190 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



lias shown that it does not exist in ergot, but is formed at 

 the expanse of the choline present, which, on distillation 

 with potash, decomposes and yields trimethylamine and 

 glycol. Thus : 



C 2 H 4 OH.N(CH 3 ) 3 .OH = N(CH 3 ) 3 + C 2 H 4 (OH) 2 . 



It is also formed when betaine and neuridine are distilled 

 with potash. It may have a similar origin in most of the 

 other cases, since choline is now known to be widely dis- 

 seminated in plants and animals, either as such or as a 

 constituent of the more complex lecithin. Trimethylamine 

 has been found in the putrefaction of yeast (HESSE, 18-~)7 ; 

 MiiLLER, 1858); in cheese after six weeks in midsummer 

 (BRIEGER) ; in human liver and spleen after from two to, 

 seven days (BRIEGER) ; in perch after six days in mid- 

 summer (BOCKLISCH); in mussel (Mytilus edulis) after six- 

 teen days (BRIEGER) in putrefying brains after from one 

 to two months, and in fresh brains (GuARESCHi and 

 Mosso) ; in cultures of the Streptococcus pyogenes on beef- 

 broth, bouillon, meat extract, and blood-serum, and from 

 cultures of the comma bacillus (BRIEGER). It has also 

 been found in cod-liver oil. EHRENBERG (1887) reports 

 its presence in considerable quantity in poisonous sausage, 

 and in cultures of a bacillus, isolated from this, grown on 

 liver, intestines, and meat bouillon. 



Trimethylamine is found both in the mercuric chloride 

 precipitate and filtrate. It remains in the mother-liquor 

 from which cadaverine, neuridine, and dimethylamine pla- 

 tinochlorides have crystallized. If an aqueous solution of 

 mercuric chloride is used as the precipitant, the trimethyl- 

 amine will be found almost entirely in the filtrate, from 

 which it can be obtained after removal of the mercury by 

 evaporating the filtrate to dryness, extracting with alcohol, 

 and treating the solution thus obtained with alcoholic pla- 

 tinum chloride. 



The free base is a liquid possessing a strong, fish-like 

 odor. Its boiling-point is 9.3. It is strongly alkaline in 

 reaction and freely soluble in water. 



The HYDROCHLORIDE, (CH 3 ) 3 N.HC1, is deliquescent and 



