is to be obtained from two papers in Horn's Archiv,—the one by Professor Hünefeld of Greifswald, describing the phenomena as he witnessed them in that city in 1827, and containing an elaborate chemical analysis and physiological experiments, by means of which he conceives he has discovered the deleterious principles contained in the cheese,[1]—the other by Dr. Westrumb of Hameln, who investigated the particulars of seven cases which came under his notice in 1826, and with the aid of Sertürner, the chemist, traced the properties of the poison to almost the same principles with those indicated by the researches of Hünefeld.[2] Besides the cases which have given origin to these papers, others have occurred throughout Germany in the same period; and during the third quarter of last century this kind of poisoning was so common, that several of the German states investigated the subject, and legislative enactments were passed in consequence.
For a long time the prevalent belief was that the cheese acquired an impregnation from copper vessels used in the dairies; and accordingly the Austrian, Wirtemberg and Ratesberg States prohibited the use of copper for such purposes. This opinion, however, was proved by chemical analysis to be untenable; and the inquiries of Hünefeld and Sertürner, have now rendered it probable that the poisonous property of the cheese resides in two animal acids, analogous, if not indentical , with the caseïc and sebacic acids.
The mode in which the formation of these acids is accounted for is as follows. According to the researches of Proust the sharp peculiar taste of old cheese is owing to the gradual conversion of the curd or caseïn into the caseate of ammonia, which in sound cheeses is always united with the excess of alkali. In the cheese in question (barscher-käse, quark-käse, hand-käse) the curd, before being salted, is left for some time in a heap to ferment, in consequence of which it becomes sour and afterwards ripens faster. But if the milk has been curdled with vinegar,—if the acid liquor formed while it ferments is not carefully drained off,—if the fermentation is allowed to go too far,—if too little salt is used in preserving the curd,—or if flour has been mixed with the curd, the subsequent ripening or decaying of the cheese follows a peculiar course, and a considerable excess of caseïc acid is formed, as well as some sebacic acid.
The poisonous cheeses, according to Westrumb, present no peculiarity in their appearance, taste or smell. But Hünefeld says that they are yellowish-red, soft, and tough, with harder and darker lumps interspersed, that they have a disagreeable taste, redden litmus, and becomes flesh-red instead of yellow, under the action of nitric acid.
The symptoms they cause in man appear to be nearly the same with those produced by the poisonous sausage, and usually commence, according to Hünefeld, in five or six hours, according to Westrumb in half an hour. They constitute various degrees and combinations
