d. Amido Acids.—These ptomaines, which are usually innocuous in small quantities, are particularly the products of the decomposition of albuminoid substances. Among them we find glycocoll, leucine, and tyrosine, as members of this group.
e. Carbopyridic and Carboquinoleic Acids.—So far only one base is known belonging to this group, and that is morrhuic acid, which is found in the decomposed livers of codfish, and which is a powerful appetizer and stimulant in disassimilation.
f. Undetermined Ptomaines.—Under this heading are classed certain undetermined bases, such as those found in normal urines, and in spoiled meats and bread.
Bases of Group II.
a. Ptomaines Isolated from Cultures of Pathogenic Bacteria.—Bacterial cultures contain, besides the true toxins, a certain number of alkaloidal bases which sometimes possess considerable toxicity.
In the cultures of streptococcus pyogenes there are found trimethylamine and xanthic bases; in those of staphylococcus pyogenes aureus are found xanthic bases and creatinine; while pyocyanine and pyoxanthine are found in the cultures of bacillus pyocyaneus, etc.
b. Ptomaines Isolated from Pathological Urines.—Toxic ptomaine bases have been found in the urines of a large number of diseases.[8] It is quite probable that these bases are the results of a general pathological condition due to some bacterial disease, the toxic products of which are eliminated by the kidneys.
From the urines of epileptics Griffiths[9] isolated a colorless base crystallizing in prisms having the formula C12H15N5O7, and which was found to be exceedingly toxic; the same investigator isolated from the urines of eczematous subjects a ptomaine which he named eczemine,[10] and which is also highly toxic.
In certain cases of cystinuria there are found in the urine sulphurized ptomaines, and in measles the urine contains an undetermined ptomaine, rubedine, which is very poisonous. Typhotoxine, a very toxic ptomaine, has been isolated from the urine of typhoid patients; erysipeline, a hardly less toxic base, exists in the urine of erysipelatic subjects; while spasmotoxine, tetanotoxine, and tetanine, exceedingly active alkaloids, are found in the urines of tetanus patients.[11]
As a general rule, all abnormal urines contain toxic bases; the kidneys appear, in fact, to serve as a means of eliminating the toxic products that form in large quantity whenever, and for whatever cause, the organism ceases to functionate normally, whether it be as a whole, or in any one of its parts.[12]