The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-25

, startling significance, going back to
 the Creek word for corpse. the first ptomaines having been discovered in
 dead bodies. The name was suggest ed In the early eighties by an Italian scientist. some years after the first ex- act knowledge had been obtained of 1 what the substance actually was that for centuries had been causing such disastrous results to the human be- ings who accidentally came in contact
 with it. As long ago as the time of
 the ancient Hebrews, the danger of
 this kind of poisoning had been recog- nized, although the cause was neither suspected nor sought after. One may
 still read in Deuteronomy the com- mand: "Ye shall not eat anything
 that dieth of itself; thou shalt give 1t
 to the stranger that is in thy gates.
 that he may eat of it"-which Is di- | rect injunction to avoid ptomaines al- though it hardly reflects much credit
 on the hospitality of the ancient He-
 brews.
 The first experimental study, how | ever of the effect produced upon ami mals by the eating of unwholesome flesh was carried on only 2 hundred years ago when the famous physiolo- gist Albert von Haller began the pres ent widespread work In one of the | most minutely difficult of all scientific researches; and. although already 1t Is said that the time Is not far distant | when the danger of ptomaine poison 1 ing, with its centuries long list of un- | suspecting victims, will be altogether | abolished, there still remains from e scientific point of view a wide field of
 investigation for-the labors of future | generations of scientists.
 Food poisoning may be caused in various ways-the most common cases | being those of meat, sausage, fish. | milk and cheese poisoning. through
 bacterial action producing ptomaines. These bacterial changes usually take
 place in the flesh before it is cured or cooked. During this time the bacte- ria. which act by attacking the nitro
 genous portions of the food and break
 ing 1t up into other substances some of which are poisonous. complete their work so thoroughly that even the heat
 of an oven or frying pan IS insufficient to destroy their newly acquired pois- onous qualities. These changes take place with great rapidity and are all
 most impossible to detect in their first stages. Later the decomposition is ac- companied by a characteristic taste or odor; but the food may have become
 dangerous before these telltale evil dences are noticeable.
 The remedy lies In stringent laws regulating the sale of any food pro-
 duct that is open to suspicion-and es- pecially in removing from every crea- ture that has been sacrificed to the hu-
 man appetite the intestinal tract where these dangerous organisms are found
 in greatest abundance. The passage of such laws. based upon the work of the bacteriological laboratories. has
 already marvellously reduced the num-
 Der of reported cases of ptomaine pois-
 oning-e danger that must have been
 vaguely realized by primitive man
 centuries before the presence of any
 kind of bacteria was even distantly
 suspected.
 Fish poisoning is another way in
 which the so-called ptomaines have
 caused humanity great deal of un-
 happiness; though many times this type of food is wrongly supposed to be
 guilty. Certain fish. for example have poison glands of their own and are only
 wholesome when these glands have
 been removed. and yet others are poi sonous at certain seasons owing to changes that are taking place in them that give rise to poisonous compounds