272 FERMENTATION 



SO that we may say that bacteria affect the body chiefly 

 through certain toxic principles which they elaborate. 



Some of the ptomaines are non-poisonous, while others 

 are excessively poisonous in even very minute doses. The 

 toxic bodies are sometimes developed in such articles of 

 food as milk, cheese, sausages, tinned fish, etc., whereby 

 they contain organisms of putrefaction, which, giving rise 

 to toxic ptomaines, cause disastrous effects upon being 

 consumed. 



The albumoses, or toxalhumens, like the ptomaines, are 

 products of the vital activity of bacteria, and, like them, 

 when separated from the bacteria from which they have been 

 produced, and introduced into the animal body, give rise to 

 symptoms similar to those produced by the bacteria them- 

 selves. They are amorphous, and have no basic properties ; 

 they have all the characters of albumin or a proteid. 



The Ptomaines, or Cadaveric Alkaloids. — The ptomaines 

 were first discovered in decomposing animal tissues, as 

 their name ' cadaveric alkaloids ' implies. It has long 

 been known that the products of putrefaction, especially 

 those formed in putrefying fish, are extremely poisonous. 

 As early as 1814, Burrows in this country described a 

 poisonous body as occurring in decomposing fish, and in 

 1820 Kerner described a poisonous alkaloid resulting from 

 the decomposition of albumin. In 1856 Panum obtained 

 a substance from putrid animal matter which he thought 

 was derived from albuminoid matter by the agency of 

 bacteria. This substance, to which he gave the name 

 ' sepsin,' was found very fatal to dogs. 



From this date many extended researches upon these 

 bodies have been made by various investigators, among 

 whom may be mentioned Bergmann, Schmeideberg, Zuelzer, 

 Sonnenschein, Eager, Stas, Brieger, Gautier, Eoux, Frankel, 

 Vaughan, Martin, and others. 



