POISONOUS MILK. 67 



l:il- was mixed with milk and fed to a cat, when, in the 

 course of half an hour, the animal was seized with retching 

 and vomiting, and was soon in a condition of collapse, from 

 which it recovered in a few hours. 



" \Vc are justified in assuming, after weighing well all 

 the facts ascertained in the investigation, that the sickness 

 at Long Branch was caused by poisonous milk, and that 

 the toxic material was tyrotoxicon. 



" The production of this substance was no doubt due to 

 the improper management of the milk that is, too long a 

 time was allowed to elapse between the milking and the 

 cooling of the milk, the latter not being attended to until 

 the milk was delivered to the hotel ; whereas, if the milk 

 had been cooled immediately after it was drawn from the 

 cows, fermentation would not have ensued, and the result- 

 ing material, tyrotoxicon, would not have been produced." 



In the same year, SCHEARER found the same poison in 

 the milk used by, and the vomited matter of, persons made 

 sick at a hotel at Corning, Iowa. 



In 1887, FIRTH, an English army surgeon stationed in 

 India, reported an outbreak of milk poisoning among the 

 soldiers of his garrison. From the milk he separated, by 

 VAUGHAN'S method, tyrotoxicon. He also obtained tyro- 

 toxicon from milk which had been kept for some months 

 in stoppered bottles, as had been previously done by 

 Vaughau. (See page 62.) 



In 1887, MESIC and VAUOHAN observed four cases of 

 milk poisoning, three of which terminated fatally, and 

 Now and VAUCJHAN obtained tyrotoxicou from the milk, 

 and from the contents of the intestine in one of the fatal 

 cases. VAUGHAN reports these cases as follows : 



" September 23, 1887, 1 was visited by Dr. A. G. Mesic, 

 of Milan, Michigan, who informed me that he had four 

 members of a family under his charge, all of whom were 

 seriously ill with peculiar symptoms which he believed to 

 be caused by tyrotoxicon. Since Dr. Mesic has written 

 out for me the history of these cases, I will insert his report 

 in full, as follows : 



" ' Saturday, September 17, while passing the residence 



