OBSERVATIONS 
ON 
Mr. FODEN’s MINERAL SUBSTITUTE. 
BY RICHARD PEARSON. M.D. 
From the conversation which passed in the HOUSE of 
COMMONS on the 13th of June last, relative to Mr. Foden’s Petition for 
Parliamentary assistance, to enable him to carry on and bring to perfection his 
discovery of a Mineral Substitute for Wheaten Flour; it was understood by 
most persons out of the House, and, I imagine, by every Member in the House, 
that this substitute was to be used (in lieu of the common paste or size pre- 
pared from flour) in the calico and other similar manufactories, and to be used for 
such purposes only: yet it appears from a letter printed in the St. James’s Chronicle 
of the 5th instant, with Mr. Foden’s signature, that his intention is to apply 
this substitute to the sustenance of man*! 
The following is a copy of Mr. Foden's letter: 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ST. JAMES’S CHRONICLE. 
SIR,
OBSERVING your paper of the 1st instant, I see an attack on my discovery of a Substitute 
for Flour, signed R. B. I beg leave to inform you, this important discovery has been submitted 
to Parliament, whose sanction and protection it has received, it being fully tried and approved 
by the first Chemists and Manufacturers of the nation ; and, though by its simplicity it may not 
astonish the eye, it will prove a greater blessing to mankind, than any other recent discovery.— 
To save immense quantity of Flour, to provide a cheap and nutritive food for Man and Beast, 
is the object and result of this invention, and certainly entitles the Author to that reward and 
assistance, which a Commercial Nation will ever shew to merit and genius. 
Coventry, July 3, 1800. THOMAS FODEN.

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I presume this is extending its application far beyond the bounds which 
Parliament intended. In this view, it is a project wherein the health, indeed the 
very existence, of several millions of people are concerned; but it cannot be 
supposed, that, if Parliament had seen it in this light, it would have given its 
sanction and support, before it had received the opinion of a Committee of 
Physicians, appointed to make enquiries concerning its fitness and safety. I 
will venture to assert, that the report of such a Committee would have strongly 
discountenanced the employment of this substance as an article of food. 
Yet Mr. Foden avows it to be one of his objects to make his invention 
applicable to the support of “man and beast,”—these are his own words. This 
being the case, I shall take the liberty of stepping forward in my medical charac- 
ter, and of representing to those who have power to interfere in this business, 
the evil consequences that must result to the community, if this or any other 
mineral substance is suffered to come into general use (whatever be the farinaceous 
matter with which it is combined) as an article of food. In so doing, I declare 
l am actuated by no other motive but that of serving my fellow-creatures. I 
have no personal acquaintance with Mr. Foden, nor ever had any concern 
whatever with him ; I cannot therefore harbour any enmity towards him : on 
the contrary, I admire his ingenuity, and I rejoice at his success and well-merited 
reward, so long as his efforts and views are directed and confined to their proper object; 
but when, not content with its application to the arts, Mr. Foden aims at 
extending his invention to the sustenance of man, he then appears in a very 
different light ; we then behold him entertaining ideas which are extravagant 
and chimerical, and projecting experiments which might be productive of the 
most serious consequences, and which therefore ought to be checked. 
 
The substance which Mr. Foden proposes (when combined with a certain 
farinaceous material) for alimentary purposes, is gypsum; a fossil or earthy body,
which, indeed, is not unpalatable, and which is apparently of a mild and un-

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injurious nature. It is known to confist of calcareous earth and vitriolic acid. 
Plaster of Paris is prepared from it, and some kinds of mortar. 

I have remarked, that it is not unpalatable. This is one recommendation 
in its favor; but in a substance which is intended to be employed for the sup- 
port of life, we should look for other and more essential properties. Such a 
substance should be digestible and nutritious. Now, the substance under con- 
sideration, is destitute of both these requisites : it is perfectly indigestible ; it 
yields not a particle of chyle ; it cannot be subdued or assimilated to the 
nature of the animal fluids; in other words, It is not possible for it to con- 
tribute, in any degree whatever, to the work of nutrition. But this is not all. 
Though inodorous and insipid, it is only apparently mild ; when taken into the 
stomach in any considerable quantity, it produces spasms, obstructions, in- 
flammations, mortifications, and death*. Gmelin (a celebrated Professor in the 
University of Gottingen, and Author of a valuable work on Poisons) mentions 
several cases of death occasioned by the swallowing of gypsum; and, if there 
were no other facts of this nature upon record, the loss of a whole army under 
one of the German Emperors (Conrad the IIId.) would afford a sufficient proof 
of its deleterious effects. 
From these observations we would infer, that all attempts to prepare alimentary 
compositions with any MINERAL substance whatever should be strictly forbidden: and, 
that, as there is reason to suspect, that either gypsum or some other mineral sub- 
stance enters, not only into Mr. Foden’s paste or size for certain manufactories, 
but likewise into the material which he proposes as a cheap food for man ; it is 
fit and requisite that proper persons (persons well versed in chemistry and 
medicine) be immediately appointed to investigate the nature of this alimentary 
material; to the end that, if it shall be found to contain any mineral ingredient, 

*Nihil magis funestum. Odore & sapore destltuitur—ventriculum destruit, tum liquida 
exsugendo, tum obturando vasa resorbentia. Boerhaave, Prælect, Acad. Tom. VI. p. 390. 

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the employment of it as an article of food, be prohibited and condemned under 
the severest penalties*. In this event, Mr. Foden’s invention, as applicable
to certain manufactories, will lose none of its value, and he will still have the
justest clain to the thanks and reward of the nation.

* It may be said that no chemical analysis is necessary, because Mr. Foden can tell, or has 
told, what the material, simple or compound, is. Then, it only remains to be ascertained, whe- 
ther the material is or is not salutary to man.-- I have heard that this cheap nutriment is the 
residue of potatoes (or other farinaceous substance) after the separation of the mucilaginous 
principle, which is combined with the gypsum in the paste or size, so admirably suited to the 
calico and other manufactures. Now, if it be the mere, potatoe-residue, without any extraneous 
admixture, it is, in reality, a species of flour or farina, and not a substitute for flour, consequently 
no invention or discovery. Yet it is held up as such. l am therefore constrained (and so must 
every person who thinks on the subject) to suspect there is some other substance mixed with this 
farinaceous residue. Till I know to the contrary, I shall presume, that, in the preparation of the 
aforesaid paste or size, the gypsum and potatoes are ground together, and that afterwards a 
very considerable proportion of the potatoe pulp is separated from the gypsum, and constitutes 
the alimentary material in question. If this be the case, it is scarcely possible that some particles 
of the gypsum should not be entangled and retained [though Mr Foden may not be aware of 
it-which is the reason why disinterested persons should be employed to investigate the whole 
process] in this residuum. Now, let the proportion of the retained mineral be ever so small, 
yet, if it be present more or less in a substance which is made a constant and principal article of 
food, the aggregate quantity taken into the stomach will soon be so considerable, as to produce 
all those bad effects which have been enumerated above. 
 
Birmingham, printed at T. A. Pearson’s Printing Office, High-street.