The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1889-09-25


Ice Cream.
81 was much interested in the account
of city dispensary physicians recent
experience at a house where four women
and one girl were poisoned by quart of
milk" said DIR. w. B. Clarke, "and if
the general public will diyest its mind Of
any lingering suspicion it may entertain
thai our handling of that case, or cases
of similar character, is of the sensational
order rather than for the public good,
much benefit may accrue by thus attrac-
ting attention to the peculiar danger at
times attending the indigestion of certain
articles Of food, more especially meat,
milk and ice cream"
What ID the peculiar danger to which
you refer?" asked the reporter.
Poisoning by ptomaines. The term
puzzles you, does its To explain, will
say that the word ptomain comes from
the word ptoma, cadaver, or dead body,
and ptomaines are cadaverie alkaloids,
the results of putrefaotion, and are very
poisonous. They were discovered by
Armand Gautier about 1870, and soon
after by Selmi, an Italian. In 1886 Gau.
tier contributed a remarkable commune
cation to the French Academy of Medi-
cine, showing that these bodies are con-
stantly being formed in life--that these
by-products Of normal vital action come
through putrefactive rather than a
combustiye process, and that their nom
elimination or non-oxidation by the
bowels, kidneys, lungs and skin is the
cause of many diseases.
''These poisonous substances are now
known to infest many articles Of food,
and of late the patient investigators who
use themicroscope great deal have about
come to the conclusion that they are
started by bacteria. Bacteria may be
called a minute fungus, or parasite, in
visible to the naked eye, and which -four
ish only in animal matter, feeding pref
erably on the albuminous portion, and
each substance may be said to have its
own particular breed Of bacteria. They
increase with amazing rapidity In any
substance in which they get start, es-
pecially in high temperatures. We read
of an ice cream or milk poisoning, and
the newspapers wind up always is TO the
effect that some verdigris, acetate, lac
tate or other mineral poison had been
generated in manufacture or in transit,
when the real trouble probably was dis
eased article. In this way your article
above referred to closed as follows; sit
was the most peculiar case ever heard
Of, said the doctor, and the sufferings of
the women were terrible. I can only
conceive of one cause for their condition.
The milk they purchased must have been
kept IN a very unclean can, causing the
milk to become impregnated with lactate
of tin, a powerful poison Ihope / may
not be considered captious in suggesting
that ptomaines were the cause Of this
sickness That admirable actress, AIDE
laide Nelson, our finest Juliet, when in
good health drank one glass of milk, and,
after suffering terribly, died in two hours.
That glass of milk might have been able
to knock out the great John L. Sullivan
in one round just as easily. The fact is
that many sudden illnesses and unex-
planned deaths, while in perfect health,
IL such n paradox can be allowed, that
come like lightning out of the clear sky,
are now by the best authorities assigned
to this secret enemy. This where the
number of the organisms are infinite and
powerful-to say nothing of lingering
illnesses caused by them when few and
weak"
Are there poisonous ptomaic para
sites found in other foods in general
user
"Often in canned meats. July IA,
1884, had occasion in one of the city
papers to point out that danger, the lat
ter being brought out by the report of q
suit for damages instituted by man
who had had his family poisoned by
canned meat. Tho meat may have been
perfectly good when opened, but the
poison develops very soon after letting
air into 1t.
"There is a very important bearing
the proper understanding of this subject
has upon the rearing of infants Every
one knows that thousands of them die
in our large cities every summer because
of impure, diseased or unsuitable milk.
Indeed it is one Of the problems Of the
age how to rear a bottle fed infant In a
large city. They are SO sensitive and
susceptible that milk which might not
harm grown person, or even large
child, may be poison to them. But
revenons nos moutons, or rather to
our ice cream"
"Then you assert that there is death
in ice cream"
"Most assuredly there is unless the
most scrupulous care Is taken in the
selection of fresh and pure Ingredients,
and the use of clean utensils and recep-
tacles. The peculiar poison indigenous
to ice cream, as every tyro may not
know, is called tyrotoxicon, and it should
be well known, as it has been isolated
and administered to animals and Its
effects noted. Its effects have been pretty
well studied at picnics, church festivals,
weddings and miscellaneous gatherings.
Here are some Of the principal results
during two months, as taken from a
compilation made by The Chicago Inter
Ocean. This compilation may be seen
by any one, and it may be considered adj
visable to introduce such testimony, that |
milk or ice cream vendors may not rest |
too secure in the belief that this matter
Is all cry and no wolf AS partial |
ice cream death record for two months
of 1883, there is May 80, Woodstock,
Conn, church festival; 208 sick, 7S died.
June A., Corning, N. Y, Bagley family Of
six, ice cream at supper, all died. June |
II, Cadillac, Mich, Livingston
wedding, 40 partakers, 83 died. July 4,
deaths reported IN the United States, ~. |