The chemistry of the bark of Robina pseud-acacia, Linné (false acacia or common locust) / by Frederick B. Power.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927
Date:
[1901]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The chemistry of the bark of Robina pseud-acacia, Linné (false acacia or common locust) / by Frederick B. Power. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    wise capable of effecting changes similar to those produced by the rennet enzyme. the exact position which should be assigned to the so-called Robinia proteid or Robin among the various groups of related substances is somewhat difficult to determine, partly on account of the different methods of classification or differences of nomen¬ clature adopted by various investigators. With consideration of the deportment of these bodies, as described in the recent work of Cohnheim, entitled Chemie der Eiwcisskorpcr, Braunschweig, 1900, it would appear to belong to the group which has received the distinctive designation of Proteids, and possibly to the divi¬ sion of so-called nucleo-proteids. It may be noted, however, that the teim proteid is employed by German chemists in a much moie restricted sense than in this country or in France, where it is commonly understood to include all albuminous substances. Although Robin has some of the properties both of an albumose and of a globulin, it differs, on the other hand, from these in being soluble in water, in being completely coagulated by heat, and in some of the reactions which are accepted as characteristic of them. It appears, moreover, quite probable that the Robinia proteid consists of more than one albuminous body, for it has been observed that a saline solution extracts a larger amount ot proteid from the bark than water alone, and, in addition to its previously described characters, including those of an enzyme, by carefully heating its solution it may be resolved into fractions having different coagulating points. Physiological Action of the Proteid.— The most recent investi¬ gation of the physiological action of Robin is that included in the f issertation of Dr. Cari Lau (loc. cit.), who has shown that it has the property of agglutinating the red corpuscles of the blood of various animals, but that it has not this effect upon human blood or upon that of the dog and cat. Its action in this respect is also less intense than that of ricin, abrin, and crotin Experi ments on animals, chiefly rabbits, by hypodermic injections of a 80 U lon of RoblI1> bave shown that its toxic action is attended by an alteration of the kidneys, often producing a nephritis or at least manifested by the presence of more or less albumen, haemo¬ globin, and cylindrical casts in the urine. In tins connection it would seem desirable to refer very briefly to some observations of Ehrlich, which relate to the immunis- “niPr0wIlyK0f the Robinia Proteid- In his paper entitled Die \Wrtbemessung des Diphtherieheilserums und deren theoretische Grundlagen ” (Klinisches Jahrbuch, Bd. vi., 1898 p. 315), in which he considers the genesis of the’ large quanti-