100 ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY. [iX. 



14. Myosin. 



Strip off the muscles from a rabbit or other 

 animal and chop them up as finely as possible, 

 place them in a large jar filled with water and 

 stir ; in about a quarter of an hour place a piece 

 of muslin over the top of the jar and pour off the 

 water ; fill up the jar again with water and let it 

 stand for an hour, then pour off the water and 

 refill the jar as before. When this has been 

 repeated once or twice the greater part of the 

 substances soluble in water will have been re- 

 moved ; it is best however to let the muscle stay 

 in water for a day adding a little thymol or 

 salicylic acid to prevent putrefaction. The 

 filtrate from a small quantity of muscle which 

 has been in an equal bulk of water for an hour 

 should give no proteid reaction if the muscle 

 has previously been thoroughly washed. 

 Collect the muscle on linen, squeeze out the 

 water, grind it up with clean sand and add 5 

 times its bulk of 10 p.c. ammonium or sodium 

 chloride, and stirring occasionally place it aside 

 for an hour or so (naturally if it is left longer 

 more myosin will be obtained). Filter through 

 muslin, 1 through linen, and then through coarse 

 filter paper. A somewhat viscid fluid is ob- 

 tained ; pour this into a tall vessel containing 

 about a litre of water and observe the pre- 

 cipitate of myosin which takes place (or the 



1 The residue may be again treated with 10 p.c. ammonium 

 chloride. 



