delayed that no other course is open than treatment according to the peculiarities of individual cases. In those cases in which the symptoms point to poisoning of the central nervous system it is obvious that, until the subject shall have been much more extensively studied from the standpoint of pathologic chemistry, the practitioner must be obliged to grope largely in the dark. Saline infusions, hypodermically or intravenously, may often be used to advantage, as they promote the more rapid elimination of the offending toxin.

In the study of cases of meat-poisoning it is noteworthy that mutton and lamb have thus far not been implicated as a cause.

PTOMAINS AND OTHER BACTERIAL PRODUCTS

IN THEIR RELATION TO TOXICOLOGY.

THE work of the toxicologist and that of the bacteriologist overlap in many places. In fact it has become quite necessary for the toxicologist to have some accurate knowledge of bacteriologic methods of study. It is the purpose of this section to point out and to dwell to some extent upon those subjects that concern both the bacteriologist and the toxicologist. It has been stated that the chemical tests, especially the color-reactions for certain vegetable alkaloids, may be simulated so closely by certain bacteriologic products that it becomes impossible to distinguish with certainty between them. If this be true, the possibility of mistaking putrefactive substances for vegetable alkaloids should always be borne in mind in making medicolegal investigations. We will now proceed to the discussion of this subject as applied to certain individual alkaloids.

THE TESTS FOR MORPHIN.'

In some notable trials for murder, question has been raised concerning the validity of certain color-reactions obtained and supposed to indicate the presence of morphin. In fact it may be stated that toxicologists are now divided in their opinion concerning the nature of the evidence that must be obtained before the presence of morphin in cadaveric tissue can be considered as established. There are those who hold that this alkaloid must be obtained in crystalline form; others believe that certain color-reactions obtained from amorphous and colored residues are sufficient to justify the chemist in swearing to the presence of morphin. Some of the instances in which this question has been raised may be discussed profitably.

In the Songzogna trial at Cremona, Italy, the experts seem to have confounded a basic putrefactive substance with morphin. This substance was not removed from either alkaline or acid solutions with ether, but could be extracted with amylic alcohol. It reduced iodic acid, but in its other reactions, as well as in its physiologic properties, it bore no resemblance to morphin. In frogs it arrested the heart in systole; this does not happen in poisoning with morphin. It failed to give both the ferrie chlorid and the Pellagri test for morphin. In the same body there was 1 Compare pp. 456, 457, 498, 499, 500, and 501 in section on Alkaloidal Poison. 2 The Pellagri test for morphin: The substance is treated with hydrochloric acid, to which a little sulphuric acid has been added and the mixture moderately heated. After cooling, the residue is mixed first with a drop of hydrochloric acid and then with a slight excess of sodium bicarbonate; a little water is added and afterward a drop or two of a solution of iodin in alcohol, when, in the presence of morphin, a green color is produced.

found a substance that was extracted from alkaline solutions with ether, and that gave, with hydrochloric acid and a few drops of sulphuric acid, on the application of heat, a reddish residue similar to that obtained by the same reagents with codein, but in its other reactions it did not resemble this alkaloid. Selmi clearly demonstrated that the substance obtained from this body was not morphin.

Some years ago the writer, in making a toxicologic examination of a stomach and liver, following the method of Dragendorff, obtained in the amylic alcohol extract from alkaline solution a residue that gave with more or less distinctness all the principal color-tests for morphin; but failing to obtain crystals that could be identified as those of this alkaloid, morphin was not reported. Haines, working with the same material, obtained similar reactions, but he also was unable to secure the crystals and made a negative report. Afterward it was quite positively shown that death had been caused in this case by a blow on the back of the head with a heavy piece of iron.

In the Buchanan case in New York the symptoms as testified to by the attending physician clearly were not incompatible with those that might be due to disease. The chemists for the prosecution swore to the presence of morphin and atropin in the dead body. The tests upon which they relied were the ordinary chemical reactions, and the question arose as to whether or not they were sufficiently distinctive. The writer, in the presence of the opposing experts, made duplicate tests with a solution of morphin and a solution containing putrefactive products. With these all the color-reactions were produced, and the experts for the prosecution decided, after seeing the tests made with the two fluids, that morphin was present in the one that actually contained no morphin.

Indol, skatol, phenol, and derivatives of these bodies are constantly being formed both in the intestines of the living man and in the liver and adjacent tissues for some time after death. Several of these substances give color-reactions that closely resemble those given by morphin. So great is this resemblance that the conscientious chemist will be very careful before he is certain that he has obtained from the tissues in a case of medicolegal inquiry positive evidence of the presence of morphin. I have stated that indol, its allies and derivatives, are present in decomposing tissue, and it should be further stated that the number of indol derivatives is by no means small. Many of these substances give brilliant color-reactions. There has been some difference of opinion as to the identity of indol obtained by putrefaction and that which results from the reduction of indigo. According to Baumann, neither indol nor skatol originates directly from proteids, but both result from the decomposition of a substance that is not proteid in character, and that is soluble in ether containing alcohol. Skatol is methyl-indol. Indoxyl is an easily decomposable substance giving some striking color-reactions, among which may be mentioned the production of indigo-blue with ferric chlorid, in the presence of a trace of free hydrochloric acid. Skatol carbonic acid is another product of putrefaction, Salkowski hav

ing obtained 1.3 grams of this substance from 2 kilograms of moist fibrin after twenty-six days of putrefaction. Among the known colorreactions of this substance Hoppe-Seyler mentions the following:

1. If a dilute solution of this acid (1:1000) be treated with a few drops of pure hydrochloric acid of 1.2 specific gravity, and then with a few drops of potassium nitrate solution (0.2 per cent.), a cherry-red coloration is produced, and, later, a red precipitate falls.

