Decembeb 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



843 



stuff, the mass of the latter compared to that of 

 the heads can only he extraordinarily small." 

 Schmiedeberg then suggests that in such case 

 the protamin nucleate might be the protector of 

 this. This suggestion will hardly be accepted 

 by those who believe in an active physiological 

 rdle of the chromatin, since there can be no 

 doubt that the protamin nucleate is the sperm- 

 chromatin. 



Miescher has also some interesting results on 

 the differentiation of the chromatin (nuclei) 

 during the formation and ripening of the sperm. 



By treatment of the unripe testes with a solu- 

 tion of sodium taurocholate and calcium chlor- 

 ide, the nuclei of sperm-mother-cells and sper- 

 matocytes were isolated free from cytoplasm. 

 No protamin could be obtained in the acid extract 

 of these nuclei, although it may possibly have 

 remained undissolved. There was obtained, 

 however, an albuminose which proved to be 

 practically identical in composition with a so- 

 called deutero-myosinose isolated by Chittenden 

 and Kiihne from muscle. This is most inter- 

 esting in the light of the fact that the salmon 

 takes no food after entering the Rhine, and the 

 material which serves as food for the developing 

 testis is derived, as Miescher showed, from the 

 body-muscles. Apparently, therefore, we have, 

 in this fact, a chemical proof that the food- 

 substance is taken into the nucleus. There can 

 be little doubt that this albuminose is the 

 mother-substance from which the protamin is 

 differentiated during ripening. This fact is also 

 in harmony with Kossel's observation that pro- 

 tamin can not be isolated from the unripe testis, 

 and that protamin forms a combination with al- 

 buminoses not to be distinguished from the his- 

 ton isolated from other nuclei. 



Kossel's paper, published almost coincidently 

 with that of Miescher, is of particular interest 

 for two reasons: first, because Kossel finds pro- 

 tamin present in the sturgeon sperm as in the 

 salmon; and second, on account of the important 

 character which Kossel shows protamin to have. 

 He finds that the sturgeon sperm yields pro- 

 tamin and nucleic acid, like the salmon, but con- 

 tains a larger percentage of albumen. The 

 protamin constituted, in the form of the sul- 

 phate, about 20 fo of the dried sperm (freed 

 from fat and lecithin). The chemical analysis 



coincided with that obtained by Miescher in the 

 protamin of salmon sperm, with the exception 

 that sturgeon protamin contained one molecule 

 more water. This may have been due, how- 

 ever, to incomplete drying. In physical char- 

 acter the two protamius differed. Thus, salmon 

 protamin sulphate is easily soluble in hot water 

 and on cooling separates out as an oil, while 

 that of the sturgeon remains dissolved on cool- 

 ing. The sturgeon protamin, too, is not so 

 easily precipitated in strong salt solution as the 

 salmon. Kossel also isolated substances resem- 

 bling protamin and nucleic acid from the testes 

 of the trout and the 'whiting, so that we are 

 tolerably sure that a large portion of the sperm 

 head of fishes consists of protamin nucleate. 



Perhaps the most interesting part of the paper 

 is that concerning the chemical nature of prota- 

 min. This substance is a basic body which 

 gives all the reactions of albumen except that 

 of Millon. Inasmuch as the latter reaction 

 depends on the presence of certain radicles 

 contained in albumen, these are seen to be 

 lacking in protamin. Prof. Kossel suggests 

 that protamin is the essential kernel of all al- 

 bumens. We seem to have in protamin an al- 

 bumen in the lowest terms. This is shown by 

 the fact that on its decomposition protamin 

 yields those products, arginin and lysin, which 

 have so far been isolated from all albuminous 

 bodies studied, but gives these products in very 

 much larger proportion than albumen. Appar- 

 ently albumen is protamin plus a greater or less 

 number of other radicles. 



The amido-acids were almost entirely lacking 

 among the decomposition products. It is thus 

 shown that protamin differs from the peptones 

 in lacking the group out of which the amido- 

 acids are formed. It follows also that the so- 

 called biuret reaction of albumen is dependent 

 on that group which falls into arginin and 

 other bases. 



Protamin unites in ammoniacal solution w^th 

 albumoses, forming thereby bodies which could 

 not be distinguished from the histon isolated by 

 Kossel and Lilienfeld from the nuclei of the 

 thymus gland. There are thus formed new 

 albuminous bodies, which will yield more 

 arginin than the original albumoses. "If we 

 assume that this combination (Anfiigung) also 



