106 PROTEINE EXISTS IN FIBRINE, 



These considerations induced Mulder to give to 

 this product of the decomposition of albumen, &c. 

 by potash, the name of iwoteine (from Trf^coTsuo), " I 

 take the first rank "). The blood, or the constitu- 

 ents of the blood, are consequently compounds of 

 this proteine with variable proportions of inorganic 

 substances. 



Mulder further ascertained, that the insoluble 

 nitrogenised constituent of wheat flour (vegetable 

 fibrine), when treated with potash, yields the very 

 same product, proteine; and it has recently been 

 proved that vegetable albumen and caseine are 

 acted on by potash precisely as animal albumen 

 and caseine are. 



4. As far, therefore, as our researches have 

 gone, it may be laid down as a law, founded on 

 experience, that vegetables produce, in their organ- 

 ism, compounds of proteine ; and that out of these 

 comjiounds of proteine the various tissues and parts 

 of the animal body are developed by the vital force, 

 with the aid of the oxygen of the atmosphere and 

 of the elements of water.* 



* The experiment of Tiedemann and Gmelin, who found it im- 

 possible to sustain the life of geese by means of boiled white of 

 egg, may be easily explained, when we reflect that a graminivo- 

 rous animal, especially when deprived of free motion, cannot 

 obtain, from the transformation or waste of the tissues alone, 

 enough of carbon for the respiratory process. 2 lbs. of albumen 

 contain only 3^ oz. of carbon, of which, among the last products 

 of transformation, a fourth part is given off in the form of uric 

 acid. 



