The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-10-18
BOTULISM CALLED
DEADL|EST POISON
Harvard School Finds 1t
Million Times Worse
Than Prussic Acid
III DIE IN 22 YEARS
getter Methods of Canning
Reduce Danger; Results of
Experiments Announced

%LW YORK. oct l7.--That tho
,,..on produced by the bacillus of
h,tulIsm is about a million times as
sily as prussic acid, although not
a. uuick in It's operation, is indicat-
,J If. experiments at Harvard Medi-
al school In which it has been
,t,od ihat very few molecules OF
,h uolson, and perhaps single
n,Ieeulc. may suffice to Kill Il
UIIs',
Too groups Of people. one In the
urpy and one on staten Island.
Ne been Killed in New York city
,n the last two years by this deadh-
,., OF poisons, and cases have been
ported from time to time through
,tt the country. The most striking
....nt case occurred in August at
I,.h NHree, i'm scotland. where
small lar Of potted food tainted with
5ofui.sm killed eight persons who
,ie OF IT, free oxygen Kills the
goruL
The poison occurs very rarely, bat
rlru q does. several persons USUAL
3, eat 70 and are Killed. SO thltkill-
n1s %, this poison frequently at
.iet wide attention. Its total NOR
.Utv iu a year is small. The proper
heating of food after IL is canned
tIls the germ. II the can does de-
,clop the bacillus of botulism, The
uoison loses much OF its deadlines3
the food is thoroughly cooked be
fore &c is eaten.
'sour people living in station
Island were killed by botulism a
Utle more than a year ago. when
they ate tainted sea food OF some
Kind. said DR.. Charles Norris chief
medical examiner. "A year before
Ht. four or five people were killed
w The Bronx by bOtulism poisoning,
The symptoms usually take is hours
90 develop. and bear some rescm-
hancc to intantile paralysis. There
is.a paralysis of faCol muscles in
both diseases. Death follows usual
~ in four or five days. | understand
that an anti-toxin against botulism
has been developed in Ohio, hut II is
difficult to use, because the symp-
toms do not develop until the poison
has progressed. The bacillus IL not
pathogcniC; that Is, II does not grow
IN the human system, but the poison
which il has already produced causes
death %
The Harvard experiments indicate
That a single moleculc may attack
iui destroy small groups OF cells in
he hOdy OF n living creature. the
les'ruction of one cell being suf-
lcient 70 cause death. The expert
menters have expressed unwilling
ness TO believe their own results,
though apparently verified by the
results on many mice.
Previously II had been reported,
nat one-twentieth OF drop Of the
l..
molegule IN as small compared to
drop as o drop is compared to the
water OF New York harbor. II one
molecula has the power attributed TO
80, It would mean that II Il gallon OF
poison were uniformly mixed in the
waters Of the ocean, a few drops of
water taken from any part of the
ocean and injected into the mouse
night Kill IT. II was found that
when the solution was so diluted
many OF the doses contained no
molecules Of the poison AT all, and it
was unlikely that any dose con-
famed more tnan one or two mole
Y lclles yet per cent OF the mice in
le'ied with the solution developed
4 Nmp,oms of botulism and died.
The germ that produces the poison
Was discovered by n Belgian investi-
sator, Van Emengem. In 1895
Twenty.three persons had taken ill
after eating ham that had been pre-
served IN brine, and three of them
g,,d from the tainted food. Van
hurngem was able to isolate the
bacillus botuunus. and by using cul-
lures OF the germ he was able 10
produce the same symptoms in ami
mae. Or. VI. i. Rosenau OF Har-
Nard, In a great article on botulism
SAID.
The high mortality, the distress
ing symptoms and the relation 10
iood have dramatic news value. and
lhe disease has recently caused con-
cern and alarm out OF all proper
ron 20 its prevalence. A disease
which during its period OF % years
mas made only about one hundred
and fifty persons III and caused the
ueatn OF III among approximately
ohe hundred million OF people can-
hol be compared in magnitude 20
tuberculosis and other public health
problems"
Sausages were supposed to he the
chi't cause OF botulism. In the cases
o' mo last few years other foods
nave been involved. including string
Deans, cottage cheese, corn. aspara-
kls. rlne olives and spinach. It also