TETANINE 
§§ 7 ° 4 , 705-] 
533 
symptoms of paralysis and coma. The nature of this substance requires 
further elucidation. 
§ 704. Pyridine Alkaloid from the Cuttle-Fish. —0. de Coninck 1 
has obtained, by Gautier’s process, an alkaloid from the cuttle-fish, of 
the formula C 8 H 11 N, in the form of a yellow, mobile, strongly odorous 
liquid, very soluble in alcohol, ether, and acetone ; boiling-point 202°. 
It quickly absorbs moisture from the air. It forms two mercuric 
chlorides, one of which has the formula (C 8 H 11 N,HCl) 2 HgCl 2 ; this 
compound crystallises in small white needles, slightly soluble in water 
and dilute alcohol, but insoluble in absolute alcohol, and decomposing 
when exposed to moist air. The other salt is a sesqui-salt, forming 
long yellowish needles, insoluble in ordinary solvents, and decomposing 
when exposed to moist air. The alkaloid also forms deliquescent, very 
soluble salts with hydrochloric and hydrobromic acids. A platinum salt 
is also formed, (C 8 H n N) 2 H 2 PtCl 6 ; it is of a deep yellow colour, almost 
insoluble in cold, but soluble in hot water ; it is decomposed by boiling 
water, with the formation of a very insoluble compound in the shape 
of a brown powder, (C 8 H 11 N) 2 PtCl 4 . Coninck’s alkaloid, on oxidation 
with potassic permanganate, yields a gummy acid ; this acid, on purify¬ 
ing it by conversion into a potassium salt and then into a cupric salt, was 
found to be nicotinic acid ; so that the alkaloid is undoubtedly a pyri¬ 
dine compound ; indeed, the acid, distilled with lime, yields pyridine. 
§ 705. Poisons connected with Tetanus. —Brieger, in 1887, isolated 
a base of unknown composition, to which he gave the name of “ spasmo- 
toxine.” It was produced in cultures of the tetanus bacillus in beef broth. 
Two more definite substances have also been discovered, viz. tetanine 
and tetanotoxine. 
Tetanine, C 13 H 30 N 2 O 4 , is best isolated by the method of Kitasato and 
Weyl . 2 Their method of treating broth cultures of the tetanus bacillus 
is as follows :— 
The broth is digested with 0-25 per cent. HC1 for some hours at 
460°, then rendered feebly alkaline, and distilled in a vacuum. The 
residue in the retort is then worked up for tetanine by Brieger’s method ; 
the distillate contains tetanotoxine, ammonia, indol, hydrogen sulphide, 
phenol, and butyric acid. On treating the contents of the retort by 
Brieger’s mercury chloride method, the filtrate contains most of the 
poison. The mercury is removed by SH 2 , the filtered solution evaporated 
and exhausted by absolute alcohol, in which the tetanine dissolves. 
Any ammonium chloride is thus separated, ammonium chloride being 
insoluble in absolute alcohol. The alcoholic solution, filtered from 
any insoluble substance, is next treated with an alcoholic solution of 
platinum chloride, which precipitates creatinine (and any ammonium 
1 Compt. Rend., cvi. 858, 861, 1604-1605 ; cviii. 58-59, 809 -810. 
2 Zeit. /. Hygiene, viii. 404. 
