ON THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS ON THE 
ANIMAT, ALKALOIDS 
THE PTOMAINES, LEUCOMAINES, AND EXTRACTIVES 
IN THEIR PATHOLOGICAL RELATIONS 
BEING 
A SHORT SUMMARY OF RECENT RESEARCHES TO THE 
ORIGIN OF SOME DISEASES BY OR THROUGH THE PHY- 
SIOLOGICAL PROCESSES GOING ON DURING LIFE 
BY 
SIB WILLIAM AITKEN, Knt., M.D., F.E.S. 
;i * ’ 
PROFESSOR OF PATHOLOGY IN THE ARMY MEDICAL SCHOOL 
PHILADELPHIA: 
P. BLAKISTON, SON AND CO. 
No. 1012 Walnut Street. 
1887. PREFACE. 
The following pages owe their existence to the neces- 
sity of finding a subject suitable for a lecture intro- 
ductory to the course of instruction at the Army 
Medical School at Netley, on the Ist of April last. 
They are now published by request; and with the 
permission of the Secretary of State for War. 
Speaking generally, it may be said that the investi- 
gations which underlie the most important practical 
work of the Military Medical Officer, alike on land 
and sea, relate especially to the causation of diseases, 
with a view to their prevention; and in carrying out 
such investigations, the time appears to me to have 
come when it is desirable to open up new lines of 
thought and of practical departure in Pathology, which 
may lead us to entertain broader, or at any rate less PREFACE. 
narrow views, than those we have been accustomed to 
entertain as to the origin of some diseases. 
By the selection of a topic such as the following 
pages concern, I hoped that I might awaken in young, 
ardent, ingenuous and impressionable minds, a desire 
to work out various philosophical problems in Patho- 
logy; while the nature of the Military Services the 
young medical officers were about to join would give 
them leisure not only to study and to work out, but 
would give them also opportunities in many climates 
and in many lands to add to our knowledge regarding 
the causation of disease. 
When I had the honour of discharging a similar 
duty two years ago, I endeavoured to show how far 
“ The Doctrine of Evolution ” was competent to ex- 
plain the origin of some diseases;* and now I once 
more try to open up to view another new and fresh 
territory in Pathology only just beginning to he ex- 
plored, which is calculated to render obvious certain 
modes of origin of many forms of disease. I do so 
* “ Glasgow Medical Journal,” 1885-6, PREFACE. 
in the hope that the glimpse I am able to give of 
this fresh field, however hazy its vista may be ; yet 
as Time (with increasing knowledge) clears away the 
mists of our ignorance, lines of thought and inquiry 
may suggest themselves in many fruitful directions 
for investigation. 
While much remains to be done in the direction 
indicated in the following pages, yet so much has 
been already done by experiment and research in the 
past twelve or fifteen years, that such a concise sum- 
mary as I have here attempted to give may show the 
bearing of the results and their value, as illustrating 
the Pathology and the origin of some diseases. 
It is further desirable, if possible, to get rid of the 
term “ cause ” altogether as applicable to any par- 
ticular disease. Our textbooks, as yet, have been 
unable to specify and establish any single thing as 
the final cause of any disease. There is no disease 
I know of which acknowledges a single cause. 
It ought rather to be our business to find out the 
many and ever varying factors or conditions which, VI 
PREFACE. 
as antecedents, combine to produce disease ; and while 
we must acknowledge the influence of many physiolo- 
gical agents in aiding and abetting these factors, we 
must mainly look to the physiological agencies within 
our own bodies during life as competent to bring 
about many forms of disease. 
WILLIAM AITKEN. 
Army Medical School, Netley. 
Avgust 12th, 1887. CONTENTS. 
Elaboration of Alkaloids from proteid substances (Ptomaines 
and Leucomaines); also of azotised uncrystallisable sub- 
stances (Extractives)—Their toxic properties—Similarity 
of Animal and Vegetable Alkaloids—Necessary products 
of Vital Physiological Processes—Production of them 
in the Intestines, Muscles and Tissues—Classification 
and Chemical Constitution of the Physiological Alka- 
loids . . . . . . i to 14 
PAGE 
Pathology and Symptoms of Poisoning by the Extractives 
and by the Animal Alkaloids—Poisoning by the Accu- 
mulation of Normally Elaborated but Toxic Products— 
Origin in this way of Constitutional Diseases—Physio- 
logy and Pathology of Fatigue—Typhus of Armies and 
of Camps—Symptoms of Animal Alkaloid Poisoning— 
“ Botulism ’’—Danger of Abeyance of Liver Functions— 
Poisonous Ptomaines from Milk and Putrid Meats—Ab- 
sorption of Digestive Juices—Albuminous Substances, 
Peptones and Extractives in the Urine-—Effects of Bile- 
Acids on the Blood—Action of Peptones on the Blood, 
and its circulation—Poisonous Alkaloids formed from 
Food—Symptoms of Poisoning by Putrefactive Alka- 
loids—Remedial Agents—Poisonous Effects of Prolonged 
Constipation—Stercoraemia—Separation of the Alka- 
loids and Extractives by the Kidneys and their Appear- 
ance in the Urine—Acetonmmia and Action of Acetone 
on Healthy Blood—Conditions under which “Microbes” 
appear ; and their proper place in Path dogy—- Professor 
de Chaumont’s Method of determining the “ Extrac- 
tives ” and other solids in the urine—Conclusion . 14 to 56 
Index 
57 to 61 ON THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
The recent researches and expositions of MM. Gautier 
and Peter (two eminent French physiological Chemists 
and Physicians), of Dr. A. M. Brown and of Dr. 
Lauder Brunton in this country, have furnished 
numerous facts, which (apart from their chemical and 
medico-legal value) have the important merit of con- 
firming our belief in “ the poisoning or intoxication of 
the animal economy with its own products.” In this 
direction they have added to our previous knowledge ; 
and to pathological investigation they have imparted a 
greater degree of method and precision than heretofore. 
But it is mainly to the writings of Dr. A. M. Brown,0 
and those of Dr. T. Lauder Brunton,! that I am 
indebted for the facts and arguments contained in this 
short notice. 
* “Contributions to the Study of the Cadaveric Alkaloids, the 
Ptomaines and Leueomaines; their Physiological and Pathological 
Significance in Relation to Scientific Medicine,” 1886. “MM. 
Gautier and Peter on the Ptomaines, Leueomaines, and Microbes, 
a New Departure in Pathology.” “Contributions to the Study of 
the Animal Alkaloids; Leueomaines, their Antecedents and Dis- 
covery, their Classification and Chemical Definitions,” 1887. “The 
Animal Alkaloids, Ptomaines, and Leueomaines; their Common 
Origin, a fresh page in Bio-Chemics,” 1886. (Published by John 
Bale and Sons, 89 Great Titchfield Street, London). 
t “Disorders of Digestion,” comprising various papers from “ The 
Practitioner,” 1873 to 1885, collected and published 1886. “Phar- 
macology, Therapeutics, and Materia Medina,” Third edition. 
London, Macmillan and Co., 1887- 2 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
What then are the questions involved in the subject 
matter of the researches of these eminent physicians ? 
They may be considered under two aspects ;—l. 
Chemical and physiological or bio-chemical. 2. Clini- 
cal or pathological. 
1. As to the chemical and physiological aspect, 
Gautier has shown that in dead animal tissues, pro- 
cesses of putrefactive decomposition set in by which 
certain alkaloids are elaborated from the proteid sub- 
stances, which by the late Selmi, of Bologna, have 
been called “ ptomaines.”0 But Gautier has further 
shown that in the living animal tissues, and that by 
virtue of their vitality certain other alkaloids are 
elaborated which are analogous to the “ ptomaines,” 
and these he has named “ leucomaines.” Still further 
in addition to these facts, he has demonstrated that in 
the living animal economy there are elaborated certain 
azotised uncrystallisable substances, which are as yet 
undetermined, which we call “ extractives ” or “ ex- 
tractive matters,” and which are quite as unknown as 
the x,y,z’s of an algebraical formula (Dr. H. L. Veale). 
The nature of these “ extractives ” has therefore still to 
be found out; but this much we know of them ; that 
while we are assured that the “ ptomaines ” are toxic, 
and that the “ leucomaines ” are also toxic, these un- 
known “ extractives ” are more toxic or poisonous to 
the system than either. 
* “Ptomaines from Tirana., a carcase, a dead body, and m, de- 
noting material; or In, from Latin inus, belonging to. A common 
termination in chemical terms, but varying much in significance, as 
haematin, hoematine, stearin, stearine, innulin, etc. Ine or in has 
been usually applied to the alkaloids produced from vegetable sub- 
stances, and the compounds possessing the closest analogies to them, 
e.g., quinine, atropine, aniline. AtvxafiK, anything whitened—albu- 
men, or white of egg. DISCOVERY OF ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
3 
Take for example the urine; we know that by or 
through it we eliminate chlorides, phosphates, urea, 
glucose, albumen, and “ extractives,” in variable 
amounts, and that these go to make up the total 
solids of the urine. We know further, the chemical 
composition and the dangers of all of these, when 
found in over abundance or when not eliminated, 
except as regards the unknown and mysterious “ ex- 
tractives.” We know further, that in proportion as 
the cypher of albumen increases in the urine, that of 
the urea and extractive matters diminish, and a series 
of accidents supervene which we name “ uraemic,” as 
the non-eliminated extractive matters (which are re- 
tained) increase in the blood. It may also be noted, as 
has been pointed out to me by my friend Dr. F. de 
Chaumont, that when the glucose is in excess, some 
inhibitory influence seems to be exercised over the 
elimination of the extractives, so that they seem less in 
quantity; but whether their actual formation is pre- 
vented, or merely their elimination, is not known. 
The alkaloids of animal origin were first discovered 
by Armand Gautier in 1872. He discovered them in 
the products of putrefaction of albuminoid material, a 
discovery which excited much interest; especially when 
sometime afterwards Selmi, of Bologna, published his 
researches (from 1878 to 1882) confirming the observa- 
tions of the Chemist of the College of France in their 
medico-legal applications. Selmi’s investigations were 
unfortunately too soon brought to a close by his early 
death. 
But so long ago as 1820, Kerner pointed out the 
resemblance between the symptoms of poisoning by 
sausages and by atropine. He was thus the first to 4 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
raise the suspicion that alkaloids were formed through 
the decomposition of albumen ; and by the experiments 
on animals which he made, he appears to have come to 
the conclusion that an alkaloid was present in poisonous 
sausages; although he afterwards came to regard fatty 
acids as the really poisonous agent in them. 
In 1856 Panum showed that the inflammatory 
change which occurs in the intestinal mucous mem- 
brane of animals poisoned by putrid matter, is due to 
a chemical poison which remained unaltered when its 
aqueous solution was boiled for a long time ; and his 
conclusion that the poison contained in putrid matter 
was of a chemical nature, was confirmed by C. 0. 
Weber, Hemmer, Schweninger, Stich and Thiersch. 
Bergmann and Schmiedeberg isolated a crystalline 
poison from decomposing yeast, to winch they gave the 
name of sepsine. 
Bence Jones and Dupr£, found a substance re- 
sembling quinine in the liver. 
Zuelzer and Sonnenschein obtained both from ma- 
cerated dead bodies and from putrid meat infusions, 
small quantities of a crystallisable substance which 
exhibited the reactions of an alkaloid, and had a 
physiological action like atropine, dilating the pupil, 
paralysing the muscular fibres of the intestine, and 
increasing the rapidity of the pulse. 
Borsch and Fasbender obtained from dead bodies a 
substance which had properties like digitaline, but 
which was not crystalline. 
Pellicani has found a poison in the supra-renal 
capsule, and sometimes ptomaines may be obtained 
from the flesh of healthy animals. (Dr. L. Brunton, 
loc. cit., p. 282). FORMATION OF ORGANIC BASES. 
5 
An alkaloid has been separated by Y. Anrep from 
poisonous fish,* so also Vaughan has obtained an 
alkaloid from poisonous cheese, which he has named 
“ tyro-toxican.”f 
But while the question in Italy was confined to 
researches in toxicology, in France first and afterwards 
in Germany it took a position more important and 
wider in its range. 
Gautier, Etard, Brieger, and others gave precision to 
the data previously acquired; and adding largely to 
the varied and careful examination of cadaveric tissues, 
“ they forced the conclusion that during the putrifac- 
tion of nitrogenous animal material there are formed 
organic bases, fixed or volatile, presenting by their 
chemical and physiological properties, the closest 
similitude to the vegetable alkaloids. 
It was at first supposed that these animal alkaloids 
differed in their nature from the organic alkaloids 
formed by vegetables, and various reactions had been 
given to distinguish between them. More recent 
researches, however, especially those of Brieger appear 
to show that this destination can be maintained no 
longer; but that the animal and vegetable alkaloids 
are similar in their chemical constitution, and that they 
are both products of albuminous or proteid decomposi- 
tion ; and that some at least of the so-called ptomaines 
are identical with vegetable alkaloids. § 
“We may now indeed regard alkaloids,'’ writes Dr. 
* “ London Medical Eecord,” 1885, p. 271. 
t “ Lancet,” August, 1885, p. 60. 
I Dr. A. M. Brown, loc. cit. 
§ Dr. Lauder Brunton in “ Practitioner,” vol. xxxv., 1885, “ Poi- 
sons formed from food ” also “ Disorders of Digestion,” p. 222, 1886. 6 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
Brunton in the third edition of his valuable work on 
Pharmacology, “ as products of albuminous decomposi- 
tion, whether their albuminous precursor be contained 
in the cells of plants and altered during the process of 
growth, or whether the albuminous substances undergo 
decomposition outside or inside the animal body, or 
by processes of digestion as by unorganised ferments.”* 
It has been also shown that the alkaloid products 
formed by the putrefaction of albuminous substances 
vary according to the stage of decay at which they are 
produced. At first the poisonous action of the pto- 
maines may be slight; but as decomposition advances 
the poisons become more virulent, while after a still 
longer period they become more broken up and lose to 
a greater extent their poisonous power (Brunton). 
The poison muscarine which had only been known as 
obtainable from a plant, (the Agaricus muscarius, “ fly 
fungus ”) has been discovered by Brieger to be a pro- 
duct of the decomposition of fish ; and it has also been 
made synthetically by Schmiedeberg and Harnack from 
choline. 
It is further to be noted that some of the products of 
decomposition thus obtained are found to be poisonous, 
and that others are not so ; that among the poisonous 
ones various degrees of activity prevail, some being but 
slightly poisonous, while others are most virulent;— 
also that while many retain their properties for a 
length of time, yet when mixed or in combinations 
(still uncertain) they further decompose or neuralize 
each other, appearing to have an antagonistic action 
the one to the other, and so become inert. Brieger, 
for example, has obtained from decomposing albuminous 
* “ Pharmacology and Therapeutics,” p. 100. ACTION OF THE ALKALOIDS. 
7 
substances several well-defined chemical bodies. From 
flesh he has got a substance which he calls “ neuridine,” 
which is innocuous, and another substance “ neurine 
which, however, is poisonous, while the “ muscarine ” 
from fish is more poisonous still. Two other substances, 
one “ ethylenediamine " is poisonous, while “gadenine" 
is not poisonous. He has also obtained from human 
corpses a different set of bodies, one of which he calls 
“ cadaverine,” and the other “ putrescinewhich are 
but feeble poisons ; while two others “ madeleine ” and 
“ sepsine” which are produced later on in the decom- 
position are much more powerful poisons—causing 
paralysis and death. From decomposing albuminous 
substances he has obtained many other well-defined 
chemical bodies ; as well as some substances to which 
no names have yet been given. 
In addition to these alkaloids obtained by Brieger, a 
number of poisons have been got by other workers from 
decomposing articles of food or from dead bodies, and 
even from portions of healthy animal bodies. And 
although these may not have been obtained in the 
same state of purity, nor have had their chemical con- 
stitutions so well-defined as Brieger’s, they are still as 
unknown “ extractives ” (x, y, z's) of great interest and 
importance. 
The physiological action of these alkaline bases of 
animal origin do not present the diversity of action 
which has given to the study of vegetable alkaloids so 
much interest. 
Nevertheless the physiological effects of the ptomaines 
and the leucomaines are powerful enough to compare 
with those of “ muscarine“ curare," and other very 
active and virulent vegetable poisons. In support of 8 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
this view a series of investigations and experiments 
have shown that the primary products of albuminous 
decomposition of digestive ferments, such as peptones 
are poisonous, Brieger has recently shown that pep- 
sine will split up albuminous substances still further, 
so that by digesting fibrine with artificial gastric juice, 
he obtained an alkaloid to which he has given the name 
of “ peptotoxine.” 
The bitter taste which sometimes appears during the 
digestion of meat, or of milk artificially, as Dr. L. 
Brunton has pointed out, is suggestive of the formation 
of some alkaloid, although it has not yet been determined 
what this bitterness really depends upon ; and Dr. 
Lauder Brunton further gives the timely and much 
needed caution against the extreme and indiscriminate 
use of the various digestive ferments, and of the many 
varied artificially digested foods which have now 
become so common. From this point of view a study 
of the products of albuminous decomposition has 
become of much practical importance, not only as 
regards pathology but as regards therapeutics, for “it 
is possible that digestive ferments like other powerful 
agents may be edged tools, and capable of doing harm 
as well as good.” 
But Gautier has further shown by his researches 
extending from 1881 to 1886 that the animal alkaloids 
are also a necessary product of vital physiological pro- 
cesses, he having obtained from the secretions of living 
beings alkaloid bodies having poisonous properties— 
results which have been confirmed by M. Peter. 
