28 Spieazines 



complexes for connecting six adjacent spirals 

 directly with one another can be formed sponta- 

 neously under any conditions, although complexes 

 for connecting four adjacent spirals may be 

 formed occasionally as follows: 



\ / 



CH~CH 

 / \ 



The elementary composition of a protein will 

 also indicate to some extent the probable nature 

 of the connecting complexes. For example, if the 

 triple junctions are entirely of the gamma- 

 gamma-gamma type, then we may take as a rep- 

 resentative portion thereof one-half of each of 

 three adjacent spirals as illustrated in Fig. 2. 

 This will have the following empirical formula: 



C10H13N3O3, 



and will have the following percentage composi- 

 tion: 



Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Oxygen 



53.9 5.8 18.8 21.5 



This differs only slightly from the percentage 

 composition found experimentally for crystalline 

 egg-albumin, which is as follows: 



Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Oxygen Sulphur 



51.48 6.76 18.14 22.66 0.96 



(Perkin & Kipping, Organic Chemistry, p. 577, 1922.) 



