114 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



16.5, lard 13.2 to 14.5, and cocoa butter 12.4 to 12.7. Judging from these 

 figures, Iloton'.s suggestion to dotort ndultcratioTi in lliis manner docs not 

 seem feasible. 



The value of the silver number for butter fat, II. Mattiies and F. Stukit- 

 BEKOEK (I'hiinii. Z(ntr(tUi(iJ}(\ .)<} (IDOS), Xo. .'>. pii. SI, 82; abs. in Ztschr. 

 Unter.sucJi. \alir. u. (Iciiustontl., JH (1<)0!)), \o. (i, p. .387).— On the basis of 

 a large number of analyses the authors declare the silver number to be of lim- 

 ited value in testing for the purity of butter fat. 



The determination of fat in cheese by the Babcock test, j. L. Sammis (Jour. 

 Indus, and Engin. Chcm., 1 (1909), No. 8, p. 60.'/). — This is a method for hasten- 

 ing the execution of the test, in which 8 to 10 gm. of cheese are weighed into 

 a Babcock cream bottle, 10 cc. of water at 05 to 70° C. added, and upon this 

 17.6 cc. of sulphuric acid, 1 cc. of the acid Ix'ing added at a time at the begin- 

 ning of the operation, with mixing and shaking after each addition. 



A modified Kjeldahl connecting- bulb, ('. A. Jennings (Jour. Indus, and 

 Engin. Chcm., 1 {1909), Xo. 10, pp. 737, 738, fig. J).— This consists of the ordi- 

 nary bulb with an external opening in the bulb and a neck continuous with the 

 same. The object is to eliminate the necessity of disconnecting the tube from 

 the bottle when fluids are to be brought into the flask. 



Report of the provincial laboratory at Roulers, J. Van den Berghe {L<ib. 

 Prov. Roulers Rap. 1908, jtp. 18). — A report of the work of this laltoratory dur- 

 ing 1!I08. 



Report of the work in milk chemistry and dairying for the first half of 

 the year 1909, Grimmer {.l/ilchw. Zentbl., 5 (1909), Xo. 9, pp. 377-393).— This 

 summarizes most of the important work in these fields. 



Biochemical studies of the slime producing lactic acid bacteria, R. Bukbi 

 and O. Allemann (Ztschr. Untersuch. Xalir. u. GenusHmtL, 18 (1909), Xo. 8, 

 pp. Jf49-.'/61). — The authors produced the slime substance by symbiotic cultiva- 

 tion, that is, mycoderma with either B. casei e or B. casei 3 in specially pre- 

 pared whey media. They conclude that the body is a kind of galactose mucoid 

 combination and that it is closely related in composition to the bacterial and 

 higher fungi membranes. Its composition also shows a resemblance to chitin. 



The hydrolysis of salicin by the enzym emulsin, C. S. Hudson and H. S. 

 Paine (U. »S'. Dept. Agr., Bur. Chem. Circ. .)7, pp. 8, figs. 2). — The object of this 

 investigation was to obtain an accurate polariscopic method for measuring the 

 range of activity of the enzym emulsin. 



The authors find that the glucose produced by emulsin from salicin has a 

 rotation of 15 to 25°. This agrees with the known rotation of /3-gIucose (20°), 

 but not with that of a-glucose, the rotaticm of which is 110°. This indicates that 

 in all pi'obability the glucose is the /3-kiud. Further, it is shown that a second- 

 ary reaction occurs in which the mutarotation affects the polariscopic readings.of 

 the salicin solutions during the hydrolysis by emulsin. This is considered the 

 source of error in the measurements of Henri, who assumed that the hydrolysis 

 of salicin did not occur in the unimolecular order. The real rate at 0° and 30° 

 C of hydrolysis of salicin by emulsin was measured by checking the enzym 

 action during the intermediate stages with sodium carbonate and before taking 

 the polariscopic readings. The rate was found to follow the unimolecular order. 

 Emulsin is active in only a very small region of acidity and alkalinity near the 

 neutral point. 



Racemic glutaminic acid during putrefaction, C. Neubebg (Biochem. Ztschr., 

 18 (1909), No. 3-5, pp. 1,31-43.',; abs. in Chem. Zentbl., 1909, II, No. 7, p. 512).— 

 Racemic glutaminic acid is not changed to the optically active form by the 

 various excitors of putrefaction. In this way it does not differ markedly from 

 the decomposition of the natural right-handed rotary acids. 



