40 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE BACTERIAL POISONS. 



characteristic lesions were found. He concluded that the putrid 

 material contained a ferment which induced rapid decomposition of 

 the blood. 



The distinguished Danish physiologist, Panum, was the first to 

 demonstrate positively the chemical character of the poison formed 

 in putrid flesh, inasmuch as he showed that the aqueous extract of 

 such material retained its poisonous properties after treatment which 

 insured the destruction of all living organisms. Panum's first paper 

 was published in 1856 and his conclusions are stated as follows : 



1. " The putrid poison contained in the decomposed flesh of the 

 dog, and which is obtained by extraction with distilled water and 

 repeated filtration, is not volatile, but fixed. It does not pass over 

 on distillation, but remains in the retort. 



2. " The putrid poison is not destroyed by boiling, nor by evapora- 

 tion. It preserves its poisonous properties even after the boiling has 

 been continued for eleven hours, and after the evaporation has been 

 carried to complete desiccation at 100°. 



3. " The putrid poison is insoluble in absolute alcohol, but is solu- 

 ble in water, and is contained in the aqueous extract which is formed 

 by treating with distilled water the putrid material which has been 

 previously dried by heat and washed with alcohol. 



4. "The albuminoid substances which frequently are found in 

 putrid fluids are not in themselves poisonous, only so far as they 

 contain the putrid poison fixed and condensed upon their surfaces, 

 from which it can be removed by repeated and careftd washing, 



5. " The intensity of the putrid poison is comparable to that of 

 the venom of serpents, of curare, and of certain vegetable alkaloids, 

 inasmuch as 0.012 of a gram of the poison, obtained by extracting 

 with distilled water putrid material which had been previously boiled 

 for a long time, dried at 100°, and submitted to the action of ab- 

 solute alcohol, was sufficient to almost kill a small dog." 



Panum made intravenous injections with this substance, and Avith 

 ammonium carbonate, ammonium butyrate, ammonium valerianate, 

 tyrosin, and leucin, and found that the symptoms induced by the 

 putrid poison diflered from those caused by the other agents. More- 

 over, he found the symptoms induced by the poison to differ from 

 those of typhoid fever, cholera, pyemia, anthrax, and sausage poison- 

 ing. He was in doubt whether the poison acted directly upon the 

 nervous system or as a ferment upon the blood, causing decomposi- 

 tion, the products of which might affect the nervous centers ; but he 

 was sure that his new substance did not correspond to the ordinary 

 ferments, inasmuch as it. was not decomposed by prolonged boiling 

 nor by treatment with absolute alcohol. Certainly, Panum's putrid 

 poison did not consist of living organisms. 



The symptoms observed by Panum varied greatly with the 

 quantity of the poison used and the resistance of the animal experi- 



