254 PHYSIOLOGY [Bot. Absts. 



in the presence of oxygen, has been proved in the case of certain plants; but it does not hold 

 true with the animal cells studied. With the exclusion of oxygen from these no alcohol or 

 carbon dioxide is formed. On the other hand, if one assumes that lactic acid may be an inter- 

 mediate product of fermentation, as Btichner now thinks, we may hold to the identity of intra- 

 molecular respiration and fermentation, since lactic acid is found as a product of respiration 

 in the animal cell (muscle) under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Meyerhof then 

 shows how the respiratory enzymes have been separated from the life of the cell much as have 

 the enzymes of fermentation. Co-enzymes have also been discovered in respiration, these 

 playing a part similar to that of the co-ferments in fermentation. — Orton L. Clark. 



1754. Went, F. A. F. C. On the course of the formation of diastase by Aspergillus niger. 

 Proc. Roy. Acad. Sci. Amsterdam 21 : 479-493. 1919. [Transl. from Versl. K. Akad. Wetensch. 

 Amsterdam 26 or 27: 1918.]— The paper is concerned with the amount of diastase present in 

 the fungus and nutrient solution al varying ages of the culture. The nutrient solution was 

 composed of 5 per cent glucose, 0.5 per cent NH 4 N0 3 , 0.1 per cent K 2 HP0 4 , and 0.05 per cent 

 MgS0 4 . The author finds that for the first few days after germination there is a very marked 

 production of diastase in the mycelium, but after five days there follows a rapid destruction 

 of the enzyme, Relatively little of the enzyme is found in the culture medium, and the author 

 believes that this is derived from dead cells. — L. Knudson. 



ORGANISM AS A WHOLE 



1755. Pringsheim, Haxs. Die chemische Anpassung der Mikroorganismen. [The chem- 

 ical adaptation of the microorganisms.] Naturwiss enschaften 7: 319-323. 1919. — The re- 

 markable ability of microorganisms to use as food practically all the substances occurring in 

 nature is discussed. Pringsheim then notes how the more complex molecular organic, com- 

 pounds and their final decomposition products, which approach the elementary state, are 

 used in the nutrition of only a few highly specialized microorganisms; while the substances 

 which are intermediate in the breaking down of the carbohydrate and protein molecules 

 (i.e., the sugars and peptones) serve as food for a very large variety of microorganisms. 

 Special cases of adaptation of microorganisms to the use of various types of carbohydrates 

 and proteins are considered. Reference is also made to the role of enzymes of the yeast cells as 

 well as to the use of the chemotactic reaction of the motile microorganisms as a test of the 

 food value of certain racemic substances for the organism.— Orion L. Clark. 



GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, REPRODUCTION 



1756. Lewis, C. I. Some interesting phases of the pruning problem. Better Fruit 13 8 : 

 26-32. Feb., 1919— See Bot. Absts. 3, Entry 1541. 



MOVEMENTS OF GROWTH AND TURGOR CHANGES 



1757. Alvarado, Salustio. Sobre el verdadero significado del "sistema de fibrillas con- 

 ductor de las excitaciones en las plantas" de Kemec. (Un dato para la historia del condrioma 

 vegetal.) [True significance of Nemec's system of filaments for conducting stimuli in plants.] 

 Bol. R. Soc. Espafiola Hist. Nat. 19: 147-152. Fig. 1-2. 1919. 



TEMPERATURE RELATIONS 



175s. Emeis. W. Eine weitere Erklarung zur Bildung von Haareis auf morschem Holz 

 [A further explanation of the formation of hair-ice on decayed wood.] Naturwissenschaften 

 7: 124. 1919.— The appearance of this curious formation is due not to the cooperation of fungi 

 as Wegener held, hut to purely physical causes. The decayed wood is usually saturated 

 with water and at low temperatures the water expands in the vessels and freezes in hair-like 

 spindles as it exudes from thorn. — Orton L. Clark. 