They have shown that about f of our disassimilations 
are the result of transformations within the body, com- 
parable to the oxidation of alcohol; and that the THEIR CONTINUOUS FORMATION. 
9 
remaining i of the disassinailations are formed at tlie 
expense of the living tissues themselves “ free of all 
demands on foreign oxygen.” In other words a fifth 
part of our tissues live after the manner of ferments ; 
that is, they are anaerobious or putrefactive as to their 
life. “Hence the possibility of alkaloids being thus 
formed within the living organism, independent of 
bacterial fermentation is quite within our conception. 
“ Every instant of our lives, do we not elaborate 
normally and in the physiological processes of our 
existence, acids and bases, not merely carbonic acid, 
but uric acid—the latter a product of animal life whose 
production is inconceivable apart from it ? Do we not 
also spontaneously and normally fabricate bases such 
as urea—a most complex product which can combine 
with azotic (or nitric) and oxalic acid; and which by 
splitting up chemically may go to the formation of car- 
bonate of ammonia ? In the face of such potentialities 
may we not admit that the living organism is capa- 
ble of fabricating various alkaloids.0 
Bio-chemically, such a capacity has been proved to 
demonstration, and therefore it is probable that poi- 
sonous alkaloids are continuously being formed in 
healthy men and animals by the decomposition of 
albumen in the intestinal canal, during the process of 
digestion or in the blood and tissues generally by the 
metabolism which occurs during the functional activities 
of life. A considerable portion of these alkaloids is in 
all probability destroyed in the body, and some are 
excreted in the urine and faeces, from both of which 
powerful poisons have been extracted.0 Moreover, “ a 
• Dr. A. M. Brown, loc. cit. 
t Dr. Lauder Brunton, “On Disorders of Digestion,” loc. cit., 
p. 283. 10 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
considerable production of alkaloids takes place in the 
intestines, both when the digestive processes are nor- 
mal, and more especially when they are disordered; 
at the same time alkaloids are being formed in the 
muscles, and possibly also in other tissues. Were all 
the alkaloids to be retained in the body, poisoning 
would undoubtedly ensue, and Bouchard considers that 
the alkaloids formed in the intestine of a healthy man 
in twenty-four hours would be sufficient to kill him, if 
they were all absorbed and secretion stopped. He 
finds that the poisonous activity of even healthy human 
faeces is very great, and a substance obtained from 
them by dialysis produced violent convulsions in rab- 
bits, When the functions of the kidneys are impaired 
so that excretion is stopped uraemia occurs, and 
Bouchard would give the name of “ stercoraemia to 
this condition, because he believes it to be due to 
alkaloids absorbed from the intestines. He also thinks 
that the nervous disturbance which occurs in cases of 
dyspepsia is due to poisoning by ptomaines.”0 
But long before Armand Gautier’s Memoire was pub- 
lished in the “ Archives of the Academy of Sciences of 
Paris,” evidences of the existence of a physiological 
function in the animal economy were not wanting as to 
its power of elaborating alkaloids during life. 
Liebig and Petenkofer had long made known the 
existence of, “ kreatinine ” in urines—a product of 
animal origin possessing properties clearly alkaloid. 
“ Kreatine ” was soon after detected in the animal tis- 
sues resulting from kreatinine. Twenty years later, 
Liebreich detected the vegetable alkaloid “ betaine ” in 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, “ Pharmacology and Therapeutics,” 3rd 
edition, p. 101. THE LEUCOMAINES. 
11 
human urine; and so recently as 1880, Poucliet has 
recorded the presence of “ karnine ” and an alkaloid in 
well-defined chlorate crystals, concerning which Gautier 
has not only confirmed the fact, but also that the 
alkaloid possesses the properties of a ptomaine. In 
1880, by carefully operating with glands of snakes, he 
was enabled to eliminate material from them of an 
alkaloid nature ; and from the cobra he obtained two 
new substances, each of the nature of a ptomaine. 
From this time onwards, the study of a new class of 
alkaloids, the products physiologically of animals during 
life, has steadily progressed, and this preliminary ad- 
vance was further strengthened when in 1882 Bouchard 
disclosed the fact that not only were alkaloids present 
in appreciable quantities in normal urine, but that they 
augmented notably in the course of certain maladies— 
in typhoid fever for example. And this applies to a 
still wider pathological area, so that, generalising the 
facts we already know, we venture to conclude that in 
the course of certain maladies these poisonous products 
of the urinary secretion notably increase in quantity, 
until a crisis is reached when they again diminish and 
finally disappear Guerin, Aubert, A. M. Brown, 
Lauder Brunton). 
Thus, the incessant elaboration of alkaloid products 
formed at the expense of proteid elements, precisely as 
urea and carbonic acid are similarly and simultaneously 
formed, is now fully confirmed; and to distinguish this 
class of products from that of the cadaveric alkaloids or 
“ptomaines,” Gautier has named them “ leucomaines,” 
or alkaloids derived during the processes of life from 
the decomposition of albuminoid substances. 
He has recently also announced the discovery of two 12 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
new “ leucomdines,” namely, “ adenine” from the pan- 
creas, and one from the spleen.0 The second body iso- 
lated from the spleen by Morell, has a paralyso-motor 
action, with a powerful effect on the medulla oblongata.! 
Gautier has further shown that there is a distinction 
to be appreciated between alkaloids formed during the 
bacterial destruction of albuminoids, and alkaloids which 
owe their formation to the bio-chemical and physio- 
logical activities of the normal tissues. But however 
important the distinction, it does not support the view 
that the ptomaines and leucomaines are distinct or 
opposed to each other. On the contrary, it is impos- 
sible to trace the limits where the one series of alkaloids 
begins or the other ends; and there are a certain 
number of known alkaloids which are common to both 
series. 
They all exhibit simpler chemical formulae than 
vegetable alkaloids for the most part do; and a number 
of the leucomaines have been manufactured synthetic- 
ally. 
Dr. A. M. Brown| gives us a classification of these 
“new physiological alkaloids” with their sources, based 
on that of Dr. Hugounenq, of Lyons, in the following 
groups : 
I. The Uric Leucomaine Group.—Betaines. 
(C H3) =N 0 
the chemical formula of C 5 HuN02 = 
CH2—CO. 
Betaine is the representative of this group, having 
• Hoppe-Seyler’s “ Zeitschrift,” March 11th, 1886. 
f “ The Lancet,” April 24th, 1886. 
I Loc. cit., p. 5. THE URIC LEUCOMAINES. 
13 
The base was originally discovered in beetroot in 
1866 by Scbeifler, and in 1869 Liebreich detected its 
presence in human urine. 
Karnine, C 7 H8 N4 03.—Commences the natural series 
of alkaloids of the uric groups. The base was isolated 
from imported meat by Weidel, and afterwards in yeast 
waters by Schutzenberger. 
Adenine, C 5 H5 Ns.—Discovered by Kossel in 1885. 
Guanine, C 5 H5 N5 o.—Discovered in 1884 by Unger, 
and since met with in a great number of products of 
animal nature in the flesh, the organs, and the excre- 
mental matters of certain mammifera, in fowls and 
fish, and also in certain plants. 
Sarkine or hypo-xanthine, CBII4 N4 o.—Found in cer- 
tain plants, but for the most part in animal tissues. 
Xanthine, C 5 H4 N4 02.—1sO2.—Is widely distributed in the 
organism, in almost all the liquids and tissues of the 
animal economy from the splitting up of nucleine. The 
base was first isolated by Marcet in 1819. 
Pseudo-exanthine, C 4 H5 N5 o.—Discovered by Gautier 
in the muscular tissue of the higher animals. 
These last four leucomaines form a distinct group 
as to community of origin, with analogous chemi- 
cal properties :—(1) They all possess a combination 
(C5 H4 N4) of a remarkable stability, analogous in 
certain respects to the stability of the pyridic com- 
pounds. (2) They can all give up cyanbydric 
acid, and two of them, xanthine and hypo-exantbine, 
may be obtained synthetically in operating with the 
same cyanbydric acid. (3) All of them are derived 
from albuminoid substances by reactions which are 
identical in origin. (4) Three of them present in a 
high degree that insolubility in water which the pyridic 
compounds exhibit. 14 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
Dr. Brown further notes the startling fact “ that 
the most terrible poison, cyanhydrio acid, forms the 
chemical skeleton of that cellular nucleus which is the 
most active phenomenon of vitality.” 
11. The Kreatinine Lehcomaine Group. 
That well known base kreatinine, C 4 H7 N3 0 NH = 
NH CO 
C< I I 
N (CHS) - CN2 
heads the list of the other new alkaloids discovered by 
Gautier since 1881, They are all of fresh meat origin, 
Kreatinine was discovered by Liebig in the action of 
chlorohydric acid on kreatine, and Pettenkofer after- 
wards found it in human urine. 
Xantho-creatinine, C 5H10N4O.—The most abundant 
of these bases is of cadaveric odour, soluble in cold 
water, and with a strongly alkaline reaction. 
Crusocreatinine, CB H8 N4 o.—Possessing the general 
properties of kreatinine which it strongly resembles in 
chemical elements and alkalinity. 
Amphicreatine, C 9 Hl9 N7 o.—Corresponds with two 
molecules of kreatine plus the CNH groupment, thus 
having the closest analogy to kreatine, although the 
formula seems widely to differ from it. 
111. An Unclassified Group—According to their 
Sources. 
From the urine.—A uride—allantoine—and a base— 
karnine—already known, a second’ alkaloid has been 
discovered with the formula C 7 Hl4 N4 02.O2. THEIR PATHOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 
15 
From the blood and important viscera.—Alkaloids have 
been met with in appreciable quantities 
From the spleen.—M. Morel, of Lille, has obtained an 
alkaloid isolated in deliquescent crystals. 
From the intestines.—A base which seems to belong to 
the pyridic group isolated from choleraic dejections. 
From the saliva.—Gautier has determined the exist- 
ence of an alkaloid in human saliva. 
The venoms of certain snakes and hatrachians as well as 
from certain mollusca and fishes. From this latter class 
Breiger has identified an active principle in the mytiloxin 
and given its formula as C 6 Hl5 N 02,O2, 
So much for the purely bio-chemical aspect of these 
researches ; let us now consider:— 
2. The clinical, pathological and practical aspects. 
According to the different sources of poisoning or in- 
toxication (as it is technically called), there are corres- 
pondingly different indications, signs, or symptoms 
capable of classification as below :—(1) Poisoning by 
the “Extractives” is attended by hyperthermia. (2) 
Poisoning by the “ Animal alkaloids ” is accompanied 
by hypothermia. (3) A combination or succession of 
hyperthermic and hypothermic phenomena may become 
manifest, according to the combination or alternation 
of poisoning by the deleterious physiological products, 
or their antagonistic action. (Dr. A. M. Brown). 
Some of the clinical facts may thus appear to be 
contradictory or inconsistent; for in certain cases (so- 
called urasmia for example) there is to be observed an 
elevation of temperature; while in certain other cases 
the temperature may be normal; and in others it may 
fall. But once it has been determined that when “ ex- 16 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
tractive matters ” accumulate in the blood we detect 
hyperthermia ; on the other hand if “ alkaloids ” accu- 
mulate we have hypothermia ; while if the two factors 
co-exist they may neutralise each other, or become an- 
tagonistic in their action, so that temperature may re- 
main stationary or normal. But should one or other 
of the factors predominate, immediately the scale is 
turned, so that some variation may be noted. Thus, 
the balance of metabolic changes gives unmistakable 
evidence of a nitrogenous residuum which is morbid. 
There is in these researches still further disclosed the 
fact that in this auto-infection, this spontaneous or self- 
infection of the living organism by the “ alkaloids ” and 
“ extractives ” of its own formation there is no question 
of quality, hut simply one of quantity to be considered, 
by reason of the essential physiological source and ac- 
tion of the poison. In other words, the healthy living 
organism may become poisoned (more or less slowly), 
by the accumulation within itself of deleterious sub- 
stances normally elaborated, but imperfectly or defec- 
tively eliminated. Hence the slow and insidious onset 
of much ill-health ; and from which recovery is corres- 
pondingly slow. I might here instance all the “con- 
stitutional ” diseases of which rheumatism and gout 
are typical representatives. “ They are such diseases 
as become developed under the influence of agents 
generated within the body itself through the continuous 
exercise of its functions in the daily course of nutrition, 
development and growth.”0 
An important aspect of the question now presents 
itself for solution ; namely :—“ in what way does this 
auto-infection or spontaneous poisoning of the system 
take place ? ” 
“Science and Practice of Medicine,” 7th edit., vol. i., p. 829. FORMATION OF EXTRACTIVES. 
17 
This is a very complex question, and as Dr. A. M. 
Brown observes, it can only be understood and ex- 
plained by the mode in which we regard the pheno- 
mena of life. Life is undoubtedly an active state, the 
result of the combination of many physiological pro- 
cesses, in the concurrent exercise of the bodily functions 
which are essentially relative and contingent on one 
another, implying at the same time a series of partial 
and local deaths. Thus, it is that our organism lives 
on conditions of incessant elementary disintegrations, 
so that “ we constantly bear about within us the effete 
debris of our living selves.” 
Health must therefore always, and can only be a 
phenomenal phase of life which is relative and con- 
tingent ; life’s equilibrium between the rough and the 
smooth ; the ease and unease ; the good and the evil; 
when the vital functions are performed in a united and 
harmonious manner which experience has taught us to 
regard as normal; and as the “wholesome unity which 
constitutes health.”* 
Hence normal health comes to be conditional on an 
incessant formation, transformation and elimination of 
the effete or old organic materials which must give 
place to the new. It is this effete material (in whatso- 
ever form it is found) which, therefore, represents a 
series of partial deaths ; and which as the result of 
organic functional operations, constitutes life, during 
which the tissues and organs in the processes of their 
metabolic changes, perform a constant function of disin- 
tegration—fabricating during these processes those 
“alkaloids” and “extractives”—“those x, y, z's of 
pathology ” which must be regarded as veritable 
* “Medical Pathology,” by H. G. Sutton, 1886, p. 2. THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
“ scoria" (Brown) or “ physiological ashes ” (Lauder 
Brunton) resulting from the processes of combustion of 
the elements of organic tissues. 
And it will further appear in the following pages 
that “ the vital processes are much more readily ar- 
rested by the accumulation of waste products within 
the organs of the body than by any want of nutriment 
of the organs themselves.”0 
Thus, it is that our organism is constantly dying; 
and strange as the paradox may sound, we cannot live 
unless it does die. How precarious therefore is the 
condition we call health; and how by the simple accu- 
mulation of cadaveric material disease may manifest 
itself! How scientifically and also prosaically literal 
do the truths stand out that “ in the midst of life we 
are in death; ” and that “as we begin to live, so we 
begin to die ! ” 
Then comes another important question ; namely, 
“how do we resist the constant auto-infection to which 
we are thus constantly exposed ? 
In reply to this we may say that there are two 
physiological modes or vital mechanisms as constantly 
at work in our bodies for our protection. These are— 
(l) the elimination of the toxic products as excretions 
by the various emunctories, the liver, the kidneys, the 
skin, the lungs and the intestinal mucous membranes; 
(2) the destruction of the toxic products by oxygena- 
tion; which consists in a continuous combustion of 
the leucomaines by the oxygen of the blood, in 
which they are burned or consumed in its current, or 
partially in the tissues and organs. 
On the other hand also we know that their accumu- 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 237. PATHOLOGY OF FATIGUE. 
19 
lation may take place under two widely different condi- 
tions : as when there is an excess of “ extractive 
matters ” and “ alkaloids,” with normal hut inadequate 
elimination by the emunctories; or, the production of 
the deleterious materials being normal, their elimina- 
tion is inadequate from disease or derangement of the 
emunctories. 
Hence auto-infection may result from excessive pro- 
duction, and inefficient (i.e., inadequate) elimination, 
the emunctories remaining sound, a condition which is 
constantly seen in all forms of physical over-taxation 
or over-exertion, as in a prolonged march, or by exces- 
sive drill, especially in young and adolescent soldiers. 
Of such examples Army Medical Officers acquire con- 
siderable experience. 
In a paper recently submitted to the Accadeviia dei 
Lincei (to be printed in its Transactions) the physiology 
of fatigue has been carefully worked out by Professor 
Angelo Mosso of Turin, with a view to the determina- 
tion of the pathological manifestations which accom- 
pany that physical condition. He has found that when 
fatigue is carried beyond the moderate stage, at which 
it is decidedly beneficial, the blood is subjected to a 
decomposing process through the infiltration into it 
of substances which act as poisons—substances which 
when injected into the circulation of healthy animals, 
induce malaise, and all the signs of excessive exhaus- 
tion. It was on the soldiers of the Italian Army that 
Mosso’s experiments were made ; and he has convinced 
himself that he has arrived at practical results, which 
might be formulated in regulations, as to the amount 
of exertion to be put forth on the march, as to the best 
distribution of the halts and of sleep, and as to the 20 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
lightening of the weight which each soldier has to 
carry.* 
Meanwhile M. Peter, gives us the following illustra- 
tion of this auto-infection as observed by him in the 
wards of the illustrious French physician M. Chomel, 
his teacher. 
