2 26 Proceedinqs Columbia Biochemical Association [March, 



terol, olive oil, olein, palmitin, Stearin. Still weaker reductions 

 were obtained with vanillin, hippuric acid, /^-amino aceto-phenol, 

 chloretone and camphor oxim. Benzene sodium sulfonate, potas- 

 sium ethyl sulfate, palmitic and stearic acids, and urea, gave negative 

 results. Potassium sulfocyanate yielded a red coloration with 

 Reagent A. On diluting with water the liquid became greenish blue. 

 When minute amounts of the sulfocyanate were used, the character- 

 istic green or blue color, indicative of reduction, was observed at once. 



Miller and Taylor^'' found that acetone, acetaldehyd, benzal- 

 dehyd, vanillin, glycerol, phenol, thymol, orcinol, phloroglucinol, 

 salicylic acid, uric acid and tannic acid failed to reduce ammonium 

 molybdate. They observed that although ketones and aldehydes 

 did not reduce, ketone and aldehyde sugars did reduce. Our findings 

 are not in accord with those of Miller and Taylor quoted above. 

 Aldehydes, ketones, monosaccharids, disaccharids, Polysaccharids, 

 gums, glucosides and glucoproteins and also other proteins reduced 

 acidified sol. of ammonium molybdate. Egg albumen reduced even 

 in the cold. Glucose reduced slightly in comparison with fructose. 

 Lecithin, olein, palmitin and Stearin reduced, owing, probably, to 

 the presence of the glyceryl radical, glycerol itself causing reduc- 

 tion. Phenol reduced even in cold acetic or sulfuric acid mixture 

 of ammonium molybdate. Uric acid gave positive results. 



The reactivity of ammonium molybdate in this respect is too 

 general to be of value as a differential test. The study is in 

 progress. 



173. Autolysis and nuclear relations. Max Morse. {Dep't 

 of PhysioL, Univ. of Wis., Madison.) There is a more or less 

 direct relation between the character of an organ with respect to 

 its nuclear content, from the histological Standpoint, and its rate of 

 autolysis, whereby those organs in which there are relatively greater 

 masses of nuclei to that of matrices (cytoplasm, interstitial sub- 

 stance, protoplasmic differentiation in the form of fibres, etc.), 

 such as glands, show greater rates of Salkowskian autolysis. Ac- 

 cordingly, the hypothesis might be formulated that some connection 

 exists between the distinctive chemical component, nucleic acid, and 

 the rate of tissue-enzyme action. This hypothesis was tested by 



27 Miller and Taylor : Jour. Biol. Chem., 1914, xvii, p. 531. 



