Evening star., 1932-02-12
Lincoln Mystery Solved
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

When Abraham Lincoln was a small
boy his mother died, the victim of a
mysterious Scourge that was sweeping
through the pioneer settlements OF the
Middle West
Chemists of the Department OF Agri-
culture a century later have found what
killed her. The specific poison has been
isolated, it is announced, which was
responsible for the dreaded milk sick
ness" the phantom killer that descend
ed upon the lonely frontier cabins with
the early Autumn and caused such
havoc that some areas were abandoned
as impossible of settlement.
Fortunately for Abraham Lincoln,
frontier boys Of the early nineteenth
century were not reared on the current
"ouart-of milk day formula. Other
wise he probably would have been buried
with his mother He suffered slight
attack of the disease that killed his
mother.
MANY years afterward 1t was found
that the scourge was associated In some
Way with an looking little
white flower, the white snakeroot. which
contaminated the milk Of the cows that
ate it. The final step has been the
isolation by Dr. j. F. Couch. chemist OF
the Bureau of Animal Industry, OF the
specific poison in the plant responsible
for the disease 1t is an oily liquid,
chemically classed as one Of the alco-
hols and acting insidiously on the human
system.
Name Due to "Trembling."
This new chemical substance has been
named tremetol, because of the "trem-
bling" which is one of its outstanding
effects, especially with animals. This
poison appears to be restricted to three
plants growing in North America, the
white snakeroot of the Ohio Valley and
two species of rayless goldenrod in the
South. An almost identical species OF
Snakeroot is common around the Dis
trict of Columbia, but its tremetol con-
tent Is SO slight that it probably never
has caused a case of milk sickness"
Tremetol in plants, DR.. Couch eX-
plains, not only affects the cows them
selves in the form of a curious animal
disease known as .'trembles," but Is
carried in the milk SO that the human
illness almost invariably comes from
drinking milk or eating butter. Despite
the fact that the association between
the plant and the disease has been
known for many years there still are
occasional epidemics in the white
snakeroot country.
Thus far the Department OF Agri-
culture chemists have not been able to
find any antidote for tremetol. and, DR..
Couch explains, none is needed If the
case comes into the hands Of COM
petent physician. The drug kills only
over a considerable period and acts
in a vicious circle. Here, DR.. Couch
says, is approximately what happened
to Nancy Hanks:
After the Lincoln lows began grazing
on the Autumn forage in the partial
clearing she began to complain OF
tiredness and loss of appetite. Ply
sicians were few and far between, but
even if one had been called he prob
ably could have done no more than the
members of her family. Through the
Fall the condition became rapidly
worse, with the typical symptoms OF
the terrible milk sickness" which the
pioneers regarded practically as death
warrant becoming apparent. She
reached the point where she could keep
no solid food on her stomach. The only
form of nourishment she could take