INTRODUCTION 



TO 



ANIMAL MOBPHOLOGY 



CHAPTER I. 



The group of colloids called Albuminoids is the most 

 complex and unstable series of bodies known to the 

 chemist, and, as we are as yet ignorant of the nature of 

 their apparently definite compounds, we know nothing 

 of their molecular constitution.* The phenomena of 

 lifef are always associated with and manifested in a 

 viscid, transparent, colourless, unstable albuminoid, 

 whose two special properties are contractility and the 

 power of converting other Carbon, Hydrogen, and 

 Nitrogen compounds, into a material like itself. An 

 ammoniacal solution of carmine stains it crimson. Of 



* Albumen is slightly acid in reaction, and forms compounds with Ba, 

 Ca, Pb, K, Na, &c., the last pair being probably the protein oi Mulder. 

 Schwartzenbach regards its compound with Platino-cyanide of Potassium 

 as being definite, but this is not confirmed by Diakonow''s analysis. 



t Which are motion, cyclical change, the evolution of heat, and the assi- 

 milation of other materials. Life is now generally regarded as a mode of 

 energy. 



B 



