POISONOUS MILK. 73' 



" One corner of one of the rooms had been transformed 

 into a small room, or buttery, as it was called, and in this, 

 on shelves, the food was kept. On account of the more 

 frequent scouring demanded by that part of the floor 

 enclosed in this buttery, the boards had rotted away, and a 

 second layer of boards had been placed over the original 

 floor. Between these two floors we found a great mass of 

 moist, decomposing matter, the accumulations of years, 

 which the broom could not reach. When this floor was 

 taken up, a peculiar, nauseating odor was observable, and 

 was sufficient to produce nausea and vomiting in one of the 

 persons engaged in the examination. Some of the dirt 

 from beneath the floor, and some of that which had accumu- 

 lated beneath the boards in the buttery, wei-e taken for 

 further study. 



" The condition of the house was supposed to be unfavor- 

 able to the patients, and for this reason they were moved, 

 as Dr. Mesie has stated, to the house of a neighbor. Of 

 course, thorough examination of the house was not made 

 until the patients had been removed. 



" Special inquiry was now made concerning the food used 

 by this family. They had been living very simply. They 

 lived upon bread, butter, milk, and potatoes, with coffee 

 and ripe fruit. They had eaten no canned foods for months. 

 They ate but little meat. Occasionally a chicken was killed 

 and served, and rarely, some fresh meat was obtained from 

 the village. During the week in which they were taken ill, 

 all the meat used consisted of slices from a piece of bacon, 

 the only meat which was kept in the house, and a chicken. 

 None of the latter remained, but the bacon was examined. 

 It seemed in perfect condition, and contained no trichinae. 

 Moreover, as has been seen from the history of the cases, 

 all the members of the family were not made sick by any 

 one meal, but the opportunity of obtaining the poison must 

 have been present for some time. Moreover, the fact that 

 previous similar, but less severe, attacks had occurred at 

 intervals for the past three years, convinced us that the 

 poison must owe its origin to some long-existing condition. 



" The drinking-water supply was also investigated. The 



