364 THE LIVER. 



PATON, forms the greater part of the ethereal extract, while with 

 food rich in fat, on the contrary, it forms the smaller part. The phog- 

 phatides are undoubtedly of various kinds, but they have not been closely 

 studied. Among others, we have lecithin and the so-called Jecorin. 1 

 Cholcsterin is also a constituent of the liver, although only in small 

 quantities. 



Jecorin was first found by DRECHSEL in the liver of horses, and also in the 

 liver of a dolphin, and later by BALDI in the liver and spleen of other animals, in 

 the muscles and blood of the horse, and in the human brain. It contains sul- 

 phur and phosphorus, but its constitution is not positively known. Jecorin dis- 

 solves in ether, but is precipitated from this solution by alcohol. It reduces 

 copper oxide, and gives a wine-red coloration with an ammoniacal silver-solution. 

 On boiling with alkali and then cooling it solidifies to a gelatinous mass. MANASSE 

 has detected dextrose as osazone in the carbohydrate complex of Jecorin. 



The statement by BING that Jecorin is a combination of lecithin and dextrose 

 does not follow from the analyses of Jecorin thus far known. Jecorin contains sul- 

 phur, even as much as 2.75 per cent, and further the relation of P:N in lecithin is 

 1:1, while in Jecorin it is quite different, 1:2 to 1:6. According to the recent 

 investigations of BASKOFF the liver Jecorin, prepared according to DRECHSEL'S 

 suggestion, and when it is so pure that it is completely soluble in ether, and quan- 

 titatively precipitated by alcohol, from this solution is a rather constant compound 

 at least in regard to the N, P and dextrose content. BASKOFF found as average 

 2.55 per cent N, 2.87 per cent P, and about 14 per cent dextrose. The relation 

 P : N was nearly 1 : 2 and therefore Jecorin is correspondingly a diamidomono- 

 phosphatide. 



The variable composition and divergent properties of the Jecorin isolated and 

 analyzed by various investigators 2 depends, according to BASKOFF, upon imper- 

 fect purification. His investigations do not give any explanation for the quantity 

 of sulphur and it is very probable that Jecorin is only a .mixture of several bodies, 

 among which a sulphurized and a phosphorized substance occurs. 



Another phosphatide, which does not reduce directly or after boiling with acid, 

 has been called heparphosphatide by BASKOFF. In certain regards this body is 

 similar to cuorin, and the relation P:N = 1.45:1, although it was not pure. 



Among the extractive substances besides glycogen, which will be treated 

 later, rather large quantities of the purine bases occur. KossEL 3 found 

 in 1000 parts of the dried substance 1.97 p. m. guanine, 1.34 p. m. hypo- 

 xanthine, and 1.21 p. m. xanthine. Adenine is also contained in the 

 liver. In addition there are found urea and uric acid (especially 

 in birds), and indeed in larger quantities than in the blood, paralactic 

 acid, leucine, and cystine. In pathological cases inosite and amino-acids 

 have been detected. The occurrence of bile-coloring matters in the liver- 



1 See Baskoff, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 57. 



2 Drechsel, Ber. d. sachs. Gesellsch. d. Wissensch., 1886, p. 44, and Zeitsch. f. Biol- 

 ogic, 33; Baldi, Arch. f. (Anat. u.) Physiol., 1887, SuppL, 100; Manasse, Zeitschr. f. 

 physiol. Chem., 20; Bing, Centralbl. f. Physiol., 12, and Skand. Arch. f. Physiol., 9; 



.Meinertz, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 46; Siegfried and Mark, ibid.; Paul Mayer, 

 .Bioch. Zeitschr., 1, and Baskoff, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 57. 



3 Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 8. 



