The "milk-sick" came to the Lincoln family

[Ed Steers]

(09-18-2012 12:26 AM)PioneerLady Wrote:  Hi Ed:

I'm a soon-to-be former ranger at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial site which focuses on Lincoln's boyhood years from ages 7-21. I'm also an M.A. student in history and I am working on my thesis, which is about milk sickness, so this prompted my curiosity!

At the park, the reason we give as to why Abraham, Sarah, and Thomas did not come down with milk sickness is due to the fact they never drank or ate any of the byproduct from the tainted cow. Nancy was attending to her ill friend Mrs. Brooner (who had the milk sickness) and we assumed that is where Nancy contracted the illness by either eating or drinking contaminated food or drink. If I remember correctly (I'll have to look it up at work), Peter Brooner, husband of Mrs. Brooner, had fallen ill as well but survived his bout with the sickness. Mrs. Brooner is buried next to Mrs. Lincoln at our site in Indiana.

You wrote that Nancy's symptoms didn't match those of tremetol poisoning. Can you share with me the source that listed her symptoms? I've never come across any that specifically spoke of her symptoms and I would love to read it!

Dear Pioneer Lady,
Without digging through my many files let me tell you my conclusion: Nancy Hanks died as a result of Brucellosis - an infectious disease found in cattle caused by the genusus "Brucella." Milk Sickness, if there is such a disease, is believed caused by the chemical compound known as "Tremetol." Tremetol is a neurotoxin, which kills. Brucellosis is a bacterial infection which may or may not kill. My suspicions were aroused when I read that Nancy lingered for several days before dying. Thomas and the children showed no signs of the disease, and surely, I thought, the children must have been drinking milk on a regular basis all the while. Why did they not show any symptoms. Remember, tremetol is a poison, a neurotoxin, and unlike bacteria which may or may not cause an infection, tremetol kills all who ingest it, children especially. Brucellosis is transmitted through both the meat and milk of the cow, and as a bacterial disease was unknown as such in 1818. Tremetol, as you know, comes from the plant Eupatorium rugosum. This plant is indigenous to many areas and ingested at times by cattle. It is not killed (inactivated) by pasteurization whila Brucella is. Why isn't "Milk Sickness" a problem in certain areas today? Especially in areas where raw milk is consumed on a large scale? Probably because it does not exist. I suspect that most all cases of "milk sickness" were actually cases of Brucellosis. Unfortunately, there is not a great deal of research or literature on the subject. There is an article in"Wonderful West Virginia" magazine (December 1982) by Earl L. Core (pp. 22-25) which discusses milk sickness and its cause. While this article defends the cause of milk sickness as coming from rugosum it doesn't really explain its "eradication" from modern milk production. If Nancy Hanks had the "trembles" I have not seen a description of it. Unfortunately, we really do not have an accurate discription of her death. I come back to the children who are the principal drinkers of milk and most susceptible to tremetol. There are many reasons why people who eat contaminated meat and drink contaminated milk do not all get sick (natural immunity being the prime answer). As a microbiologist, I am familiar with Brucellosis and its symptoms - I am not familiar with tremetol as a poison other than what is in the scientific literature. By the way, David Donald in "Lincoln" wrote that Nancy died of Brucellosis (page 26). I wrote to Donald and pointed out that he was the first to suggest this in print. He wrote back stating he made a mistake and would correct it in subsequent editions. I urged him to leave it since I believed he was right. I do not know what he did, but it stimulated little to no discussion sadly. This is a long answer for a blog but too short to do the subject justice. Please email me at ed@edsteers.com if you would like to discuss further. Good luck with your thesis and dig deeper into this subject. Ed Steers