ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 517 



buds. These compounds appear, at any rate in great part, independently 

 of light. The HCN is not drawn directly from the internodes asso- 

 ciated with the buds ; it remains to be shown whether it is supplied by 

 more distant organs or is formed in the growing twigs out of other 

 substances. It is also doubtful in what form the prussic acid is con- 

 tained in the growing parts. The fact that it is necessary to macerate 

 the killed organs before the total amount of HCN can be distilled off, 

 suggests the presence of a compound that can be split up by an enzyme. 

 Moreover, as the liquid distilled from etiolated as well as from green 

 shoots has a strong smell of benzaldehyde, it is very probable that these 

 organs also contain glucosides of the amygdalin type. 



Hydrocyanic Acid in Sorghum.* — H. B. Slade finds that stalks of 

 this grass contained -013--014 per cent, of hydrocyanic acid. The 

 poison is apparently produced by the action of an enzyme on a gluco- 

 side, but the author failed to isolate a glucoside. 



Effects of Chemical Agents on the Starch-converting Power of 

 Taka Diastase.f — K. F. Kellerman has studied and tabulated the effects 

 of a large number of chemical agents on the action of the diastase pre- 

 pared from Eurotium Oryzce, — the Japanese sake ferment. In a pre- 

 liminary series of experiments it was found that the amounts of starch 

 and diastase being constant, the converting power of the enzyme became 

 more and more rapid with the concentration of the solution of starch, 

 or starch-paste ; the solutions varied from 3 p.c, which is rather viscous, 

 to * 5 p.c, which is very watery. 



Hydrolysis of Polysaccharides.^ — ;Em- Bourquelot classifies the 

 hydrolysable derivatives of dextrose under the following headings : ether 

 oxides, ethers, hexotrioses, and polysaccharides, and points out that for 

 each member of these classes there must be a corresponding enzyme to 

 effect hydrolysis. Hence he concludes that the number of soluble fer- 

 ments or enzymes must be much greater than is generally supposed. 

 Moreover, the action of the enzyme takes place according to relatively 

 simple laws which by further research may be more definitely tabulated. 



Nomenclature of Enzymes.§ — E. 0. von Lippmann suggests that 

 each enzyme should be denoted by a name compounded from the name 

 of the substance which is changed and the name of the substance which 

 is formed. Thus the enzyme which converts starch into maltose should 

 be called " amylo-maltase," and that which converts maltose into dextrose 

 (glucose) " malto-glucase." If a shorter name be preferred, the syllable 

 " ase " could be affixed to the product of enzyme-action ; thus " maltase " 

 would denote an enzyme by the action of which maltose is produced. 



Changes in Salicin in Plant Hutrition.||— Th.Weevers finds that 

 the amount of salicin in young buds of Salix purpurea at first rapidly 



* Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc., xxv. (1903) pp. 55-9. See also Journ. Chem. Soc., 

 Ixxxiv. (1903) ii. p. 233. t Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxx. (1903) pp. 56-70. 



J Comptes Rendus, cxxxvi. (1903) pp. 7G2-4. 



§ Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Ges., xxxvi. (1903) pp. 331-2. See also Journ. Chem. 

 Soc., Ixxxiv. (1903) i. p. 304. 



U Proa k. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam, v. (1902) pp. 295-303. See also Journ. 

 Chem. Soc., Ixxxiv. (1903) ii. p. 232-3. 



