A BRINE. 201 



containing antiricine. After seven days both the antitoxine and 

 the power of resisting the poison had disappeared. He found it 

 neither in the urine nor in the intestinal tract, and there is thus 

 no evidence of its being excreted ; presumably it was oxidised 

 in the system. 



ABRINE, 



Abrine, a toxine closely resembling ricine, is contained in the 

 seeds of the jequirity (Abrus precatorius\ a plant indigenous to 

 the East Indies, and possibly also to Brazil. It is found in 

 almost every part of the plant (HENSEVAL l ). 



It was discovered by BRUYLANTS and VENNEMANN 2 who were 

 the first to announce that the active principle of jequirity seeds 

 had nothing to do with bacteria, but was an enzyme, a toxic 

 proteid. The same results were obtained by WARDEN and 

 WADDELL S working under the direction of ROBERT KOCH in 

 Calcutta. SIDNEY MARTIN 4 found that abrine consisted of a 

 globulin and an albumose. The action of the albumose resembled 

 that of the globulin, but was much weaker i.e., according to 

 our present views more poison attaches itself to the globulin 

 than to the albumose, while the true poisonous principle is 

 distinct from either. 



Its hsemolytic capacity was discovered by ROBERT in 1889 

 and investigated by his pupil HELLiN. 5 



Its action is so similar to that of ricine that EHRLICH (loc. 

 cit.) considered it necessary to prove its individuality. Some 

 differences were observed which showed beyond doubt that 

 abrine, although very similar to ricine, was yet a distinct 

 substance. 



It is much less poisonous than ricine, especially per os. 

 EHRLICH found that solutions of the same strength (1:100,000) 

 killed mice, on subcutaneous injection, in six days, whereas in 

 the case of ricine they caused death even after sixty hours. 

 On the other hand, CALMETTE (vide infra) found 0'5 mgrm. 

 per kilo, fatal to rabbits within forty-eight hours, while the 



1 Henseval, " L' abrine," La Cellule, xvii., 139 ; Malys Jb., xxxi., 910. 



'-'Bruylants and Vennemann, " Le Jequirity," Bull Acad. Med. Belg., 

 [3], xviii., 147, 1884. 



3 Warden and Waddell, Non-bacillar Nature of Abrus Poison, Calcutta, 

 1884. 



4 Martin, "The Proteids of the Seeds of Abrus," Proc. Roy. Soc., xlii., 

 331, 1887; Martin and Wolfenden, "Physiol. Action of the Seeds of 

 Abrus prec.," ibid., xlvi., 94, 1889-90; Martin, "The Toxic Action of 

 the Albumose from Seeds of Abrus prec.," ibid. t xlvi., 100, 1889-90. 



5 Hellin, " Der giftige Eiweisskorper Abrin.," Dissert., Dorpat, 1891. 



