BACTERIAL POISONS. 41 



mented upon. After the intravenous injection of large doses, death 

 followed speedily. In these cases, there were violent cramps and 

 involuntary evacuations of the urine and feces; the respirations 

 were labored ; pallor was marked, sometimes followed by cyanosis ; 

 the pulse was feeble ; the pupils were widely dilated, and the eyes 

 projected. Autopsy did not reveal any lesion, save that the blood 

 was dark and imperfectly coagulated, and slightly disseminated 

 through the tissues. Post-mortem putrefaction came on with extra- 

 ordinary rapidity. 



When smaller doses or more vigorous animals were used, the 

 symptoms did not appear before from a quarter of an hour to two 

 hours, sometimes even later, and were not violent, generally termi- 

 nating in recovery. 



In addition to the " putrid poison," Panum obtained a narcotic 

 substance, the two being separated by the solubility of the latter in 

 alcohol. The alcoholic extract was evaporated to dryness, the 

 residue dissolved in water and injected into the jugular vein of a 

 dog. The animal fell into a deep sleep, which remained unbroken 

 for twenty-four hours, when it awoke apparently in perfect health. 

 This account of the finding of a narcotic substance in putrefying 

 flesh is rendered more interesting by the later researches of Bouchard, 

 who has shown that normal urine contains a body of like action, 

 and this also can be extracted with" alcohol from the residue ob- 

 tained by evaporation. 



Weber, in 1864, and Hemmer and Schwenninger, in 1866, con- 

 firmed the results obtained by Panum, and Schwenninger announced 

 that different products are formed in the various stages of putrefac- 

 tion and that these are unlike in their effects upon animals. In 1866, 

 Bence Jones and Dupr6 obtained from the liver a substance which 

 in solutions of dilute sulphuric acid gave the blue fluorescence ob- 

 served in similar solutions of quinin and to which they gave the 

 name "animal chinoidin." Subsequently, the same investigators 

 found this substance in all organs and tissues of the body, but most 

 abundantly in the nerves. These observations have been confirmed 

 by others, and solutions showing this fluorescence give precipitates 

 with the general alkaloidal reagents, but no one has as yet succeeded 

 in isolating the basic substance supposed to be present. Indeed, it 

 is not positively known that the body to which this reaction is due 

 is a bacterial product, although this is the most likely assumption. 

 It has been suggested that its presence might be due to the growth 

 of certain fluorescing bacteria. 



In 1868, Bergmann and Schmiedeberg reported that they had 

 obtained from putrid yeast and from decomposed blood a poisonous 

 substance in the form of a sulphate to which they gave the name 

 " sepsin." According to these observers the sulphate of " sepsin " 

 forms in needle-shaped crystals, and small doses (0.01 gram), dis- 



