THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



33 



Thepoison of sausages has become so notorious, 

 in some parts ol .Europe, as to have been ihe sub- 

 ject o( a thesis, a prize essay, and other papers. In 

 the Wirtemberij territories, in Germany, we are 

 assured that 234 cases of this kind of poisoning 

 occurred in about 34 years ; of which number, 

 110 proved latal. In the winter and spring of 

 1834, similar cases occurred in the neighborhood 

 of the Black Forest, in the territories above 

 named. The symptoms are reported to have 

 been very alarming, and several individuals died. 

 The Ibod eaten by these persons was the sausage 

 of the country, and liver puddings. The former 

 were reduced to a pulp in the centre, were very 

 bitter and rancid, and smelled like cheese. The 

 puddings had been evidently decomposed, as they 

 were quite sour. The remedies lound most suc- 

 cessful in these cases, were immediate vomiting, a 

 purgative draught of Glauber's salt, and clysters 

 of vinegar and soap. 



It is stated by various writers, that the symp- 

 toms of sausage-poisoning do not begin until 

 twenty-four hours after the noxious meal has been 

 taken. This is said to be owing to the great in- 

 digestibility of the fatty matter, which enters the 

 Jbod. Pain in the stomach, vomiting, purging, 

 dryness of the mouth and nose, are usually the 

 first symptoms. The eyes and eyelids, and next 

 the pupils become fixed and motionless ; the voice 

 fails or is entirely lost ; deglutition is difficult ; ihe 

 pulse gradually sinks, frequent swoonings come 

 on, and the skin becomes cold and insensible. 

 The bowels are sometimes torpid, at others the 

 very reverse. The appetite is not impaired; 

 there is little or no fever, and the mind maintains 

 its usual tone. Fatal cases end with convulsions 

 and great difficulty of respiration, between the 

 third and eighth days. Such is the shock imparl- 

 ed to the system that even in successfully treated 

 cases, the effects are felt for years. 



The morbid appearances, in the dead body, are 

 inflammation of the mucous raembrance of the 

 stomach and bowels, whiteness and dryness of the 

 throat, thickening of the gullet, croupy deposi- 

 tion in the windpipe, great flaccidiiy of the heart, 

 and a morbid tendency to resist putrefaction. 



What is the nature of the change effected in 

 the sausage, no one has been able to reveal. It 

 has been asserted, that the poisonous principle re- 

 eidee in a fiitty acid, called hy Buckaer \heBot-' 

 ulinic acid. Experiments with this acid, as ob- 

 tained from the spoiled or poisonous sausage, 

 showed the same results as are witnessed in ani- i 

 mala that partake of the sausage itself. i 



In regard to the poisonous quality of lard, \ 

 under peculiar circumstances, we have little to 

 say, that is satisfactory. Mere rancidity does not j 

 seriously affect it. Keeping it in copper or cedar j 

 vessels, may render it more or less deleterious. | 



In the winter of 1838-9. I saw a portion of { 

 lard, sent to Professor Peter, for examination, in j 

 consequence of having sickened those who par- 

 took of it, in any shape. Some were affecied j 

 pretty severely, though no one died. The lard j 

 looked as well as usual, and had no particular j 

 emell nor taste. The examination tailed to de- | 

 tect any thing of a poisonous nature. It is quite 

 possible, that lard may be poisoned by the em- 

 pyrcumalic oil, resulting from the application of 

 a strong heat to a small portion of it. It is known 

 that this oil, as produced by the deelructive distil- 

 VoL. X.-o 



lation of lard, is decidedly poisonous. Five drops, 

 passed into the throat of a bird, nearly killed it. 



Pork, in the fresh, as well ass the cured state, 

 under the name of hatn, bacon, &c., has often 

 evinced poisonous properties. I am of opinion, 

 that some of the cases of poisoning, as they are 

 ler.Tied, by fresh pork, were dependent on other 

 causes. In the summer season, when green or 

 ripe fruit is freely indulged in, almost any kind 

 of fresh meat, not well seasoned, will derange the 

 digestive apparatus, and it has frequently occur- 

 red, that true and fatal cholera morbus has re- 

 sulted from such imprudence. 



In the Philadelphia Medical JFIxarniner, for Jan. 

 1839, we have a short paper Iieaded, '■ poisoning 

 from joor/c," ILirnished' by a physician of Illinois. 

 The patient died, it is true ; but he had been labor- 

 ing for months under gastro-enteriiis, was fre- 

 quently attacked with colic, and often much dis- 

 turbed by any sort of food that did notsuit his con- 

 dition. Under these circumstances, fresh pork 

 was li-eely eaten, and soon after, a quantity of 

 grapes, and the man died in nine hours after the 

 commencement of the attack, which did not 

 begin until the day after the pork meal. 



I will not say, however, that young pork may 

 not acquire a poisonous qualiij^, and kill, as the 

 consequence ; but the cases that I have met with, 

 are not satisfactory. 



In reference to ham, and al! kinds of bacon, 

 the evidence of occasional poisoning is conclusive. 

 This may be the result of very different causes. 

 j The meat may be poisoned, in the act of smok- 

 ing it, as is known to have happened to certain 

 suldiers in Corsica, who smoked their meat with 

 mezereon and other woods. In the careless man- 

 ner of gatherinii' rubtish for this purpose, many 

 poisonous articles may be accumulated, and the 

 meat may thus be effectually poisoned. 



The more common source of poisoning in bacon, 

 however, is doubtless the same fatty acid that 

 renders sausages so deleterious, in some vicinities, 

 and in certain seasons. 



The history of a family poisoned by eating a 

 ham-pie, made at a Parisian pas'ry-ccok shop, 

 is deeply interesting. The examinations, made 

 by Ollivier and Barruel, to deled some kind of 

 metallic poison, totally faile^i, and the able che- 

 mists were forced to the conclusion, that the meat 

 had experienced a change similar to that which 

 gives a poisonous quo-'iiy to German sausages and 

 liam. 



In three houiv after dining on the ham-pie, the 

 master of th« house was seized with general 

 uneasiness, cold sweats, shivering, violent gas- 

 tric pains, frequent vomiting, burning thirst, ex- 

 treme te/iderness of the abdomen, profuse purg- 

 ing: and very violent colic. Thepoison v\a3 evi- 

 dently of the irritant class, as the same symp- 

 toms at'acked a daughter aged twenty-seven, and 

 another aged nine. The physician who was called 

 in supposed that verdigris, or some other salt of 

 copper had been communicated, by the pastry- 

 cook's copper mould?. By a vigorous course of 

 treatment the patients recovered. The plan pur- 

 sues! is not stated. It should be borne in mind, 

 however, as a reason lor suspecting a copper poi- 

 son, that the alvine discharges were as gteon as 

 the common house leek. 



Dr. Gcisler has given, in Horn's Archives for 

 1828, the account of a family of eight personSj 