Under the Professor’s charge there came a young 
man apparently suffering from great prostration, mus- 
cular pain and spine-ache. Chomel made his examin- 
ation with great care and attention; and in the 
presence of his patient, he gave his diagnosis in Latin, 
which was “ Aut febris Peyerica, aut variola incipiens ” 
typhoid fever or incipient smallpox—a diagnosis which 
seemed so little precise, pronounced by one so eminent 
in his art, that it surprised somewhat and dissatisfied 
his inexperienced pupil. 
But Chomel was not then aware of certain antece- 
dent factors which had brought about the ailments of 
his patient. The young fellow, in a state of destitution, 
had walked from Compiegne to Paris in two days, 
sleeping by the wayside at night, and nourishing himself 
with such refuse food as chance supplied. Under these 
circumstances the patient developed febrile symptoms, 
from the excretory products of his metabolism having 
accumulated in his system and disturbed it. But the 
day after his admission (and simply from rest in bed) 
he felt better; and the day following he was altogether 
well. Simple rest had enabled the muscular system 
and the constitution generally to rid itself of the proteid 
embarrassment resulting from the functional destruction 
of the tissues. His ailment was entirely due to “ the 
fever of over-taxation ” or “of over-exertion,” brought 
# “Lancet,” June 25, 1887, p. 1295. FEVER OF PROSTRATION. 
21 
on by accumulation in his system of material elaborated 
in excess and inefficiently (or inadequately) eliminated. 
Thus a temporary poisoning of the system had lit up 
“the fever of prostration;” and hence the hesitating 
diagnosis of the illustrious physician which length of 
time cleared up. 
This “ fever of prostration ” engendered by over- 
exertion is a very characteristic one, due to the proteid 
embarrassment which results from the functional dis- 
turbance of the tissues. The changes which take place 
(chemical and functional) although they cannot be 
actually seen, yet to some extent they can be measured, 
judged of and made out, or realised from their effects. 
The extent of the metabolism may perhaps be best 
appreciated from such records of experience as Mr. 
Maclaren, of Oxford, has given in his very interesting 
work on “ Training.”* “During a long pedestrian 
tour,” he writes (equal to a long march) “ exceeding 
nine hours daily, with a knapsack of twelve pounds, 
the chest measurement fell from 41 inches to 391 
inches ; the upper arm from 141 inches girth to 18|; 
the lower arm remaining unchanged at 121. The lower 
limbs on the contrary, were vastly increased; the calf 
of the leg passing from 16 inches to 171 and the thigh 
from 231 to 25 inches. 
Let us now analyse the conditions of M. Chomel’s 
patient a little further in the light of more recent 
knowledge regarding the metabolism of the body. 
We know that certain medicinal agents are cumula- 
tive in their action, e.g., digitaline and strychnine; so 
also do we know that “ extractives ” are similarly 
♦ Page 13, note. 22 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
accumulative after their elaboration in the system. Let 
us suppose then in this given case that the elaboration 
of the “extractives” and “alkaloids” in this young 
lad’s body is represented by 10, and that their elimina- 
tion is represented by 8 ; we have then a storing up or 
cumulative store of these “ extractives ” to the extent 
of 2 per day of auto-infective elements. 
But suppose his walk had been much longer, and 
that it had extended over 20 days instead of 2 ; then 
instead of storing up twice 2, he would have stored up 
twice 20 ; and instead of a comparatively simple or 
mild attack of the toxic “ fever of prostration ” or of 
“ febrile symptoms from over-exertion,”—an auto- 
infective fever of short duration—he would have suf- 
fered from a febrile intoxication more complete, more 
persistent, and more serious. He would in all probabi- 
lity have developed a form of typhus, such as has been 
known to occur in soldiers on a long and harassing 
march, of which there are many instances in the 
European campaigns of the latter half of the last and 
beginning of the present century. 
But in the typhus of armies another important factor 
(besides over exertion) intervenes which must also be 
reckoned with, and that is “the massing together of 
large bodies of troops, and all that must result from 
this. Hence the typhusation of one man by the many 
comes into play; and this having taken place, there is 
no reason why the subject in whom a fever generates 
may not communicate it to his neighbour.” In this 
connection it is further worthy of note that an alka- 
loid resembling atropine in its action has been separ- 
ated by Sonnenschein and Zuelzer from decomposing 
animal matter; and that this alkaloid has also been TYPHUS FEVER OF CAMPS. 
found in the bodies of persons dying from typhus 
fever.* 
And further in relation to tissue waste it is not to be 
forgotten that the products of the functional activity of 
an organ are not only poisonous to itself, but may be 
poisonous to other organs. Thus the waste products of 
muscular activity gradually poison the muscle and 
prevent its contractions. Lactic acid which is a pro- 
duct of muscular waste is poisonous not only to muscle, 
but to some extent to nerves, while it also lessens the 
functional activity of the brain and produces sleep. 
Making all due allowance, therefore, for the massing 
together of men in large bodies, we may recognise how 
in this way the typhus of armies and camps may under 
special conditions originate and spread. 
It is therefore scarcely possible to escape the convic- 
tion that there exists a morbid or pathological series of 
ailments which naturally lead from the simple form of 
“fatigue fever” or “fever of prostration” (such as after 
a long march) up to that of the more deadly typhus, 
which is thus the highest expression of the poisoning of 
the organism by itself or by contact with others under 
conditions such as are now referred to.f 
The military medical officers of former days were wont 
to recognise this form of typhus spontaneously developing 
itself in the continental campaigns. Its origin, they did 
not doubt, recognised prolonged fatigue, over crowding, 
and privation generally as antecedent factors in its 
causation; and they no more questioned its appearing 
spontaneously than its contagiousness. Observation 
* "Pharmacology and Therapeutics,” by Dr. Lauder B run ton, 
p. 81. 
t Dr. A. M. Brown, loc. cit. THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
and experience alike forced them to admit the view 
(once recognised as inconsistent) that such fevers might 
he at once spontaneous in origin and contagious as to 
propagation. 
What is true of “fatigue fever” and of “typhus 
fever,” is equally true as regards typhoid. Military 
medical officers alike in India, in Egypt, and in the 
Soudan, have of late been convinced of its occasional 
spontaneous origin; as physicians in civil life have 
been not less convinced in this country. And we all 
know that under certain circumstances it too is conta- 
gious. 
Hence the existence of a typhoid, (as well as of a 
typhus) morbid or pathological series of ailments must 
be recognised—a series in which ordinary typhoid fever 
stands between the simple fever of over-taxation and 
orthodox typhus—and this vitiation of the system may 
be from without or from within. Auto-infection may 
start the epidemic or the inhalation of morbific organic 
emanations, of either of which we as yet know nothing, 
beyond the fact that whatever may be the source or 
combination of the etiological factors, the concurrence 
of their action is recognised in the stupor or rv<pos 
which is so characteristic of the clinical aspect of the 
patient, and which gives the name to this condition. 
In connection with the formation and elimination of 
waste products, we may also notice (before leaving this 
part of the subject) that all throughout the body there 
are most elaborate arrangements for removing waste 
products. In the muscles the fascia which surrounds 
them forms a pumping arrangement, because of the 
two layers of which it consists being separated from 
each other at each muscular relaxation and pressed REMOVAL OF WASTE-PRODUCTS. 
25 
together at each contraction.The lymph and the 
waste products which it contains are thus actually 
pumped out of the muscles at each contraction and 
sent onwards into the large lymph spaces and lymph 
channels, so that muscular action of itself alone re- 
moves waste products. At the same time the move- 
ments of the muscles of the arm and leg will also pump 
out blood from the veins sending it onwards from the 
hands and feet and so pressing it to the trunk. This 
was a well-understood physiological phenomenon in the 
days when bleeding from the arm was a usual practice 
in the spring and fall of the year ; when the apprentice 
of those days requested the patient to manipulate the 
lancet case in his hand, or when he was made to 
twist about the “barber’s pole” when barbers did 
that then conventional operation. The movements 
of the muscles, thereby secured, caused the blood 
to flow upwards through the veins, so that a full 
and satisfactory outflow into the basin was obtained. 
The movements of the abdomen and thorax in the acts 
of respiration secure a similar pumping arrangement, 
by which any excess of serous fluid, which bathes the 
intestines and lungs, is pumped out of the peritoneal 
and pleural cavities by the action of respiration. 
These movements also indirectly influence the removal 
of waste products from the brain and spinal cord. 
These are further aided by the stimulus of mental ac- 
tivity, so that when the brain is over worked and the re- 
spiration and muscular movements are under worked 
cerebral nutrition comes to be diminished by the imper- 
fect removal of waste products from its substance. Its 
* Ludwig’s “ Genersicb," p. 53, Ludwig’s “Arbeiten,” 1870, in 
Brunton, loc. cit., pp. 250 and 332. 26 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
cells and fibres may be still further poisoned by the 
circulation within the vessels which supply them with 
blood full of noxious substances due to imperfect 
digestion and assimilation. 
For all these conditions abstinence from food is the 
best remedy, and especially abstinence from alcoholic 
liquors. It is in the well fed who have little exercise 
and in whom inadequacy of the function of liver, 
kidney and other organs, generally prevail, that the 
symptoms of lassitude and sinking after meals are 
mostly seen, and which Dr. Lauder Brunton justly 
regards as a condition of poisoning, “ both on account 
of the time of its occurrence during the absorption of 
the digestive products, and by reason of the peculiar 
symptoms, namely, of a sense of weight in the arms 
and legs,” as if they were lumps of lead. These are 
symptoms which resemble the effect produced by a 
poison like “ curare,” the action of a paralyser or 
depressant of motor nerves or centres. The recent 
researches just referred to render it very probable that 
peptones are the poisonous agents in these cases—a 
conclusion confirmed by Dr. Lauder Brunton’s obser- 
vation that “ the weakness and languor are apparently 
less after meals consisting of farinaceous food only.” • 
So much for the clinical phenomena associated with 
the cumulative action of the unknown “ extractives,” 
the result of physiological metabolism. 
Let us now consider the phenomena in relation to 
“ animal alkaloid poisoning,” that is to cases in which 
hypothermia predominates. 
In Germany the typical condition is known by the 
name of “ botulism,"1 a form of poisoning which results 
from the ingestion of putrefying meats. ABSORPTION OF PTOMAINES. 
27 
Such ailments of flesh or meat origin are in reality 
the products of dead animal matter. So long as the 
meat is fresh it may be wholesome ; if in process of 
putrefaction it ceases to be so, and both Selmi and 
Gautier have shown that it is by reason of such putre- 
fying meats containing cadaveric alkaloids—the “ pto- 
maines ”—that it becomes deleterious. Further, when 
a solution of peptone is treated with potash and ether, 
it yields a body which appears to be a volatile alkaloid, 
and if putrid peptone is treated in the same way a solid 
non-volatile alkaloid is obtained.* 
But “ ptomaines ” are not only found in dead bodies, 
they are also found in the intestines by the decomposi- 
tion of parts of its contents. They have been found in 
large quantities by Bouchard, both in the stools of 
persons suffering from diarrhoea or typhoid fever, and 
in normal faeces. They appeared to be absorbed by the 
intestine into the blood, and excreted by the urine. 
Thus, they have been found by Bouchard in the urine, 
both in health and disease, and Bocci has shown that 
the human urine has a paralysing action on frogs like 
that of curare or of the “ ptomaines,” which Mosso and 
Guareschi have obtained from putrefied fibrine or 
brain, + Some time ago Dr. L. Brunton pointed out 
the resemblance between the languor and weakness 
which occur in many cases of indigestion, and the 
symptoms of poisoning by curare, and drew attention 
to the probability that the languor was due to the effect 
of poisonous substances absorbed from the intestine. 
These he considered to be probably peptones, but they 
♦ Tanret, “ Comptes Rendua,” xcii., 1163, quoted by Bruntou, loc. 
cit., p. 351. 
t Dr. L. Brunton, loc. cit.} p. 351. 28 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
may be “ ptomaines,” and whichsoever they may be, 
the function of the liver is of importance in preventing 
them from reaching the circulation. This large gland 
prevents the passage of injurious substances from the 
intestinal canal into the blood.* 
Thus, the albuminoids seem to undergo the same 
changes in the intestine as they do in artificial putre- 
faction brought about outside the body, so that if the 
chyme is retained overlong in the small intestine, the 
aromatic products of albuminoid putrefaction will 
gather in excessive quantity; and these various aro- 
matic products of the putrefaction of albumen are 
equally well obtained, whether it is set up by the 
addition of sewer-mud or of pancreas ferment, f The 
same series of changes may also be set up in putrid 
pleurisy, stagnating secretions of the bronchi, in pul- 
monary gangrene, and in balanitis. (Brieger). 
Thus, the system generally may come to suffer by 
absorption into the blood of such soluble products 
of decomposition as the “ ptomaines ” may supply, 
unorganised chemical substances poisoning the system. 
But, as it has been shown that the liver has a most impor- 
tant function, namely, that (amongst others) of destroy- 
ing the poisonous properties of peptones and perhaps 
of “ ptomaines,” and other substances produced during 
digestion, and possibly also of the poisonous products 
of waste tissue, any combination of factors which 
interferes for any length of time with such normal 
functions as are exercised by this (the largest gland 
* “ Indigestion as a Cause of Nervous Depression/’ Practitioner, 
vol. xxv., Oct. and Nov. 1880. 
t “ General Pathological Anatomy,” Zeigler, translated by Dr. 
D. MacAlister, vol. i., p. 276—281. ABSORPTION OF PTOMAINES. 
29 
in the body) may prove rapidly fatal, or at any rate 
induce very serious ailments. 
Tracing the origin of an epidemic of purging and 
vomiting among soldiers in the Punjaub, Mr. Frith 
obtained from some suspected milk a crystalline sub- 
stance of unpleasant odour and taste, which com- 
municated similar symptoms to men and dogs. Pure 
milk after standing for two months yielded the same 
substance. So also C. Gram obtained from lactates of 
the bases of the ptomaines—from putrid meats when 
exposed to heat—poisonous results. 
These facts seem to illustrate the ready formation 
of poisonous ptomaines from milk.* 
In looking therefore at the clinical evidence and 
symptoms of the action of the ptomaines and leuco- 
maines, we must recognise in them the results of 
“indigestion as a cause of nervous depression.”! 
Sleeplessness, drowsiness, and languor, are the 
symptoms which are associated with such indigestion. 
It would then seem “that the vital processes are more 
readily arrested by the accumulation of waste products 
within the organs of the body, than by any want of 
nutriment to the organs themselves.” 
“We are now also completely alive to the important 
results produced by the absorption from the intestinal 
canal of poisonous matters introduced from without; but 
we are not yet sufficiently alive to the important results 
produced from absorption by the intestinal canal of 
substances generated in it by fermentation or imperfect 
digestion. We recognise the danger of breathing gas 
* The Lancet, 1887, vol. i., p. 213. 
f Dr. L. Brunton in Practitioner, vol. xx., Oct, and Nov., 1880. THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
from a sewer, but probably we do not sufficiently 
realise that noxious gases may be produced in the 
intestine; and, being absorbed from it into the circu- 
lation, may produce symptoms of poisoning. And yet 
we know from recorded observation that such is the 
case, and that one at least of the chief components of 
sewer gas, namely, sulphuretted hydrogen, may be 
produced in the intestine. This gas, which is so readily 
recognised by its smell resembling rotten eggs, was 
found by Du mar quay0 to be very quickly absorbed 
indeed from the intestine when injected into the rectum, 
and to be quickly excreted from the lungs, sometimes 
appearing to produce, during its elimination, an in- 
flammation of the trachea and bronchi. This was 
especially the case when small quantities were injected, 
and it seems not improbable that the production of this 
gas in the intestines may have something to do with 
the bronchitis which is not unfrequently observed in 
connection with digestive disturbances. In cases of 
indigestion this gas seems to be not unfrequently found, 
because persons often complain of the taste of rotten 
eggs in the mouth or in the eructations. Even in 
small quantities it is not improbable that it may exert 
a deleterious influence both upon the nervous system 
and upon the blood ; for it is a powerful poison, some- 
what resembling hydrocyanic acid in its action. It 
is a powerful protoplasmic poison.”f Butyric acid 
which is also formed in the stomach in some cases 
of indigestion, has been shown by 0. Weber to be a 
powerful poison, acting chiefly on the nervous system. 
“It seems probable, however,” as Dr. Brunton ob- 
* “ Comptes Eendus,” ix., p. 724. 
t Dr. T. Lauder Brunton, “ Disorders of Digestion,” p. 240, ABSORPTION OF DIGESTIVE J PICES. 
serves, “ that the substances, both gaseous and solid, 
formed in the stomach and absorbed from it, are upon 
the whole less poisonous in cases of indigestion than 
those which are produced lower down in the intestinal 
canal. We often find that patients are affected with 
severe gastric disorder without any affection of the 
nerve-centres, beyond the weakness produced by the 
inability to digest food ; while in many persons the 
mere omission to evacuate the contents of the bowels 
at the usual time will lead to a headache in the course 
of the day which it is quite possible may be due to 
the absorption of some of the elements of the faecal 
matter itself.” Nor do we know at present what may 
be the effects of the absorption of the various digestive 
juices themselves and the ferments they contain, of the 
bile, of the gastric juice and pepsine, of the pancreatic 
juice and pancreatine, and of the “ succus entericus.” 
