120 ANTIALBUMAT AND ANTIALBUMID. [BOOK II. 



called biuret-reaction (which had been supposed to distinguish the 

 peptones from all other proteids), differ, it has been stated, from the 

 peptones in possessing a lower power of diffusing through animal 

 membranes, a distinction which, if it really existed, would establish 

 the fact that they possess a larger molecular weight than the peptones. 

 The statements which Funke originally made 1 concerning the high 

 diffusibility of the peptones have, however, in no respect been con- 

 firmed by the investigations undertaken by von Wittich 2 in order to 

 test them, nor by those of so competent and trustworthy an observer 

 as the late Richard Maly 3 . 



Antialbumat and Antialbumid. 



Products re- When proteid substances are digested at a tempera- 

 th^com^T ture of 40 C. with hydrochloric acid containing 0'25 

 tion of proteids P er cent - or boiled with dilute sulphuric acid (3 5 per 

 by dilute acids, cent.), or digested with an acid solution containing but 

 Antialbumat. a small quantity of pepsin, the decomposition is effected 

 with the formation of considerable quantities of the body which 

 Meissner termed parapeptone, but to which Ktirme has assigned the 

 new name antialbumat*. This body is precipitated from the solution 

 by neutralising it. It is found, as Meissner had stated, to be soluble 

 in dilute acids, as well as in a mixture of pepsin and acid; when 

 digested with the latter it is, however, unacted upon. 



Antialbumat is dissolved by an alkaline solution of trypsin, 

 which at 40 converts it into antipeptone. 



When treated for a long time with acids, antialbumat is con- 

 verted into a much less soluble body, to which Klitme assigns the 



name Antialbumid. This formed part of the dyspep- 

 Antialouztiid -- 1*1 * IT* 



tone of Meissner, which contained, m addition, so- 

 called nucleins. The substance to which Schiitzenberger assigned 

 the name Hemi-protein is antialbumid. 



As was said when reference was made to the body discovered by 

 the French chemist, antialbumid is precipitable from acid solutions 

 when these are neutralised ; the precipitated body is wholly un- 

 digested by a mixture of pepsin and dilute acid ; it is soluble in a 

 weak alkaline solution, e.g., in a weak solution of sodium hydrate. 



The characteristic reaction which distinguishes antialbumid, from 

 other bodies, is the jelly-like coagulation which its solution in 

 sodium hydrate (containing 5%) undergoes, when digested with 

 trypsin ; this coagulation resembles that produced by rennet in fluids 



1 Funke, Lehrbuch der Physiologic. 5th ed. Vol. i. p. 208. Virchow's Archiv, Vol. 

 xin. (1858), p. 449. 



2 v. Wittich, 'Ueber die Diffusibilita't der Peptone.' Berl. klinisch. Wocliensclirift, 

 1872, no. 37. Abstract published in Maly's Jahresbericht, Vol. n. (for 1872), p. 19. 



3 Maly, 'Ueber die chemische Zusammensetzung und physiologische Bedeutung der 

 Peptone.' Pfluger's Archiv, Vol. ix. (1874), pp. 565619. 



4 Kiihne, Weitere Mittheilung iiber Ver darning senzy me, p. 5. 



