CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF PROTEIN MOLECULE 51 



The data for the muscle of the Egyptian mummy are interesting as 

 showing that the muscle substance is preserved from decomposition by 

 the process of embalming. Autolysis of the muscle occurs, as amino 

 acids could be extracted from the tissue by water. 



The analysis of tumours by the ester method may perhaps throw 

 some light on cancer. Several tumours have been analysed, and they 

 all gave figures approximating to those in the table (p. 62). 



By analysing the membrane enveloping the fat particles of milk 

 Abderhalden and Voltz have been able to show that the protein is not 

 caseinogen, but that it is most probably a mixture of proteins, as is 

 generally believed. 



The analyses of chicken muscle, fish muscle, scallop muscle, and ox 

 muscle by Osborne and his associates are of extreme importance for 

 the study of the nutritional value of these food-stuffs as compared with 

 one another and with other, especially the vegetable, proteins. The 

 several muscles show a very close resemblance to the vegetable globul- 

 ins, but they contain less arginine and more lysine than these proteins. 

 The high content in lysine is particularly noticeable ; scallop muscle 

 contains the least amount; in the other muscles it is about 7*5 per 

 cent. Fish muscle contains the least amount of glutamic acid ; the 

 amounts in the other muscles are very close. The muscles are alike in 

 respect of tyrosine, aspartic acid, arginine, lysine, and histidine, and 

 also phenylalanine, which is slightly more abundant in scallop muscle. 

 Glycine is present in considerable amount in the free state in scallop 

 muscle ; otherwise, it is present only in ox muscle to any extent ; 

 since syntonin contains very little glycine it probably is derived from 

 the connective tissue in the ox muscle. It is curious that, as we 

 pass from the lower forms of life to the higher, the amounts of glycine, 

 alanine, leucine and proline increase. 



The crystalline protein from the juice of Antiaris toxicaria examined 

 by Kotake and Knoop is a remarkable protein probably a complex 

 polypeptide with 10*6 per cent, of cystine. Further data will no 

 doubt decide the nature of this protein. Only a small quantity of 

 material has been so far available. 



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