THE RELATION OF BACILLUS B0TULINU8 TO CERTAIN PHASES OF 

 HOME ECONOMICS AND AGRICULTURE. 



ZAE NORTHRUP. 



(Preliminary Report.) 



In speaking of B. hotulinus in its relation to certain phases of home eco- 

 nomics and agriculture, I am regarding it, from personal experience, as the 

 representative of a group of Gram positive, spore-forming, gas and toxin- 

 producing anaerobes. In the report of the Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, 

 D. C, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, this same idea is expressed 

 regarding B. botulinus after a comparative study vpas made of all known 

 strains. 



Tlie toxin produced by this interesting group of anaerobes, rather than 

 poisonous ptomaines, is now thought by certain investigators to be the chief 

 source of the type of food poisoning caused by toxic products resulting from 

 bacterial growth in certain types of food, i. e., toxemia, fatal or otherwise, 

 following the ingestion of B. botulinus toxin is of more common occurrence 

 than actual ptomain poisoning, although neither are of very common occur- 

 rence. 



B. botulinus received its name from the fact that it was originally isolated 

 (by van Ermengem, 1896,) from sausage which had caused fatal poisoning; 

 since then, however, it has been found in other forms of raw and cooked meat 

 prepared for human consumption, in canned meats, vegetables and even fruits, 

 and in silage and certain kinds of hay, while in nature it has been found to 

 occur in pig and chicken feces. Thus it is seen that this group of organisms 

 most probably has a fairly wide distribution, and because of its habitat, oxygeii 

 and reaction i-equii-ements, and resistance to high temperatures, it lends itself 

 readily to creating disturbances under certain circumstances because of its 

 power to produce toxin. 



Little is known about the conditions under which this group of toxicogenic 

 bacteria finds its way into hiiman and animal foodstuffs, yet as our knowl- 

 edge is added to bit by bit by new work from different sources, some of these 

 hitherto deep mysteries become cleared up. An instance illustrating this 

 point occurred in this state; corn silage from which anaerobes resembling 

 B. botulinus were isolated, was cut in the fall, but not shocked. The stalks 

 lay on the ground for more than a week before being ensiled, during which 

 time a light rain fell. Theoretically this gave ideal conditions for B. botulinus 

 to contaminate the cornstalks through contact with the well-manured soil, and 

 to begin growth, since it is now known that this anaerobe can grow well 



21st Mich. Acad. Sci. Rept., 1919. 



