80 HISTORY OF GEINE. 



that he had mistaken the chemical nature of that sub- 

 stance. Unless we suppose, with Raspail, that ni- 

 trogen in these acids, exists, and acts only as he sup- 

 poses it does in gluten, as an accident, or as an am- 

 moniacal salt, it cannot be supposed that geine 

 and these acids are identical, or can ever pass into 

 each other. Nor has the progress of chemical dis- 

 covery led to the abandonment of geine as a dis- 

 tinct principle. The existence of crenic and apo- 

 crenic acids, is not admitted, by some of the highest 

 authorities of the day, the justly celebrated Liebig, 

 and the no less expert and astute Graham, of the 

 London University. Both admit, however, of ulmic 

 acid and ulmin. Malaguti had procured, by boiling 

 sugar with dilute acid, ulmic acid in distinct crystals. 

 By long boiling in water it is converted into ulmin, 

 losing its solubility in alkali, without any change of 

 composition. 



The existence of these principles is recognized in 

 the seventh edition of Turner's Chemistry, edited by 

 Liebig and Gregory. The organic part, under the 

 eye of Liebig, may be supposed to contain only well 

 established chemical facts, and among these the re- 

 sults of Malaguti are given, under the names of 

 sacchulmin and sacchulmic acid — the one is soluble, 

 the other insoluble, in alkali ; their constitution iden- 



