The poisonous constituent of the bark of Robinia pseudacacia / by Frederick B. Power.

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927.
Date:
[1913]
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    THE POISONOUS NT OF THE BARK OF ROBINIA PSEUDACACIA. Reprinted from , August, 1913. By FrederickB. Power. In a recent publication by Professor R. Robert, of the Univer- sity of Rostock, Germany, entitled: “ Beitrage zur Ivenntnis der vegetabilischen Haemagglutinins,” which has been reprinted from a memorial volume of the Landwirtschaftliche V ersuchs-Statiouen, Band lxxix-lxxx, some very astonishing statements have been made respecting the protein of the bark of Robinia Pseudacacia, Linne. This protein substance was first obtained by me in the summer of 1889, and the fact that it possesses the well-known poisonous prop- erties of the respective bark was conclusively shown in a paper read before the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters on December 27, 1889, which was also published in the Pharm. Rundschau, New York, 1890, 8, 29-38. In a subsequent communi- cation (Pharm. Jour., London, 1901, 67, 258) I had shown that this protein, to which in the meantime Robert had assigned the name robin, possessed enzymic properties, and that it was capable of hydrolyzing both amygdalin and sinigrin (potassium myronate) with the production respectively of bitter almond oil and mustard oil, as also of clotting milk. In the last-mentioned paper consid- eration was taken of a statement in a dissertation by one of Pro- fessor Robert’s pupils, namely, Dr. Carl Lau (Rostock, 1901), whereby it was intimated that the toxic action of the Robinia pro- tein had first been established by him. The exact statement by Dr. Lau (loc, cit., p. 259) was as follows: “ I cli wurde sehr gem nocli eingchendere Versuche dariiber eingestellt haben, ob die giftige Eiweisssubstanz der Robinienrinde ein Albumin, eine Albumose, oder ein Globulin, oder ein Gemisch zzvcier Substanzen ist. Zu derartigen V ersuchen hdtte ich jedoch viel grossere Mengen van Material gebraucht als sie mir zur Verfuguug stahden. Ich musste mich daher damit begniigen-festgestellt zu haben dass es sick that- sdchlich urn eine giftige Eiweisssubstanz handelt.” In another place, with the incorrect assumption that I had assigned fo the Robinia protein a name (robinin) which might cause it to be con- fused with the coloring matter of Robinia flowers, Lau remarked: