532 FOOD PRESERVATION 
bridge (1912) has attempted to make a, distinction between paratyphoid 
fever and meat poisoning. He bases his argument on the inadequacies 
of agglutination reactions for separating members of the group and states 
that precipitation or complement fixation reactions are necessary to 
distinguish between the bacteria, to which food poisoning has been 
attributed. The symptoms of food or meat poisoning are quite differ- 
ent and Bainbridge is probably correct in making this distinction. The 
true paratyphoid fever resembles typhoid in many of its characteristics 
but the mortality from it and the mildness of the disease are distinct 
differences. 
Jordan (1917) has pointed out the occurrence of at least two clinical 
types of paratyphoid infection, one having almost the identical picture 
of the true infection with B. typhi and the other the commoner gastro- 
intestinal type. 
Bongartz (1910) studied samples of meat from both condemned 
animals and apparently normal animals. Many of these were found 
to contain paratyphoid bacilli. He suggests the education of the public 
to the eating of cooked meat which, to a certain extent, would reduce the 
danger of diseased meat or foods. Hoffenreich (1914), on the other 
hand, examined 249 samples of meat from typical abbatoirs and found 
no indications of the presence of bacteria of the paratyphoid-Gaertner 
group. He concludes that their distribution is not as general as has 
been supposed. Bernhardt (1914) has found Bacillus voldagsen and 
B. typhi swis (Glasser) in a case of meat poisoning which resulted in 
death. He advises that a polyvalent paratyphoid serum be used for 
diagnosis. 
Fowler (1909) has described an epidemic of paratyphoid fever 
resulting from eating goose at a Christmas dinner. He stated that the 
goose may have been infected during slaughter; bacteria may have 
invaded the flesh and excreted a toxin which would account for the 
acute onset of the cases. Bernstein and Fish (1916) described an 
epidemic of sixty cases and four deaths resulting from paratyphoid 
infection from a pie. This was confirmed by clinical and laboratory 
investigation. Such epidemics point out that restaurants (Kendall, 
1916) may be important factors in the dissemination of infection. 
Miller (1915) reported that several cases of fish poisoning were caused 
by bacteria of the paratyphoid-enteriditis group. Seele (1913) in dis- 
cussing food poisoning in the German army during the years 1912 and 
1913 stated that meat and sausage were the foods which caused 
most trouble. The following organisms were identified: B. colt 
communis, B. proteus, B. enteritidis and B. paratyphosus. From 
