CHEMISTRY OP THE PTOMAINES. 21L 



led to this conclusion in his celebrated study of beet-root 

 sugar, because of the presence of oleic acid, glycerin, phos- 

 phoric acid, and betaiue, as well as cholesterin, in the beet- 

 root extracts. This hypothesis was confirmed by Hoppe- 

 Seylbr, who, in 1879, found a lecithin substance in yeast. 

 ScHULZE found a similar compound in the cotyledons of 

 lupine, while Jacobson observed its presence in mustard- 

 seeds, in fenugreek-seeds, in maize and wheat, in the fat 

 from beans, peas, vetch, and lupines. Heckel showed its 

 presence in globularia, and Lippmann has found it in beet- 

 root. According to Hoppe-Seyi.er, this lecithin-like sub- 

 stance exists in all vegetable cells uudergoiug development. 

 ScHULZE and Likieenik (1891) were the first to prepare 

 lecithin in a pure condition from plants. It was found to 

 possess the same properties and yield the same decomposi- 

 tion-products as lecithin from animal tissues. -Up to the 

 present time lecithin has always been supposed to contain a 

 radical, which gives rise to choline on saponification, as an 

 essential component, while on the other hand the fatty 

 acids entering its molecule are well known to be replaceable 

 by one another. Thus we may have a di-stearine lecithin 

 as well as a di-oleine lecitiiin. The existence of several 

 lecithins in the yelk of eggs has been recognized for some 

 time, and according to Schulze and Likiernik this is 

 also true of the lecithins in plants. Recent observations 

 of LiPPMANX [Ber. 20, 3206) show that the above basic 

 radical, hitherto regarded as constant in lecithin, may pos- 

 sibly be capable of replacement by other similar radicals. 

 He found on saponifying with baryta two different speci- 

 mens of lecithin, both obtained from beet-root, that while 

 one of them yielded oleic acid, glycerin, phosphox'ic acid, 

 and betaine ; the other lecithin gave oleic acid (and some 

 other fatty acids), glycerin, phosphoric acid, and choline, 

 with no betaine — at least not in isolable quantity. This 

 remarkable difference has led Lippmann to suggest an ex- 

 planation which, while it may not be the correct one, never- 

 theless possesses a high degree of probability. According 

 to him, the lecithin molecule may contain interchange- 

 able basic radicals in the same manner that it contains 



