But diseased wheat is also capable of inducing {163} gangrene, and it is more than probable, that many diseases might be traced to the use of infected grain of various kinds. An interesting account of a family who lived at Wattisham, near Stowmarket, in Suffolk, and all of whom suffered more or less from living on bread made of smutty wheat, may be found in the Philosophical Transactions. The mother of this family and five of the children, consisting of three girls and two boys, all suffered from gangrene of the extremities; the father lost the nails from his hands, and had ulceration of two of his fingers.[67] Dr. Woollaston wrote thus in a letter on this case: "The corn with which they made their bread was certainly very bad: it was wheat that had been cut in a rainy season, and had lain on the ground till many of the grains were black and totally decayed, but many other poor families in the same village made use of the same corn without receiving any injury from it. One man lost the use of his arm for some time, and still imagines himself that he was afflicted with the same disorder as Downing's family." It is not unlikely this was the case, for numbness and loss of power was one of the well marked characters of the disease. What other afflictions may be due to diseased vegetation and adulterated articles of food, and what loss of life may accrue from cheap and adulterated {164} drugs and chemicals is hardly yet dreamt of.[68] The systematic practice of adulteration of almost every article of diet which comes to table has become a serious question for the legislature to consider. Take only the article of milk, upon which the young children of large towns and cities, make their chief meals, with the addition of bread. How much milk comes into London from the country, how much is obtained from stall and grain-fed cows in the metropolis, and how much is said to be consumed, would be an interesting calculation. It is pretty well known that a mixture is sold by which a retailer of milk may increase his supply by one-third or one-half. It was discovered in Paris that the brains of animals, when prepared in a particular manner, formed, when mixed with a certain proportion of milk and water, a very fine and deceptive cream; in that city this system was carried on to a considerable extent. I could not help alluding to these facts while speaking of diseased grain, for who shall say to what extent a miller in a large way of business, may be able to "work in," as it is called, a considerable amount of smutty corn in the manufacture of flour? Now, as diseased grain is known {165} to induce abortion, it is impossible to tell how small a portion may in some cases produce the effect; we may therefore say with Thomas of Malmesbury, "There is no action of man in this life which is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences, as that no human providence is high enough to give us a prospect to the end."[69]