CHEMISTRY OP THE LEUCOMAINES. 299 



podium, and in the pollen of various plants, in seed of black 

 pepper, in grass, clover, oats, bran of wheat, larvae of ants ; 

 in the juice of potato (Schulze) ; in certain wines 

 (Kaysee) ; in the aqueous decoction of yeast of beer 

 (Schutzenbeegee) ; and also in the liquid in which yeast 

 is grown (Bechamp). Demant has shown it to be rela- 

 tively abundant in the muscles of pigeons in a state of in- 

 anition, while in muscles of well-ted pigeons it is said to 

 be entirely absent. Salomon found hypoxanthine and 

 xanthine in the cotyledons of lupine, as well as in the 

 sprouts of malt, while Reinke and Rodewald observed 

 these two bases together with guanine in ^thalium sep- 

 ticum — with adenine, xanthine, and theophylline, it occurs 

 in tea-leaves (Kossel). 



Hypoxanthine has not been extracted from the pancreas, 

 where it seems to be replaced by guanine, or rather by 

 adenine. It seems that hypoxanthine bears a relation to 

 adenine similar to that which we see between glycocoll and 

 glycocollic acid. 



Hypoxanthine occurs frequently in plants together with 

 the other members of this group, namely, adenine, guanine, 

 and xanthine. The widely distributed character of these 

 bases is due to the presence of a parent substance, viz., 

 nuclein, the necessary constituent of all cells capable of 

 development, which under the influence of acids, and 

 probably likewise of ferments, decomposes into the above- 

 mentioned bases. They may, therefore, be considered as 

 the first steps in the retrograde metamorphosis of all 

 tissues, since they have their origin in nuclein, an impor- 

 tant proteid substance. Recent advances in biological 

 chemistry have shown that the undeveloped eggs of various 

 insects and birds yield much less quantity of xanthine 

 bodies (hypoxanthine, xanthine, etc.) on treatment with 

 dilute acid than the partially developed eggs (Tichomieoef, 

 Kossel). This is dependent upon the remarkable fact 

 observed by Kossel that the nuclein of undeveloped 

 chicken eggs differs from the nuclein of cell nuclei and 

 resembles that obtained from milk. For, while the nuclein 

 from the cell nuclei decomposes into adenine, guanine. 



