242 The Bacteriology of Foods 



contamination that he bestows upon his goods should be 

 taken into consideration by his customers. 



Shell-fish, especially oysters, seem to be common carriers 

 of infection, especially of typhoid fever. The oysters seem 

 to be contaminated with infected sewage carried to their 

 beds. It is not yet satisfactorily determined whether 

 typhoid bacilli multiply in the juices in the shells of the 

 oysters or not, but a number of epidemics of typhoid fever 

 have been very conclusively traced to the consumption of 

 certain oysters at a definite time and place. As cooking the 

 oysters will kill the contained bacilli, the prophylaxis of 

 disease in this case is very simple. 



II. Food Poisons. A new and useful nomenclature, 

 suggested by Vaughan and Novy,* contains the following 

 terms : 



Bromatotoxismus food-poisoning; 



Galactotoxismus milk-poisoning; 



Tyrotoxismus cheese-poisoning ; 



Kreotoxismus meat-poisoning ; 



I chthyotoxismus fish -poisoning ; 



Mytilotoxismus mussel-poisoning; 



Sitotoxismus cereal-poisoning. 



* 



The most important chemic alterations effected by bac- 

 teria occur in milk and meat. 



i. Milk-poisoning (Galactotoxismus). Milk, even when 

 freshly drawn from the cow, always contains some bacteria, 

 whose numbers gradually diminish for a few hours, then rap- 

 idly increase until almost beyond belief. These organisms 

 are for the most part harmless to the consumer, but ulti- 

 mately ruin the milk. Although much attention has been 

 paid to the subject, bacteriologists are not agreed whether 

 the number of bacteria contained in milk is a satisfactory 

 guide as to its harmfulness. 



The poisonous change in milk, cream, ice-cream, etc., 

 has been shown by Vaughan to depend in part upon the 

 presence of a ptomain known as tyrotoxicon, formed by 

 the growth of bacteria in the milk, but whether of any 

 particular bacterium is not known. The milk may become 

 poisonous during any time of the year, but chiefly in the 

 summer, when, because of the higher temperature, bacteria 

 develop most rapidly. The change takes place in stale milk, 



* "Cellular Toxins," Phila., 1902. 



