§§ 674-676.] 
ANIMAL TOXINES. 
515 
DIVISION II.—PTOMAINES—ANIMAL TOXINES. 
§ 674. A ptomaine has been defined as a basic chemical substance 
derived from the action of bacteria on nitrogenous substances. This 
definition can no longer be accepted, for ptomaines may be pro¬ 
duced by the action of enzymes, without the intervention of bacterial 
life. The word “ ptomaine ” itself is open to objection, and, although 
still used in newspapers and popular diction, is getting rare in the 
stricter language of recent pharmacology and physiology. It will 
be best at present to classify the so-called ptomaines as “ animal 
toxines,” a large number of which appear to be the production of 
special bacteria—in some, and indeed in most cases, they appear to 
be the excretory products of thq bacteria ; on the other hand, it has 
been shown that the typhoid bacillus, the Bacillus coli communis , 
the Bacillus enteritidis, Gaertner, and the Bacillus dysentence all contain 
endo-toxines, which have a similar physiological action, causing in the 
rabbit great lowering of the body temperature, diarrhoea, prostration, 
with sudden collapse and death. The foul-smelling bodies occurring 
in putrefactive processes, contrary to general belief, have but slight 
physiological action. 
Isolation of Animal Toxines. 
§ 675. Gautier’s 1 Process. —The liquid is acidified with oxalic acid, 
warmed, filtered, and distilled in a vacuum. 
In this way pyrrol, skatol, phenol, indol, and volatile fatty acids are 
separated and will be found in the distillate. The residue in the retort 
is treated with lime, filtered from the precipitate that forms, and distilled 
in a vacuum, the distillate being received in weak sulphuric acid. The 
bases accompanied with ammonia distil over. The distillate is now 
neutralised by sulphuric acid 2 and evaporated nearly to dryness, 
separating the mother liquid from sulphate of ammonia, which crystallises 
out. The mother liquids are treated with absolute alcohol, which dis¬ 
solves the sulphates of the toxines. The alcohol is got rid of by 
evaporation, the residue treated with caustic soda, and the bases shaken 
out by successive treatment with ether, petroleum ether, and chloroform. 
The residue remaining in the retort with the excess of lime is dried, 
powdered, and exhausted with ether ; the ethereal extract is separated, 
evaporated to dryness, the dry residue taken up in a little water, slightly 
acidulated, and the bases precipitated by an alkali. 
§ 676. Brieger’s Process. —Brieger 3 thus describes his process :— 
1 Ptomaines et Leucomaines, E. J. A. Gautier, Paris, 1886. 
2 The first acid apparently is so dilute that the distillate more than neutralises 
it, hence more sulphuric acid is added to complete neutralisation. 
3 Untersuchunyen iiber Ptomaine, Theil iii., Berlin, 1886. 
