210 Pennington — A Chemico-Physiological 



Analysis of the Dry Material. 



The material used in this analysis was prepared as 

 already described in this paper, and was dried at no° C. 

 It was then ground to a fine powder. 



O. Ivoew. and Th. Bokorny,* state that an analysis of 

 the dry substance of Spirogyra (species not mentioned) 

 yielded them 6 per cent, to 9 per cent, of fat, 28 per cent, to 

 32 per cent, albumenoids, and 60 per cent, to 66 per cent, 

 cellulose and starch. These authors also consider lecithin 

 to be one of the plant's constituents, as well as cholesterine 

 and succinic acid. 



Because of the large chlorophyll content of the plant it 

 was deemed advisable to extract the fat with petroleum 

 ether in such quantity that for each gram of substance 

 there was 10 cc. of solvent. It was allowed to stand, with 

 frequent shaking, for eight days. The supernatant liquid 

 was then decanted into a weighed flask, the residue well 

 washed with petroleum ether, and both extract and wash- 

 ings were evaporated to dryness in a vacuum desiccator. 

 The substance remaining was semi-solid and deep brown ; 

 it had a resinous odor. In quantity it amounted to 3.45 

 per cent, of the substance taken. Saponification yielded a 

 body resembling a resin. It was reddish brown, soluble in 

 potassium hydrate, from which it was reprecipitated by 

 hydrochloric acid. It was also soluble in sulphuric acid, 

 forming with this agent a deep red solution. Water pre- 

 cipitated the substance unchanged. Its melting point lay 

 between 85 ° and 90 C. 



Probably a fatty acid was mixed with this resinous sub- 

 stance, since the filtrate, after extracting with alcohol and 

 ether, gave 0.43 per cent, of glycerol. The resinous body 

 itself amounted to 3.02 per cent. 



Micro-chemical tests failed to show the presence of a 

 resin in the cells. Fats, likewise, were not detected in the 

 vegetating cells. It is therefore likely that these sub- 



*Journ. f. Prakt. Chein., Vol. 36, p. 273. 



