21 8 Proceedings Columbia Biochemical Association [March, 



alcohol, glycerol, erythrol, mannite, inosite, phenol, the cresols, thy- 

 mol, a-naphthol; acetic, butyric, ^S-oxybutyric, palmitic, stearic, tri- 

 chloracetic, oxalic, tartaric, citric, oleic, mallc, cinnamic, and hippu- 

 ric acids; glycocol, alanin, guanidin carbonate, leucin, urea, thio- 

 urea, ammonium sulfocyanate, caffein, theobromin, uric acid, so- 

 dium urate, Creatinin, lecithin, cholesterol, palmitin, Stearin, olein, 

 serum proteins, blood fibrin, edestin, egg albumen, gelatin, peptone, 

 proteoses, ovalbumen, collagen, osseomucoid, elastin, Saccharin, anti- 

 pyrin, anthraquinone, sucrose, raffinose, cellulose, starch, dextrin, 

 glycogen, inulin, esculin, amygdalin, and the f ollowing gums : arabic, 

 tragacanth, guaiac, rosin, benzoin, kino, aloes, asafetida, myrrh, gam- 

 bir. Alcoholic Solutions of gum benzoin, kino or aloes give a red- 

 brown to cherry-red sol. without the addition of sodium selenite. 



The f ollowing reduce sodium selenite : amidol, arabinose, rham- 

 nose, xylose, glucose, galactose, f ructose, maitose, lactose, hydroqui- 

 none, phloroglucinol, pyrogallol ; hydroxylamin, Phenylhydrazin and 

 benzidin hydrochlorids ; hydrazin hydrate; arsenious, hydrobromic, 

 hydriodic, phosphorous, hypophosphorous and sulfurous acids; fer- 

 rous Sulfate, stannous chlorid, sodium thiosulfate, zinc and hydro- 

 chloric acid, hydrogen sulfid, acetylene; formic, gallic, lactic and 

 tannic acids. 



Acetone, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, aceto-acetic ester, ^-oxy- 

 butyric acid, Creatinin, lactic acid, formic acid and inulin reduce in 

 acid, but not in alkalin mixtures of sodium selenite. Methyl alcohol 

 and ethyl alcohol reduce sodium selenite strongly acidified with sul- 

 furic or with hydrochloric acid. 



Oxalic, citric, tartaric, malic and salicylic acids, benzaldehyde, 

 cinnamic aldehyde and salicyl aldehyde, reduce neither acid nor alka- 

 lin mixtures. 



The results show that monosaccharids readily reduce alkalin sol. 

 of sodium selenite. Pentoses effect readier and more profuse re- 

 duction than the hexoses and the reducing disaccharids. Of the 

 pentoses, xylose causes the most striking reduction. Among the 

 hexoses, fructose and galactose reduce more readily than glucose, 

 and galactose less readily than fructose. Among the disaccharids 

 only those having free carbonyl groups reduce. Maltose and lac- 

 tose effect reduction, but sucrose does not ; raffinose, cellulose, starch, 

 dextrin, glycogen, inulin do not reduce. 



