THE ANAEROBIC BACILLI 745 



lack 54 in 1897 isolated B. botulismus from the intestines of a normal 

 hog, but Dickson was unable to find the organism in the intestinal 

 canals of 250 grain-fed hogs in the slaughter houses of San Fran- 

 cisco. He also collected soil from gardens, but in a considerable 

 series of specimens did not find organisms. Burke 55 examined ma- 

 terials from many different localities in California where a num- 

 ber of epidemics had occurred, cultivating from large varieties of 

 substances, such as water, hay, vegetables, fruits, manure from 

 horses, hogs, chickens, etc. She obtained seven cultures of the B. 

 botulinus from the following sources: Moldy cherries, leaves touched 

 with droppings of insects, sprouts from bush-bean plants, manured 

 bush beans, manure from a hog, and moldy hay. These, and other 

 investigations seem to indicate that the B. of botulismus is quite 

 common in nature, and may be present in the intestines of domestic 

 animals, such as hogs. It may possibly be disseminated by insects, 

 and may often be present on vegetables and fruits at the time that 

 they are picked for canning. 



The outbreaks first reported were largely due to meat and it is 

 interesting to note that Van Ermengem's first isolations were from 

 pickled meat, thus showing that ordinary salting or brine preserva- 

 tion does not kill the botulinus spores. The epidemics that have 

 occurred are summarized in a monograph of Mayer, 56 and more 

 recently in an admirable study of the disease by Dickson, published 

 in a Monograph of the Rockefeller Institute, 57 and carried out at 

 the Stanford University Pathological Laboratory. At the time of 

 Mayer's publication (in 1913 ), 800 European cases had been 

 observed since 1882, 200 of which had been fatal. Meat in general, 

 or animal food had been the source of the disease ; and the generally 

 prevalent idea at that time was that meat was the chief source of 

 danger. During recent years, however, the studies of Dickson and 

 others have shown that vegetable foods, especially canned vegetables 

 were equally as dangerous. Of sixty-four cases collected by Dickson 

 for the United States during the past twenty-five years, fifty-four 

 occurred in California. Wilbur and Ophuls 58 reported an outbreak 

 in 1914 due to the eating of canned beans. Since that time, a 



54 Kempner and Pollack, Deut. med. Woch., 23, 1897, 505. 



55 Burke, Jour. Bacter., 4, 1919, 541. 



56 Mayer, Deut. Vrtjschr. off. Gsndhtspflg., 35, 1913, 8. 



57 Dickson, Monograph of the Rock. Inst., No. 8, July 31, 1918. 

 68 Wilbur and Ophuls, Arch. Int. Med., 14, 1914, 589. 



