348 
Poisonous Cheese. 
different from the rich and punjjent taste of welKripened old 
cheese ; but it is not sufficiently characteristic of its unquestion- 
ably poisonous properties. Having analysed at different times 
cheese which produced bad effects when taken in any quantity, I 
cautioned my assistants not to take too much of it, and invited 
them to taste the cheese sent by Mr. White. Certain chemicals 
which are sometimes put into cheese can, to a certain extent, be 
recognised by the peculiar taste Avhich they impart. I tasted it 
myself, and, although I only took a piece the size of a hazel-nut, 
I felt its effects four hours after having tasted it. Botli my 
assistants, who had taken not more than at the most a quarter of 
an ounce each, five hours afterwards were violently attat kcd 
with vomiting and pain in the bowels; One of them was ill 
all night, and scarcely able to follow his usual work next dav. 
Both complained of a peculiarly nasty mercurial taste, Avhich 
seemed to remain with them for many hours after they were 
taken ill, and both turned deadly pale five hours after partaking 
of the cheese. On a former occasion, I found sulphate of zinc 
or white vitriol in a cheese, which caused sickness ; and in 
another instance I detected in cheese sulphate of copper. My 
attention, therefore, naturally was directed to search for me- 
tallic poisons ; but, though carefully operating on large quan- 
tities, I failed to detect even traces of zinc, copper, mercury, 
antimony, arsenic, or any of the metallic poisons which might 
have possibly imparted injurious properties to the cheese. 
Having failed to detect any mineral poison, I next directed 
my attention to the examination of the organic constituents. The 
quantitative general analysis gave the following result : — 
Water 37-88 
Organic constituents DH'O-i 
Mineral constituents 4-08 
100-00 
Containing common salt 1-33 
The proportion of water in this cheese is rather large, con- 
sidering that it must have been cut for some time, and have lost 
water by evaporation. On further examining it, I found it 
remarkably sour, and had no difficulty in detecting an unusually 
large cjuantity of fatty acids, which, if not poisonous themselves, 
are the vehicle conveying the peculiar organic poison which 
appears to be generated sometimes in cheese undergoing a })ecu- 
liar kind of fermentation. Probably the poison generated in 
this modified decay of cheese is identical with the so-called 
sausage-poison which is sometimes found in German sausages, 
especially those made chiefly from coagulated blood. A similar 
poison appears to be generated sometimes in pickled salmon, 
