22 Chittenden and Hart — Elastin and the Elastose Bodies. 



Analysis op Elastin B. 



Percentage composition of ash-free substance . 



16-96 



16-75 



0-34 



0-39 



Average. 

 54-08 



7-20 

 16-85 



0-30 

 21-57 



100-00 



Comparison of the two products shows a fairly close agreement in 

 composition. In B, however, the carbon is slightly lower and the 

 nitrogen a trifle higher than in A. Further, Elastin B contains 0-3 

 per cent, of sulphur, as determined by the modified Liebig's process.* 

 Miiller originally reported elastin, purified, however, by the use of an 

 alkali, as containing 0-08 per cent, of sulphur, but this he considered 

 merely as an imj^urity. 



Morochowetz, who appears to have made a hydration product of 

 elastin by the simple action of heat and water, states that it contains 

 0-617 per cent, of sulphur, but the details of his process we do not 

 know.f If the figures are correct, his elastin must have probably con- 

 tained double the percentage of sulphur present in elastin B- 

 Whether pure elastin does contain sulphur, or whether the 0-3 per 

 cent, present in i^reparation B is simply a constituent of some adhering 

 proteid, removable by alkali, we are not at present prepared to say, 

 but deem it probable that elastin does contain a small amount of 

 sulphur. 



■ See studies from Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Yale University, vol. ii, p. 



163. 



\ We have seen only an abstract in Jahresberieht fiir Thierchemie fiir 1886, p. 271. 



