The San Francisco call., 1898-04-23
Dr.E.S. Pilllsbury Has Dis covered That TOxine
 Is the Cause.
At First Thought to Be Micro organisms Living as Para
 sites in the Creeper.
A Report Has Been Forwarded to the Board of Health and Some Action
 Will Be Taken.

There is probably no little animal in the world with as many titles of magni- tude as the California shrimp, and rom recent investigations made by Dr. E. 5. Pillsbury, instructor in bacteriology at the Cooper Medical College, they are i'm pregnated or stuffed with different siA'- stances, chemical and germs, which a1so carry immense names with them.
 According to the doctor and his inves- tigations the shrimps are poisonous food to a certain extent. and the fact that this was not discov ~ed before was that Investigations merely took in search for micro-organisms living as par astes in the shrimp, while now 1t is dis covered that the fault lay with toXlne' an alkaloid, which in all probability was produced by bacteria of decomposition found in the refuse from slaughter houses on which the shrimps fed.
 The shrimps which are so peculiarly diseased have been residing near "Butch- ertown," and were seen to be in a fabby and apparently unhealthy condition. The articles published exclusively in The Call early in January last called the atten- ton of the Board of Health to the sick ness of the creepers, and Dr. Spencer was ordered to make a bacteriologicaI eX- animation for the purpose of discovering what caused the paIeneSS Of the SnrlInps He found as did pr. Pillsbury, that there were none of the so-called pathogenlc bacteria existing, but they did not ex- anime as is now done in large East ern cities for toxic products, ptOmaineS, of these non-pathogenic bacteria It is now discovered by Dr. PlllSbury that these products are responsible tor the sickness and death in all unhealthy flesh foods rather than the bacteria them selves, which are all killed iD the process of cooking. The following report has been submitted to the Board of Health by pr. Pillsbury:
 
 caught off Butchertown, San Francisco Bay, gave negative results as far as finding patho- genie bacteria. Many varieties ueveIOped in media, to which Pariettfs solution of car bolic acid had been added. but none proved to De the well known palhoSehle bacteria
 A chemical analysis then made to de- termine If these shrimps contained any poison alkaloids. The first method used was that ordinarily used to obtaln the aIhaiolds rom opium, and the result from this method ptOmaine which m very dilute soutIon had decidedly posonous action on a rabbit.
 Two rabbits were taken which were alike in all respects. and into rabbit No. l was injected subcutaneously solution of ptomaines from Q control in all my analyses. Then into rab- bit No 2 was injected simultaneously a like quantity of solution of ptomaines from Butch ertown shrimps. Immediately after this injec- ton into rabbit No. this rabbit began to tremely irritable condition with twitchings of legs and ears and decided increase in heart
 With rabbit No. 1 (San Pablo Bay shrmps) there was apparently TO change except a slight increase m heart ana respiration rate.
 Time of injections p. m.
 The following morning rabbit No. l seemed brighter than usual showing benefit rather than ill-effects from Its injection. Rabbit No 2 sluggish and feverisn, had passed bloody urine during the night ana during day lowing large quantities Of bloody urine
 Now while neither rabbit died the effect of this small amount of the ptomaine extract (only twenty-four live and apparently healthy Butchertown shrimps were used) the expert ment shows that these shrimps cannot be suit able for food. and your honorable board should order their sale stopped
 The result has Lo-- more than confirmed by later experiments. From 200 grammes of live Butchertown shrimps l extracted, by the meth cd of Brieger, the non-voatlIe aIkaIolds and found that even in minute dose they were fatal to a healthy rabbit. sample of these alkaloidal extracts was furnished to your City Bacteriologist, Dr. Spencer.
 Still further from the muscle alone as shelled out of shrimps cooked by myself to in- freshness. l have obtained as strong alkal- oidal reactions by the methods already men tioned and well by Sonnenschein's method for confirmatory evidence. and from it's reac- tions have every reason to believe it would be fatal obtained in this way as by Brieger' method which is the in vogue in Eastern cities. and above produced d tOXlne which was fatal for my rabbit.
 In view of the results of these experiments showing without doubt that these shrImps con tain a substance which is fatally poisonous in sufficient doses and decidedly injurious in