. \ /■: R IV US 77 SS UES. 
i*5 
Bee p. 64). Ii was firsl prepared in a pure condition by Morner, and 
its constitution made oul by thai observer and by Schmiedeberg. It is 
partly found as such in the cartilaginous matrix, but most originates 
from the decomposition of chondromucoid. 
Morner found that the sulphur in it was all in the form of ethereal 
hydrogen sulphate ; hence the name chondroitin-sulphuric acid. It: is 
almost, but not quite, jeharacteristic of cartilage. Morner x separated it 
from twenty different varieties of cartilage, from cartilaginous tumours, 
and also from the tunica intima of the aorta, 2 but from no other tissue 
or organ of i he body. 3 
Schmiedeberg ascribes to ii the formula < ',JL : XS< ) 17 . On decom- 
position, the first products are sulphuric acid, and a nitrogenous sub- 
stance chondroitin. 
CANS* >, 7 -flD ) = H,S( ► f -KJ w H B M"0 M 
(chondroi tin -sul- (water) (sulphuric (chondroitin) 
phuric acid) acid) 
and 
a monobasic acid. On 
nitrogenous body called 
Chondroitin is a gummy material 
hydration it yields acetic acid, and a new 
chondrosin. 
C 18 H^N( > 14 +3H 2 < ) = ( ! 8 H 4 0,+C n H n NO u 
(chondroitin) (water) (acetic acid) (chondrosin) 
Chondrosin is also gummy, and a monobasic acid. It reduces 
Fehling's solution even more strongly than dextrose; it is dextro- 
rotatory, and is the reducing substance which so many previous chemists 
have obtained in an impure form from cartilage. On further decomposi- 
tion it yields glucuronic acid (see p. 5 ) and glucosamine (see pp. 9 and 75). 
Nervous Tissues. 
General composition. — The amount of water varies. It is present 
in larger amount in the grey than in the white matter, in early 
than in adult life, in the brain than in the spinal cord, in the spinal 
cord than in nerves. These facts are illustrated by the following 
table 4 :— 
Portion of Nervous 
System. 
Percentages of Water. 
( i rev matter of brain ) 
White „ \ 
Spinal cord . 
Nerves ... 
Ill FiBtUS 
Age, 20-30 Age, 70-90 m v 
(W.). (W.). (h -> 
(P.) 
(M.) 
(R.) 
87-92 | 
83 St 85 
69 72 70 
73-76 
64-72 
81) 
68/ 
81 { 
68 
57 
86- i 
70 i 
1 Ztschr. f. physiol. Chem., Strassburg, 1895, Bd. xx. S. 357. 
2 Upsala Lakarcf. Fork., Bd. xxix. 
3 Oddi {Arch. f. exper. Path. u. Pharmakol., Leipzig, Bd. xxxiii. ) states he has obtained 
it from livers which had undergone amyloid degeneration. 
4 In the above table, (W. ) refers to "Weisbach (Hofmann's "Lehrbuchd. Zoochemie," Wien 
1876, S. 121); (B.) to Bernhart (Gamgee's "Physiol. Chem.," vol. i. p. 446); (P.) to 
Petrowsky (Arch. f. d. gcs. Physiol., Bonn, Bd. vii. S. 367) ; (M.) to Moleschott (Charles, 
"Physiol. Chem.," p. 335); and (R.) to de Eegibus (Jahresb. ii. d. Fortschr. d. Thier- 
Chem., Wiesbaden, Bd. xiv. S. 346). 
