196 FOOD POISONING. 



piratory movements, paralysis of the skeletal muscles, mydriasis, 

 increased peristalsis of the intestines, and arrest of the heart. 



Takahaschi and Inoko find the fugu poison resistant to prolonged 

 boiling and it behaves like a basic substance in its reactions with the 

 general alkaloidal reagents. The same observers claim that they 

 have induced the characteristic symptoms of fugu poisoning by in- 

 jecting the blood, urine, and aqueous contents of the stomach of pa- 

 tients into the abdominal cavity of frogs. 



Tahara reports that he has isolated from the roe of the tetrodon 

 two poisons. One of these is a crystalline base, to which he has 

 given the name tetrodonin; while the other is a white, waxy body, 

 and is designated as tetrodonic acid. While both are markedly poi- 

 sonous, the acid is more active than the base. Of 993 cases of fugu 

 poisoning reported in Tokio from 1885 to 1892 inclusive, 680 were 

 fatal — a mortality of more than 68 per cent. 



A disease known as kakkl was at one time very prevalent in 

 Japan and other countries along the Eastern coast of Asia. Many 

 theories, some of which were quite naturally founded upon the super- 

 stitions of that part of the world, have been advanced to account for 

 the etiology of this disease ; however, with the opening up of Japan 

 to the civilized world, an investigation by scientific methods was 

 undertaken by foreign physicians and by the observant and intelli- 

 gent natives who had acquired their medical training in Europe and 

 America. It was soon ascertained that this disease was confined to 

 the sea coast districts, and particularly to the natives, Americans and 

 Europeans living in Japan being almost wholly exempt. With im- 

 proved transportation, kakk6 was found to extend towards the in- 

 terior of Japan. Among the natives, the most robust seemed to be 

 most prone to the disease. With these observations the following 

 additional facts were recognized : (1) The inhabitants of the coast 

 were formerly the only natives who partook largely of sea-fish ; (2) 

 improved transportation carried these food products toward the in- 

 terior ; (3) the foreigners did not consume these fish so largely as 

 the natives did ; (4) among the natives the most robust would quite 

 naturally eat more food of any and all kinds than the less vigorous. 

 The above-mentioned observations led Miura to define the disease as 

 follows : " Kakk6 is a chronic or subacute, seldom an acute, intoxi- 

 cation due to the consumption of certain kinds of fish." He then 

 set himself to solve the questions : (1) What fish are the bearers of 

 the poison? (2) In what conditions are these fish poisonous? In 

 Tokio the disease generally appears in May, reaches its greatest 

 prevalence in August and gradually disappears in September and 

 October. This would indicate that if the disease were due to eating 

 fish, the poisonous species must be those that are in demand from 

 May to September. Six species were found to be most abundantly, 

 in fact almost exclusively, used at this time of the year ; and all of 



