OBSERVATIONS ON ASPARAGINE. 
67 
treatment ; but the liquor, even highly concentrated, did not 
furnish crystals ; however at a certain period of the evapo- 
rations an abundant deposition of a salt of lime was form- 
ed, the acid of which seemed to me to be new. We may 
then conclude that the seed of the vetch does not contain 
asparagine, and that this matter is developed in the act of 
germination, either in the light or in the dark, to disappear 
again when the plant flowers. 
The production of asparagine in the dark proves that 
this matter does not derive its elements from the atmos- 
phere, as is the case with so many other products which 
originate in vegetables under the influence of light. It is 
probable that a nitrogenous substance (perhaps casein) ex- 
ists in the seeds in question, which is transformed into as- 
paragine, and into other products, during germination. 
Led by these views, I undertook comparative researches 
on the composition of the seeds, and the plants which origi- 
nate from them, at the different periods of their develop- 
ment. I will make known the results of my experiments 
as soon as they are terminated ; for the present, I publish 
the principal facts observed, in order to ensure priority. 
When asparagine is not perfectly pure, it soon changes di- 
rectly even in its aqueous solution ; after a few days a kind 
of fermentation takes place in the liquor, which totally de- 
composes the asparagine. The surface of the liquid is co- 
vered with mould, and the liquor exhales the insupportable 
odour of decomposing purulent matters. The same change 
is manifest when a certain quantity of juice extracted from 
the plant is added to a solution of pure asparagine. In 
every case, at the end of a few days, the solution of the 
asparagine has disappeared, and in its place we find succi- 
nate of ammonia. 
The last fact seemed to me important enough to be con- 
firmed by analysis. I prepared a fresh quantity of succinate 
of ammonia by the same process and on a greater scale ; 
I then transformed it into succinate of lead ; this, decom- 
