STATE EXPERIMENT STATION 243 



globulin (whereof I know not), and, further, he holds the 

 abrus-poison similar to that of Schlangengift in composition 

 and action. 



If Martin be right — and he appears to be a God-fearing and 

 truly chemical biologist — then Sanson and you may be also 

 right in holding that oats have an alkaloidal or quasi-alka- 

 loidal action on the nervous system although avenin is not a 

 derivative of pyridine or quinoline. Yours most faithfully, 



S. W. Johnson. 



P. S. — My former colleague, Wm. A. Norton, engineer and 

 astronomer — now 5 yrs. at rest — used to aver that he could 

 not eat oatmeal — ' ' it excited him so ! " I could never find it 

 made any special impression on my Kiickenmark or any of its 

 Verzweigungen — but then I am not one of Eeichenbach's 

 ' ' sensitive Menschen. ' ' 



(F. H. S. TO S. W. J.) 



182 Boylston St., Boston, 12 May, 1890. 



Dear Johnson, — You bring to mind a point which has 

 often bothered me. The English have a proverbial expression 

 which has made many an American lady look aghast. In 

 speaking of a bumptious youth, they are apt to say ''He is 

 full of beans." This expression has passed from the stable 

 to the parlor precisely like our ' ' He feels his oats, ' ' of which 

 it is practically the equivalent. A knowledge of this expres- 

 sion has occasionally shaken my faith in the ''excitement in 

 oats"; but then comes our daily contrast of oats and maize 

 and the absent horse-bean is out of mind and "has" of 

 course "toujours tort." If there is an exciting albuminoid 

 such as you tell of it will compose matters not a little. 



By the way, there was an English chemist here last winter, 

 W. I\Iaxwell, who had much to say of Cholin. He looked up 

 the practices of our housewives, and learned that it is custom- 

 ary in these parts to soak the "Boston bean" before cooking 

 it and to throw away the cholinated water ! 



