THE CHEMICAL UNITY OF LIVING BEINGS. 187 



egg, SO dear to the chemists who had preceded him. 

 The disintegration of this molecule, instead of giving 

 the series of bodies obtained by Schiitzenberger, 

 gave but one, a real chemical base, arginin. At the 

 first trial the albumin examined was reduced to a 

 simple crystallizable element. The conclusion was 

 obvious. The protamin of salmon is the simplest of 

 albumins. To form this elementary proteid substance 

 a hexonic base with water is all that is required. 



Continuing on these lines other male generating 

 cells were examined and a series of protamines con- 

 structed on the same type was found, and these 

 albuminous bodies proved to be formed of a base or 

 mixture of analogous hexonic bases : arginin, histi- 

 din, and lysin — all bodies closely akin in their pro- 

 perties and entirely belonging to the physical world. 



Once aware of the existence of this fundamental 

 nucleus, chemists found it in the more complex 

 albumins where it had been missed. It was found in 

 the albumin of z^^ hidden under the mass of other 

 groups. It was recognized in all animal or vegetable 

 albumins. The nuclei of Schiitzenberger may be 

 missing. Hexonic bases are the constant and 

 universal element of all varieties of albumins. They 

 prevail in the chemical nucleus of the albuminous 

 molecule, and perhaps as is suggested by Kossel, 

 they may form it exclusively. All the other elements 

 are superadded and accessory. The essential type of 

 this molecular edifice, sought for so long, is known at 

 last. 



Conclusion. — To sum up, the chemical unity of 

 living beings is expressed by saying that living 

 matter, protoplasm, is a mixture or a complex of 

 proteid substances with an hexonic nucleus. 



