POISONOUS MILK. 63 



recovered, but was uaable to retain any food. This condi- 

 tion continuing for two or three days the animal was killed 

 with chloroform. No examination of the stomach was 

 made. 



In 1886 Newton and Wallace obtained tyrotoxieon 

 from milk and studied the conditions under which it forms. 

 Their report is of so much value that the greater part of it 

 is herewith inserted. 



" On August 7th twenty-four persons, at one of the hotels 

 at Long Branch, were taken ill soon after supper. At 

 another hotel, on the same evening, nineteen persons were 

 seized with the same form of sickness. From one to four 

 hours elapsed between the meal and the first symptoms. 

 The symptoms noticed were those of gastro-intestinal irri- 

 tation, similar to poisoning by any irritating material — 

 that is, nausea, vomiting, cramps, and collapse ; a few had 

 diarrhoea. Dryness of the throat and burning sensation 

 in the oesophagus were prominent symptoms. 



" While the cause of the sickness was being sought for, 

 and one week after the first series of cases, thirty persons 

 at another hotel were taken ill with precisely the same 

 symptoms as noticed in the first outbreak. 



" When the news of the outbreak was published one of 

 us immediately set to work, under the authority of the State 

 Board of Health, to ascertain the cause of the illness. The 

 course of the investigation was about as follows : 



" The character of the illness indicated, of course, that 

 some article of food was the cause, and the first part of our 

 task was to single out the one substance that seemed at 

 fault. The cooking utensils were also suspected, because 

 unclean copper vessels have often caused irritant poisoning. 

 Articles of food, such as lobsters, crabs, blue fish, and 

 Spanish mackerel, all of which at times, and with some 

 persons very susceptible to gastric irritation have produced 

 toxic symptoms, were looked for, but it was found that 

 none of these had been eaten at the time of the outbreak. 

 The cooking vessels were examined, and all were found 

 clean and bright, and no evidence of corrosion was pre- 

 sented. 



