THE ENERGY OF THE LIVING PROTOPLASM. 185 



tion of 0.318 g. peptone, over 4 of it again in the urine, and after 

 subcutaneous injection about f. Trypsin, present in minute 

 quantities in all parts of the body, may gradually form amido- 

 acids from the circulating protein ; also decompositions of an- 

 other kind may simultaneously take place, whereby sugar is one 

 of the products, which process can not only occur in the liver 

 but also in the milt and kidneys {Lepine and Mcfroz). The great 

 amount of urea discharged a few hours after a meal may be due 

 mostly to the amido-acids formed by the pancreatic juice from a 

 part of the proteids of the food. 



The view of Nenchi is further supported by observations in 

 plants. In all cases where the proteids are attacked in plants to 

 support respiration, a previous formation of amido-acids takes 

 place, whose residues are finally found in form of asparagin (cf. 

 Chap. V) (l) ; a synthetical product corresponding to the urea of 

 animals. 



The view here taken as to the cause of respiration, corres- 

 ponds in its principal feature to the definition Ncigeli gives of 

 oxidising fermentation. (2J This author says : " the specific state 

 of motion in the living protoplasm of the mycoderma cells is 

 extended simultaneously to the alcohol and to the oxygen 

 molecules. If, thus, the equilibrium is disturbed to a certain 

 extent, chemical change takes place by aid of chemical affini- 

 ties." This theory, however, is still imperfect, as it does not 

 show how the " specific state of motion : ' in the protoplasm is 

 caused and does not define whether it consists of a molecular or 

 of an atomic motion. (3) The new theory which assumes a 

 chemical difference between the proteids of the living and those of 

 the dead protoplasm furnishes the key to the " specific state of 

 motion ;" it infers from physiological facts (cf. Chap. V) the 

 presence of highly labile atomic groups, viz., aldehyde- and 



(1) Asparagin must be defined as the form in which ammonia is stored up in 

 plants, whether it be formed by decomposition of proteids and amido-compounds or 

 it be resorbed from tbe soil. Cf. Kinoshita, this Bulletin. 



(2) Theorie der Garung, p. 43. 



(3) Niigcli published his " Theorie der Garung " in the year iSyg. A few years 

 later, I often had discussions with him concerning the difference between living and 

 dead protoplasm, which he had taken for a physical and anatomical one. Later on, 

 however, he agreed that there must exist a chemical difference. 



