Food Poisons 247 



II. Food Poisons. — The nomenclature, suggested by Vaughan and 

 Novy,* contains the following terms: 



Bromaiotoxism — food-poisoning ; 

 Galadotoxism — milk-poisoning ; 

 Tyrotoxism — cheese-poisoning ; 

 Kreotoxism — meat-poisoning ; 

 Ichthyotoxism — fish-poisoning ; 

 Mytilotoxism — mussel-poisoning ; 

 Sitotoxism — cereal-poisoning. 



The most important chemic alterations- effected by bacteria occur 

 in milk and meat. 



1. Milk-poisoning {Galadotoxism). — Milk, even when freshly 

 drawn from the cow, always contains some bacteria, whose numbers 

 gradually diminish for a few hours, then rapidly increase until 

 almost beyond belief. These organisms are for the most part 

 harmless to the consumer, but ultimately ruin the milk. Although 

 much attention has been paid to the subject, bacteriologists are not 

 agreed whether the number of bacteria contained in inilk is a satis- 

 factory guide as to its harmfulness. 



The poisonous change in milk, cream, ice-cream, etc., has been 

 shown by Vaughan to depend in part upon the presence of a ptomain 

 known as tyrotoxicon, formed by the growth of bacteria in the milk, 

 but whether by any particular bacterium is not known. The milk 

 may become poisonous during any time of the year, but chiefly in 

 the summer, when, because of the higher temperature, bacteria 

 develop most rapidly. The change takes place in stale milk, and 

 it is supposed that many cases of what was formerly looked upon as 

 "summer complaint" in infants were really poisoning by this toxic 

 ptomain. 



Ice-cream poisoning depends upon the growth of the bacteria in 

 the milk before it is frozen. In some cases the error made has been 

 to prepare the cream for freezing and then keep or transport it, the 

 freezing operation being delayed until the development of the bac- 

 teria has led to the poisonous condition. 



Cheese-poisoning {Tyrotoxism) is also thought to depend upon 

 tyrotoxicon at times, though it has been shown that other cheese 

 poisons exist. It is more or less a question whether cases of milk- 

 and cheese-poisoning do not depend upon the toxic products of the 

 colon bacillus growing in the foods. 



2. Meat -poisoning {Kreotoxism). — Botulism or meat-poisoning 

 depends upon the growth of certain bacteria, Bacillus botulinus of 

 vanErmengem,t in the meat. The symptoms following infection 

 by the organism sometimes closely resemble those of typhoid fever, 

 and are characterized by acute gastro-intestinal irritation, nervous 



* " Cellular Toxins," Phila., 1902. 



t "Zeitschrift fiir Hygiene," Bd. xxvi, Heft i. 



