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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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I think the term "ptomaine poisoning" was coined in the days before the germ theory of disease was accepted. When it could be shown that food poisonings were caused by toxins produced by Salmonella and similar bacteria, the idea that toxic protein breakdown products caused the symptoms was discared. About a hundred years ago.
The name Salmonella has been changed, I think. I'm not sure what the present name is. Vika, where are you?
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Joined: Nov 2000
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newbie
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OP
newbie
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 33 |
>When was the last time
According to one older book I have - Never.
It asserts that ptomaines (whatever they are) are so odorous that no one could eat anything with ptomaines.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
But how does a very common term used in states as different as Minnesota, West Virginia and New York disappear so thoroughly in such a short period of time?
i think because of personal experiences, or close relations to some one with a personal experience.
the cliche for years was 'where were you when president kennedy was shot?'.. and while my kids had no recollections, they were aware that kennedy's shooting marked a point in most adults lives.. they understood the context.
I never made a station to station call. by the time i was grown, and had a phone of my own, direct dialing was available.. (at least on this end!) you got an operator on the other end sometimes. my son doesn't even expect to get an operator! he presumes you can call all over the world, direct dial.. and why not? you can. he and wife can call relitives in singapore, or philapeans, or austrailia, or ireland, or japan. and those far flung relitives can call them!-direct dial.
at some point. (say 45 to 50 years ago), ptomaine fell out of favor-- no one was getting it anymore, no one was dying of it.. (one, there were new names for the same types of illness, and 2 there were antibotics, so few people died when the did get sick)
but we adults had parents who still used the word-because they knew someone who had gotten it!.. and we heard their injuctions not to eat or touch something lest we get ptomaine poisoning..
but we never heard of any one really getting it.. ptomaine was a 'boogyman' something you were afraid of, but didn't know what it was. as we got older, we learned about food poisoning, and e-coli contanination, and all sorts of other fears.. (which are real enough)but we still think of ptomaine poisoning as make-believe. we have no personal experience with the ptomaine, and we don't use the expression.
There is movie (In or Out(?)) with Keven Kline, and it has a delightful scene in which a hollywood bimbo, is stranding in a small town in (Wisconson? Iowa? some middle american state) and the small motel only has dial phones..
she tries pushing the finger holes, and is totally stymied by the dial..its a little far fetched, but makes the point.
D Day passed this year, largely unmarked, last december, the seventh came an went with almost no comment.. (as a child i was often reminded what day it was on either of these days..)
i shook the hand of a man who shook the hand of John Sullivan as child.. (i had no idea who that was, or why i was supposed to be thrilled..) Shake the hand of man who shook the hand of John Sullivan was very common among people my grandparents age... now no one knows the expression at all! (except in a historical contex!)
do you remember the maine? or the rueben james?(that easier, but still obsure..) even explaining 'where's the beef' is hard!
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Joined: May 2003
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 66 |
I'm under 40 and I remember the warnings about ptomaine poisoning when I was younger. But we lived close to grandparents and great grandparents, so maybe that's why.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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But over 50 years ago in medical school I learned that "ptomaine poisoning" was a discredited theory, a misnomer.
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
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...My late father used to refer to the digoxin [heart medicine] he was taking as "foxglove," which always brought an indulgent smile to my face. Indeed it did originally come from that plant (foxglove = Digitalis pupurea), but it's a term not widely used since Thirties or maybe the Forties, and my father's the only non-gardener I ever heard refer to it by that name since I was in medical school. I'm sure Bill knows it, but he came by it honestly; others be careful, because if you acknowledge that you recognize it you are betraying your advanced age. (Or perhaps your far-flung erudition, after all. Or maybe both!)
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In a way it's remarkable that the value of foxglove was
discovered. The potency of various batches varies so much that it took years of research to be able to market a product both safe and consistently efficacious.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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digoxin
One of the latest generics goes under the name of Digitek, which I find kind of interesting since it's also the name of an electronics parts distributor.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
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but as a herbal remedy, foxglove was used for years to treat 'dropsy'-- a condition we now recognise a congestive heart failure! It might not have always worked, but it worked often enough, well enough, that it did lead to a real treatment.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
Dear of troy: the point I was trying to make was that it weas lucky that besides shortness of breath,the legs of dropsy patients became enormously swollen, and the reduction in the swelling was clear evidence that the medication was working. No other botanical do has such striking effects, and so are much harder to evaluate.
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