94 TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS. 



principles removed by means of 95-per cent, alcohol; 

 the poison so obtained, however, is impure. A 

 better procedure is to express the parotid glands 

 which have been placed in distilled water. Faust 

 found in this venom a principle which he named 

 bnfonin. Physalix and Bertrand isolated from it 

 also a resinoid substance soluble in alcohol and in 

 a large excess of water ; this substance, which they 

 named bufotaline, acts upon the heart. These 

 authors have also obtained another substance 

 which has a paralyzing action, and which they have 

 named bufotenin. 



The poison of the common toad acts as a para- 

 lyzant upon the heart and on the spinal marrow * ; 

 that of the common frog possesses similar properties. 

 The poison of the tritons is quite analogous to that 

 of the toads; it contains a lecithin hydrolyzable 

 by water with the formation of alanin, formic acid, 

 and alpha-isocyanopropionic acid. 



Zalnosky f isolated from the glands of the 

 skin of the salamander a white, thick, bitter and 

 alkaline liquid poison, containing a highly poison- 

 ous alkaloid, salamandrine, or samandarine, which 

 acts on the brain, the medulla, and the spinal cord, 

 and which has the formula Cs^eo^Os; it is a 

 strong base and yields crystallizable salts. 



* P. BERT: Compt. rend, de la Soc. de Biologie, 1885, p. 524. 

 f Bull. SQC. Qhim. [2], vi, p. 344, 



