344 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



was subsequently rediscovered by Salomon and named 

 paraxanthine (page 321). Another base which was ob- 

 tained, namely, reducine, yielded a barium salt which readily 

 reduced the salts of silver and mercury. Its formula prob- 

 ably corresponds to Ci^Hj^NjOg or CeHnNjO,. A third 

 alkaloid, parareducine, formed a zinc compound having the 

 composition CjHgNjO.ZnO. A fourth base is said to give 

 a compound with platinum chloride and to contain an aro- 

 matic nucleus (aromine). Besides these four bases Thudi- 

 CHTJM describes two other substances which he considers 

 basic. These are urochrome, the normal pigment of the 

 urine, and creatinine. 



In 1880, PoucHET announced the presence of camine, 

 C^HgN^Oj, and of another base which he subsequently ana- 

 lyzed and found to have either the composition CjH^N^Oj 

 or CyHi^N^Oj. This substance formed deliquescent fusi- 

 form crystals, sometimes crystallized in bundles or irregular 

 spheres, which possessed a slightly alkaline reaction and 

 combined with acids to form crystallizable salts. It was 

 soluble in dilute alcohol, almost insoluble in strong alcohol, 

 insoluble in ether. The hydrochloride yielded double salts 

 with gold chloride, platinum chloride, and mercuric chlo- 

 ride. The platinochloride formed deliquescent golden- 

 yellow rhombic prisms. This base occurred in the dialysate 

 (see page 265). From the non-dialyzable portion, Pouchet 

 obtained another base corresponding to the formula 

 C3H5NO2, which he calls the "extractive matter of urine." 

 It yields precipitates with the general alkaloidal reagents, 

 is non-crystallizable and is altered on exposure to air and 

 resinified by hydrochloric acid. On the addition of plati- 

 num chloride it is rapidly oxidized, but does not yield a 

 platinochloride. The same author regards the urine as 

 containing very small quantities of some pyridine bases 

 which are analogous or identical with those obtained by 

 Gautiee and Etaed from decomposing fish. 



The distinguished Italian toxicologist Selmi was, per- 

 haps, the first to draw attention to the probable formation 

 of basic substances in the living body during those patho- 

 logical changes brought on by the presence of pathogenic 



