MOBBHUIN. 285 



and can be purified by repeated recrystallization from boiling abso- 

 lute alcohol — distinction from cadaverin. It melts at 192°. Ac- 

 cording to Fischer it forms long yellow plates which melt at 200° 

 and decompose with evolution of gas at 250°. 



The oxalate, {Q^^lS^^iRf^p^ + 2B.p, forms crystals which are 

 easily soluble in water. 



Methyl guanidin as obtained from putrefying flesh is identical in 

 its physiological action with the synthetic base. It has already been 

 stated that the non-poisonous creatin is readily converted into the 

 relatively energetic poison creatinin. The latter substance possesses 

 a paralyzing action differing very much from its decomposition prod- 

 uct methyl guanidin. This base is very poisonous, and the symp- 

 toms are marked by dyspnoea, muscle-tremor, and general clonic 

 convulsions. Brieger has observed the following symptoms on in- 

 jection of about 0.2 gram of methyl guanidin into a guinea-pig : 

 The respiration at once becomes more rapid, and in a few minutes 

 abundant passage of urine and stool takes place ; the pupils dilate 

 rapidly to the maximum and cease to react. The animal is uneasy 

 but motionless, though not exactly paralyzed. Respiration becomes 

 deeper and more labored, the head moves from side to side, the ex- 

 tremities become gradually paralyzed ; dyspnoea sets in, the animal 

 falls on its side, and dies (twenty minutes) amid general clonic con- 

 vulsions of short duration. Fibrillary twitchings of the trunk- 

 muscles are observed only in the beginning. Post-mortem showed 

 the heart to be stopped in diastole, the intestines filled with fluid, 

 the bladder contracted, the cortex of the kidney hypersemic, but the 

 papillae of the kidneys surprisingly pale. 



Morrhuin, Q^^^^, was obtained by Gautier and Mourgues 

 (1888) from the mother-liquors of asellin on concentration of the 

 platinum-containing liquid. This substance constitutes about one- 

 third (0.07 per cent.) of all the bases found in cod-liver oil, and is 

 named after Gradus morrhua, the ordinary codfish. The free base is 

 an oily, very thick, amber-yellow liquid, the odor of which resem- 

 bles somewhat that of syringa. It floats on water and partially dis- 

 solves ; is more soluble in ether and in alcohol. The base is very 

 alkaline and is caustic to the tongue. It absorbs carbonic acid and 

 is non-volatile. The salts of copper are precipitated by it but the 

 hydrate formed is not redissolved. 



The hydrochlorid is very deliquescent. The gold salt forms a 

 yellow precipitate which readily dissolves on warming. The plati- 

 num salt, CigH2,]Sr3.2HCl.PtCl, _(Pt = 27.56 per cent.), crystallizes 

 in barbed needles, which are quite soluble. (Separation from asel- 

 lin, p. 286.) 



The base possesses the property of exciting the appetite ; it acts 

 as a diaphoretic, and, above all, as a diuretic. 0.029 gram given 



