The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-16
WHAT PT0MAlNE is.
POISON THAT CAUSED DEATH OF
ANTON SEIDL Is EXPLAINED.

Game and Oysters-Many Murder
Trials Have Turned on Questions
of Its Existence.
From the Chicago Inter-Ocean,
The recent death in New York of two
persons, one of them the famous musical
director Anton Seidl, from ptomaine poi
soning, has aroused, not alone in the East,
but over the entire country, a decided in
terest in a subject but poorly understood,
| even by the ordinary practitioner of medi-
cine Mystery is the greatest stimulant of
interest, and death the cause of which
cannot be clearly and scientifically deter
mined assumes a weird and fascinating
character.
OF the real nature of ptomaines little is
known by the ordinary layman and the no
ton prevails that they are newly discov-
cred poisons, the nature of which is but
poorly understood This is an entire misap-
prehension. The ptomaines have been I'M
der close scientific investigation for mat
ter of half a century, the name, which is
derived from a Greek word that we rem
der "cadaver," having been bestowed upon
them by the Italian chemist Selmi some
thirty years ago. In 1876 Neucki made the
first ultimate analysis and determined the
first formula of ptomaine.
A ptomaine Is a chemical compound
formed during the putrefaction of organic
matter. The term animal matter is fire.
quently employed in this connection, but
! this is clearly wrong, since certain pto-
maines are developed from decaying vege-
III A ion, 1rfa q. fha
ton of bacteria, and all ptomaines result
from the growth of these micro-organisms.
| The nature of the ptomaines thus depends
principally upon the character of the indi-
vdual bacterium at work aud the nature
of the material acted upon.
On this interesting subject Prof. Mark
Delafontaine, a widely known educator
and celebrated analytical chemist, who tes
| tilted for the state in the Luetgert muir
der trial had this to say:
| During the incipient state of putrefac-
ton there are frequently produced various
| compounds some of which possess intense
| ly poisonous properties. They are called
ptomaines. They seem to have led some
experts into error, for the reason that some
of them produce symptoms similar to those
of various natural poiscns, such as strych.
nine, morphine, nicotine, etc. Such poisons
have been extracted from cheese, milk, es-
pecially in the form of ice creams, and va
rious preparations of meat, such as sau-
sage, smoked meat and fish" >
THE action of some of these upon the
healthy man very much resembles that of
arsenic and other like irritating posons.
Almost every summer one chemist or an
other an Chicago has to Investigate cases
of poisoning from ice cream, especially re-
| sulting from parties or picnics, where a
number of people are made more or less
sick from the effects of eating the COM
pound. The first impulse of victims and
| friends is to ascribe the trouble to the
presence of copper lead or zinc absorbed
by the cream from the freezers, Sometimes
| the blame is laid at the door of the favor
ing extract employed, ccfecially if it
| chances to be vanilla. But almost invaria-
bly, the closest chemical analysis fails to
sustain the suspicious, and leads to the ex-
traction of a ptomaine identical with or
closely allied to that sometimes found in
cheese. incidentally it may be stated that
on the whole, the poson-tainted articles
exhibit no bad taste or smell that would
act as warning TO the consumer.
| las regards some of the symptoms fire.
quently exhibited, they are, as / have al
ready remarked, like those of a very irri-
tating poison Among other cases. had,
some years ago, to investigate the poison
ing of about fifteen people who partook OF
some meat cut from the same piece and
purchased the same evening, although be-
longing TO five or six different families
living from one to several miles apart. All
the consumers of that meat developed the
same symptoms-acute Inflammation Of
the stomach and bowels, repeated vomiting
and purging, with great loss of strength,
clammy perspiration and cold extremities
| There was absolutely nothing IN the APP
pearance, taste or smell of the meat to
indicate that it was unsound and vet
could extract from some parts of it a poi
son that was undoubtedly a ptomaine
Poisoning by ptomaines is by no means
uncommon yet / believe that some cases
of sickness following the ingestion of hog
products, such as head-cheese and; sausage
are really only acute indigestion resulting
from overindulgence in strongly spiced ar
ticles, with more or less copious potations
of beer"
The greatest danger of ptomaines, in the
opinion of Prof. Delafontsine lies in the
fact that they usually appear as about the
first indication that the process of putre-
faction has begun, thus giving the cotsum-
er no warning of their deadly presence AS
all ptomaines depend upon the presence of
bacteria, 1t follows that all kinds Of food
should be kept in cool, well-ventilat ted
place, thus reducing the danger TO a mini
mum.
Some years ago three out Of a family Of
four died at Milan, Mich, Of ptomaine moi
soning, the particular form being that
known as tyrotoxicon. 1t was determined
by DIR. V. c. Vaughan, the well-known
physiological chemist. of Ann Arbor that
the poison was developed by keeping the
milk which the family consumed Ia a
small closet, beneath the floor OF which
was mass of moist, decomposing matter
the accumulation of years. The bulk Of
| the milk produced on the farm, which was
kept elsewhere, was found to be absolutely
sound. Not only is cleanliness next to god
liness, but it is the sureet means of avoid
ing disease and insuring life.
The generally prevailing idea that the
word ptomaine is practically Synonymous
| with poison Is entirely wrong. OF a large
number of ptomanes isolated and sub
| jected to chemical analysis, only small
| proportion are found to posses poisonous
| properties. On the other hand. many POL
sonous substances formed during putre-
faction are in no sense ptomaines. From
this great deal Of confusion has risen.
Ptomaines greatly resemble many OF the
| vegetable alkaloids, some of which are
among the most active and violent polsons
known. The symptoms being very similar.