78 THE THEORY OF IQNS 



bases, e.g. ammonium cyanate. The latter is iso- 

 meric with urea and can be transformed into it by 

 intramolecular changes. Cyanic acid also combines 

 with alcohols to form ethers ; and with sulphur to 

 form thio-cyanic acid, various combinations of which 

 are to be found in the aromatic oils, e.g. in mustard. 

 It is believed by Pfliiger and others that it is cyano- 

 gen which gives to protoplasm its characteristic vital 

 properties. This idea is supported by analogies 

 existing between the cyanide compounds, especially 

 cyanic acid, and living albumin. Both are fluid 

 and transparent at ordinary temperatures, and set 

 or undergo gelation at a higher temperature ; both 

 break into NH 4 and C0 2 in the presence of water ; 

 both produce urea by dissociation ; both grow by 

 concatenation of atoms, i.e. by homogeneous groups 

 of atoms joining together chain-wise into large mole- 

 cules. So that cyanogen and alcohol aldehyde, or 

 the cyanhydrines formed from them, follow out their 

 tendency to form polymeria or chains of radicals ; 

 and the co-operation of oxygen, and afterwards of 

 water and salts, to form the self-decomposable albu- 

 min of living matter is the belief of Pfliiger and his 

 followers. The non-nitrogenous products of dead 

 and living matter agree in the main ; but the nitro- 

 genous products of dead and living matter are 

 totally different. Urea, uric acid, creatine, guanine, 

 etc., the products of living tissues, all contain the 

 cyanogen radical ; from which it is inferred that 

 living albumin always contains the cyanogen 

 radical, but dead albumin does not. Therefore the 

 cyanogen radical is believed to be the real cause of 

 the instability of living substance. Max Verworn 



