Angier’s Emulsion is described by the manufacturers as containing, in addition to “our specially purified Petroleum,” “the combined hypophosphites of lime and soda, chemically pure glycerine, and the necessary emulsifying agents.” So far as the hypophosphites are concerned, it is probably unnecessary to remark that the latest researches bring to light no evidence that they influence metabolism in the slightest degree. The Angier Chemical Company apparently accepts this view, for in its advertising stress is laid exclusively on the merits of the emulsion as a petroleum product. It is therefore proper to consider it from this point of view. The history of the internal use of liquid petrolatum was sketched in a recent Council report.[77] As mentioned at that time, a number of petroleum products were put on the market some thirty years ago as substitutes for lard and butter. Contemporary opinions regarding the food value of such products differed widely. [77] Liquid Petrolatum or “Russian Mineral Oil,” p. 161. There never was any scientific evidence to support the view that petroleum and its derivatives are assimilable by the animal organism. In fact, so far as we can learn, there was no scientific investigation of the problem until Randolph’s experiments in 1884. These were probably the first to demonstrate the non-absorbability of petroleum and its valuelessness as a foodstuff. In 1899 Robert Hutchison conclusively demonstrated by experiment that petrolatum, paraffin and related products were absolutely unassailable by any of the digestive fluids, and therefore could not possibly have any food value. Various investigators later confirmed these findings. FIRST ADVERTISED AS A “FOOD-MEDICINE” Let us now take up the advertising history of this nostrum. In 1895 it was sold under these claims: “... a ‘Food-Medicine’ that is far more than a substitute for cod-liver oil”; “... a Food-Medicine that is readily assimilated and helps to digest other foods.” In 1897 it was an: “Ideal Substitute for Cod Liver Oil.” In 1899 it: “... conserves heat and energy by furnishing more material for oxidation.” In 1902 it: “... supplants tissue waste by tissue reconstruction.” The promoters of Angier’s Emulsion thus for some time ignored the status definitely assigned to petroleum products by the experiments of Randolph, Hutchison and others. This was only natural. If petrolatum was absolutely inert in the alimentary canal (and this was now proved beyond controversy) then an emulsion prepared from it most certainly was not a “food-medicine,” could not “supplant tissue waste,” or “conserve heat and energy.” All the credit which previous “unterrified and ingenious advertising” (to quote Hutchison) had accumulated for Angier’s Emulsion was bound up with the view that petroleum products were foodstuffs. LATER ADVERTISED AS NON-ABSORBABLE