316 VENOMS 



Zaleski^ isolated from it a substance soluble in alcohol, insoluble 

 in ether, and with a very strong alkaline reaction, to which he gave 

 the name salamandarin. This substance, which is better known 

 to-day as salamandrine, has been studied afresh by A. Dutartre,^ 

 Phisalix and Langlois,' and subsequently by Edwin and S. Faust.* 



The action of this poison on the frog is characterised by a period 

 of violent convulsions, with general tetanic crises, followed by a 

 period of paralysis, with arrest of respiration and complete muscular 

 relaxation. According to the quantity of poison absorbed, this 

 paralytic period may be followed by death, with arrest of the heart 

 in diastole, or else by return to life, with more or less acute 

 recurrence of convulsions. 



S. Faust prepares salamandrine by pounding up whole sala- 

 manders in a small quantity of physiological saline solution. The 

 thick pulp obtained in this way is filtered. One cubic centimetre 

 of the filtrate, taken as a unit, contains about 5 decimilligrammes of 

 active substance, which can be purified by treating the filtrate with 

 alcohol, which dissolves the salamandrine and precipitates all the 

 proteic substances that give biuret reaction. The salamandrine 

 thus freed from proteins is saturated with sulphuric or phosphoric 

 acid, when there is formed a crystallisable salt, which is washed 

 and dried. This salt is soluble in alcohol and in water. Its 

 chemical composition is as follows : — 



CssH^o^z-'OHH'^SO*. 



The toxicity of this substance is such that from 7 to 9 deci- 

 milligrammes per kilogramme represent the lethal dose for dogs, 

 when injected subcutaneously. The lethal dose for the rabbit is 



' Hoppe-Seyler's " Med.-chem. Untersuchungen," Berlin, 1866. 



^ Comptes rendus de I'Academie des Sciences, April 1, 1889, and January 29, 



1890. 



3 Ibid., 1890. 



■* " Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Salaniandarins und Salamanderalkaloide," 

 Archiv. f. experimentale Pathologie und PharmaJcologie, Bd. xli., 1898, p. 219, 

 and Bd. xliii., 1900, p. 84. 



