AGKICULTUKAL CHEMISTKV AGROTECHNY. 711 



pruteolytio vuhie of six pancreas iireiiaratiuiis has been made by ft)ur distiuot 

 iiit'tbods, the nietacasehi reaction, a nioditicatiou of the Fuld-Gross reaction, 

 the forniaklehyde titration of amino acids liberated in difiestion, and tlie tibrin 

 digestion. It was hoi)ed to find such relations as wonhl permit the translation 

 of activity' as expressed on a given standard in terms of another. 



"By the four methods the activities of the six preparations are arranged iu 

 the same general order, that is, the strongest ferment by the fir.st method is 

 found to be the strongest by the others. For the wealvest preparations the 

 order is al)out the same. But the relative rank, quantitatively, of the different 

 ferments is very different as measured by the different methods. AYhile the 

 strongest ferment by the metacaseiu reaction appears to be about 12 times the 

 strength of the weakest, and about 10 times as strong by the digestion of tibrin, 

 by the other tests the relation is as 2 or 3:1. Even greater irregularities 

 appear in comparing some of the other ferments. 



" It is not possible at the present time to translate the proteolytic value of a 

 trj-ptic ferment from the terms of one standard to the terms of another with 

 the ])roducts as at present furnished by chemical or pharmaceutical dealers, 

 because' these preparations are made by very different processes of extraction, 

 concentration, or activation, which leave, probably, mixtures of ferments in 

 widely different proportions in the finislied ])roducts, and unknown amounts of 

 inorganic salts. There is evidence to suggest that the products sold as trn^sins 

 or pancreatins contain at least two dift'erent euzyms reacting in different ways 

 with proteins. The effects observed in any case are mixed effects depending 

 on the proiwrtions in which the eiizyms are pi'esent. These enzyms possess 

 different degrees of thermostability. 



"The desirability of a more rational definition of trypsin is pointed out. 

 The definition should include a statement of the essential points of manufac- 

 ture and should be authorized by some responsible body, such as a pharma- 

 copa'ial revision eonuuittcc. Since what is called trypsin is prepared for the 

 use of medical men, these users are entitled to the fullest knowledge concern- 

 ing the composition and properties of the product. There is no excuse for 

 secrecy here, and products should be made to conform to interchangeable 

 standards." 



Inversion of saccharose by asparaginic acid, L. Radlberger and W. Sieg- 

 MUND (Ostcn: IJugnr. Ztschr. Zuckcrimlus. u. Landw., JfS (1914), No. 1, pp. 

 29-.',3, figs. 2; ahs. in Chem. Ztg., SS {J91J,), Xo. 35, Repert., p. i<)2).— Tests 

 made witli 10 gm. of suci'ose and 0.1 gm. of asparaginic acid in 100 ce. of 

 aqueous solution at .30 to 80° C. for to 240 minutes resulted in showing that 

 inversion occurs. The inverting power rises with an increase in temi^erature. 



The preparation of rafl5.nose, C. S. Hudson and T. S. Harding (Jour. Amer. 

 Chem. Soc, 36 (191Jf), No. 10, pp. 2110-21H).—K description of a procedure by 

 which raftinose can be prepare<l from various sami)les of conuiiercial cotton- 

 seed meal with a yield of 2..5 to 4 per cent. Several advantages are claimed over 

 the method previously noted (E. S. R., 24, p. 008). 



Blood pigment and chlorophyll. — Their close relation points to a common 

 origin of animal and plant life, O. Damm (/SW. Amer. Sup., 77 {1914), No. 

 1999, p. 269, figs. 3). — This discusses the points which the constituents of 

 of hemoglobin and chlorophyll possess iu common in the light of new researches 

 (Willstiitter, Marchlewski, etc.). 



The constituents of Clematis vitalba, F. Tutin and II. W. B. Clf.wer (Jour. 

 Chem. Soc. ILondon], 105 (191Jf), No. 621, pp. 18-^5-1858).— A study of the 

 climbing plant known popularly as " traveler's joy." 



" The material employed consisted of the flowering branches of C. vitalia, 

 which had been si>ecially collected for the purpose. Preliminary tests showed 



