CHAPTER XL 



THE EXAMINATION OF POISONOUS FOODS. 



OuTBEEAES of bromatotoxismus have become common in recent 

 years and chemists and bacteriologists are frequently asked to 

 examine foods which are suspected of having caused untoward 

 results. The increase in the number of cases of this kind is partly 

 real and partly only apparent. One cause of the actual increase lies 

 in the larger consumption of preserved foods. Meats, the appear- 

 ance and odor of which would render their sale in the piece im- 

 possible, or at least doubtful, may be chopped, cooked, canned, and 

 sold as a firsl^class article. We do not state that this fraud is com- 

 monly practised, but that it is a possible one cannot be denied, and 

 that it is occasionally resorted to has been demonstrated both in this 

 country and in Europe. This source of danger to the public health 

 will not be removed until the necessity for scientific inspection of 

 foods, especially of animals before slaughtering, is understood and 

 practised. However, the greater number of cases of poisoning by 

 prepared foods arises from imperfections in methods or from want of 

 intelligent and conscientious attention to details. When we recog- 

 nize the fact that the successful preparation of every portion of pre- 

 served food depends upon the exclusion of microorganisms, both 

 specific and putrefactive, and when we learn that the processes are 

 carried out for the most part by those who are ignorant of the scien- 

 tific principles involved, then we can only wonder that the health 

 of the consumer is not more frequently placed in jeopardy. 



The apparent increase in the number of instances of food poisoning 

 is due to the fact that the medical profession has only recently 

 learned to recognize food infection as a cause of illness or has been 

 in possession of the knowledge necessary to convert suspicion into 

 positive demonstration. Only a few years ago we were seeking for 

 the cause of cholera infantum in mysterious and indefinite telluric or 

 meteorological conditions, but now we know that this disease is 

 solely due to infected, and consequently poisonous, food. Formerly, 

 many of these cases were believed to be due to the accidental or 

 criminal addition of some metallic or vegetable poison to the food, 

 and unjust accusation, possibly in some instances, unjust execution, 

 resulted. We have also learned that typhoid and typhus fevers, 

 scarlet fever, and other acute exanthemata, and even pneumonia, 

 may be closely simulated by the symptoms due to infected foods. 



Unfortunately, the expression " ptomain poisoning " has come into 



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