products of cadaveric putrefaction. Later, Selmi saw cause to believe that these organic bases, in serious pathological changes, might be produced in the animal organism during life, a view which was confirmed by Spica in 1881. Further experiments by Paternò and Spica on blood and egg albumen, and likewise those of Gautier on normal urine, showed, that, by the methods employed, reactions could be obtained from these healthy animal fluids similar to those which served to identify the ptomaïnes. Again: in 1881 Gautier communicated the discovery of a nonproteid, ptomaïne-like alkaloid, with poisonous properties, in normal human saliva, not destroyed by heat, and yielding crystalline gold and platinum compounds. Bujwid, however, has tried physiological experiments on frogs and pigeons with the concentrated alcohol-water extract from 100 cc. of boiled saliva, and could obtain no poisonous action whatever. Griffin,2 while endeavoring to explain Vulpian's results on the toxic action of human saliva, came to the following conclusions from injection experiments on rabbits: pure parotid saliva produces neither local nor general pathological changes when injected subcutaneously; filtered mixed saliva, containing, however, recognizable microphytes, produces no local effect, but causes an infection which finally becomes fatal; impure saliva of the mouth, collected while fasting, and injected under the skin, produces both a violent local action and a septic-like infection. The infection obtained in all of the experiments Griffin considers as a form of septicaemia, produced by a substance in solution in the saliva, and not due to microphytes. The local effects, however, produced by the impure mixed saliva, are not to be ascribed to either of the above, but to the partially putrid substances suspended in the fluid. These, when injected, are retained by the subcutaneous tissue, and thus give rise to irritation, finally producing gangrene; and, at the same time undergoing further decomposition, new putrid products are formed, which are absorbed, thus giving rise to a secondary infection. Coppola, in a similar manner, has made a series of experiments on the physiological action of bases extracted from the blood of a healthy dog, which led him to believe that bodies extracted from healthy animal fluids, carefully protected from putrefactive alteration, may exhibit strong toxic properties, and therefore the albuminoid substances must be capable of undergoing certain transformations, aside from those produced by putrefaction, which may give rise to poisonous alkaloids. This view is in part substantiated by the recently published results of Brieger,+ who found, that, by the digestion of raw fibrine with gastric juice, peptones are formed, which, although free from all products of putrefaction (indol, phenol, oxyacids, etc.), yield to alcohol and amyl alcohol an amorphous brown mass, which, even in small quantities, acts as a poison upon frogs and rabbits. .05-.1 gram of the sirupy extract was sufficient to kill a frog in fifteen to twenty minutes; while, with rabbits of one kilogram weight, .5-1 gram of the extract was required to produce the same effect by subcutaneous injection. The poisonous action is first manifested in a gradual paralysis of the extremities; after which the animal falls into a semi-comatose condition, and soon dies. The substance or substances formed in this manner react with all of the general alkaloid reagents, and are not readily decomposed by long boiling, nor by the long-continued

1 Virchow's archives, xci. 190.

2 Archives ital. biol., ii. 106.

3 Abstract in Journ. chem. soc., 1883, 523. 4 Zeitschrift physiolog, chem., vii. 274.

action of hydrogen sulphide. Length of time, in the digestion of the fibrine, appears to exercise but little influence on the amount of the toxic substance formed. The same product was also obtained, in one case, from von Wittich's dry peptone. The poisonous substance does not come from the amyl alcohol, nor from the gastric juice; neither does undigested albumen yield any poisonous substance when extracted with amyl alcohol. Brieger's results thus confirm the previous statements of SchmidtMülheim, Hoffmeister, Fano, and others, that peptones, injected into the blood or under the skin, exert a poisonous action, though it would now appear that the action is not due to the peptones themselves, but to a substance formed simultaneously with them, and which can be partially separated by ethyl and amyl alcohol. Just here it is worth noticing the recent interesting discovery of Mitchell and Reichert, that the poisonous action of rattlesnake and moccason venom is due to the presence of two albuminous bodies, which, from their properties, they name venom-peptone and venom-globulin. Brieger also saw cause to believe that neurin, by oxidation, is changed into a body similar to, if not identical with, the extremely poisonous muscarin; also that a solution of neurin, on long standing in contact with air, is partially changed into poisonous products, which, by further putrefactive decomposition, disappear with formation of trimethylamine, and a substance volatilized when boiled with water.

