246 



BIOLOGY OF PNEUMOCOCCUS 



lytic products of the specific polysaccharide of Type III Pneumo- 

 coccus was shown to be a compound of glucuronic acid and glu- 

 cose, combined in glucosidic linkage through the aldehyde group of 

 glucuronic acid and one of the hydroxyl groups of glucose. The 

 polysaccharides from the three types of pneumococci contained no 

 sulfur or phosphorus and differed from the starch-glycogen group 

 in giving no color with iodine and in their resistance to the usual 

 carbohydrate-splitting enzymes. These polysaccharides, therefore, 

 would appear to represent a new type of carbohydrate. 



SOLUBLE SPECIFIC SUBSTANCES OF THE THREE FIXED 



ANTIGENIC TYPES OF PNEUMOCOCCUS AND OF 



FRIEDLANDER BACILLUS (TYPE b) 



* Theory for (C a H 10 O 5 )„, C, 44.4 per cent; H, 6.2 per cent. 



t Amino N, 2.5 per cent. 



J Rabbit antiserum. 



Note: From a determination of its diffusion coefficient, Babers and Goebelsi 

 calculated a molecular weight of 118,000 for Pneumococcus III specific poly- 

 saccharide, but Heidelberger and Kendalleis later found that this was an acci- 

 dental value, related only to the salt concentration at which the diffusion was 

 carried out. 



Heidelberger and Avery doubted if any of the specific sub- 

 stances isolated at that time (1927) represented a definite chemi- 



