32 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



nitric acid it gave a beautiful yellow, which deepened on 

 the addition of caustic potash. Platinum chloride gave no 

 precipitate save in highly concentrated solutions. From a 

 second arsenical body, Selmi obtained by the same method 

 a substance which gave, with tannic acid, a white precipi- 

 tate ; with iodine in hydriodic acid a kermes-brown ; with 

 gold chloride a yellow, which was soon reduced ; witli 

 mercuric chloride a white; with picric acid, a yellow, 

 which gradually formed in crystalline tablets. This sub- 

 stance did not contain any arsenic, but was highly poi- 

 sonous. From the stomach of a hog, which had been pre- 

 served in a solution of arsenious acid, Selmi separated an 

 arsenical organic base. The fluid was distilled in a current 

 of hydrogen. The distillate, which was found to be strongly 

 alkaline, was neutralized' with hydrochloric acid and evapo- 

 rated to dryness, when cross-shaped crystals, giving an odor 

 similar to that of trimethylamine, were obtained. This sub- 

 stance was found by Ciaccia to be highly. poisonous, pro- 

 ducing strychnia-like symptoms. With iodine in hydriodic 

 acid it is said to give a gray, crystalline precipitate. 



From the liquid which remained in the retort, a non- 

 volatile arsenical ptomaine was extracted with ether. An 

 aqueous solution of this gave with tannic acid a slowly 

 forming, yellowish precipitate, and similarly colored pre- 

 cipitates with iodine in hydriodic acid, platinum chloride, 

 auric chloride, mercuric chloride, potassio-mercuric iodide, 

 potassio-bismuthic iodide, picric acid, and potassium bi- 

 chromate. The physiological action of this substance as 

 demonstrated on frogs was unlike that of the arsines, but 

 consisted of torpor and paralysis. 



MoEiGGiA and Battistini experimented with alkaloids, 

 obtained from decomposing bodies, upon guinea-pigs and 

 frogs, but did not attempt their isolation because of the 

 rapid decomposition which they undergo when exposed to 

 the air and by which they lose their poisonous properties. 

 These alkaloids they found to be easily soluble in amylic 

 alcohol, less soluble in ether. 



In 1871 LoMBROSO showed that the extract from mouldy 

 corn-meal produced tetanic convulsions in animals. This 



