CHEMISTRY OF THE LEUOOMAINBS. 347 



Zuco (1885) was more successful, inasmucli as he succeeded 

 in obtaining from fresh tissues and organs relevant quan- 

 tities of a base identical with choline, and, in addition, he 

 obtained extremely minute traces of other alkaloidal bodies. 

 One of these, obtained by the Stas method from the liver 

 and spleen of an ox, exhibited in hydrochloric acid solution 

 a beautiful violet fluorescence resembling very much that 

 of the salts of quinine. A similar base, probably identical 

 with this one, was obtained by Bence Jones and Dupre 

 (1856) from liver, nerves, tissues, and other organs, and 

 was named by them "animal chinoidine." A greenish- 

 blue fluorescence is frequently observable in the alcoholic 

 extracts of decomposing glue as well as from other putrefy- 

 ing substances. From a number of very thorough experi- 

 ments, he concluded that basic substances do not preexist 

 in fresh organs, but that the acids employed in the process 

 of extraction exert a decomposing action upon the lecithin 

 present in the tissues, resulting in the formation of choline. 

 He further showed that the method of Dragendorff, on 

 account of the larger quantity of extractives which form, 

 invariably gave a larger yield of this base than did the 

 Stas-Otto method. Similar observations were made by 

 Guareschi and Mosso, by Coppola and others. At the 

 present time there is no doubt that some basic substances, 

 among these choline, can be formed by the action of re- 

 agents, and, on the other hand, it is equally well demon- 

 strated that similar bases do preexist in the physiological 

 condition of the tissues and fluids of the body. 



Recently R. Wdrtz has obtained from normal blood a 

 number of crystalline products of alkaline reaction, which 

 form well-crystallizable double salts with gold, platinum, 

 and mercuric chlorides. These, however, have not been 

 as yet subjected to analysis, because of the minute quan- 

 tities which were isolated. 



Moeelle (1886) showed the presence in the spleen of 

 the ox of a base, the hydrochloride of which crystallized 

 in deliquescent needles and likewise formed crystalline 

 platino- and aurochlorides. From experiments made by 

 Laborde, the base would seem to possess decided toxic 