That absorption of these juices takes place there can be 
little doubt. It has been demonstrated with regard to 
the bile that it is absorbed with great rapidity from the 
intestine, and re-excreted by the liver, so that ifc may 
not pass into the general circulation at all. Pepsine 
on the other hand finds its way in minute quantities 
through the liver, and has been discovered in various 
tissues of the body and in the urine. So also with the 
pancreatic fluid; but with regard to mere absorbed 
digestive fluids, Dr. Lauder Brunton has pointed out 
that “it seems not unlikely that the liver has got 
another function (besides those usually assigned to it) 
namely, that of preventing the digestive ferments from 
reaching the general circulation so as to act upon the 
tissues.” If therefore this function should ever be in 
abeyance, then we may expect to have deleterious re- 32 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
suits. There is no doubt also that the products of 
intestinal digestion undergo very remarkable changes 
in the liver, as shown by the formation from them of 
very large quantities of “glycogen,” a substance which 
does not exist in the products of the gastric and in- 
testinal digestion which reach the liver. Under ordi- 
nary circumstances in health, nearly the whole of the 
sugar formed in the intestine and absorbed from it, is 
arrested in the liver, so that very little ought to pass 
into the general circulation to be excreted by the 
kidneys. 
But albuminous substances, the products of intestinal 
digestion, and peptones also, occasionally make their 
appearance in the urine, and the products of nitro- 
genous waste frequently occur in the form of lithates in 
the urine, any excess of which indicates some patho- 
logical condition, however trivial it may seem to be. 
These may also appear in the urine after excessive 
or violent muscular exertion, accompanied by profuse 
sweating, so that they may possibly represent some of 
the products of muscular waste. On the other hand 
they also may occur in the urine in large quantities 
after slight indiscretions in diet, although no muscular 
exertion has been gone through. They can then only 
represent the products of the imperfect assimilation of 
nitrogenous matters which ought to have been eli- 
minated not in the form of urates but of urea. But as 
physiological experiment and observation indicate that 
the liver is the chief, if not the only part, of the body 
in the healthy state in which urea is formed, the old 
notion which connects the appearance of lithates in the 
urine with disordered function of the liver, is probably 
in a great measure a correct notion still. Their ALBUMINOUS PRODUCTS IN URINE. 
33 
presence indicates defective assimilation, so that they 
may be accompanied by the formation of other sub- 
stances which have a much more pernicious action. 
“ Hence, the importance of the functions of the liver in 
reference to assimilation is now generally recognised; 
although for a long time this, the largest gland in the 
body, was considered to have no other function than 
simply to secrete bile.” The greatest care appears to 
have been taken in the construction of the liver to 
prevent the bile coming in contact with the blood, or 
entering the general circulation ; and the effect of bile 
acids circulating in the blood (as shown by physiological 
experiments) is to depress the functions of the spinal 
cord, to impair and lessen the functions of the brain, 
producing drowsiness, ending in coma; and to weaken 
the circulation by paralysing the cardiac ganglia.0 
Dr. Lauder Brunton has further shown that certain 
albuminous products of intestinal digestion and pep- 
tones occasionally make their appearance in the urine. 
Amongst the former is an albuminous substance not 
precipitated by boiling, but by nitric acid in the cold. 
This substance Dr. Brunton observed in the urine of a 
healthy man after he had drunk a large quantity of 
strong beef-tea at a draught on an empty stomach ; 
and in examining the beef-tea a similar albuminous 
substance was found in it. In this case the albumen 
seemed to be so rapidly absorbed from the stomach or 
intestines, that it passed without change through the 
portal system into the general circulation, and thus 
reached the kidneys where it was excreted in much the 
same way as sugar would have been under similar 
• Wickham Legg, “Bile, Jaundice, and Bilious Diseases,” p. 
207-216, 217. 34 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
circumstances.* Under certain conditions therefore, 
of impaired functions of the liver especially, beef-tea 
and such like products may be actually injurious, so 
that the products of muscular waste (which really con- 
stitute the chief portion of beef-tea or beef-essence), 
may under certain circumstances be actually poisonous, 
and to this poisonous property the stimulant action of 
beef-tea may be due in the first instance, and its 
administration, like that of alcohol, may in some cases 
be overdone, and the patient weakened instead of 
strengthened. “In many cases of nervous depression 
we find a feeling of weakness and prostration coming 
on during digestion, and becoming so very marked 
about the second hour after a meal, and at the very 
time when its absorption is going on, that we can 
hardly do otherwise than ascribe it to actual poisoning 
by digestive products absorbed into the circulation.” 
And from observation of a number of cases, Dr, Brunton 
came to the conclusion that the languor and faintness 
of which many patients complained, and which oc- 
curred about eleven and four o’clock, was due to the 
actual poisoning by the products of digestion of break- 
fast and lunch. 
Since these observations of Dr. Brunton, experimental 
data have shown that the products of digestion were 
actually poisonous in themselves, so that Dr. Brunton’s 
conclusions from clinical observation have been con- 
firmed by experiments made in the physiological and 
pathological laboratories of Albertoni, of Genoa, and by 
Dr. Schmidt-Miihlheim, in Professor Ludwig’s labora- 
tory at Leipsic. By these observers it has been shown 
that peptones have the power of completely destroying 
the coagulability of the blood in dogs; and but little 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, “Disorders of Digestion,” p. 247. PEPTONES DIFFER. 
35 
power in this respect over the blood of rabbits and 
sheep ; and so far as experiments go, it would seem 
that peptones prevent the coagulability of the blood in 
carnivora and not in herbivora. Under Professor 
Ludwig’s direction of experiments it has been found 
that when peptones are injected into the circulation by 
a vein, they greatly depress the circulation, so that the 
blood pressure falls very considerably; and when the 
quantity injected is large they produce a condition of 
sleepiness, complete arrest of the secretion by the 
kidneys, convulsions and death. 
From these experiments it is evident that the normal 
products of digestion are poisons of no inconsiderable 
power; and that if, through inadequacy of organic 
functions they reach the general circulation in large 
quantities, they may produce very alarming, if not dan- 
gerous, symptoms. 
Practically the nature of peptones has still to be 
investigated. It has been usual to consider them all 
as one and the same, out of whatever digestive ferment 
they may have come. But it is quite possible that the 
peptones differ as much from each other as different 
kinds of sugar differ.’* Usually they disappear from 
the blood before it reaches the general circulation, and 
even in the portal blood before it reaches the liver, very 
little, if any, peptone is found; but it is not yet known 
where peptones undergo changes. Some regard the 
liver as the seat of their transformation, which may 
to some extent prevent any peptones from getting into 
the general circulation, which may have escaped trans- 
formation in the portal blood before reaching it. 
(Brunton, Schmidt-Muhlheim, Albertoni). 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 248. 36 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
Another phase of the clinical evidence and symptoms 
of the action of the ptomaines and leucomaines must 
be recognised in “ the poisons formed from food, and 
their relation to biliousness and diarrhoea.”* 
The poisonous alkaloids formed from various sorts of 
proteid elements in food decomposition, produce sym- 
ptoms and sensation of discomfort which are referable 
partly to the digestion and partly to the nervous system, 
and at periods varying from a few hours after the food 
which disagrees, or after it has been in use and con- 
tinued for several days. With some eggs and milk 
when so continued in a monotony of diet, are thus apt 
to cause an unpleasant taste in the mouth, general 
discomfort and frontal headache; or after persevering 
in such diet for some two or three days, the appetite 
becomes impaired, the intellect becomes less clear, the 
conjunctivse slightly yellow, headache sets in, and the 
discomfort may culminate in an attack of vomiting or 
diarrhoea—preceded or not by constipation, on account 
of which eggs and milk are popularly believed to be 
“binding,” as to the function of defecation. But 
although we do not yet know the bearing of these well 
known observations and popular beliefs on the patho- 
logy of disease, Dr. Lauder Brunton has shown that 
“ the cardinal fact which results from all these re- 
searches is that the “ proteid substances,” such as 
albumen, fibrine and gelatine, which are themselves 
foods, become split up so as to yield the poisonous 
“ptomaines" or “leucomaines,” and that such poisonous 
products may be brought about by the digestive fer- 
ments of the healthy body, or by the metabolism which 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, “ The Practitioner,” vol. xxxv., August, 
September, October, 1885, also “Disorders of Digestion,” p. 275. MUSCARINE-LIKE POISONS. 
goes on during the normal physiological processes of 
life. It also appears that these self-generated poisons 
vary not only according to the particular body which 
is decomposed, hat to the particular ferment which sets 
up decomposition, to the temperature at which it occurs, 
and to the length of time it continues. The process 
may also he much modified by other factors, such as the 
quantity of moisture in the albuminous substance itself, 
or in the atmosphere generally; also by electrical at- 
mospheric conditions, such as those which occur during 
or after a thunderstorm, when meat as well as milk 
often becomes “tainted” during the electrical con- 
ditions, when “thunder” is said to be “in the air.”’3 
Vomiting and purging are among the most charac- 
teristic symptoms of poisoning by the putrefactive 
alkaloids; but the most marked symptoms which the 
poisonous ptomaines and leucomaines produce (such as 
neurine, muscarine and choline) are salivation, diar- 
rhoea and vomiting; dyspnoea, paralysis and death. 
They seem to stimulate the secretion of glandular 
organs, for along with salivation there comes a flow of 
tears, and the secretion of the bronchial mucus becomes 
more abundant and fluid as shown by the occurrence 
of moist rales within the chest. They also render the 
heart’s beats slow and weak, and one of the most 
marked characteristics in the action of these poisons, is 
the effect of “ atropine” as an antidote to them ; and 
Dr. Lauder Brunton regards paleness of the face as a 
symptom which indicates the presence of a muscarine- 
like poison in addition to one like atropine, in which 
the skin is scarlet, the muscarine-like poison predomin- 
ates. The existence of a muscarine-like poison is still 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 279. 38 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
further indicated by the presence of diarrhoea, alternat- 
ing with constipation and colic ; the pulse slow, small 
and almost imperceptible—a condition which Brunton 
considers typical of muscarine poisoning; while in 
atropine poisoning “ the pulse is rapid from the complete 
paralysis of the inhibitory fibres in the vagus, which 
the poison produces.”* 
“It is possible” therefore “that instead of there 
being two or more poisons having a partly antagonistic 
action, there may be only one having an action resem- 
bling atropine in some respects and muscarine in 
others. In some cases of poisoning by fish, the symp- 
toms have resembled those of poisoning by atropine; 
namely, dryness of the month, difficulty of swallowing, 
weight of the limbs, paralysis of the superior and infer- 
ior recti and of the oblique muscles of the eyes, as well 
as ptosis and paralysis of accommodation, dilatation of 
the pupil and double vision ; but the pulse was not 
quickened as in poisoning by pure atropine. 
The alkaloid obtained by Y. Anrep from poisonous 
fish produces similar symptoms to those caused by the 
fish itself; and in like manner the alkaloid obtained 
from poisonous cheese (tyrotoxican) produces symptoms 
similar to those caused by the cheese. 
If these alkaloids were obtainable in a state of perfect 
purity we should be obliged to regard them as having 
an action similar to atropine in many respects, but 
differing from it in respect to their action on the pulse. 
But there are many vegetable alkaloids hitherto sup- 
posed to be pure, which have been shown recently to 
be mixed with others having a perfectly opposite action; 
hence we may regard it as probable that the symptoms 
* Loc. cit., p. 286. SPECIFIC ACTION OF MYDALEIN. 
39 
of poisoning by sausages, fish, cheese, and the like 
may be due to a mixture of the alkaloids.0 
In cases of poisoning by the ptomaines having a 
purely atropine-like action, the administration of phy- 
sostigma either by application to the eye, or by sub- 
cutaneous injection is that which is indicated and 
which has been adopted in one case at least (Brunton). 
The presence of choline, neurine, or muscarine, may 
be made manifest by the production of diarrhoea, alter- 
nating with constipation, in the presence of an antago- 
nistic atropine-like poison. If, however, they are 
present alone, the symptoms most likely to be produced 
are salivation, vomiting, purging, and collapse, accord- 
ing to the amount of the poison. 
Atropine as a remedy has been found to do good in 
a case of muscarine-like poisoning from unwholesome 
food (Brunton). 
Of the alkaloids isolated by Brieger from human 
cadavers in certain stages of decomposition two of them 
have been proven to possess a powerful physiological 
action. One of these when injected into the veins of 
guinea-pigs, or rabbits, appeared to affect the intestine 
alone; and to have no action on any of the other 
organs. It caused an enormous increase in the peri- 
staltic action of the bowels, which lasted for several days 
and the continuous diarrhoea led to extreme weakness 
of the animals. 
The other alkaloid, which Brieger has named “ my- 
dalein,” has a still more marked physiological action 
of much clinical interest, inasmuch as we find hyper- 
thermia is amongst its symptoms. Its physiological 
action is specific. When a very minute quantity is 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 287. 40 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
injected into guinea-pigs or rabbits, salivation sets in, 
nasal secretion is increased, and a copious flow of 
tears occurs. The pupils become dilated, the vessels 
of the ear much injected, and the rectal temperature 
rises from 1° to 2° per cent. The pupils gradually dilate 
to the maximum and cease to react to light. The coat 
of the animal becomes staring; and sometimes they 
tremble. Gradually the salivation diminishes, the 
respiration and pulse become slower, temperature falls 
and the animal recovers. Larger doses—to the extent 
of Jg- of a grain (under half a centigramme)—are 
always fatal, and their action exceedingly violent. 
Many, but not all of these symptoms occur in men in 
consequence of poisoning from decomposing food, or 
from disease; and it is possible that the occurrence of 
some symptoms and not of others may be due to the 
occurrence in disease of alkaloids allied to mydalein, 
although not identical with it, or to the presence of two 
or more alkaloids which partially neutralise each other’s 
effects.* 
Although, however, positive evidence may be as yet 
wanting as to the formation of alkaloids within the 
body; it is highly probable that a formation of alka- 
loids such as has been described does occur in the 
intestine, because it has been found that such alkaloids 
are formed in the freshly voided faeces. On this point we 
have further clinical evidence furnished by Dr. Lauder 
Brunton when he says:—“No one who has watched 
cases of acute disease, such as pneumonia, can have 
failed to see how a rise of temperature sometimes coin- 
cides with the occurrence of constipation, and is 
removed by opening the bowels. In the case of such 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 289. STERCORJEMIA. 
41 
an acute disease as pneumonia, one lias hitherto been 
unable to say definitely why constipation should pro- 
duce this rise of temperature, but it seems not impro- 
bable that it may be due to the absorption from the 
intestine of some ptomaines (or to the retention of some 
of the unknown extractives which ought to have been 
eliminated). In his work on “ Purgative Medicines ” 
also, Hamilton says that in cases of typhus fever the 
administration of an antirnonial remedy was beneficial 
only when it moved the belly. In this case the feces 
were black and foetid, and generally copious. On the 
discharge of these, the low delirium, tremor, fioccitatio, 
and subsultus tendinum which had prevailed were 
abated; the tongue which had been dry and furred, 
became moist and cleaner; and a feeble creeping pulse 
acquired a firmer beat.>|: 
Bouchard has still further shown the poisonous effects 
of ptomaines in the body as productive of disease in the 
fact that he has shown that the poisonous activity of 
human feces is very great even when they are quite 
healthy; and that a substance has been obtained from 
them by dialysis capable of producing violent convul- 
sions when administered to rabbits. And Bouchard 
has come to the conclusion that the alkaloids formed in 
the intestine of a healthy man in twenty-four hours 
would be quite sufficient to kill him if they were all 
absorbed and excretion stopped. When the functions 
of the kidneys are impaired so that secretion is stopped, 
uraemia occurs; and when excretion is similarly in abey- 
ance from the intestines, Bouchard would describe the 
condition by the name of stercorcemia, believing that it 
is due to alkaloids absorbed from the intestines; and he 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 288. 42 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
is further of opinion that the nervous disturbances 
which occur in cases of dyspepsia and in dilatation of 
the stomach are due to poisoning by the ptomaines. 
That alkaloids are present in the circulating blood, is 
shown by the fact that they are separated from it by 
the kidneys, and are found in the urine ; and according 
to Lepine and Guerin the poisons contained in the 
urine in different diseases differ in their physiological 
action. The extract obtained from the urine in cases 
of typhoid fever produced in frogs increased reflex 
action and death after three hours, the heart being 
usually found in a state of diastole. In cases of pneu- 
monia the urine had a similar action, except that the 
heart was found in a more or less contracted state, 
varying with the severity of the case from which the 
urine and its poison had been obtained. 
Hence there appears to be little doubt that the 
amount of ptomaines formed in the body in disease is 
greater than it is in health ; and very probably they 
are of a different character, possibly varying with the 
disease. 
Most of the alkaloids which have been obtained by 
the decomposition of albumen appear to belong to the 
leucomaines of the “muscarine” type; and to have a 
tendency to cause diarrhoea; although some appear to 
belong also to the “ atropine ” type, which to a certain 
extent counteracts the effects due to “ muscarine.” 
In the peculiar condition called “Kussmaul’s coma,” 
or “ diabetic coma,” we have another example of the 
self-infection of the system, or autochthonous evolution 
of disease by the formation of poisonous compounds 
within the body. It is an evolution, however, which is 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 290. ACTION OF ACETONE ON BLOOD. 
shewn to be not peculiar to diabetes, but occurs in per- 
nicious anaemia and in the typhoid states, presumably 
through some (as yet unknown) chemical decomposition 
occurring within the body, and affecting the blood or 
other fluids. It has been described under the name 
of “ acetoncemia” in the belief that it is due to “ acetone ” 
in the blood. The condition certainly betokens a sud- 
denly spontaneous self-infection process and usually 
a rapid death. The blood is pale and cream-like, or 
like grumous pus. It does not clot, but on exposure 
to the air it becomes pink and brighter in colour—of a 
magenta-like tinge. The microscope shows the creamy 
condition to be due, not to fat, but to the presence of 
a large quantity of molecular matter, which does not 
dissolve in ether. 
