Study of Spirogyra nitida. 219 



at ioo° C. After drying the plant, even alkalies caused no 

 further evolution of the gas. This fact was indicated by 

 the low percentage of nitrogen as determined by Kjeldahls 

 made with dry material, and others made with fresh 

 material. To obtain the entire nitrogen content it was 

 necessary to work with fresh threads which had been sim- 

 ply drained. The loss of nitrogen was not very great, 

 hence if it was due to proteid decomposition there was, 

 relatively, only a small amount of the substance which 

 yielded trimethvlamine. 



To determine whether the loss of nitrogen by drying 

 was due to its exit as trimethvlamine only, the fresh plant 

 was drained, weighed, and introduced into a large flask 

 containing potassium hydrate. The substance was dis- 

 tilled until the gases were no longer absorbed, then the 

 amine was estimated as before. In this case, however, 

 considerable ammonia was produced. 



From this analysis the plant was found to contain 0.45 

 per cent. (CH 3 ) 3 N, which is equivalent to o. 1 per cent, 

 nitrogen. The nitrogen found in the fresh plant amounted 

 to 2.61 per cent. ; that in the dried material, 2.52 per cent. 

 Apparently, then, we have the loss of nitrogen perfectly 

 accounted for by the trimethvlamine content. 



If, as Loew believes, it is the lecithin only which pro- 

 duces trimethvlamine, we should find some agreement 

 between the quantity of phosphorus organically combined, 

 and the quantity of trimethylamine evolved, since they 

 exist in lecithin in the proportion of 1:1. 



The phosphorus was determined by extracting the 

 material, dried at 30 C. and powdered very fine, with 

 absolute ether until it failed to yield any green coloring mat- 

 ter to the solvent. Absolute alcohol was then allowed to 

 act until all the green substance had been removed. The 

 united extractions were evaporated in a platinum dish, 

 then ignited with calcium carbonate and ammonium chlor- 

 ide, the last traces of carbon being finally oxidized by the 

 aid of ammonium nitrate. The white residue consisted of 

 15 



