1882.] transformation of alcohol. 201 



Many of the changes represented in the Table take place in 

 the laboratory only under the influence of a temperature very far 

 beyond that of the human body : urethane and ammonia for 

 instance must be heated in sealed tubes to 180° C. to produce 

 urea ; acetates and formates must be heated to form aldehyde, the 

 acetates must be distilled to form acetone. But may this not be 

 taken as the measure of what is called vital force or nerve force ? 

 Compounds are formed in the living body which hitherto can be 

 produced in the laboratory only with the aid of a high temperature. 

 Benzoic acid for instance introduced into the alimentary canal is 

 under certain conditions excreted as hippuric acid, which can be 

 decomposed into benzoic acid and glycocine; but to form hippuric 

 acid in the laboratory these two substances must be heated in a 

 sealed tube at a high temperature. To form taurine again in the 

 laboratory requires the heating of ammonium isethionate in a 

 sealed tube to about 200° C. It seems therefore fair to assume 

 that substances which out of the body require a high temperature 

 in sealed tubes to effect their combination, may under the influence 

 of so called vital, living, or nerve force combine in the living 

 body at the normal temperature. Under such a supposition, we 

 see from the Table how formation arid disintegration of products 

 are continually going on, aldehyde for instance appearing at various 

 points to undergo further changes, and alcohol itself reappearing 

 at the end of the Table to start a fresh series of transformations. 



The decompositions in the Table show how the formation of 

 NH 3 may take place. It remains for me to show how the HON 

 is produced. It appears together with ammonium formate as 

 resulting from the oxidation of such substances as asparagine. 

 Formic acid is also obtained by the oxidation of lactic acid, this 

 combining with ammonia would form ammonium formate, which 

 when heated in a sealed tube is converted into HCN and 2H 2 0. 



Again, may not this hypothesis help to explain the chemical 

 changes which take place on the contraction of a living muscle ? 



"A considerable quantity of carbonic acid is set free it is not 



accompanied by any corresponding increase in the consumption of 

 oxygen*." If acetic acid and formic acid have been produced in 

 the tissues from the hydration and oxidation of the cyanhydrin, 

 then the vital action which causes the muscular contraction will 

 cause these acids to combine and form aldehyde, carbonic acid 

 and water, or the formic acid combining with benzoic acid from 

 mandelic cyauhydrin, may give rise to benzoic aldehyde carbonic 

 acid and water — 



C U H 5 . COOH + H . COOH = C 8 H 5 .CHO + C0 2 + ILO. 

 benzoic acid formic acid benzoic aldehyde. 



* Foster's Physiology, 3rd Ed. p. 65. 

 VOL. IV. PT. IV. 15 