The action of acetone on healthy blood is found to be 
similar* The blood corpuscles break down into granu- 
lar debris; and such destructive effects of acetone on the 
blood accounts for such symptoms as great dyspnoea 
and cyanosis ; for the blood cells are so destroyed that 
they are no longer able to absorb and fix oxygen. In 
1857 Fetters and Kaulich showed that acetone was 
developed in the blood of diabetics, as well as in 
chronic affections of the stomach and digestive organs, 
such as chronic gastric catarrh. The state of aceto- 
nemia of various forms brings about great depression 
of the whole nervous system; and the source of the 
acetone is probably from the alcoholic and acetous 
fermentation of the grape sugar, and possibly of other 
organic matters in the stomach in catarrhal condi- 
tions.! Acetone has also been found in the blood 
* “British Medical Journal” for 1878, p. 79. Foster and Saundby. 
t Bechamp, “Compt. Rendus,” 1872. 44 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
and in the solid organs of patients dead of diabetic 
coma,* It has also been found in the urine; and 
is often developed in the urine after it has been 
passed.f 
In such blood poisoning there is great muscular 
feebleness; the pulse is quickened; and deep slow 
breathing is induced like that of alcoholic poisoning, 
followed by coma and anaesthesia. Suddenly the 
chronic poisoning takes on an acute form like delirium 
tremens\ when death ensues. 
In view of the extraordinary activity of some of these 
alkaloids—the ptomaines and leucomaines—we cannot 
wonder at the violent symptoms which sometimes occur 
after the use of tainted meat, nor even at the extra- 
ordinary poisonous action of eggs in some persons; 
and it is probable that the diarrhoea and vomiting 
which are characteristic symptoms of such poisoning 
may be due to the decomposition of the proteid ele- 
ments of such food in the intestinal canal itself. 
Thus it comes to pass that a typically morbid or 
pathological series of phenomena have been seen to 
follow the ingestion of various “ animal alkaloids ; ” 
characterised especially by choleraic diarrhoea, vomit- 
ing, cramps, algidity and the like, presumably induced 
by the “ ptomaines ” which have been elaborated from 
the articles of animal diet in progressive stages of de- 
composition. Hypothermia also predominates in such 
cases, precisely such as may be observed in poisoning 
by tartar-emetic or arsenic. In cholera similar pheno- 
* Berti, “London Medical Record,” 1874. 
t Foster, loc. cit., and Kussmaul. 
J Ziemssen’s “Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine,” vol. xvi., Art, 
“ Diabetes.” SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF DISEASE. 
45 
mena are characteristic, diminished temperature and 
algidity accompanying the digestive troubles. 
May we not therefore recognise in these affections 
the evidence of poisoning by a toxic alkaloid, or alka- 
loid of purifaction ; and that certain nutritive ingesta 
may give rise to the formation of such toxic alkaloids ? 
“ Hence it is no great stretch of scientific license for 
us to recognise or trace in pathology a very natural 
series of morbid phenomena or ailments starting from 
the ‘ botulism’ of the Germans up to Asiatic Cholera.”* 
We are also justified in holding that there are in 
pathology morbid series of ailments as legitimate as 
those natural series of things with which we are fami- 
liar in Chemistry, Geology, Paleontology, or Botany. 
Variation and gradation are the rule in Nature, alike in 
Pathology, as in other departments of Natural Science; 
and in recognising the fact that the “animal alkaloids” 
can be elaborated by the spontaneous physiological 
processes of life, I am once more brought to the conclu- 
sion I attempted to expound two years ago, namely : 
that in facts such as I have detailed in these pages we 
have additional evidence that “ The Doctrine of Evolu- 
tion is capable of explaining the origin of some dis- 
eases.”! 
We must also ever keep in view the circumstance 
that diseases are not “ entities,” but morbid processes 
which are more or less slowly developed in the course 
of physiological life ; and to study them with success 
we must take that broad view of Pathology which fully 
recognises in its investigations “ the never old, and the 
ever new.” 
* Dr. A. M. Brown, loc. cit. 
t “Glasgow Medical Journal,” 1886-1886. 46 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
But really there is nothing new under the sun. In 
this field of recent research which I have tried to open 
up to view in the preceding pages, and which I may 
have rashly described as new territory, I have only 
turned over a new leaf and opened up a new chapter 
in the Humoral Pathology of ancient days. And in so 
doing we once more bring to the aid of the Medicine 
of the present day the Pathology of the past, as has 
been often done before.* Humoralism we know is of 
very ancient date—old as the Grand Old Man of Cos; 
but it is still a fundamental principle in our healing 
art, which we are sometimes not only apt to forget but 
to ignore. 
In the view I have endeavoured to expound as to 
the antecedent factors which may combine to produce 
disease we cannot fail to recognise a partial return to 
Humoralism, seeing that poisoning or auto-infection 
by soluble animal alkaloids is in reality poisoning by 
an organic liquid which has undergone deterioration ;■)■ 
and that from the chemical demonstrations of Gautier, 
the clinical observations of Peter, and the critical ex- 
positions of Drs. A. M. Brown and Lauder Brunton, 
the doctrine of spontaneity is as true of health as of 
disease. 
Thus it is that our old traditional Medicine still 
continues to light up our path by brilliant gleams of 
truth. 
In recent years we have heard and read much as to 
the malignant and mysterious influence of “microbes,” 
“ bacteria,” “ bacilli,” and germs “ of sorts ” as causes 
of diseases. 
* Aifcken, “Science and Practice of Medicine,” 7th edit., vol. i., 
p. 40. 
t Dr. A. M. Brown, loc. cit. THE DOMAIN OF “ MICROBES.” 
47 
The pathological domain of these organisms has now 
become so far reaching in extent, that every form of 
disease seems bound to acknowledge some one or other 
form of microbe as the author of its being. But the 
only difference between these parasitic existences and 
those of former times (then believed to be equally po- 
tent) is that they are more minute, and require higher 
powers of the microscope to see them. This belief has 
given a great impetus to the improvement of optical 
instruments. Consequently also we have become aware 
of a greater number of minute and hitherto unperceived 
forms of parasitic organisms, some of which are set 
down as causes of certain forms of grave diseases, 
so that these “ bacterial ” affections are very widely 
diffused. But, as yet, no one has succeeded in making 
out the manner in which such microbes act, or the 
causal relation which exists between them and disease. 
“ The mere presence of such ‘ microbes ’ in the system 
cannot be described as disease. Disease only begins 
when, owing to the presence of ‘ the microbe,’ changes 
take place in the tissues of the organism which induce 
disturbances in their functions, and the detection of 
‘ microbes ’ in the diseased organism is but the first 
step towards the discovery of the cause of the disease 
and its mode of operation.”0 In other words the pre- 
sence of a microbe can but suggest an inquiry into 
these antecedent factors which have combined to bring 
about the disease or the morbid conditions favourable 
to the development of the “ microbe.” There is a 
great gap still to be filled up in the interval between the 
concurrent factors in the physiology of life which bring 
about disease, and the stamps which are left by diseases 
* Zeigler, loc. cit., pp. 1 and 2. 48 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
as evidence of their having existed, whether these be of 
a microbial character or in the cruder forms of well- 
known morbid anatomical changes. It may even lie 
beyond the powers of the anatomist to follow the pro- 
cesses of morphological change or of molecular trans- 
formations recognisable only by the chemist, to whom a 
region lies exposed to his peculiar means of research, 
which is as yet unexplored. 
Certain it is that molecular death precedes all evi- 
dence of the existence of the bacterial microbes ; and 
hence their diffusion is enormously wide. Matters on 
which they grow and thrive are found everywhere ; and 
therefore whenever dead organic substances are found, 
either in solution or with a certain amount of water, 
there also may bacteria be found. They are found in 
all waters, whether flowing or stagnant, in all liquids 
that can ferment or putrefy, and in all vegetable and 
animal tissues that are sufficiently moist. Organic 
matters, moisture and warmth go to favour their multi- 
plication, and we cannot avoid swallowing numbers of 
them with our food, and inhaling them with our breath. 
Bacterial invasion of the system may thus start from 
the mucous membrane 11 in special circumstances;” 
and it is “in these special circumstances” that we must 
recognise the antecedent unknown factors which com- 
bine to bring about the disease, and contribute to the 
conditions favourable to the existence of bacteria. 
“ They are unable to settle in a perfectly healthy body; 
they can only develope when the physico-chemical con- 
stitution of the tissues is morbidly altered so as to cor- 
respond with their requirements.” 
On the one hand therefore the “ microbes ” must be 
endowed with certain vital properties of a special kind ; “ MICROBES ” IN RELATION TO DISEASE. 
49 
and on the other there must be a predisposition of the 
system in a certain physico-chemical constitution of the 
tissues, so that they may find within the body, and in 
proper combinations all the conditions necessary for 
growth and development. 
It has also been determined by experiment that very 
slight chemical changes in the constitution of a tissue 
are enough to determine whether a given “microbe” 
can dev elope in it or not. A local lesion yielding the 
poisonous products of tissue necrosis or of wounds is 
one of the commonest and most obvious alterations, but 
there are many other instances in which the antecedent 
factors are as yet beyond our ken, either from their 
apparent slightness, or because they are not such as 
our tests can yet discover. All that is necessary is that 
the “microbe” should reach a spot that affords the 
conditions for its development. 
We are thus driven to the conclusion that at present 
the evidence regarding “ microbes ” tends to show 
that they are entirely post hoc as to their existence 
in relation to the antecedent factors of any particular 
disease. 
Therefore it appears to me that we have no need to 
call any form of microbes out of the “ vasty deep ” of their 
putrefactive abodes, or to set them up as the sole cause 
of any disease; for “it is not less interesting than it is 
pathologically gratifying to learn that the beautiful 
bio-chemical researches of Gautier, Peter and others, 
may help to emancipate us from the tyranny of be- 
lief in any microbial creed as the sole cause of any 
disease.”0 
Their researches amply explain the formation of 
* Dr. A. M. Brown, loc. cit. 50 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
poisonous animal alkaloids, and of still more poisonous 
extractive compounds—the x y z’s of morbid anatomy 
and pathology—by means alone of the physiological 
processes of life within our bodies which are continually 
at work. They show us that the living being is con- 
stantly manufacturing in his own tissues, agents which 
can produce disease and even death. Hence it must 
be admitted that “the living tissue elements of the 
body itself play a much more important part in the 
elaboration of septinous and allied poisons than what 
has been of late ordinarily ascribed to them.* How 
very interesting then becomes the study of the “ animal 
alkaloids ” and the “ extractives ” in their chemical, 
toxical, and pathological relations ; and particularly of 
the “ leucomaxnes ” and the “ extractives ” as they are 
found in the urine. Their variations in quantity and 
quality in that excretion as indications of varying con- 
ditions of health and disease call for the most search- 
ing methods of investigation with all the modern 
appliances of the day.f 
“ To my friend and colleague Professor de Chaumont 
I am indebted for the following method of determining 
(approximatively and by exclusion) the specific gravity 
of the “ extractives ” and other solid constituents of 
the urine, which he has kindly allowed me to pub- 
lish here. 
* T. R. Lewis, M.8., “Microscopic Organisms found in the Blood,” 
Calcutta, 18/9, p. 57, also, “Memorial Yolume of his Collected 
Works,” published by subscription and printed by Messrs. Hazell, 
Watson and Yiney, London, 1887. 
f See also Parkes “On the Urine”—a book which ought to be repub- 
lished by the New Sydenham Society. No other book on the urine 
sprpasses it in the scope, accuracy, and care with which the observa- 
tions have been made. DETERMINATION OF EXTRACTIVES. 
51 
The results are interesting and instructive, inasmuch 
as when the calculations from the daily amount of 
urine are regularly worked out and compared day by 
day, the method of thus estimating the constituents 
that go to make up the total solids and specific gravity 
furnishes an excellent check upon the chemical analysis. 
Professor de Chaumont’s method of procedure is 
as follows ; 
1. Collect measure and record the total quantity in 
cubic centimetres of the urine passed during twenty- 
four hours. Let it be 1850 cc. 
2. Note its specific gravity. Let it be 1023. 
3. Chlorides.—Determine their amount by noting 
how many cubic centimetres of standard nitrate of 
silver solution are required to precipitate the chlorine 
in 1 cc. of urine. The result multiplied by 1-65 (chlo- 
ride of sodium) gives the amount of chlorides, seeing 
that each cc. gives one of chlorine. 
If, for example, 1 cc. of this urine took 5*4 cc. of 
standard nitrate of silver solution, that multiplied by 
1-65 gives B*9l of chlorides per 1000 cc. 
4. Phosphates.—Similarly 50 cc. of this urine 
took 16 cc. of urasmic nitrate standard solution, equal 
I*6 of phosphoric acid per 1000, which multiplied by 
2 gives 3’20 as the amount of phosphates. 
5. Urea.—Similarly 10 cc. of this urine took 20 cc. 
of mercurial solution which is equal to 20 of urea 
per 1000. 
6. Glucose.—10 cc. of Fehling’s solution took 4-2 
of urine, equal 11-9 per 1000. 
Dr. de Chaumont has further calculated that the 
chlorides in solution give (by experiment) 8 degrees 
specific gravity for every 10 parts per 1000; that 52 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
phosphates give about 4 degrees for every 10 parts per 
1000; that urea gives 3 degrees specific gravity for 
every 10 parts per 1000; that glucose gives 4 degrees 
specific gravity for every 10 parts per 1000 ; the sul- 
phates give about 5 degrees ; and the sulphates may be 
assumed to be about half the amount of the phos- 
phates. 
Therefore make all these several multiplications ; add 
up the results and find the difference between the total 
and the excess of the specific gravity over 1000. 
Amount of Chlorides B’9l x *8 = 7-13 
„ ~ Phosphates 3-20 x *4 = I*2B 
~ ~ Sulphates 1-60 x-5 = 0-80 
„ „ Urea 20-00 x -3 = 6-00 
~ „ Glucose 11-90 x -3 = 4-76 
Total 19-97 
specific gravity due to solids less extractives 
The specific gravity of the total urine was found to 
be 1023 then 23-00—19*97 = 3-03 == the residue of the 
specific gravity which may be taken as representing the 
x, y, z’s (the unknown extractives). 
Assuming these to be at least equal to the weight of 
the glucose or other extractiform material, namely 4 
degrees specific gravity for 10 parts per 1000 of weight, 
dividing the result, therefore, by 4 will give the weight 
of the x, y, z's (the unknown extractives) approximately. 
Therefore 3 03 = residual specific gravity divided by 
4 = 7-58 per 1000 to be added on to the weight of the 
other things per 1000, thus giving 53*19 as the total 
solids per 1000. “EXTRACTIFORMBODIES” OBTAINABLE. 68 
The daily products would then appear in the follow- 
ing tabular form:— 
Urine (June, 1887) = 1850 cc., specific gravity, 1023. 
Per 1000 
Sp. Gr. 
Total in 
1850 cc. 
Chlorides 
8-91 
7-13 
16-48 
Phosphates .... 
320 
1-28 
5-92 
Sulphates .... 
1-60 
0-80 
2-96 
Urea 
20-00 
6-00 
37 00 
Glucose 
11-90 
4-76 
22-01 
Extractives .... 
T 58 
303 
14-02 
Total Solids . 
53-19 
23 00 
98-39 
Ratio of solids to specific gravity = = 2 31. 
JiO 
N.B. There is a source of error (not material) namely, 
that no allowance has been made for precipitated uric 
acid, as urates. 
But, when we consider how many conditions in- 
fluence the nature of the products of albuminous 
decomposition, we cannot be astonished to find that 
very different substances have been obtained by differ- 
ent experimenters. The chemical operations required 
to isolate the different products are so complicated and 
laborious that most experimenters have been satisfied 
with obtaining “ extractiform bodies,” and have not as. 
yet attempted to crystallise them.0 
* Dr. Lauder Brunton, loc. cit., p. 281. 54 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
To hunt for new forms of “ microbes ” is a compara- 
tively easy and perhaps an exciting form of “ sport ” ; 
but to determine the presence, the nature, the physio- 
logical effects, and the place in Pathology of the “ pto- 
maines,” the “ leucomaines,” and the “ extractives ” is a 
far more difficult (if it is a less exciting) investigation, 
because of the tedious and prolonged chemical processes 
that are required, and the subsequent experiments on 
the products. 
“ Scientific missions inspired in the interests of ‘germ 
pathology’ have visited India, Egypt, and Southern 
Europe in the quest of a specific microbe for cholera. 
They have all, however, signally failed. 
“ Dr. Koch, the chief of one of them, thought he had 
found the pathogermic entity of cholera ; but, con- 
fronted and constrained by facts, this eminent bacteri- 
ologist has felt himself obliged to admit that his 
‘ comma bacillus ’ does not directly engender the dis- 
ease ; but that it may do so indirectly by the interven- 
tion of a ‘ ptomaine ’ which it is supposed to secrete. 
