The suburban citizen., 1902-09-06
MILKAMEANSOF SUICIDE
DEADLY FORMS IN WHICH THE IN.
NOcENT FLUID FIGURES.

Khe Lethal Effects of Milk Are Much Un-
derrated-Usual Result From Eating
Cherries and Drinking Milk-Ice-Cold
Itisa Very Harmful Beverage.
1t is remarkable that so mild and in
Tinslcally harmless a beverage as milk
should be so frequently chosen as
means of exit into the other world.
Yet at this season the lethal effects OF
milk seem to be much underrated.
Cor example, we read in the dispatches
from San Andreas that "a prominent
young man Of Calaveras County died
here to-day as a result Of eating cher
cies and drinking milk" This is
slight variant from the usual combin-
lton. Probably the most deadly is
pickles and milk. Strawberries and
milk are only mildly toxic; with young
md hardy stomachs they are often
partially digested; with older ones
hey frequently cause nothing more
.han eructative dyspepsia, or at worst
hives, nettle.rash, urticaria, or summer
complaint, therefore those who are
fond Of this combination rarely abstain
In the face of these comparatively
trifing ailments.
Next 70 pickles and milk, probably
the most deadly form in which the in
nocent fluid can be made to figure is
the cheap ice cream combination. De-
rpite the toughness Of juvenile viscera,
milk in the ice cream form, If judi
,iously administered, has been known
20 lay cut in intestinal kinks many
scores Of children on Sunday-school
Dicnics. With their elders, the combl-
nation is not infrequently fatal or
course it requires much care to make
milk so deadly. In fact, with careless
mixing this kind of ice cream may be
taken with comparative impunity, or
only a slight illness. When it is pre-
pared with attention to the proper sep
tic and toxic conditions, however, milk
in this form may be looked upon as
practically certain death; it would be
invaluable as an apparently innocent
means of hurrying off rich uncles, tar
dy spinster aunts and other rich per-
sons who linger superfiuous on life's
stage. In its most potent form, when
the innocent milk has become merely
q culture bed for billions Of ice cream
ptomaines, the doctors call the mixture
'tyro.toXicon." This name is imposing
Ind scientific sounding, and doubtless
gives a certain chastened satisfaction
| to the mourners much more than
would plain milk.
To return to our original remark-it
is extraordinary what pains people
/ take to render deadly this harmless
| beverage. Even If the COW be sound,
they will expose the milk to all man.
uer Of impurities-including typhoid
| germs-before they put 1t inside of
them. Even if it be perfectly pure
| they take it at temperatures and un'
der conditions that are unwse, II not
dangerous. To take a glass of milk by
itself is a sensible proceeding; to take
it On top Of a hearty meal composed CT
| proteids, carbohydrates and hydro
carbons is most unwise; to take it with
acids is to WOO dyspepsia. Vet the lat
ter method is the one most preferred,
/ for cream is used as a mechanical lu.
bricant with all manner Of acid fruits.
AS to temperature-in the summer
season people prefer it ice cold, and
some lunatics even put ice into it, If
they take it at the temperature of the
air. without accompanying solid food
it is probably speedily absorbed with
out going through the complex pro-
cesses of gastric and hepatic digestion.
If, on the other hand, it be taken ice
cold, it at once coagulates and the
| stubborn casein in it sometimes -.
quires hours for digestion; this latter
is invariably the case when it is accom-.
| panied with solid food.
Many man and woman has died
through drinking freely of iced milk
on hot summers day. Adelaide Mel
son, the beautiful actress, went into a
| Paris restaurant on the way to the
Eois de Boulogne one summer day
one Of those b2oilng, blistering, steam
ing days Of which in Paris they have
so many, and Of which We hear so lit
tie. She ordered a glass of iced milk
she did not sip it-against the advice
of her companion, she drank ii rapid
| ly, and followed it with another. In a
few moments she was dead.
Eheu She was a fine actress and a
very beautiful woman. They show
| you the room in which she died. They
even point out to you the lounge on
which she yielded up her last breath.
"Yes, monsieur Yes, madame, VOLTA
that is the place where the beautiful
actress Anglals have die. She was
very beautiful, very gentle. Oh, yes.
1t was a grand pity. Oh yes. She
Crlnk a glass Of the mllk-cold, very
cold. Thank you, monsieur Thank
you, thousand times. Good day.
madame; good day, monsieur"-Argo.
/ potrt