24 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Jan. 



superior quantity and quality of the cheese 

 produced, resulted in a great degree, from 

 the operations of this organization. Mr. ^la- 

 son believed that Vermonters, with equally 

 good pasturage and a better climate, could 

 place their cheese at the head of the list, with 

 the same skill in manufacturing. He believed 

 an organization or association among farmers 

 would help to accomplish such a result in 

 Vermont. 



A committee consisting of Mr. Mason, of 

 Richmond, Mr. Hall of Burke, and Mr. Bliss, 

 of Georgia, was appointed to report at an ad- 

 journed meeting, officers for this organization, 

 also to solicit members for the same . 



At an adjourned meeting, Oct. 28th, this 



committee submitted the following report, 



which was accepted and adopted. : — 



Presidevt — E. D. Miifion, Richmond. 

 Vice Presirfeji^s — Middleton Goldsmith, Rutland; 

 N. B. Safford, Uariford; R. J. Saxe, Bheldon. 

 Secretary —O . S. Bliss, Georgia. 

 Treasurer.— Qc. C. Chandler;, Montpelier. 



County Trustees. 



Addison — D. W. Nash, New Haven. 

 Bennington— K. B. Armstrong, Dorset. 

 Caledonia.— U. M. IT. UUl, East Burke. 

 Chi'tendtn —^. Barnum, Milton. 

 Essex.— ^. S. Freeman, Guildhall. 

 Franklin.— A. A. Moore. 

 Grand Isle.— Allen R. Manning, Alburgh. 

 Lamoille — E. P. Mudgett, Cambridge. 

 Orleans.— Kzra. F. Darliug, Derby. 

 Orange.— Ar^ron N. King, Tunbridge. 

 Butlund —A. D. Smith, Danby. 

 Washington— Or. C. Chandler, Montpelier. 

 Windsor.— O. Horace Hubbard, gpringfleld, 

 Windham. — Peleg Winslow, Putney. 



POISON CHEESE. 

 Mr. X. A. Willard gives in the Rural Neiv 

 Yorker the particulars of a case where several 

 persons were poisoned by a lot of cheese made 

 in St. Lawrence County, N. Y. No lives 

 were lost from eating this cheese, but several 

 persons were made sick, with pains and cramps 

 and excessive vomiting. Dr. Jackson, who 

 analyzed portions of this cheese, could find 

 no metal or mineral poisons, nor any alkaloids 

 or deleterious vegetable principles. But he 

 did find "a small proportion of offensive pu- 

 trifying animal matter," which does not be- 

 long to good cheese. He said be could not 

 give this matter any correct name, but sug- 

 gested that it might come from the rennet. 

 Mr. Willard says : — 



The facts elicited from this analysis of Dr. Jack- 

 son correspond in some respects with those dis- 

 covered, a lew years siucc, by Dr. Voelcker, and 

 from which it would appear that cheese, as well as 

 other kinds of animal food, under certain condi- 

 tions of decay, generates a peculiar organic poison ; 



but what the composition of this virulent poison 

 is, the chemists are as yet unable to determine. 

 Dr. Voelcker stated to us in a conversation on the 

 subject in 1866, that instances had come under his 

 observation where this poison in cheese had be- 

 come dissipated as the cheese passed into a further 

 state of fermentation and decomposition, and that 

 the cheese could then be safely eaten, producing 

 no injurious or unpleasant effects. 



Mr. Willard then gives a detailed statement 

 of an analysis made by Dr. Voelcker of some 

 cheese in England that was known to be pois- 

 onous. In the first place his object was to de- 

 tect mineral poisons, but not a trace of them 

 was to be found in the cheese he was ana- 

 lyzing, although on former occasions he had 

 found sulphate of zinc, sulphate of copper, 

 in cheese that had proved poisonous. The 

 Professor then says : — 



"The proportion of water in this cheese was 

 rather large, considering that it must have been 

 cut for some time, and have lost water by evapo- 

 ration. On further examining it I found it re- 

 markably sour, and had no difficulty in detecting 

 an unusually large quantity of fatty acids, which, 

 if not poisonous themselves, are the vehicle con- 

 veying the peculiar organic poison which appears 

 to be generated sometimes in cheese undergoing a 

 peculiar kind of fermentation. Probably the poi- 

 son generated in this modified decay of cheese is 

 identical with the so-called sausage poison, which 

 is sometimes found in German sausages, especially 

 those made of coagulated blood. A similar poison 

 appears to be generated sometimes in pickled sal- 

 mon, smoked sprats, pork, tainted veal, bacon, 

 and hams. Bacon and hams, when not perfectly 

 cured, and fat meat kept in a damp, badly venti- 

 lated cellar, are very apt to become more or less 

 injurious to health ; and even butter, after it has 

 turned rancid, and similar organic acids are lib- 

 erated in it which exist in this cheese in a free 

 state, acts as a poison in most cases. Singularly 

 enough, some people are not affected by these 

 subtle organic poisons. 



Dr. Voelcker regrets that we have no ready 

 means of detecting this insiduous poison which, 

 in a great many cases, has produced fatal re- 

 sults. He also says, that it appears that 

 cheese kept in damp, hadly ventilated places, 

 or where too much whey is left, or, indeed, 

 all the circumstances which tend to produce a 

 too acid curd and to generate free fatty acids, 

 are apt to produce this peculiar poison. The 

 cheese maker will see, therefore, how impor- 

 that it is to have a properly ventilated curing 

 room for his cheeses, and also that the whey 

 be thoroughly expelled from the cheese. 



—President Abbott, of the Michigan Agricultu- 

 ral College, said in his remarks at the nicetmg of 

 farmers at Bangor, Me., that at the State Agricul- 

 tural College of Wisconsin— connected with a lit- 

 erary university— with about 400 students, the 

 most diligent inquiry could not find one that had 

 determined to return to industrial pursuits. 



