86 CHEMICAL STATICS 



ena are, however, met with among the complex and double salts, 

 and the salts of polybasic acids or polyacid bases in the domain of 

 inorganic chemistry, and they afford no legitimate grounds for the 

 belief that the protein compounds are not molecular in character 

 and consequently do not obey the law of constant combining pro- 

 portions. All of the accurate data which we possess lend decided 

 support to the view that although the proteins may enter into 

 combination in multiple proportions, these proportions are con- 

 stant and indicate that under definite conditions of reaction and 

 concentration the protein molecules possess a definite and measur- 

 able equivalent weight. 



For the investigation of such compounds exactly the type of 

 technique must be employed which has proved to be successful in 

 dealing with the inorganic compounds of analogous complexity, 

 modified, however, by the limitations imposed upon us by the 

 instability of the proteins themselves. From the previous chapter 

 it will be clear that in the majority of instances the characteriza- 

 tion of the protein compounds must, for the present and pending 

 further elaboration of our technique, be based upon electrochemical 

 measurements. A discussion of the data derived from measure- 

 ments of this type must necessarily be deferred until later chapters 

 in which the electrochemical behavior of the protein salts will be 

 taken up in detail. For the present, therefore, except in the case 

 of the protamins, of which the salts with acids lend themselves to 

 sharp characterization by ordinary chemical methods, we shall 

 simply dwell upon the existence and general properties of certain 

 protein compounds without seeking to decide, in any specific 

 instance, how many equivalents of the protein or of the remaining 

 constituent are bound up in one molecule of the salt. 



2. The Compounds of the Protamins with Inorganic Acids 

 and Bases. — The protamins occur combined with nucleic 

 acid, in the nuclei of spermatozoa (27) (28) (13). According to 

 Burian (10), the nucleo-protein in the spermatozoa of the salmon 

 is formed by the combination of one molecule of nucleic acid with 

 one molecule of salmin. 



The protamins (19) (20) are predominantly basic substances, 

 the acid function being very small in comparison. They are 

 soluble in water, yielding strongly alkaline solutions. The formula 

 of salmin sulphate is a multiple of: 



C30H67N17O6, 2 H2SO4 + H2O 



