254 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and meat undergoing putrefaction, also in the white of eggs, the non- 

 poisonous neuridine from which is formed the poisonous neurine. The 

 bacilli decompose the neuridine and form neurine from it. Sjjread on 

 fish they generate muscarine, the virulent poison also found in cer- 

 tain toad-stools. These bacilli hence produce a peculiar ptomaine, 

 according to the soil in which they happen to be growing. We 

 have as an instance the poison of the pellagra and of cholera, which, 

 when formed in the human system, will exercise a most deadly effect 

 upon it. 



In every-day life, too, the ptomaines very often give proof of their 

 presence. Heretofore, however, such cases have not always been well 

 understood. The frequent inflammations of the fingers of persons 

 engaged in washing dishes, etc., are due to this cause. The poisons 

 of putrefaction, so easily formed, need only enter into a scratch or 

 abrasion of the skin, and they will cause a slight poisoning. This is 

 commonly termed having a "sore finger," and is rather unpleasant, 

 but is generally soon cured. The best remedy for the evil is washing 

 with soap, which acts like a mild disinfectant. 



The investigation of these poisons of putrefaction is, however, by 

 no means brought to an end by the results reached thus far. Much 

 remains to be done in order to solve the new questions constantly 

 arising. So far as practical life is concerned, it is evident that all 

 food, be it of vegetable or of animal origin, must be regarded with 

 suspicion as soon as the first signs of decomposition become notice- 

 able. Especially should great care be taken in times of epidemics. 

 Hygiene alone, in kitchen and cellar, is competent to guard against 

 the evil ! Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from Daheim. 



# 



EELS AKD THEIR YOUNG. 



EELS are among the mysteries of this world. In spite of the way 

 in which Dame Science has persistently poked her nose into most 

 things, and has harried them and laid them bare, she has succeeded in 

 finding out but little about eels and their mode of life. However, it 

 would be rash to go as far in our confession of ignorance as a con- 

 temporary recently did, and declare that "we know next to nothing 

 of eels beyond the periods of their migration." If we knew nothing 

 more than that, we should indeed know but little, as in many places 

 eels never migrate at all, but grow fat and flourish from year to year 

 in the pond or lake where they were born, without ever leaving it to 

 seek the brackish water of estuaries which some authorities deem 

 necessary to their existence. The same writer who made the above 

 remark asserts that the distinction between " shovel-nosed " and 

 " pointed-nosed " eels is purely " fanciful," and accounts for the differ- 



