The Princeton union., 1892-08-18
CALLED TYROIOX CAN.
The CAUSE OF MANY ICE
CREAM PoIs soNINGS.
Product of Germs of Bacilli Which
Gets Into the Milk Professor
Yaugha's Discovery--Found
Also in Cheese.


Gets Into the Milk Professor
Yaugha's Discovery Found
Also in Cheese.
In 1888 and 1884 about three hun
dred cases of cheese poisoning were
reported to the Michigan Board OF
Health. In those years at least 800
people who had eaten cheese in
Michigan were taken violently i'll
from two to four hours after consum
ingsit The severity of their illness
depended on the quantity they had
eaten. But no one who had consumed
any Of the cheese in question how
ever slight the amount escaped i'll
ness.
The symptoms were similar to those
manifested by people who have taken
arsenic and many of the country
physicians Thought that the illness
was caused by arsenical poisoning.
Professor Vaughn a chemist of the
University OF Michigan, found that all
the 800 cases of illness had been
caused by twelve cheeses. He OBJ
!! cheese in good condition. There was
| nothing in the taste and color to ex-
cite suspicion. The cheese, to all ap-
pearance. was like any other.
Professor Vaughn made careful an
| alyses of the samples of cheese. and
| by a series OF elaborate chemical ex-
| periments at length obtained the
poison he sought to find. It had never
| been discovered before. He named it
'tyrotoxicon " which is simply Greek
| for cheese poison. The word is de-
rived from .turos. cheese and .tox-
icon,'' poison.
Having found tyrotoxicon in cheese
Professor Vaughn next discovered it
in milk, says the New York Journal
making this discovery year later in
1865. A remarkable case of milk
poisoning occurred at Long Branch
on the evening of ,August7 1886. At
one seaside hotel twenty four people
were taken i'll after supper and at
another nineteen more fell i'll.
! They were attacked from one to four
hours after the meal. They had irri-
tation of the stomach and intestines
similar to that caused by any irritat-
ing material OF poisonous character.
They suffered nausea, vomiting,
cramps. collapse. pains in their head,
aches in all their bones, gripping and
spasms-symptoms enough almost to
ill book. 49, ~.
Professor Vaughn was sent for and
be came on from Michigan to see
what was the matter with the milk.
1t was analyzed and found to contain
tyrotoxicon- The history of the milk
was then obtained to find out what
caused the tyrotoxicon in it.
Professor Vaughn learned that the
milk was furnished by:a farmer who
MIXED his COWS at the extraord mary
hour Of noon and midnight. The
monday milk was placed warm in the
cans without previously cooling it
with ice, and carted eight miles in a
blazing sun to the hotels. In its
warm state its condition was favorable
for nourishing germs which it might
get from the atmosphere. 1t had evi-
IDENTIFY absorbed such germs and the
| poison tyrotoxicon was the result
/ lce-cream was the next substance
in which the subtle and sometimes
fatal poison was found. In 1886 some
people in the village of Lawton
Mich. were taken violently i'll after
eating ice cream. The attack fol
lowed the ice-cream by about two
hours y~.-. E. -
The victims thought that the vanilla
| tn ho ~
poisoned. 1t was analysed and found
to be pure. Tyrotoxicon was found
in the ice cream on analyzing it. The
cream, before freezing. had stood two
hours in a bad atmosphere in an old
| house. In this time it had collected
enough germs to give rise to the ty.
rotoxicon
| This poison is g product of germs
or bacilli which gets into the milk.
If the milk is cold they cannot live
in it. But if the milk nas not frs,
been chilled, and is super-heated il
affords them place where they
| flourish The tyrotoxicon which
emanates from them remains il
cheese when it is made from the
milk, or In ice cream when it i
frozen from the affected milk. Ever
when cool the milk may absorb anl
nourish germs from an impure
atmosphere laden with germs.
The discovery OF tyrotoxicon j.
fortunate. 1t. explains many cases oa
severe illness which have followe;
consumption Of ice cream for many
years past and it frees from unjus
suspicion innocent people who migh
otherwise be suspected of having
poisoned the ice. cream.
!. why Dentists Use Gold Filling.
\ People seem. said a practical DENTS
recently, to wonder why it. is tha
dentists use gold for stopping teeth
and are inclined to believe that it j: