56 THE MUCIN OF WHITE 



The gummy precipitate was washed by wanning it repeatedly 

 with fresh quantities of alcohol. It was readily soluble in 

 water, gave more or less of a proteid reaction, and showed a 

 fairly strong reducing action with Fehling's solution. Tested 

 with phenylhydrazine hydrochloride, and sodium acetate, only 

 an amorphous precipitate resulted from which a crystalline 

 osazone could not be obtained. On boiling the gummy mass 

 with 2 per cent hydrochloric acid, however, and then ex- 

 tracting the neutralized and evaporated fluid with alcohol, a 

 very small amount of a crystalline osazone was obtained by 

 application of the hydrazine test, apparently identical with that 

 described further on. 



The original alcoholic solution from the above gummy pre- 

 cipitate was evaporated to a small bulk on the water-bath, the 

 residue taken up with fifteen cubic centimeters of water form- 

 ing a clear solution. This solution showed strong reducing 

 action with alkaline copper solution, and evidently contained 

 the greater portion of the reducing body formed from the 

 cleavage of the mucin. To the main bulk of this solution was 

 added one gram of phenylhydrazine hydrochloride and 1.5 

 grams of sodium acetate, after which the mixture was 

 heated on the water-bath for an hour and a half, the volume 

 of the fluid being kept at fifteen to twenty cubic centimeters. 

 While hot the fluid was perfectly clear and reddish in color. 

 After standing an hour in a cool place there was a marked 

 separation of amorphous particles and oily globules, but no 

 crystals could be detected under the microscope. After stand- 

 ing fifteen hours the amorphous particles were almost wholly 

 transformed into fine crystals. These crystals were light- 

 yellow in color, and were mostly arranged in rosettes or balls 

 of fine yellow needles, somewhat resembling lactosazone. The 

 oily globules were unchanged. These crystals were purified 

 by dissolving them in cold alcohol, followed by the addition of 

 water, and heating the solution until the alcohol was practi- 

 cally all removed, when the crystals again separated out as the 

 fluid cooled. The crystals were also insoluble in the hot 

 concentrated fluid. In this way the crystals were gradually 



