DIVISION II.—PTOMAINES—TOXINES.
§ 648. Definition of a Ptomaine.—A ptomaine may be considered as a basic chemical substance derived from the action of bacteria on nitrogenous substances. If this definition is accepted, a ptomaine is not necessarily formed in the dead animal tissue; it may be produced by the living, and, in all cases, it is the product of bacterial life. A ptomaine is not necessarily poisonous; many are known which are, in moderate doses, quite innocuous.
When Selmi’s researches were first published there was some anxiety lest the existence of ptomaines would seriously interfere with the detection of poison generally, because some were said to be like strychnine, others like colchicine, and so forth. Farther research has conclusively shown that at present no ptomaine is known which so closely resembles a vegetable poison as to be likely in skilled hands to cause confusion.
Isolation of Ptomaines.
§ 649. Gautier’s[653] Process.—The liquid is acidified with oxalic acid, warmed, filtered, and distilled in a vacuum.
[653] Ptomaines et Leucomaines, E. J. A. Gautier, Paris, 1886.