332 CHEMISTRY OF THE PROTEIDS CHAP. 



made the attempt to employ specific reactions for the separation and 

 identification of definite albumins. But this specific reaction is a very 

 limited one according to Noli, 1 Umber, 2 Kostoski, 3 Schiitze, 4 Michaelis 

 and Oppenheimer, 5 Obermayer and Pick, 6 Hamburger, 7 Landsteiner 

 and Calvo, 8 Linossier and Lemoirie, 9 Kluck and Inada. 10 



It is fairly well marked in the case of the albumins of different 

 animals, and therefore it is possible to distinguish between the serum- 

 albumins of man, ox, and rabbit by means of the 'biological re- 

 action.' Closely related animals show much less reaction, and there- 

 fore it is easy to show that monkeys are related to us (Nuttall). 11 



After Umber had immunised rabbits against egg-albumin and egg- 

 globulin, both these substances were precipitated by the anti-globulin- 

 serum, while the anti-albumin-serum failed to precipitate any albumin ; 

 Rostoski failed to distinguish with certainty between the serum- and 

 the egg-albumin of hens' eggs. Whether the discrepancy is due to a 

 multiplicity of precipitins, as Ascoli believes in support of Ehrlich's 

 view, or whether the reaction is not due to albuminous substances 

 at all, but to bodies of unknown constitution, as held by Obermayer 

 and Pick, is as yet a moot point, and therefore the precipitin-reaction 

 is as yet of but subordinate interest as far as the chemistry of the 

 albumin-molecule is concerned. It is remarkable that, according to 

 Oppenheimer and Miehaelis, the precipitin-formation ceases during 

 either tryptic- or peptic-digestion simultaneously with the disappear- 

 ance of the last trace of colloidal albumin. 



Hunter 12 has recently very carefully reinvestigated this whole 

 question, and the reader's attention is specially drawn to his article. 

 Hunter states that ' albumin, euglobulin, and pseudo-globulin of ox- 

 serum are each capable of leading to the formation of precipitins, and 

 that these precipitins are in a limited degree specific. The precipi- 

 tins are mixtures of at least four distinct antibodies, of which 



l Nolf, Annales de Vlnst. Pasteur, 1900, p. 297. 



- 2 F. Umber, Berliner Win. Wochenschr. 1902, Nr. 28. 



x 3 Kostoski, Miinchener medizin. Wochenschr. 1902, p. 740 ; and Verhandl. d. physik. 

 med. Ges. Wiirzburg, 35. (1902). 

 _ 4 A. Schiitze, Deutsche medizin. Wochenschr. 1903, Nr. 45. 



- 5 L. Michaelis and C. Oppenheimev^rc/t. /. (A not. u.) Physiol. 1902, Suppl. 

 p. 336 (here also the older literature) ; L. Michaelis, Deutsche medizin. Wochenschr. 

 1902, Nr. 41. 



6 Obermayer and Pick, Wiener klin. Rundschau, 1902, Nr. 15. 

 - 1 7 F. Hamburger, Wiener klin. Wochenschr. 1901, Nr. 49 ; 1902, Nr. 45. 

 _ 8 Landsteiner and Calvo, Centralbl.f. Bacteriol. 1902, p. 781. 



*, 9 Linossier and Lemoine, Compt. Rend, de la Soc. deBiol. 54. Nos. 3, 9, 10, 11 (1902). 

 - 40 H. Kluck and R. Inada, Deutsch. Arch. f. klin. Med. 81. 410 (1904). 

 11 Nuttall, Blood Immunity and Relationship (Cambridge, 1904). 

 ... 12 A. Hunter, Journ. of Physiol. 32. 327 (1905). 



