PART III. 

 MICROORGANISMS IN FOODS AND SOILS, 



CHAPTER XLIL 



THE BACTERIA OF MEAT-POISONINGBACILLUS ENTERITIDIS 

 BACILLUS BOTULINUS. 



MEAT from healthy animals, obtained in a clean manner, is free 

 from bacteria. At first they are found on the external surfaces only, 

 and after a variable period of time, depending upon temperature 

 and other environmental conditions, they may penetrate to a certain 

 distance into the interior of the meat. If kept for a longer period and 

 at a higher temperature, putrefactive saprophytic bacteria develop 

 throughout and cause it to become putrid. Such meat may often be 

 ingested by animals and occasionally by man without necessarily 

 producing disease. On the other hand, meat from animals which 

 have been slaughtered on account of disease may appear in every way 

 normal, and yet may produce violent disease and even death when 

 eaten. In some cases only raw or very insufficiently cooked or boiled 

 meat produces disease, but in other cases disease also follows the 

 ingestion of meat which has been well cooked. The study of meat- 

 poisoning epidemics in various parts of the world has shown that 

 sickness generally follows the ingestion of meat from animals suffering 

 from severe gastro-intestinal disturbances or general septic conditions. 

 In a number of examinations made on meat of this kind the blood- 

 vessels were found full of bacteria, which when obtained in pure 

 cultures proved highly pathogenic to animals. Bellinger was prob- 

 ably the first observer who held that such intoxication after the use 

 of meat was due to the intestinal septic conditions from which the 

 animal that furnished the meat had suffered itself. 



BACILLUS ENTERITIDIS OF GARTNER. 



Morphology and Historical. Gartner was the first to isolate a 

 bacterium as the cause of a meat-poisoning epidemic following the 

 use of meat from an emergency slaughtered sick cow. Since then 



