CHEMISTRY OF THE PTOMAINES. 255 



which come on iu paroxysms. Tlie eyeballs roll iipward. 

 Lachrymation, diarrhoea, and dyspncea come on, and the 

 mice die within a short time. 



A Base (?), CjHjjTf Oj, au isomer of the preceding, was 

 obtained by Brieger in 1888 from tetanus cultures. It 

 is not poisonous — distinction from mydatoxine. It proba- 

 bly is an amido-acid. The platinochloride crystallizes in 

 plates, is easily soluble in water and in alcohol, and melts 

 at 11)7° with decomposition (see page 267). 



Mytilotoxine, C5Hj5N02, is the specific poison of toxic 

 mussel (Mytilus edulis), from which it was obtained by 

 Brieger in 1885 (III., 76). This poison is formed during 

 the life of the animal under certain conditions which have 

 been thoroughly studied by Schmidtmann, Virchow, and 

 others (see p. 40). Brieger obtained the poison by extract- 

 ing toxic mussel with acidiilous water, and evaporating this 

 solution to a syrupy consistency. The residue was thor- 

 oughly extracted with alcohol, and this solution was treated 

 with lead acetate, in order to remove mucilaginous sub- 

 stances. The filtrate was then evaporated, and the residue 

 extracted with alcohol. Any lead that had dissolved was 

 removed by hydrogen sulphide. The alcohol was expelled, 

 and the resulting syrup was taken up with water and 

 decolored by boiling with animal charcoal. The clear solu- 

 tion was now neutralized with sodium carbonate, acidulated 

 with nitric acid, and precipitated with phosphomolybdic 

 acid. The precipitate was decomposed by warming with 

 neutral lead acetate, and the resulting filtrate, after the 

 removal of the lead by hydrogen sulphide, was acidulated 

 with hydrochloric acid and evaporated to dryness. The 

 residue was extracted with absolute alcohol, whereby 

 betaine, on account of its insolubility, is removed, and the 

 alcoholic solution was precipitated by alcoholic mercuric 

 chloride. The mercury precipitate is repeatedly recrystal- 

 lized from water, and the poison is obtained as an easily 

 soluble double salt. 



The free base as obtained by the addition of alkali to 



