Food Poisons 253 



Ichthyotoxism — ^fish-poisoning ; 

 ikfy/'j/otoxMw— mussel-poisoning ; 

 Sitotoxism — cereal-poisoning. 



The most important chemic alterations effected by bacteria occur 

 in milk and meat. 



1. Milk-poisoning {Galactotoxism). — 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 milk 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 duiring 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) .■ — It was originally supposed 

 that the action of micro-organisms upon meats brought about 

 chemical changes resulting in the appearance of toxic ptomains 

 by which those eating it might be poisoned. It is now known that 

 such a change is rare. In 1888 Gartner* investigated a group of 

 fifty-seven persons who became ill, and some of whom died after 

 eating meat from a certain cow. From the flesh of this animal, and 

 also from the blood and spleen of one of the patients, he isolated a 

 bacillus which he named Bacillus enteritidis (q.v.). It has since 

 proved to be a member of a group of bacilli standing in an inter- 

 mediate position between the typhoid group and the colon group, 

 all of which are characterized by the production of an endotoxin 



* Corrsp. Bl. d. Aerzt. Vereins. Turingen, 1888. 



