86 V. H. YOUNG 



dried at a temperature of 40°C. The material, which by this 

 process is practically completely dehydrated, was allowed to 

 remain at this temperature until it was to be used, when it was 

 cooled in a desiccator, carefully weighed and finely ground up 

 with fragments of Jena glass in a mortar. The pulverized my- 

 celium was then placed in flasks and water added in proportion 

 to its weight so that all the units of the experiment contained the 

 same dilution of mycelium. After thoroughly shaking the flasks, 

 extraction was allowed to proceed for twelve hours in an ice- 

 chest. This precaution was taken to inhibit so far as possible 

 any bacterial growth. No attempt was made to utilize the 

 enzyme content of the culture medium for reasons discussed 

 elsewhere. 



The amount of dehydrated mycelium available varied consid- 

 erably in different experiments so that it was not found feasible 

 to run all experiments with enzyme solutions of equal concen- 

 tration, but it is believed that, since all the units of one experi- 

 ment were of equal concentration so far as the weight of mycelium 

 used is concerned, the results obtained give conclusive evidence 

 of the difference in enzyme activity between the units of that 

 experiment. 



All solutions throughout the course of the experiments were 

 measured at room temperature. 



Experiments on inulase were conducted in 250 cc. volumetric 

 flasks. One hundred cubic centimeters of a 1% inulin solution 

 were measured into each flask from a burette and to this solution 

 was added a definite amount of enzyme solution. The flasks 

 were made up to volume, thoroughly shaken and toluene added. 

 They were then placed in the thermostat at 40°C. for a definite 

 time which varied in different experiments. The first experi- 

 ments performed were allowed to stand for from twelve to eigh- 

 teen hours, but it was feared that bacterial or autolytic changes 

 might occur in that length of time and so later experiments were 

 run for a period of four hours only. 



Various controls were run parallel with the experiments. 

 Boiled enzyme extract was added to inulin solution in every 

 case. Solutions of the unboiled enzyme extract alone were also 



