44 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE BACTERIAL POISONS. 



alcohol. On the addition of ammonium hydrate to this crystalline 

 substance, a white vapor of unpleasant odor was given off. When 

 dissolved in sulphuric acid the crystals formed a solution which was 

 at first colorless, but which gradually became dirty brownish-yellow, 

 and grayish-brown on the application of heat. On being warmed 

 with sodium molybdate, a splendid blue color, becoming gradually 

 gray, was produced. Potassium bichromate and sulphuric acid gave 

 a reddish-brown, then a grass-green color. Nitric acid gave a yellow 

 color. A tartaric acid solution of the crystals produced on the addi- 

 tion of platinum chlorid a dirty yellow precipitate of small six-sided 

 stars, which contain 31.55 per cent, of platinum. Gold chlorid gave 

 a pure yellow, amorphous precipitate ; mercuric chlorid yielded white 

 crystals ; potassio-mercuric-iodid a dirty white precipitate, and potas- 

 sio-cadmic-iodid yielded no result. Tannic acid produced only a tur- 

 bidity. Sodium phospho-molybdate gave a yellow flocculent precip- 

 itate which became blue on the addition of ammonium hydrate. 



Liebermann, in examining the somewhat decomposed stomach and 

 intestines of a case of suspected poisoning, found an alkaloidal body 

 ■which was unlike that studied by the chemist mentioned above, inas- 

 much as it was not volatile. The ether extract from alkaline solu- 

 tion left, on evaporation, a brownish resinous mass which dissolved in 

 water to a turbid solution. The cloudiness increased on heating. 

 This reaction agrees with coniin, but the odor differed from that of 

 the vegetable alkaloid. The putrefactive alkaloid does not distil 

 when heated on the oil-bath to 200°, while coniin distils at 135°. 

 The former is with certainty distinguished from coniin by its non- 

 poisonous properties. This substance is extracted by ether from acid 

 as well as from alkaline solutions ; on the evaporation of the ether it 

 appears in yellow oily drops, which are soluble in alcohol. 



Selmi obtained from both putrefying and fresh intestines a substance 

 which gave the general alkaloidal reactions and had marked reducing 

 power. When warmed with sulphuric acid it gave a violet coloration. 



From human bodies from one to ten months after death Selmi re- 

 moved many alkaline bases. From an ether solution of one of these, 

 one basic substance was removed by treatment with carbonic acid gas. 

 Another body which was insoluble in ether, but readily soluble in 

 amylic alcohol, was found to be a violent poison, producing in rab- 

 bits tetanus, marked dilatation of the pupils, choleraic symptoms, 

 and death. 



Parts of a human body preserved in alcohol were found by Selmi 

 to yield an easily volatile, phosphorus-containing substance, which 

 was soluble in ether and carbon di-sulphid and gave a brown pre- 

 cipitate with silver nitrate. It was not the phosphid of hydrogen. 

 With potassium hydrate it gave off ammonia and yielded a substance 

 having an intense coniin odor. It was volatile and reduced phospho- 

 molybdic acid. A similar body was produced by the slow decom- 