It would thus appear that healthy animal fluids may contain substances capable of poisonous action, and also that albuminous matter may undergo changes other than putrefaction by which toxic substances may result; all of which tends to throw a shadow of doubt on the existence of distinctive postmortem alkaloids. That poisonous bodies (or ptomaïnes) do result from the putrefaction of organic matter, there can, however, be but little question; and the recent work of Guareschi and Mosso,1 of the university of Turin, is, in this connection, well worthy of notice. These investigators have made a systematic study of the products of the putrefaction of brain, blood, and fibrine, under varying conditions, and have fully established the formation of one or more poisonous alkaloids.

As preliminary to the actual work, a careful examination was made of the methods more commonly used for the extraction of ptomaïnes, in which it was found that the common extractives employed may contain traces of alkaloid substances. Thus, by the evaporation of large quantities of alcohol (fifty litres) in the presence of tartaric acid, a small residue was obtained, giving the alkaloid reactions with chloride of gold, phospho-molybdic acid, etc., and containing a trace of an alkaloid substance similar to pyridine, thus confirming the results of previous investigators; viz., Pinner, Krämer, and others.

In the amyl alcohol of commerce pyridine was likewise detected, in one case to the extent of 0.5 per thousand. Platinum and gold salts were made and analyzed. From six litres of crystallizable benzine a quantity of pyridine was also obtained sufficient to furnish chloroplatinates for analysis. The authors therefore conclude that all previous results obtained by different investigators from alkaline extracts by the use of either amyl alcohol or benzine, unless carefully purified, are absolutely without value as deciding the presence of ptomaïne-like bodies in fresh tissue or fluids, or their formation in the putrefaction of such material.

In the search for ptomaïnes in putrescent brain1 Archives ital. biol., ii. 367.

matter, Guareschi and Mosso followed the method of Stass-Otto, applying exactly the same procedure in the control search with fresh brain-tissue; and, on account of the negative results invariably obtained in the latter, the authors are able to guarantee the absence of pre-existing ptomaïnes in fresh flesh, or of any substances similar to those which are found after putrefaction, when pure ether or chloroform is used in the extractions. In the experiments, 36 kilograms of brain-tissue were placed in a glass balloon, and left at a temperature of 10°-15° C. for one to two months. The mass was then extracted with alcohol acidulated with tartaric acid, using, in all, 147 litres of alcohol. The final ether solution left an alkaline residue, which, dissolved in dilute hydrochloric acid, gave characteristic_precipitates with the general alkaloid reagents, and several well-defined colored reactions; but, though present, the ptomaïnes (or alkaloids) were in far too small quantity to admit of determining their composition by analysis. Trimethylamine, coming, doubtless, from the lecithin present in the brain-matter, was likewise obtained, together with an abundance of basic and ammoniacal products.

Physiological experiments, made on frogs with both aqueous and ether extracts, of the putrid brain-matter, led to the conclusion that the ptomaïnes formed possessed an action analogous to that of curare, though less energetic. A few drops of the extract, applied directly to the detached heart of a frog immersed in a .7% salt solution, exercised upon it an immediate effect, diminishing the frequency of the systole and diastole, but increasing the vigor of the pulsation. In studying the action of the extract on nerves and muscles, a frog was rendered motionless by destroying the spinal cord; after which the achilles tendon was prepared in the usual manner, the sciatic nerve being placed upon the electrodes, and excited every ten seconds. .3 cc. of the ptomaïne containing extract was then injected under the skin of the back. After ten minutes, an irregularity appeared in the contraction of the gastrocnemius; and, since all the conditions of the experiment remained the same, the irregularity is to be ascribed to the poison. From this point the contractions were no longer regular: they gradually diminished little by little, and finally ceased altogether. On increasing the force of the irritation, there was still no further movement. The sciatic nerve of the other side, intact, had likewise lost its excitability, and the animal was in as complete a state of muscular relaxation as if it had been poisoned by curare. But the pupil was dilated, and the heart motionless.

