On a recent trip to Germany, Doctor Harvey Wiley, the pure-food expert, heard an allegory with reference to the subject of food adulteration which, he contends, should cause Americans to congratulate themselves that things are so well ordered in this respect in the United States.
The German allegory was substantially as follows:
Four flies, which had made their way into a certain pantry, determined to have a feast.
One flew to the sugar and ate heartily; but soon died, for the sugar was full of white lead.
The second chose the flour as his diet, but he fared no better, for the flour was loaded with plaster of Paris.
The third sampled the syrup, but his six legs were presently raised in the air, for the syrup was colored with aniline dyes.
The fourth fly, seeing all his friends dead, determined to end his life also, and drank deeply of the fly-poison which he found in a convenient saucer.
He is still alive and in good health. That, too, was adulterated.
