FIBROUS CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 57 



freed from the oily globules spoken of above and rendered 

 fairly pure. Each time the crystals were filtered they were 

 also washed with a little cold water. During the process of 

 purification the crystals changed their appearance somewhat, 

 tending to take on the branching form characteristic of dex- 

 trosazone. This crystalline osazone, when purified as much 

 as possible, was readily soluble in warm water, in alcohol, ether, 

 chloroform, and, to a certain extent, in benzol. The amount 

 of the purified osazone was so small that the melting point 

 alone could be determined. This was done as usual in a cap- 

 illary tube. When the temperature reached 140 C. the 

 substance commenced to darken slowly, and at 160 C. it 

 began to melt. Further recrystallization of the osazone did 

 not alter this melting point. In melting point, therefore, this 

 osazone, if pure, differs widely from dextrosazone or lactosa- 

 zone. In general appearance and solubility, as well as in its 

 melting point, it appears to resemble very closely the osazone 

 obtained by Hammarsten from the cleavage product of the 

 peculiar nucleoproteid described by him as present in the 

 pancreas.* Whether this body is a pentaglucose, however, 

 we cannot definitely say. We had hoped, especially in view 

 of the strong reducing action of the above alcoholic solution, 

 to obtain a fairly large amount of an osazone, sufficient to de- 

 termine its content of carbon and nitrogen, but the yield of 

 purified product was very small indeed. 



In order to verify the above results, a second portion of 

 mucin was decomposed with dilute acid 4.75 grams of 

 mucin with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters of 2 per 

 cent hydrochloric acid the mixture being heated directly 

 over a lamp for about five hours. The flask was connected 

 with an inverted Liebig's condenser to prevent concentration, 

 and the mixture was kept in a state of gentle ebullition. In 

 this case there was much less of the antialbumid-like body so 

 prominent in the first decomposition, the amount being less 

 than one-fifth that found before. The neutralization precipi- 

 tate, however, was considerably larger, and albumose and pep- 



* Zeitschr. f . physiol. Chem., Band xix, p. 19. 



