180 O' Brien.— The Proteids of Wheat. 
muscle and isolated its characteristic proteid, which he 
named myosin. 
Hoppe-Seyler systematised the work of these and other 
observers and introduced a simple classification and nomen- 
clature for proteids. The term ‘ globulin ’ introduced by Berze- 
lius 10 for the coagulable proteid of the red blood-corpuscles 
had been used by Denis in a wider sense. It did not appear 
in the classification adopted by Hoppe-Seyler in the second 
edition of his Handbuch 21a (1865), but in the third 210 (1870) it is 
used as a generic term for those proteids which are soluble in 
dilute solutions of neutral salts. Myosin and vitellin are 
described as subdivisions of it : the former name only dates 
from 1865 (Kiihne), the latter was in use at least as long ago as 
1 842 13 . Like Mulder, Dumas, and Liebig, but on surer grounds 
than had been before possible, he comes to the conclusion 
that there is no reason for regarding vegetable proteids as in 
any essential way different from animal. 
Weyl 23 , carrying out the ideas of Hoppe-Seyler as regards 
vegetable proteids, published in 1877 a paper which called 
forth vigorous opposition from Ritthausen. In it he claims 
to have proved the complete identity in chemical behaviour 
of vegetable and animal proteids. He finds that globulins 
constantly occur in plants, and suggests that the legumin and 
casein hitherto described are derivates formed from these by 
the reagents (alkalies or acids) used in their extraction. His 
chief generalisations are that (1) the globulins of plants 
(vitellin and myosin) show the reactions of animal globulins ; 
(2) no albuminates occur in fresh seeds, plant-caseins being 
secondary products in the seed or artificially produced in 
manipulation ; (3) that by the action of water, acids, and 
alkalies, all globulins become first albuminates, then coagulated 
proteids. From seeds formerly described as containing casein, 
he extracts vitellin (oats, maize, peas, almonds, white mustard, 
Brazil nuts), or myosin (wheat, peas, oats, white clover, 
almonds). 
To the list of proteids common to plants and animals 
* — globulins, albuminates, and coagulated proteids —Professor 
