834 



THE GUM AND BYPRODUCTS OF BACTERIUM 

 SACCHARI. 



By R. Gkeig Smith, D.Sc, Macleay Bacteriologist to the 



Society. 



In May of last year I read a paper before the Society upon 

 *'An Ascobacterium from the Sugar-cane, with Notes upon the 

 Nature of the Slime. '"""^ The chemical notes regarding the slime 

 were of a preliminary nature, and showed that the slime yielded 

 a carbohydrate containing some nitrogenous impurity. Under 

 certain conditions of preparation, the carbohydrate, which may 

 be called a gum, was soluble in water and was readily converted 

 into an insoluble moditication by treatment with alcohol. The 

 gum yielded furfural on treatment with h3'drochloric acid, and 

 gave a reducing sugar upon hydrolysis w4th dilute sulphuric 

 acid. The osazone with the melting point of 153° which was 

 obtained was, in view of my later researches, probably con- 

 taminated with a substance that reduced the melting point. At 

 that time methods for the purification and .separation of mixed 

 osazones had not been described, and the difficulty of obtaining 

 the slime in quantity had militated against my devising a method 

 for the purification. Since then, however, I have so improved 

 not only certain media for growing gum-producing bacteria, but 

 also the methods for purifying and separating the osazones of 

 arabinose, galactose and glucose. A small quantity of carbo- 

 hydrate is now sufficient to enable a determination of the pro- 

 ducts of the h3''drolysis to be made with a considerable degree of 



* These Proceedings, 1903, 137 et -seg. 