2. If such a solution be mixed with an equal volume of hydrochloric acid and then a few drops of chlorinated lime solution (0.5 per cent.) be added, a purple-red color is produced.

3. Treated with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, and then with two or three drops of a very dilute solution of ferric chlorid and heated, the mixture becomes intensely violet before boiling. It is worthy of note that skatol carbonic acid is non-volatile. Skatol acetic acid has been obtained by Nencki by the anaërobic putrefaction of serum-albumin. The aqueous solutions of this substance give, with ferric chlorid, a white cloudiness that on warming becomes a brick red, and in more concentrated solution, fire red. Both indigo-red and indigo-blue may be formed by the oxidation of indol.

Knowing that indol and its derivatives are formed in anaërobic putrefaction, and that in Dragendorff's scheme for the separation and identification of vegetable alkaloids these substances appear in the residues. that are tested for morphin, and knowing the great number and variety of color-reactions given by these substances, it may be asked how much reliance can be placed on the color-tests for morphin.

Besides the indol bodies, certain other substances are formed in the anaërobic putrefaction of proteid substances. Among these are certain aromatic compounds due to the putrefaction of tyrosin. The following may be mentioned:

1. Parahydrocumaric or Parahydroxyphenyl-propionic Acid.—This substance gives with ferric chlorid a distinct but evanescent blue coloration.

2. Parahydroxyphenyl-acetic Acid.-This substance gives with ferric chlorid a pale greenish violet, which soon changes to a dirty green color.

Among other products of the anaërobie putrefaction of proteids phenol and parakresol may be mentioned. Phenol gives with ferric chlorid a violet color, while parak resol gives with the same reagent a blue coloration.

In order to ascertain how far the color-reactions for morphin might be simulated by the products obtained by the putrefaction of viscera, the writer has made the following experiment:

Five kilograms of ox liver were chopped finely, mixed with two grams of white arsenic dissolved in caustic potash, and placed in a large bottle. The arsenic was added in this experiment because the body of which an analysis had been made in the Buchanan case was embalmed with arsenic directly after death. A glass tube bent at right angles was inserted in the center of the cork of this bottle, while the other end of the tube

was connected by means of a short piece of rubber tubing with a Drechsel wash-bottle. The other arm of the wash-bottle was connected with a receiver filled with water. The rubber connecting the large bottle with the wash-bottle was supplied with a clamp. During the first fifteen or twenty days this clamp was left open, and a large amount of gas passed through the wash-bottle and collected in the receiver. The time during which gas continues to be given off varies according to temperature and other conditions. However, after a while the liberation of gas ceases and the water rises in the receiver, absorbing the collected gas. When this occurred in our experiment, the bottle containing the tissue and the wash-bottle were disconnected, and the clamp on the rubber tube was closed. By this time the chopped liver had become sufficiently fluid to absorb the gas as fast as it was formed, and in case the bottles are not disconnected, the water in the wash-bottle may be drawn back into the larger bottle containing the liver.

The fermentation was allowed to continue for thirty days. Then the contents of the bottle, decidedly acid in reaction, and giving off a rather pleasant ethereal odor, was poured into a large dish. A considerable portion of the tissue had become fluid by this time. One kilogram of this decomposed tissue was placed in each of three evaporating dishes, and these were marked A, B, and C. To B, 130 milligrams of morphin sulphate was added, and to C the same amount of morphin sulphate, together with 0.5 of a gram each of indol, skatol, and phenol. No addition was made to A. These separate portions were carried through all the manipulations recommended by Dragendorff1 in his processes for the separation and recovery of morphin.

To each 100 c.c. of the fluid 5 c.c. of dilute (1:5) sulphuric acid was added. Then 500 c.c. of distilled water was added to each dish, and these were kept at from 40° to 50° C. for eight hours. After this time each portion was filtered through a plaited filter. The fluid passed through quickly, and formed a clear brownish filtrate. The filtrates were evaporated at 50° C. to 600 c.c. each, and four volumes of absolute alcohol were added to each portion. These mixtures were allowed to stand for twelve hours, and in each a brown resinous precipitate formed. After filtration the alcohol was removed by distillation, a fatty residue was found in each flask on the removal of the alcohol, and this was removed by filtration.

The acid solutions were then thoroughly shaken, each with four volumes of petroleum ether. The ethereal layers, when drawn off and evaporated in portions, left slight residues. The residues from A and B gave no reaction on the application of the color-tests for morphin mentioned below. The residue from C showed minute traces of indol with nitric acid alone, and with sulphuric acid containing nitric. The acid solutions were next shaken with benzene. The benzene residues gave no response to the morphin tests in any of the extracts. Chloroform was then applied as a solvent. The residues thus obtained also failed

1 For description of the Dragendorff process see p. 331 in section on General Principles of Toxicology.