l8o LIFE AND DEATH. 



rank — i.e., the nucleo-proteids and their constituents. 

 Not that they would not be found in the protoplasm 

 of the rest of the cell, but there is certainly a risk 

 that they would be less concentrated there and more 

 blended with accessory products ; they are there con- 

 nected with much more secondary vital functions. 

 This conclusion inspired the early researches of Pro- 

 fessor Miescher, of Basle, in 1874, and, twenty years 

 later, those of Professor Kossel, one of the most 

 eminent physiological chemists in Germany. 



In fact, these compounds have been found in all 

 tissues which are rich in cellular elements with well- 

 developed nuclei. The white globules of the blood 

 furnished to Lilienfeld the first nucleo-histone ever 

 isolated. The red globules themselves, when they 

 possess a nucleus, which is the case in birds and 

 reptiles as well as in the embryo of mammals, contain 

 a nucleo-proteid which was easily isolated by Plosz and 

 Kossel. Hammarsten, the Swedish chemist, who has 

 acquired a great reputation from his researches in 

 other domains of biological chemistry, prepared the 

 nucleo-proteids of the pancreas in 1893. They have 

 been pbtained from the liver, from the thyroid 

 gland (Ostwald), from brewers' yeast (Kossel), from 

 mushrooms, and from barley (Petit). They have 

 been detected in starchy bodies and in bacteria 

 (Galeotti). 



§ 2. Constitution of Nucleins. 



Constitution of Nucleins. — Our path is already 

 marked out if we wish to penetrate farther into the 

 constitution of these proteids, which are the imme- 