But this implies two suppositions, namely:—(l) the 
existence of a specific bacillus which Koch has not yet 
discovered; ° (2) the supposition merely of the secretion 
of a ‘ ptomaine ’ by that bacillus which is just as far 
from being demonstrated.”l 
The attempt to reproduce the disease in animals by 
inoculation or otherwise by the supposed specific bacillus 
has failed; while the experiments and observations 
* Dr. A. M. Brown, loc. cit. 
t Transactions of a “Committee convened by the Secretary of 
State for India” to consider a Report by Drs. Klein and Gibbes* 
entitled “An inquiry into the etiology of Asiatic Cholera,” July, 
1885. Also Dr. Lewis in Lancet of Sep. 20th, 1884, p. 513. SCIENTIFIC MISSIONS. 
55 
hitherto made leave the question of the genesis of the 
disease quite unsettled.* At the same time “while 
some of the points of contention regarding microbes 
appear to be proved, others are only probable, and 
they are neither universally nor unconditionally ac- 
cepted. The exclusively causal agency of bacilli in the 
diseases with which they have been associated, although 
extremely plausible, is not conclusively proved; and a 
great number and variety of experiments of contrast are 
yet needed to satisfy a just scepticism.”* 
Another feature of these microbes which warrants 
continued scepticism is brought out very conspicuously 
in the attempts to photograph them, namely :—that 
they are all so much alike that no .distinguishing 
features exist amongst them for differentiation ; their 
family likenesses are so strikingly similar. 
The direct advantage of the scientific missions 
avowedly sent to discover “something” is very much 
open to question, and to doubt as to their usefulness. 
If one is sent to seek for some specific thing, there may 
be many and varied inducements to find it, or some- 
thing else which may meet the requirements of the 
mission. 
Discoveries are not made in this way. No single 
man has yet accomplished by himself any notable 
discovery—not even when he sat himself down more or 
less comfortably to seek for one. 
Discoveries have usually been the outcome of “ many 
thoughts of many minds,” working through many 
* “ Special Pathological Anatomy,” by Ziegler and Dr. D. Mac 
Alister, p. 290, Macmillan and Co. 
t Sir Andrew Clark, Bart., M.D., “Lumleian Lectures,” Lancet, 
April 4th, 1885. 56 
THE ANIMAL ALKALOIDS. 
cycles of time. Thus it is that discoveries are very 
slowly and as it were quite unconsciously elaborated— 
one man’s work preparing the way for advances towards 
ultimate discovery by another. 
But there is still another point to be noted as regards 
discoveries, namely:—That when discoveries are made 
it is not always easy to appreciate their value, or even 
to comprehend their significance, and far less to fore- 
cast the numerous and important results to which, in 
the future, they may lead. 
Time is therefore an important element in their evo- 
lution, their development, their influence and their 
powers of usefulness. 
Therefore it is that we may look forward with con- 
fidence to the future for much thoughtful work to help 
onwards those discoveries which have yet to come. 
Could we but climb some pathological Pisgah and 
be allowed to stand as Moses stood, whan he was per- 
mitted to view the promised land, we too might rejoice 
in the bright and certain prospect that there lays 
before us a great and glorious future for Pathology and 
for the Science and Practice of our Art. 
[Since these pages were printed, I have received from my friend 
Dr. A. M. Brown an early copy of a very exhaustive Treatise on 
Cadaveric Alkaloids and Ptomaines, in which he gives full details 
as to the methods devised and practised for extracting the cadaveric 
alkaloids; and as to the chemical properties of them, their physiolo- 
gical action, and place in scientific medicine ; concluding with a very 
complete Bibliographical list of the works which deal with this very 
interesting subject. Published by John Bale and Sons, Great 
Titchfield Street, W, 1887.] INDEX 
A BSORPTION of digestive 
juices, 31 
Absorption of ptomaines from in- 
testines, 27 
Acetonsemia, 42 
Acetone, effects on blood, 43 
Adenine, 12, 13 
Agaricus muscarius, 6 
Albuminous decomposition yields 
chemical poisons, 6 
Alkaline bases, physiological ac- 
tion of, 7 
Alkaloid, crystallizable from pu- 
trid meat, 4 
Alkaloid poison from supra-renal 
capsule, 5 
Alkaloids, animal, similar to 
vegetable, 5 
Alkaloids, animal, toxic proper- 
ties of, 2 
Alkaloids augment in urine in 
certain diseases, n 
Alkaloids absorbed from intes- 
tines, 10, 27 
Alkaloids, continuous formation, 
in health, g 
Alkaloids, cumulative action of, 
22 
Alkaloids formed during bacte- 
rial destruction, 12 
Alkaloids formed from proteid 
substances, 2 
Alkaloids formed through albu- 
men decomposition, 4 
Alkaloids from human cadavers, 
39 
Alkaloids from liver, 4 
Alkaloids from poison gland of 
snake, n 
Alkaloids found in urine, 41 
Alkaloids from poisonous fish, 5 
Alkaloids from poisonous cheese, 
5 
Alkaloids of animal origin, dis- 
covery of, 3 
Alkaloids, physiological classifi- 
cation of, 12 
Alkaloids, poisonous from secre- 
tions of living beings, 8 
Alkaloids, products of vital phy- 
siological processes, 8 
Alkaloid products vary with stage 
of decay, 6 
Alkaloids, putrefactive symp- 
toms of poisoning by, 37 
Alkaloids, vegetable, similar to 
animal, 5 
Amphicreatinine, 14 
Animal alkaloids, clinical aspect 
of, 15 58 
INDEX, 
Animal alkaloids, pathological 
aspect of, 15 
Animal alkaloid poisoning, 26 
Animal alkaloids, practical as- 
pect of, 15 
Animal alkaloids, similar to 
vegetable, 5 
Animal alkaloids, toxic proper- 
ties of, 2 
Armies, typhus of, 22 
Ashes, physiological, 18 
Atropine as a remedy, 39 
Atropine-like action of some pto- 
maines, 38 
Atropine, symptoms of poisoning 
by, 3 
Auto - infection, how brought 
about, 16 
Auto-infection, how resisted, 18 
Chemical poisons from albumin- 
ous decomposition, 6 
Cholera, Asiatic, 44 
Cholera, microbe, 54 
Classification of animal alka- 
loids in groups, 12 
Clinical aspect of animal alka- 
loids, 15 
Cobra, yields ptomaines, it 
Coma, diabetic, 42 
Coma, Kussmaul's, 42 
Constitutional diseases, nature 
of, x 6 
Constipation, poisonous effects 
of, 40 
Corpses, human, yield poisons, 7 
Crusco-creatinine, 14 
Cumulative action of alkaloids, 
22 
Cumulative action of extractives,. 
22 
Cumulative action of medicines,, 
21 
Curare, 7 
Cyanhydric acid, 14 
TAACTERIAL decomposition 
yields alkaloids, 12 
Beef-tea, conditions under which 
it is injurious, 34 
Betaine, 10-12 
Betaines, 12 
Bitter taste due to an alkaloid, 8 
Blood, effects of acetone on, 43 
Botulism, 26, 44 
TAE CHAUMONT’S method 
of determining the solids 
in urine, 51 
Decomposition poison, products 
of, 6 
Destruction of toxic products, 18 
Digestive juices, absorption of, 31 
Discoveries, appreciation of 
them, 56 
Discoveries, how effected, 55 
Diseases, augmentation of alka- 
loids in the urine of, 11 
Diseases not “ entities,” 45 
pADAVERINE, 7 
'k-/ Camps, typhus fever in, 23 
Cheese, poisonous, yields an 
alkaloid, 5 
Chemical formulae of animal, 
simpler than vegetable alka- 
loids, 12 
Chemical nature of putrid ani- 
mal poison, 4 INDEX 
■pLIMINATION of products 
by urine, 3 
Elimination of toxic products, 18 
Ethylenediamine, 7 
Evolution, doctrine of, 45 
Extractives in the urine, 50 
Extractives, cumulative action 
of, 22 
Extractives, unknown nature of, 
2, 7 
Extractives, formation of, 17 
TNADEQUACY of organic 
function, 35 
Indigestion, a cause of nervous 
depression, 29 
Intoxication by animal products, 
x 
TT’ARNINE, 11, 13 
Kreatine, 10, 14 
Kreatinine in urine, 10 
Kreatinine, leucomaine group, 14 
Kussmaul’s coma, 42 
Tj'iECES, healthy, poisonous 
-*■ activity of, 10 
Faeces, poisons from human, 41 
Fatigue, fever of, 20 
Fatigue, pathology of, 19 
Fever of fatigue, 20 
Fever of over-exertion, 20 
Fever of prostration, 21 
Fever, spontaneous origin of, 24 
Fish decomposition, product of, 6 
Fish, poisonous alkaloids from, 
5. 38 
Flesh of healthy animals yields 
ptomaines, 4 
“ Fly fungus,” 6 
Food, poisons formed from, 36 
T ACTIC acid poisonous to 
-L/ muscle and nerve, 23 
Leucomaines, 2, 11, 
Life, nature of, 17 
Liver, functional importance of, 
28, 33 
Liver yields an alkaloid, 4 
Living beings yield poisonous 
alkaloids, 8 
■JVT EDICINES, cumulative ac- 
tion of, 21 
Microbe of cholera, 49 
Microbes, conditions of their ex- 
istence, 47 
Microbes, pathological domains 
of, 46 
Microbes, scepticism justified re- 
garding, 55 
Muscarine, 6, 7 
Muscarine-like poisoning, 39 
Mydeleine, 7 
Mydalein, physiological action 
of, 40 
ADENINE, 7 
Guanine, 13 
T T EALTH, nature of, 17 
"*■ Hurnoralism, 45 
Humoral pathology, 45 
Hyperthermia, 16 
Hypothermia, 16, 44 
Hypo-xanthine, 13 60 
INDEX. 
AJEURIDINE, 7 
' Neurine, 7 
Ptomaines from flesh of healthy 
animals, 4 
Ptomaines fiom the faeces, 27 
Ptomaines, more found in dis- 
ease than in health, 42 
Ptomaines, some identical with 
vegetable alkaloids, 5 
Putrescine, 7 
Putrid meat gives an alkaloid 
crystallizable, 4 
Putrid matter, poison contained 
in, 4 
/'‘ARGANIC bases similar to 
vegetable alkaloids, 5 
Over-exertion fever, 20 
pATHOLOGICAL aspect of 
animal alkaloids, 15 
Pathology of fatigue, ig 
Pathological series of ailments, 
23 
Peptones, effects on the blood, 
34 
Peptones in urine, 32 
Peptones, poisonous nature of, 8 
Peptotoxine, 8 
Physiological ashes, 18 
Physiological processes of life 
yield alkaloids, 8 
Physostigma as a remedy, 39 
Poison contained in putrid mat- 
ter, 4 
Poison from decomposing yeast, 
4 
Poisoning by animal products, 1 
Poisonous nature of peptones, 8 
Poisonous products of decompo- 
sition, 6 
Poisons formed from food, 36 
Poisons from human corpses, 7 
Practical aspect of animal alka- 
loids, 15 
Prostration, fever of, 21 
Pseudo-exanthine, 13 
Ptomaines, 2, 11 
Ptomaines and peptones in 
urine, 32 
of water products, 
O AUSAGES, alkaloid present 
in poisonous, 4 
Sausages, symptoms of poison- 
ing by, 3 
Scoria, 18 
Sarkine, 13 
Self-generated poisons, varieties, 
of, 37 
Sepsine, 4, 7 
Snake’s poison glands yield al- 
loids, 11 
Spontaneous origin of fever, 24 
Spontaneous poisoning of sys- 
tem, 16 
Stercorasmia, 10 
Stupor, 24 
Supra-renal capsule yields a poi ■ 
son, 5 
Symptom from animal alkaloids, 
44 
Symptoms of poisoning from 
putrefactive alkaloids, 37’ INDEX. 
61 
/T'ASTE, bitter, due to any al- 
kaloid, 8 
Toxic products, elimination of, 
18 
Toxic products, destruction of, 
18 
Toxic properties of animal alka- 
loids, 2 
Training, 21 
Tuipos, 24 
Typhoid fever, excretion of al- 
kaloids in, 11 
Typhoid series of ailments, 24 
Typhus fever of camps, 23 
Typhus of armies, 22 
Typhus series of ailments, 23 
Tyro-toxican, 5 
Urine, alkaloids found in, 41 
Urine, elimination of products 
by, 3 
Urine, extractives in, 50 
Urine, solids in, De Chaumont’s 
method of determining, 51 
T7EGETABLE alkaloids simi- 
’ lar to animal alkaloids, 5 
TX7ALKING exercise, effects 
’ ' of, 21 
Waste products, accumulation 
of, 18 
Waste products, removal of, 25 
"XT' ANTHINE, 13 
Xantho-creatinine, 14 
T TNCLASSIFIED group of 
leucomai'nes, 14 
Uraemic phenomena, 3 
Uric leucomaine group, 12 
A7EAST, decomposition of, 
yields a poison, 4 CATALOGUE No. 7. 
MAY. 1887. 
A CATALOGUE 
OF 
Books for Students 
The Quiz-Compends, 2, 3, 4, 5 
Anatomy, . . . . 6 
Chemistry, . . . .6 
Children’s Diseases, . . 7 
Dentistry, . . . ,8 
Dictionaries, . . .8 
Eye Diseases, . . .8 
Electricity, . ... 9 
Gynaecology, . . .10 
Hygiene, .... 9 
Medical Jurisprudence, . 9 
Miscellaneous, . . .10 
Obstetrics 10 
CONTENTS. 
PAGES 
PatholQgy and Histology, . 11 
Physical Diagnosis, . . n 
Physiology, . . . . u 
Practice of Medicine, . .12 
Prescription Books, . .13 
Skin Diseases, . . .13 
Surgery, . . . .13 
Throat, . . . .14 
Urine and Urinary Organs, 14 
Venereal Diseases, . . 14 
Medical Briefs. A New 
Series, . . . .15 
New Manuals, . . .16 
PAGES 
P. BLAKISTON, SON & CO., 
PUBLISHED BY 
Medical Booksellers, Importers arid Publishers. 
LARGE STOCK OF ALL STUDENTS’ BOOKS, AT 
THE LOWEST PRICES. 
1012 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 
*#* For sale by all Booksellers, or any book will be sent by mail, 
postpaid, upon receipt of price. Catalogues of books on all branches 
of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, etc., supplied upon application. ? QUIZ-COMPENDS? 
A NEW SERIES OF COMPENDS FOR STUDENTS, 
For Use in the Quiz Class and when 
Preparing for Examinations. 
Price of Each, Bound in Cloth, $l.OO Interleaved, $1.25. 
Based on the most popular text-books, and on the lec- 
tures of prominent professors, they form a most complete, 
practical and exhaustive set of manuals, containing infor- 
mation nowhere else collected in such a condensed, 
practical shape. Thoroughly up to the times in every 
respect, containing many new prescriptions and formulse, 
and over two hundred and thirty illustrations, many of 
which have been drawn and engraved specially for this 
series,. The authors have had large experience as quiz- 
masters and attaches of colleges, with exceptional oppor- 
tunities for noting the*most recent advances and methods. 
The arrangement of the subjects, illustrations, types, etc., 
are all of the most improved form, and the size of the 
books is such that they may be easily carried in the 
pocket. They are constantly being revised, so as to 
include the latest and best teachings, and can be used 
by students of any college of medicine, dentistry or 
pharmacy. 
No. 1. ANATOMY. 117 Illustrations. 
A Compend of Human Anatomy, including Visceral 
Anatomy, formerly published separately as No. 8 of 
this series. By Saml. O. L. Potter, m.a., m.d., 
Late A. A. Surg. U. S. Army; Professor of Practice, 
Cooper Medical College, San Francisco. 117 Ulus. 
FOURTH EDITION, ENLARGED. 
“ The work is reliable and complete, and just what the student 
needs in reviewing the subject for his examinations.”—The Physi- 
cian and Surgeon's Investigator, Buffalo, N. Y. 
“ The arrangement is well calculated to facilitate accurate memo- 
rizing, and the illustrations are clear and good.”—North Carolina 
Medical Journal. 
Nos. 2 and 3. PRACTICE. 
NEW REVISED EDITIONS. 
A Compend of the Practice of Medicine, especially 
adapted to the use of Students. By Dan’l E. Hughes, 
m.d., Demonstrator of Clinical Medicine in Jefferson 
Price of each Book, Cloth, $l.OO. Interleaved for Notes, $1.25. Medical College, Philadelphia. Second Edition. En- 
larged and thoroughly Revised. In two parts. 
Part I.—Continued, Eruptive, and Periodical Fevers, 
Diseases of the Mouth, Stomach, Intestines, Peritoneum, 
Biliary Passages, Liver, Kidneys, Intestinal Parasites, etc., 
and General Diseases. 
THE ? QUIZ-COMPENDS 
3 
Part ll.—Diseases of the Respiratory System, Circu- 
latory System and Blood, Nervous System, etc. 
*** These little books can be regarded as a full set of 
notes upon the Practice of Medicine, containing the 
Synonyms, Definitions, Causes, Symptoms, Prognosis, 
Diagnosis, Treatment, etc., of each disease, and includ- 
ing a number of new prescriptions. They have been 
compiled from the lectures of prominent Professors, and 
reference has been made to the latest writings of Pro- 
fessors Flint, Da Costa, Bartholow, Roberts, etc. 
“ It is brief and concise, and at the same time possesses an accu- 
racy not generally found in compends.”—fas. M. French, M.D., 
Ass’t to the Prof, of Practice, Medical College of Ohio, Cincinnati, 
“ The book seems very concise, yet very comprehensive. . . . 
An unusually superior book.”—Dr. E. T. Bruen, Demonstrator 
of Clinical Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. 
“ I have used it considerably in connection with my branches in 
the Quiz-class of the University of La.”—f. H. Bemiss. 
