Xxxvi. the Composition of "lecithin," Together with Observations on the Distribution of Phosphatides in the Tissues and Methods for Their Ex- Traction and Purification

About the year 1846 Gobley succeeded in obtaining from egg yolk and other organs a substance of a fat-like nature containing nitrogen and phosphorus which he called lecithin [1846]. This substance was soluble in alcohol and in ether, formed an emulsion when rubbed up with water and yielded fatty acids and glycerophosphoric acid on hydrolysis. These observations of Gobley furnished a basis for the structure of the lecithin molecule, which appeared to be completed by the discovery of Liebreich [1865] and Strecker [1868] that the base choline was also obtained as a product of lecithin hydrolysis. Lecithin was therefore defined as an ester compound of glycerophosphoric acid substituted by two fatty acid radicles with a base, choline, according to the following formula which is generally accepted.