POISONOUS HAM. 47 



GAFFKY and PAAK have made a thorougli study of 

 Mum- sausage which poisoned a large number of people, 

 among whom one, a strong man, died. The sausage was 

 made of horse-Hesh and liver. In the majority of the 

 jKirsons the symptoms came on within six hours and in 

 one instance within half an hour. Many had a severe 

 chill ; some did not. The most prominent symptoms were 

 headache, loss of appetite, pain in the bowels, vomiting 

 and purging. In the fatal case, however, there was no 

 vomiting. From the sausage (}AFFKY and PAAK isolated 

 a >hort bacillus, which when given by the mouth, sub- 

 c utaneously or intravenously produced the above symptoms, 

 with a fatal termination in most instances, in rabbits, 

 guinea-pigs, mice, and apes. GAFFKY and PAAK were 

 unable to isolate the chemical poison. 



POISONOUS HAM. Under this head we shall not discuss 

 cases of poisoning from trichina or other parasites, but shall 

 refer only to those instances in which the toxic agent has 

 originated in putrefactive changes. A number of such 

 eases have been observed within the past ten years, but 

 only a few of them have been investigated scientifically. 

 The best known of these, as well as the most thoroughly 

 studied, is the Well beck poisoning, which BALLARD in- 

 vestigated successfully. In June, 1880, a large number of 

 persons attended a sale of timber and machinery on the 

 estate of the Duke of Portland at Wellbeck. The sale 

 continued four days, and lunches were served by the pro- 

 prietress of a neighboring hotel. The refreshments con- 

 sisted of cold boiled ham, cold, boiled, or roasted beef, 

 cold beefsteak pie, mustard and salt, bread and cheese, 

 j)i< -kles and Chutney sauce. The drinks were bottle and 

 draught beer, spirits, ginger beer, lemonade, and water. 

 Many were poisoned, and BALLARD obtained the particu- 

 lars of seventy-two cases, among which there were four 

 deaths. The symptoms are given by BALLAUD as follows: 



" I propose to speak of the attacks under the name of 

 'diarrlueal illness/ because diarrhoea was the most constant 

 of all the symptoms observed, and the other symptoms 



