220 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEKY. 



when putrefaction assails an organized structure, the morbifi power 

 that is evoked lies in the peculiar motions and changes which influ- 

 ence the ultimate arrangement of particles, and in the operation 

 which they exert upon other substances susceptible of similar altera- 

 tions in their condition. There is also another consideration that we 

 must bear in mind, and which results from the complex arrangement 

 of atoms in the organic world, or in products which may be derived 

 therefrom. As an illustration of this complexity, let us look at the 

 amylaceous and saccharine group of bodies, starting with cane-sugar, 

 in which we find twelve equivalents of carbon, eleven of hydrogen, 

 and eleven of oxygen. Professor Miller gives a list of eighteen sub- 

 stances of this group, exhibiting various elaborate combinations of a 

 multiplicity of atoms of the three elements. In other groups belong- 

 ing to the animal series, still greater complexity prevails, and as such 

 substances are built up in a great variety of ways, so there is an equal 

 variety in the modes in which they may be taken to pieces, and a 

 change of properties sometimes a very striking one is found at 

 every stage, whether of the ascending or descending scale. Thus we 

 can understand how putrefactions -- which are regulated modes of 

 resolving complex bodies into simpler forms may, under different 

 circumstances, afford very different results. 



These reflections will assist in explaining the great dangers which 

 result from animal food in an unsound condition. If disease has 

 changed the normal state of the particles, we may be sure that the 

 food is made mischievous, although we may not, without experiment, 

 be able to say to what extent any particular individual may suffer 

 from eating it. 



Professor Gamgee, in an important article on " Unwholesome Meat 

 and Milk," 1 classifies the evils of bad animal food under five heads, as 

 produced by (1) Cadaveric venom and animal poisons of undeter- 

 mined nature, developed spontaneously in health or disease. (2) 

 Animal poisons well known from their effects in creating specific con- 

 tagious diseases. (3) Organic poisons, the result of decomposition. 

 (4) Mineral and vegetable poisons absorbed into the systems of ani- 

 mals, and which contaminate their flesh and milk. (5) Parasitic ani- 

 mals and vegetables, inducing disease in men. The learned professor 

 is inclined to "regard as one and the same deleterious principle de- 

 veloped in an infuriated and over-driven ox, a passionate woman, the 

 cadaveric venom of the human subject, or that of human beings or 

 animals suffering many hours in labor, or from parturient fever." 

 We may presume that the juices of an enraged philosopher would be 

 quite as dangerous as those of a passionate woman ; and in all theso 

 cases there is a connection between a certain mental or nervous con- 

 dition, and the poisonous character which the solids or fluids assume. 

 Mr. Gamgoe says that he has frequently spoken to butchers on the 

 subject, and received from them an account of how they have suffered 

 from cuts received in dressing over-driven animals. In man, he tells 

 us, the meat of such creatures produces violent dysentery, with febrile 

 excitement. 



Where specific malignant disease exists in animals, the danger of 



1 Edinburgh Veterinary Review, May, 1802. 



