The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-11

deaths as the result of what the doctors
| call ptOmaine poisoning. 1t was such a
! death that Anton Seidl died and only on
Monday of last week Edmund NJ. Post,
one of the highest authorities in this
country on dry goods credits. died Of the
same disease. In each Of these cases
death came after the eating of fish. Mr..
! Seidl partook heartily of shad roe one
| afternoon and was dead before midnight.
Mr. Pest took supper with his wife after
the theatre on Saturday night and ate
! what was supposed to be fresh lobster.
! He died early on Monday morning. In
these two cases the persons who died
were well known, and everybody who
| reads the newspapers knew OF the cir
cumstances surrounding the deaths.
Within few years. however, hundreds
of persons, known only in the immediate
circle in which they moved, have died
| from the same cause. while hundreds or
more cases Of serious illness produced by
ptomaine poisoning have been reported.
Indeed. during last July and August, an
unusual number of cases of serious illness
produced from poisonous ptomaines in
gested into the system through CLANS
were chronicled, while at one of the sum-
mer resorts up the State twenty or thirty
players and visitors at a golf tournament
were poisoned by the ptomaines in the
meat of chicken sandwiches. In this case
scarcely person at the golf grounds in
| question, including the caddie, escaped
i Illness
The history of these cases-the sudden
illness. the excruciating pain. and the
| quick death--has led many persons to won
der II they may eat either fish, flesh or
fowl without taking the chances of being
| dead few hours afterward. 1t isn't a
whole lot that the medical profession
knows about ptomaine poisoning as yet,
but, from what can be learned. 1t would
appear that no physician would guarantee
that there were no poisonous ptomaines in
almost any article of food that finds its
way to the table. Neither meat nor bread
is free from them, but. thanks to the pow
ers of resistance in many systems, the in
gestion OF the poison does not always
prove fatal. 1t does not always even pro-
| duce serious illness. And it may be said
| in passing, that many deaths attributed
to ptomaine poisoning are really the re-
suit OF poisoning by leucomaines The DIFF
| ference between the two is this: Pto-
! maines are substances formed in the ali
| mentary canal by the decomposition or pu-
| trefaction of heterogeneous foods. These
| substances are diffused through the sys-
TEN. Leucomaines are substances which
originate in the tissues of the body and are
produced by the chemical changes result
ing from the taking of certain foods into
| the stomach. In one case the source of the
poison originates in the food and in the
| other it originates in the tissues of the
body. Only a post mortem examination
By the chemist and bacteriologist can de-
| terminc whether the death was produced
by poison from ptomaines or leucomaines.
| Indeed. it is not always possible for such
an examination to determine the real
| source of the poison.
| OF course, what most persons are inter-
| ested in is how they are to know when
| they may safely eat fish, flesh, fowl, milk,
| ice cream, and other foods which may
| generate ptomalne poisons, or which MAJ
affect the tissues in such q way as to
produce leucomaine poisoning. 1t may
| not be very cheerful intelligence, but the
plain. unadorned fact is that there is no
| way Of telling. There are certain pre-
cautions, however, which everybody may
take. One of these precautions IL: Never
eat fish of any kind-and this includes
oysters, clans, and all other kinds of
shellfsh-unless 1t be fresh. II you can
not be sure that fish is fresh. don't eat it.
For some reason or other it appears to
be true that more poisonous ptomaines
are to be found in fish than in almost
any other kind of food. Besides this
there are many persons who. as one
writer on the subject has said, possess.
from idiosyncrasy. an extreme degree Of
sensitiveness to the action of shellfish of
all kinds
In the matter Of meats-and high livers
would do well to remember this-the So
called "gamy'' meats, both OF flesh and
fowl are the most likely to contain pois-
onous ptomaines. 1t is a common notion
that meat kept on ice while 1t seasons will
be free. on account Of the temperature In
which it is kept, from toxic ptomaines.
Scientific men have demonstrated that this
is false notion and it is just as easy to
get killed from eating meat that has be-
come 'gamy" on the ice as off But even
fresh meat may contain toxic ptomaines
In this case, however. the ptomaines have
formed in the animal during life through
the eating of some poisonous substances.
This is particularly true in the case of
chickens and swine. But that the reader
may have the benefit of authoritative
knowledge on this whole subject, 1t may
be well to quote authorities. Dr. W. Gil
man Thompson. professor of medicine in
the Cornell University Medical College,
New York. and visiting physician to the
Presbyterian and Bellevue hospitals in his
work on Practical Dietetics." has this to
say on the general subject of ptomaine
poisoning in foods:
''Ptomaines may be developed from a
variety OF foods, but the principal ones
from which the poisoning occurs are
meat. milk shellfsh. and fish. When meat
has been kept too long exposed to the
air, or when 1t has become contaminated
In any manner with putrefactive bacteria
1t is wholly unfit for food, yet, If thor
oughly cooked, 1t may be not necessarily
poisonous. This is the case with high
game. Dangerous and even fatal cases OF
systemic poisoning By meat ptomaines re-
suited from eating sausages, pork pie.
ham, meat juice. beef, head cheese nut
ton or veal. The putrefactive change NAV
have already begun in meat. although II
may not be apparent by an altered taste
1T is certain fact that certain per
sons have great liberation of tainted
meats. Among civilized races. and espec-
tally in England. the use OF high game
and mutton Is much less in vogue at pres
ent than formerly: but the Eskimos and
many savage tribes in Africa eat with
relish, and digest well. decomposing meat
the mere odor Of which turns the stomach
OF a white man. Bishop Colenso stated
that among the Zulus of Natal the
synonym for heaven is 'ubomi,' which
means 'maggoty meat The natives of
Siam and Cambodia prefer to keep their
HeSh until IL mas Degun To putrefy. In
some parts of China eggs several months
Did are enjoyed as n delicacy Measly
swine flesh rapidly decomposes and the
various processes Of drying, smoking. and
sailing still leaves 1t wholly unfit for
food. The meat of very young animals
should never be eaten. 1t is indigestible.
nutritious. and 1t easily decomposes
Poisoning from plain milk is less COM
mon than from certain varieties of cheese
and from cream. When ice cream is made
in large Quantities the cream from which