544 PROFESSOR CONNELL'S ANALYSIS 



stance. All these characters are sufficient . to shew its identity or close analogy 

 with legumin or vegetable casein : but in the present state of great doubt whether 

 LIEBIG is correct in holding legumin to be identical with animal casein ;* and 

 whether there is only one kind of legumin Messrs DUMAS and CAHOURS asserting 

 that there are two it would evidently be premature to attempt to determine, 

 with certainty, whether we are here dealing with a substance identical with, or 

 only closely allied to, the azotised principle of the leguminosse. Meanwhile, 

 however, as it differs essentially from vegetable albumen, and is procured by the 

 same means as the legumin of peas, and is an azotised body, I shall consider it 

 as legumin or vegetable casein. 



The liquid which had yielded the casein was evaporated to dryness, when a 

 brownish- white matter was obtained, which was not soluble in alcohol, nor had 

 any sweet taste, and when slightly moist had a clammy consistence. It contained 

 no nitrogen, and seemed, in short, to have the ordinary properties of gum. 



The whole of the original mass of the powder which had been rubbed with 

 cold and hot water, was now boiled with a quantity of water, and the whole 

 allowed to subside for a night. Next day the whole matter had subsided, leaving 

 the liquid nearly quite clear, and acetic acid no longer produced any effect on it. 

 Evaporated to dryness, a mere trace of gum was obtained. 



The subsided powder was dried, and then treated with hot alcohol. This 

 alcohol, by evaporation, yielded a small but decided quantity of a yellow fixed 

 oil. 



% 



The residual powder was now treated with dilute caustic potash ley, aided 

 by gentle heat, and also by diluted muriatic acid. The former of these liquids 

 took up nothing ; the latter, a mere trace of a mixture of two or three different 

 matters, which were too small in amount to have their precise nature determined. 



The residual white matter which had thus been successively treated with so 

 many solvents, was free from nitrogen, and was coasidered as woody matter or 

 lignin. 



The powder was examined in many stages of its analysis for starch, but no 

 traces of that substance were found. 



To determine the precise quantity of water contained in this substance, the 

 difference of loss of moisture in a dry air at 75 F., and on the sand bath at 240, 

 was ascertained; the loss at the former temperature being reckoned merely 

 accidental hygrometric moisture, and that at the latter, constituent water. 



The amount of ashes was ascertained by incinerating a portion of the powder; 

 and this amount, as well as that of all the solid constituents, was computed for 

 the powder as dried at 75. 



* See Berzelius Jahresbericht, 1842, p. 2?0, &c. 



