The times., 1899-12-24
THE WORK OF PToMAINEs.
Effects of Taking the Deadly POisons
in Animal Food.
CFrom lie st. Louis Star }


The most mysterious of all poisons are
those deadly ptomaines, which kill num-
bers of people in the hot season of the
year. Whenever you eat piece OF animal
food you run some risk Of swallowing a
fatal dose, and, as a matter of fact, scarce
ly day passes that you don't take small
quantity of these poisons with your break
fast luncheon, or dinner.
It is they which give you that languid,
out of sorts feeling that often comes over
YOU without any apparent cause When
you feel inclined to ask yourself seriously,
is life worth living? you may feel tolera-
bly, sure that you have got some ptomaines
circulating in your blood.
These are very curious bodies in one
sense-that is, the simplicity of their COM
position. If You take quantity of air,
a little hydrogen from water and some
Of the carbon of cedar pencil, and join
them together in a particular way, you
have a poisonous ptomaine.
No chemist can join them properly to-
gether, but the microbe makes them in this
way He feeds on piece OF meat, and in
the process of feeding he changes 1t into
ptomaine. II yoH could now separate it
from the meat, you viii find little drop
Of only fluid like nicotine, or a little par
ticle of salt like quinine. And quantity
smaller than a pinhead would kill a horse
AL Minus VI ISL anu LltsAt VIZ SOiItLllLES
charged with ptomaines but some foods
are particularly dangerous Pork, sau-
sages, meat pies. roast goose, mackerel,
hams, herring, salmon and shell fish are
the faYorite resorts of the micrObe that
manufactures ptom8ines. Scarcely ever do
we hear Of any one being poisoned by NUT
ton, or beef, or chickens. But cheese often
contains quantities OF poison. Timed
meats and timed fish If the tins are not
perfectly sealed, are almost sure TO con-
tain very dangerous ptomaines And they
have been found even in beer which was
beginning TO decay.
Sometimes you cannot protect yourself,
no matter how careful you are, for these
poisons appear in meat only few hours
after killing. But the risk is very slight
except under two conditions. which greatly
favor the production of the ptomaines
Firstly-When you cook meat and then
put it in the Iarder for a few hours, the
poison is made in large quantities. AS
rule in fact you will find that all the great
poisoning tragedies have occurred from eat
ing cold meat or fish
Secondly-If you open a tin Of fish or
meat, do not consume Il all at once and eat
the remainder next day you stand a very
great chance of getting poisoned by pto-
maines. The explanation of these facts is
curious, and il shows what wheels within
wheels there are even in the microscopic
world. Some kinds of microbes are the
mortal foe Of other kinds In all sorts of
food there is a class of microbes Of whom
the ptomaine bacteria are in mortal dread.
Now, when YOU cook the meat you kin
these microbes. Then when you set il
aside. the ptomaine bacteria come along,
find no occupants, and so take possession.
Half an hour afterward, they have succeed
ed in making sufficient poison TO kill fam
ily. And there is no use in heating the
meat again, for heat does not affect the
ptomaine.
Perhaps the sTangest thing about these
substances is that they are always pres
ent in our own bodies 1t is said that if
the quantity in our blood were increased
tenfold we would die, They are found
in our saliva, and. at times a little OF it
would prove fatal TO a bird a mouse, or
other small animal They are also pres
ent In our brain, and the latest theory of
sleep is that it results from the paralyzing
effects of ptompines i'm the brain.
During the day these substances accu-
mulate in the brain until there is suf-
ficient quantity TO produce the torpor of
sleep. During The night they are burned
of by the oxygen that comes in the
blood. This is why tea and coffee keep
one awake They destroy the ptomaines
And this is also why one feels sleepy after
heavy meal, for then there is a large
quantity OF imported ptomaines in the
blood. Now and again you feel in unusu-
ally bright spirits for days at a stretch;
then you have prolonged fit of depres-
sion. IL is all a matter of more or less
ptomaines in the system.