Poison-Taster.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 November 1922, Page 4

Poison-Taster.

SCIENTIST WHO .\!.\l>H HIMSELF ILL. HOW FOOD MYSTERIES ARE SOLVED. BRISTOL. Sent i:o. Work ill." hanl in llio <• uir t hoiii's of thi l 11 i<j:lll. when, he says. Iii ;; lirniii is mast t lonr. ;i. slim young man ivoll under medium height. hv his research work in tin* elioieal laboratory of Bristol University, is milking n name for himself ns n muster in uiirnvi King liie secrets of poison in food. He is Mr Philip Bruce-White. the hneteriorlogist. who solved the liildle of the deaths of 8 people at Loch Marco by detecting hotiuism a-s the

fatal poison in tlie wild duck paste in tho sandwiches they ate. Mr BruceVvliite, liimscll ale in the course of his tests some of the Canadian ■ hea-;e which caused pohouin;; wit breaks. in Dover and Warrington. Just now lie is searching for poison in some fish-paste eaten liv a man named William Vwigg .'lassie, oi Warner- , street, Southwark. S.K., on which an . inquest was held last Friday. j With Dr W. U. Savage, county me*- j dical officer for Somerset, Dr Bruce- - White is tarrying out this must valuable work on behalf ol the food section td the Ministry cl Health and the Medical Research Council. Almost unknown to tin' public ,the work of examining food suspected of being poisoned is new almost entirely m the hands of half a dozen men at the Bristol laboratory. They arc being inundated with many kinds of food samples, and the laboratory often has a variegated larder cf cheese, ham, brawn, paste, tinned salmon, and so iortc that are under suspicion. TKS’i'S OX RA i.’i’.STS. Mr Bruce-White, "bom 1 saw today described bow, v. lion investigating the'case of the J.och Maree sandwiches bo sat up all night watching the olleet. iof the poisoned wild duck paste cn ; rabbits and guinea-pigs. 11l a large ! wooden shed on the roof of Bnstol 1 University is a menagerie ot rabbits, | guinea-pigs. rats, and mice, who by ! their symptoms reveal tne presence o* 1 poison in food and its nature. I ,\ s a poison-taster Professor Lruee- ! ■\Vhtie has unpleasant memories. ■ t I was alter many tests bad failed to us- : tablisb the identity of the suspectecl ; poison ill the cheese from Dover and 1 Warrington th.it be ate samples h.m- ---: self over a period of -several weeks, i .Most of the samples lie tasted «eie not poisoned, but n low were, and in one ease he was indisposed lor tour oi five days.