the length of time they have been kept, to say nothing
of adulterations to which they may have been subjected, and which are so
common that it is almost impossible to find unadulterated cream of
tartar in the market.

Baking powders are essentially composed of bicarbonate of soda and cream
of tartar, mixed in the proper proportions to exactly neutralize each
other, and if they were always pure, would certainly be as good as soda
and cream of tartar in any form, and possess the added advantage of
perfect proportions; but as was demonstrated not long ago by the
government chemist, nearly every variety of baking powder in the market
is largely adulterated with cheaper and harmful substances. Alum, a most
frequent constituent of such baking powders, is exceedingly injurious to
the stomach. Out of several hundred brands of baking powder examined,
only one was found pure.

Even when in their purest state, these chemicals are not harmless, as is
so generally believed. It is a very prevalent idea that when soda is
neutralized by an acid, both chemical compounds are in some way
destroyed or vaporized in the process, and in some occult manner escape
from the bread during the process of baking. This is altogether an
error. The alkali and acid neutralize each other chemically, but they do
not destroy each other. Their union forms a salt, exactly the same as
the Roch