136 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



material first charred and then melted with decomposition 

 and burned while melting, at first with a non-luminous flame 

 and then with a smoky flame. The smell was that of horny 

 charring matter, and purin substances could be detected. 

 On igniting strongly the ash was creamy in colour, and not 

 abundant. The ash was dissolved in weak hydrochloric acid 

 and precipitated with ammonia and ammonium chloride, 

 filtered and reprecipitated with ammonium oxalate. The 

 precipitate was weighed as calcium carbonate. From 2*966 

 grms. of the substance dried at 100° 0*030 grms. of CaC0 3 

 was obtained — less than 1 %. 



The deposit is not, then, a calcareous one. Dr. Titherley, 

 of the Organic Chemical Department at the University of 

 Liverpool, made a determination of the nitrogen by Kjeldahl's 

 method. There was 13*03 % of nitrogen in the dried material 

 or about 9 % in the moist. A rough ether extract was made : 

 there was some fat present, but the proportion was not 

 estimated. Since the material was not extracted before 

 analysis, nor purified, the above percentage of nitrogen agrees 

 very well with that of a protein. The preservation (two 

 months in 5 % formalin) had doubtless altered the constitution 

 of the substance, and some small amount of lime may have 

 been dissolved out, but that much lime was so lost is very 

 unlikely. Because of this alteration in the nature of the 

 material it could not be brought into solution, but the zantho- 

 proteic test and the Adamkiewiez test were applied with 

 positive results. The substance, therefore, probably belongs 

 to the group of sclero-proteins, or to that of the conjugated 

 proteins. It is apparently allied to the chondrein proteid 

 substances. The deposit is clearly not a calcareous one, nor 

 can we say that it is a teratoma. Yet the progressive altera- 

 tions indicated at the margin of the deposit seems to indicate 

 either a teratomatous or a sarcomatous nature ; on the other 

 hand the whole appearance of the substance, its microchemical 



