208  Ptomaine  Extracted  from  a  Dog.  {AmMay!'i£Sarm* 
slight  alkalinity  of  the  body,  would  indicate  that  it  was  of  a  basic 
character. 
In  order  to  determine  the  constancy  of  the  above  characters,  I 
dissolved  a  portion  of  the  extract  in  distilled  water,  filtered  to 
remove  slight  impurities,  precipitated  the  body  with  mercuric 
chloride  solution,  filtered,  diffused  the  precipitate  in  distilled  water, 
precipitated  the  mercury  with  hydrogen  sulphide,  filtered,  rendered 
the  filtrate  slightly  alkaline  with  sodium  carbonate  and  extracted 
with  amylic  alcohol  as  before.  In  this  treatment  the  mercuric 
chloride  filtrate  was  colorless,  while  the  precipitate  was  a  light  yel- 
low. On  precipitating  the  mercury,  the  filtrate  again  assumed  a 
clear  yellow  color,  and  on  evaporating  the  amylic  alcohol  extract  I 
could  detect  no  material  difference  between  the  residue  and  the 
substance  as  first  obtained.  This  would  seem  to  show  that  the 
body  was  of  quite  definite  character,  as  given  above,  and  very  free 
from  impurities. 
I  then  tried  the  physiological  action  of  the  extract  on  a  good- 
sized  frog,  with  very  pronounced  results.  Ten  milligrammes  of  the 
substance  administered  by  the  mouth  produced  a  stupor  in  four  or 
five  minutes,  from  which  the  frog  appeared  to  entirely  recover  in 
about  two  hours.  Twenty  milligrammes  more  was  then  given. 
Immediate  stupor  was  produced,  accompanied  by  slowing  of  the 
respiration  and  rate  of  the  heart  beat,  congestion  of  blood  in  the 
extremities  and  finally  death  in  about  an  hour.  The  frog  was,  at 
any  time  during  this  experiment,  capable  of  reacting  toward  reflexes. 
The  reaction  of  the  body  to  the  following  reagents  employed  in 
alkaloid  tests  was  then  determined.  Unless  otherwise  stated,  in 
each  case  a  filtered  aqueous  solution  of  the  amylic  alcohol  extract 
was  employed  for  the  test : 
Phosphotungstic  Acid. — Yellowish-white  precipitate,  amorphous, 
insoluble  in  excess,  but  soluble  in  ammonia. 
Picric  Acid. — No  immediate  precipitate,  but  on  standing  a  slight 
yellow  flocculent  precipitate. 
Tannic  Acid. — An  immediate  dirty  white  flocculent  precipitate. 
Potassium  Mercuric  Iodide. — A  turbidity  was  first  produced,  fol- 
lowed after  a  time  by  a  light  yellow  flocculent  precipitate. 
Gold  Chloride. — An  immediate  heavy  brown  precipitate  was  pro- 
duced. The  supernatant  liquid,  on  standing  a  few  minutes,  became 
of  a  beautiful  lavender  color,  and  after  a  time  a  lavender  amorphous 
precipitate  settled  out,  leaving  the  liquid  clear. 
