398 Pflanzenchemie. — Angewandte Botanik. 



Thomas, P., Sur des substances qui aceompagnent l'oxy- 

 hemoglobine dans sa cristallisation. (C. R. Ac. Sc. Paris. 

 CLII. p. 1424. 22 mai 1911.) 



L'oxyhemoglobine epuisee par l'ether de petrole, ä la tempera- 

 ture ordinaire, abandonne une substances blanche, d'aspect gras, 

 quelquefois cristallisee, soluble dans l'alcool, l'ether, le chloroforme, 

 donnant les reactions de la cholesteride; il s'agit vraisemblablement 

 d'un ether de la Cholesterine. 



Si l'on epuise par le chloroforme l'oxyhemoglobine dejä traitee 

 par l'ether de petrole, on entraine une matiere jaunätre, huileuse, 

 soluble dans l'alcool, l'ether, l'acetone; eile renferme du phosphore 

 mais ne donne pas, apres hydrolyse, la reaction de la choline. 



II ne parait pas possible de preparer, par simple cristallisation, 

 de l'oxyhemoglobine completement exempte de ces produits. 



H. Colin. 



Greig-Smith, R., Contributions to a Knowledge ofSoil- 

 Fertility. No. IV. The Agricere and Bacterio-toxins of 

 Soil. (Abstr. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales. Nov. 29th. p. III— IV. 

 1911.) 



Soils which have been heated to 65°-75° in order to kill off the 

 phagocytic protozoa of Russell and Hutchinson, give a greatly in- 

 creased bacterial growth after treatment with the volatile disinfectants 

 or fat-solvents. This effect is obtained with the soil-bacteria and with 

 added test-bacteria. The treatment with disinfectants, therefore, does 

 something more than destroy the protozoa. One is justified in ascri- 

 bing the effect to the translation of the agricere by the behaviour 

 of the various layers of the soil, following the treatment with ether 

 or Chloroform. The top layers, which contain most translated agri- 

 cere, give lessened bacterial growths; and, conversely, the lowest 

 layers produce greater numbers of bacteria than the intermediate 

 soil. The action of the agricere cannot be so clearly shown in soils 

 heated at higher temperatures, on account of the disturbing influen- 

 ces of the natural toxins, and the heat-toxins of Pickering. The 

 volatile disinfectants have no action upon de toxins of the soil, either 

 in destroying or translating them. The enhanced bacterial growth 

 after Chloroform treatment could not be credited to traces of disin- 

 fectant remaining in the soil. It was noted that an abnormally toxic 

 soil became normal after heavy rains, and experimental work showed 

 that the toxins were washed from the upper into the lower layers. 



Author's abstract. 



Lendner, A., Contribution ä l'etude des falsifications du 

 Mate. (Mitt. aus dem Gebiete der Lebensmitteluntersuchung und 

 Hygiene. Veröffentlicht vom Schweiz. Gesundheitsamt. II. 5/6. 1911.) 



Verf. hat die in Paraguay zur Verfälschung von Mate dienen- 

 den Blätter, die ihm von Hassler zur Verfügung gestellt wurden, 

 einer eingehenden anatomischen Untersuchung unterzogen. Hierbei 

 stellte es sich heraus, dass die einzelnen Varietäten der Mate lie- 

 fernden Pflanzen , Hex paraguariensis St. Hilaire (var. geniäna, parvi- 

 folia, latifolia), allerdings kaum von einander zu unterscheiden sind, 

 dass aber die zur Verfälschung dienenden 13 Pflanzen (Blätter und 

 Stengel) auf Grund der erhaltenen Resultate leicht zu erkennen 

 sind. Verf. bringt die Anatomie von Mate, sowie von: Hex affinis 



