io8 Indianapolis Biochcmical Meeting: Ahstracts [Sept. 



is of such constrnction that the carbon dioxide formed during 

 the process may be determined separately if desired. 



This method for the determination of oxidases in the plant 

 Juices has already yielded a number of very interesting results. If 

 pyrogallol is used as the substance to be oxidized, atmospheric 

 oxygen as the oxidizing agent, and potato juice or beet juice as the 

 catalyst, the oxidation proceeds quite rapidly for an hour or two and 

 then reaches a maximum. This maximum has been taken as a 

 measure of the activity of the juice. The maximum quantity of 

 oxygen absorbed with varying volumes of plant Juices added proved 

 to be directly proportional to the concentration of the oxidases 

 present. The pyrogallol, oxygen, and oxidase react in purely 

 stoichiometric proportions, i. e., a certain amount of potato juice 

 brings about the oxidation of a definite quantity of pyrogallol by a 

 corresponding weight of oxygen. Excess of any one of these 

 three reacting components is without effect on the end result. 



This method has been applied only to potatoes and sugar beets. 

 Thp oxidase content of healthy sugar beets was compared with that 

 of curly top sugar beets. The leaves of the diseased beets invari- 

 ably gave higher figures than the normal ones. This remarkable 

 behavior was studied more in detail under field conditions in Utah 

 during the summer and will be reported in one of the publications of 

 the Department of Agriculture. 



A Study of the Methane Fermentation in the First Stomach 



of the Ruminants 



SLEETER BULL 



{Institute of Animal Nutrition, Pennsylvania State College, State 



College, Pa.) 



Crude fiber or cellulose and starch undergo a fermentation in 

 the paunch of the ruminants with the formation of methane, carbon 

 dioxide, acetic acid, butyric acid and isobutyric acid. 



By the artificial fermentation of cellulose, it was found that i.o 

 gm. of cellulose yielded 0.033-0.040 gm. of methane. 



Omeliansky found that one gm. of cellulose yielded 0.068 gm, 

 of methane, 0.3057 gm. of acetic acid and 0.2038 gm. of butyric 

 and isobutyric acids. 



