262 C. J. MARTIN AND J. MCGARVIE SMITH. 
vs grain of Black snake poison dissolved in ‘5 c. cm. 1% Na.Cl. 
introduced into the marginal vein of the ear of arabbit. Dead in 
ten seconds. 
ss grain Black snake poison and 52; grain KHO dissolved in ‘5 
e. cm. 1°/ Na. Cl. introduced into a vein of the ear of a rabbit. 
Dead in one hour fifteen minutes. 
Our conclusions that albumoses are the active agents in Black 
snake poison are interesting when compared with similar results 
obtained by Sidney Martin,* Hunter,* Hankin, and Crookshank — 
and Herroun,* with the poisons produced by the bacilli of anthrax 
diphtheria, and tubercle. Albumoses are the products of the 
hydration of albumins, and this hydration can be accomplished in 
many ways, for instance by boiling solutions of albumin at high 
pressure, by gastric or pancreatic digestion, or by the vital influ- 
ence direct or indirect of cells. In the case of gastric or pancreatic 
digestion the result is brought about in an indirect manner, 2.e., 
the gland cell manufactures a ferment, pepsin or trypsin, which, 
under suitable conditions, hydrate the albumins, forming albu- 
moses &c. In the case of digestion by the diphtheria bacillus, 
Martin* has shown that the bacilli, grown either in the juices of 
the body or in culture-media outside it, produce by their activity 
a ferment which is capable of forming albumoses from the proteids. 
These albumoses formed by such bacilli are highly poisonous, much 
more so than those produced during gastric digestion, and give 
rise to the pathological conditions which we ‘recognise as the 
disease diphtheria. Anthrax bacilli do not give rise to any 
ferment but are capable of directly digesting albumins, produc- 
ing poisonous, but different albumoses. The same is the case with 
tubercle bacilli. 
In all these processes of hydration some of the albumin is further 
broken up, giving rise to some nitrogenous body of the ammonia 
type. In the case of gastric digestion we have a ptomaine pepto- 
toxin.t In pancreatic digestion we have leucin and tyrosin, in 
* Loc. cit. 
+ Brieger, “ Ueber Ptomaine,” loc. cit. 
