452  Tyrotoxicon  in  Ice  Cream,  Milk,  etc.  {Amsipt.%8S6arm" 
likewise  in  water.  It  acquires  a  yellowish  green  and  dark  green  color 
by  strong  hydrochloric  acid,  is  oxidized  to  oxalic  acid  by  nitric  acid, 
and  is  precipitated  by  tannin  and  basic  lead  acetate. 
TYROTOXICON;  ITS  PRESENCE  IN  POISONOUS  ICE 
CREAM;  ITS  DEVELOPMENT  IN  MILK;  AND  ITS 
PROBABLE  RELATION  TO  CHOLERA  INFAN- 
TUM AND  KINDRED  DISEASES. 
By  Victor  C.  Vaughan,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D., 
Prof,  of  Physiological  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Mich. ,  Member  of  the  State  Board  of  Health. 
About  one  year  ago,  and  after  two  years  of  close  investigation;,  the 
writer  succeeded  in  isolating  from  some  samples  of  cheese,  which  had 
produced  alarming  symptoms  in  many  persons,  a  highly  poisonous 
ptomaine,  to  which  the  name  tyrotoxicon  (cheese  poison)  was  given. 
The  effects  of  this  poison  were  demonstrated  repeatedly  upon  some  of 
my  students,  who  kindly  offered  themselves  as  subjects  of  experimen- 
tation, and  upon  myself.  These  were  found  to  agree  closely  with 
those  observed  by  the  physicians  who  treated  the  persons  made  sick 
by  eating  of  the  cheese.  There  were  reported  to  the  Michigan  State 
Board  of  Health  about  300  cases.  The  most  prominent  symptoms 
were  dryness  and  constriction  of  the  fauces,  nausea,  retching,  vomit- 
ing and  purging. 
The  vomited  matter  was  frothy  and  the  stools  watery.  In  some 
there  were  evidences  of  marked  nervous  depression.  Although  in 
many  the  condition  seemed  alarming,  all  finally  recovered. 
A  report  of  the  discovery  of  tyrotoxicon  in  cheese  will  be  found 
in  Zeitschrift  fur  physiologische  Chemie,  B.  X,  Heft  2 ;  also  in  the 
Annual  Report  of  the  Michigan  State  Board  of  Health,  for  the  year 
1885.— See  also  Am.  Jour.  Phaem.  July,  1886,  p.  342. 
Last  November  a  student  brought  to  me  a  four  ounce  bottle  partly 
filled  with  milk  which  had  stood  tightly  closed  with  a  glass  stopper 
for  about  six  months.  From  this  I  succeeded  in  isolating  the  same 
poison.  It  was  recognized  by  its  crystalline  appearance  and  by  its 
effect  upon  myself.  It  was  presumed  that  this  milk  wras  normal  in 
composition  when  first  obtained ;  but  of  this  we  could  not  be  certain. 
I  then  put  several  gallons  of  normal  milk  in  perfectly  clean  bottles 
with  glass  stoppers  and  allowed  these  to  stand  in  my  work  room. 
From  time  to  time  a  bottle  was  opened  and  the  test  for  tyrotoxicon 
