THE CHEMISTRY AND TOXICITY OF MUSSEL POISON

¹ From the George Williams Hooper Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California

The preparation of mussel poison by the following steps has been described: Drying of toxic organs, extraction of lipoids, extraction of poison with acid methyl alcohol, adsorption of impurities and pigments on charcoal, taking up of poison by permutit, elution by KCl, separation from inorganic salts by the alcohols, acetone and HCl-ether, precipitation of poison by rufianic and Reinecke acids, attempts at crystallization of the sulfate.

The most poisonous preparation obtained kills mice in amounts of 1.7 on intraperitoneal injection; it still contains 35 per cent ash. It is considered the most potent chemical poison.

Mussel poison seems to be of basic nature, and of relatively small molecular weight. It does not give any color reactions for alkaloids and is not removed from solution by the customary precipitants.

Brieger's "mytilotoxin" does not represent the pure toxic principle of poisonous mussels.

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