TOXINS AND VENOMS.
[PART I.]
GENERALITIES REGARDING TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS.
[CHAPTER I.]
ALKALOIDAL TOXINS, PTOMAINES AND LEUCOMAINES.
Alkaloidal Products of Cellular Life.
Before entering upon the study of the true toxins, which are products of an alkaloidal nature and of unknown composition, it is necessary to say a few words regarding the most definite of the toxic alkaloidal principles that are frequently encountered under various conditions, conjointly with the true toxins, particularly in venoms, and which, furthermore, are closely allied to these albuminoid toxins.
These principles are formed in essentially reducing media, whether it be within the body of the organism, and by the simple exercise of its normal function, in which case the principles bear the generic name leucomaines[1]; or whether due to the action of anaerobic microbes, when they are designated as ptomaines.[2] These basic principles, which are essentially the products of cellular secretion, are usually toxic, and sometimes even extremely so.