1913] Filippo Bottassi 381 



that both materlals — fibrillar and sarcoplasmic — exist in muscle 

 fibres in two distinct phases, which of course must also remain 

 distinct in the plasma. The fibrillar phase being represented in the 

 plasma in the form of granules, these are probably constituent ele- 

 ments of the fibrils, in harmony with the views of Heidenhain. 



The granulär material tends to flocculate spontaneously ; but 

 spontaneous agglutination and Sedimentation of the granules occurs 

 very slowly, because of their smallness and the high viscosity of the 

 Suspension fluid. Dilution with water, or with neutral, faintly acid 

 or alkaline Solutions, dialysis, or heating to about 30° C, accelerates 

 the process; but it also occurs, in from about 12 to 24 hours, as I 

 have Said, when all accelerating action of physical or chemical 

 agents is excluded. This aggregation, followed by precipitation, of 

 the granulär material is essentially the so-called "spontaneous 

 coagidation" of muscle plasma or extract; it is therefore neither an 

 enzymic-coagulation nor a heat-coagulation of dissolved protein. I 

 have never observed phenomena like those described by Kühne — of 

 nearly instantaneous clotting of cold muscle plasma when raised to 

 room temperature. 



Precipitation of the granules is greatly accelerated by heating 

 muscle plasma to between 38° and 54° C, when, after a few 

 minutes, a heavy precipitate is produced, from which there separates 

 a clear yellowish-red fluid, muscle serum. This phenomenon, which 

 many authors Interpret as one of heat coagulation of a dissolved 

 protein, is, on the contrary, the effect of rapid aggregation and pre- 

 cipitation of the suspended granules. When their concentration is 

 very great, massive clotting of the plasma occurs. 



The precipitate which appears during the first 24-48 hours of 

 dialysis of plasma is composed of the granulär material, and is not 

 formed from a dissolved protein. Sometimes the plasma trans- 

 forms itself into something like a blood coagulum. 



Heat-coagulation of dissolved myoprotein is a continuous 

 process, which does not appear to be complete even at 80° C. As 

 we cannot deny that it begins at a temperature as low as 50° C, 

 we are bound to admit that the precipitate of granules, formed at 

 54°-55° C, probably also contains a little myoprotein. In Opposi- 

 tion to von Fürth and others, I have observed that the (dissolved) 



