266 CHEMISTBY OF THE PTOMAINS. 



by far the greater quantity, while cadaverin formed but 10 to 15 

 per cent. Garcia, in 1892, showed in the same patient the presence 

 of only putrescin in the feces, no cadaverin. The feces contained on 

 ordinary diet, an average of 11 days, 1.123 g.; on cheese-diet, aver- 

 age of 8 days, 1.3978 g.; on carbohydrate diet, average of 7 days, 

 0.741 g. of the dibenzoyl compound. Borissow, in 1894, again ex- 

 amined the feces of the same patient, and found as an average of 

 four days 2.062 g. of the dibenzoyl-compounds, which contained 

 only traces of cadaverin. It would seem that diet and the in- 

 tensity of intestinal decomposition influence the amount of excretion 

 of diamins. The administration of salol and sulphur (Mester), 

 or intestinal lavage (U. and B.), had no eflect on diamin excretion. 

 Normal feces, as well as the feces in various diseases, with the pos- 

 sible exception of cholera stools, are free from diamins. It would 

 seem, therefore, that these bases occur in cystinuria as the result of 

 putrefactive changes going on in the intestines ; becoming partly 

 absorbed they appear in the urine (see p. 269). In two cases of 

 cystinuria, reported by Brieger and Stadthagen, cadaverin was 

 found almost solely present in the urine. 



According to Mester, the diamins are proportionate to the amount 

 of cystin excreted, and therefore constitute a fixed symptom, the 

 cause of which is the same as that of the cystinuria. 



Although putrescin is recognizable on about the fourth day of the 

 putrefaction, yet it does not occur in appreciable quantity until 

 about the eleventh day. The amount that is formed increases as the 

 putrefaction goes on, so that a considerable quantity may be obtained 

 after two or three weeks. A very good source for the preparation 

 of putrescin, cadaverin, and neuridin is gelatin which has been al- 

 lowed to decompose in contact with water for some weeks. Neuridin 

 is, apparently, formed first, but is soon replaced by the former two 

 bases. In the process of extraction it is first obtained in the alco- 

 holic mercuric chlorid precipitate. For its separation from cadaverin 

 and other accompanying bases, see saprin, p. 278. 



From the urine of cystinuria it is best obtained by precipitation 

 with benzoyl chlorid (Baumann's method). For this purpose about 

 1 ,500 c.c. of urine are treated with 200 c.c. of sodium hydrate solu- 

 tion (10 per cent.), then 20 to 25 c.c. of benzoyl chlorid are added, 

 and the whole shaken till the odor of the latter disappears. The 

 yellowish-white precipitate which forms may consist of insoluble 

 phosphates, carbohydrates, polyatomic alcohols, and diamins. The 

 cystin. compound is precipitated only in concentrated solutions. The 

 precipitate contains from a half to two-thirds of the diamins present ; 

 it is filtered off, digested with warm alcohol, and the solution 

 filtered. The alcoholic filtrate is concentrated and then poured into 

 about thirty times its volume of cold water. The diamin compounds 

 then crystallize out. To separate the two diamins they are redis- 