“ Dr. Hughes has prepared a very useful little book, and I shall 
take pleasure in advising my class to use it.”—Dr. George W. 
Hall, Prof, of Practice, St. Louis College of Phys. and Surgeons. 
No. 4. PHYSIOLOGY. Illustrated. 
THIRD REVISED EDITION. 
A Compend of Human Physiology. By Albert P. 
Brubaker, m.d., Demonstrator of Physiology in Jef- 
ferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Professor of 
Physiology, Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. 
Third Edition. Enlarged and Revised. 
“ Dr. Bruhaker deserves the hearty thanks of medical students 
for his Compend of Physiology. He has arranged the fundamental 
and practical principles of the science in a peculiarly inviting and 
accessible manner. I have already introduced the work to my 
class.”—Maurice N. Miller, M.D., Instructor in Histology, for- 
merly Demonstrator of Physiology, University City of New York. 
“ ‘ Quiz-Compend ’ No. 4 is fully up to the high standard estab- 
lished by its predecessors of the same series.”—Medical Bulletin, 
Philadelphia. 
“ I can recommend it as a valuable aid to the student."—C. N. 
Ellinwood, M.D., Professor of Physiology, Cooper Medical Col- 
lege, San Francisco. 
“ This is a well written little book.”—London Lancet. 
Price of each Book, Cloth, $l.OO. Interleaved for Notes, $1.25. 4 
No. 5. OBSTETRICS. Third Edition, 
A Compend of Obstetrics. For Physicians and Students. 
By Henry G. Landis, m.d., Professor of Obstetrics 
and Diseases of Women, in Starling Medical College, 
Columbus. Third Revised Ed. New Illustrations. 
THE ? QUIZ-COMPENDS ?. 
“We have no doubt that many students will find in it a most 
valuable aid in preparing for examination.”—The American Jour- 
nal of Obstetrics. 
“It is complete, accurate and scientific. The very best book of 
its kind lhave seen.”—J. S. Knox, M.D., Lecturer on Obstetrics, 
Rush Medical College, Chicago. 
No. 6. MATERIA MBDIOA, THERAPEU- 
TICS AND PRESCRIPTION WRITING. 
Fourth Edition. 
A Compend on Materia Medica, Therapeutics and 
Prescription Writing, with especial reference to the 
Physiological Actions of Drugs. By Same. O. L. 
Potter, m.a., m.d., Professor of Practice, Cooper 
Medical College, San Francisco, Late Surgeon U. S. 
Army. 
“ I have examined the little volume carefully, and find it just 
such a book as I require in my private Quiz, and shall certainly re- 
commend it to my classes. Your Compends are all popular here in 
Washington.”—John E. Brackett, M.D., Professor of Materia 
Medica and Therapeutics, Howard Medical College, Washington. 
“ Part of a series of small but valuable text-books. . . . While 
the work is, owing to its therapeutic contents, more useful to the 
medical student, the pharmaceutical student may derive much use- 
ful information from it.”—JV. V. Pharmaceutical Record. 
No. 7. CHEMISTRY. Revised Ed. 
A Compend of Chemistry. By G. Mason Ward, m.d., 
Demonstrator of Chemistry in Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, Philadelphia. Including Table of Elements and 
various Analytical Tables. 
“ Brief, but excellent. ... It will doubtless prove an admirable 
aid to the student, by fixing these facts in his memory. It is worthy 
the study of both medical and pharmaceutical students in this 
branch.”—Pharmaceutical Record, New York. 
No. 8. DISEASES OP THE EYE AND 
Compend on Diseases of the Eye and Refraction, in- 
cluding Treatment and Surgery. By L. Webster 
Fox, M.D., Chief Clinical Assistant, Ophthalmological 
Department, Jefferson Medical College Hospital t 
REFRACTION. 
Price of each Book, Cloth, $l.OO. Interleaved for Notes, $1.25. Ophthalmic Surgeon, Germantown Hospital, Phila- 
delphia ; late Clinical Assistant at Moorfields, London, 
England, etc., and Geo. M. Gould, a.b. 60 Illus. 
THE ? QUIZ-COMPENDS T. 
THIRD REVISED EDITION. 77 FORMULAE 
91 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
A Compend of Surgery; including Fractures, Wounds, 
Dislocations, Sprains, Amputations and other opera- 
tions, Inflammation, Suppuration, Ulcers, Syphilis, 
Tumors, Shock, etc. Diseases of the Spine, Ear, Eye, 
Bladder, Testicles, Anus, and other Surgical Diseases. 
By Orville Horwitz, a.m., m.d., Demonstrator of 
Anatomy, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. 
Third Revised Edition. 91 Illustrations. 77 Formulae. 
*** This compend has been prepared with great care, from the 
standard authorities on Surgery and from notes taken by the author 
during attendance on lectures by prominent professors. 
“ Ail the essential facts of surgery are presented in a well- 
arranged and condensed manner,”—Medical Brief. 
“ Useful to the student in fixing the essentials firmly in his 
mind.”—Prof. G. F. Shears, Chicago. 
No. 9. SURGERY. 
No. 10. ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
A Compend of Organic Chemistry, including Medical 
Chemistry, Urine Analysis, and the Analysis of Water 
and Food, etc. By Henry Leffmann, m.d., Pro- 
fessor of Clinical Chemistry and Hygiene in the Phila- 
delphia Polyclinic; Professor of Chemistry, Penn- 
sylvania College of Dental Surgery. 
“ Compact, substantial and exact; well suited as a remembrancer 
to students.”—Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal. 
“ It contains, in compact form, the most of modern organic and 
medical chemistry essential to the student of medicine, and will be 
of great value in bringing this subject within his grasp.”—C. C. 
Howard, Prof, of Chemistry, Starling Med. College, Columbus. 
“ It has the decided merit of being written in a clear and under- 
standable language.”—Dr. J. Sickels, Instructor in Chemistry, 
University Medical College, New York. 
No. 11. PHARMACY. Second Ed. 
A Compend of Pharmacy. Based upon “ Remington’s 
Text-Book of Pharmacy.” By F. E. Stewart, m.d., 
ph.g., Quiz Master in Chemistry and Theoretical 
Pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; De- 
monstrator and Lecturer in Pharmacology, Medico- 
Chirurgical College, and Woman’s Medical College; 
iff- The ? Quiz-Compends ? contain the latest and best infor- 
mation, in such a shape that it can be easily memorized. 
Price of each Book, Cloth, $l.OO. Interleaved for Notes, $1.25. STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
ANATOMY. 
Holden’s Anatomy. A manual of Dissection of the Human 
Body. Fifth Edition. Enlarged, with Marginal References and 
over 200 Illustrations. Octavo. Cloth, 5.00; Leather, 6.00 
Bound in Oilcloth, for the Dissecting Room, $4.50. 
“ No student of Anatomy can take up this book without being 
pleased and instructed. Its Diagrams are original, striking and 
suggestive, giving more at a glance than pages of text description. 
* * * The text matches the illustrations in directness of prac- 
tical application and clearness of detail.”—New York Medical 
Record. 
Holden’s Human Osteology. Comprising a Description of the 
Bones, with Colored Delineations of the Attachments of the 
Muscles. The General and Microscopical Structure of Bone and 
its Development. With Lithographic Plates and Numerous Illus- 
trations. Sixth Edition. Bvo. Cloth, 6.00 
Heath’s Practical Anatomy. Sixth London Edition. 24 Col- 
ored Plates, and nearly 300 other Illustrations. Cloth, 5.00 
CHEMISTRY. 
Bartley’s Medical Chemistry. A text-book prepared specially 
for Medical, Pharmaceutical and Dental Students. With 40 
Illustrations, Plate of Absorption Spectra and Glossary of Chemi- 
cal Terms. Cloth, 2.50 
*** This book has been written especially for students and phy- 
sicians. It is practical and concise, dealing only with those parts 
of chemistry pertaining to medicine ; no time being wasted in long 
descriptions of substances and theories of interest only to the 
advanced chemical student. 
Bloxam’s Chemistry, Inorganic and Organic, with Experiments. 
Fifth Edition, nearly 300 Illustrations. Cloth, 3.75 ; Leather, 4.75 
Richter’s Inorganic Chemistry. A text-book for Students. 
Second American, from Fourth German Edition. Translated by 
Prof. Edgar F. Smith, ph.d. 89 Wood Engravings and Colored 
Plate of Spectra. Cloth, 2.00 
Richter’s Organic Chemistry, or Chemistry of the Carbon 
Compounds. Translated by Prof. Edgar F. Smith, ph.d. 
Illustrated. Cloth, 3.00: Leather, 3.50 
Watt’s (Fowne’s) Chemistry. 13th Edition. 2 Volumes. 
Volume 1, Inorganic, 2.25; Volume 2, Organic, 2.25 
*** These volumes are based on Fowne’s Chemistry, being, in 
fact, the 13th edition of Fownes, etc. 
JKg- See pages 2 to 5 for list of ? Quiz-Compends ? STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
7 
Chemistry Continued. 
Trimble. Practical and Analytical Chemistry. A Course in 
Chemical Analysis, by Henry T rimble. Prof, of Analytical Chem- 
istry in the Phila. College of Pharmacy. Illustrated. Second 
Edition. Bvo. Cloth, 1.50 
Wolff’s Applied Medical Chemistry. By Lawrence Wolff, 
m.d., Demonstrator of Chemistry in Jefferson Medical College, 
Philadelphia. Cloth, 1.50 
CHILDREN. 
Goodhart and Starr. The Diseases of Children. A Manual 
for Students and Physicians. By J. F. Goodhart, m.d., Physi- 
cian to the Evelina Hospital for Children; Assistant Physician 
to Guy’s Hospital, London. American Edition, Revised and 
Edited by Louis Starr, m.d., Clinical Professor of Diseases of 
Children in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; 
Physician to the Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia. Containing 
many new Prescriptions, a List ot over 50 Formulae, conforming 
to the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, and Directions for making Arti- 
ficial Human Milk, for the Artificial Digestion of Milk, etc. 
Just Ready. Demi-Octavo, 738 Pages. 
The New York Medical Record says :—“ As it is said of some 
men, so it might he said of some books, that they are ‘born to 
greatness.’ This new volume has, we believe, a mission, particu- 
larly in the hands of the younger members of the profession. In 
these days of prolixity in medical literature, it is refreshing to meet 
with an author who knows both what to say, and when he has said 
it. The work of Dr. Goodhart (admirably conformed, by Dr. Starr, 
to meet American requirements) is the nearest approach to clinical 
teaching, without the actual presence of clinical material, that we 
have yet seen. The details of management so gratefully read by 
the young practitioner are fully elucidated. Altogether, the book 
is one of as great practical working value as we have seen for many 
months.” 
Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 3.50 
Day. On Children. A Practical and Systematic Treatise. 
Second Edition. Bvo. 752 pages. Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 4.00 
Meigs and Pepper. The Diseases of Children. Seventh 
Edition. Bvo. Cloth, 5.00; Leather, 5.00 
Starr. Diseases of the Digestive Organs in Infancy and 
Childhood. With chapters on the Investigation of Disease, 
and on the General Management of Children. By Louis Starr, 
m.d., Prof, of Diseases of Children, Hospital of the University 
of Pennsylvania. Ulus. Cloth, z.50 
See pages 2 to 5 /or list of ? Quiz- Compends ? 8 
STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
DENTISTRY. 
Flagg’s Plastics and Plastic Filling. 2d Ed. Cloth, 4.00 
Gorgas. Dental Medicine. A Manual of Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics, by Professor F. J. S. Gorgas, m.d., d.d.s., Pro- 
fessor of the Principles and Practice of Dental Science, in Den- 
tal Dept,, University of Maryland. Second Edition. Cloth, 3.25 
Harris Principles and Practice of Dentistry. Including 
Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Therapeutics, Dental Surgery 
and Mechanism. Eleventh Edition. Revised and enlarged by 
Professor Gorgas. 744 Illustrations. Cloth, 6.50 ; Leather, 7.50 
Richardson’s Mechanical Dentistry. Fourth Edition. 458 
Illustrations. 710 pages. Bvo. Cloth, 4.50; Leather, 5,50. 
Stocken’s Dental Materia Medica. Third Edition. Cloth, 2.50 
Taft’s Operative Dentistry. Dental Students and Practitioners. 
Fourth Edition. 100 Illustrations. Cloth, 4.25 ; Leather, 5.00 
Tomes’ Dental Anatomy, Human and Comparative. Third 
Edition. 191 Illustrations. Preparing. 
Tomes’ Dental Surgery. Third Edition. Revised. 292 
Illustrations. 772 Pages. Cloth, 5.00 
DICTIONARIES. 
Cleaveland’s Pocket Medical Lexicon. Thirty-first Edition. 
Giving correct Pronunciation and Definition of Terms used in 
Medicine and the Collateral Sciences. Very small pocket size, 
red edges. Cloth, .75 ; pocket-book style, 1.00 
Longley’s Pocket Dictionary. The Student’s Medical Lexicon, 
giving Definition and Pronunciation of all Terms used in Medi- 
cine, with an Appendix giving Poisons and Their Antidotes, 
Abbreviations used in Prescriptions, Metric Scale of Doses, etc. 
24m0. Cloth, 1.00; pocket-book style, 1.25 
EYE. 
Arlt. Diseases of the Eye. Including those of the Conjunc- 
tiva, Cornea, Sclerotic, Iris and Ciliary Body. By Professor 
Fred. Ritter von Arlt. Translated by Dr. Lyman Ware. Illus- 
trated. Bvo. Cloth, 2.50 
Macnamara. On Diseases of the Eye. Fourth Edition, 
revised, with Marginal References, numerous Colored Plates and 
Diagrams, Wood Cuts and Test Types. Cloth, 4.00 
Meyer. Diseases of the Eye. A complete Manual for Stu- 
dents and Physicians. 270 Illustrations and two Colored Plates. 
Bvo. Just Ready. Cloth, 4.50; Leather, 5.50 
Morton. Refraction of the Eye. Third Ed. Ulus. Cloth, 1.00 
ffOrSeepages 2to sfor list of ? Quiz-Compends ? STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
9 
ELECTRICITY. 
Mason’s Compend of Medical and Surgical Electricity. 
With numerous Illustrations, nmo. Cloth, x.oo 
Parke’s Practical Hygiene. Sixth Edition, enlarged. Illus- 
trated. Bvo. Cloth, 3.00 
Wilson’s Handbook of Hygiene and Sanitary Science. 
Sixth Edition. Revised and Illustrated. Cloth, 2.75 
HYGIENE. 
MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS. 
Biddle’s Materia Medica. Tenth Edition. For the use of 
Students and Physicians. By the late Prof. John B. Biddle, m. d.. 
Professor of Materia Medica in Jefferson Medical College, Phila- 
delphia. The Tenth Edition, thoroughly revised, and in many 
parts rewritten, by his son, Clement Biddle, m.d., Past Assistant 
Surgeon, U. S. Navy, assisted by Henry Morris, m.d.. Demon- 
strator of Obstetrics in Jefferson Medical College. Bvo., illus- 
trated. Cloth, 4.00 ; Leather, 4,75 
“ The larger works usually recommended as text-books in our 
medical schools are too voluminous for convenient use. This work 
will be found to contain in a condensed form all that is most valuable, 
and will supply students with a reliable guide.”—Chicago Med. Jl. 
Potter, Materia Medica, Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 
Including Action of Medicines, Special Therapeutics, Pharma- 
cology, etc. Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 3.50 
The most complete compendium of its subjects published, con- 
taining information not hitherto collected in one volume. 
Roberts’ Compend of Materia Medica and Pharmacy. By the 
author of “ Roberts’ Practice.” Cloth, 2.00 
Headland’s Action of Medicines. 9th Ed. Bvo. Cloth, 3.00 
Waring. Therapeutics. With an Index of Diseases and an 
Index of Remedies. A Practical Manual. Fourth Edition. 
Revised and Enlarged. Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 3.50 
Reese. A Text-book of Medical Jurisprudence and Toxi- 
cology. By John J. Reese, m.d.. Professor of Medical Juris- 
prudence and Toxicology in the Medical and Law Departments 
of the University of Pennsylvania ; Vice-President of the Med- 
ical Jurisprudence Society of Philadelphia; Physician to St. 
Joseph’s Hospital; Corresponding Member of The New York 
Medico-legal Society. Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 3.50 
“ We might call these the essentials for the study of medical juris- 
prudence. The subject is skeletonized, condensed, and made 
MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. 
See pages 2 to J for list of ? Quiz- Comp ends ? 10 
STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
Medical Jurisprudence :— Continued. 
thoroughly up to the wants of the general medical practitioner, 
and the requirements of prosecuting and defending attorneys. 
If any section deserves more distinction than any other, as to 
intrinsic excellence, it is that on toxicology. This part of the 
book comprises the best outline of the subject in a given space 
that can be found anywhere. As a whole, the work is everything 
it promises, and more, and considering its size, condensation, and 
practical character, it is by far the most useful one for ready refer- 
ence, that we have met with. It is well printed and neatly bound.” 
—New York Medical Record. 
Abercrombie’s Students’ Guide to Medical Jurisprudence. 
i2mo. Cloth, 2.50 
Mann’s Manual of Psychological Medicine, and Allied Ner- 
vous Diseases. Their Diagnosis, Pathology and Treatment, and 
their Medico-Legal Aspects. Illus. Cloth, 5.00; Leather, 6.00 
Woodman and Tidy’s Medical Jurisprudence and Toxi- 
cology. Chromo-Lithographic Plates and 116 Wood engravings. 
