28 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



gave some idea of the great number of alkaloidal bodies 

 which might be formed among the products of putrefaction, 

 and the promising field thus discovered and outlined was 

 soon occupied by a busy host of chemists. In the second 

 place, he demonstrated the. fact that many of the j^tomaines 

 give reactions similar to those given by the vegetable alka- 

 loids. This led the toxicologist into investigations, the 

 results of some of which we will ascertain further on. 



Selmi, however, did not succeed in isolating completely 

 a single putrefactive alkaloid. All his work was done with 

 extracts. He remained ignorant, except in a general way, 

 of the composition of these bodies. Nencki, in 1876, 

 made the first ultimate analysis and determined the first 

 formula of a ptomaine. This was an isomer of collodine, 

 which' will be described later. 



E.OESCH and Fassbender, in a case of suspected poison- 

 ing, obtained by the Stas-Otto method a liquid which 

 could be extracted from acid as well as alkaline solutions 

 by ether, and which gave all the general alkaloidal reac- 

 tions. They were unable to crystallize either extract by 

 taking it up with alcohol and evaporating. The colorless 

 aqueous solution was not at all bitter to the taste. The 

 precipitate formed with phospho-molybdic acid dissolved on 

 the application of heat, giving a green solution, which 

 became blue on the addition of ammonia. They believed 

 that this substance was derived from the liver, since fresh 

 ox-liver, treated in the same manner, gave them an alkaloid 

 which could be extracted with ether from acid as well as 

 from alkaline solutions. Gunning found this same alka- 

 loid in liver-sausage from which poisoning had occurred. 

 EoRSCH and Fassbender state that while in some of its 

 reactions this substance resembles digitaline, it is distin- 

 guished from this vegetable alkaloid by the failure of the 

 ptomaine to give the characteristic bitter taste. 



ScHWANERT, whilst examining the decomposing intes- 

 tines, liver, and spleen of a child which had died suddenly, 

 perceived a peculiar odor and obtained by the Stas-Otto 

 method (ether extract from an alkaline solution) small 

 quantities of a base, which was distinguished from nicotine 



