128 GELATINE CONTAINS NO PROTEINE. 



and of those of ammonia, accompanied by the sepa- 

 ration of sulj^hur and phosphorus ; at all events, 

 their composition is entirely different from that of 

 the chief constituents of blood. 



The action of caustic alkalies on the tissues yield- 

 ing gelatine shews distinctly that they no longer 

 contain proteine ; that substance cannot in any way 

 be obtained from them ; and all the products formed 

 by the action of alkalies on them differ entirely 

 from those produced by the compounds of proteine 

 in the same circumstances. Whether proteine exist, 

 ready formed, in fibrine, albumen, and caseine, or 

 not, it is certain that their elements, under the in- 

 fluence of the alkali, arrange themselves so as to 

 form proteine ; but this property is wanting in the 

 elements of the tissues which yield gelatine. 



The other, and perhaps the more probable expla- 

 nation of the production of these tissues from pro- 

 teine, is that which makes it dependent on a sepa- 

 ration of carbon. 



If we assume the nitrogen of proteine to remain 

 entire in the gelatinous tissue, then the composition 

 of the latter, calculated on 6 equivalents of nitrogen, 

 w^ould be represented by the formula, C38N6H32O14. 

 This formula approaches most closely to the analysis 

 of Scherer, although it is not an exact expression of 

 his results. A formula corresponding more per- 

 fectly to the analyses, is C32N5H27O12 ; or, calculated 

 according to Mulder's analysis, C54N9H42O20.* 



* The formula CjoN^H^oOjo, adopted by Mulder, gives, when 



