535 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



fifi 



Be 

 son* 



in the title, for no one can dispute that al- 

 cohol is a poison, that it can destroy animal 

 or vegetable protoplasm, that if taken in 

 large doses it produces disease and has a 

 paralyzing action, and, like all other poisons, 

 if taken in small doses it has a stimulating 

 effect. The question, therefore, ought to read : 

 Can alcohol, despite its unquestionable toxic 

 properties, also act as a food? KASSOWITZ 

 Is Alcohol a Food or a Poison? (a Lecture), 

 p. 1. (Translation by Mrs. J. H. W. STUCK- 



ENBERG. ) 



2639. Phosphorus Has 



Closely Similar Effects Neither To Be 

 Classed as a Food. Since alcohol has a de- 

 structive action upon protoplasm, and since 

 the process of oxidation of protoplasm is 

 intimately connected with its activity, it is 

 self-evident that a diminution in the amount 

 of protoplasm must entail a diminished de- 

 composition of protoplasm due to this ac- 

 tivity, and hence, also, a diminished oxida- 

 tion of its decomposition products. 



That the action of a poison actually can 

 lead to such results is plainly evident in the 

 consequences of phosphoric poisoning, which, 

 precisely like alcoholic poisoning, leads, on 

 the one hand, to an increased excretion of 

 nitrogen, an expression of toxic destruction 

 of protoplasm, and, on the other, to a very 

 considerable decrease in the taking in of 

 oxygen and the giving out of carbon di- 

 oxid. Of course, it is not to be thought of 

 that the oxidation of the small quantity of 

 phosphorus ample to produce that effect 

 could save fat by withdrawing the oxygen 

 at its disposal; rather, it is perfectly clear 

 that the protoplasm destroyed by the poi- 

 sonous action of phosphorus (while fat is 

 split off and nitrogen excreted) can no long- 

 er take part in the vital processes of oxi- 

 dation. Hence, if we chose to call the toxic 

 alcohol a food on the ground that it lim- 

 its physiological processes of oxidation by 

 means of destroying protoplasm, we should 

 be obliged to declare phosphorus a much 

 more valuable food, because much smaller 

 doses diminish the normal processes of oxi- 

 dation by destroying protoplasm. But even 

 the most rigid doctrinaire could scarcely be 

 made to agree with this view. KASSOWITZ 

 7s Alcohol a Food or a Poison? (a Paper), 

 p. 13. (Translation by Mrs. J. H. W. 

 STUCKENBEEG. ) 



2640. POISON OF CAYENNE Aids to 

 Digestion Dinner Pills Attempt to Evade 

 Penalty of Overindulgence Illness in In- 

 dia. The mere condiment is a stimulating 

 drug that does its work directly upon the 

 inner lining of the stomach by exciting it to 

 increased and abnormal activity. A dys- 

 peptic may obtain immediate relief by using 

 Cayenne pepper. Among the advertised pat- 

 ent medicines is a pill bearing the very 

 ominous name of its compounder, the active 

 constituent of which is Cayenne. Great re- 

 lief and temporary comfort are commonly 

 obtained by using it as a " dinner pill." If 



thus used only as a temporary remedy for 

 an acute or temporary or exceptional at- 

 tack of indigestion, all is well, but the Cay- 

 enne, whether taken in pills or dusted over 

 the food or stewed with it in curries or any 

 other wise, is one of the most cruel of slow 

 poisons when taken habitually. Thousands 

 of poor wretches are crawling miserably to- 

 wards their graves, the victims of the mul- 

 titude of maladies of both- mind and body 

 that are connected with chronic, incurable 

 dyspepsia, all brought about by the habitual 

 use of Cayenne and its condimental cousins. 

 The usual history of these victims is that 

 they began by overfeeding, took the condi- 

 ment to force the stomach to do more than 

 its healthful amount of work, using but a 

 little at first. Then the stomach became 

 tolerant of this little, and demanded more; 

 then more, and more, and more, until at 

 last inflammation, ulceration, torpidity, and 

 finally the death of the digestive powers, ac- 

 companied with all that long train of mise- 

 ries to which I have referred. India is their 

 special fatherland. WILLIAMS Chemistry of 

 Cookery, ch. 15, p. 260. (A., 1900.) 



2641. POISONING, CUMULATIVE, 

 FROM SUPPOSEDLY INNOCENT SUB- 

 STANCE Boracic Acid as a Preservative of 

 Milk. Boracic acid is one of the most use- 

 ful antiseptics with which to wash sore eyes 

 or preserve tinned foods or milk. It is not 

 a strong germicide, but an unirritating and 

 effective wash. Many cases of its addition 

 to milk have found their way into the law 

 courts, owing to cumulative poisoning, and 1 

 it should only be used with the very great- 

 est care as a food preservative. NEWMAN 

 Bacteria, ch. 9, p. 322. (G. P. P., 1899.) 



2642. POISONS OF MICROBES MU- 

 TUALLY DESTRUCTIVE Antagonisms of 

 Bacteria. Whatever [direct] opposition one 

 species affords to another it is able to exer- 

 cise by means of its poisonous properties. 

 These are of two kinds. There is, as is now 

 widely known, the poisonous product named 

 the toacin. . . . There is also in many 

 species, as Dr. Klein has pointed out, a 

 poisonous constituent or constituents in- 

 cluded in the body protoplasm of the bacil- 

 lus, and which he therefore terms the in- 

 tracellular poison. Now, whilst the former 

 is different in every species, the latter may 

 be a property common to several species. 

 Hence those having a similar intracellular 

 poison are antagonistic to each other, each 

 member of such a group being unable to live 

 in an environment of its own intracellular 

 poison. Further, it has been suggested that, 

 there are organisms possessing only one poi- 

 sonous property, namely, their toxin for 

 example, the bacilli of tetanus and diph- 

 theria whilst there are other species, as 

 above, possessing a double poisonous prop- 

 erty, an intracellular poison and a toxin. 

 In this latter class would be included the 

 bacilli of anthrax and tubercle. NEWMAN 

 Bacteria, ch. 1, p. 34. (G. P. P., 1899.) 



