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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 119. 



ting and determining a number of these 

 ptomaines, from the brain, from fish musca- 

 rin, from decomposed glue, neuridine and 

 dimethyl amine, muscarin, etc. From pure 

 cultures of the typhoid germ he obtained a 

 substance, typhotoxin, which produced ty- 

 phoid symptoms, and from cultures of the 

 tetanus germ tetanin, which caused convul- 

 sions. The presence of similar poisonous 

 bases was demonstrated in cultures of the 

 cholera, hog cholera, anthrax, pyogenes 

 aureus and like active bodies were isolated 

 from cheese, milk, ice cream, sausage and 

 other foods which had caused sickness. 



The isolation of these poisons from bac- 

 terial cultures gave rise to the belief that 

 they were the bodies which caused the 

 fatal effects of disease. But while in 

 many instances they produced the charac- 

 teristic symptoms, in others they were not 

 sufficient to account for all the phenomena. 

 For example, from cultures of the tetanus 

 germ it was possible to isolate a base that 

 had but slight poisonous properties, while 

 the culture liquid from which this was ob- 

 tained after all the germs had been removed 

 was ten thousand times more poisonous 

 than the base secured. Non-poisonous pto- 

 maines were also obtained from cultures of 

 disease-producing bacteria, and, in fact, the 

 majority of ptomaines were found to be 

 non-poisonous. 



The next question was, if in the culture 

 liquids freed from bacteria, poisonous sub- 

 stances are obtained, and if they do not be- 

 long to the class of ptomaines, how shall 

 they be identified and classified? In 1886 

 Mitchell and Reichert, while studying the 

 venoms of serpents, noted that these poisons 

 belonged to a class of bodies difierent from 

 the ptomaines, viz., to the group called 

 proteids. Shortly after, Eoux and Yersin, 

 in their studies upon the diphtheria poison, 

 demonstrated that this was a substance 

 which resembled the ferments and led them 

 to think that an enzyme, as it is called, 



a substance like pepsin, was the active poi- 

 son, and that this enzyme was in some way 

 elaborated by the germ. Other investiga- 

 tors had found a similar substance in 

 tetanus and hog cholera cultures, and a re- 

 investigation by Brieger of a number of 

 bacterial cultures showed that by precipita- 

 tion with ammonium sulphate and alcohol 

 very poisonous substances giving proteid 

 reactions could be obtained. Proteids of 

 various characters belonging to different 

 classes were obtained from cultures of 

 many bacteria. About this time it was 

 shown that certain plants of a higher order 

 contained poisonous bodies of a like proteid 

 character. An albumose abrin was ob- 

 tained from the Jequirity seeds and ricin 

 from the castor-oil bean. These were in- 

 tensely poisonous, 1 ))^() j) of a grain of 

 abrin being sufiicient to kill an animal 

 weighing one kilogram, or the yws ^^ ^ 

 grain should be a fatal dose for a man 

 weighing about 130 pounds. 



A relationship was thus established be- 

 tween the poisons from higher plants and 

 from the lowest plants and certain animals. 

 Was this poisonous property of these bac- 

 terial substances due to a true proteid, or 

 was there an admixture of an active fer- 

 ment-like substance with the proteid, and 

 are these poisons mechanically carried down 

 in the process of precipitation of the albu- 

 minoid matter in the culture liquids ? Ex- 

 periments show that while the poisons may 

 be proteids, it is more than probable that they 

 are simply carried down with proteid matter 

 as indicated. Brieger in 1893, in view of 

 the results so far obtained, endeavored to 

 isolate the pure poison from cultures of 

 the tetanus bacillus. The cultures were 

 first filtered through porous porcelain, a 

 Chamberland or Monroe filter tube, for in- 

 stance, and the liquid which passed through 

 was treated with a concentrated solution of 

 ammonium sulphate. This preciptated the 

 poisons and a number of other substances 



