Food Poisoning

Food Poisoning is by Edwin O. Jordan. Table II gives the Seasonal Distribution of Food Poisoning Cases, 1914-15 (Group, Family, and Individual), with a figure for each month, among them January 90 and June 108. The text says there is no very striking seasonal incidence apparent in the figures here gathered, and that the warmer months seem to have a slight preponderance of cases, but general conclusions from such data are hardly warranted.

The text says cases of poisoning by articles of food may be distinguished as those caused by some injurious constituent in the food itself and those caused by a peculiar condition of the individual consuming the food. The text says the latter group includes persons, apparently normal in other respects, who are more or less injuriously affected by some particular article of diet, such as eggs or milk, which is eaten with impunity by all normal individuals. The text says it is not within the scope of this book to consider any of those cases in which definite poisonous substances are added to food with criminal intent.