376 CHEMISTRY OP THE PROTEIDS CHAP. 



to exist in wheat comparable to fibrinogen, which is coagulated by 

 ferment action. Johannsen l and Osborne 2 have, however, shown the 

 incorrectness of this view. In other cereals the formation of gluten 

 is less pronounced or is absent altogether. The alcohol-soluble wheat- 

 gluten, the plant-glue of the older authors, Eitthausen thought he 

 could fractionate in respect of their alcohol -solubilities into three 

 substances, namely, gluten-fibrin, gliadin, and mucedin. Konig and 

 Eintelen 3 have confirmed Eitthausen as to existence of three alcohol- 

 soluble proteids. Kossel Und Kutscher 4 then showed that lysin is 

 absent in the alcohol-soluble albumin of wheat-gluten, while it is present 

 in Eitthausen's water-soluble gluten -casein. Gliadin and mucedin, 

 according to Kutscher, 5 yielded the same dissociation-products in the 

 same quantities, and were therefore probably identical ; while gluten- 

 fibrin was different, as much less glutaminic acid could be obtained 

 from it. The view of Morishima 6 that gluten is composed of one 

 substance ' artolin ' is certainly wrong. 7 Osborne and Voorhees 8 and 

 Osborne and Harris 9 state, however, that there is only one alcohol- 

 soluble proteid present in wheat, which they call gliadin and which is 

 characterised by an exceedingly high percentage of glutaminic acid, 

 for the mineral average of the latter in four preparations obtained by 

 treating gliadin with HCL amounted to 36 per cent, the highest 

 figure being 3 7 '3 per cent, and after hydrolysis with H 2 S0 4 to 

 2 5 '3 per cent. According to Osborne and Harris, the statement of 

 Nasmith 10 that the alcohol - soluble proteids contain phosphorus is 

 wrong. 



By digesting the hydrochloride of the wheat-gluten ' artolin ' with 

 pepsin Hayashi n found it to become converted after a short digestion 

 into an albumose, the * artose ' which, apart from a higher water 

 percentage, possessed the same composition as artoline, namely, 



1 W. Johannsen, Travaux du laboratoire de Carlsberg, 2. 199 (1888). 



2 T. B. Osborne and C. S. Vorhees, Conn. Agric. Exper. Station, 1893, p. 175. 



3 Konig and Rintelen, Zeitschr. f. Unters. d. Nahrungs- u. Genuss-mittel, 8. 401 

 (1904). 



4 Kossel and Kutscher, Zeitschr. f. Physiol. Chem. 31. 165 (1901). 



5 F. Kutscher, ibid. 38. Ill (1903). 



6 K. Morishima, Arch. f. experim. Path. u. Pharm. 41. 345 (1898). 



7 A. Kossel and F. Kutscher, Zeitschr. f, physiol. Chem. 31. 165 (1900) ; F. Kutscher, 

 ibid. 38. Ill (1903). 



8 Osborne and Voorhees, Amer. Chem. Journ. 15. 392 (1893) ; T. B. Osborne, 

 ' Wheat/ ibid. 15. No. 6 (1894) ; Conn. Agric. Exper. Station, 1893, p. 175 ; 'Rye,' 

 Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc. 17. 429 (1895) ; 'Barley,' ibid. 17. 541 (1895). 



9 T. B. Osborne and F. Harris, Amer. Journ. of Physiol. 13. 35 (1905). 



10 Nasmith, Trans, of the Canadian Inst. 1983, vii. 



11 H. Hayashi, Arch. f. experim. Path. u. Pharm. 52. 289 (1904-5). 



