Combination of Gelatin with Some Organic Bases

I t is known that the alkaloids are very strong poisons. Their poisoning power can be compared only with that of the glucosides, the hormones, the saponins, HCN, and some bacterial toxins. The alkaloids are sufficiently studied physiologically, and in relation to their chemical structure, but what chemical substances enter in combination with them in the body and in the cell is wholly obscure. Traube explains all the influence of alkaloids through changes in superficial tension. Many investigators have adopted the theory of Overton--that alkaloids, which are all soluble in lipoids, influence the cell through this solution. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the nervous tissue, so greatly affected by the alkaloids, contains at the same time the greatest amount of lipoids. Other investigators, such as Brunton, t~.ossbach, and lately Frey and Gtirber, think that the alkaloids can combine with the proteins. The latter indicate that the alkaloids can precipitate the proteins. But the conditions of this combination are very incompletely known. Woronzoff says that the liver retains the alkaloids only when Ringer-Locke solution, that contains the alkaloid, is alkalized. When it becomes acid, the liver releases the alkaloid previously retained. He thinks that the acid solution extracts proteins which combine with the alkaloids; but then the question arises,--can the proteins be restored to their former place by making the solution alkaline? In his book, "Proteins and the theory of colloidal behavior," Loeb gives a very simple method for the investigation of the influence of the pH of the solution on the combination of proteins with anions or cations. He used powdered gelatin that acquired different pH values by putting it for 1 hour in acid solutions of different concentration, then filtering off, washing, and putting in an equal quantity of the 101