BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 821 



was supplied by the discovery of Preston Kyes(64) that, in snake- 

 poisoning, lecithin is the amboceptor which links the venom to 

 the body-cell and brings about its destruction. The opinion is 

 now growing that the assimilation of foodstuffs by the living 

 cells whereby the latter are nourished, is analogous to the action 

 of those toxins. We now see that lecithin stored up in the 

 reserve-material of seeds is destined to play a profound physio- 

 logical role, if not the chief part, in those enormous synthetic 

 activities incited by germination. 



Among the decomposition-products Schulze obtained cholin 

 from the ungerminated seeds of Vicia sativa, Pisum sativum{65), 

 and wheat(66); also Maxwell has isolated it from cotton-seeds.(67) 

 Betain, an oxidation-product of cholin, is also found associated 

 with the latter in the seeds mentioned above. In the seeds of 

 the mustard, Sinapis nigra, occurs the alkaloid sinapine, which 

 is readily decomposed into sinapic acid and cholin. The latter 

 therefore is frequently found in the seeds, with the alkaloid. 

 Cholin has the widest distribution of all plant-bases, which is to 

 be accounted for by the fact that it is a constant product of the 

 decomposition of the phosphatides present in every living cell, 

 and therefore intimately concerned in the vital processes of the 

 plant. 



Trimethylamine results from the decomposition of both cholin 

 and betain, and, therefore, also, of the phosphatides. It was 

 discovered in Chenopodium by Dessaignes(68) 5 in 1851, and has 

 also been found in seeds of beech, hawthorn and a few others. 

 Wicke(69) showed that it existed as such, and accumulated in the 

 plants, and was not formed during the distillation with alkali. 

 Other alkylamines hardly ever occur in plants, except in decay. 



6. Alkaloids. — Concerning the alkaloids, we must note 

 their vast distribution in the vegetable kingdom; they have been 

 found in almost every family of plants. Very often an alkaloid 

 is characteristic of a family or even of a plant-species. Some 

 plants contain a number of alkaloids, but then it is found that 

 these are closely related chemically. We meet them in some of 

 our commonest feeding-stuffs, for example, trigonelline which 



