igis] Max Kahn 399 



Behavior toward bacteria and fungi. Tartaric acid is pro 

 duced, in the fermentation of fruit and grape juice, by the Apicii- 

 latus yeast, in which process carbohydrates are oxidized to tartaric 

 acid. Calcium tartrate may be fermented, by the Bacillus tartar- 

 icus, to acetic acid, succinic acid, carbon dioxid and hydrogen.^* 

 In the presence of ammonium nitrate, tartaric acid is fermented to 

 propionic acid, acetic acid and carbon dioxid/^ 



Certain yeasts use tartaric acid as food, absorbing it in their 

 growth.^^ Pasteur^^ found that Pcnicillium glaucum so affects 

 /j-tartaric acid (racemic) that it is changed to /-tartaric acid. Yeast 

 ferments c?-tartaric acid much more easily than the / form. The 

 final carbonaceous product in the catabolism of tartaric acid hf 

 yeast is carbon dioxid.^* The peculiar affinity of yeast for the 

 f/-acid is quite significant, as will be seen below, where the metab- 

 olism of the various tartaric acids in the animal body is considered. 



The mycoderms have no effect on tartaric acid.^^ According 

 to Waterman,^^ /- and ^/-tartaric acids may be utilized by Aspergil- 

 lus niger as a source of carbon. Racemic acid is scarcely attacked 

 by this organism but, after a prolonged period, mutation occurs. 

 Neuberg and Czapski^^* found that a concentration of 0.45 M of 

 c?-tartaric acid retards the fermentation of glucose. 



General observations on toxicity. Certain of the earlier 

 writers on the toxicology of tartaric acid considered this substance 

 entirely non-poisonous. Christison^''' concluded, from the results 

 of an experiment by him and Coindet, in which they administered 

 per OS to a cat 3.75 gm. of tartaric acid dissolved in water, that 

 this acid is wholly non-toxic. He also cited the experience of Dr. 

 Sibbald, of Edinburgh, who accidentally ingested 22.5 gm. of the 

 acid without suffering any ill effects. Wibmer stated that tartaric 



^f*Pasteur: Compt. rend., 1858, xlvi, p. 615; 1863, Ivi, p. 416. Grimbert and 

 Fiquet : Jour. de pharm, et d. chim., 1898, vii, p. 97. 



11 König: Ber. d. d. ehem. Ges., 1881, xiv, p. 21 1. 



12 Bail : Centr. f. Bakter. u. Parasitenk., 1902, viii, p. 567. 

 isPasteur: Compt. rend., 1858, xlvi, p. 615. 



1* Karezag: Biochem. Zeit., 1912, xxxviii, p. 516. 



15 Meissner : Ber. d. königl. Wurttemb. Weinbau-Versuch., 1904, p. 72. 



16 Watermann : Chem. Zentralbl., 1914, i, p. 485. 



16a Neuberg and Czapski : Biochem. Zeit., 1914, Ixvii, p. 51. 

 !'■ Christison: Abhandlung über die Gifte, 1831, p. 212. 



