36 PDYSIOLOGT AND TOXICOLOGY 



the liquid. To tliis was now added a small amount of alcohol of 95 per cent. A 

 cloud of a white and granular character was immediately seen at the line where the 

 alcohol and water met. Upon tliis an ounce and a half of the alcohol was added, 

 when the fluid clouded throughout, and a white precipitate soon settled to the bot- 

 tom. The supernatant alcohol and water being poured off and carefully evapo- 

 rated at a temperature of 100° F., was examined toxicologically as usual. The 

 evaporation was, of course, carried nearly to dryness, so as to avoid the risk of 

 killing the bird with alcohol. No poisonous results were observed, except in two 

 cases, where the alcohol originally used proved to have been diluted with water, 

 and to have acted as a partial solvent for the active material. It is necessary, on 

 this account, to employ the strongest alcohol. 



6th. The precipitate caused by the alcohol was washed repeatedly with succes- 

 sive portions of that fluid, and allowed to settle. Then the last alcohol used to 

 wash it was removed by pipette, and the precij^itate spread on a plate to dry. On 

 testing it toxicologically, it was found to be actively poisonous, giving rise, even 

 when employed in minute amount, to all the local and general phenomena of Cro- 

 talus poisoning. 



The material thus obtained, was of a pale yellowish tint when dried, and was 

 perfectly neutral in reaction. It dissolved readily enough in water, cold or hot, 

 and its aqueous solutions were troubled by alcohol. Its nitrogenous nature was 

 established by its reaction with Millon's test of nitrate of mercury, and with the 

 cupro-potassa test. As it appeared to me to be the active toxicological element of 

 the venom, I propose to distinguish it by the name of Crotaline. 



It seemed from the statements of those who quote Prince Bonaparte's method of 

 analysis of vijaer-poison that he procured the essential principle, which he termed 

 echidnine, or viperine, in the following manner : The venom was treated with an 

 excess of alcohol, and filtered ; the residue on the filter being well washed with 

 fresh portions of alcohol. The alcoholic solution was evaporated to dryness, and 

 found to contain a coloring matter, and a small amount of an undetermined sub- 

 stance, which, of course, was soluble in alcohol. The coagulum was next washed, 

 drop by drop, with cold water, so as to dissolve the echidnine, and leave the 

 "mucosine," become now insoluble from the influence of the alcohol. The echid- 

 nine was separated from the aqueous solution by evaporation. In all essential 

 particulars, Echidnine and crotaline are alike. Upon repeating and varying M. 

 Bonaparte's method of analysis, I found, however, some discrepancy of results. 



Thus, if to the venom of the Crotalus an excess of alcohol be added, a large 

 precipitate occurs. In some instances, all of this precipitate was soluble in water ; 

 in other cases, a small proportion remained undissolved, behaving as ov-albumen 

 would do after being coagulated by alcohol. Generally, as I have said, the bulk 

 of the alcohol precipitate was soluble in water. The aqueous solution thus ob- 

 tained could be coagulated by boiling, so as to throw down a harmless precipitate, 

 and to leave above it a fluid still actively venomous, but representing in its dis- 

 solved albuminoid substance but a small part of the nitrogenous precipitate caused 

 by the alcohol in the first instance. In other words, tlic aqueous solution of the 

 alcoholic precipitate behaved in the presence of heat exactly like the diluted venom 

 itself. 



