FOUL FISH AND FILTH FEVERS. 329 



Prof. Pauum,in 1856, from artificial solutions of pickled salmon and salted herrings, 

 subjected the liquids to prolonged boiling so as to destroy all living organisms and 

 bacteria. Injected into animals, these boiled solutions produced poisonous effects, 

 though in a less severe form than from similar liquid preparations which had not been 

 boiled previously. Further, after filtering the fluid, then boiling it for an hour, evap- 

 orating to dryness the residue, which was next digested in absolute alcohol, he finally 

 heated the resulting residue with boiling water. Nevertheless this watery extract 

 was also poisonous. 



Dr. Lauder Brunton, one of the grandest of our great scientists, has shown that 

 the poison of putrid meat boiled for eleven hours and then completely dried at boiling 

 heat, nevertheless retained its poisonous properties. Further he declares that the 

 poisonous venom of serpents, though weakened, is not destroyed by boiling. 



All this demonstrates and proves the vitality of poisons derived from putrid and 

 other animal matter. 



Brine pickled herrings are alleged to have sometimes an ammoniacal smell due to 

 the presence of trimethylauiine. This compound is an ammonia where each equiva- 

 lent of hydrogen has been replaced by one of methyl, common ammonia (NH 3 ) being- 

 converted into trimethylauiine [N(OH ;i );]. However made, trimethylamine has a 

 strong fishy smell. 



Especially if left for over twenty-four hours in a copper vessel, or iu a copper 

 vessel inefficiently tinned or enameled, salt fish has caused serious poisonous symp- 

 toms. On examination, the side of the vessel has been found green, and sometimes 

 even a green jelly covering the cooked fish, which has become green by the infiltra- 

 tion into the fish's structure of a subchloride of copper. This must not be confused 

 with the natural green bones of the kelp fish (Goridodax pullus), of the gar-pike 

 (Belone) and its allies, nor with the red-boned mackerel used as a rat poison in Guad- 

 aloupe, a West Indian Island. 



Some American packers of boneless fish are reputed to use a mixture of borax and 

 common salt, in about the proportion of one thirty-fifth of the fish's weight, to prevent 

 the preserved fish turning red. 



COARSE OAVIARE. 



In some parts of Russia the sturgeon roes are simply put in a more or less foul bag, 

 with a strong brine. The mass is pressed by rapid wringing. It is next dried to let 

 the superfluous brine drain off, placed in casks or cisterns whose bottom is perforated, 

 where the mass is again squeezed or pressed with weights, which are not heavy 

 enough to break the eggs. Sometimes the poorest description of caviare is trodden 

 with the naked feet of the operators, whose squalid poverty and miserable tilth are 

 too frequently associated with disease. 



During the awful plague iu Astrakhan the worst and most fatal cases were usually 

 among its fisherfolk. 



Often rancid or decomposed caviare, with avoidable filth, is added to fresher eggs. 



The cleanliness in the United States caviare factories is unknown iu southern 

 Russia, the home of astounding dirt and disease, augmented by the most hideous 

 poverty and ignorance. 



