CONSTITUENTS OF BAMBOO SHOOTS. 
41 
allowing it to stand for 12 hours, the precipitate was separated 
by filtration, thoroughly washed with cold water, suspended 
in a large quantity of water, and decomposed by a stream of 
hydrogen sulphide. The filtrate being then neutralized with 
a little ammonia, was slowly evaporated over a water bath, 
during which time a little ammonia was added from time to 
time, to maintain the neutrality of the evaporating fluid. When 
the whole filtrate was concentrated into about half a litre, a 
white crystalline substance appeared on the surface of the 
fluid, rapidly increasing in quantity until after a short time, 
the whole surface was covered with a crystalline crust. Upon 
cooling, so many crystals were separated thabthe whole became 
a semi-fluid mass. The crystals thus obtained were collected 
upon a filter, thoroughly washed with cold water, then with 
absolute alcohol, and finally with ether, again dissolved in the 
smallest possible quantity of boiling water, and allowed to 
recrystallize by slow cooling. This alternate dissolution and 
crystallization was repeated until the crystals became com¬ 
pletely white, and left no ash upon ignition. This substance 
when crystallized from the aqueous solution formed long en¬ 
tangled slender needles with a brilliant silky lustre, but crys¬ 
tallized out in tufts of larger needles also with a silky lustre 
from an ammoniacal solution. It was insoluble in ether, 
sparingly soluble in cold water and in alcohol, moderately soluble 
in hot water, and easily so in caustic alkalies, ammonia, and 
mineral acids. When burnt, it produced a peculiar smell re¬ 
sembling that of burning horn or hair. It gave the sharp reac¬ 
tions of Piria’s 1 , Scherer’s 2 and L. Meyer’s 3 4 tyrosine tests, and 
formed small deep blue needles with cupric hydroxide 1 . It did 
not give Kreitmayer’s 5 rathanine-reaction. The determination 
of the nitrogen of the substance by Kjeldahl’s method gave 
the following result : 
i, 2, 3. Neubauer, Harn-Analyse, 1876, p. 116. 
4 Beilstein, Organ. Chemie, Vol. II. 2. edition, p. 1007. 
5 ,, ,, ,, , Vol. III. 2. edition, p. 283. 
