A Contribution to the Knowledge of Arginin. 



BY 



U. Suzuki, Nogakitshi. 

 Lecturer in Agricultural Chemistry. 



The occurrence of organic bases in the seeds as well as in 

 the germinating shoots of many plants has already been shown 

 many years ago by E. Schulze and others. Thus in the 

 year 1886 E. Schulze and Steiger (1) found arginin in the 

 cotyledons of germinating Lupinus, and at the same time, cholin 

 was found by E. Schulze 0 * 0 in the seeds and in the etiolated 

 shoots of Lupinus luteus, Soja hispida and Cucurbita pepo. Still 

 afterwards he (3) found guanidin, cholin and betain in the 

 germinating shoots of Vicia faba. But these bases were present 

 in such small quantities that they appeared hardly worth a 

 closer investigation. In the year 1894 S. G. Hedin (4) discovered 

 arginin in the decomposition products of horn and it was soon 

 asserted by him that arginin is a normal constituent of the 

 decomposition products of proteids. A still more interesting 

 result was soon afterwards obtained by A. Kossel*- 35 on his 

 protamine, in the decomposition products of which he found, 

 almost exclusively, the basic compounds, especially arginin. 

 About the same time, E. Schulze CC) also found a considerable 

 quantity of organic bases (chiefly arginin) in the shoots of 

 coniferous plants as well as in the decomposition products of the 

 proteids prepared from the seeds of several plants, (Picea ex- 

 celsa, Abies pectinata, and Pinus sylvestris). Further, it was 



(1) E. Schulze und E. Steigcr, Zeits. f. Thysiol. Chem. Bd. XI, S. 43. 



(2) E. Schulze. ibid. Bd. XI, S. 365. 



(3) E. Schulze. ibid. Bd. XVII, S. 193. 



(4) S. G. Iledin. ibid. Bd. XX, S. 186. 



(5) A. Kossel. ibid. Bd. XXII, S. 176. A. Kosscl and A. Mathews, ibid. Bd. 

 XXII, S. 190. 



(6) E. Schulze, Zeits. f. Physiol. Chem. Bd. XXII, S. 435. and Bd. XXIV, S. 276. 



