410 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



mercury, gold, platinum, etc., and clilorin, bromin, lodln. and hydrogen peroxid. 

 The enzym from B. papyrifera, on the other hand, will coagulate and digest 

 raw milk, casein, and fibrin. It will also act in the presence of traces of the 

 salts of the chemicals mentioned above, even if the doses are comparatively 

 large. 



The lipases of a latex, C. Gerbek (Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. [Paris], 74 

 (1913), No. 12, pp. 718-721).— The saponification of unboiled egg yolk by the 

 latex of Euphorbia characias was only feeble when massive amounts of latex 

 were allowed to act upon egg yolk emulsion. The saponification of boiled egg 

 yolk was much more regular than that of the untreated yolk. This latex was 

 in small quantities and obeyed the law of proportion. The difference between 

 the two types of saponification was the same as exists between the two types 

 of caseation which occur in boiled and unboiled milk. 



The rennet of the latex of Calotropis procera, C. Gerber and P. Floubens 

 (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], 155 (1912), No. 6, pp. 4O8-41O; ahs. in Chem. 

 Zentbl., 1912, II, No. 17, p. 1469).— The milky juice of this plant contains a 

 vegetable proteolytic enzym which coagulates boiled milk with greater ease 

 than raw milk. The enzym is very stabile toward heat. While .small amounts 

 of metals belonging to the gold group and mercuric chlorid lessen the coagu- 

 lating iiowcr of the enzym, alkalis .seem to increase its fermenting power. 



In reg-ard to the nature of amylases, S. Kamecici (Abs. in Chem. Ztg., 57 

 (1913), No. //7, Repert., p. 220). — The amylases obtained by fractional precipi- 

 tation of malt extracts have different properties. The first fraction has the 

 greatest starch liquefying power, while the saccharifying power is most intense 

 in the third fraction. In the fourth fraction it is similar to that of the first 

 fraction. Various enzyms seem to take part in the process. 



In regard to invertase, I, II, J. Meisenheimer, S. Gambarjan, and L. 

 Semper (Riochcm. Ztschr.. 54 (1913), No. 1-2, pp. 108-154).— In the prepara- 

 tion of invertase by treatment with acids, the material forming the basis of 

 the tests was Buchner*s yeast press juice. Dilute acids were found to precipi- 

 tate much of the proteins contained in the juice without destroying the activity 

 of the invertase. The precipitate obtained with acetone from the juice which 

 had been previously treated with acid was twice as active as a juice treated 

 with acetone alone. 



An investigation of the enrichment of the invertase content of living yeasts 

 (pp. 122-154) showed that the invertase content of lager beer yeast can be 

 increased as much as eight times its original amount by simply propagating 

 the yeast in a saccharose solution. 



On the preparation of neutral ammonium citrate solution, P. Rudnick 

 and W. L. Latshaw (Jour. Indus, and Engin. Chem., 5 (1913), No. 12, p. 998). — 

 The method recommended by the committee on ammonium citrate solution of 

 the division of fertilizer chemistry of the American Chemical Society and 

 the method propose<l by Patten and Marti (E. S. R.. 29. p. 71S) were studied 

 comparatively. In the first named method, however, the neutrality was deter- 

 mined by the indicator method of Hand (E. S. R., 23, p. 508). 



Two ammonium citrate solutions, one slightly acid and the other alkaline, 

 were tested against the same acid phosphate preparation. The alkaline solu- 

 tion, analyzed by the Patten and Marti method, showed a ratio of ammonia 

 to citric acid of 1 : 3.748, and the acid solution a ratio of 1 : 8.786. " The results 

 indicate that the variation of these solutions from the ratio given by Patten and 

 Marti [1 : 3.7651 was not sufficient to affect the results obtained on the sample 

 of acid i)h()Spliiite in question. Further work on this subject is in progress.'' 



The determination of citric acid-soluble phosphoric acid in Thomas slag 

 powder, F Haussuing (Landw. Jahrb., 45 (1913), No. 1, pp. 119-126).— This is 



