564 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



The formation of dimethylamine is accounted for by two 

 similar reactions as follows : 



HCHO + CH 3 NH 3 . HC1 = CH 3 : NCH 3 . HC1 + H 2 

 and 



CH 2 : NCH 3 . HC1 + H a | O + HCHO = (CH 3 ) 3 : N . HC1 + HCOOH 



When dimethylamine hydrochloride is heated with formal- 

 dehyde a stable saturated compound is formed as follows : 



/N(CH 3 ) 2 . HC1 

 HCHO + 2NH . (CH 3 ) 2 HC1 = CH 2 < + H 2 



X N(CH 3 ) 2 . HC1 



This compound having no tendency to become reduced does 

 not attack the water molecule and consequently no formic acid 

 or methyl formate is produced. Experimental details are 

 given for obtaining yields of methylamine and dimethylamine 

 hydrochloride equal to 79*6 and 95*3 per cent, respectively of 

 the weight of ammonium chloride employed. 



In a paper entitled " Formaldehyde as a Prototype of 

 Diastase," Gertrud Woker (Berichte, 1916, 49, 231 1) recalls 

 the fact that formaldehyde can act as a peroxidase or as a 

 catalase and assumes that these enzymes are probably aldehydic 

 in character, and form additive compounds with hydrogen 

 peroxide as follows : 



HCHO + H 2 2 = OH . CH 2 . OH 



Since diastase can also act as a peroxidase the question arises 

 whether the hydrolytic action of diastase is also due to an 

 aldehyde grouping and further whether formaldehyde may not 

 also be able to hydrolyse starch like diastase by forming a 

 hydrate which would offer the elements of water in an active 

 form. The author has shown that formaldehyde, when present 

 in relatively large quantities, can indeed hydrotyse both starch 

 and glycogen, but that it acts much more readily as a peroxidase 

 tnan as a hydrolytic enzyme. More recently (Berichte, 191 7, 

 50, 679 and 1 1 88) the same author has again drawn attention 

 to the analogy between formaldehyde and diastase by the 

 following observations : (1) The microscopic appearance of 

 starch granules acted on by diastase and by formaldehyde is 

 the same, staining with iodine showing in both cases unchanged 



