258 RELATION OF LYSATININE TO UREA. [BOOK II. 



Likecreatine We now come to the deeply interesting, central 



andcreatinine, fact resu lting from Drechsel's researches. 

 composeTwith ^ ha 4 lon g been the bject of the endeavours of 

 the formation physiological chemists to obtain urea directly by the 

 of urea. decomposition of albuminous substances. The French 



chemist Bechamp believed, indeed, that by the oxidising action of 

 potassium permanganate he had succeeded in obtaining urea. 

 Stadeler and 0. Lohr, on repeating the experiments of Bechamp, 

 failed to confirm his discovery. In spite of the asseverations of 

 Bitter in support of the accuracy of Be'champ's assertion, Tappeiner 

 on going over the same ground obtained the same results as 

 Stadeler and O. Lohr. The probable source of error has been 

 explained by F. Lorsch, who has found that under the conditions of 

 Bechamp's experiment, with some modifications, guanidin is formed, 

 this substance having probably been mistaken for urea by Bechamp 1 . 



By a process not of oxidation, but of decomposition, in which 

 probably, secondary products of decomposition are less likely to arise 

 than by any other, we have seen that Drechsel has obtained the 

 base lysatinine, which has an empirical formula homologous to that 

 of creatine or creatinine. As creatine when boiled with baryta 

 water splits into sarcosin and urea, it occurred to Drechsel that 

 his new base, lysatinine, would in all probability be similarly 

 decomposed and furnish urea as a product. Experiment at once 

 verified the anticipation. From 10 grammes of the double salt 

 of lysatinine and nitrate of silver, by boiling (after previous sepa- 

 ration of the silver) for 25 minutes with excess of baryta water, 

 he obtained 1 gramme of pure urea nitrate, from which he isolated 

 urea, which he identified by a comparison of physical and chemical 

 properties and by a nitrogen determination. Thus it has been 

 possible to prove that by processes of simple decomposition, in 

 which oxidation is absolutely excluded, urea can be derived directly 

 from the albuminous substances. The whole bearing of these dis- 

 coveries will be discussed in the third volume of this work in 

 connection with the general question of the mode of formation of 

 urea in the body. It may here be stated, however, that Drechsel 

 is far from believing that the whole or the major part of the urea 

 formed in the organism is due to the decomposition of lysatinine. 

 On the contrary, he is of opinion that presumably only about one- 

 ninth of the urea extracted is thus derived. 



Reference has been made to secondary, as distinguished from 

 primary, products of the decomposition of proteids ; the distinction 

 will be easily made plain. The carbonic, oxalic, and acetic acids 

 which were obtained when proteids were decomposed by long heating 

 with Ba(OH) 2 at high temperatures, and which were not obtained 

 by the non-oxidising action of Sn C1 2 and HC1, are examples of 

 secondary products. 



1 The references to the original papers will be found in Drechsel's memoir, ' Ueber 

 ein Spaltungsproduct des Caseins.' 