In order to obtain the ptomaïnes in larger quantities, recourse was had to blood-fibrine. Large quantities of fibrine (140 kilos) were allowed to putrefy for five months; at the end of which time it was transformed into a thick fluid holding a small quantity of solid matters in suspension; the reaction being strongly acid, and the odor very intense at the commencement, but less strong later. For the extraction of the alkaloids, the method of Gautier and Etard was followed; the final slightly alkaline fluid being extracted successively with chloroform, in all, twelve times. By evaporation of the chloroform, an oily residue was left with an odor of scatol and of pyridine (or cicutine). This residue was purified by solution in tartaric acid, decolorized by extracting the acid solution with ether, and then reprecipitated by an excess of potassium hydroxide in the form of oily, brown droplets, which quickly rose to the top of the fluid. This precipitate was readily dissolved by ether, and, on evaporation, was left as an oily, brown resi

due with strong alkaline reaction, only slowly soluble in water, and then rapidly transformed into a resin. A hydrochlorate was readily obtained, crystallizing in fine lamellae, sometimes rectangular. resembling somewhat the crystals of cholesterin. With a solution of the hydrochlorate, auric chloride gave a yellow crystalline precipitate, followed by the reduction of the gold; platinic chloride, an abundant pale-yellow crystalline precipitate; iodine in potassium iodide, a kermes-brown precipitate; phosphotungstic acid, a pale-yellowish precipitate, etc. Chloroplatinates from seven different chloroform extractions were prepared for analysis by treating a solution of the hydrochlorate with an excess of platinic chloride. An immediate deposition of a flesh-colored precipitate, light and crystalline, insoluble in water, alcohol, and ether, took place. Dried at 100° C., the analyses of the various products showed essentially the same composition, pointing to the presence of only one ptomaïne in this putrefaction. The results correspond more or less closely with the formula (CH15N. HCl)2 PtCl, the ptomaïne itself being probably C10H15N. Bodies having the same apparent or closely related composition have been previously discovered: coridine, a homologue of pyridine, found in the oil of coal-tar by Thenius; a base, C10H15N, discovered by Vohl and Eulenberg in the fumes of tobacco, also termed coridine; a base obtained by Neucki1 in the putrefaction of gelatine with pancreas, and which he deemed an isomer of collidine.

He considered its constitution to be expressed by CH3, that is, isophenylethylamine, and - CH

C6H3

NH2'

that it is derived from the putrefaction of tyrosin, a normal product of pancreatic digestion, according to the following equation:

CHNO3 CH11N + CO2+ 0.

Gautier and Étard, while studying the alkaloidlike bodies produced by putrefaction, isolated two bases, which, from the analyses of the platinum salts, corresponded to parvolin and hydrocollidin. Sonnenschein and Zuelzer obtained from flesh extracts, which had become putrid by standing at 25° C. for several weeks, a small quantity of a crystalline substance, which behaved similar to atropin, dilating the pupil of the eye, and increasing the pulsation of the heart, etc. There is also a noticeable similarity between the ptomaïne obtained by Guareschi_and Mosso, and the tetrahydromethylquinoline of JackThe physiological action of the alkaloid from putrefied fibrine is analogous to that of the ptomaïne from putrid brain-matter. Guareschi and Mosso propose to experiment further in the hopes of better establishing the nature of the ptomaïne in question, and to make clear its origin and constitution. R. H. CHITTENDEN.

son.

kept in a box together. The older chicken soon assumed the care of the little one, brooding it after its fashion, and pecking any disturbing hand. But the strangest feature is, that when a dainty morsel, such as a fly, is brought, it will call the little one like a mother-hen, and give it the fly to eat. This has been done repeatedly within the past week, the sound made being unmistakably the food-call, though, of course, pitched on a higher key. Yet it cannot have heard that sound for at least two weeks, and, in the ordinary course of events, should not make it for eight months. REDDUCS.

