256 IV. THE PRINCIPLES OF LIFE PHENOMENA 



of which is not so stiking as that of the capsular antigen which is 

 believed to be type-specific and to be polysaccharide in chemical nature. 

 The type-specific structure may be fine and unstable, so that the 

 pattern may be lost in the somatic protein during the purification 

 process, only the solid, stable pattern being left untouched, whilst 

 the fine, type-specific pattern may be retained in the polysaccharide 

 even after the isolation owing to the rigid nature of its structure. 



The writer considers that the pattern of lipids is not only extremely 

 labile but their existence results in the decrease in the action of 

 assimilase as the rigidity of the pattern is lost by their presence. 

 However, the fact that the pattern is not always labile in the sub- 

 stances called lipids is fairly demonstrated by the work of Yamakawa 

 and Suzuki (58) who have shown that a glucolipid isolated from red 

 blood cells is evidently different in chemical structure between man 

 and the horse. On account of its peculiar chemical composition, pre- 

 sumably owing to the presence of sugars, the glucolipid may be able 

 to retain its species specific pattern even after the isolation though it 

 is called lipid. 



