1868.]_ . Zoology. 121 
Salamander Poison. —Dr. Zalesky has found an alkaloidal 
active principle in the poisonous secretion of the spotted salaman- 
der. He calls it Salamandrine, and remarks that it has much the 
same effect on animals as strychnia; but the spasms produced by 
the former are clonic, whereas by the latter they are tonic. 
The action of Antiseptic Agents—Some time since we drew 
attention to experiments on this subject made by Mr. Chapman, of 
Oxford. Dr. Binz, of Bonn, has been investigating the effects of 
antiseptics on animalcules found in vegetable infusions, and has ob- 
tained some satisfactory results. The antiseptic was allowed to 
come into contact with the animalculze (Colpoda), while in the field 
of the microscope. Binz distinguishes two destructive actions, an 
osmotic one, causing the creature to burst, as with chloride and hy- 
posulphite of sodium, chlorate of potassium and alum; and a directly 
poisonous action observed with nitric, sulphuric, tannic, and acetic 
acids, creosote, permanganate, corrosive sublimate, iodine, bromine, 
chlorine, and quinia. Acetic was the powerful acid poison. Quinia 
had a very powerful effect, but salicine was not found to exert any 
influence, nor nitrate of strychnia, in the course of two hours. 
Digestion by the Pancreas.— Dr. Kine, of Berlin, Virchow’s 
assistant, in his physiological laboratory, has obtaied some inte- 
resting results in this matter. He took the pancreas of a large dog, 
and having washed it, immediately placed it with a quantity of 
fibrin in hot water to digest. The whole of the fibrin was in six 
hours dissolved into a pepton, which was further almost entirely 
converted into tyrosin and leucin. It was found that alkaline 
pancreatic infusion will not only digest proteids, but will digest 
them at a rate and to an extent compared with which gastric diges- 
tion seems a slow and feeble process. It takes the collected ferment 
of a whole stomach days to digest half the amount of fibrin which 
the pancreas will digest in as many hours. The pepton produced, 
differs in no essential respect from gastric pepton. The interesting 
thing is the enormous production of tyrosin and leucin, at the ex- 
pense of the pepton. For, if the process was delayed, Kithne found 
that a much larger proportion of pepton was produced. In the 
body the pepton diffuses away as fast as made, and hence no excess 
of tyrosin or leucin can be formed. It would be a satisfactory 
thing if Kihne could try his experiment again, making use of a 
dialytic medium. An ordinary dead animal membrane could not be 
used as it would itself be digested. 
MorpHouoey. 
The fibres in the muscular wall of the stomach are stated by 
Dr. J. B. Pettigrew to resemble in man and other mammalia that 
which he hag already described in the heart and bladder. The 
