The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-18
DEATH IN PTOMAINES
Wagner and Carr Cases Recall In
tereSting Discoveries.
How People Die from Eating Cheese in
Which POisOns Have FOrmed-HOw
Certain SavageS Obtain Poison.

During the progress of the Annie Wagner
and Jennie Carr trials a great deal was
said about pto names. great deal or the
examination of DR.. Eisenbeiss was upon
this subject, and several of the physicians
who testified admitted that they knew but
little about ptomaines, and that but little
was known of them, the ptomaines being
of recent discovery. In connection with
the ptomaineS and causes of the death OF
Mamie Koesters the subject Of tyrotoxicon
poisoning came up, but there was little
light thrown on the subject by the wit
nesses examined. The nature of ptomaines
is one that seldom comes TO the public for
consideration. and is confined chiefly to
discussion in professional circles. Cases Of
toxin poisoning are frequent, and extracts
from the report of DR.. w. B. Clarke, made
to the State Board of Health while he was
secretary of the board, in 1889, might prove
of interest in connection with the evidence
which has been introduced as to the cause
of the death of little Mamie Koesters. DR..
Clarke. in his report, says:
Much benefit may accrue by attracting
times attending the ingestion of certain
articles or food, especially meat milk,
cheese and ice cream, when, because Of
nna open Pre d or care tne poisoh,
fact is that many sudden illnesses and I'M
explained deaths while in perfect health--if
such 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 the temporary and linger-
ing illnesses caused by them when few and
weak. ADELAIDE Nelson, when in good
suffering terribly died in two hours That
glass of milk might have been able to
knock OUT the great John l.. Sullivan
THE word ptomaine comes from the
word ptoma, cadaver. or dead body, and
ptomaineS are cadaveric alkaloids, the re-
They are now known TO infest many arti-
Giles OF food. and the patient investigators
who use the microscope a great deal tell
US that they are started by bacteria. Bac-
terra may be called a minute fungus, or
parasite invisible TO the naked eye, which
flourish mainly in animal matter, feeding
preferably on the albuminouS portion, and
each substance may be said to have its
own particular breed of bacteria. They in
crease with amazing rapidity in any sub
stance in which they get a start espe-
cially in high temperature, and the proper
understanding of this fact has very i'm
portant bearing on, for instance. the rear
ing or infants. Everyone knows that thou
sands. 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 bottle
fed infant in large city. They are sc
sensitive and susceptible that milk Which
might not harm grown person, or even a
large child, may poison them.
THE ptomaines were discovered about
1870. simultaneously by Armand Gautier, a
each working along different lines. eau
tier shows that these bodies are constantly
| being formed in life in our bodies-that
these by-products of normal vital action
through a putrefactive rather than COM
bustive process. and that their, nonelimina-
| neys. lungs, skin, ETC., is the cause of many
| sicknesses and diseases. jSelmi calls atten-
| ton to the similarity in the toxic effects
OF these alkaloids with those of the vege-
table allSaloids. He gave them their name
ptomaines, in 1875, and also furnished proof
| of the similarity mentioned. General Glib
| portions of his body and gave the opinion
| that poisoning had occurred with the aka
| loid of stavesacre. Semi saved the pris-
onerS life by proving that the alkaloid
| was ptomaine, not vegetable alkaloid
| Several similar cases are on record.N
Pref, Victor Vaughan Of the University
| ing and exhaustive work on the ptomaines
their history, peculiarities regarding them
In the different foods containing them and
| their relation to disease. as. well as their
chemistry and pathological Importance
| Professor Vaughan discovered and named
tyrotoxicon, the particular ptomaine OF
poisoning, wholesale perhaps, with either
Of these articles, and the newspaper wind
acetate, lactate or other powerful mineral
| poison had been generated in manufacture
| or transit, when the real trouble was
| tainted milk-in short, a ptomaine. Tyro-
| toXicon takes it's name from two Greek
words, meaning cheese and poison.
Elaborate detective tracings after cases
| of wholesale poisoning resulted, in milk
| case at a noted summer resort, in finding
| that the cows were MIXED at the unusual
and abnormal hour of noon, the, milk al
| once placed in cans and then, without any
| attempt at cooling. jolted eight miles in the
warmest part of a very hot day, when al
| old dairymen say that the removal of the
| animal heat Is absolutely necessary in or
| der that the milR shall keep we'll and have
| a pleasant taste, for otherwise a very dis
| agreeable odor and taste are developed.
| This milk was chemically examined by
! tyrotoXicon experts, the poison being found
| After some fatal cheese poisoning case:
it was found that the milk had stood il
a damp and moldy place and the mill
| had absorbed the peculiar ferment that de
veloped the poison. And in an ice cream
| poisoning case two havorS had been used
| lemon and vanilla, and all those who ats
| the vanilla were made sick, while none O.
| those who ate of the lemon were affected
| Investigation showed that the material:
| were Identical. but for convenience the
| lemOn-fiavored cream was frozen imme
| diately, while the vanilla-fiavored on
an old back room, formerly used as f.;
meat market. wholly unventilated-in thu
| privy vault All know the extreme ab
sorptive susceptibility of milk and butter
| so comment is unnecessary.
| Edward Wakefield writes entertaining
| ", even thrillingly, of the natives of tn
| South Pacific islands, near the equator
and their use Of poisoned arrows-ptomain
| poisoned arrows, as you may see:
| These people, such as the Solomon Isl
| anders or the Santa Cruz Islanders, som
| of whom are among the finest physca
| bic savages on earth. They spend thai
| whole life in bloodshed, and are not onl
! cannibals, but addicted TO the use OF poison
as the main if not the only weapon Of wal
! They have spears and arrows pointed an
| barbed with sharp bone or wood hardene
soned so that the least Craze scarcel
enough to draw blood, is fatal. Where q
| these savages get this atrOcious poison, an
what does it consist Of? They get it fror
their own flesh and blood and it consist
| of nothing but the fluids of the human
body. When they want a supply Of poison
| ed weapons, they take a number of corpse
after battle, or they Kill a number o
prisoners expressly, and having left tn
bodies TO putrefy in the burning eQuatoria
sun for some days, they stick them full O
spear and arrow heads, which they leaV
there for weeks or months. or until tn
bodies are entirely dried up. That is tn
whole process. When those spears and al
rows are drawn out they are imperishabl
STEPPED in poison as deadly as that of wou
rail-, or the most nOiSome Snake-a pOiSO
absolutely destructive of the life of ever
| creature whose blood it touches. The POS
| session of the secret OF poisoning by mean
| OF putrehed animal fluids, by the most de
| graded of the human family, is ali tn
| more remarkable because the most &C
| yanced men of science have only recentl
| discovered the explanation of the phenon
| ena produced by that poison. The putrefaC
| ton of the animal fluids itself brings int
| existence multitude of microscopic Twin