SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. . 347 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 



Paris, August 13, 1881. 



M. Gautier, a distinguished chemist, has discovered that our saliva is toxical 

 and contains a venom identical with that in the saliva of the boa and the viper, 

 the only difference being that of the concentration. In the human saliva, the 

 poisonous substance discovered is neither a virus nor a ferment, but a venom, 

 and its activity cedes in nothing to the most powerful vegetable poisons. M. 

 Pasteur in March, last, on inocculating rabbits with the saliva of sick children, 

 found the animals had contracted a special disease and died. Here the infection 

 was virulent, produced by a virus or special animalcule. The human saliva, in 

 point of toxical intensity, differs, as in the case of serpents. When man is in a 

 passion, the saliva is more poisonous. Deaths are on record produced by the 

 bites of man and animals when in a state of anger. Professor Gautier took three- 

 quarters of an ounce of human saliva, after three hours evaporation in a bain 

 marie, the residue was mixed with tepid water and injected under the skin of a 

 bird; the' bird became instantly attacked with intense stupor, could not remain 

 standing ; in fifty minutes it fell, bill forward, on the ground, and remained in 

 that position during four hours, when it either died or returned slowly to life. 

 The Professor has not been able to isolate the alkaloid in the human saliva, but 

 it acts similarly as the most terrible vegetable alkaloid. But how can we live, 

 swallowing as we do this fearful poison, for the saliva is an essential agent in the 

 digestion of our food— farinaceous substances especially ? The venom is equally 

 innocuous with serpents. Some animals, the hedgehog and the pig for example, 

 can eat poisonous serpents with impunity; and it has been shown that the venom 

 itself and the venom-glands, can be swallowed in cases without danger. There is 

 no clear explanation for these facts, but it is believed their virulency is neutrahzed 

 by the matter secreted by the bile — acting as a counter-poison. But while we can 

 swallow with impunity our saliva, it would be imprudent to inject it under our 

 skins in large quantities. M. Gautier also has discovered the presence of ven- 

 omous matters in the normal products of the secretions. It thus seems, that all 

 animals fabricate poisons. Dr. Corre, has this year drawn attention to venomous 

 fishes; certain fish in the tropical seas cannot be eaten without producing poison- 

 ings. Physiologists have devoted much attention of late to the toxical principles 

 found in bodies in a state of putrefaction ; they are alkaloids of extreme virulence 

 following M. Selmi, and may be either fixed or volatile ; they are chiefly to be 

 found in the viscerae. How important becomes this subject, if the medico-legal 

 expert cannot distinguish between these self-produced poisons and an alkaloid 

 administered by a criminal hand. The late case of an ItaUan general is too sig- 



