A white crystalline nitrogenous substance present in small
   amount in the pancreas and spleen, and formed in large quantity from
   the decomposition of proteid matter by various means, -- as by
   pancreatic digestion, by putrefaction as of cheese, by the action of
   boiling acids, etc. Chemically, it consists of oxyphenol and
   amidopropionic acid, and by decomposition yields oxybenzoic acid, or
   some other benzol derivative.