THE VITAL PHENOMENA OF BACTERIA. 119 



regard to albuminous bodies as nutrient sub- 

 stances, were at first neglected, and were even 

 regarded by Brieger as gross chemical errors. 

 Little confidence was at first placed in the idea 

 of the existence of active proteid bodies, al- 

 though Pfluger suggested it in 1875, an( ^ L6' w 

 plainly expressed it in 1887 ; the older works 

 upon fermentation were allowed to lie neg- 

 lected. 



Nencki I and later, but much more thorough- 

 ly, Brieger 2 and Vaughan 3 succeeded in prepar- 

 ing organic bases of a definite chemical compo- 

 sition out of putrid fluids, putrid meat, fish, 

 shell-fish, old cheese, spoiled milk, and out of 

 bacterial cultures. These were found to exert 

 a poisonous effect and for a long time were 

 looked upon as the true bacterial poisons. 

 These poisons are particularly interesting 

 since they may be present in the decomposing 

 cadaver (hence the name ptomain) and, in con- 

 sequence, have to be taken into consideration 

 in questions of legal medicine. Or they may 

 be found in the living human body, and, if not 

 made harmless by breaking up and oxidation, 

 may come to act therein as self-poisons or leu- 

 comains. But they are not the substances to 



1 Jour. f. prakt. Chemie [2], 20, p. 454. 



2 Untersuchungen iiber Ptomaine, Berlin, 1885 an< ^ 1886. 



3 Trans. Seventh Int. Congress of Hygiene, 3, p. 118. 



