Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1904-12-29

bO0bcAlt DCNs just W nat pLO-
maine poisoning" really is puzzles the
average man. For some years it has
been the fashion to attribute any sud
den and otherwise unexplainabe 10
cal epidemic of disease to this dread
caUse-a form of bacterial action very
vaguely understood by most of us, and
Only beginning to be reduced to exact
scientific knowledge by the accumu-
latng Investigations of students of
bacteriology.
For example, it is undoubtedly true
that of all articles of food canned
goods, if properly prepared are about
the safest from the action of the bugs
that make the ptomaines.' Yet they
have long been popularity believed to
be the most dangerous. Ald the req
son, when one comes to think about it,
is fairly obvious. The canned goods
\ are generally prepared from fresh ma
terial, used before there is Opportrn-
ity for decomposition to reach the dan
ger point, and they are further freed
from danger of bacterial action by
careful sterilization. And if these
safeguards have proved inefficient, as
ir rare instances they do, there re-
mains a method by which the consum-
er can tell whether or not the contents
of given can are perfectly whole
/ some All that is necessary is to in
spect the can and, if the busy bacteria
are Within you may be sure that they
will have been at work and that their
| labor will have produced gases which
in turn will have affected the shape
of the can. If its ends bulge ever so
| slightly, don't buy it But if the ends
OF the can are Colcave the contents
are quite safe and sane" to borrow
the slogan of recent campaign orators.
Once the can is opened, however, the
contents are as subject to bacterial at.
tack as any other food product would
be and must be kept as carefully.
This whole subject, according to
Professor S. c. Prescott of the depart
meat of industrial biology at the Mas
sachusetts Institute of Technology. is
now much better, understood by the
experts than formerly, and the main
features of it can easily be made in
telligible to the man in the street
For a long time after the ptomaines,
or poisonous substances, were first dis
covered. it was imagined that they
were themselves a form of bacteria
But it is now well known that they
are simply poisonous substances, pro
duced by the combined action of hun
dEeds of minute Organisms-the so
called "putrefying" bacteria-on the
food products eaten by all kinds of hui
Ilanity except the vegetarians. The
rtomaines are, therefore practically as
many in number as the different ami
nal food products-bUt all alike in
their power to make trouble for hui
manity. All are alike, also, in that
they induce evils which are prevent
able. One important reason, for eX.
ample. why pork has attained so I'M
onviable a reputation for unwholesomc
qualities is due not to the personal
habits of Mr.. Pig, burt to the careless
way in which he has been handled
while being transformed into saus-
sages. The subject, therefore, is
obviously one of vital importance to
human well-being-so much so that it
not only absorbs the attention of
many individual scientists but has be-
come of late years an important part
OF the meteorological work of such an
Institution as the Massachusetts In
stitute of Technology, where not only
instructors but also advanced stu
dents are constantly working along
specific lines of individual research.
Aad it is owing to sUch researches.
the world over. that ptomaine poison
irg is losing its terror in proportion as
il is made more and more unlikely by
scientific methods in the preparation
OF food products
The name ptomaine has a rather
The Greek word for corpse the first
startling significance, going back 10
ptomaines have been discovered in
dead bodies.
Food poisoning may be caused in
various ways-the most common
cases geing those of meat, sausage,
fish, milk, and cheese poisoning,
through bacterial action producing pto-
maines. These bacterial changes
usually take place in the flesh before
ii is cured or cooked. During this