TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS. 19 



insoluble in strong alcohol, and are precipitated 

 from their solutions on the addition of this reagent. 

 They easily adhere to precipitates that form in 

 liquids in which they occur in solution, and possess 

 the remarkable property of diastases in that impon- 

 derable masses produce considerable results.* 



Although closely allied to certain alkaloidal base&, 

 the toxins are sharply distinguished by the remark- 

 able fact that their action is never immediate, but 

 is always preceded by a period of incubation, which 

 may be quite long. 



Like the alkaloidal bases, they appear to result 

 from the hydrolyzing breaking down of albu- 

 minoids and nucleo-albumins, and they appear to 

 be intermediary, from a chemical point of view, 

 between these bodies, the general characters of 

 which they retain, and the alkaloids proper, or 

 ptomaines, to which we have called attention, and 

 the principal chemical and physiological properties 

 of which they possess. 



No absolutely precise knowledge is had regard- 

 ing the chemical nature and constitution of these 

 remarkable substances. A number of analyses of 

 these substances have been published which, in 

 general, permit no definite conclusion to be drawn. f 



* See rozzi-Escox: Les diastases et leurs applications, pub- 

 lished by Ma,ssnn, 1900; and Traite de Physico-chimie. 



t Regarding this see the works by KocH and Brieger, 

 Deutsche Medicin. Wochenschr., Oct. 22, 1891. 



