BIOCHEMISTRY: ABEL AND PINCOFFS 
509 
isolate also from the mother liquors a yellow, crystalline, neutral substance 
which dissolves easily in water and alcohol, with difficulty in ether, acetone and 
ethyl acetate. The preparation in aqueous solution rotates the plane of 
polarized light to the right ([al^ = +5.99°) and gives neither the Pauly nor 
the biuret reaction. The decomposition temperature is 95 to 96°C. The 
preparation gives with picric acid a compound difficultly soluble in water. 
' Hypophysin ' (the mixture of substances) is stated by Fiihner to rep- 
resent the physiological activity of the posterior lobe in respect to blood- 
pressure, respiration and uterine contractility and the sum of the 
actions of the four crystalline fractions equals that of the undifferen- 
tiated hypophysis. 
Flihner's conclusions as to the pharmacological action of the four 
fractions are as follows 
Fraction 1 has only a slight action on the respiratory apparatus and the 
uterus, but shows the typical action of 'hypophysin' on blood-pressure. 
Fraction 2 has a pronounced action (ausgeprdgte Wirkung) on blood-pressure, 
on respiration and on the uterus. 
Fraction 3 behaves qualitatively like fraction 2 but has a more marked 
stimulating action on the uterus. 
Fraction 4 (mother liquor and crystalline part) has an action on the uterus 
equivalent to that of fraction 3 but only a very slight action on blood-pressure 
and on respiration. 
From his experiments Fiihner draws the conclusion that the uterus- 
stimulating power of the hypophysis, which is, practically speaking, 
the most valuable property of extracts of the gland, resides, not in one, 
but in various (verschiedene) constituents of the organ, the condition 
being analogous to that found to hold for ergot. 
From a chemical point of view, it is especially noteworthy that frac- 
tions 1, 2 and 3 give the biuret reaction as well as Pauly 's reaction and 
that all three are laevo-rotatory ; fraction 1, physiologically the least 
a^ctive, has the highest rotation, [a]r, = —54.02°. It is easily demon- 
strated, we believe, that one or more albumoses (or poly pep tids if the 
term is preferred) are present in the first three of these fractions and no 
doubt also in the fourth. We have found, as will be shown in a subse- 
quent paper, that substances of the nature of albumoses can be isolated 
from many organs, It is these substances, which are themselves in- 
active, that give the biuret, the Pauly and other reactions of the so-called 
isolated principles and that account for their laevo-rotation. 
The following analysis of one of the commercial preparations of the 
posterior lobe of the hypophysis is offered in support of our contention 
