BACTERIAL P0IS02iS. 39 



ammonia might have part in their production. In 1820, Kerner 

 published his first essay on poisonous sausage, and this was followed 

 by a second in 1822. At that time he thought that the untoward 

 symptoms induced by eating poisonous sausage were due to a fatty 

 acid, similar to the sebacic acid of Thenard, and which originated 

 during putrefaction ; later, he modified these views and suggested 

 that the poison might be a compound consisting of sebacic acid and 

 a volatile principle. This may be regarded as the first suggestion as 

 to the probability of a poisonous substance with basic properties in 

 decomposing matter. In 1822 Dupr6 observed a peculiar disease 

 among the soldiers under his care, who, during the warm and dry 

 summer of that year, were compelled to drink foul water ; the dis- 

 ease thus induced was probably due to infection rather than to in- 

 toxication. Later, Magendie, stimulated by the investigations of 

 Gaspard and the observations of Dupr6, made many experiments, 

 in which dogs and other animals were confined over vessels contain- 

 ing putrid animal matter and compelled constantly to breathe the 

 emanations therefrom. The effects varied markedly with the species 

 of animal and the nature of the putrid material, but in some in- 

 stances symptoms closely resembling those of typhoid fever in man 

 were induced. It might be suggested here parenthetically that a 

 repetition of the experiments of Magendie, with such precautions 

 as modern methods would suggest, would not be without value. 

 Leuret directed his attention to the chemical changes produced in 

 blood by putrefaction, but accomplished nothing of special value. 

 Dupuy injected putrid material into the jugular vein of a horse and 

 with Trousseau studied alterations produced in the blood by these 

 injections. 



During the third decade of the nineteenth century there were many 

 investigators, in addition to those mentioned above, who endeavored 

 to ascertain the active agent in poisonous foods. Dann, Weiss, Buch- 

 ner, Schumann, Cadet de Gassicourt, and Orfila studied poisonous 

 sausage, but made no advance beyond the work done by Kerner. 

 Henneman, Hiinnefeld, Westrumb, and Sertiirner (the discoverer of 

 morphin) made contributions concerning poisonous cheese, but all 

 reached the conclusion that the caseic acid of Kerner is the poison- 

 ous principle. 



In 1850, Schmidt, of Dorpat, studied the decomposition products 

 and volatile substances found in cholera stools, and two years later, 

 Meyer, of Berlin, injected the blood and stools of cholera patients 

 into lower animals. In 1853, Stich made an important contribution 

 on the effects of acute poisoning with putrid material ; he ascertained 

 that, when given in sufficient quantity, putrid material produced an 

 intestinal catarrh, with choleraic stools. Nervous symptoms, tremb- 

 ling, unsteady gait, and, finally, convulsions, were also observed, and 

 careful post-mortem examinations were made, but no important or 



