THE POISONS IN SPOILING FOOD. 253 



old, and then coat them with the sap of a certain creeping plant. Be- 

 fore discharging the arrow they dip it into water. A serious wound 

 caused by such an arrow is inevitably followed by death in from three 

 to five days. Report as to a similar practice comes from the Narrin- 

 jeris, inhabitants of South Australia. They are said to wound their 

 enemies by splinters of bone previously plunged into corpses under- 

 going putrefaction. 



Jacob Doepler, in his " Theatrum Poenarum," mentions a method of 

 poisoning wells, the account of which was formerly discredited, but 

 has become plausible in the light of modern researches. He states 

 that people suffering from leprosy took of their blood, mixed it with 

 herbs and toad-spawn, formed little pellets of the mixture, and threw 

 the pellets weighted with stones into the wells. Many people who 

 drank from these wells were taken with the same disease, and some of 

 them died. This happened in the reign of Philip V of France, who 

 caused all lepers cognizant of the outrage to be burned, and the Jews, 

 who were accused of being the instigators of the crime, to be perse- 

 cuted. 



That many who drank of such water should become leprous seems 

 very likely, inasmuch as the partaking of spoiled food causes eruption 

 of the skin, nettle-rash, etc., in many persons ; chiefly are these symp- 

 toms to be noticed after eating spoiled fish. Of course the effects are 

 more serious with some persons than with others. Some people are 

 so sensitive that partaking of fish, seemingly fresh, will cause them in- 

 convenience ; others are liable to suffer from a peculiar eruption of 

 the skin after eating crabs or lobsters. Possibly the meat of these 

 animals, even when in the normal condition, contains neurine sufficient 

 to exert its influence on persons susceptible to it, while it may not 

 affect others at all. In the maize-porridge which is called " polenta," 

 and which is the chief food of a certain class of Italian working-men, 

 there is formed, by putrefaction, during the hot months, a poison 

 which causes " pellagra." This is an eruption of the skin, resembling 

 erysipelas, which grows worse in time and finally induces death. 



In connection with this subject, the investigations of Pouchet must 

 be referred to. Pouchet isolated a ptomaine from the excreta of chol- 

 era-patients, which seemed to possess highly poisonous properties, for, 

 when he tried to crystallize the salt he had obtained, he inhaled the 

 fumes, and eighteen hours later was seized with chills and cramps in 

 the limbs, while he also experienced an irregular pulse and nausea 

 without vomiting. His assistant, who was not so much exposed to the 

 fumes, was taken ill with the same symptoms, but not to the same ex- 

 tent. 



The development of cholera and the processes of putrefaction are 

 ascribed to the agency of minute living organisms, the bacilli, a great 

 variety of which have been found in cases of putrefaction and infec- 

 tious diseases. Professor Brieger has discovered in both fresh meat 



