Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-01-02

time the bacteria, which act by at
tacking the heterogeneous portions OF
the food and breaking it UP into other
substances, some of which are poison-
Gus, complete their work so th0r0u gh-
" that even the heat of an oven or
frying pan is insufficient to destroy
their newly acquired poisonous quail
/ tiles. These changes take place with
great rapidity and are almost frnpos-
sible to detect in their first stages.
Later the decomposition is accom-
panied by a characteristic taste or
odor; burt the food may have become
dangerous before these telltale evid
ences are noticeable,
The remedy lies in stringentNlaws
regulating the sale of any food product
that is open to suspiclon-and especi
ally in removing from every creature
that has been sacrificed to the human
appetite the intestinal tract where
these dangerous organisms are found
IL greatest abundance. The passage
OF such laws, based upon the worl1not
the archaeological laboratories, 8has
already marvellously reduced the num-
Der of reported cases of ptomaine pois
oning--a danger that must have been
vaguely realized by primitive man cen
turtles before the presence of any kind
o. bacteria was even distantly -sus
pected. S
Fish poisoning is another way in
which the so-called ptomaines have
caused humanity a great deal of un-
happiness; though many timessnlthis
type of food is wrongly supposed ato
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 poisonous atcerta in sea
sons owing to changes that are talk
ing place in them that give rise ito
poisonous compounds. But in many
cases the disastrous effects. Of eating
fish are undoubtedly to be attributed
to the ptomaines produced by bacteria,
either after the fish have been prepar-
ed for market or or, account of the &C
emulation of such bacteria In infect
Ell waters. And here, also, theedan-
ger is fortunately decreasing in pro
portion as greater scientific knOwl-
edge not only safeguards the fish mai
kets, but attends to the puriicationgof
sewage before it is permitted to enter
bodies of salt or fresh water.
In this study Of the ptomaines Mes
also the secret of the modern develop
ment7 of laws governing the milkasUp-
ply of our big cities and the employ
ment of experts to maintain a stand
ard of purity in various dairy products.
The omnipresent bacteria are also in
evidence in the milk of i'll kept dairies.
and it is only by the greatest careain
the handling of every object that
comes between the COW and the milk
consumer that the danger can be com
pletely avoided Before the modern
scientific study of milk and its prod
ucts there were undoubtedly many
cases of poisoning that remairfedpn-
explained to those who experienced
them; and the known cases, since the
subject was better understood, have
included even ice cream and custards
in which bad milk was the dangerous
element fst xnRsF ~
Some persons, of course, are more
easily affected by ptomaine poisoning
than others, and general good health
is, therefore, an additional safeguard
against this particular danger It
has been suggested, indeed. that anost
OF our minor ills could be attributed to
administration" or the accidental
poisoning of ourselves with more or
less mildly poisonous substances,
majority of them being. ptomafnes OF
one kind and another. This, how
ever, is simply theory that has been
neither proved nor disproved and mod
ern science claims credit only for the
discovery of the large number whose
existence can be proved by the deli
cate meteorological experiments tina
have led to so many laws that look a
modern living. And these laws are
nevertheless of vital importance in
adding to the comfort and safety of
modern living. And these laws are
invariably approved in practice by all
reputable dealers in food products, for
in the long rum pure goods are more
profitable and more easily handled
than those in which there are ele.
ments of decomposition.
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