Cambridge, June 6.

Lake Superior geology.

On reading Professor Chamberlain's paper in SCIENCE, No. 16, and afterwards referring to his statement in the third volume Wisc. geol. reports (p. 423), I see that I was mistaken regarding the Taylor's Falls locality being fifteen miles away from other traps (SCIENCE, No. 9). I now see that his language was not intended to be taken as it was understood by me. M. E. WADSWORTH.

Fish-hooks from southern California.

In plates xi. and xii. of Lieut. Wheeler's Report on archeology there are several drawings of ornainents found near Santa Barbara, Cal., and on the adjacent islands, by Mr. Paul Schumaker and myself, which the editors are pleased to call fishhooks. A writer in the Century magazine for April presents drawings of other specimens of like character, found by myself in the same locality, and now deposited in the Smithsonian institution. I also have in my possession a series of these ornaments, but it would require a broad stretch of the imagination to believe that they were intended for fish-hooks.

the exploration of the mainland and islands, I had an opportunity to study them in every stage of development. I am convinced, that, with few exceptions, they were designed for ornaments, as their shape precludes the idea of their use as fish-hooks. They were probably suspended from the ears, and possibly worn on other portions of the body. The true fish-hook of what may be termed the Santa Barbara Indians has never, to my knowledge, been figured; yet they are more commonly met with in the rancherias and 'cementaries' in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties than the curved specimens we have been considering. I send you drawings of two specimens belongThese ing to my cabinet. hooks were made of two slightly curved pieces of bone pointed at each end, and firmly tied together at the lower end and cemented with asphaltum. They are somewhat similar to those still in use by the South Sea Islanders. The larger specimen I found with a skeleton at Point Dume, Ventura county. There were several others similar to the

FISH-HOOK, SIZE OF

ORIGINAL.

SHELL ORNAMENT. BONE ORNAMENT, SIZE OF ORIGINAL.

The point, which in many instances curves downward, comes so near the stem that it would be next to impossible for them to become hooked in a fish's mouth. The point of one of my best specimens, manufactured from the shell of the Haliotis, comes within the sixteenth of an inch of the stem or shank; and were a line to be looped on the stem, and cemented with asphaltum, as was practised by the California Indians, the space would be completely filled (see the annexed drawing). My specimens range in size from one-half inch to two and a half inches in diameter, and were manufactured from Haliotis shells and from bone. The first of these ornaments of which I have any knowledge, I found in a rancheria at Rincon, on the line between Santa Barbara and Ventura counties; and during five years' subsequent residence at Santa Barbara, and

FISH-HOOK, SIZE OF ORIGINAL.

one figured still retaining the thong and cement that bound the parts together. The smaller specimen I found on the surface in a rancheria one mile west of the town of Ventura. STEPHEN BOWERS.

Falls City, Neb., June 4, 1883.

Intelligence of the crow.

I find, by referring to my note-books, that I have witnessed several times the occurrence of crows breaking mussels by dropping them from considerable heights (SCIENCE, p. 513). In one instance, I had my field-glass with me, and made careful notes of what took place. The crows had assembled on Duck Island, in the Delaware River, and were busily engaged in running along the edges of the sand-bars, exposed at low tide. Every few moments, one of them would rise up to a height of fully fifty feet, carrying a mussel in its beak, and, flying inland to a distance of one hundred yards, would let the mollusk fall on the meadow. Usually the force of the fall was sufficient to break the shell. The crows, as soon as they had let fall their burden, immediately returned to the island and bars, and gathered more mussels. This was continued until the returning tide made mussel-hunting impracticable. In no instance did the crows carry the food they were gathering by their feet. There is one fact with reference to this habit of the crows which is, I think, indicative of greater intelligence than the mere fact of lifting an object and dropping it in order to break it. This is, that all the mussels so dropped were left undisturbed until the returning waters made further fishing impracticable, when the birds hastened to feast on the results of their intelligent labor. Marvellous as it may seem, these crows recognized the nature of tides, and, knowing their time was short, made as good use of it as possible.

