CHAPTER II. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE BACTERIAL POISONS. 



It must have been known to primitive man that the 

 eating of putrid flesh was Kable to afl'ect the health more 

 or less seriously; and when he began his endeavors to 

 preserve his food for further use, instances of poisoning 

 from putrefaction must have multiplied. However, the 

 distinguished physiologist, Albert von Hallee, seems 

 to have been the first to make any scientific experiments . 

 concerning the effects of putrid matter upon animals. He 

 injected aqueous extracts of putrid material into the veins 

 and found that death resulted. Later in the eighteenth 

 century Moeand gave an account of the symptoms in- 

 duced by eating poisonous meat. In the early part of 

 the present century (1808 to 1814) Gaspard carried on 

 similar experiments. He use as material the putrid flesh 

 of both carnivorous and herbivorous animals. With these 

 he induced marked nervous disturbances, as stiffness of the 

 limbs, opisthotonos, and tetanus. Gaspard concluded from 

 the symptoms that the poisonous effects were not due to 

 carbonic acid gas or hydrogen sulphide, but thought it 

 possible that ammonia might have part in their produc- 

 tion. In 1820 Kerner published his first essay on poi- 

 sonous sausage, which was followed by a second in 1822. 

 At first he thought that the poisonous properties were due 

 to a fatty acid, similar to the sebacic of Thbnard, and 

 which originated during putrefaction. Later he modified 

 these views, and believed the poison to be a compound con- 

 sisting of the sebacic acid and a volatile principle. This may 

 be regarded as the first suggestion as to the probability of 

 the development of a poisonous substance with basic prop- 

 erties in decomposing matter. In 1822, Dupre observed 

 a peculiar disease among the soldiers under his care, who. 



