466 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



coloration discharged by sulphide of hydrogen or of ammo- 

 nium. It is insoluble in organic solvents like alcohol, ether, 

 or benzene ; it is soluble in water, alcohol phis water, and 

 dilute acids. It is found only in the medulla of the supra- 

 renal capsule, or after death in the blood of the suprarenal 

 vein. Its presence in physiologically active extracts is con- 

 stant; when absent the extracts give a negative physiological 

 result. 



Moore did not succeed in separating or identifying it. 

 It was not attacked by acids, or by boiling for a few 

 minutes, but it is destroyed by alkalis, by oxidising agents, 

 and by prolonged boiling. It is not precipitated by alcohol, 

 saturation with ammonium sulphate, by mercuric chloride, 

 potassio-mercuric iodide or tannic acid. It does not reduce 

 Fehling's solution even after boiling with mineral acids nor 

 does it form a crystalline compound with phenylhydrazine. 

 It is not volatile either alone or with aqueous vapour. It 

 dialyses freely through parchment paper, and the highly 

 active dialysate is free from proteid. It is not affected by 

 gastric digestion. 



From these characters, largely negative, one can say 

 what the substance is not, though one cannot say what it is. 

 It is certainly not a proteid. An investigation of the pro- 

 teids of the gland shows that they are of the globulin and 

 nucleo-proteid variety ; in fact like the proteids of other 

 cellular organs (D. N. Nabarro). 1 It is certainly not a 

 carbohydrate, or a fat, or an alkaloid. This excludes neurine 

 and its related alkaloid choline. 



The only other research bearing on the question that I 

 can find is by Paul Manasse. 3 He states that it has long 

 been known that the medullary substance of the suprarenal 

 capsules contains a material which becomes dark brown 

 with salts of chromic acid, unless the capsules have been 

 previously hardened in alcohol. The substance is soluble 

 in alcohol, and shows great similarities to the body named 



1 Proc. physiol. Soc\, p. xvii., 1895. 



2 Schafer {ibid., p. iii., 1894, contained in Journ. of Physiol., vol. xvi.) 

 finds that the physiological action of these alkaloids is quite different from 

 that of suprarenal extracts. 



3 Zeit. f. physiol. Cfmn., vol. xx., 478, 1895. 