If any more striking evidence of intelligence on the part of birds can be produced, let it be placed on record forthwith. C. C. ABBOTT.

Impregnation in the turkey.

An interesting fact respecting our domestic turkey has recently come to my notice. A friend, finding that a stray turkey had recently come upon his premises with the intention of remaining, finally shut it up in his chicken-yard, where it was permanently confined with no other associates than the chickens. The prisoner at once began to lay eggs, and, after a nest was formed, sat upon them, hatching out, in the usual time, nine healthy turkeys. Three others, that had been hatched by a hen, died soon for want of care. The eggs, thirteen in all, were laid without any connection with a turkey-cock. An impregnation, then, that must have taken place before the fowl was placed in confinement, must have answered for all the eggs. Agassiz states that one copulation is supposed to answer for more than one egg in the case of the turkey, but adds that the supposition needs confirmation. The facts here mentioned seem conclusive, as there was no possible way in which connection could have taken place after the turkey was confined. EDWARD M. SHEPARD.

Springfield, Mo.

THE GRAPE PHYLLOXERA IN FRANCE. Compte rendu des travaux du service du Phylloxera. Année 1882. Procès verbaux de la session annuelle de la Commission supérieure du Phylloxera. Rapports et pièces annexes. Lois, décrets et arrêtés relatif au Phylloxera. Paris, Impr. nat., 1883. 603 p.

4°.

THE Compte rendu des travaux du service du Phylloxera for the year 1882, just received in this country, makes a large volume, contain

ing numerous reports of special committees and delegates. The Commission supérieure du Phylloxera, which consists of some thirty-seven members, including such well-known investigators as Dumas, Pasteur, Tisserand, Cornu, Balbiani, Marion, Marès, with a number of deputies and senators, was convoked by the minister of agriculture on the 19th of January, 1883. The first sub-committee at the session of Jan. 22 submitted its report, which was accepted by the Commission supérieure. This report may be thus summed up:

After having passed upon 185 proposed remedies, they were unable to award the prize of 300,000 francs offered by the government in 1874, as they recognized in none of the new propositions any merit, whether as to novelty or more desirable methods of application of any insecticide already known. As in previous years, the substances most often recommended were salt, lime, soot, and cinders. It is well known that salt has produced nothing but bad effects on the vine, lime has amounted to little, while soot and cinders are but adjuncts to other modes of treatment. Among plants, Pyrethrum, tobacco, Quassia, and other similar products, are still urged by applicants for the prize, notwithstanding that the uselessness of such products has been shown by past experience. In fact, the proposed remedies range from dynamite and electricity to prayers and processions.

The second sub-committee reported through its chairman, M. Cornu, on the spread of the insect through France, the report being accompanied by a map which shows that nearly onehalf of France is infested with Phylloxera. The map indicates particularly (1) thearondissements' in which the presence of Phylloxera has not yet been observed, and into which it is forbidden to introduce any vines from phylloxerated districts or from foreign countries; (2) districts in which the insect occurs quite generally, but into which the introduction of foreign vines, or vines from other phylloxerated districts, is not authorized; and (3) badly infested districts, into which the introduction of foreign and French vines from phylloxerated districts is authorized. These last constitute nearly one-third of the area of France.

It will be well for those, who, allured by the liberal offer of the French government, venture to propose a Phylloxera remedy, to remember that one of the absolute conditions for the awarding of the prize is that the remedy shall be based on positive and authentic experience. A great many visionary and theoretical propo