BACTERIAL POISOXS. 65 



on putrefactive poisons definitely proved that these sub- 

 stances were unorganised, some were soluble in water 

 and caused symptoms of rapid poisoning ending in death, 

 while others were soluble in alcohol and produced an 

 effect comparable to the alkaloids of opium. Panum's 

 work may be considered to have powerfully influenced 

 subsequent investigations. Numerous observers confirmed 

 and extended Panum's experiments, others isolated im- 

 pure toxic substances from putrefied meat or yeast, while 

 the first analysis of a ptomaine obtained by the pan- 

 creatic digestion of gelatine was given by Nencki in 

 1876. Pathogenic cultures, artificial digestions, and the 

 several stages of organic putrefaction yielded numerous 

 ptomaines and leucomaines, but only when the soil on 

 which the bacteria flourished contained proteid constitu- 

 ents ; further, the substances discovered by one observer 

 differed in chemical and physiological behaviour from those 

 found by another. These researches tended to support 

 the view that the toxic substances produced by bacteria 

 resulted from a specific decomposition of albuminous bodies, 

 but all subsequent work has shown that this idea must be 

 abandoned, and though bacterial poisons may be closely 

 allied to proteid bodies it is certain that in the most toxic 

 liquids they may exist in imponderable quantity ; they are 

 difficult to isolate in a state of purity, and precise knowledge 

 as to their physical and chemical character does not exist. 



The physical properties of some toxines can perhaps 

 be deduced from their behaviour in the processes of solu- 

 tion, filtration, and dialysis. Charrin and Gley 1 have sepa- 

 rated three groups of substances, from cultures of Bacillus 

 anthracis and Bacillus pyocyaneus, which vary in chemical, 

 physical, and pathogenic properties. 



Charrin et Gley, Archiv de Phvs., 1891. The first group yields a 

 precipitate with alcohol and dialyses easily. The toxic effects are pro- 

 portional to the dose which produces in the rabbit, fever, intestinal 

 haemorrhages and albuminuria. The toxines of the second class are 

 soluble in alcohol and do not diffuse through membranes. They pro- 

 duce convulsions by acting on the nervous system. The third group 

 are volatile bodies obtained by distillation of the filtrate which diminish 

 and even temporarily abolish the excitability of the vaso-motor system. 



5 



