568 Biochemical News, Notes and Comment [June 



Island, was inaugurated in the fall of 1909 with Doctor R. A, 

 Gortner as the bio-chemist in charge. The breeding experiments 

 which had been conducted at the Station prior to 1909 had necessi- 

 tated the postulating of theories regarding bio-chemical processes. 

 The laboratory was installed in order to test the validity of these 

 hypotheses. 



A temporary laboratory was fitted up in one of the rooms of the 

 main building but recently moi'? Space was needed and a wing of a 

 new building has been built in which there are five rooms devoted 

 to the work of the bio-chemist. These consist of a large, well lighted 

 laboratory, a weighing room and office combined, an operating 

 room, a sterilizing room, and a room containing cages where animals 

 may be kept and the effect of various chemicals or secretions on 

 them or their offspring may be determined. 



Since the laboratory has been established the main subject under 

 investigation has been the origin and nature of the animal pigments, 

 or melanins. Some of the earlier ideas regarding the nature of 

 melanin have been proven erroneous, especially the idea of their 

 " indestructibility " by chemical reagents. It has also been found 

 that the term melanin may include two or more distinct types of 

 Compounds. Twelve papers have been published by Dr. Gortner 

 since the establishment of the laboratory, as f ollows : 



1910. A contribution to the study of the oxidases. Trans. 

 London Chem. Soc, 97, 1 10-120. — The origin of the brown pig- 

 ment in the integuments of the larva of Tenebrio molitor. Journ. 

 Biol. Chem., 7, 365-70. — Spiegler's white melanin" as related to 

 dominant or recessive whites. Amer. Naturalist, 44, 497-502. — 

 Studies on melanin. I. Methods of isolation. The effect of alkali 

 on melanin. Journ. Biol. Chem., 8, 341-63. 



191 1. A new decomposition product of keratin which gives 

 Millon's reaction. Ibid., 9, 355-7. — Studies on melanin. IL The 

 pigmentation of the adult periodical Cicada, Tibicen septendecem 

 L. Ibid., 10, 89-94. — Studies on melanin. III. The inhibitory ac- 

 tion of certain phenolic substances upon tyrosinase. A Sugges- 

 tion as to the cause of dominant and recessive whites. Ibid., 10, 

 1 13-122. — Studies on melanin. IV. The origin of the pigment and 



