A new test for ergothioneine upon which is based a method for its estimation in simple solution and in blood-filtrates

TANRET [1909] isolated from ergot of rye a base which he termed ergo- thioneine, which was shown by Barger and Ewins [1911] to be the betaine of thiolhistidine. There is no further record of the occurrence of ergothioneine in the plant or animal kingdom until the isolation of a substance from blood by Hunter and Eagles [1925, 1927], which has recently been shown by Eagles and Johnson [1927] to be identical with ergothioneine. The isolation of a similar substance from blood was also reported by Benedict, Newton and Behre [1926] and that substance has also been shown to be ergothioneine [Eagles and Johnson, 1927; Newton,