The Bacterial Poisons

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE DISCOVERY OF PTOMAINES. Summary.?Selmi Draws Attention to the Ptomaines Obtained from Cadavers?Leucomaincs and Ptomaines of Gautier?The Researches of Brieger on Ptomaines. In a celebrated trial, where the domestic of Geru Gibbone was accused of the death of the latter, the chemists found...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE DISCOVERY OF PTOMAINES. Summary.?Selmi Draws Attention to the Ptomaines Obtained from Cadavers?Leucomaincs and Ptomaines of Gautier?The Researches of Brieger on Ptomaines. In a celebrated trial, where the domestic of Geru Gibbone was accused of the death of the latter, the chemists found in the cadaver the alkaloid delphinine. But Francois Selmi, professor of chemistry at Bo- logne, who was called as an expert witness for the defense, demonstrated by a detailed chemical analysis that the base isolated by the government experts was quite distinct from the delphinine and other alkaloids of vegetal origin. According to Selmi, the base in question was of animal origin, and came from the putrefaction of the cadaver. This dictum of Selmi was completely at variance with the general conviction, according to which the alkaloids could only be- produced by plants. Shortly after, similar facts were adduced, and drew attention more and more to the researches of Selmi. In the trial of Sonzagno, at Cremona, the first experts thought they had found morphine in the cadaver. Selmi peremptorily demon.strated that what they had found was a cadaveric alkaloid. There was still later a celebrated trial in Italy where the prosecution endeavored to make out a case .of poisoning by strychnine; here Selmi affirmed the .cadaveric source of the base found, and the prisoner was acquitted on this testimony. Since 1870, Selmi has been making experimental .and chemical investigations on the organic bases found in cadavers. To this order of researches he was led by noting the presence in cadavers of sub- .stances which possessed the general and even the specific reactions of alkaloids, but which could be -distinguished by the absence of all toxic action. Selmi had the notion that al...