330 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



SPERMINE, C 2 H 6 N, or C 10 H M N 4 (?), is the basic substance 

 obtained by SCHREINER (1878) from semen, calf's In-art, 

 calf's liver, bull's testicles, from the organs of leucocytlue- 

 mics, and also from the surface of anatomical specimens 

 kept under alcohol. In 1888 KUNZ reported the presence 

 of a non-poisonous base, C 2 H 6 N, spermine or ethyleneimide 

 in cholera cultures. In this case it occurs, then, as a pto- 

 maine. A confirmation of the identity of the two bases is 

 necessary. Previous to this, however, it had been known 

 for a long time under the name of "CHARCOT-NEUMANN 

 or LEYDEN crystals," which are the phosphate of spermine. 

 These peculiarly shaped crystals have been found in the 

 sputa of a case of emphysema with catarrh, in the bronchial 

 discharges in acute bronchitis, as well as in sputa of chronic 

 bronchitis, in the blood, spleen, etc., of leucocythaemics and 

 anamics, and in the normal marrow of human bones, as 

 well as in human semen. Altogether it seems to have a 

 very wide distribution, especially in certain diseases, as in 

 leucocythaemia. 



It can be prepared from fresh human semen in the fol- 

 lowing manner : The semen is washed out of linen by a 

 little warm water, evaporated to dryness, boiled with alco- 

 hol, and the insoluble portion is allowed to subside by 

 standing some hours. The precipitate is filtered off, washed, 

 and dried at 100. This residue, containing the spermine 

 phosphate, is triturated, and then extracted with warm 

 ammoniacal water. From this solution, on slow evapora- 

 tion, the phosphate crystallizes in its peculiar-shaped 

 crystals. 



The free base is obtained, on decomposing the phosphate 

 with baryta and evaporating the filtrate, as a colorless 

 liquid, which, on cooling, crystallizes. From alcohol it 

 crystallizes in wa veil ite- shaped crystals, which readily 

 absorb water and carbonic acid from the atmosphere. 

 They are readily soluble in water and in absolute alcohol, 

 almost insoluble in ether, and possess a strongly alkaline 

 reaction. When heated with platinum it gives off thick, 

 white fumes, and a weak ammoniacal odor. With potas- 

 sium bismuth iodide it yields orange-colored crystalline 



