CHAP. XII.] THE STOOLS IX CHOLERA, DYSENTERY, &C. 465 



little organic solid matter and a considerable proportion of salts. 

 They invariably contain albumin. They exhale a semen-like odour 

 believed to be due to pentamethylendiamin. The following are two 

 analyses of cholera stools made by C. Schmidt : 



(1) (2) 



Water in 1000 parts 988-17 985'13 

 Organic matters 2'99 7'32 



Mineral matters 8*84 7 '55 



Recent investigations have in the case of cholera established 

 certain facts which possess great interest. 



Cholera cultures always contain indol and nitrites. The con- 

 sequence of this admixture is that when dilute sulphuric acid is 

 added to them, or to cholera stools, a red colouration is produced, 

 which is due to the sulphuric acid setting free the nitrous acid of the 

 nitrites, which reacting on the indol present forms of nitrate of 

 nitroso-indol (see page 423) 1 . In cholera cultures, Brieger 2 has found, 

 in addition to the non-poisonous pentamethylendiamin and tetra- 

 methylendiamin, the highly poisonous methyl-guanidin. Brieger and 

 Fraukel 3 have also found certain toxalbumins which appear to belong 

 to the class of globulins. From these researches it appears probable 

 that certain of the gravest symptoms of cholera are due to the 

 actual poisonous action induced by the chemical products which result 

 from the action of the cholera bacillus on the albuminous matters. 



The stools In dysentery, the stools are always intensely foetid, 



in dysentery. sometimes of gangrenous odour, and are characterised 

 by the presence of mucus, streaked or stained with blood, and often 

 contain purulent sloughs. So far as the Author knows, the bacterio- 

 logical study of dysentery and an examination of the chemical 

 products of the pathogenic organisms which cause it, have not yet 

 been made. 



The stools in I n a future volume, we shall have to study at length 

 cystinuria. 'cystine,' a remarkably interesting sulphur derivative of 

 lactic acid, which occurs in traces in the healthy organism, but which, 

 in certain individuals, is excreted in the urine in considerable quanti- 

 ties and sometimes forms cystine calculi. Cystine was first discovered 

 as a constituent of a very rare form of urinary calculi by Wollaston. 

 It has the empirical formula C 6 H 12 N 2 S 2 O 4 . The researches of E. Bau- 

 mann 4 leave no doubt that cystine is a dithioamido-gethylidene-lactic 

 acid, which may be represented by the subjoined formula : 



Q /C(CH 3 )(NH 2 )COOH 

 ^\C(CH 3 )(NH 2 )COOH. 



1 E. Salkowski, 'Ueber das Cholerarot und das Zustandekommen der Cholera- 

 reaktion,' Virchow's Archiv, Vol. ex. (1887), p. 360. 



2 L. Brieger, 'Zur Kenntniss d. Bildung von Ptomamen und Toxineu durch patho- 

 gene Bakterien,' Sitzungsber. d. Berl Akad. d. Wissen., Jan. 1889. 



3 L. Brieger and C. Frankel, ' Untersuchungen iiber Bacteriengifte,' Berl. klin. 

 Wochensch., 1890, pp. 241246 and pp. 268271. 



4 Baumann, Zeitsch. f. physioL Chem., Vol. vin. (1883), p. 300; Vol. xn. (1888), p. 

 261; Vol. xvi. (1892), p. 552. 



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