242 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



things than we do now! And what if Hammond's cobra- 

 poison albuminoid should turn out to be a fact? But one 

 question in that connection: Why do you omit animal glue 

 from your enumeration? My students have asked me that 

 question repeatedly. Ever yours truly, E. W. Hilgard. 



(J. B. L. TO S. W. J.) 



Eothamsted, St. Albans, April 28, 1890. 



My dear Sir, . . . Your books have been of great service 

 to myself as well as to all students in agriculture. This 

 science is occupying a great many more people's attention 

 than was the case when I first began my experiments and it 

 would appear that your countrymen will before very long 

 occupy a very prominent place in agricultural investigation. 

 Believe me, Sincerely yours, J. B. Lawes. 



(S. W. J. TO F. H. S.) 



New Haven, Ct, May 10th, 1890. 



Dear Storer, Apropos of "avenin" of Sanson I wrote 

 somewhat wrong in stating H. C. G. (1890) p. 121, that 

 Osborne was not "able to find any evidence of the presence 

 of such a body in oats/' He did find "a brown, granular, 

 non-cryst. substance." He did not find a substance of alka- 

 loidal character. Sanson 's evidence of ' ' alkaloidal character ' ' 

 was derived from its action on the nerve-system, and his view 

 was apparently confirmed by finding a large content of nitro- 

 gen. 



The body Osborne got was undoubtedly an albuminoid as 

 that Sammelwort is now understood. Since all that in H. C. G. 

 was printed, S. Martin (Berliner Berichte XXII 770 e from 

 Proc. Roy. Soc. 46 100-108) asserts that the albumose of the 

 "prayer bean," Abrus precatorius, is a poison deadly in doses 

 of 0.060 gm. per kilo of animal live weight when administered 

 in aqueous solution by subcutaneous injection. Martin says 

 the poison-symptoms are the same as those produced by 



