BACTERIAL POISONS. 45 



position of the yelks of eggs. Selmi also obtained from decomposing 

 egg albumin a body, the chlorid of which formed in needles, and 

 possessed a curare-like action on frogs. From one arsenical body, 

 which had been buried for fourteen days, he obtained, by extracting 

 a solution made alkaline with baryta, with ether, a substance which 

 formed in needles and which gave crystalline salts with acids. With 

 sulphuric acid it gave a red color ; with iodic acid and sulphuric 

 acid it liberated free iodin and gave a violet coloration ; with nitric 

 acid it gave a beautiful yellow color which deepened on the addition 

 of caustic potash. Platinum chlorid gave no precipitate save in 

 highly concentrated solutions. From a second arsenical body, Selmi 

 obtained by the same method a substance which gave with tannic 

 acid a white precipitate ; with iodin in hydriodic acid a kermes- 

 brown ; with gold chlorid a yellow, which was soon reduced ; with 

 mercuric chlorid a white ; with picric acid a yellow, which gradually 

 formed in crystalline tablets. This substance did not contain any 

 arsenic, but was highly poisonous. From the stomach of a hog 

 which had been preserved in a solution of arsenious acid Selmi sepa- 

 rated an arsenical organic base. The fluid was distilled in a current 

 of hydrogen ; the distillate, which was found to be strongly alkaline, 

 was neutralized with hydrochloric acid and evaporated to dryness, 

 when cross-shaped crystals, giving an odor similar to that of trimethyl- 

 amin, were obtained. This substance was found by Ciaccia to be 

 highly poisonous, producing strychnia-like symptoms. With iodin 

 in hydriodic acid it is said to give a gray crystalline precipitate. 

 From the liquid which remained in the retort, a non- volatile arsenical 

 ptomain was extracted with ether. An aqueous solution of this gave 

 with tannic acid a slowly forming, yellowish precipitate and similarly 

 colored precipitates with iodin in hydriodic acid, platinum chlorid, 

 auric chlorid, mercuric chlorid, potassio-mercuric iodid, potassio- 

 bismuthic iodid, picric acid, and potassium bichromate. The physi- 

 ological action of this substance, as demonstrated on frogs, was unlike 

 that of the arsines and consisted of torpor and paralysis. 



Moriggia and Battistini experimented with substances obtained 

 from decomposing bodies, upon guinea-pigs and frogs, but did not 

 attenipt their isolation because of the rapid decomposition which 

 they undergo when exposed to the air and by which they lose their 

 poisonous properties. These alkaloids were found to be easily 

 soluble in amylic alcohol, less soluble in ether. 



In 1871 Lombroso showed that the extract from mouldy corn- 

 meal produced tetanic convulsions in animals. (It must not be for- 

 gotten that similar effects may be due to the cornutin of ergot.) 

 This threw some light upon the cases of sporadic illness which had 

 long been known to occur among the peasants of Lombardy, who 

 eat fermented and mouldy corn-meal. In 1876 Brugnatelli and 

 Zenoni obtained by the Stas-Otto method from this mouldy meal an 



