Am.Joiir.  Pharm. ) 
April,  1882.  j 
The  Ptomaines. 
153 
that  peculiar  bases  are  here  in  question,  which  contain  arsenic,  and 
which  deviate  in  their  properties  from  the  hitherto  known  arsines. 
It  will  not  appear  strange  that  these  cadaver  bases  containing  arsenic 
possess  a  strongly  poisonous  action,  as  is  indeed  the  case  with  the 
various  artificially  prepared  arsines. 
Selmi^  had  already  in  1878  reported  two  cases  in  which  strongly 
poisonous  and  crystalline  ptomaines  were  found  by  him  in  exhumed 
bodies  containing  arsenic.  In  the  first  case  the  subject  was  that  of  a 
■corpse  exhumed  fourteen  days  after  burial,  which  appeared  well 
preserved,  and  in  which  a  large  amount  of  arsenic  was  detected.  By 
the  search  for  alkaloids  with  ether  in  the  liquid  made  alkaline  with 
baryta,  a  small  quantity  of  a  substance  having  an  alkaline  reaction 
and  a  sharp  and  bitter  taste  was  found;  it  crystallized  readily  in 
needles,  gave  with  acids  crystallizable  salts,  and  ])r6cipitates  with  the 
principal  alkaloidal  reagents,  but  not  with  platinic  chloride,  with 
which  a  precipitate  was  only  obtained  in  very  concentrated  solution. 
With  sulphuric  acid  this  ptomaine  gave  a  reddish  coloration ;  with 
iodic  acid,  anxi  afterward  with  suli)huric  acid,  free  iodine  was  liberated 
and  a  violet  coloration  produced,  which  comj^letely  disappeared  by 
neutralization  with  sodium  bicarbonate ;  nitric  acid  colored  it  beauti- 
fully yellow,  and  by  saturation  with  caustic  potassa  this  color  appeared 
still  more  perceptible;  sulphuric  acid  containing  nitric  acid  produced 
only  after  some  time  a  reddish  coloration;  iodine  in  hydriodic  aoid 
gave  no  crystalline  product.  The  amount  of  material  did  not  suffice 
for  a  more  complete  chemical  and  physiological  examination. 
A  short  time  afterwards  Selmi  succeeded  in  obtaining  larger  amounts 
of  a  more  readily  crystallizable  ptomaine  from  a  body  containing 
arsenic,  which  had  been  exhumed  one  month  after  death.  For  obtain- 
ing the  same  the  liquid  obtained  by  extracting  with  aqueous  alcohol 
was  concentrated  at  from  e35  to  45°C.  to  70  (nibic  centimeters,  tlien 
made  alkaline  with  baryta,  and  shaken  with  ether.  After  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  ether  by  distillation  and  spontaneous  evaporation,  there 
remained  5  cubic  centimeters  of  a  turbid  and  somewhat  colored  aqueous 
liquid,  having  an  alkaline  reaction  and  a  sharp,  somewhat  bitter  taste. 
After  the  addition  of  a  little  water  containing  acetic  acid,  with  which 
the  retort  used  in  distilling  was  washed,  filtration,  and  evaporation  to 
dryness  at  a  moderate  temperature,  the  residue  was  taken  up  with 
'  Atti  della  B.  Accud.  doi  Lincei,  8er.  3,  vol.  2,  1878. 
