480 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



TABLE XIII. 

 CO'i Formation from Peptone by B. mycoides in Sand and Solution. 



After 1 day 



After 2 days 



.^fter 3 days 



After 4 days 



After 5 days 



After 6 days 



After 7 days 



After 8 days 



After 9 days 



After 11 days 



After 12 days 



CO 2 liberated on 12th day by 

 H2SO4 



Total CO 2 formed 



mg. Ammonia found 



mg. CO 2 per flask. 



25 cc. solution. 



0. 



3.2 



5.0 



(2.6) 



3.9 



7.8 



8.0 



8.S 



11.4 



13.0 



16.4 



5.8 



22.2 



10.95 



0. 



0.4 



1.4 



(0.6) 



2.0 



7.3 



10.5 



14.8 



21.1 



35.0 



11.2 



46.2 



15.92 



5 CC. solution + 

 50 g. sand. 



c. 



0.2 

 9.0 

 17.6 

 22.4 

 32.0 

 44.8 

 50.8 

 57.8 

 66.0 

 70.2 

 73.6 



11.9 



85.5 



15.30 



7.4 

 18.8 

 27.8 

 34.4 

 44.5 

 60.8 

 63.8 

 73.7 

 82.4 

 87.5 

 90.2 



13.7 



103.9 



15.91 



Average CO 2 per 



100 cc. liquid 



medium. 



Solution. 



Sand. 







7 

 13 



12 

 30 

 37 

 47 

 65 



103 



34 



137 



64 



c + d 



76 



278 



454 



568 



765 



1,056 



1,146 



1,315 



1,484 



1,577 



1,638 



256 



1.894 



312 



Most exporinieiils in tliis; cliapter would linvo l)oen omittiMl if the 

 writer had found in time the paper of Emil Marchal on ammouification.* 

 This paper discusses very extensively the ammonia formation by B. 

 mycoides in albumen solution. Marchal concludes (p. 589 and 590) : 

 "When a simultaneous estimation is made of the carbonic acid and am- 

 monia produced by the respiration of the microbe, it is found that the 

 I»roportion of these substprcrs obtained, closely approximates that 

 which is obtained by the comjilete combustion of albumen." The ratio 

 obtained was 1:8.9 Avhile the combusticm p:ives 1:10.4. ^larchal comes 

 to the followiiifj conclusioii : ' T'nder the induence of B. iiii/coides, oxygen 

 acis on the elements of albumen, the carbon being transformed into car- 

 bonic acid, the sulphur into sulfuric acid, a part of the hydrogen into 

 walci', while ammonia is left as a residue." 



Marchal tried further Ihc influence of aeration by growing the bac- 

 teria in equal volumes of liquid, the depth of the liquid being 12 cm., 5 

 cm., and 2.5 cm., respectively. The ammouia formed in these three 

 experiments was 10.8, 34.0 and 50.0 mg. jx'r 100 cc. in 15 days. 



The ratio of NH3:C0o in the writer's experiment is 1:2.5 in the so- 

 lution and 1:6.1 in the sand, while the theoretical yield of a complete 

 combusti(tn. liguring on 4<;.l'% C and 18.8% N in Peptone Witte, ac- 

 cording to our determinations, is 10.2. The circumstance that the CO., 

 produced per one part of ammonia liberated is much less in solution, 



*Bull de 1' Academic Belgiriue t. 25, (1893) p. 727 tran.slated into English in Agricultural Science 

 Vol VIII, p. 574. 



