Chemical Basis of Genus and Species 69 



tamine or histone, the latter a non-coagulable protein, 

 more resembling a split product of one of the larger 

 coagulable proteins. 



A. E. Taylor 1 found that if the spermatozoa of the 

 salmon are injected into a rabbit, the blood of the animal 

 acquires the power of causing cytolysis of salmon sper- 

 matozoa. When, however, the isolated protamines 

 or nucleinic acid or the lipoids prepared from the 

 same sperm were injected into a rabbit no results of this 

 kind were observed. H. G. Wells more recently tested 

 the relative efficiency of the constituents of the testes 

 of the cod (which in addition to the constituents of 

 the sperm contained the proteins of the testicle). 

 From the testicle he prepared a histone (the protein 

 body of the sperm nucleus), a sodium nucleinate, 

 and from the sperm-free aqueous extract of the testi- 

 cles a protein resembling albumin was separated by 

 precipitation. 2 



The albumin behaved like ordinary serum albumin or 

 egg albumin, producing typical and fatal anaphylactic re- 

 actions and being specific when tried against mammalian 

 sera. The nucleinate did not produce any reactions when 

 guinea-pigs were given small sensitizing and larger intoxicat- 

 ing doses (o.i gm.) in a three weeks' interval; a result to 

 be expected, since no protein is present in the preparation. 

 The histone was so toxic that its anaphylactic properties 

 could not be studied. 



1 Taylor, A. E., Jour. Biol. Chem., 1908, v., 311. 



2 Wells, H. G., Jour. Infect. Diseases, 1911, ix., 166. 



