iqiq] 



CURRENT LITERATURE 



179 



growing organs is of importance in determining the character and amount of 

 their respiration. 



The author's conclusions are as follows: "In young organs, principally 

 leaves, intramolecular combustions are more complete than in older organs; 

 young tissues consume much more oxygen than those completely developed, 

 fix relatively less, and thus set at liberty greater quantities of energy, which they 

 use in growth." — G. T. Harrington. 



Catalase, respiration, and vitamines. — Dutcher'* finds that the catalase 



activity of polyneuritic pigeons is ver>' low, and that it rises to normal W'hen the 



fowl is fed water soluble vitamine. His results are given in the following 



table: 



Catalase activity of tissues 



Tissue 



_ Polyneuritic 

 pigeons, percent- 

 age of normal 



< Polyneuritic 

 pigeons receiving 



water soluble 

 I vitamine, per- 

 centage of 

 normal 



Liver 



Kidney. ... 

 Pancreas. . . 



Heart 



Breast 



Lung 



Blood 



A\erage 



no 

 102 



"5 

 86 



152 

 84 

 56 



lOI 



The author says: "It is probable that polyneuritis is accompanied by in- 

 complete or partial oxidation, with accumulation in the tissues of products of 

 incomplete oxidation. It is also probable that water soluble vitamines func- 

 tion, directly or indirectly, in stimulation of oxidation processes, thereby clear- 

 ing the tissues of toxic materials. When pigeon tissues are arranged in the 

 order of their catalase content (as measured by the oxygen liberated from 

 hydrogen peroxide), tissues group themselves in the order of their metabolic 

 activity and also in the order of their content of water soluble vitamine." 



Appleman'7, in a recently published article, says: "Respiration in sweet 

 corn in the milk stage is very high when the corn is first puUed. This high rate 

 of respiratory activity falls off rapidly with storage. Catalase activity in a 

 collateral set of ears showed a decline with storage, which is almost directly 

 proportional to the decline in respiratory intensity after a like period of storage. 

 The catalase activity of the expressed juice from both sweet corn and potato 



'^ Dutcher, R. Adams, Vitamine studies. I. Observations on the catalase activ- 

 ity of tissues in avian polyneuritis. Jour. Biol. Chem. 36:63-72. 1918. 



'" Appleman, C. O., Respiration and catalase acti\-ity in sweet corn. Amer. Jour. 

 Botany 5:207-209. 1918. 



