ALBUMOSES OK TOX ALBUMENS 123 



of injection, with swelling and general inflammatory appear- 

 ances. 



Sidney Martin has very recently found, as the result of 

 a prolonged investigation, that the albumoses in the case of 

 diphtheria and anthrax are mixtures; and he has succeeded 

 in separating three and two well-defined albumoses respec- 

 tively from cultures of these two organisms. 



It has been pointed out elsewhere that Koch's ' tuber- 

 culin ' and ' mallein ' are the glycerine extracts of the 

 toxins of the tubercle and glanders bacilli respectively, as 

 has also their use as remedial and diagnostic agents in the 

 diseases of which these two organisms are the specific 

 cause. 



All these albumoses, or toxalbumens, give with Millon's 

 reagent* a white precipitate/ which on warming becomes 

 brick-red in colour, thus indicating their proteid or albu- 

 min-like character. They are precipitated, however, by a 

 saturated solution of magnesium sulphate, which shows 

 they are not ordinary albumins. On the addition of a 

 drop of dilute sulphate of copper solution, followed by a 

 slight excess of potassium hydrate solution (the biuret 

 reaction), a rose-red, and not a violet, coloration is given, 

 thus indicating that they belong to the albumin rather 

 than the globulin group. 



The virulence of some of these toxins is very consider- 

 able. A tetanus toxin has been prepared, of which O'OOOOo 

 milligramme killed a mouse weighing 15 grammes ; a man 

 weighing 70 kilogrammes, with the same susceptibility, 

 would be killed by 0'23 miUigrammes. This would make 

 the poison about 300 times more potent than strychnine. 



Much work has yet to be done on these bacterial toxins 



* Millon's Reagent. — Mercury is dissolved in its own weight of strong 

 nitric acid. The solution so obtained is diluted with twice its weight 

 of water. The decanted clear liquid is then known as Millon's reagent. 



