THE ANALYST. 119 TOXICOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. A Ptomaine Resembling Veratrine in some Respects. Stiiber. (Zeit. fur Untersuch. der Nahr. und Geizussmittel., 1903, vi., 1137, 1138.)-As is wen known, rats play an important part in the dissemination of plague. In the course of an examination of the bodies of 114 dead rats, found in the hold of a vessel arriving at Hamburg from a suspected port, the author obtained a ptomaine" from the bodies which, in certain of its chemical reactions, resembled the alkaloid veratrine. A bacteriological examination of the bodies gave a negative result as regards the bacteria of plague, and no metallic poisons were present. The purified substance consisted of a yellowish, amorphous mass. When treated with concentrabed sulphuric acid it gave a yellow coloration, changing to orange and finally to violet. A trace of the substance with concentrated hydrochloric acid yielded a bright cherry-red coloration, exactly similar to that obtained with veratrine. The characteristic blue colour given by the latter when treated with a mixture of sugar and sulphuric acid was not * For a similar rase, see Otto. A.u.nuittelzcnq der G f t e , 1896, 115.120 THE ANALYST. yielded by this ptomaine. Iodine and tannin solutions gave precipitates, but platinic chloride and mercuric chloride did not react with the substance. It also differed from veratrine by producing no muscular contractions when injected into a frog. The cargo of the vessel consisted of cotton-seed, wood, also maize which had become putrid. w. P. s.