Physiological Observations on Lecithin. 
BY 
T. Hanai, Nögakushi. 
It is a well known fact that lecithin occurs widely distribut¬ 
ed in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, forming in various pro¬ 
portions an admixture with fatty matters. Only a limited num¬ 
ber of observations have however been made in regard to the 
physiological relations. It was found by Maxwell , (1) 2 that the 
amount of lecithin increases during the germination process of 
plants, and later decreases again. 5 . Frankfurt (,) observed that 
during the germination of Helianthus seeds the amount of leci¬ 
thin increased from 0.44 to 0.85% while the amount of fat de¬ 
creased from 55.32 to 24.54%. It seems very probable that in 
reality much more lecithin had been formed during the germina¬ 
tion process than was actually found, and that a part of it again 
was consumed. (3) 
O. Loew made some experiments with a diluted solution of 
lecithin in regard to the capability of nourishing lower fungi, and 
observed that Pénicillium could not, in the absence of other or¬ 
ganic material, develop in ao.i^ solution of lecithin containing 
the necessary mineral nutrients, but only bacteria to a moderate 
extent; this vegetation* made the impression of a pure culture, 
although the infection was made from putrid meat containing 
various kinds of microbes. (4) 
Seeds rich in starch generally contain much less lecithin 
than such as are rich in proteid, thus barley grains contain less 
than half the amount of lecithin that soja-beans do. (5) 
Probably there is also a larger proportion of lecith-albumin (6) 
in the seed of soja and lupin than in those of squash and barley. 
(1) Chem. Central-Blatt., 91, I. 365. 
Hefter observed a decrease of the amount of lecithin in the liver during starvation. 
(2) Landvv. Vers.-Stat., Vol. XLIII, 143. 
(3) Recently Stoklasci (Wien. Akad. Ber., 1895) has found that lecithin forms a suit¬ 
able source of phosphoric acid when offered to the roots ; he also observed its formation 
in green leaves as well as its consumption in darkness. 
(4) Bull. Coll, of Agr. of the Imp. Univ. of Japan ; Vol. II. No. 2. 
(5) Schulze and Steiger , Zeitschr. physiol. Chem., 13, 386. 
(6) Cf. Leo. Liebermann , Pflüg . Arch., 1893. 
