Isolation of Crystalline Ricin

A toxic crystalline protein has been isolated from crude extracts of castor bean meal. Ultracentrifuge and electrophoresis tests show the crystalline protein to become fairly homogeneous after three or four crystallizations. This is also confirmed by toxicity measurements. Solubility tests, however, indicate the presence of more than one protein component in the crystalline material, possibly in the form of a solid solution which cannot be separated into its components by repeated crystallization under the present technique.