92 Physiology and its Chemistry [January, 
with the principles of that inclusive method of reasoning so 
ably interpreted by J. S. Mill, and of which he was so pro- 
fessed an admirer. Thus he gathered around him a group 
of men who, by adopting and disseminating his teachings, 
gave rise by their labours to a new epoch in Physiology and 
its Chemistry. And this brings us to the subject of our 
Essay. Let us put ourselves at once en rapport with the 
reader as regards our immediate objeCt in writing it. Since 
the time above alluded to, while opportunities for advance- 
ment have been daily increasing, the study of Chemical 
Physiology has, in many respeCts, deteriorated. There is a 
necessity for reform. A reference to a few researches in 
Physiological Chemistry, published in certain leading scien- 
tific journals, will serve to substantiate this statement. We 
will commence by considering the alleged discovery of a new 
body, to which has been given the name of “ nuclein.” We 
shall enter into a minute account of this body, because its 
history is typical of a hundred others of a like kind. Its 
first appearance was in 1871, in which year a paper by 
F. Miescher* appeared in “ Hoppe-Seyler’s Med. Chem. 
Untersuchungen.” It was regarded as a peculiar albuminous 
body, rich in phosphorus, and as constituting the principal 
component of the nuclei in pus-cells. Lubavin* next ob- 
tained an “ entirely similar body ” by long-continued digestion 
of milk-casein with artificial gastric juice. Dr. P. Plosz* 
states to have obtained the same body from the blood- 
corpuscles of birds and snakes, and also from brain albumen. 
Hoppe-Seyler* obtained, further, a substance from yeast- 
cells which he compares to “ nuclein.” Ignoring details, 
for the moment, “ nuclein ” is said to be obtained from these 
various matters after they have been freed from substances 
soluble in water, dilute acids, alcohol, ether, &c., by a pro- 
cess of artificial digestion with dilute hydrochloric acid and 
pepsin. The body in question is soluble in alkaline solutions, 
and has, as admitted even by those who have worked with 
it, the further general characters of a form of albumen. 
Thus it gives a xantho-proteic reaction with nitric acid, and 
its soda solution gives no reactions which can be said to be 
characteristic of a new substance. From this it will be 
seen, the only evidence that the body is at all new to science 
consists in its contained phosphorus. More recentlyf Dr. 
Miescher, of Basel, asserts once more to have obtained this 
“ nuclein ” accompanying “ protamin” (of which more anon) 
* Maly, jahresbericht der Thier-Chemie fur 1874. Wiesbaden, 1875. 
f Ibid, p. 337. 
