Their use is apt to be followed by undue inflammation, probably of septic origin, for they almost invariably contain putrescent or readily putrescible elements.

The burying of wood in water, which dissolves out or alters its putrescible constituents, has long been practised as a means of seasoning.

Before they were known, cleanliness and the destruction of putrescible matter in man's surroundings had, it is true, been urged by sanitary reformers.