SCIENCE & THE BIBLE by Bolton Daviclheiser, Ph.D., Chairman of the Science Division, Biola College
A
V ^ ce 0? ? t o 4 t
SALUTE
'P o tto M ,
TO THE BOLDENJUBILEE of the KIND'S BUSINESS
T he most p o i s o n o u s substance known to exist anywhere in the world may be found in preserved foods on the cupboard shelves or in the re frigerator of an ordinary home. The organism which produces this poison is common in the soil almost every where. It is a species of bacteria named Closteridium botulinum, and it differs from most disease-producing bacteria in that it rarely, if ever, attacks a per son or animal directly, but under certain conditions it produces a deadly poison in food. It thrives where there is no air and little or no acidity. Where foods are canned commer cially the conditions are usually such that the organisms are killed, but cans of food should never be accepted if the ends are bulging from the pressure of gases within. The chief danger is in home-canned vegetables and meats. Canned fruits are usually safe because of their acidity, but contaminated olives, apricots, and other fruits have been reported. The disorder which results from consuming such contaminated food is called botulism. This term is derived from a word for sausage, since it was first observed by physicians in Ger many about 1735 as being fatal to persons who had eaten spoiled sausage. Several strains of the bacteria pro duce somewhat different toxins. The one which seems to be the most com mon, and which has been studied most thoroughly, has been crystalized in the laboratory. Tests are made with mice and it is so potent that an ounce of it could kill about 600,000,000,000 mice. A recent report gives some of the physical properties of the crystals, but it states significantly that their taste is not known. Wild ducks sometimes die by the thousands from botulism. Horses and cattle can get it from spoiled food. Some animals which are not normally carnivorous may contract it from the marrow of bones which they are
driven to eat because of a deficiency of calcium and phosphorous in their diets. Of all animals so far investigated only vultures are immune to botulism. This seems to be a special favor granted by their Creator because of the nature of their customary food. The production of the toxin of these bacteria is such that a deadly amount of it is formed before the food shows any signs of being spoiled. Thus it is recommended that home-canned vege tables and meats should be boiled at least ten minutes (some books advise a half hour) before being sampled, as housewives have died from merely tasting a bit of their handicraft to as certain whether it was all right. A l though the toxin may be destroyed by about ten minutes of boiling, the pos sibility o f its production can be pre vented only by killing the bacteria and their spores. The only practical way of doing this is to subject the food to fifteen pounds of steam pressure for fifteen minutes before canning. With out a pressure cooker, the spores may be destroyed by boiling for an hour each day for three successive days. However, this is a most inconvenient procedure. The only place in Scripture where the term “ deadly poison” occurs is in James 3:8, where we read, “ But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” Altogether there are eight references to poison in the Bible, and half of them are associated with speech. The most deadly poison in the world can be destroyed by less than a half an hour of boiling, but the evil effect of a few careless words can last for a lifetime. Conversation is so common we are likely to be careless, not realiz ing that there is an ever-present possi bility of saying something which can have a ruinous effect, just as there is always a possibility of the ubiquitous germs of botulism contaminating com mon food and producing a deadly poison.
Fifty Golden Years of Service to the Christian World.
Official publication of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc.
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