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

  • Power, Frederick B. (Frederick Belding), 1853-1927
Date:
[1913?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The poisonous constituent of the bark of robinia pseudacacia / by Frederick B. Power. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Reprinted from The American Journal of Pharmacy, August, 1913. THE POISONOUS CONSTITUENT OF THE BARK OF ROBINIA PSEUDACACIA. By FredericicB. Power. I11 a recent publication by Professor R. Robert, of the Univer¬ sity of Rostock, Germany, entitled: “ Beitrage zur Kenntnis der vegetabilischen Haemagglutinins,'’ which has been reprinted from a memorial volume of the Landunrtschaftliche Vcrsuchs-Stationen, 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 bv Dr. Lau (loc, cit., p. 259) was as follows: “ /ch wiirdc schr gem noch eingchendere Versuchc dariiber eingestcllt haben, ob die giftige Ekveisssubstanz der Robinienrinde ein Albumin, eine Albumosc, odcr ein Globulin, oder ein Gemisch cweier Substancen ist. Zu- dcrartigcn Versuclicn hdtte ich jedoch viel grossere Mengen van Material gebraucht als sie mir cur Verfiigung standen. Ich musste mich dahcr daniit begniigcn-fcstgcstellt cu haben dass cs sich that- sdchlich um eine giftige Eiweisssubstanc handelt. In another place, with the incorrect assumption that I had assigned to the Robinia protein a name (robinin) which might cause it to be con¬ fused with the coloring matter of Robinia flowers, Lau remarked: