94 THE CHEMISTR Y OF THE TISSUES AND ORGANS. 



saline solutions) contain, proteicl, 41 -9; lecithin, 3173; fat and choles- 

 terin, 2 6 -2 7 per cent. In young spermatozoa some interest attaches 

 to the presence of a proteose which is regarded as the mother 

 substance of protainine. Proteose and protamine both give the biuret 

 reaction. 



Charcot's crystals. These can be obtained from semen on evaporation. 1 

 They are frequently found in sputum, in the blood, and in other situa- 

 tions, in leucocythaemia. Schreiner 2 considered that they consist of the 

 phosphate of a base he called spermine, C 2 H 5 N. Ladenburg and Abel 3 



FIG. 12. Charcot's crystals. 



thought they were identical with ethylenimine, which can be prepared 

 artificially from ethylenediamine-hydrochloride. This identity, however, 

 is denied by Majert and A. Schmidt 4 and by Poehl. 5 Poehl gives the 

 formula C 5 H 14 N 2 to the base. He states that it is a normal constituent of 

 the testis, ovary, and blood, and that, used as a drug, it has a tonic effect. 

 Ovary. The connective tissue element is large, and yields chiefly 

 gelatin and mucin. Proteids and nuclem are derived from the ova and 



1 Bottger, VircJiow's Archiv, Bd. xxxii. S. 525. 



2 Ann. d. Chem., Leipzig, Bd. cxciv. S. 68. 



3 Ber. d. deutsch. chem. Gesellsch., Berlin, Bd. xxi. S. 758. 



4 Com.pt. rend. Acad. d. sc., Paris, tome cxv. 

 * Berl. Min. Wchnschr., 1893, No. 36. 



