Creatine
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
methyl-glycocyamine. Methyl-guanido-acetic acid, C4H9NO2 + NH2 CN (CH₃) -CH2-CO OH. H₂O, or HN=C = Creatine is obtained from the muscular flesh of mammalia, birds, reptiles, and fishes. It has been found in the blood and urine, and brains of pigeons and dogs. It is obtained by chopping up the lean muscular flesh, removing the fat, and rubbing it with water and pressing it; the liquid is heated in a water-bath to coagulate the albumen, then strained; to the filtrate baryta-water is added, so long as it gives a precipitate, the filtrate concentrated on a water-bath, the crystals, which separate, decolorized by animal and re-crystallized from water. charcoal in rhombic needles Creatine crystallizes containing one molecule of water, which is driven off at 100°. The water solution a bitter taste, and is neutral to has litmus. It gives a white precipitate with silver nitrate, which is soluble in potash. After a time the solution solidifies to a transparent gelatinous mass, which is re- CRÉBILLON duced when heated. Creatine heated gives off ammonia and hydrocyanic acid. Creatine is dissolved by strong acids; it loses a molecule of water, and is converted into creatinine. Creatine has been formed synthetically. CRÉBILLON (krā-bē-yōn), PROS- PER JOLYOT DE, a French dramatic poet; born at Dijon, in 1674. He was intended for the legal profession, but devoted himself to the tragic muse, and produced "Idomeneus," which met with success. This was followed by "Atreus," "Electra," and "Rhadamistus," which were still more successful. He then led a secluded life for many years, but again resumed his dramatic labors, and produced the tragedies of "Catiline" and "The Triumvirate." He died in 1762. CRÉCY-EN-PONTHIEU, or CRESSY, a village in the French department of Somme, on the Maye, 12 miles N. of Abbeville. Crécy is celebrated on acount of the brilliant victory obtained here, Aug. 26, 1346, by Edward III., with 40,000 English soldiers, over a French army amounting, according to Froissart, to 100,000 men under the command of the Count of Alençon. In this great battle perished the flower of the French chivalry, as well as the blind King of Bohemia, who was fighting on the side of France. The Black Prince here distinguished himself greatly, and gained his spurs.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921, creatine was a laboratory curiosity known chiefly by how you extracted it "from the muscular flesh of mammalia, birds, reptiles, and fishes" and by the fact that acid turned it into creatinine. Its biological point emerged in 1927, when phosphocreatine was identified in muscle; it is now understood as a rapid phosphate reservoir that regenerates ATP, recycled through the enzyme creatine kinase. Its breakdown product creatinine, a mere chemical footnote in 1921, became one of the standard blood and urine measures of kidney function, and creatine kinase levels a marker of muscle and heart damage. Since studies in the early 1990s showed that oral doses raise muscle creatine stores, it has become one of the best-selling and most-studied sports supplements in the world, while inherited defects in making or transporting creatine are now recognized causes of childhood neurological disease.
Written for this edition, 2026.