Cloth, 7.50; Leather, 8.50 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Beale. Slight Ailments. Their Nature and Treatment. Illus- 
trated. Bvo. Paper cover, .75 ; Cloth, 1.25 
Dulles. Surgical and other Emergencies. Illustrated. Sec- 
ond Edition. i2mo. Cloth, .75 
Fothergill. Diseases of the Heart and Their Treatment. 
Second Edition. Bvo. Cloth, 3.50 
Tanner. Memoranda of Poisons. Their Antidotes and Tests. 
Fifth Edition, xamo. Cloth, .75 
Allingham. Diseases of the Rectum. Fourth Edition. Illus- 
trated. Bvo. Paper covers, .75; Cloth, 1.25 
Parvin’s Winckel’s Diseases of Women. Edited by Prof. 
Theophilus Parvin, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. 
117 Illustrations. Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 3.50 
Galabin’s Midwifery. A New Manual for Students. By A. 
Lewis Galabin, m.d., f.r.c.p.. Obstetric Physician to Guy’s 
Hospital, London, and Professor of Obstetrics in the same Insti- 
tution. 227 Illustrations. Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 3.50 
“ The illustrations are mostly new and well executed, and we 
heartily commend this book as far superior to any manual upon 
this subject.”—Archives of Gynaecology, New York, June, 188b. 
Rigby’s Obstetric Memoranda. By Alfred Meadows, m.d. 
4th Edition. Cloth, .50 
See pages 2 to 5 for list of ? Quiz- Compends f 
OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY. STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
Obstetrics and Gynaecology :—Continued. 
11 
Meadows’ Manual of Midwifery. Including the Signs and 
Symptoms of Pregnancy, Obstetric Operations, Diseases of the 
Puerperal State, etc. 145 Illustrations. 494 pages. Cloth, 2.00 
Swayne’s Obstetric Aphorisms. For the use of Students 
commencing Midwifery Practice. Bth Ed. i2mo. Cloth, 1.25 
PATHOLOGY AND HISTOLOGY. 
Rindfleisch’s General Pathology. By Tyson. For Students 
and Physicians. By Prof. Edward Rindfleisch, of Wurzburg. 
Translated by Wm. H. Mercur, m.d., of Pittsburg, Pa., Edited 
by James Tyson, m.d., Professor of Pathology and Morbid 
Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, izmo. Cloth, 2.00 
Gilliam’s Essentials of Pathology. A Handbook for Students. 
47 Illustrations, izmo. Cloth, 2.00 
*** The object of this book is to unfold to the beginner the funda- 
mentals of pathology in a plain, practical way, and by bringing 
them within easy comprehension to increase his interest in the study 
of the subject. Though it will not altogether supplant larger works, 
it will be found to impart clear-cut conceptions of the generally 
accepted doctrines of the day, and to prevent confusion in the mind 
of the student. 
Gibbes’ Practical Histology and Pathology. Third Edition. 
Enlarged, izmo. Cloth, 1.75 
PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS. 
Bruen’s Physical Diagnosis of the Heart and Lungs. By 
Dr. Edward T. Bruen, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine 
in the University of Pennsylvania. Second Edition, revised. 
With new Illustrations, ramo. Cloth, 1.50 
*** The subject is treated in a plain, practical manner, avoiding 
questions of historical or theoretical interest, and without laying 
special claim to originality of matter, the author has made a book 
that presents to the student the somewhat difficult points of Physi- 
cal Diagnosis clearly and distinctly. 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
Yeo’s Physiology. Second Edition. The most Popular Stu- 
dents’ Book. By Gerald F. Yeo, m.d., f.r.c.s.. Professor of 
Physiology in King’s College, London. Small Octavo. 750 
pages. Over 300 carefully printed Illustrations. With a Full 
Glossary and Index. Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 3.50 
“ The work will take a high rank among the smaller text-books 
of Physiology.”—Prof. H. P. Bowditch, Harvard Med. School, 
Boston. 
“ The brief examination I have given it was so favorable that I 
placed it in the list of text-books recommended in the circular of 
the University Medical College.”—Prof. Lewis A. Stimpson, 
M. £>., 37 East 33d Street, New York. 
See pages 2 to 3 for list of ? Quiz- Compends ? 12 
STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
Physiology : Continued. 
Kirke’s Physiology. uthEd. Ulus. Cloth, 4.00; Leather, 5.00 
Landois’ Human Physiology. Including Histology and Micro- 
scopical Anatomy, and with special reference to Practical Medi- 
cine. Second Edition. Translated and Edited by Prof. Stirling. 
583 Illustrations. Cloth, 6.50; Leather, 7.50 
“ So great are the advantages offered by Prof. Landois' Text- 
book, from the exhaustive and eminently practical manner in which 
the subject is treated, that, notwithstanding it is one of the largest 
works on Physiology, it has yet passed through four large editions 
in the same number of years. Dr. Stirling’s annotations have 
materially added to the value of the work. . . . Admirably 
adapted for the practitioner. . . . With this Text-book at his 
command, no student could fail in his examination.’’—Lancet. 
Sanderson’s Physiological Laboratory. Being Practical Ex- 
ercises for the Student. 350 Illustrations. Bvo. Cloth, 5.00 
Tyson’s Cell Doctrine. Its History and Present State. Illus- 
trated. Second Edition. Cloth, 2.00 
Roberts’ Practice. Fifth American Edition. A Handbook 
of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. By Frederick T. 
PRACTICE. 
Roberts, m.d. ; m.r.c.p.. Professor of Clinical Medicine and 
Therapeutics in University College Hospital, London. Fifth 
Edition. Octavo. Cloth, 5.00; Leather, 6.00 
*** This new edition has been subjected to a careful revision. 
Many chapters have been rewritten. Important additions have 
been made throughout, and new illustrations introduced. Recom- 
mended as a Text-book at University of Pennsylvania, Long Island 
College Hospital, Yale and Harvard Colleges, Bishop’s College, 
Montreal, University of Michigan, and over twenty other Medical 
Schools. 
" 1 have become thoroughly convinced of its great value, and 
have cordially recommended it to my class in Yale College.”— 
Prof. David P. Smith. 
“ I have examined it with some care, and think it a good book, 
and shall take pleasure in mentioning it among the works which 
may properly be put in the hands of students.”—A. B. Palmer, 
Prof, of the Practice of Medicine, University of Michigan. 
“ A clear, yet concise, scientific and practical work. It is a capi- 
tal compendium of the classified knowledge of the subject.”— 
Prof. J. Adams Allen, Rush Medical College, Chicago. 
“ It is unsurpassed by any work that has fallen into our hands, 
as a compendium for students preparing for examination. It is 
thoroughly practical, and fully up to the times.”—The Clinic. 
Aitken’s Practice of Medicine. Seventh Edition. 196 Illus- 
trations. 2 vols. Cloth, 12.00; Leather, 14.00 
Tanner’s Index of Diseases, and Their Treatment. Cloth, 3.00 
“This work has won for itself a reputation. ... It is, in 
truth, what its Title indicates."—iV. V. Medical Record. 
tfgySee pages z to j for list of ? Quiz-Compends ? STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
13 
PRESCRIPTION BOOKS. 
Wythe’s Dose and Symptom Book. Containing the Doses 
and Uses of all the principal Articles of the Materia Medica, etc. 
Seventeenth Edition. Completely Revised and Rewritten. Just 
Ready. 32m0. Cloth, 1.00; Pocket-book style, 1.25 
Pereira’s Physician’s Prescription Book. Containing Lists 
of Terms, Phrases, Contractions and Abbreviations used in 
Prescriptions, Explanatory Notes, Grammatical Construction of 
Prescriptions, etc., etc. By Professor Jonathan Pereira, m.d. 
Sixteenth Edition. 32m0. Cloth, 1.00; Pocket-book style, 1.25 
SKIN DISEASES. 
Anderson, (McCall) Skin Diseases. A complete Text Book, 
with Colored Plates and numerous Wood Engravings. Bvo. 
Just Ready. Cloth, 4.50 ; Leather, 5.50 
Van Harlingen on Skin Diseases. A Handbook of the Dis- 
eases of the Skin, their Diagnosis and Treatment. By Arthur 
Van Harlingen, m.d., Prof, of Diseases of the Skin in the Phila- 
delphia Polyclinic; Consulting Physician to the Dispensary 
for Skin Diseases, etc. With colored plates, ramo. Cloth, 1.75 
*** This is a complete epitome of skin diseases, arranged in 
alphabetical order, giving the diagnosis and treatment in a concise, 
practical way. Many prescriptions are given that have never been 
published in any text-book, and an article incorporated on Diet. 
The plates do not represent one or two cases, hut are composed of 
a number of figures, accurately colored, showing the appearance of 
various lesions, and will be found to give great aid in diagnosing. 
“ This is an excellent little hook, in which, for ease of reference, 
the more common diseases of the skin are arranged in alphabetical 
order, while many good prescriptions are given, together with clear 
and sensible directions as to their proper application.”—Boston 
Medical and Surgical Journal. 
Bulkley. The Skin in Health and Disease. By L. Duncan 
Bulkley, Physician to the N, Y. Hospital. Ulus. Cloth, .50 
Heath’s Minor Surgery, and Bandaging. Eighth Edition. 142 
Illustrations. 60 Formal® and Diet Lists. Cloth, 2.00 
Pye’s Surgical Handicraft. A Manual of Surgical Manipula- 
tions, Minor Surgery, Bandaging, Dressing, etc., etc. With 
special chapters on Aural Surgery, Extraction of Teeth, Anaes- 
thetics, etc. 208 Illustrations. Bvo. Cloth, 5.00 
Watson on Amputation of the Extremities, and their Compli- 
cations. 2 colored plates and 250 wood cuts. Bvo. Cloth, 5.50 
SURGERY. 
4®=* See pages s to J for list of ? Quiz- Comp ends ? 14 
STUDENTS’ TEXT-BOOKS AND MANUALS. 
THROAT. 
Mackenzie on the Throat and Nose. By Morell Mackenzie, 
m.d., Senior Physician to the Hospital for Diseases of the Chest 
and Throat; Lecturer on Diseases of the Throat at the London 
Hospital, etc. 
Vol. I. Including the Pharynx, Larynx, Trachea, etc., with 
Formulas and 112 Illustrations. Out of print. 
Vol. 11. Diseases of the CEsophagus, Nose and Naso-Pharynx, 
with Formulae and 93 Illustrations. 
Vol. 11, Cloth, 3.00; Leather, 4.00 
“ It is both practical and learned ; abundantly and well illustrated ; 
its descriptions of disease are graphic and the diagnosis the best we 
have anywhere seen.”—Philadelphia Medical Times. 
Cohen. The Throat and Voice. Illustrated. Cloth, .50 
James. Sore Throat. Its Nature, Varieties and Treatment. 
i2mo. Illustrated. Paper cover, .75; Cloth, 1.25 
URINE AND URINARY ORGANS. 
Acton. The Reproductive Organs. In Childhood, Youth, 
Adult Life and Old Age. Sixth Edition. Cloth, 2.00 
Beale. Urinary and Renal Diseases and Calculous Disorders. 
Hints on Diagnosis and Treatment, umo. Cloth, 1.75 
Ralfe. Kidney Diseases and Urinary Derangements. 42 Illus- 
trations. i2mo. 572 pages. Cloth, 2.75 
Legg. On the Urine. A Practical Guide. 6th Ed. Cloth, .75 
Marshall and Smith. On the Urine. The Chemical Analysis 
of the Urine. By John Marshall, m.d., Chemical Laboratory, 
University of Pennsylvania, and Prof. E. F. Smith, ph.d. With 
Colored Plates. Cloth, i.oo 
Thompson. Diseases of the Urinary Organs. Seventh 
Edition. Illustrated. Cloth, 1.25 
Tyson. On the Urine. A Practical Guide to the Examination 
of Urine. By James Tyson, m.d.. Professor of Pathology and 
Morbid Anatomy, University of Penn’a. With Colored Plates 
and Wood Engravings. sth Ed. Enlarged, umo. Cloth, 1.50 
VENEREAL DISEASES. 
Hill and Cooper. Student’s Manual of Venereal Diseases 
with Formulae. Fourth Edition, umo. Cloth, i.oo 
Durkee. On Gonorrhoea and Syphilis. Ulus. Cloth, 3.50 
4KS“ See pages 2 to S /or list of ? Quiz-Compends f MEDICAL BRIEFS. 
A new series of short, concise compends for the Med- 
ical Student and Practitioner. 
i2mo. Cloth. Price of Each Book, $l.OO. 
No. i. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS, 
With Especial Reference to Medico-Legal Practice. 
By Prof. Rudolph Virchow, of Berlin Charite Hos- 
pital, author of Cellular Pathology; Translated by T. 
P. Smith, m.d., Member of the Royal College of Sur- 
geons of England. 2d American, from the 4th German 
Edition. With new Plates. Illustrated by Four Lith- 
ographs. 
“ We are informed in precise and exact terms how a post-mortem 
examination should be made, both with regard to the plan to be 
pursued, and the manner of making the several cuts into the various 
organs and tissues. The method of recording the results of the 
investigation is clearly indicated by the addition of the detailed 
account of the examination of four cases ; and the value of the ob- 
jective evidence is accurately stated in the form of the inferences 
drawn concerning the manner and cause of death.”—American 
Journal oj Medical Sciences. 
No. 2. MANUAL OF VENEREAL DISEASES. 
A Concise Description of those Affections and of their 
Treatment, including a list of Sixty-skven Prescrip- 
tions for Vapor Bath, Gargles, Injections, Lotions, 
Mixtures, Ointments, Paste, Pills, Powders, Solutions 
and Suppositories. By Berkeley Hill, m.d., Pro- 
fessor of Clinical Surgery in University College; Sur- 
geon to University College and Lock Hospitals; and 
Arthur Cooper, m.d., formerly House Surgeon, Lock 
Hospital, London. 4th Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 
“ I have examined it with care, and find it to be a practical and 
useful compendium of knowledge on the subjects discussed, well 
adapted to the use of medical students and those physicians in 
general practice who have occasional need to consult a work of this 
kind.”—James Neven Hyde, m.d., Professor of Skin and Venereal 
Diseases, Rush Medical College, Chicago. 
No. 3. MEDICAL ELECTRICITY. A Com- 
pend of Electricity and its Medical and Surgical Uses. 
By Chas. F. Mason, m.d., Ass’t Surg. U. S. Army; 
with an introduction by Charles H. May, m.d., 
Instructor in Ophthalmology, New York Polyclinic. 
Illustrated. Just Ready. 
Price of Each Book, bound in Cloth, $l.OO. 
OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION. A New Series of Manuals 
FOR 
Medical Students. 
Price of each Book, Cloth, $3.00 ; Leather, $3.50. 
MIDWIFERY. By Alfred Lewis Galabin, m.a., m.d., Ob- 
stetric Physician to, and Lecturer on Midwifery and the Diseases 
of Women at, Guy’s Hospital, London, etc. 227 fine Engrav- 
ings. 753 pages. 
PHYSIOLOGY. By Gerald F. Yeo, m.d., p.r.c.s., Professor 
of Physiology in King’s College, London. Second Edition, re- 
vised. 750 pages. 301 carefully printed Illustrations. 
MATERIA MEDICA, PHARMACY AND THERAPEU- 
TICS, including the Physiological Action of Drugs, Special 
Therapeutics, Official and Extemporaneous Pharmacy, with 
numerous Tables, Formulae, Notes on Temperature, Clinical 
Thermometer, Poisons, Urinary Examinations and Patent Medi- 
cines. By Sam’l O. L. Potter, m.a., m.d., Professor of 
Practice of Medicine, Cooper College, San Francisco, late Sur- 
geon U. S. Army. 750 pages. 
CHILDREN. By J. F. Goodhart, m.d., Physician to the Eve- 
lina Hospital for Children; Assistant Physician. Guy’s Hospital, 
London. American Edition. Revised and Edited by Louis 
Starr, m.d., Clinical Professor of Diseases of Children in the 
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Physician to the 
Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia. 50 Formula, and Directions 
for preparing Artificial Human Milk, for the Artificial Digestion 
of Milk, etc. 738 pages. 
PRACTICAL THERAPEUTICS, With an Index of Diseases. 
By Ed. John Waring, m.d., f.r.c.p. Fourth Edition. Re- 
written and Revised. Edited by Dudley W. Buxton, Assistant 
to the Professor of Medicine, University College Hospital, Lon- 
don. 744 pages. 
MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE AND TOXICOLOGY. By 
John J. Reese, m.d., Professor of Medical Jurisprudence and 
Toxicology, University of Pennsylvania, etc. 6c6 pages. 
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. By Prof. Victor von Richter, 
University of Breslau. Translated from Fourth German Edition 
by Edgar F. Smith, m.a., ph.d., Professor of Chemistry, Wit- 
tenberg College, Springfield, 0., formerly in the Laboratories of 
the University of Pennsylvania, etc. Illustrated. 710 pages. 
DISEASES OF WOMEN. By Dr. E. Winckel, Professor of 
Gynaecology, etc., Royal University of Munich. The Transla- 
tion Edited by Theophilus Parvin, m.d.. Professor of Ob- 
stetrics and Diseases of Women and Children, Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia. 117 Engravings, most of which are new, 
700 pages. 
*** Other Volumes in Preparation. A complete illustrated circu- 
lar with sample pages sent free, upon application. 
Price of each Book, Cloth, $3.00: Leather. $3.50.