Ptomaines and leucomaines, or the putrefactive and physiological alkaloids / By Victor C. Vaughan and Frederick G. Novy.

  • Vaughan, Victor C. (Victor Clarence), 1851-1929.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ptomaines and leucomaines, or the putrefactive and physiological alkaloids / By Victor C. Vaughan and Frederick G. Novy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    were violent cramps, and involuntary evacuations of the urine and faeces; the respirations were labored, the pallor was marked, sometimes followed by cyanosis, the pulse feeble, the pupils widely dilated, and the eyes projecting. In these cases the autopsy did not reveal any lesion, save that the blood was dark, imperfectly coagulated and slightly infiltrated through the tissue. Post-mortem putrefaction came on with extraordinary rapidity. When smaller doses.or more vigorous animals were used, the symptoms did not appear before from a quarter of an hour to two hours, and sometimes even later. In these cases the symptoms were less violent, and the animal gen- erally recovered. In all instances, however, the disturb- ances were more or less marked. In addition to the putrid poison, Panum obtained a narcotic substance, the two being separated by the solubility of the narcotic in alcohol. The alcoholic extract was evap- orated to dryness, the residue dissolved in water and injected into the jugular vein of a dog. The animal fell into a deep sleep, which remained unbroken for twenty-four hours, when it awoke apparently in perfect health. Panum's first contributions, which were published in Danish, did not attract the attention which they deserved, until after the lapse of several years. ISTow, however, their importance is fully appreciated, and the distinguished inves- tigator lived to receive the credit and honor due him. Weber in 1864, and Hemmer and Schwexxinger in 1866, confirmed the results obtained by Paxum ; and ScHWEXNi^y^GER announced that in the various stages of putrefaction different products are formed, and that these vary in their effects upon animals. In 1866, Bence Jones and Dupre obtained from the liver a substance which in solutions of dilute sulphuric acid gives the blue