HISTORICAL SKETCH. 35 



Gautier and Etard have also isolatetl ptomaines which 

 will be deseribed later. 



In 1885, Vaughan succeeded in isolating an active 

 agent from poisonous cheese, to which he gave the name 

 tyrotoxicon. This discovery has been confirmed by New- 

 ton, Wallace, Schaffee, Stanton, Firth, Ladd, 

 Wolff, Kihura, Davis, and Kinnicutt. 



NiCATi and Rietsch, Koch, and others, have shown 

 the presence of a poisonous substance in cultures of the 

 cholera bacillus. Salmon and Smith have done the same 

 with cultures of the swine-plague germ ; Hoffa, with those 

 of the anthrax bacillus ; and Beieger with those of the 

 tetanus germ. 



In 1888, Christmas obtained from cultures of the 

 staphylococcus pyogenes aureus a proteid which, when in- 

 jected into the anterior chamber of the eye or iinder the 

 skin, causes suppuration. 



In 1889, Hankin isolated from cultures of the bacillus 

 anthracis a poisonous albumose, which, when employed in 

 large doses, jsroves fatal, and in small doses gives immunity. 



In 1888, Roux and Yersin showed that the chemical 

 poison of Loffler's diphtheria bacillus is a proteid body 

 which they believed to be of the nature of a ferment. In 

 1890, this work was continued by Brieger and Feankel 

 in their memorable contribution on bacterial poisons, in 

 which they detail the methods by which they isolate their 

 "toxalbumins" from cultures of the Lofflee bacillus, 

 the anthrax bacillus, Eberth's germ, the cholera vibrio, 

 and the staphylococcus pyogenes aureus. Martin made a 

 more detailed study of the albumoses of anthrax. Vaughan 

 reported poisonous proteids in cultures of two toxicogenic 

 germs found in drinking-water, also in cultures of three of 

 Booker's summer diarrhoea germs and in poisonous cheese. 

 NovY and Schweinitz found both basic and proteid 

 poisons in cultures of the swine-plague bacillus. 



Many other contributions have been made, many of 

 which will be mentioned in subsequent chapters. 



