SANITARY SCIENCE. 



437 



tubercle, etc. It is not generally believed that this 

 germ arises de rwto, but that it is transmitted 

 from person to person through the medium 

 of air, food, or water, and finds its lodgment with! 

 an unerring instinct of "selection," dependent, 

 as is above stated, upon the species that is migrat- j 

 ing. But there are those who believe that these 

 perms are the result and not the cause of disease, 

 and that while germicides may destroy the bacteria 

 they have litlle or no influence in arresting^ disease 

 or limiting the progress of au epidemic. Contend- 

 ing that if it can be proved that living organisms 

 (microbes) are the cause of contagious, infectious, or 

 other diseases, and that each disease can be diag- 

 nosed by the presence of a particular species of bac- 

 teria, it only remains to find and be able to apply a 

 suitable germicide for each species and its spores in 

 order tobauisli all such diseases from the face of the 

 earth. 



The following Is a list of the " recognized" pathogenic 

 germs (micro-organisms) : 



Bacillus anthracis (Chaveau and Davaine), malignant 

 pustuli' ; 



Bacillus coii cotnmunis (Ilucppe), cholera nostras; 



Bacillus leprie (Danieleon anJ Boeck) ; 



Bacillus mallei (Loetller), glanders; 



Bacillus tuberculosis (Koch, 1*82) ; 



Bacillus typhi abdoiuiualis (Eberthand Oaffky), typhoid 

 fever ; 



I)i|>lococcus pneumonia (Frankel) (first discovered by 

 Surgeon Sternlierg, U. S. A.) ; 



Micrococcus gonorrhea (Neiseen) ; 



Microcoecus pyaemia (Koch) ; 



Plasinodium malaria (Laveran, Councilman, etc.) ; 



Spirillum cholera; Asiatics (Koch, 1834) ; 



Spirillum Obcrmyeri, relapsing fever ; 



Stiiphylococcus pyrogeus aureus, utaphylococcos albus, 

 Btaphylocorcus cltreua (osteo-myelitls) ; 



Streptococcus crysipelatis ; 



Streptococcus phlegmon ; 



The following is a list of germs claimed by some to exist, 

 but not yet established as causing disease : 



Bacillus inulariip (Tommasl ai.d Crudelt) ; 



Bacillus scarlatina; 



Bacillus of syphilis; 



Bacillus of tetanus ; 



Micrococcus of yellow fever (Freire) ; 



Micrococcus of berl-berl ; 



MicrocoecuB of dengue ; 



Micrococcus of diphtheria ; 



Micrococcus of parotitis (mumps) ; 



Micrococcus of scarlatina ; 



Micrococcus vaccina ; 



Micrococcus variolae. 



The foregoing llet* were prepared by Dr. J. J. Klnyoun, 

 Assistant Surgeon, U. S. M. H. 8. 



Whether or not germs are the cause or propaga- 

 tors of certain diseases, it has been pretty well es- 

 tablished that thorough disinfection and cleansing 

 of a room in which smallpox, scarlet fever, or diph- 

 theria has occurred appears to render it safe for oc- 

 cupancy by a person who has never suffered with 

 these diseases ; but on the other hand anti-germ 

 theorists claim that it has not yet been clearly de- 

 monstrated that disinfection alone will prevent the 

 spread of yellow fever or cholera. 



Before leaving this interesting subject it may be 

 stated as the consensus of opinion among scientists 

 that the "germ theory of disease" has been clearly 

 demonstrated, and that the " microbe" is the ma- 

 terifs mnrbt which must be sought for and destroyed 

 in all so-called zymotic diseases. 



