Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-07-04
PTOMAINES IN FOOD.
THE NEWLY DECoVERED POISON FOUND
IN CANNED GOODS.
Some Recent POisonings-The Lyndon
Case in Kentucky - Some Medical
Views-The Use of Canned Goods ON

case IN kentucky - Some Medical
views-The Use of Canned Goods ON
Buffet Cars-What Ptomaines Are.
Three recent cases of poisoning by
ptomaineS or, as the doctors say the ca
daveric alkaloids, have attracted public at
tention to the fact that new, subtle and
most dangerous foe to human health and
life has begun to play part in the drama
OF existence. Not so much new perhaps,
however. as newly recognized.
The three, cases referred to are the
poisoning at the Herr-Snooks marriage ut
Lyndon, KY, which is undoubtedly des-
tined to rank among the causes celebrea OF
history; the poisoning OF father and two
children at Highlands, Col, and the infec-
ton Of several families by canned lobsterin
Canada. or these easily the most import
ant and the least thoroughly understood
has been the affair In Kentucky, as q re-
suit of which the bridegroom and four
other members Of the party have died and
In regard to which at least two distinct
theories are entertained by experts.
Ptomaines," said an eminent New York
physician, are alkaloids generated dur
ing decay and closely resemble the vege-
table alkaloids, but owe their origin to the
putrefaction Of animal matter. While
some ptomaines are very poisonous,
others are admirable antidotes to known
substances which, after brief exposure,
have been shut away from the air, as in all
kinds OF canned goods, or more properly
| timed foods; in sausages, the skins of
which keep the air out, in the viscera and
in buried corpses. There is no subject in
| toxicology or the science of poisons and
poisoning which Is just now Of SO much in
terest to professional men. It has been
scarcely ten years since the attention of
| Psychologists was attracted to ptomaines.
Yet the researches Of Selmi, who discov-
| cred and named ptomaines, throw q
| curious light upon the obscurest pages of
the history of poisoning, those which re-
late to the mysterious and fascinating ex-
PLOTS of the italian prisoners of the Seven
teenth and Eighteenth centuries.
ct is now believed, indeed, that the pto-
maine figured potently in their noxious
| preparations, because in Italy, according
| to tradition, the famous and deadly &C
| QatettG dt PerugtG was secret compound,
prepared by rubbing white arsenic into
the flesh of pig and collecting the liquid
| which dropped from the flesh. 1t Is now
thought possible that the activity of the
| arsenic was increased both by the forma-
ton of new compounds which would be
easily absorbed and by the production of
arsenical bases. With the same object in
view the prisoners of that day may have
prepared the celebrated aqua I6FGnG by
the addition OF the juice of the ivy
leaved flax. This alleged existence Of ar
senical ptomaines is Of great Importance,
not only to the medical jurist, but as af-
fording possible explanation of the
chronic arsenical poisoning produced by
| arsenical wall papers; that is, If Selmi Is
correct In his assertions that the contact OF
arsenious acid and albuminous substances
produces a volatile arsenic which has a
highly poisonous action, differing very
decidedly from the arsenic acid itself.
The remark made day or two since by
no less eminenta New York medical au
thority than Dr. Allen McLane Hamilton
in regard to the recent Kentucky case, Is
highly significant In view of the following
passage, which Dr. Edgar NJ. Crook shank
the Professor of Bacteriology in Kings
College, London, used in the new and re
vised edition of his manual on that sub
ject. DIR. Crookshank says:
" The researches Of Pasteur into the role
played by heterogeneous in the pro
cesses of fermentation and putrefaction
and in diseases such as anthrax, the silk
worm malady, pytemia, septicRmia anC
chicken cholera, have invested the scienct
of bacteriology with universal interest anc
vast Importance"
The remark by DR.. Hamilton referred tx
was this: DIR. Scott, of Louisville, VIII,
made the post-mortem analysis in the ia
nous poisoning case out there, said to MI
when l was in that city week or two ago
that he had come to the conclusion tina
the poisoning was due to chicken cholera
and that the sufferers had eaten freely O
some boiled preparation of chicken whicl
had been cooked and then allowed to stant
too long" Indeed, from this and othe
facts and theories reported in regard
the Lyndon case, there Is little doubt Il
/. the minds of this and other experts her
, that it was case of ptomaine poison
Subsequent Intelligence from Louisville
to the effect that some physicians though
! the deaths due to arsenic and others
: vegetable alkaloids that form in the mush
Z rooms of which the wedding guests ate
> DR.. Kastenbine is quoted as declaring pos
| lively that there was no poison in tn
7 chicken salad. And this is entirely con
: sistent with the ptomaine theory, whic
!, seems to point to the formation of thes
alkaloids in some other preparation {
= chicken served on that occasion.
All doubts, however, on this subiec
were sat at rest by the analysis Of tn
. stomach Of Mrs. Guthrie, one of the viz
Tins, by Drs. Cottell, Goodman an
Howard, of the Medical College Of tn
: University Of Louisville. The ptomain
of chicken cholera was clearly discovered
and investigation showed that turke
hen badly affected by chicken cholera ha
been boiled and served at the wedding dill
ner. The servant who dressed it disco1
cred that portion of it's flesh was blacl
but simply cut off the diseased meat an
: served the remainder.
/ The increase of the tariff on tin-plat
was widely declared at the time, and ha
u since been proved to have the effect of IL
creasing the cost to manufacturers of a
l. sorts of canned goods, Of which million
s Of dozens are put up annually in this coul
8 try, and so increasing to consumers th
70 cost of each individual can of this widel
l. used form of food. But it
not asserted that the output Of cal
Il, ned goods in the United States has as W
"a very materially decreased in consequence
9 the change of status has been in regard
o prices. Now, according to the views Of
n good many eminent physicians and tox
q cologists in this country. it would be a
g excellent thing for the country at larg
J. that is, for the consumers, if the use
canned goods were diminished in a muc
greater degree. ...-.. ...-..... ...
q Everything that we knew abo,
> ptomaines," said medical authorit
y increases the aversion which shal
s with many other medical men for q
" sorts Of canned goods. The use of canine