[f. FIBRO- + -IN.] A chemical substance which is the principal constituent of silk, cobwebs, and the horny skeleton of sponges.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. ii. 90. Sponge is composed of an animal matter which has been compared to albumen and to mucus (fibroine, Mulder).
1878. Kingzett, Anim. Chem., 367. In a study of fibroin from silk, Schützenberger concludes that it differs from ordinary albumin [etc.].
1887. J. Paton, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), XXII. 61/1. Silk fibre consists essentially of a centre or core of fibroin…. Fibroin … has a composition represented by the formula C15H23N5O6.