Pfrmtaines. This name was given by the Italian 

 chemist and lexicologist, Francesco Selmi, to cer- 

 tain chemical compounds, basic in character, result- 

 ing from the putrefactive decomposition of organic 

 matter. What concerns the sanitarian more particu- 

 larly is that they are found in poisonous quantities in 

 impure milk, cheese, ice-cream, meats, fish, etc. The 

 name is derived from the Greek word itrufta (cada- 

 ver), as experiments upon decaying human bodies 

 discloeed alkaloids, both poisonous and inert, similar 



to those subsequently discovered in articles of im- 

 pure food. Briefly stated, distinguished chemists 

 and scientists have for over half a century endea- 

 vored to isolate the poisonous principle of putrefying 

 organic matter. Prof. Panum demonstrated that 

 the poison of decomposing flesh is not volatile, is 

 not destroyed by boiling, is insoluble in alcohol but 

 soluble in water, and that its intensity is comparable 

 to that of the venom of serpents, of curare, and 

 certain vegetable alkaloids, and that it contains no 

 living organism. It has further been demonstrated 

 that ptomaines are the result of putrefactive decom- 

 position, and that bacteria are the active airents of 

 this process (Pasteur), also that it depends on the 

 kind of bacteria, the degree of putrefaction, and 

 perhaps the atmospheric conditions, whether the 

 ptomaine is poisonous or inert. Prof. Brieger, of 

 Berlin, obtained a toxic ptomaine from cultures of 

 typhoid bacillus which had the composition of C, 

 HjjNOj ; and, although this bacillus would produce 

 a poisonous ptomaine when cultivated in beef tea, it 

 did not produce any ptomaine when cultivated in 

 solution of peptone, where it grew equally as well. 

 The following ptomaines, among others, have been 

 isolated, and their composition determined : from 

 putrid flesh, neuridine (C;,!!,,^) and ncurin (C 5 

 H,.,NO), the former inert and the latter poisonous ; 

 from decomposed fish, muscarine (C b H ls NO,,) and 

 gadanine (C^H^NO.,,), the latter inert; rotten 

 cheese and decomposed glue gave neuridine ; the 

 cadaver gave six different inert and three highly 

 poisonous ptomaines, depending upon the different 

 stages of decomposition of the cadaver ; from mus- 

 sels, mytilotoxine ; from putrefying yeast, sepsin ; 

 from impure milk, cheese, and ice-cream, tyrotoxi- 

 con. The latter poisonous ptomaine was isolated 

 by Victor C. Vaughan, Ph.D., M.D.,of Ann Arbor, 

 Mich., in 1885-80; the numerous and heretofore 

 incomprehensible poisonings from these articles 

 leading him to make a thorough and exhaustive 

 examination into their cause, resulted in this bril- 

 liant discovery, which has since been confirmed by 

 a number of other distinguished chemists. It is 

 quite possible that the great poisoning of the guests 

 at the National Hotel in Washington, D. C., many 

 years ago, was caused by ptomaines in the milk. It 

 has also been suggested that ptomaines are the 

 active agents in septicaemia. 



Tliefmds in which poisonous ptomaines arc found, 

 according to Vaughan, are mussels, sausage, hams, 

 canned meats, fruits and vegetables, cheese, milk, 

 and ice-cream. 



1. Mu-tsels, of which there are three varieties, one 

 kind producing gastro-intestinal irritation ; in the 

 second and most frequent variety the symptoms are 

 of a nervous character, with a sensation of heat and 

 itching, followed oy an eruption and distressing 

 asthmatic breathing; the third kind produces an 

 intoxication similar to alcohol, followed by paralysis, 

 coma, and death. 



2. Satwage. Poisonous sausage, also known as 

 bntulisnnu and allantotoxicum, gives symptoms of a 

 diversified character. There is difficulty of breath- 

 ing and of swallowing, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, 

 dilatation of the pupils, small, rapid, and thready 

 pulse, nervous prostration and debility, delirium 

 and coma, resulting in a mortality of over fifty per 

 cent. 



3. Hums. The ptomaine in putrefying ham has 

 not yet been isolated, but the " Wellbeck poisoning" 

 a few years ago demonstrated that it exists and is 

 potent in energy. 



4. Canned meats, fruits and vegetables. The pto- 

 maine may be developed after the can is opened if 

 its contents are not immediately used, or putrefac- 

 tion may be in progress when canned, or it may be 



j completed when it reaches its destination. 



5. Clicese. After many attempts Prof. Vaughan 



