224 INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 



needs to be done before the relation of cholin and neurin 

 to intoxications from the digestive tract is placed on a 

 satisfactory basis. 



There are some instances of a remarkable idiosyncrasy 

 on the part of certain persons toward eggs. I recall a 

 child in whom the taking of an egg was regularly fol- 

 lowed by prostration and slight fever and headache. 

 Whether such phenomena as these bear any relation to 

 the formation of cholin or neurin is of course an open 

 question. 



Putrescin and Cadaverin. Putrescin (tetramethyl- 

 endiamin) and cadaverin (pentamethylendiamin) are 

 products of proteid decomposition which are formed at 

 times in the human intestine under conditions at present 

 obscure. It seems not improbable that peculiar states 

 of bacterial activity may have an influence on the pro- 

 duction of these bases, and it is very desirable that the 

 bacterial flora should be studied with great care in those 

 cases of cystinuria in which putrescin and cadaverin can 

 be obtained from the intestinal contents. According 

 to Brieger * the peculiar odor of cholera stools is due 

 principally to pentamethylendiamin, but strict proof 

 of this has not yet been furnished. 



Baumann and Udranzky 2 found about 0.5 gram per 



1 Brieger and Stadthagen, "Ueber Cystinurie," Berl. klin. Wo- 

 chenschr., xxvi, p. 344, 1889. 



2 "Das Benzoylchlorid als Reagens," Bericht. d. Chem. Ge- 

 sellsch., xxi, p. 2744, 1888; "Ueber die Identitat des Putrescins 

 und des Tetramethylendiamin," ibid., p. 2938; "Ueber das 

 Vorkommen von Diaminen sogenannten Ptomainen bei Cystinu- 

 rie," Zeitschr. f. physiol Chem., xiii, p. 562, 1899. 



