Annual Address by the President. 
19 
has. been able to separate from tetanus cultures four bases : tetanin 
(C 13 H 30 Y 2 O 4 ), tetanotoxin (CgE^^N"), spasmotoxin, and one other 
unnamed toxin. According to Brieger, each of these is capable of 
inducing tetanic intoxication. Against this last statement is 
opposed the further statement that tetanus toxin is a toxalbumin. 
Roux, Yersin, and others, succeeded in isolating, seemingly in 
a state of purity, from the cultures of the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus a 
toxalbumin, soluble in water, which, when inoculated into a guinea- 
pig, produced the phenomena characteristic of diphtheria. Prose- 
cuting this line of investigation, these and other investigators have 
isolated Characteristic toxalbumins from cultures of other germs. 
These toxalbumins have been divided into two principle groups 
by Brieger and Frankel, the classification being based upon their 
solubility. As previously stated, they are proteid-like bodies, 
highly complex and poisonous. Their further properties may be 
considered later; but in passing, an idea of their virulence should 
be given. 
“A tetanus toxin has been prepared, of which 0.00005 milligram- 
mes killed a mouse weighing 15 grammes; a man weighing 70 kilo- 
grammes, with the same susceptibility, would be killed by 0.23 
milligrammes. This would make the poison 300 times more potent 
than strychnine.” 25 
Closely related to the toxins which arise as products of bacterial 
activity there is another group of toxic substances which arise in 
the living animal tissues as the products of either hyper or of retro- 
grade metabolism of the protoplasm, or result from fermentative 
action. Some of these are proteid-like bodies (toxalbumins), while 
others are organic bases (leucomains) not unlike the vegetable alka- 
loids. 
The chemical structure of many of the leucomains is well known ; 
but the same cannot be said of the toxalbumins. The development 
of their structure must await the unraveling of the proteids — their 
chemistry seems to flow in channels parallel with the chemistry of 
the albumins, globulins, albuminates, proteoses and peptones. At 
least the poisonous principle clings to these products. 
The venom of the snake belongs to this class. According to the 
researches of S. Weir Mitchell, 26 E. T. Reichert, 27 T. R. Fraser 28 
and others, snake venom is a very complex mixture, containing, in 
addition to the poisonous substances, several bodies that are non- 
poisonous. The poisonous substances are not ferments. Fraser 
says: “They are substances that produce effects having a direct 
relationship to the quantity introduced into the body. This quan- 
tity in the case of each serpent varies with its size and bodily and 
