306 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



Lamson was accused of murdering his brother-in-law 

 with aconitine, a vegetable alkaloid. The defence 

 set up was that the alkaloid found in the dead body 

 was one of the ptomaines produced after death. 

 But it was conclusively proved by Drs. Dupre' and 

 Stevenson that the dead body contained aconitine 

 which had been administered during life ; con- 

 sequently Lamson was executed l for murdering his 

 brother-in-law. It will be seen from these remarks 

 that the subject of ptomaines opens up an important 

 point in all cases of poisoning where the poison is 

 of an alkaloidal nature. 



A more important result of the discovery of 

 ptomaines has been the explanation of the cases of 

 poisoning by decayed animal foods, such as sausages, 

 fish, 2 ' tinned' and putrid meats, in which they have 

 been found. 



The ptomaines are produced during the process 

 of putrefaction, etc., of animal substances. By the 

 direct action of microbes, the albuminoid molecules 

 are disintegrated with the formation of ptomaines 

 among other products. From this remark, it will be 

 seen that the ptomaines are not secreted or excreted 

 by microbes, for they are the residua after microbian 

 action. Not only have putrefactive microbes the 

 power of giving rise to ptomaines, but certain patho- 

 genic microbes yield ptomaines, or toxines, as 

 Brieger calls them, when they are the products of 

 microbian diseases. 



1 At Wandsworth on April 28, 1882. 



2 See Dr. Griffiths' paper, ' The Poisoning of a Family by 

 Mussels,' in Chemical News, vol. Ixii. p. 17, 



