CONVERSION OF PROTEIN-BODIES INTO FAT. 213 



nothing, in a chemical point of view, at variance with such an 

 assumption (see vol. i, p. 258) ; indeed Liebig* has especially shown 

 that it is not only possible, but also probable, in a chemical point 

 of view, that the albuminous substances of the animal body may 

 be converted into fat. We find that in the putrefaction, as well as 

 in the gradual oxidation of albuminous substances, there are formed, 

 in addition to butyric acid, a number of acids which belong 

 undoubtedly to the group of the fatty acids, and are thus closely 

 allied to the fats ; indeed fat may, under favourable conditions, be 

 converted into ammonia and such fatty acids (butyric and vale- 

 rianic acids) ; hence it may fairly be assumed that under the 

 peculiar conditions presented by dead cells and tissues in the living 

 organism, the process of decomposition takes the same course in 

 nitrogenous matters as in the butyric or valerianic fermentation of 

 the protein-bodies, with only this difference, that in the former case, 

 where there is only a small supply of oxygen, oxides having higher 

 carbo-hydrogen radicals are formed. If the formation of adipocire 

 were more carefully examined, we should find that it presented the 

 most striking instance of a true fatty fermentation of albuminous 

 bodies. Chevreul, as is well known, found saponified fats com- 

 bined with ammonia and lime in adipocire, which led to the con- 

 elusion that the nitrogenous constituents of the muscles undergo 

 the process of putrefaction during the formation of this adipocire, 

 and that the ammonia which is formed combines with the fat 

 existing during life to form soaps, whilst the greater part of the 

 oleic acid is destroyed, or carried away, or converted into margaric 

 acid. Recent experiments made by Quaint and VirchowJ on 

 the conversion of muscular tissue into adipocire in macerating 

 troughs seem rather to give some weight to the older opinions, 

 that it was not merely the pre-existing fat which was saponified in 

 this process, but that the albuminous constituents of the muscles 

 were separated into fatty acids and ammoniacal salts. This subject 

 requires, however, to be more carefully investigated before we can 

 venture to decide to which of these hypotheses we ought to give 

 the preference. 



Virchow has long been one of the most zealous supporters of 

 the view that albuminous substances are converted into fat within 

 the living organism. This observer was the first pathological 



* Chem. Briefe. 1851, S. 491 [or Letters on Chemistry, 1851, p.379.] 

 t Medico-chirugical Transactions. 1850, Vol. 33, p. 141. 

 t Verb. d. phys.-med, Oes. z. Wurzburg. Bd. 3, S. 369. 

 Arch. f. path. Anat. Bd. 1, S. 30-(J4. 



