PTOMAINES AND PTOMAINE POISONING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13208, 15 February 1905, Page 2

PTOMAINES AND PTOMAINE POISONING.

(Communicated.)... Publio interest has recently been so much aroused- by- tho unfortunate death. of two Otago minors, owing to their partaking of tinned meat, an extremely'common fohn o£ animal food—especially in tho country districts,—that somo presentation of the subject of ptomaines anil of ing will no doubt bo wolcomo to our readers. Tho general information on tho subject is very vague, ft t Ptomaines are bodies somewhat analogous in composition to the vegetable alkaloids, .such,as quinine, morphinfc, strychnine, eto. They aro produced in tlio putrefaction of animal tiss ins and other organic bodies containing nitrogen, and occur both, in living and dead tissues. They aro in all cases the product of bacterial action. Knowledge of theso bodies only date back about 30 years, when a chemist named Solmi extracted somo from putrid matter, and showed that there were a great number of them. Two years later, in 1676, tho. first pure ptomaine, was isolated una analysed, but very much yet remains to bo learned respecting tjiem. Bodies of this oharaeter aro constantly being produced in tlio animal system as tho result of normal processes, and in ordinav/ conditions of health these substances aro regularly eliminated by tho kidneys, bowels, j skin, and lungs; or they aro oxidised,- aud : thus, a-3 it were, burned away to carbon i dioxide, _ water, and ammonia. If any of I tKeso eliminating agencies fail to do their work, there is liability to accumulation of these bodies ill the system, and a poisonous action on tlio ncrvo centres is brought about. Ono of the commonest forms of headacho is no doubt caused by such action. Probably, also, many of the symptoms of infectious fevers are due to the poisonous aotion of ptomaines produced by specific bacteria which liavo been introduced into the system. Contrary to tho general opinion, tlio majority of ptomaines aro not poifonous, and a great mauy of them aro so unstablo that a temperature of. SOdeg. C. tends to dccomposo them, and in the presence of air to oxidise theji. Some of these bodies have been subjected to careful investigation, and their properties aro well known. Thus ncuridine, ono of tho most constant products of the putrefaction of animal substances, suoli as effgs, fall, horseflesh, gelatin, ctc.. is perfectly innocuous. Cadaverine ar.d putreseine, bodies with most ominous

names, which aro also produced from similar matter in a mora advanced state of deoomposition, arc also non-poisonous. On iho other hand, there f.ro ptomaines which aro among the most virulent poisons known. Thus muscarine, the poisonous principle of certain _ toadstools, such as tho fly-blown agaric, is frequently produced in putrefying fish, and is intensely poisonous. A dose of about one-twentieth of a grain, when injected hynodormically, produced in a few ji)iniit<>3 great salivation, mwsca, vomitiii", gicJdiness, and confusion of thought.- ° Owing io their formation in iho putrefaction of prot-eids, ptomaines aro liable to exist in decomposing food. But the nonpoisonous character of many of them is shown by the fact that people eat many kinds of food with impunity, in which decomposition is somewhat far advanced. Some kinds of flesh, especially game, aro kept before lsping" cooked niiti) they will hardly hold .together, yet ono never hears of any bad results following the eating of such' food. Jn Burmah it is said the people ore fcnci of a villainously-smcllinpr compound, which is practically made of putrid fish, and they eat it without any bad effects. On the other hand, somo of tho most violent at* tacks of ptomaine poisoning on rccord have resulted' frota partaking of food in which tho putrefactive change wa3 so slight as not to attract attention in any way. While the effects of ordinary poisons are commonly manifested within throo or four hours of partaking of tho poisoned food, and often in a very much shorter time, the symptoms of ptomaino poisoning rarely develop within six or eight hours, and aro sometimes much longer delayed. In sucfi' cases this is perhaps due to-the time required for the multiplication of the microorganisms, and it points to tho great probability of tho poisonous- ptomaines which they prodilco being formed after the food was ingested. Tho isolation of ptomaines from a suspected article of food is a delieato and complicated business, while their identification under • ordinary ciroumstances of ptomaino poisoning is almost an impossibility. Tho only way of satisfactorily ascertaining whether a food contains poisonous principles is to obtain extracts by tho various solvents usually employed for such-purposes, and, after reducing thoso to small bulk; to inject them, hypodermically .into suitablo animals.

When an occurrence, such as has recently happened, 'tote placo a great many people immediately give un the use of tinned moats, and the trado is bound to suffer from' the scare. They might just as well give up railway travelling because' thoy run tho chance of an occasional accident.

Thoso who lira ooneernod in the production of tinned meals in New Zealand are, as a rule, careful to seo that the processes employed arc scientifically carried out. Theoretically there should novel' ho any possibility of decay occurring in such meat. If the gorivs of 'putrefaction are all destroyed, as they should be during tho cook-

ing process/ and if the ingress of new gernii is strictly prevented—and these condition; are quite easily secured if proper' prccau tions arc faikon,—then the production o ptomaines is impossible. But apart fron carelessness and accidents during the pre serving prooesscs,. there is tho risk that tins of meat, long-kept, may either becomc punctured or corroded—apertm-06 too sinal to bo visible to tlio eye -being quite large enough to permit the germs of decay tc enter. It would then bo to the interests ol tho publio and of' tho . meat-preserviii! establishments alike, to date their tins sc that-old stock could be avoided; It is to be hoped that thoso concerned will exercise renewed vigilance in the preparation of tinned - foods, otlicnviso it may be necessary to add to the already enormous winy of rinspeetoi's with which this colony is cursed, and liavo all meat-preserving establishments regularly inspected l .