320 Prof. Pringsheim on Hypochlorin and the 



masses is due to the colouring-matter of the chlorophyll is 

 undoubtedly correct : but this colouring-matter does not form 

 any fluid of itself ; and as it is insoluble in dilute and even in 

 concentrated hydrochloric acid, as is shown by direct observa- 

 tion if we treat the chlorophyll-bodies in the unopened cell 

 with hydrochloric acid, a special menstruum must exist in the 

 separated masses, which serves as the bearer of the colouring- 

 matter that tinges the drops and needles. This, indeed, 

 becomes directly perceptible ; for the needles, filaments, and 

 rods often lose their colour when they have become older and 

 been for a considerable time exposed to the light, completely 

 retaining their form, however ; and in many cases the rigid 

 structures are colourless even at their production. Their 

 colour is therefore due solely to a contamination with co- 

 louring-matter which has been carried over. 



The drops separating under the action of hydrochloric acid 

 consist, therefore, of an oleaginous fluid tinged with dissolved 

 chlorophyll-colouring-matter, which is either itself crystal- 

 lizable or contains a crystallizable substance, " hypochlorin ; " 

 and therefore, as will be seen from this statement, I under- 

 stand under the name " hypochlorin " not the entire mixture 

 of which the masses separable by hydrochloric acid from the 

 chlorophyll-bodies consist (which, indeed, includes the colour- 

 ing-matter tinging them), but only the body contained in them 

 which afterwards solidifies in an indistinctly crystalline form, 

 or (which is the same thing) the foundation of this crystal- 

 lizable body originally present in the chlorophyll-grain. For 

 it may still appear questionable whether the body which sub- 

 sequently acquires a crystalline texture outside the chloro- 

 phyll-body was present with the same properties in the 

 fundamental substance, or undergoes, during its passage 

 out, a change which causes its solidification and crystalli- 

 zation. 



Moreover, I will remark, we may regard the hypochlorin 

 reaction, i.e. the formation of the dark secretions from the 

 chlorophyll-bodies, as not a specific action of hydrochloric 

 acid ; for it is produced also by other agents. 



Picronitric acid, for example, in various degrees of dilution, 

 produces in most cases precisely the same effect as hydro- 

 chloric acid, but does not furnish such clear images, as it 

 attacks the fundamental substance of the chlorophyll-bodies 

 more strongly, by which means the forms become more 

 indistinct. 



In all preparations of green tissues which have lain for 

 months or years in glycerine or chloride of calcium, the dark 

 indefinitely bounded hypochlorin-masses also appear here 



