CHEMISTRY OP THE PTOMAINES. 207 



perature of the room, for from three days to three weeks. 

 It has also been obtained from herring, twelve days in 

 spring ; from pike, six days in summer ; from haddock, 

 two months (Bocklisch). Also from putrid mussel, six- 

 teen days (Beieger) ; and from human as well as horse 

 flesh. Brieger has obtained it from cultures of the bac- 

 teria of human feces on gelatin, and in small quantity in 

 rather old cultures of the comma bacillus on beef-broth ; in 

 larger quantity in cultures of the same germ on blood- 

 serum. 



Udranszky and Baumann in 1888 demonstrated the 

 existence of putrescine and cadaverine in the urine of cyst- 

 inuria, the former constituting about one-third of the 

 total amount of the two bases present. In the feces of the 

 same patient, on the contrary, putrescine constitutetl by far 

 the greater quantity, while cadaverine formed but 10 to 15 

 per cent. Normal feces, as well as the feces of various 

 diseases with the possible exception of cholera stools, are 

 free from diamines. It would seem, therefore, that these 

 bases occur in cystinuria as the result of putrefactive 

 changes going on in the intestines ; becoming partly ab- 

 sorbed they appear in the urine. In two cases of cystin- 

 uria, reported by Bbieger and Stadthagen, cadaverine 

 was found almost solely present in the urine. 



According to Mester the diamines are proportionate to 

 the amount of cystin excreted, and therefore constitute a 

 fixed symptom, the cause of which is tiie same as that of 

 the cystinuria. 



Although putrescine is recognizable on about the fourth 

 day of the putrefaction, .yet it does not occur in appreciable 

 quantity until about the eleventh day. The amount that 

 is formed increases as the putrefaction goes on, so that a 

 considerable quantity may be obtained after two or three 

 weeks. A very good source for the preparation of putrescine, 

 cadaverine, and neuridine is gelatin which has been allowed 

 to decompose in contact with water for some weeks. 

 Neuridine is, apparently, formed first, but is soon replaced 

 by the former two bases. In the process of extraction it 

 is first obtained in the alcoholic mercuric chloride precipi- 



