CHAPTER XXXIV. 

 BACTERIA AND FOOD-POISONING. 



THE term "food-poisoning," or ptomain poisoning, in the past 

 has been used to cover a multitude of physiological disturbances. 

 As Jordan points out, "that convenient refuge from etiological 

 uncertainty 'ptomain poisoning' is a diagnosis that unquestion- 

 ably has been made to cover a great variety of diverse conditions 

 from appendicitis and pain caused by gall-stones to the simple 

 abdominal distention resulting from reckless gorging." But even 

 when account is taken of this, its toll of human life and suffering is 

 great. Food-poisoning is also a great cause of inefficiency, depres- 

 sion, sluggish mental processes, dissatisfaction, or abnormal irrita- 

 bility which are often overlooked or attributed to other causes. 



Classes of Food-poisoning. Present knowledge permits the follow- 

 ing rough classification of food-poisoning : 



1. Poisoning due to the eating of foods which naturally contain 

 poisonous products. 



2. Poisoning due to the eating of foods containing mineral poisons 

 added either intentionally or accidentally. 



3. The eating of foods which are normally non-poisonous but 

 which have been obtained from animals suffering from disease. 



4. The eating of food which has been accidentally infected with 

 pathogenic bacteria in handling or preparation. 



5. The eating of foods which contain poisonous products of 

 bacterial katabolism-toxins. 



6. The eating of a normal food by an individual who possesses 

 peculiar idiosyncrasies toward a specific food. 



Poisonous Foods. The first group consists of naturally-occurring 

 plants and animals which are always poisonous or become so during 

 certain seasons of the year. According to Chestnut there are 

 16,673 leaf-bearing plants included in Heller's Catalog of North 

 American Plants. Of these nearly 500 have been alleged to be 

 poisonous, but fortunately only a few are ever accidentally par- 

 taken of by man. Chestnut lists about thirty important poisonous 

 plants occurring in the United States and some of these are not 

 known to be poisonous except to domestic animals. Some of the 

 more common are as follows : 



American false hellebore (Veratrum viridi) mistaken for marsh- 

 marigold. 



