242 NUCLEIN. [BOOK i. 



isolated in large quantities. In order to obtain them uncontaminated 

 with organic phosphorus compounds soluble in alcohol and ether, it is 

 advisable to treat the pus cells with hot alcohol before digestion. 



The nuclei, isolated by the above method, form a grey mass, 

 insoluble in very dilute HC1, but soluble in very weak solutions of 

 sodium hydrate. From this solution, acids added in excess precipitate 

 an insoluble body, which, according to Miescher 1 , consists of a definite 

 organic body containing phosphorus, to which he ascribes the name of 

 Nuclein. This body is, according to Miescher, found in the nuclei of 

 the segmentation spheres of the yolk; according to Plosz 2 it is the 

 principal constituent of the nuclei of the coloured blood corpuscles 

 of Birds ; and according to Hoppe-Seyler 3 it is found in yeast. It 

 is said also to be present in brain and liver. Indeed, wherever nuclei 

 are found, nuclein has been surmised to exist. 



Elementary Miescher 4 has investigated the nuclein obtained from 



composition of salmon-melt more closely than that obtained from pus- 

 Nuciein. cells, and has come to the conclusion that nuclein is a 



tetra-basic acid, having the formula C^H^N^O^. 



The following is the composition of nuclein according to Miescher. 



Calculated. Found. 



C OQ 35-95 36-11 



H q 5-01 5-15 



N ' 1302 13-09 



P 3 9-61 9-59 



O 0(1 36-41 3606 



Hoppe-Seyler prepared and analysed nuclein from pus and 

 obtained numbers which differed entirely from those of Miescher. 



The 1 following numbers shew the wide discrepancy between the 

 analyses of Hoppe-Seyler and Miescher. 



ANALYSES OF NUCLEIN. 



I. II. 



(From pus.) (From spermatozoa of the Sahnon.) 

 (Hoppe-Seyler.) (Miescher.) 



C-. ...49-58 36-11 



H 710 5-15 



N 15-02.... 13-09 



P 2-28 9-59 



1 Miescher, Op. cit. 



2 Plosz, "Ueber das chemische Verhalten der Kerne der Vogfl- und Schlangen- 

 blutkorperchen." Hoppe-Seyler's Med.-chem. Untersuchungen, p. 461. 



3 Hoppe-Seyler, "Ueber die chemische Zusammensetzung des Eiters." Med.-chem. 

 Untersuchungen, p. 500. 



4 Miescher, "Die Spermatozoen einiger Wirbelthiere, " (Protamin, Nuclein). Se- 

 paratabrduck aus den Verhandlungen der naturforschendcn Gesellschaft in Basel, Vol. vi., 

 1874. Abstracted in Maly's Jahresbericht, Vol. iv. p. 337 et seq. 



