1917] AGBICULTURAL CHEMISTRY AGEOTECHNY. 309 



was also active in the pancreas of other species, In the liver and in the thymus, 

 and to a lesser degree in the lymphatic glands, ox suprarenals and thyroid, 

 cat kidney, and pig lung. Tristearin was also frequently found. Wax-splitting 

 enzyms were found in ox, sheep, and pig pancreas, human, ox, pig, cat, and 

 rabbit liver, thymus, and lymphatic glands, ox and sheep thyroid, or supra- 

 renals, human skin, and cat and human kidney. 



" The distribution of esterases in the body appears to have some relation to 

 resistance to tubercle. The cat, which is very little susceptible to tubercle, is 

 well provided with esterases throughout its organs. The sheep, although less 

 well-provided for than the susceptible pig in other regions, possesses very 

 active lymphatic glands. The susceptible guinea pig has the chief part of its 

 lipase in the form of butyrinase and olein lipase, and is deficient in higher 

 esterases. The lungs in all species were found very poor in these ferments. 

 The more resistant liver showed active lipolytic properties." 



The experimental procedures used and the data obtained are described and 

 submitted in detail. 



The nonspecifi-city of animal and vegetable reductase, A. Bach {Coinpt. 

 Rend. Acad. Set. [Parisi, 164 (1917), No. 5, pp. 248, 249).— From data obtained 

 in a study with 14 different aldehydes in the reduction of nitrate by reductase 

 (of milk and potato) in the presence of an aldehyde the author concludes that 

 the specificity of the reducing ferment is functional and not structural. The 

 specificity is considered to depend on a determined chemical function and not 

 on any geometrical configuration. 



The composition of adipocere, R. F. Ruttan and M. J. Maeshaix (Jour. 

 Biol. Chem., 29 {1911), No. 2, pp. 319-327).— The following percentage composi- 

 tion of a sample of adipocere found near Rockburn, Quebec, is reported : Pal- 

 mitic acid, 67.52 ; stearic acid, 3.3 ; oleic acid, 5.24 ; i-hydroxy stearic acid, 9.48 ; 

 ^-hydroxy stearic acid, 6.32 ; stearin and palmitin, 1.21 ; olein, 0.16 ; unsaponified 

 matter, 0.87 ; calcium soaps, 4.41 ; protein, 0.665 ; ash, 0.578 ; humus and unde- 

 termined, 0.247. The physical and chemical constants of the ether-soluble mat- 

 ter found were specific gravity at 100° C, 0.8436; refractive index at 65°, 1.436; 

 melting point, 60 to 63° ; acid value, 201.7 ; saponification value, 207 ; iodin 

 value, 6.04 ; and acetyl value, 34.75. 



The data are discussed. 



The isolation of stachydrin from alfalfa hay, H. Steenbock {Jour. Biol. 

 Chem., 29 {1917), No. 2, p. XXVII).— The author at the Wisconsin Experiment 

 Station notes the isolation of Z-stachydrin in a pure form and as the hydro- 

 chlorid from the phosphotungstic acid fraction of the water-soluble constituents 

 of alfalfa hay. It was identified by the preparation of the picrate, chloro- 

 platinate, aurate, methyl ester, and methyl ester chloroaurate, all of which were 

 found to be characteristic. It is indicated that " the Kossel and Van Slyke 

 methods when applied directly to alfalfa hay nitrogen give erroneous values for 

 the diamino acids, the error in the first case falling upon the lysin fraction and 

 in the second case upon the histidin fraction." 



The pectic substances of plants. — Preliminary communication, S. B. 

 ScHRY^^2R and Dorothy Haynes {Biochem. Jour., 10 {1916), No. 4> PP- 539- 

 547). — A procedure for the preparation of the pectic substances of plants wliich 

 consists essentially of extracting the residue, obtained after expressing the 

 juice, with a warm 0.5 per cent ammonium oxalate solution and precipitation 

 with alcohol is described in detail. The substance so obtained was acidic in 

 character, soluble in water, and designated by the authors as pectinogen. It 

 was purified, usually in small quantities, by dissolving in water to make a 

 3 to 4 per cent solution, centrifugalizing, and precipitating the clear fluid by 

 alcohol. The precipitate was filtered, washed, air dried, and obtained in the 



