SCIENCE 



NEW YORK, DECEMBER 11, 189i 



HYGIENE AT ANN ARBOR. 



In the memorial which asked for the establishment of a 

 hygienic laboratory at the University of Michigan it was 

 stated that one of the duties of those in charge of such an 

 institution would consist in the examination, at a nominal 

 fee to cover actual expenses, of articles of food and drink, on 

 request of health ofiBcers throughout the State. This has 

 already become a very important part of the work done at 

 the laboratory, and a brief resume of this work may not be 

 without interest. The present notice will speak only of ar- 

 ticles of food examined, omitting mention of the samples of 

 water tested, although the latter have furnished the greater 

 part of the work. 



Four samples of meat supposed to have been taken from 

 diseased animals have been examined. In only one of these 

 did the microscopical examination bear out the supposition, 

 and in this the presence of trichinae was easily recognized. 

 It is impossible from a study of the meat as it is sold in the 

 market to detect many of the diseases to which our domestic 

 animals are subject. The public can be protected from this 

 source of disease only through an examination of the living 

 animals by a competent veterinarian. 



A can of currants, which was believed to have caused se- 

 rious illness, wilh one fatal result, in Lapeer County, was 

 carefully studied, both chemically and bacteriologically, with 

 negative results. It was said by the neighbors of the family 

 that the currant hushes had been freely sprinkled with a so- 

 lution of Paris green before the ripening of the berries, and 

 it was suspected that arsenic would be found in the fruit. 

 This very improbable supposition was found to have no sup- 

 port. Unfortunately, none of the ejecta of the sick, and no 

 part of the body of the man who died, were submitted to the 

 chemist, and the cause of the sickness will probably never 

 be known. Certainly, if they were cases of arsenical poi- 

 soning, the arsenic was taken with some other food or drink 

 and not in the currants. 



In some canned salmon which had produced alarming 

 symptoms, there was found a germ which, when grown on 

 ordinary media and with free exposure to the air, produces 

 no poison. When thus grown, the germ itself, or its prod- 

 Tlcts, can be injected into animals without apparent effect, 

 but when grown in a sterilized egg, the albumen of the egg 

 becomes markedly poisonous, a few drops being sufficient to 

 kill a white rat. It is highly probable that in the canning 

 of the salmon, the contents of this can were not completely 

 sterilized, and this germ, growing in the can, from which 

 the air was excluded, elaborated the chemical poison to 

 which the ill effects observed in the consumer were due. 



Three new poisons have been found in decomposing milk. 

 These belong to the proteid bodies and are albuminoses. 

 They are due to the growth of germs which have been found 

 in the intestines of children suffering from cholera infantum ; 

 and the characteristic symptoms of this disease, followed by 

 death, may be induced in kittens by injecting a small amount 



of one of these poisons under the skin. The poisons differ 

 from one another in some of their chemical and physical 

 properties, but their toxicjlogical effects seem to be practi- 

 cally identical. It is possible, however, that a closer study 

 of their action may reveal differences which have not yet 

 been detected. 



A poisonous albuminose has been found in cheese also. It 

 is probable that this may form in the cheese after its manu- 

 facture, and that it does not pre exist in the milk from which 

 the cheese is made. A.t least it is certain that one portion of 

 a cheese may be poisonous, while another portion cut from 

 the same cheese may be eaten with impunity. 



A can of mincemeat which was believed to have poisoned 

 a number of persons has furnished a perplexing but inter- 

 esting study. That the meat is poisonous can be demon- 

 strated by feeding it to cats and dogs, and cooking does not 

 destroy its poisonous properties. However, the most careful 

 and thorough study has failed to reveal the nature of the 

 poison. Mineral and vegetable poisons are not present, and 

 ptomaines and poisonous proteids have not been detected in 

 the meat. 



From the studies which have been carried on in the lab- 

 oratory the following conclusions, concernmg the manner 

 in which meat and milk may become infected, have been 

 drawn: — 



(1) The infection may be due to the diseased condition of 

 the animal from which these foods are obtained. 



(2) The infection may be due to the inoculation of these 

 foods with specific, pathogenic germs outside the body of thQ 

 animal. 



(3) Meat and milk, especially the latter, are often infected 

 with suprophytio toxicogenic bacteria. 



The transmission of tuberculosis from the cow to the child 

 through milk, which is known in some instances to occur, is 

 an example under the first head. The spread of typhoid 

 fever through milk diluted with polluted water is an exam- 

 ple of the infection with specific germs outside of the body; 

 while all of those instances of poisoning from the eating of 

 partially decomposed foods demonstrate the activity of those 

 germs which, while not capable of inducing any specific dis- 

 ease, do elaborate most potent chemical poisons. 



The number of poisons in decomposing food is probably 

 large, the exact nature of the one found in a given case de- 

 pending upon the character of the food, the nature of the 

 infecting germ, the temperature and the stage of growth. 



THE GREAT SALT DESERT OF PERSIA.* 



The mountains of Siah Kuh rise to a height of about 5,000 

 feet above the level of the surrounding plains, which them- 

 selves constitute a plateau of about 3,000 feet to 4,000 feet 

 above the sea-level. Looking towards the north, I could 

 distinctly trace the course of the masonry causeway built by 

 Shah Abbas to facilitate the communication with the south 

 across this part of the desert, but the most remarkable feature 

 of the landscape was that presented by the Darya-i-Namak, 



' From a paper, by C. E. Blddulpf, in Proceedings of the Royal Geogi aphi- 

 cal Society, November. 



