THE PTOMAINES. 573 



the bases occur in the commencing stage of putrefac- 

 tion, before any disagreeable smell is noticeable (only 

 in the slow putrefaction of human tissues was Brieger 

 unable to discover any poisonous ptomaines during the 

 first few days), and that, on the other hand, a more 

 advanced stage of putrefaction seems to destroy them ; 

 at any rate, Brieger failed to find, on the eighth day 

 of the putrefaction of meat, bases which were present at 

 an earlier period.* 



The ptomaines also play an important part in certain The ptomaines 



.,.,. , -n i , as a cause of 



infective diseases of wounds. For a long time surgeons putrid 

 have held the view that " putrid intoxication " arises as intoxication - 

 the result of the growth of certain saprophytic fungi on 

 the surfaces of wounds ; these form ptomaines, which are 

 absorbed and then set up their poisonous action in the 

 body. Similar phenomena occur, in all probability, 

 on the wounded surface of the puerperal uterus as the 

 result of the growth of saprophytic fungi. Further, 

 intoxication can also occur from the intestine, where it 

 is not uncommon to find putrefaction of the intestinal 

 contents and production of poisonous bases; here, how- 

 ever, absorption is on the whole slower, and occurs in 

 smaller doses, so that the intoxication is not so intense. 

 It is also of importance for the production of these 

 ptomaine actions that the formation of the poisonous 

 bases may begin in a very early stage of the decomposition 

 of albumen by bacteria, even before true putrefaction. 



Further, the discovery of specific ptomaines in the Specific 



,,. ,. . ,. . _ \ . a .! . ,, pbomamesas 



cultivations 01 pathogenic iungi evidently gives us the the active 

 key to the mode of action of these bacteria in the human choieral mT 

 body; we have every reason for believing that the most typhoid 

 important morbid symptoms of typhoid fever, cholera, 

 and many other infective diseases are due to the produc- 



* In a case of poisoning with mussels, which recently occurred in 

 Wilhelmshafen, Brieger's investigations have shown (Deutsche med. 

 Woch., 1885, No. 53) that ptomaines, and, among them, a poisonous 

 base which has been already analysed (C 6 H 15 NO 2 ) and called mytilo- 

 toxin, were the cause of the disease. The mussels were not in a putrid 

 condition, but even in the fresh state exerted their poisonous action. 

 In this case, therefore, there must have been either a production of 

 ptomaines by the mussels themselves, or else they must have taken up 

 from the surrounding water poisons produced by bacteria. 



