BY D. EMBLETON^, M.D. 81 



haematine, and humine have ^une iclentite organique,' but he 

 does not appear to have examined the markings on eggs, for he 

 does not even allude to them. 



''However, if the chlorophyll composing these spots have an 

 organic identity with haematine, though as yet no one has ever 

 converted either of them into the other, it is more than probable 

 that the chlorophyll of the spots has been derived from the 

 blood of the bird, as no other coloured fluid has access to the ovi- 

 duct; and one ma;y perhaps be justified in concluding that the 

 blood, on its escape from the vessels of the oviduct and being 

 mixed with the mucus holding in solution the calcareous ingre- 

 dients of the shell, has, at the temperature of the body of the 

 bird, (say 107°. 86 Eahr.,) undergone some catalytic action, con- 

 verting it into chlorophyll, the blood globules at the same time 

 undergoing destruction. 



"At page 144, Yol. Y., of the ' Chimie Generale de Pelouze 

 and Premy,' are the following words, taken from some of Berze- 

 lius' last works. 'La matiere colorante de la bile contient du fer, 

 sa composition se rapproche de celle de 1' Haematosine.' 



' ' According to other experiments, omitting the iron in the form 

 of metal, and not as oxide, chlorophyll of bile, chlorophyll of 

 grass, and haematine of blood have exactly the same composition. 

 And according to Scherer all the iron can be separated from the 

 haematine without altering its red colour or its other properties. 

 In autumn this green colouring matter of plants is changed to 

 yellow, red, or dark brown, very like many of the spots on eggs ; 

 and when the haematine of blood is allowed to putrify in water 

 at a temperature of 90° Fahr. it becomes yellow, then brown, 

 and at last of a greenish black colour, very much resembling the 

 changes by which green leaves or grass are turned by the same 

 means into humus. 



"With regard to the employment of the spectroscope, the re- 

 sults are hazy and badly defined with both kinds of chlorophyll, 

 and also with the green colour obtained from egg-spots ; but there 

 is a sufficient resemblance as to the situation of the bands in the 

 whole of the three cases : that is to say, in the bands from the 

 chlorophyll of loaves, the obloro])byll of bile, and tlio green 



II 



