34 
ON THE EXISTENCE IN ANIMALS 
The different tests for alkaloids like quinine, as morphia, strychnine, veratrine, atro¬ 
pine, you may see in the following reactions. First, quinine gives, as you see, a preci¬ 
pitate with iodine in iodide of potassium. Secondly, iodide of mercury in iodide of 
potassium also gives a precipitate. Thirdly, phosphomolybdic acid also gives a preci¬ 
pitate. Fourthly, bichloride of platinum gives a precipitate. Lastly, terchloride of gold 
causes a precipitate, and this precipitate is soluble in alcohol. 
Now each and all these different reactions are obtained with these same reagents 
acting on the fluorescent substance that is extracted from animals. 
So that here again we have chemical proof that this substance is an alkaloid, and that 
it is closely related to quinine. 
We have named it animal quinoidine, because we have not as yet been able to crystal¬ 
lize it nor to obtain enough for an analysis. 
Having satisfied ourselves that an alkaline fluorescent substance resembling quinine 
existed in the different textures, we endeavoured to determine the proportion that was 
present in different parts. For this purpose standard solutions of quinine of known 
strength were prepared, and equal amounts of substance were treated in precisely similar 
ways, and then the fluorescence was compared with the standard solutions of quinine. 
No very accurate estimations could thus be made, but comparative results could be ob¬ 
tained, and these are represented in the following tables:—■ 
O 71 the Amount of Fluoi'escent Substance in cUffei-e^it parts of Guinea-pigs and of Man, 
measured by the number of grains of quinine in 100 litres (=17Q pints) of water, that 
gccve the same fluorescence. 
IN GUINEA-PIGS. 
1 
IN MAN. 
Liver . 
6 to 3 
6 
2 
2 
2 
2 
Lenses. 
3 
2 
2 
2 
Kidney . . 
3 
2 
2 
2 
2 
3 to 6 
Urine . 
3 
2 
2 
Bile . 
3 
2 
2 
Blood . 
3 
2 
2 
Brain . 
3 
2 
2 
Nerves. 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
2 
Muscles . 
3 
2 
2 
1 
2 
2 
Humours of the Eye. 
2 
2 
2 
Cartilages . 
• »• 
• • • 
• • • 
3 
1 
Spleen . 
... 
• • • 
• » • 
1 
1 
3 
Lungs . 
... 
... 
... 
1 
1 
2 
What, then, is the meaning of this wfidely diffused substance in animals which so 
closely resembles quinine ? At present we are far from a perfectly clear answer. It is 
not thirty years yet since the presence of ammonia in the products of distillation of coal 
was considered “ curious,” because nitrogen was thought to fee the characteristic of an 
animal substance, and absence of nitrogen was considered as the distinctive mark of 
vegetable creation. Gradually, year by year, each substance that has been thought to 
be the special property of the vegetable wmrld has been found to occur in animals. 
Thus sugar, starch, woody fibre, vegetable colouring matter as indigo, albuminous sub¬ 
stances, are common to animals and vegetables; and at length we liave arrived at the 
fact that no distinction can truly be drawn between the three kingdoms of nature. In 
the body, salt and phosphate of lime and phosphate of soda are animal substances as 
much as fibrin and albumen. Sugar is as much an animal substance as albumen is a 
vegetable substance, and no separation can be made by chemical analysis between animal, 
vegetable, and mineral. 
The processes which take place in the three different kingdoms are, however, very 
different. The vegetable generally from carbonic acid, ammonia, and water, can syn¬ 
thetically build up acids, neutral hydrocarbons, fats, alkaloids, and albuminous substances. 
