362  The  Ground-Glass  Obsession.  {Am'M.lyT\g^vm' 
THE  GROUND-GLASS  OBSESSION.1 
Rumors  continue  to  appear  to  the  effect  that  ground  glass 
has  been  found  in  food  and  that  an  investigation  is  to  be  made 
by  the  federal  government.  During  the  last  two  or  three  years 
we  have  passed  through  a  whole  series  of  such  nation-wide  "  scares." 
Our  readers  may  remember  the  vogue  of  infected  court-plaster,  of 
the  insertion  of  various  organisms  into  bandages  and  dressings,  of 
the  finding  of  numerous  alleged  bombs  in  different  localities.  To- 
day ground  glass  holds  the  stage.  Just  why  any  intelligent  spy,  or 
even  an  unintelligent  German  diplomat,  should  choose  ground  glass 
to  kill  off  a  community  is  problematical.  Neither  has  any  one  ex- 
plained how  enemy  sympathizers  are  going  to  avoid  the  alleged 
manipulated  foodstuffs.  In  works  on  forensic  medicine  and  toxicol- 
ogy ground  glass  is  mentioned  as  a  mechanical  poison. 
When  the  glass  is  coarsely  ground  it  produces  mechanical  lesions 
of  the  lining  of  the  gastro-intestinal  canal  which  become  infected. 
Ultimately  the  condition  resembles  a  catarrhal  and  hemorrhagic  in- 
flammation. Both  may  result  from  perforation  of  the  stomach  or 
bowel,  or  from  infection  of  the  wounds  and  extension  of  the  inflam- 
mation. A  meal  of  very  finely  ground  glass  is  regarded  by  some 
as  harmless,  and  it  has  been  reported  that  it  is  even  used  as  a  rem- 
edy among  the  peasants  of  eastern  Europe.  The  concealing  of 
ground  glass  in  flour  or  in  sugar,  the  two  substances  most  com- 
monly mentioned  in  the  newspapers — any  amateur  psychologist  can 
figure  out  why — would  necessitate  that  it  be  ground  very  fine. 
These  stories  may  have  a  certain  value  in  keeping  the  public  alive 
to  the  dangers  of  the  spy  peril.  On  the  other  hand,  they  stimulate 
cranks  and  other  unbalanced  persons  to  "go  and  do  likewise,"  thus 
lending  a  substantial  basis  to  the  original  imaginative  stories. 
1  From  The  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  March  23, 
1918. 
