VIII 



THE EFFECT OF HEAVY SALTS ON ALBUMINS 



309 



1 ccm. of normal egg-albumin being added to 10 cem. of the sublimate- 

 salt mixture. After the addition of the albumin the test-tubes were 

 each shaken three times, a shake consisting of a single sharp 

 movement. 





The immediate results are these : In A a very coarse membranous 

 precipitate is formed, which after five minutes commences to settle, 

 leaving a faintly opalescent supernatant layer. B resembles A, but 

 the precipitate is less coarse. C shows a finely floccular precipitate in 

 a bluish opalescent mother liquor. Soon the flocculi aggregate into 

 larger flocculi like cumuli, and these commence to settle quickly. 

 D resembles C, but the flocculi are smaller and settle less quickly. 

 The mother liquor is more opalescent than in C. The specific gravity 

 of the egg-white lies between that of the solutions D and E, nearer D. 

 The tube D shows a uniformly opalescent fluid with no flocculi. 

 From F to M si gradually diminishing opalescence is seen, which in M 

 is just perceptible. 



After twenty-four hours in A a thick curdy precipitate occupies 

 the lower quarter of the mixture, while the supernatant fluid is 

 perfectly clear. B shows a thick curdy precipitate in the lower third, 

 the middle third being distinctly opalescent and sharply marked off" 

 from the upper third, which exhibits the faintest trace of opalescence. 

 C to M form a definite series in which the amount of the precipitate 

 and the opalescence slowly decrease till only a few very light flocculi 

 are seen in H, which thus forms the most homogeneous tube. In I to 

 M the opalescence gradually diminishes till it is just visible in M, but 

 there is no precipitate. Thus after twenty-four hours H shows the 

 same condition which was seen in E immediately after mixing the 

 egg-white with the sublimate-salt mixture. 



General conclusions are given on p. 313. 



