78 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



been thoroughly cleansed, and treated in the following 

 manner : 



" No. 1 consisted of the milk only, and was employed 

 as a control test. 



"No. 2 was mixed with a drachm of vomited matter. 



(l No. 3 was treated with a portion of the contents of 

 the stomach. 



" No. 4 was treated with an aqueous extract of the in- 

 testine. 



" No. 5 was treated with a small portion of the soil 

 which had been taken from the floor of the buttery, stirred 

 up with water. 



" These bottles were placed in an air-bath, and kept at a 

 temperature of from 25 to 30 C. for twenty-four hours. 

 Then each was tested for ptomaines. No. 1 yielded no 

 tyrotoxicon, while all of the others contained this poison. 

 The tests were both chemical and physiological. All of 

 the samples yielded a non-poisonous base when treated 

 according to Brieger's method, and the same substance was 

 obtained from perfectly fresh milk. It is most probably 

 formed by the action of the heat and reagents employed in 

 this method. This base was obtained in crystalline form, 

 and several portions of it were administered to kittens 

 without any effect. The further study of this body will 

 be of interest to toxicologists, because it gives many of the 

 general alkaloidal reactions. At first we supposed it to be 

 Brieger's neuridiue, and this supposition may still be cor- 

 rect, but, as we obtained it, it gave some reactions which 

 are not given by neuridine. Further investigations will 

 be made on this point. 



"Tyrotoxicon was obtained from the filtered milk by 

 two methods: (1) The one which we have previously used, 

 and which consists in neutralizing the filtered milk with 

 sodium bicarbonate, and extracting with ether. That por- 

 tion of the poison employed in the physiological tests was 

 obtained in this way, and in order to be sure that no poison 

 came from the ether, the extract from the milk to which 

 nothing had been added was given to a kitten, and was 

 found to produce no effect. (2) The filtrate from the milk 



