ALKALOIDS. 127 



rule, as in the chromogenes. To what extent this may occur, 

 does not yet appear. 



But the comparatively more abundant waste product of the 

 lower forms is of much importance in this connection. Those 

 given are from the few that have been best studied. In these 

 no proper alkaloids have, as yet, been made out by isolation 

 and exact analysis, but we cannot argue, from this circum- 

 stance, that none of the lower organisms produce true alka- 

 loids. As yet, but very few of them have been accurately 

 studied, and these, for the most part, have been those that 

 have been found useful rather than poisonous. Some exami- 

 nations already made show a very near approach to the deter- 

 mination of the nature of some of these poisonous substances; 

 and although no sufficient chemical analysis has yet been 

 made, the action of the substances upon the animal economy, 

 so far as trial has been had, go to show the similarity of these 

 poisons to the alkaloids from the higher plants. This has 

 been remarked by many experimenters, as I shall show pre- 

 sently. Therefore, we have much reason to believe that true 

 alkaloids, of a poisonous nature, will be isolated at no distant 

 day. We have already abundant evidence that poisonous 

 properties are developed by a number of these forms. Other- 

 wise, how can we account for the results of the Bacillus An- 

 thracis? How else can we account for sepsis, on the germ 

 theory, except to suppose that a poisonous alkaloid is one of 

 the products of the organism ? How else can we explain Dr. 

 Koch's results in the production of gangrene in mice, but to 

 suppose that some product of the remoleculizations by the 

 organisms spread among the tissues of the animals and de- 

 stroyed them wherever they went. He found that after they 

 had once made a beginning, the tissues were always destroyed 

 in advance of the growing organisms, without contact. This 

 strongly illustrates the idea of the formation of a poison 



