358 HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY 



after the meal they are seized with agonizing pangs, 

 uncontrollable diarrhea, and, in most instances, forcible 

 vomiting. The temperature rises to a fever pitch, there 

 is extreme prostration, and death from exhaustion may 

 occur. But the reaction of the system evidently favors 

 a thorough removal of the poison and recovery is usually 

 prompt. 



There are odd cases of food poisoning which present 

 an entirely different group of symptoms : a painless pros- 

 tration, with more or less paralysis, and stupor. The 

 poisons which produce such effects must be of a narcotic 

 nature. The outlook is worse under these conditions 

 than in the ordinary disturbance for it is most difficult 

 to clear the sluggish and benumbed system of the agent 

 that is threatening its life. Poisoning by decomposed 

 mussels, molluscs eaten in Germany, has often had this 

 narcotic character, and so has the sausage poisoning 

 which has been recorded in the same country. 



There is no apparent reason why other nitrogenous 

 foods than meat should not undergo poisonous decom- 

 position. In fact we have reports of sickness due to 

 string beans which had been imperfectly preserved in 

 glass. There is widespread objection to canned goods, 

 but it does not appear that they have been responsible 

 for much acute poisoning. Neither does it seem that 

 much damage has been done by metals and preserva- 

 tives. Ice cream sometimes becomes excessively poison- 

 ous; it may be vomited almost instantly. Those who 

 have studied poisonous ice cream most carefully do not 

 believe that the metal from the freezer is concerned, but 

 rather that it is a true bacterial alteration of the milk. 



In times past, more or less illness has been caused 

 by the consumption of meat from diseased animals. 

 Unscrupulous men have hastily slaughtered and marketed 

 animals which were about to die. (One is reminded of 

 the permission conveyed in Deuteronomy, xiv, 21.) 

 Such criminal acts are more effectively guarded against 

 in these days. When we consider the possibility of 



