APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III BETAINES 149 



molecules of carnitine by loss of one molecule of water, but the com- 

 position of the base is not C l8 H 38 O 5 N2 but C 9 H 19 O,N and the substance 

 is merely carnitine ethyl ester. It is therefore not surprising that 

 "novaine" ( = carnitine) is formed from oblitine by bacterial action, 

 and is the only product which can be isolated (Kutscher [1906, 2]), nor 

 that oblitine is partially transformed in the intestine to "novaine" 

 (Kutscher and Lohmann [1906,*!]). 



