284 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 8, 1870. 
are constant products of the oxidation of albumi¬ 
nates. 
The production of benzoic acid from the non-nitro- 
genous constituents of hay appears to me much more 
difficult to explain than the production of margaric 
acid from hydrates of carbon; still these are tilings 
that are in no way connected with the question here 
under consideration. 
Our experience in reference to the chemistry of 
fermentation teaches us that from sugar, alcohols may 
be produced, which have many characters in common 
with the fats; and there is little reason for regarding 
as inappropriate the opinion that in organic processes 
alcohols of a higher order may be produced from 
non-nitrogenous substances, or that from those al¬ 
cohols the corresponding acids may originate. It is 
sufficiently w r ell known that butyric acid may be pro¬ 
duced from lactic acid. 
Quite recently it has been asserted that by the aid 
of the microscope, the conversion of the plasma of the 
cells into fat in the lacteal glands may be observed, 
inasmuch as its breaking up is accompanied by the 
appearance of fat in the form of milk corpuscles. 
But independently of the fact that we cannot actually 
see such a transformation of the constituents of cells, 
and indeed only perceive one thing in the place of 
another, Voit’s experiments appear to me in this re¬ 
spect unfavourable to the idea of a conversion of 
nitrogenous constituents of tire lacteal glands into 
fat, since he is compelled to adopt the assumption 
that at least four-fifths of the fat in cow’s milk must 
have been furnished by the fodder. 
The fat in milk contains, as is well known, several 
glycerine compounds of volatile acids,—butyric, ca- 
prylic, and caproic acids, which may very well be 
derived either from ordinary sugar or from milk 
sugar. 
The question as to the production of fat does not 
appear to me to be susceptible of determination by 
experiments -with herbivorous animals: what we do 
know r with certainty is that in the case of these ani¬ 
mals, albuminates and hydrates of carbon must act 
together, in order to produce fat; but we do not 
know at all whether the non-nitrogenous product that 
becomes fat originates from albumen or from hydrate 
of carbon, and I do not think it would easily be pos¬ 
sible to ascertain this with certainty. 
In researches of this kind I believe it to be neces¬ 
sary to take into account the nature of the animal, 
and that we should not, without good reason, assume 
the processes taking place in an herbivorous animal 
to be the same as those going on in the body of a 
carnivorous animal. 
There is a large number of observations which 
appear to prove that in certain pathological processes 
fat originates from nitrogenous tissues, and therefore 
I regard it as probable that in the bodies of carnivo¬ 
rous mammalia albumen is concerned in the forma¬ 
tion of fat and milk sugar, perhaps also under some 
conditions in the bodies of herbivorous animals. At 
least there are no chemical reasons that are opposed 
to such a view. 
I have already mentioned that cholic acid, a product 
of the splitting up of albumen, contains exactly the 
elements of liippuric acid, margaric acid, and a hy¬ 
drate of carbon:— 
^52 4^43 ^Pi2— ^ 
isHgNOg-f C 32 H 
Cholic acid. Hippuric acid. 
32 
Margaric 
acid. 
o 4 +c. 
2 H 2 o 2 
Hydrate of 
carbon. 
And in like manner glycocol, another product of the 
splitting up of albumen, contains the elements of 
urea and sugar:— 
C 8 H 10 N 2 O s 
2 Glycocol. 
c 2 h 4 n 2 o 2 + c 6 h 6 o 6 . 
Urea. Sugar. 
Chemically, therefore, w r e may regard as possible 
the production of milk sugar and of a part of the fat 
in milk of carnivorous mammalia, from albumen. 
The formation of hippuric acid from benzoic acid 
in the bodies of animals demonstrates the existence 
of glycocol, and its presence admits of the belief that 
this substance serves certain purposes in the or¬ 
ganism. 
The fact that, in the case of men fed on a diet con¬ 
sisting chiefly of meat, there is a reduction of the 
amount of fat in the body, is in no way opposed to 
the opinion that fat may be produced from albumi¬ 
nates. 
To explain this fact it has been assumed that, 
owing to an excess of albuminous substances in the 
food, there is an increase in the number of blood- 
corpuscles and that, thereby, the absorption of oxy¬ 
gen by the blood is augmented, so that the oxidation 
within the body, especially of fat, is increased; but 
the absorption of oxygen is solely dependent upon 
the rapidity with which air and blood come in con¬ 
tact within the organs of respiration; in the higher 
animals it stands in proportion to the number of the 
heart’s pulsations and of the inspirations within a 
given time ; it is not even dependent upon the 
amount of oxygen in the respired air. 
In compressed air the number of inspirations is 
diminished; in expanded air the number of inspira¬ 
tions is increased; wdiile in both cases the quantities 
of expired carbonic acid, and the temperatures, vary 
only within narrow limits. In the ascent of Mont 
Blanc, Lordet observed that, from Chamouni up to 
the summit, the pulsations of his heart increased 
from 80 to 136, while the temperature decreased 
during the ascent, but after resting at the same height 
it remained constant at 36'5° C. 
The diminution of the fat accumulated in the body 
when the diet contains a preponderance of meat is 
readily explicable from the slight respiratory value 
of meat as compared with fat and the hydrates of 
carbon. 
A dog weighing 34 kilograms requires for the 
maintenance of its weight a daily supply of 3 pounds 
or 1500 grams of meat; and it is intelligible that a 
man weighing twice as much (for whom it would be 
almost impossible that he should consume, with a 
little bread, 3 pounds of meat daily) would not find 
this diet sufficient for the requirements of respiration. 
According to Yoit, a working man consumes daily, for 
instance, under normal conditions of diet 137 grams 
of albuminates = 549 grams meat; also 117 grams 
fat, and 352 grams hydrates of carbon. Therefore, 
deducting from the 1500 grams of meat the above 
549 grams, there remains for replacing the fat and 
starch 951 grams of meat, which would barely suf¬ 
fice to make up for the starch (97’2 parts starch = 
309‘7 parts meat); and even assuming that a man had 
consumed 1500 grams of meat, it is evident his body 
must furnish the 117 grams of fat that would be de¬ 
ficient. This sufficiently accounts for his becoming 
lean. 
In all the processes of the animal body,—in diges¬ 
tion, formation of blood, respiration and metamor¬ 
phosis,—some part is taken by those inorganic con¬ 
stituents, or salts, which are constant constituents of 
