194 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



have a bitter, disagreeable taste. The platinochloride crys- 

 tallizes in golden-yellow slender plates, which are very 

 soluble in boiling water. The base is, according to Gatj- 

 TIBR and MouRGUES, identical with that obtained by treat- 

 ing iso-amylcarbimide with potash. 



It is a very active poison, producing rigor, convulsions, 

 and death. Four milligrammes produces death in a green- 

 finch in three minutes. 



Caproylamine (Hexylamine), C5H15N", has been 

 found to occur by Hesse (1857) in the putrefaction of 

 yeast. Hager isolated from some putrid material what he 

 thought to be a mixture of amylamine and caproylamine, 

 and named it septicine. 



Hexylamine was found, in small quantity, in cod-liver 

 oil by Gautier and Mouegues, and according to these 

 authors it resembles amylamine in its action, but is less 

 toxic. 



Tetanotoxine, CjHjjN, (?) was obtained by Brieger 

 (1886) as one of the products of the growth of the tetanus 

 microbe on beef-broth or on brain-broth. It has also been 

 obtained by Kitasato andWEYL (1890) from pure cultures 

 of the tetanus bacillus, kept eight days at 36°. For its 

 isolation see Tetanine, and Ber. 19, 3120. It is tetanizing 

 in its action, produces first tremor, then paralysis and vio- 

 lent convulsions. It forms an easily soluble gold double 

 salt which melts at 130°. The platinochloride is difficultly 

 soluble, and decomposes at 240°. The hydrochloride is 

 crystalline, and is readily soluble in alcohol and in water. 

 It melts at about 205°. From warm alcohol it crystallizes 

 in flat, pointed plates. 



Spasmotoxinb, a base of as yet unknown composition, 

 produces in animals violent clonic and tonic convulsions. 

 It was obtained by Brieger (1887) from cultures of the 

 tetanus germ on beef-broth. 



